Habitable Planets Around Red Dwarf Stars Might not get Enough Photons to Support Plant Life A new study shows that planets orbiting red dwarf stars may not get enough radiation to support photosynthesis. The post Habitable Planets Around Red Dwarf Stars Might not get Enough Photons to Support Plant Life appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Astronomers See the Exact Moment a Supernova Turned into a Black Hole (or Neutron Star) On June 17th 2018, the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey’s twin telescopes spotted something extraordinarily bright in the sky. The source was 200 million light years away in the constellation Hercules. The object was given the name AT2018cow or “The Cow.” The Cow flared up quickly, and then just as quickly it was … Continue reading “Astronomers See the Exact Moment a Supernova Turned into a Black Hole (or Neutron Star)” The post Astronomers See the Exact Moment a Supernova Turned into a Black Hole (or Neutron Star)Read More →
Neutrino Telescopes Look Deep in the Earth and Deep into Space Neutrino telescopes are another kind of telescope to go alongside telescopes for visible light, x-rays, infrared, ultraviolet, microwave, radio, gamma ray and gravity waves. The post Neutrino Telescopes Look Deep in the Earth and Deep into Space appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Team discovers new way supermassive black holes are ‘fed’ Supermassive black holes weigh millions to billions times more than our sun and lie at the center of most galaxies. A supermassive black hole several million times the mass of the sun is situated in the heart of our very own Milky Way. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Double star system flips planet-forming disk into pole position New research led by an astronomer at the University of Warwick has found the first confirmed example of a double star system that has flipped its surrounding disc to a position that leaps over the orbital plane of those stars. The international team of astronomers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) to obtain high-resolution images of the Asteroid belt-sized disc. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
The orderly chaos of black holes During the formation of a black hole, a bright burst of very energetic light in the form of gamma rays is produced, these events are called gamma ray bursts. The physics behind this phenomenon includes many of the least understood fields within physics today: general gravity, extreme temperatures and acceleration of particles far beyond the energy of the most powerful particle accelerators on Earth. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Supernova SN 2018byg triggered by a helium-shell double detonation, study finds Astronomers have recently conducted photometric and spectroscopic observations of SN 2018byg, a peculiar Type Ia supernova. Results of these observations, presented in a paper published January 3 on the arXiv pre-print server, suggest that this cosmic explosion was caused by double detonation of a massive helium shell. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
One day our sun will solidify into a giant crystal orb Our sun and billions of stars just like it are headed for a strange, cold destiny. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Giant Streak Structure Found in Venus’ Cloudtops A team of researchers in Japan has discovered a gigantic streak structure in the cloud tops of Venus. The discovery is based on observations of Venus by the Japanese spacecraft Akatsuki. The findings were published in January 9th in the journal Nature Communications. Venus is unlike any other planet in the Solar System. The entire … Continue reading “Giant Streak Structure Found in Venus’ Cloudtops” The post Giant Streak Structure Found in Venus’ Cloudtops appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
In the far Future our Sun will Turn Into a Solid Crystalline White Dwarf. Here’s How it’ll Happen New research using some of the latest Gaia mission data has revealed what happens to stars like our Sun once they become white dwarfs. The post In the far Future our Sun will Turn Into a Solid Crystalline White Dwarf. Here’s How it’ll Happen appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Uh oh, Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 is Down On January 8th, an important piece of equipment on the Hubble Space Telescope went down. The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) suspended its operations because of a hardware. The Hubble team is investigating the anomaly, and during this time the space telescope’s other instruments are working normally and continuing their science operations. The WFC3 was … Continue reading “Uh oh, Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 is Down” The post Uh oh, Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 is Down appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Canadian Telescope Finds 13 More Fast Radio Bursts Including the Second One Ever Seen Repeating Canadian scientists using the CHIME (Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment) have detected 13 FRBs (Fast Radio Bursts), including the second-ever repeating one. And they think they’ll find even more. CHIME is an innovative radio telescope in the Okanagan Valley region in British Columbia, Canada. It was completed in 2017, and its mission is to act … Continue reading “Canadian Telescope Finds 13 More Fast Radio Bursts Including the Second One Ever Seen Repeating” The post Canadian Telescope Finds 13 More Fast Radio Bursts Including the Second One Ever Seen RepeatingRead More →
Interstellar objects like ‘Oumuamua probably crash into the sun every 30 years On October 19th, 2017, the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System-1 (Pan-STARRS-1) in Hawaii announced the first-ever detection of an interstellar object, named 1I/2017 U1 (aka. ‘Oumuamua). In the months that followed, multiple follow-up observations were conducted to learn more about this visitor, as well as resolve the dispute about whether it was a comet and an asteroid. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Free Open Source Materials from the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre Since it opened in April 2018, the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre has shared the wonders of the Universe with more than 55 000 visitors and captured the attention of audiences from around the globe. Now, the ESO Supernova’s extensive library of high-resolution images, stunning videos, educational texts and planetarium resources, as well as a digital version of its state-of-the-art astronomical exhibition, have been made freely available online. ESO News Feed Go to SourceRead More →
Our Complete Guide to the January 21st Total Lunar Eclipse By now, you’ve heard the news. One of the top astronomy events for 2019 is coming right up on the night of January 20th into the morning of the 21st with a total eclipse of the Moon. There’s lots of hype circulating around this one, as it assumes the meme of the “SuperBloodWolf Moon eclipse” … Continue reading “Our Complete Guide to the January 21st Total Lunar Eclipse” The post Our Complete Guide to the January 21st Total Lunar Eclipse appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Extreme Bacteria on the Space Station are Evolving to Handle the Harsh Conditions, not to Make Astronauts Sick A new study conducted by researchers from NWU has shown that bacteria do not mutate into super bugs. The post Extreme Bacteria on the Space Station are Evolving to Handle the Harsh Conditions, not to Make Astronauts Sick appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Bad News. Planets Orbiting Red Dwarfs Might not have the Raw Materials for Life New research from the Hubble Space Telescope and the ESO’s Very Large Telescope is dampening some of the enthusiasm in the search for life. Observations by both ‘scopes suggest that the raw materials necessary for life may be rare in solar systems centered around red dwarfs. And if the raw materials aren’t there, it may … Continue reading “Bad News. Planets Orbiting Red Dwarfs Might not have the Raw Materials for Life” The post Bad News. Planets Orbiting Red Dwarfs Might not have the Raw Materials for Life appeared first onRead More →
Birth of a black hole or neutron star captured for first time A Northwestern University-led international team is getting closer to understanding the mysteriously bright object that burst in the northern sky this summer. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Unusual supernova opens a rare window on the collapse of a star An unusual supernova studied by multiple telescopes, including the SOAR telescope and other telescopes at the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) and NSF’s Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), is thought to herald the birth of a new black hole or neutron star, caught at the exact moment of its creation. Observations made with facilities ranging from X-rays to optical and radio wavelengths were used to understand this remarkable event. These multi-messenger observations give astronomers a rare glimpse into the physics at play during the creation of a black holeRead More →
New technique more precisely determines the ages of stars How old are each of the stars in our roughly 13-billion-year-old galaxy? A new technique for understanding the star-forming history of the Milky Way in unprecedented detail makes it possible to determine the ages of stars at least two times more precisely than conventional methods, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University researchers reported Jan. 10 at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
