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Published

'Hot Jupiters' may not be orbiting alone      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers challenge longstanding beliefs about the isolation of 'hot Jupiters' and proposes a new mechanism for understanding the exoplanets' evolution.

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

Elusive planets play 'hide and seek' with CHEOPS      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers have clearly identified the existence of four new exoplanets. The four mini-Neptunes are smaller and cooler, and more difficult to find than the so-called Hot Jupiter exoplanets which have been found in abundance.

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Published

Long missions, frequent travel take a toll on astronauts' brains      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A study looking at how the human brain reacts to traveling outside Earth's gravity suggests frequent flyers should wait three years after longer missions to allow the physiological changes in their brains to reset.

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Published

What made the brightest cosmic explosion of all time so exceptional?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Last year, telescopes around the world registered the brightest cosmic explosion of all time. Astrophysicists can now explain what made it so dazzling.

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

New study identifies mechanism driving the sun's fast wind      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers used data from NASA's Parker Solar Probe to explain how the solar wind is capable of surpassing speeds of 1 million miles per hour. They discovered that the energy released from the magnetic field near the sun's surface is powerful enough to drive the fast solar wind, which is made up of ionized particles -- called plasma -- that flow outward from the sun.

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

First detection of secondary supermassive black hole in a well-known binary system      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of astronomers observed the second one of the two supermassive black holes circling each other in an active galaxy OJ 287.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Environmental: General Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Proposed design could double the efficiency of lightweight solar cells for space-based applications      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When it comes to supplying energy for space exploration and settlements, commonly available solar cells made of silicon or gallium arsenide are still too heavy to be feasibly transported by rocket. To address this challenge, a wide variety of lightweight alternatives are being explored, including solar cells made of a thin layer of molybdenum selenide, which fall into the broader category of 2D transition metal dichalcogenide (2D TMDC) solar cells. Researchers propose a device design that can take the efficiencies of 2D TMDC devices from 5%, as has already been demonstrated, to 12%.

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Published

Webb Space Telescope detects universe's most distant complex organic molecules      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have detected complex organic molecules in a galaxy more than 12 billion light-years away from Earth -- the most distant galaxy in which these molecules are now known to exist. Thanks to the capabilities of the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope and careful analyses from the research team, a new study lends critical insight into the complex chemical interactions that occur in the first galaxies in the early universe.

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

NASA's Webb Space Telescope peers behind bars      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A delicate tracery of dust and bright star clusters threads across this image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The bright tendrils of gas and stars belong to the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068, whose bright central bar is visible in the upper left of this image -- a composite from two of Webb's instruments.

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Published

Dying stars' cocoons could be new source of gravitational waves      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Although astrophysicists theoretically should be able to detect gravitational waves from a single, non-binary source, they have yet to uncover these elusive signals. Now researchers suggest looking at a new, unexpected and entirely unexplored place: The turbulent, energetic cocoons of debris that surround dying massive stars.

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Published

Early universe crackled with bursts of star formation, Webb shows      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Among the most fundamental questions in astronomy is: How did the first stars and galaxies form? NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is already providing new insights into this question. One of the largest programs in Webb's first year of science is the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, which will devote about 32 days of telescope time to uncover and characterize faint, distant galaxies. While the data is still coming in, JADES already has discovered hundreds of galaxies that existed when the universe was less than 600 million years old. The team also has identified galaxies sparkling with a multitude of young, hot stars.

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

Weigh a quasar's galaxy with precision      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have managed to weigh -- more precisely than any other technique -- a galaxy hosting a quasar, thanks to the fact that it acts as a gravitational lens. Detection of strong gravitational lensing quasars is expected to multiply with the launch of Euclid this summer.

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Published

Eventually everything will evaporate, not only black holes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New theoretical research has shown that Stephen Hawking was likely right about black holes, although not completely. Due to Hawking radiation, black holes will eventually evaporate, but the event horizon is not as crucial as had been believed. Gravity and the curvature of spacetime cause this radiation too. This means that all large objects in the universe, like the remnants of stars, will eventually evaporate.

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Published

Mysterious dashes revealed in Milky Way's center      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In the early 1980s, astronomers discovered gigantic, one-dimensional filaments dangling vertically near Sagittarius A*, our galaxy's central supermassive black hole. Now, astronomers have discovered a new population of filaments -- but these threads are much shorter and lie horizontally or radially, spreading out like spokes on a wheel from the black hole.

Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Supercomputer simulations provide a better picture of the Sun's magnetic field      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The new findings challenge the conventional understanding of solar dynamics and could improve predictions of solar weather in the future.

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Astrophysicists confirm the faintest galaxy ever seen in the early universe      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

After the Big Bang, the universe expanded and cooled sufficiently for hydrogen atoms to form. In the absence of light from the first stars and galaxies, the universe entered a period known as the cosmic dark ages. The first stars and galaxies appeared several hundred million years later and began burning away the hydrogen fog left over from the Big Bang, rendering the universe transparent, like it is today. Researchers have now confirmed the existence of a distant, faint galaxy typical of those whose light burned through the hydrogen atoms; the finding should help them understand how the cosmic dark ages ended.

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Published

NIRISS instrument on Webb maps an ultra-hot Jupiter's atmosphere      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

There's an intriguing exoplanet out there -- 400 light-years out there -- that is so tantalizing that astronomers have been studying it since its discovery in 2009. One orbit for WASP-18 b around its star that is slightly larger than our Sun takes just 23 hours. There is nothing like it in our Solar System. A new study about this exoplanet, an ultra-hot gas giant 10 times more massive than Jupiter.

Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Energy: Nuclear Environmental: General Physics: General Physics: Optics Space: Astrophysics Space: General Space: Structures and Features
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Under pressure: Foundations of stellar physics and nuclear fusion investigated      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Research using the world's most energetic laser has shed light on the properties of highly compressed matter -- essential to understanding the structure of giant planets and stars, and to develop controlled nuclear fusion, a process that could harvest carbon-free energy.

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Published

Towering plume of water escaping from Saturn moon      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have observed a towering plume of water vapor more than 6,000 miles long -- roughly the distance from the U.S. to Japan -- spewing from the surface of Saturn's moon, Enceladus.

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

Astronomers discover last three planets Kepler telescope observed before going dark      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

With the help of citizen scientists, astronomers discovered what may be the last three planets that the Kepler Space Telescope saw before it was retired.