On Aug. 17, the Laser Interferometry Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected the fifth fingerprint of a massive disturbance in spacetime since LIGO began operations in September 2015. Unlike the first four sets of ripples, which reflected collisions between two black holes, the shape of these spacetime distortions suggested a collision between two neutron stars. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
ESOcast 135: ALMA is a timemachine! How can astrophysicists study the story of the Universe? Billions of years ago, when the Big Bang happened, there was no Milky Way Galaxy, no Solar System, no planet Earth and, especially, no human beings to witness these and all the events that followed. So, how would they know about this stuff? Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Beneath an elegant office building with a Spanish-style red tiled roof in Pasadena, California, three timeworn storerooms safeguard more than a century of astronomy. Down the stairs and to the right is a basement of wonder. There are countless wooden drawers and boxes, stacked floor to ceiling, with telescope plates, sunspot drawings and other records. A faint ammonia-like smell, reminiscent of old film, fills the air. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
SpaceX Matches ULA Single Year Launch Record with KoreaSat, Record Breaker On Tap: Photo/Video Gallery SpaceX Falcon 9 soars to orbit with KoreaSat-5A TV comsat from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, FL, on 30 Oct 2017. As seen from inside the pad perimeter. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – With the stunningly beautiful Halloween eve liftoff of the commercial KoreaSat-5A telecomsat payload from the Florida Space Coast, SpaceX matched competitor United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) single year launch record of 16 missions – and the blastoff record breaker is on tap in just 2 weeks time! In fact several additional FalconRead More →
New Method for Researching Activity Around Quasars and Black Holes Ever since the discovery of Sagittarius A* at the center of our galaxy, astronomers have come to understand that most massive galaxies have a Supermassive Black Hole (SMBH) at their core. These are evidenced by the powerful electromagnetic emissions produced at the nuclei of these galaxies – which are known as “Active Galatic Nuclei” (AGN) – that are believed to be caused by gas and dust accreting onto the SMBH. For decades, astronomers have been studying the light coming from AGNs to determine how large and massive their black holes are. This has been difficult,Read More →
“Monster Planet” Discovered, Makes Scientists Rethink Theories of Planetary Formation When it comes to how and where planetary systems form, astronomers thought they had a pretty good handle on things. The predominant theory, known as the Nebular Hypothesis, states that stars and planets form from massive clouds of dust and gas (i.e. nebulae). Once this cloud experiences gravitational collapse at the center, its remaining dust and gas forms a protoplanetary disk that eventually accretes to form planets. However, when studying the distant star NGTS-1 – an M-type (red dwarf) located about 600 light-years away – an international team led by astronomers from the University ofRead More →
Astronomer Gregory Rudnick sees the universe crisscrossed by something like an interstellar superhighway system. Filaments—the strands of aggregated matter that stretch millions of light years across the universe to connect galaxy clusters—are the freeways. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
(Phys.org)—Recent gravitational wave detections have allowed physicists to confirm with greater and greater precision what Einstein predicted over 100 years ago in the theory of general relativity: that gravity does not act instantaneously as Newton thought, but instead propagates at the speed of light. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
(Phys.org)—A large international team of researchers working with data sent back from NASA’s Kepler space telescope has found evidence of 20 previously unknown, promising exoplanets. In their paper uploaded to the arXiv preprint server, the team describes the exoplanets and highlights the ones that appear to be the most likely to fit into the Goldilocks category. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Sirius is not a single star at all, but a binary system of two stars. Polaris, the north star, is actually a system of three stars. And Castor, in the constellation of Gemini, actually consists of a whopping six stars. Current models show stars forming by the fragmentation of massive interstellar gas clouds, spinning themselves by gravity into stardom, in isolation and unaffected by nearby stars. But the plethora of systems in our galaxy that consist of multiple stars now has astronomers wondering why stars so often come in groups. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
With the current state of scientific knowledge and equipment, understanding astrophysical black holes invariably requires detailed studies of the observable elements surrounding them. The STRONGGRAVITY project has developed novel analytical tools to do just that, with a focus on radiation. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Hollywood films and science fiction literature fuel the belief that aliens are other-worldly, monster-like beings, who are very different to humans. But new research suggests that we could have more in common with our extra-terrestrial neighbours, than initially thought. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
That’s Strange. Jupiter’s Northern and Southern Auroras Pulse Independently In addition to being the largest and most massive planet in our Solar system, Jupiter is also one of it’s more mysterious bodies. This is certainly apparent when it comes to Jupiter’s powerful auroras, which are similar in some ways to those on Earth. In recent years, astronomers have sought to study patterns in Jupiter’s atmosphere and magnetosphere to explain how aurora activity on this planet works.. For instance, an international team led by researchers from University College London recently combined data from the Juno probe with X-ray observations to discern something interesting about Jupiter’s northernRead More →
The Discussion: Britain shows that it won’t just roll over and let America take the lead in intimidating academic freedom and Jen recounts her gravitational waves research conference in Brighton in October. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: Astronomers make the 1st observation of a neutron star collision Astronomers discover a missing chunk of the universe 3D videos of aurora that you can see at http://www.iap.fr/aurora3d/ The Interview: This month Cardiff University’s Professor Mark Hannam tells us more about the recent observation of colliding neutron stars and this window into a new realm of astronomy. Read More →
Exoplanet-Hunting Survey Discovers Three More Giant Alien Worlds! The discovery of extra-solar planets has certainly heated up in the past few years. With the deployment of the Kepler mission in 2009, several thousands of exoplanet candidates have been discovered and over 2,500 have been confirmed. In many cases, these planets have been gas giants orbiting close to their respective stars (aka. “Hot Jupiters”), which has confounded some commonly-held notions of how and where planets form. Beyond these massive planets, astronomers also discovered a wide range of planets that range from massive terrestrial planets (“Super-Earths) to Neptune-sized giants. In a recent study, an international team astronomersRead More →
The unveiling this summer of the most accurate cosmic picture ever taken of the distribution of dark matter has left astrophysicists feeling both delighted and frustrated. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
A giant planet, which should not exist according to planet formation theory, has been discovered around a distant star. The new research is presented in a paper recently accepted for publication in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Although their existence is undeniable, astronomers across the world are still unsure of how supermassive black holes actually form. An EU-funded project has set out to answer this question by simulating the formation and growth of their seeds – black holes created when an extremely massive star collapses. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
A University of Wyoming researcher played a key role in a study that suggests a newly developed computer model can more accurately explain the diversity of quasar broad emission line regions, which are the clouds of hot, ionized gas that surround the supermassive black holes feeding in the centers of galaxies. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
The galaxy Messier 77 (M77) is famous for its super-active nucleus that releases enormous energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, ranging from x-ray to radio wavelengths. Yet, despite its highly active core, the galaxy looks like any normal quiet spiral. There’s no visual sign of what is causing its central region to radiate so extensively. It has long been a mystery why only the center of M77 is so active. Astronomers suspect a long-ago event involving a sinking black hole, which could have kicked the core into high gear. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
