RSSfeeds (Page 429)

Researcher proposes universal mechanism for ejection of matter by black holes Black holes can expel a thousand times more matter than they capture. The mechanism that governs both ejection and capture is the accretion disk, a vast mass of gas and dust spiraling around the black hole at extremely high speeds. The disk is hot and emits light as well as other forms of electromagnetic radiation. Part of the orbiting matter is pulled toward the center and disappears behind the event horizon, the threshold beyond which neither matter nor light can escape. Another, much larger, part is pushed further out by the pressure of theRead More →

Breakthrough narrows intelligent life search in Milky Way An analytical breakthrough that could significantly improve our chances of finding extra-terrestrial life in our galaxy has been discovered by a team at The University of Manchester. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Chinese astronomers investigate spectral behavior of gamma-ray blazar S5 0716+714 Using the Lijiang Observatory, astronomers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have inspected a gamma-ray blazar known as S5 0716+714. The observations provided important insights into the spectral behavior of this source, finding that it is brightness-dependent. The study was published August 26 on the arXiv.org preprint repository. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

A ‘bang’ in LIGO and Virgo detectors signals most massive gravitational-wave source yet For all its vast emptiness, the universe is humming with activity in the form of gravitational waves. Produced by extreme astrophysical phenomena, these reverberations ripple forth and shake the fabric of space-time, like the clang of a cosmic bell. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Heaviest black hole merger is among three recent gravitational wave discoveries Scientists observed what appears to be a bulked-up black hole tangling with a more ordinary one. The research team, which includes physicists from the University of Maryland, detected two black holes merging, but one of the black holes was 1 1/2 times more massive than any ever observed in a black hole collision. The researchers believe the heavier black hole in the pair may be the result of a previous merger between two black holes.This type of hierarchical combining of black holes has been hypothesized in the past but the observed event, labeled GW190521,Read More →

Finding magnetic eruptions in space with an AI assistant An alert pops up in your email: The latest spacecraft observations are ready. You now have 24 hours to scour 84 hours-worth of data, selecting the most promising split-second moments you can find. The data points you choose, depending on how you rank them, will download from the spacecraft in the highest possible resolution; researchers may spend months analyzing them. Everything else will be overwritten like it was never collected at all. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

A disc of gas would explain mysterious light changes observed in Sagittarius constellation The enigmatic variations of light in a binary system, located in Sagittarius constellation, could be explained by the presence of a variable gas disc around a hot star that revolves around a cooler star. These are the conclusions of researchers from Chile, Serbia and Poland, and published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Researchers predict location of novel candidate for mysterious dark energy Astronomers have known for two decades that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, but the physics of this expansion remains a mystery. Now, a team of researchers at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa have made a novel prediction—the dark energy responsible for this accelerating growth comes from a vast sea of compact objects spread throughout the voids between galaxies. This conclusion is part of a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →