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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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Astronomers find signatures of a ‘messy’ star that made its companion go supernova Many stars explode as luminous supernovae when, swollen with age, they run out of fuel for nuclear fusion. But some stars can go supernova simply because they have a close and pesky companion star that, one day, perturbs its partner so much that it explodes. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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It Looks Like Dark Matter Can be Heated Up and Moved Around Look at a galaxy, what do you see? Probably lots of stars. Nebulae too. And that’s probably it. A whole bunch of stars and gas in a variety of colorful assortments; a delight to the eye. And buried among those stars, if you looked carefully enough, you might find planets, black holes, white dwarves, asteroids, … Continue reading “It Looks Like Dark Matter Can be Heated Up and Moved Around” The post It Looks Like Dark Matter Can be Heated Up and Moved Around appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

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Interstellar Objects like Oumuamua Probably Crash into the Sun Every 30 Years or so and 2 Pass Within the Orbit of Mercury A new study by a team of Harvard scientists reveals how we could study future interstellar visitors like ‘Oumuamua The post Interstellar Objects like Oumuamua Probably Crash into the Sun Every 30 Years or so and 2 Pass Within the Orbit of Mercury appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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A new, potentially inhabitable super-Earth Researchers at the University of Oviedo, in collaboration with the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) have discovered and characterized a planet in the habitability zone of a red dwarf star. It was detected using the method of transits. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Cygnus A: Ricocheting black hole jet discovered by Chandra A ricocheting jet blasting from a giant black hole has been captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, as reported in our latest press release. In this composite image of Cygnus A, X-rays from Chandra (red, green, and blue that represent low, medium and high energy X-rays) are combined with an optical view from the Hubble Space Telescope of the galaxies and stars in the same field of view. Chandra’s data reveal the presence of powerful jets of particles and electromagnetic energy that have shot out from the black hole. The jet on the left has slammedRead More →