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Space tourism? Cosmic radiation exposure      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Space weather experts are urging regulators and space tourism innovators to work together to protect their passengers and crews from the risks of space weather radiation exposure.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
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Groundbreaking survey reveals secrets of planet birth around dozens of stars      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team of astronomers has shed new light on the fascinating and complex process of planet formation. The research brings together observations of more than 80 young stars that might have planets forming around them, providing astronomers with a wealth of data and unique insights into how planets arise in different regions of our galaxy.

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What makes black holes grow and new stars form? Machine learning helps solve the mystery      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

It takes more than a galaxy merger to make a black hole grow and new stars form: machine learning shows cold gas is needed too to initiate rapid growth -- new research finds.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Extinction Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Fossil named 'Attenborough's strange bird' was the first in its kind without teeth      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new fossil, named 'Attenborough's strange bird' after naturalist and documentarian Sir David Attenborough, is the first of its kind to evolve a toothless beak. It's from a branch of the bird family tree that went extinct in the mass extinction 66 million years ago, and this strange bird is another puzzle piece that helps explain why some birds -- and their fellow dinosaurs -- went extinct, and others survived to today.

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JWST captures the end of planet formation      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The James Webb Space Telescope is helping scientists uncover how planets form by advancing understanding of their birthplaces and the circumstellar disks surrounding young stars. Scientists have imaged winds from an old planet-forming disk (still very young relative to the Sun) which is actively dispersing its gas content. Knowing when the gas disperses is important as it constrains the time left for nascent planets to consume the gas from their surroundings.

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Webb unlocks secrets of one of the most distant galaxies ever seen      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Looking deeply into space and time, astronomers have studied the exceptionally luminous galaxy GN-z11, which existed when our 13.8 billion-year-old universe was only about 430 million years old.

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Study determines the original orientations of rocks drilled on Mars      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Geologists determined the original orientation of many of the Mars bedrock samples collected by the Perseverance rover. The findings can give scientists clues to the conditions in which the rocks originally formed.

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New insights on how galaxies are formed      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers can use supercomputers to simulate the formation of galaxies from the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago to the present day. But there are a number of sources of error. An international research team has spent a hundred million computer hours over eight years trying to correct these.

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Ultraviolet radiation from massive stars shapes planetary systems      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Up to a certain point, very luminous stars can have a positive effect on the formation of planets, but from that point on the radiation they emit can cause the material in protoplanetary discs to disperse.

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Ice shell thickness reveals water temperature on ocean worlds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astrobiologists have devised a novel way to determine ocean temperatures of distant worlds based on the thickness of their ice shells, effectively conducting oceanography from space.

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Astronomers measure heaviest black hole pair ever found      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Using archival data from the Gemini North telescope, a team of astronomers has measured the heaviest pair of supermassive black holes ever found. The merging of two supermassive black holes is a phenomenon that has long been predicted, though never observed. This massive pair gives clues as to why such an event seems so unlikely in the Universe.

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Astronomers reveal a new link between water and planet formation      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have found water vapor in the disc around a young star exactly where planets may be forming. Water is a key ingredient for life on Earth, and is also thought to play a significant role in planet formation. Yet, until now, we had never been able to map how water is distributed in a stable, cool disc -- the type of disc that offers the most favorable conditions for planets to form around stars.

Archaeology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Slimming down a colossal fossil whale      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A 30 million year-old fossil whale may not be the heaviest animal of all time after all, according to a new analysis by paleontologists. The new analysis puts Perucetus colossus back in the same weight range as modern whales and smaller than the largest blue whales ever recorded.

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Astronomers discover heavy elements after bright gamma-ray burst from neutron star merger      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of astronomers obtained observational evidence for the creation of rare heavy elements in the aftermath of a cataclysmic explosion triggered by the merger of two neutron stars.

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'Cosmic lighthouses' that cleared primordial fog identified with JWST      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists working with data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have obtained the first full spectra of some of the earliest starlight in the universe. The images provide the clearest picture yet of very low-mass, newborn galaxies, created less than a billion years after the Big Bang, and suggest the tiny galaxies are central to the cosmic origin story.

Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
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Metal scar found on cannibal star      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When a star like our Sun reaches the end of its life, it can ingest the surrounding planets and asteroids that were born with it. Now, researchers have found a unique signature of this process for the first time -- a scar imprinted on the surface of a white dwarf star.

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Published

Webb finds evidence for neutron star at heart of young supernova remnant      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has found the best evidence yet for emission from a neutron star at the site of a recently observed supernova. The supernova, known as SN 1987A, was a core-collapse supernova, meaning the compacted remains at its core formed either a neutron star or a black hole. Evidence for such a compact object has long been sought, and while indirect evidence for the presence of a neutron star has previously been found, this is the first time that the effects of high-energy emission from the probable young neutron star have been detected.

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A new beginning: The search for more temperate Tatooines      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Luke Skywalker's childhood might have been slightly less harsh if he'd grown up on a more temperate Tatooine -- like the ones identified in a new study. According to the study's authors, there are more climate-friendly planets in binary star systems -- in other words, those with two suns -- than previously known. And, they say, it may be a sign that, at least in some ways, the universe leans in the direction of orderly alignment rather than chaotic misalignment.

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

Brightest and fastest-growing: Astronomers identify record-breaking quasar      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers have characterized a bright quasar, finding it to be not only the brightest of its kind, but also the most luminous object ever observed. Quasars are the bright cores of distant galaxies and they are powered by supermassive black holes. The black hole in this record-breaking quasar is growing in mass by the equivalent of one Sun per day, making it the fastest-growing black hole to date.