Space: Structures and Features
Published

Nova outbursts are apparently a source for cosmic rays      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The MAGIC telescopes have observed the nova RS Ophiuchi shining brightly in gamma rays at extremely high energy. The Gamma rays emanate from protons that are accelerated to very high energies in the shock front following the explosion. This suggests that novae are also a source of the ubiquitous cosmic radiation in the universe which consists mainly of protons rich in energy, which race through space at almost the speed of light.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Hubble sheds light on origins of supermassive black holes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have identified a rapidly growing black hole in the early universe that is considered a crucial 'missing link' between young star-forming galaxies and the first supermassive black holes. They used data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to make this discovery.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Simulating supernova remnants, star formation in earthbound lab      (via sciencedaily.com) 

When triggered by some external agent, shockwaves can propagate through molecular clouds of gas and dust to create pockets of dense material. At a certain limit, that dense gas and dust collapses and begins to form new stars. Researchers modeled this interaction using a high-power laser and a foam ball. The foam ball represents a dense area within a molecular cloud. The high-power laser creates a blast wave that propagates through a surrounding chamber of gas and into the ball, where the team observed the compression using X-ray images.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Hunting for gravitational waves from monster black holes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Our universe is a chaotic sea of ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. Astronomers think waves from orbiting pairs of supermassive black holes in distant galaxies are light-years long and have been trying to observe them for decades, and now they're one step closer.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Hubble probes extreme weather on ultra-hot Jupiters      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have discovered bloated Jupiter-sized worlds that are so precariously close to their parent star they are being roasted at seething temperatures above 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That's hot enough to vaporize most metals, including titanium. They have the hottest planetary atmospheres ever seen. Hubble astronomers are reporting on bizarre weather conditions on these sizzling worlds. It's raining vaporized rock on one planet, and another one has its upper atmosphere getting hotter rather than cooler because it is being 'sunburned' by intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation from its star.

Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

'Prenatal' protoplanet upends planet formation models      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international research team has discovered a new planet so young that it has yet to emerge from the womb of matter where it is forming. This is the youngest protoplanet discovered to date. It's location and the surrounding patterns of matter suggest that an alternative method of planet formation may be at work. This discovery could help to explain the histories and features of extrasolar planets seen around other stars.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Methane could be the first detectable indication of life beyond Earth      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study assesses the planetary context in which the detection of methane in an exoplanet's atmosphere could be considered a compelling sign of life.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Ancient helium leaking from core offers clues to Earth's formation      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Helium-3, a rare isotope of helium gas, is leaking out of Earth's core, a new study reports. Because almost all helium-3 is from the Big Bang, the gas leak adds evidence that Earth formed inside a solar nebula, which has long been debated.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Mysterious death of carbon star plays out like six-ring circus      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists studying V Hydrae (V Hya) have witnessed the star's mysterious death throes in unprecedented detail. The team discovered six slowly-expanding rings and two hourglass-shaped structures caused by the high-speed ejection of matter out into space.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Researchers map the movement of white dwarfs of the Milky Way      (via sciencedaily.com) 

White dwarfs were once normal stars similar to the Sun but then collapsed after exhausting all their fuel. These interstellar remnants have historically been difficult to study. However, a recent study reveals new information about the movement patterns of these puzzling stars.

Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a planet? Nope, just a star      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Among thousands of known exoplanets, astronomers have flagged three that are actually stars.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Scientists announce discovery of supermassive binary black holes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have discovered a supermassive black hole binary system, one of only two known such systems.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Black hole billiards in the centers of galaxies      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers provide the first plausible explanation to why one of the most massive black hole pairs observed to date by gravitational waves also seemed to merge on a non-circular orbit. Their suggested solution involves a chaotic triple drama inside a giant disk of gas around a super massive black hole in a galaxy far, far away.

Mathematics: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Mathematical discovery could shed light on secrets of the Universe      (via sciencedaily.com) 

How can Einstein's theory of gravity be unified with quantum mechanics? It is a challenge that could give us deep insights into phenomena such as black holes and the birth of the universe. Now, a new article presents results that cast new light on important challenges in understanding quantum gravity.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Event horizons are tunable factories of quantum entanglement      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Physicists have leveraged quantum information theory techniques to reveal a mechanism for amplifying, or 'stimulating,' the production of entanglement in the Hawking effect in a controlled manner. Furthermore, these scientists propose a protocol for testing this idea in the laboratory using artificially produced event horizons.

Mathematics: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Dark energy: Neutron stars will tell us if it's only an illusion      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists provide the first simulation of neutron star collisions in extensions of general relativity relevant for cosmology, offering a new approach to test gravity.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

'Closest black hole' system found to contain no black hole      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In 2020, astronomers reported the closest black hole to Earth, located just 1000 light-years away in the HR 6819 system. But the results of their study were contested by other researchers. In a new paper, these two teams have united to report that there is in fact no black hole in HR 6819, which is instead a 'vampire' two-star system in a rare and short-lived stage of its evolution.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

New simulations refine axion mass, refocusing dark matter search      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Axions are today's most popular candidate for dark matter, and numerous experiments are trying to detect them in microwave cavities where the axion should rarely convert into an electromagnetic wave. But a new simulation of the production of axions in the early universe provides a more refined mass estimate, and higher frequency for the EM wave, that is outside the range of these experiments. The new mass comes from adaptive mesh refinement in supercomputer simulations.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomers map mysterious element in space      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A research team has provided an important clue to the origin of the element Ytterbium in the Milky Way, by showing that the element largely originates from supernova explosions. The groundbreaking research also provides new opportunities for studying the evolution of our galaxy.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Ancient dwarf galaxy reconstructed with MilkyWay@home volunteer computer      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astrophysicists for the first time have calculated the original mass and size of a dwarf galaxy that was shredded in a collision with the Milky Way billions of years ago.