A Road Trip with Commander Chris

Happy Trails! Send me a postcard!

The Archeologist's Guide To Colonizing Other Worlds November 10, 2025
Models help scientists understand everything from the particles that make up the universe to massive superstructures of galaxies at the beginning of time. But sometimes they model more mundane, though perhaps even more complex, features - including the course of human civilization. A new paper by Thomas Leppard of the International Archaeological Research Institute and […]
Cosmic Dust Bunnies - Why the Universe Might Be Fluffier Than We Thought November 10, 2025
Space dust provides more than just awe-inspiring pictures like the Pillars of Creation. It can provide the necessary materials to build everything from planets to asteroids. But what it actually looks like, especially in terms of its “porosity” (i.e. how many holes it has) has been an area of debate for astrochemists for decades. A […]
Why the Milky Way’s Dark Heart Might Be Shaped Like a Box November 10, 2025
Back in 2009, astronomers using the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope noticed that there was a lot more gamma-ray light coming from the center of the Milky Way than might otherwise be expected given the objects there. Since then, two theories have appeared to explain this Galactic Center Excess (GCE) as it’s become known. One theory […]
Dwarf Galaxies May Hold the Answers to the Debate on Dark Matter November 9, 2025
An international team of researchers, led by the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), has shed light on a decades-long debate about why galaxies rotate faster than expected, and whether this behaviour is caused by unseen dark matter or a breakdown of gravity on cosmic scales.
The ExoMars Orbiter Captures Dark Streaks on the Slopes of Mars Caused by a Meteorite Impact November 8, 2025
The ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) recently captured images of streaks formed from a dust avalanche on the slopes of Apollinaris Mons the night before Christmas in 2023. A new study reveals that these types streaks are largely the result of seasonal factors, rather than meteoroid impacts.