News (Page 779)

First evidence of gigantic remains from star explosions Astrophysicists have found the first ever evidence of gigantic remains being formed from repeated explosions on the surface of a dead star in the Andromeda Galaxy, 2.5 million light years from Earth. The remains or “super-remnant” measures almost 400 light years across. For comparison, it takes just 8 minutes for light from the Sun to reach us. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers observe evolution of a black hole as it wolfs down stellar material On March 11, an instrument aboard the International Space Station detected an enormous explosion of X-ray light that grew to be six times as bright as the Crab Nebula, nearly 10,000 light years away from Earth. Scientists determined the source was a black hole caught in the midst of an outburst—an extreme phase in which a black hole can spew brilliant bursts of X-ray energy as it devours an avalanche of gas and dust from a nearby star. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Canada’s CHIME telescope detects second repeating fast radio burst A Canadian-led team of scientists has found the second repeating fast radio burst (FRB) ever recorded. FRBs are short bursts of radio waves coming from far outside our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists believe FRBs emanate from powerful astrophysical phenomena billions of light years away. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers discover first direct evidence of white dwarf stars solidifying into crystals The first direct evidence of white dwarf stars solidifying into crystals has been discovered by astronomers at the University of Warwick, and our skies are filled with them. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Hubble Space Telescope’s premier camera shuts down The Hubble Space Telescope’s premier camera has shut down because of a hardware problem. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Scientists orchestrate a symphony of the stars A new stellar library has been created by UK and US scientists to, for the first time, give us a window of understanding on to our and other galaxies. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers develop new tool to find merging galaxies Today, at the 233rd AAS meeting in Seattle, astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) announce that they have developed a new tool to find otherwise-hidden galaxy mergers in data from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey of SDSS. These results show that by going beyond simple searches for merging galaxies based just on how they look, astronomers will now be able find more galaxy mergers than ever before. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

‘Missing’ galactic mergers come to light with new technique Galaxy mergers—in which two galaxies join together over billions of years in sometimes-dramatic bursts of light—aren’t always easy for astronomers to spot. Now, scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a new technique for finding these cosmic couplings in surveys of the night sky. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Young planets orbiting red dwarfs may lack ingredients for life Rocky planets orbiting red dwarf stars may be bone dry and lifeless, according to a new study using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Water and organic compounds, essential for life as we know it, may get blown away before they can reach the surface of young planets. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

TESS rounds up its first planets, snares far-flung supernovae NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has found three confirmed exoplanets, or worlds beyond our solar system, in its first three months of observations. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Nature’s magnifying glass reveals unexpected intermediate mass exoplanets Astronomers have found a new exoplanet that could alter the standing theory of planet formation. With a mass that’s between that of Neptune and Saturn, and its location beyond the “snow line” of its host star, an alien world of this scale was supposed to be rare. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Computer simulation sheds new light on colliding stars Unprecedented detail of the aftermath of a collision between two neutron stars depicted in a 3-D computer model created by a University of Alberta astrophysicist provides a better understanding of how some of the universe’s fundamental elements form in cosmic collisions. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Nearly a third of all galaxy clusters may have been previously unnoticed In 1933, Fritz Zwicky, famous American astronomer of Swiss origin, arrived at the astonishing conclusion that even though galaxies are the signposts of galaxy clusters, their contribution to the total cluster mass is minuscule in comparison to a dominant dark matter component. Current estimates of a cluster total mass indicates that the contributions are roughly: phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

TESS discovers its third new planet, with longest orbit yet NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, TESS, has discovered a third small planet outside our solar system, scientists announced this week at the annual American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Hubble takes gigantic image of the Triangulum Galaxy The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the most detailed image yet of a close neighbour of the Milky Way—the Triangulum Galaxy, a spiral galaxy located at a distance of only three million light-years. This panoramic survey of the third-largest galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies provides a mesmerising view of the 40 billion stars that make up one of the most distant objects visible to the naked eye. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Image: Multi-wavelength view of a supernova remnant New Year’s Eve may be past, but we are not done with fireworks just yet. This image, which includes data from ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory, shows the remnants of an explosion – not of the colourful type ignited during celebrations, but of the stellar kind. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →