ALMA and MUSE Detect Galactic Fountain Observations by ALMA and data from the MUSE spectrograph on ESO’s VLT have revealed a colossal fountain of molecular gas powered by a black hole in the brightest galaxy of the Abell 2597 cluster — the full galactic cycle of inflow and outflow powering this vast cosmic fountain has never before been observed in one system. ESO News Feed Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Planetary Scientists Have Chosen a Few Landing Sites for the Mars 2020 Rover At the fourth Landing Site Workshop in October, NASA held a vote on where the Mars 2020 rover will land once it reaches the Red Planet The post Planetary Scientists Have Chosen a Few Landing Sites for the Mars 2020 Rover appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Exoplanets Will Need Both Continents and Oceans to Form Complex Life A new study from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics indicates that exoplanets with too much water or too much landmass may not be a good place to look for life. The post Exoplanets Will Need Both Continents and Oceans to Form Complex Life appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Astronomy Cast Ep. 504: Radar, Lidar, and Sonar To really study something, you want to reach out and touch it. But what can you do if you’re separated by a huge distance? You reach out with electromagnetic or sound waves and watch how they bounce back. Thanks to radar, sonar and lidar. We usually record Astronomy Cast every Friday at 3:00 pm EST … Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Ep. 504: Radar, Lidar, and Sonar” The post Astronomy Cast Ep. 504: Radar, Lidar, and Sonar appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
An Extremely Large Hole has Been Dug for the Extremely Large Telescope The ESO has broken ground on the Extremely Large Telescope, which will be the world’s largest and most-advanced telescope once it is complete in 2024. The post An Extremely Large Hole has Been Dug for the Extremely Large Telescope appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Timelapse Shows the Glowing Wreckage from Supernova 1987a Expanding Outward Over 30 Years Supernovae are the granddaddies of all cosmic light shows, and Supernova 1987a is one of the most studied objects in the history of astronomy. As its name makes clear, it was first observed in 1987, and it’s the closest supernova observed since the telescope was invented. The ‘a’ was added to its name because it … Continue reading “Timelapse Shows the Glowing Wreckage from Supernova 1987a Expanding Outward Over 30 Years” The post Timelapse Shows the Glowing Wreckage from Supernova 1987a Expanding Outward Over 30 Years appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →
Scary Giant Blue Stars May Unlock Mysteries of Stellar Evolution Imagine a single star more luminous than a million suns, erupting every few decades in a massive flare that shines as bright as a supernova. But the blast, as ferocious as it is, does not obliterate the tumultuous star. It remains, its surface roiling with violence as spasms rock its inner layers. Soon enough the … Continue reading “Scary Giant Blue Stars May Unlock Mysteries of Stellar Evolution” The post Scary Giant Blue Stars May Unlock Mysteries of Stellar Evolution appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Most Detailed Observations of Material Orbiting close to a Black Hole ESO’s exquisitely sensitive GRAVITY instrument has added further evidence to the long-standing assumption that a supermassive black hole lurks in the centre of the Milky Way. New observations show clumps of gas swirling around at about 30% of the speed of light on a circular orbit just outside its event horizon — the first time material has been observed orbiting close to the point of no return, and the most detailed observations yet of material orbiting this close to a black hole. ESO News Feed Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Virgin Orbit Shows off its “Launcher One”, a Rocket Carried by an Airplane The commercial space sector is about to get a little more crowded. SpaceX and Blue Origin have created headlines with their ongoing development of reusable launch vehicles. Now Virgin Orbit‘s “Launcher One” is carving out its own niche in the commercial space market, as an efficient, flexible launcher of small satellites. Launcher One is Virgin … Continue reading “Virgin Orbit Shows off its “Launcher One”, a Rocket Carried by an Airplane” The post Virgin Orbit Shows off its “Launcher One”, a Rocket Carried by an Airplane appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →
NASA’s elite planet-hunting spacecraft has been declared dead, just a few months shy of its 10th anniversary. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
What is Direct Imaging? A highly effective (but very difficult) method of exoplanet detection involves capturing direct images of bodies orbiting distant stars from their reflected light or heat signatures. The post What is Direct Imaging? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Astronomers report the finding of two new high-redshift quasars using imagery from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE). The newly found quasars, designated OGLE J015531−752807 and OGLE J005907−645016, have redshifts of 5.09 and 4.98 respectively. The discovery is detailed in a paper published October 19 on arXiv.org. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
A ground-breaking $3.8 million instrument, used by astronomers to discover and study Earth-like planets, has been launched by a team from UNSW Sydney, The Australian National University (ANU) and Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO) at Macquarie University. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are just that – enormous blasts of radio waves from space that only last for a fraction of a second. This makes pinpointing their source a huge challenge. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
How life could be shared between planets in close proximity to one another has received a greater insight thanks to new analytics based on previously known and new calculations. The findings are allowing researchers to understand how likely life might be on a given planet in such tight-knit systems if that world shows signs of habitability. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
The Galactic O-Star Spectroscopic Survey (GOSSS) is acquiring blue-violet spectroscopy of all optically accessible O stars in the Galaxy at resolution ~2500 and signal-to-noise ratio S/N > 200. To date, data from a total of 590 O stars has been published. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Two outback radio telescopes synchronised to observe the same point of sky have discovered more about one of the universe ‘s most mysterious events in new research published today. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
An international team of astrophysicists using the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) in central Mexico has detected an unexpected and powerful outflow of molecular gas in a distant active galaxy similar to the Milky Way. The galaxy is 800 million light years from Earth. The findings are published in the current edition of Astrophysical Journal Letters. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
Messier 70 – the NGC 6681 Globular Cluster Located in the “tea pot” of the Sagittarius constellation, some 29,300 light years from Earth, is the globular cluster known as Messier 70 The post Messier 70 – the NGC 6681 Globular Cluster appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
How Science Journalism Helped Me Become a Better Sci-Fi Writer My work with Universe Today has helped fashion me into a better science fiction writer and led to the publication of my first books! The post How Science Journalism Helped Me Become a Better Sci-Fi Writer appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →
