Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Star formation in distant galaxies by the James Webb Space Telescope      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope's first images of galaxy clusters, researchers have, for the very first time, been able to examine very compact structures of star clusters inside galaxies, so-called clumps.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

'Engine' of luminous merging galaxies pinpointed for the first time      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Roughly 500 million light-years away, near the constellation Delphinus, two galaxies are colliding. Known as merging galaxy IIZw096, the luminous phenomenon is obscured by cosmic dust, but researchers first identified a bright, energetic source of light 12 years ago. Now, with a more advanced telescope, the team has pinpointed the precise location of what they have dubbed the 'engine' of the merging galaxy.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Hubble directly measures mass of a lone white dwarf      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have directly measured the mass of a single, isolated white dwarf -- the surviving core of a burned-out, Sun-like star. Researchers found that the white dwarf is 56 percent the mass of our Sun. This agrees with earlier theoretical predictions of the white dwarf's mass and corroborates current theories of how white dwarfs evolve as the end product of a typical star's evolution. The unique observation yields insights into theories of the structure and composition of white dwarfs.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomers uncover a one-in-ten-billion binary star system: Kilonova progenitor system      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers using data from the SMARTS 1.5-meter Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), have made the first confirmed detection of a star system that will one day form a kilonova -- the ultra-powerful, gold-producing explosion created by merging neutron stars. These systems are so phenomenally rare that only about 10 such systems are thought to exist in the entire Milky Way.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Structures and Features
Published

The bubbling universe: A previously unknown phase transition in the early universe      (via sciencedaily.com) 

What happened shortly after the universe was born in the Big Bang and began to expand? Bubbles occurred and a previously unknown phase transition happened, according to particle physicists.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Geoscience: Environmental Issues Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Thin, lightweight layer provides radiation barrier for perovskites in space, protection from elements on Earth      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An ultrathin protective coating proves sufficient to protect a perovskite solar cell from the harmful effects of space and harden it against environmental factors on Earth, according to newly published research.

Physics: Quantum Physics Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Scientists release newly accurate map of all the matter in the universe      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A group of scientists have released one of the most precise measurements ever made of how matter is distributed across the universe today.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Volcano-like rupture could have caused magnetar slowdown      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In October 2020, a highly magnetic neutron star called SGR 1935+2154 abruptly began spinning more slowly. Astrophysicist now show the magnetar's rotational slowdown could have been caused by a volcano-like rupture near its magnetic pole.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Starry tail tells the tale of dwarf galaxy evolution      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A giant diffuse tail of stars has been discovered emanating from a large, faint dwarf galaxy. The presence of a tail indicates that the galaxy has experienced recent interaction with another galaxy. This is an important clue for understanding how so called 'ultra-diffuse' galaxies are formed.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

Looking back at the Tonga eruption      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A 'back-projection' technique reveals new details of the volcanic eruption in Tonga that literally shook the world.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Solar System formed from 'poorly mixed cake batter,' isotope research shows      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Earth's potassium arrived by meteoritic delivery service finds new research led by Earth and planetary scientists. Their work shows that some primitive meteorites contain a different mix of potassium isotopes than those found in other, more-chemically processed meteorites. These results can help elucidate the processes that shaped our Solar System and determined the composition of its planets.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

NASA's Fermi detects first gamma-ray eclipses from 'spider' star systems      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have discovered the first gamma-ray eclipses from a special type of binary star system using data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. These so-called spider systems each contain a pulsar -- the superdense, rapidly rotating remains of a star that exploded in a supernova -- that slowly erodes its companion.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Were galaxies much different in the early universe?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The most sensitive telescope now searching for radio signals from cosmic dawn, an era around 200 million years after the Big Bang when stars ignited, has doubled its sensitivity, a new paper reports. While not yet detecting this radiation -- the redshifted 21-centimeter line -- they have put new limits on the elemental composition of galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization. Early galaxies seem to be low in metals, fitting the most popular theory of cosmic evolution.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Darkest view ever of interstellar ice      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers used observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to achieve the darkest ever view of a dense interstellar cloud. These observations have revealed the composition of a virtual treasure chest of ices from the early universe, providing new insights into the chemical processes of one of the coldest, darkest places in the universe as well as the origins of the molecules that make up planetary atmospheres.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Massive fuel-hungry black holes feed off intergalactic gas      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Research has revealed how supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are feeding off gas clouds which reach them by traveling hundreds of thousands of light years from one galaxy to another.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Billions of celestial objects revealed in gargantuan survey of the Milky Way      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers have released a gargantuan survey of the galactic plane of the Milky Way. The new dataset contains a staggering 3.32 billion celestial objects -- arguably the largest such catalog so far. The data for this unprecedented survey were taken with the Dark Energy Camera.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Geology
Published

Researchers uncover secrets on how Alaska's Denali Fault formed      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New findings begin to fill major gaps in understanding about how geological faults behave and appear as they deepen, and they could eventually help lead future researchers to develop better earthquake models on strike-slip faults, regions with frequent and major earthquakes.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Tumultuous migration on the edge of the Hot Neptune Desert      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team reveals the eventful migration history of planets bordering the Hot Neptune Desert, these extrasolar planets that orbit very close to their star.

Space: Astrophysics Space: Structures and Features
Published

A star's unexpected survival      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Hundreds of millions of light-years away in a distant galaxy, a star orbiting a supermassive black hole is being violently ripped apart under the black hole's immense gravitational pull. As the star is shredded, its remnants are transformed into a stream of debris that rains back down onto the black hole to form a very hot, very bright disk of material swirling around the black hole, called an accretion disc. This phenomenon -- where a star is destroyed by a supermassive black hole and fuels a luminous accretion flare -- is known as a tidal disruption event (TDE), and it is predicted that TDEs occur roughly once every 10,000 to 100,000 years in a given galaxy.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Engineering: Nanotechnology Space: Astrophysics Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

The world in grains of interstellar dust      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Understanding how dust grains form in interstellar gas could offer significant insights to astronomers and help materials scientists develop useful nanoparticles.