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Read previewThe supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy has a side you've never seen before. A new image reveals powerful magnetic fields swirling around our hometown black hole, which is called Sagittarius A* (pronounced "A-star"). EHT had previously imaged its first black hole, Messier 87, in polarized light as well, though it doesn't look quite as striking:The Messier 87 supermassive black hole imaged in polarized light. EHT CollaborationSince both black holes have similar structures of magnetic fields, despite their immense difference in size, the EHT scientists now suspect that all supermassive black holes might have magnetic structures like this. Bigger black hole breakthroughs may be in storeFurther imaging with new innovative techniques and technologies could reveal even more secrets of supermassive black holes, both big and small.
Persons: , EHT, Sara Issaoun, Issaoun, We've, NASA's, Michael Johnson, Johnson, that's Organizations: Service, Business, Messier, Harvard, Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, NASA's Goddard Space Flight, American Astronomical Society Locations: Greenland
CNN —Astronomers have spotted an unusual sign that a dead star feasted on a fragment of a planet orbiting it: a metal scar on the star’s surface. The observation revealed a metallic feature on the star’s surface that the researchers determined was related to a change detected in the star’s magnetic field. The strength of the metal detection also synced with changes observed in the star’s magnetic field, which led the team to determine that the metal scar was located on one of the star’s magnetic poles. The star’s magnetic field pulled the metals toward the star, which led to the presence of the scar, the finding has suggested. But WD 0816-310 presents an entirely different scenario orchestrated by the star’s magnetic field.
Persons: , Dr, Stefano Bagnulo, Jay Farihi, John Landstreet, Landstreet Organizations: CNN —, Southern, Planetarium, University College London, Western University, NASA Locations: Chile, Armagh, Northern Ireland, Swiss, Canada
These black holes get kicked into space, moving as fast as 1,000 kilometers per second. AdvertisementScientists studying how supernovas explode may have discovered a new process for how certain black holes form. Turns out, some baby black holes hit the ground running at colossal speeds just moments after they take shape. Asymmetrical explosions can lead to powerful kicks that send black holes shooting into space at over 2 million mph. AdvertisementIf the black holes are movingIf you hear blazing-fast black holes and start to panic, don't.
Persons: , MARK GARLICK, GARLICK, Adam Burrows, Burrows, Vijay Varma, Ivo Labbe, Swinburne, Rachel Bezanson, Varma Organizations: Service, Princeton University, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, NASA, ESA, CSA, University of Pittsburgh
CNN —Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have detected water molecules in the atmosphere of a small, blazing-hot exoplanet 97 light-years from Earth. The planet, named GJ 9827d, is about twice Earth’s diameter, and it’s the smallest exoplanet found to have water vapor in its atmosphere, according to a new study. Starlight filtering through the planet’s atmosphere helped astronomers measure the signature of water molecules. It’s possible that the planet is a mini-Neptune with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere that contains water vapor. Or astronomers suspect that GJ 9827d could be a warmer version of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, which contains an ocean beneath a thick, icy crust.
Persons: , Laura Kreidberg, Max Planck, Björn Benneke, Hubble, Ian Crossfield, Pierre, Alexis Roy, we’re, ” Benneke, , GJ, Benneke, Thomas Greene, James Webb, Webb, ” Kreidberg Organizations: CNN —, Hubble, Max, Max Planck Institute, Astronomy, University of Montreal’s Trottier Institute for Research, University of Kansas, University of Montreal’s Trottier Institute, GJ 9827d, NASA’s Ames Research, James Webb Space Telescope, , 9827d Locations: Heidelberg, Germany, Lawrence , Kansas, Silicon
The astronomers were mapping space's background glow of gamma rays, the brightest and most energetic type of light on the electromagnetic spectrum. They were surprised to find way more gamma rays coming from one part of the sky than anywhere else. AdvertisementAn artist's concept shows the entire sky in gamma rays, with the plane of our galaxy across the middle. Magenta circles indicate the area where astronomers found more high-energy gamma rays than average. Some unknown object or process out there in the universe may be producing both the gamma rays and the UHECRs.
Persons: , Alexander Kashlinsky, NASA's, Swift, Cruz deWilde Kashlinsky, it's, Kashlinsky, Fernando Atrio, UHECRs, they're Organizations: Service, NASA, Business, University of Maryland, American Astronomical Society, NASA's Goddard Space, Fermi, Planck, ESA, University of Salamanca, JPL, Caltech Locations: New Orleans, UHECRs, Spain
NASA scientists have found a powerful new gamma-ray signal coming from outside our galaxy. AdvertisementNASA astronomers have discovered an unexpected "signal" coming from outside our galaxy, which they can't explain. The scientists were analyzing 13 years of data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope when they noticed the mysterious signal. NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, illustrated here, scans the entire sky every three hours as it orbits Earth. NASA's unexpected discovery could help astronomers confirm or challenge ideas about how the dipole structure is created.
Persons: , Francis Reddy, NASA's, Alexander Kashlinsky, Fermi, Chris Smith, Chris Shrader, Pierre Auger, Fernando Atrio Organizations: NASA, Service, Fermi, NASA's Goddard Space Flight, University of Maryland, American Astronomical Society, Goddard Locations: Argentina
Webb space telescope spies precocious 'teenage' galaxies
  + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +5 min
But Webb has obtained even better data on galaxies a bit further along in development. The gas detected in star-forming regions - stellar nurseries - of teenage galaxies was much hotter, at about 24,000 degrees Fahrenheit (13,350 degrees Celsius), than observed in galaxies today. The galaxies were observed glowing with eight elements - hydrogen, helium, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, argon, nickel and silicon. Incidentally, oxygen is also the third-most abundant element in the universe (behind hydrogen and helium)," Strom said. The new study presents the first results from the CECILIA Survey that uses Webb to scrutinize the chemistry of distant galaxies.
Persons: James Webb, Webb, Allison Strom, Gwen Rudie, Strom, Rudie, CECILIA, Cecilia Payne, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Hubble, Northwestern University, Astrophysical, Carnegie, CECILIA Survey, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON, Illinois, California
New details of the celestial feature have emerged in the colorful image, which unites the observational powers of Hubble Space Telescope in visible light and the James Webb Space Telescope in infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. Hubble has long been used to search for faint, distant galaxies across different wavelengths of light. This cosmic effect occurs when closer objects — such as the galactic clusters — act like a magnifying glass for distant objects. The Webb and Hubble composite image includes "Mothra," a star system magnified by the galactic cluster pair as well as another unseen object. NASA/ESA/CSA/STScIThe team nicknamed the star system Mothra due to its extreme magnification and brightness.
Persons: James Webb, Hubble, Webb, , Rogier Windhorst, Windhorst, ” Windhorst, Haojing Yan, Yan, José Diego Organizations: CNN, Hubble, James Webb Space, Arizona State University’s School of Earth, Exploration, University of Missouri, Astrophysical Journal, NASA, ESA, CSA, Institute of Physics, Astrophysics Locations: Arizona, Japanese, Cantabria, Spain
CNN —Two powerful NASA telescopes have detected the oldest and most distant black hole ever found. “We needed Webb to find this remarkably distant galaxy and Chandra to find its supermassive black hole,” said lead study author Akos Bogdan, in a statement. Potential black hole theoryTypically, black holes located at the centers of galaxies only have about 0.1% the mass of the stars within their host galaxy. The unusual black hole could be an “Outsize Black Hole” that formed when a huge cloud of gas collapsed, as theorized in 2017 by Priyamvada Natarajan, a coauthor on both studies and the Joseph S. and Sophia S. Fruton professor of astronomy and professor of physics at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. “We think that this is the first detection of an ‘Outsize Black Hole’ and the best evidence yet obtained that some black holes form from massive clouds of gas,” Natarajan said.
Persons: Chandra, James Webb, Webb, , Akos Bogdan, , ” Bogdan, Abell, they’ve, Andy Goulding, Priyamvada Natarajan, Joseph S, Sophia S, ” Natarajan Organizations: CNN, NASA, Telescope, Harvard - Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Chandra, telltale, Princeton University, Yale University Locations: Cambridge , Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Haven , Connecticut
CNN —The cosmos is full of mysteries waiting to be solved, and some of them appear especially eerie with the arrival of Halloween. A haunting “face” on Jupiter and a ghostly, skeletal hand-shaped nebula are just a couple of creepy celestial features recently spotted by NASA missions. Jupiter's swirling atmosphere appears to include a face in this image taken by JunoCam. The nebula, known as MSH 15-52, is located about 16,000 light-years from Earth. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory observed the pulsar, known as PSR B1509-58, for the first time in 2001.
Persons: Vladimir Tarasov, Juno, Wilhelm Röntgen, Chandra, ’ ”, Roger Romani Organizations: CNN, NASA, JunoCam, JPL, Caltech, Astrophysical, Stanford University in Locations: , Stanford University in California
CNN —Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have for the first time detected tiny quartz crystals containing silica — a common mineral on Earth — within the atmosphere of a blazing hot exoplanet. An artist's concept depicts what the exoplanet WASP-17b could look like. What the quartz crystals reveal about WASP-17bWasp-17b takes 3.7 Earth days to complete one orbit around its star. Webb detected quartz crystals in the atmosphere of WASP-17b. While the clouds can drift around the planet, they likely vaporize on the hot day side, which could send the quartz particles swirling.
Persons: James Webb, Ralf Crawford, , , David Grant, Hannah Wakeford, ” Grant, Wakeford Organizations: CNN —, NASA, ESA, CSA, University of Bristol, WASP, Minerals, “ WASP
Star formation in the early galaxies occurred in occasional big bursts, they found, rather than at a steady pace. "According to the standard model of cosmology, there should not be many very massive galaxies during cosmic dawn because it takes time for galaxies to grow after the Big Bang. And the reason this is so significant is that we explain these very bright galaxies without having to break the standard cosmological model," Faucher-Giguère added. They blast gas into space that becomes ingredients for another burst of star formation. But the stronger gravitational effects in larger galaxies prevent these bursts, favoring steady star formation.
Persons: NASA's James Webb, James Webb, Sun, Webb, Claude, André, Giguère, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Northwestern University, Astrophysical, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON, Illinois
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope discovered signs of a vast ocean on the planet K2-18 b. Astronomers can't directly look at the surface of the planet, called K2-18 b, but Webb analyzed its atmosphere for hints of what may lie below. That's a strong mark against the molecule's existence on K2-18 b. Confirming these findings requires a lot more observation of K2-18 b. As Blain put it: "K2-18 b is not exactly an Earth twin."
Persons: NASA's James Webb, Webb, James Webb, Madhusudhan, That's, Aaron Gronstal, Doriann Blain, Max Planck, Blain, peered, Webb’s, Crawford, J, Olmsted, haven't, Eliza Kempton, we've, Markus Scheucher, Kempton, I'd, there's, Marianne Guenot Organizations: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, Service, NASA, University of Cambridge, DMS, Max, Max Planck Institute, Astronomy, Hubble, European Space Agency, CSA, ESA, Cambridge University, Astrophysical Journal, University of Maryland, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Locations: Wall, Silicon
The Webb telescope, which can detect infrared light invisible to the human eye, searched for exactly what elements are featured in the planet’s atmosphere. On Earth, dimethyl sulfide “is only produced by life,” according to NASA. Hot ocean worldsThe discoveries about its atmospheric composition suggest it could be a “Hycean exoplanet,” a theoretical type of exoplanet that runs hot but is covered in oceans and has a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. There are no confirmed Hycean exoplanets just yet. “This means our work here is but an early demonstration of what Webb can observe in habitable-zone exoplanets.”
Persons: CNN — Waters, James Webb, Webb, Nikku Madhusudhan, Madhusudhan, , ” Madhusudhan, , Savvas Constantinou Organizations: CNN, James Webb Space Telescope, NASA, Hubble, University of Cambridge, Astrophysical
When you sit at a campfire and look up at the stars, even the tiniest pinpricks of light that you see are massive furnaces, producing intense heat. But hidden among these infernal embers are celestial bodies so dim that they’re invisible to the naked eye. One such star, a brown dwarf smaller than Jupiter, recently became the coldest star ever to be detected with a radio telescope. At a paltry 797 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s cooler than the average campfire: an ideal star for roasting marshmallows. The existence of brown dwarfs was hypothesized 60 years ago, but “they were very hard to find, because they’re not very bright,” Dr. Murphy said.
Persons: Don’t, graham, Kovi Rose, , Tara Murphy, Rose, , they’re, Dr, Murphy Organizations: University of Sydney
The most distant supermassive black hole seen yet appears as three bright spots clumped together. Webb shows details of the supermassive black hole's size and structureAn artist's conception of the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique GutierrezNot only is this mysterious beast the earliest supermassive black hole ever observed, it's also the most distant active supermassive black hole on record. For comparison, a 9 million solar mass black hole is closer to the size of the supermassive black hole at the center of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The first image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.
Persons: , James Webb, NASA's Webb, Webb, Leah Hustak, Steven Finkelstein, NASA GSFC, Adriana Manrique Gutierrez, it's, Dale Kocevski Organizations: Service, NASA, ESA, CSA, James Webb Space Telescope, Colby College, Bang
Those ripples are probably the distant thunder of countless collisions between supermassive black holes, throughout space and time. He predicted that the intense gravity of extremely massive objects, like black holes, warps the fabric of space-time. The NSF funded the 15-year experiment, which is called the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav). Supermassive black holes are thought to exist at the center of every galaxy. Her lab runs computer models of merging supermassive black holes to predict how they behave and what signals they send out into space.
Persons: , Albert Einstein's, Aurore, Sean Jones, Manuela Campanelli, NASA's James Webb, Noll, Kip Thorne, NASA Goddard Thorne, NANOGrav, LIGO, Stephen Taylor, Lorenzo Ennoggi Organizations: Service, Sciences, National Science Foundation, NSF, American Nanohertz, Rochester Institute of Technology, NASA's James Webb Space, Hubble, Telescope, NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Locations: Louisiana, Washington, Europe, India, Australia, China
CNN —Astronomers have been able to “hear” the celestial hum of powerful gravitational waves, created by collisions between black holes, echoing across the universe for the first time. Gravitational waves, initially predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916, are ripples in space-time that were first detected in 2015. Einstein theorized that gravitational waves would stretch and compress space as they moved across the universe, affecting how radio waves travel. More than 190 scientists set out to discover the frequencies of gravitational waves as part of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves collaboration, also known as NANOGrav. Searching for a celestial choirThe newly detected gravitational waves are the most powerful ever measured.
Persons: Albert Einstein, Einstein, , Chiara Mingarelli, We’ve, Simonnet, Scott Ransom, , ” Ransom, Luke Kelley, ” Kelley, it’s, ” Mingarelli, “ It’s, Stephen Taylor Organizations: CNN —, American Nanohertz, Green Bank, Yale University, National Radio Astronomy, University of California, Vanderbilt University Locations: Arecibo, Puerto Rico, West Virginia, New Mexico, Berkeley, Europe, India, China, Australia
Structures newly discovered in the Milky Way
  + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +5 min
CNN —An international team of astrophysicists has discovered hundreds of mysterious structures in the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Sagittarius A* “is the closest supermassive black hole to us, but it’s relatively quiet and therefore somewhat difficult to really study,” Hamden added. The vertical filaments surround the nucleus of the Milky Way, but the horizontal ones appear to spread out to one side toward the black hole. The vertical filaments, on the other hand, are magnetic and hold cosmic ray electrons moving nearly as fast as the speed of light. “One way to confirm that the (filament) structure is created by something like a jet is to find both sides of it.”This would add “to the complex, active picture of our own Milky Way,” she said.
Persons: astrophysicists, Farhad Yusef, Yusef, Zadeh, , , who’s, Erika Hamden, ” Yusef, Hamden Organizations: CNN, Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration, Research, Astrophysics, University of Arizona, South African Locations: Hamden
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULX) are objects that shine ten million times brighter than the sun. NASA has been tracking so-called ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULX), impossible objects that can be 10 million times brighter than the sun, to understand how they work. A new study categorically confirms that M82 X-2, a ULX 12 million light-years away, is as bright as previous observation suggested it to be. But if it were not falling in, the matter shouldn't be radiating, which means the object shouldn't be that bright. (A neutron star is a superdense object left behind when a star has run out of energy and dies.)
CNN —The James Webb Space Telescope has detected water vapor around a rocky exoplanet that orbits a star located 26 light-years away from Earth. The presence of water vapor could suggest that GJ 486 b somehow has an atmosphere, despite its heat and proximity to the star. “Water vapor in an atmosphere on a hot rocky planet would represent a major breakthrough for exoplanet science. The results from the Webb data analysis pointed to water vapor being present around GJ 486 b. Future observations of the planet using different instruments on the Webb telescope could reveal additional details about the source of the water vapor.
Like basketball scouts discovering a nimble, super-tall teenager, astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope reported recently that they had identified a small, captivating group of baby galaxies near the dawn of time. These galaxies, the scientists say, could well grow into one of the biggest conglomerations of mass in the universe, a vast cluster of thousands of galaxies and trillions of stars. The seven galaxies they identified date to a moment 13 billion years ago, just 650 million years after the Big Bang. He described the proto-cluster as the most distant and thus earliest such entity yet observed. Dr. Morishita was the lead author of a report on the discovery, which was published on Monday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The clues uncovered in the experiment might help astronomers find intermediate-mass black holes by searching for evidence of their behaviors. During the simulations, the intermediate-mass black hole snagged the star in its orbit, and each time the star made another lap, the black hole took another bite out of it. Each flare is brighter than the last, creating a signature that might help astronomers find them.”The search for elusive black holesAstrophysicists are still trying to prove if intermediate-mass black holes exist in the first place. The mass of a medium-mass black hole is thought to be between that of a supermassive black hole and a much lower-mass black hole. For example, what appears to be an intermediate-mass black hole might actually be the accumulation of stellar-mass black holes.”During the 3D modeling experiment, stars were able to complete as many as five orbits around an intermediate-mass black hole before being kicked away.
Researchers released a new, clearer image of what they believe the M87 black hole looks like. They developed a machine learning algorithm to provide clearer images of the black hole first released in 2019. The algorithm used data from thousands of simulated black holes to fill in gaps of data that created the 2019 images. The new images, published Thursday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, could provide important information for scientists studying the M87 black hole and others in the future, researchers said. "Since we cannot study black holes up-close, the detail of an image plays a critical role in our ability to understand its behavior."
CNN —The first photo ever taken of a black hole looks a little sharper now. The central region is darker and larger, surrounded by a bright ring as hot gas falls into the black hole in the new image. The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, called EHT, is a global network of telescopes that captured the first photograph of a black hole. Computers using PRIMO analyzed more than 30,000 high-resolution simulated images of black holes to pick out common structural details. But if heated materials in the form of plasma surround the black hole and emit light, the event horizon could be visible.
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