Hubble snaps spiral’s profile The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope sees galaxies of all shapes, sizes, luminosities and orientations in the cosmos. Sometimes, the telescope gazes at a galaxy oriented sideways—as shown here. The spiral galaxy featured in this Hubble image is called NGC 3717, and it is located about 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra (the Sea Serpent). phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Open cluster ASCC 123 investigated in detail Using the Galileo National Telescope, astronomers have conducted a high-resolution spectroscopic study of the open cluster ASCC 123 as part of the Stellar Population Astrophysics (SPA) project. Results of the new research, presented in a paper published October 4 on arXiv.org, provide important information about fundamental parameters of 17 candidate members of ASCC 123, shedding more light on the properties of this little-studied cluster. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
The nature of obscured active galactic nuclei Most galaxies host a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at their nucleus, one whose mass exceeds a million solar-masses. When material actively accretes onto the SMBH, associated processes can produce an active galactic nucleus (AGN) with a hot torus and dramatic bipolar jets of rapidly moving charged particles. The most luminous known AGN emit over ten trillion solar-luminosities. Astronomers are trying to understand what powers AGN, how they evolve, and how their jets and radiation affect their environments, and these extreme cases are expected to provide key insights. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Black holes stunt growth of dwarf galaxies Astronomers at the University of California, Riverside, have discovered that powerful winds driven by supermassive black holes in the centers of dwarf galaxies have a significant impact on the evolution of these galaxies by suppressing star formation. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
This Dried Up Riverbed Shows that Water Once Flowed on the Surface of Mars From some viewpoints, Mars is kind of like a skeleton of Earth. We can see that it had volcanoes, oceans, and rivers, but the volcanoes no longer fume and the water is all gone. A new image from the ESA’s Mars Express drives the point home. The new image is of Nirgal Vallis, one of … Continue reading “This Dried Up Riverbed Shows that Water Once Flowed on the Surface of Mars” The post This Dried Up Riverbed Shows that Water Once Flowed on the Surface of Mars appeared first onRead More →
A Satellite Just Launched Whose Job is to Extend the Life of Geosynchronous Satellites Space Logistics LLC, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, has launched a satellite that can extend the life of other satellites. The satellite is called MEV-1, or Mission Extension Vehicle-1. MEV-1 is the first of its kind. MEV-1 was launched on a Russian Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 9th. It’s going … Continue reading “A Satellite Just Launched Whose Job is to Extend the Life of Geosynchronous Satellites” The post A Satellite Just Launched Whose Job is to Extend the Life of Geosynchronous Satellites appeared first onRead More →
Astrophysicists use artificial intelligence to determine exoplanets sizes Using a machine learning technique, a team of Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço researchers constrained the radius of an exoplanet with known mass. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Violent flaring revealed at the heart of a black hole system An international team of astronomers, led by the University of Southampton, have used state-of-the-art cameras to create a high frame-rate movie of a growing black hole system at a level of detail never seen before. In the process they uncovered new clues to understanding the immediate surroundings of these enigmatic objects. The scientists publish their work in a new paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Lava Flows on Venus Suggest That the Planet Was Never Warm and Wet A new study on the volcanic highlands of Venus casts doubt on whether or not the planet ever had oceans. The post Lava Flows on Venus Suggest That the Planet Was Never Warm and Wet appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
This is What Moondust Looks Like When You Remove All the Oxygen. A Pile of Metal The Moon has abundant oxygen and minerals, things that are indispensable to any space-faring civilization. The problem is they’re locked up together in the regolith. Separating the two will provide a wealth of critical resources, but separating them is a knotty problem. The Moon’s regolith varies from 2 meters (6.5 ft.) deep in mare regions, … Continue reading “This is What Moondust Looks Like When You Remove All the Oxygen. A Pile of Metal” The post This is What Moondust Looks Like When You Remove All the Oxygen. ARead More →
The Milky Way kidnapped several tiny galaxies from its neighbor Just like the moon orbits the Earth, and the Earth orbits the sun, galaxies orbit each other according to the predictions of cosmology. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Astronomers show how supergiant stars repeatedly cool and heat up An international team of professional and amateur astronomers, which includes Alex Lobel, astronomer at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, has determined in detail how the temperature of four yellow hypergiants increases from 4000 degrees to 8000 degrees and back again in a few decades. They will publish their findings in the professional journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Milky Way raids intergalactic ‘bank accounts,’ Hubble study finds Our Milky Way is a frugal galaxy. Supernovas and violent stellar winds blow gas out of the galactic disk, but that gas falls back onto the galaxy to form new generations of stars. In an ambitious effort to conduct a full accounting of this recycling process, astronomers were surprised to find a surplus of incoming gas. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
For newborn planets, solar systems are naturally baby-proof Numerical simulations by a group of astronomers, led by Mario Flock from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, have shown that young planetary systems are naturally “baby-proof”: Physical mechanisms combine to keep young planets in the inner regions from taking a fatal plunge into the star. Similar processes also allow planets to be born close to stars—from pebbles trapped in a region close to the star. The research, which has been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, explains findings by the Kepler space telescopes that show a large number of super-Earths orbiting their stars very closely,Read More →
Astronomers investigate a black hole candidate during outburst Using MeeKAT telescope, astronomers have studied a black hole candidate X-ray binary system known as H1743−322 during an outburst that took place last year. Results of the study, presented in a paper published October 1 on arXiv.org, could help astronomers to untangle the mysteries of black holes existing as part of binary systems. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Milky Way’s center will be revealed by NASA’s Webb Telescope The center of our galaxy is a crowded place: A black hole weighing 4 million times as much as our sun is surrounded by millions of stars whipping around it at breakneck speeds. This extreme environment is bathed in intense ultraviolet light and X-ray radiation. Yet much of this activity is hidden from our view, obscured by vast swaths of interstellar dust. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Weekly Space Hangout: October 7, 2019 – Marina Kounkel talks Stars and How They Form Hosts:Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)Sondy Springmann (@sondy) Beth Johnson (@planetarypan) Michael Rodruck (@michaelrodruck) This week we welcome Dr. Marina Kounkel, a postdoctoral scholar in the Physics and Astronomy Department at the Western Washington University. Her research focuses on observing the dynamics of young stars. Marina is co-author, with Kevin Covey (also from WWU,) of the … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: October 7, 2019 – Marina Kounkel talks Stars and How They Form” The post Weekly Space Hangout: October 7, 2019 – Marina Kounkel talks Stars and How They FormRead More →
They’ve Got Spacesuits that Fit Now. Christina Koch and Jessica Meir Will Spacewalk on October 21st The all-female astronaut walk is back on. Back on March 26th, 2019, NASA was forced to cancel the first all-female spacewalk because they didn’t have the right spacesuits available on the ISS. There was a short-lived social media storm over that development, as some claimed it was evidence of sexism on the part of NASA. … Continue reading “They’ve Got Spacesuits that Fit Now. Christina Koch and Jessica Meir Will Spacewalk on October 21st” The post They’ve Got Spacesuits that Fit Now. Christina Koch and Jessica Meir Will SpacewalkRead More →
Power Grids and Satellites Are More at Risk from Extreme Solar Storms Than We Thought Exactly how dangerous are solar storms? Scientists think the Carrington Event was one of the most powerful ones to ever hit Earth. They also think that storms that powerful only happen every couple centuries or so. But a new study says we can expect more storms equally as strong, and more often. The Carrington Event … Continue reading “Power Grids and Satellites Are More at Risk from Extreme Solar Storms Than We Thought” The post Power Grids and Satellites Are More at Risk from Extreme Solar Storms Than We ThoughtRead More →
Researchers theorize origins of magnetars, the strongest magnets in the universe How do some neutron stars become the strongest magnets in the universe? A German-British team of astrophysicists has found a possible answer to the question of how magnetars form. They used large computer simulations to demonstrate how the merger of two stars creates strong magnetic fields. If such stars explode in supernovae, magnetars can result. Scientists from Heidelberg University, the Max Planck Society, the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies, and the University of Oxford were involved in the research. The results were published in Nature. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
