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☆ A rare 'Devil Comet' will appear during the 2024 total solar eclipse. Here's how to see the Mt. Everest-sized space rock.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

During the total solar eclipse on April 8th, the fiery green "Devil comet" could be visible too. The timing offers a rare opportunity to simultaneously see a comet and a total solar eclipse. For the first time in 71 years, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, a.k.a the "Mother of Dragons" or "Devil comet," is coming relatively close to the sun. Time will pass quickly, and there are plenty of other spectacular phenomena to watch for during the event, besides the Devil comet. So an eruption during the total solar eclipse would be a spectacular treat if it happened.

Persons: —, Comet 12P, Pons, Brooks, it's, Everest, Juan Lacruz, Robert Massey, Geronimo Villanueva, Pons Brooks, Stuart Atkinson Organizations: Service, Comet, Royal Astronomical Society, Wikimedia Locations: Texas, Maine, Jupiter

☆ Astronomers spot a ‘super-Earth’ 137 light-years away
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Astronomers have discovered a “super-Earth,” or a world larger than our planet, orbiting a star about 137 light-years away. The super-Earth exoplanet, known as TOI-715b, orbits a red dwarf star that is cooler and smaller than our sun. “This discovery is exciting as it’s the first super-Earth from TESS to be found within the conservative habitable zone,” Dransfield said. If the Earth-size planet is confirmed, it will become the smallest planet yet that TESS has found in a habitable zone. TOI-715b’s star has only shown a couple of flares within the past two years and isn’t considered active, making it an old star, Dransfield said.

Persons: TESS, Georgina Dransfield, Dransfield, James Webb, Webb, “, isn’t, PLATO, ” Dransfield, ” Organizations: CNN —, Royal Astronomical Society, Researchers, University of Birmingham’s School of Physics, Astronomers, James Webb Space Telescope Locations: United Kingdom

☆ ‘Old smoker’ stars revealed at the heart of the Milky Way
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —A decade-long survey of the night sky has revealed a mysterious new type of star astronomers are referring to as an “old smoker.”These previously hidden stellar objects are aging, giant stars located near the heart of the Milky Way galaxy. This illustration shows an eruption occurring in the swirling disk of matter around a newborn star. They help the newborn star in the middle to grow, but make it harder for planets to form. Infrared images show a red giant star, located 30,000 light years away near the center of the Milky Way. Understanding how the old smokers release elements into space could change the way astronomers think about the way such elements are distributed across the universe.

Persons: Philip Lucas, Lucas, ”, Zhen Guo, Fondecyt, Guo, ” Guo, ” Lucas, Dante Minniti Organizations: CNN, Royal Astronomical Society, Astronomers, Survey, Cerro Paranal Observatory, Southern, University of Hertfordshire, University of Valparaiso, University of Hertfordshire Red, NASA, Andrés Bello University Locations: Chilean Andes, Cerro, Chile

☆ A rogue star could save Earth from extinction in a billion years by knocking it out past Pluto
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An unexpected rescue mission could come in the form of a star flying by the solar system. There's a slim chance the star could pull the Earth to a more habitable zone, a study suggested. The researchers ran 12,000 simulations to see what would happen if a star passed within 100 astronomical units (about 9.3 billion miles) from Earth. In 92% of cases, the solar system would remain almost intact even as a star passed by the solar system. In some simulations, Earth remained in the solar system but was pulled to a region beyond Pluto that's about 10% cooler than our current orbit.

Persons: —, Sean Raymond, there's, Raymond, that's Organizations: Service, University of Bordeaux, Planetary Science Institute, New, Royal Astronomical Society Locations: France, Tucson , Arizona

☆ 'Vampire' stars could be using galactic henchmen to help feed on their companions
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-02 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Type-Be stars, nicknamed "vampire" stars, are believed to strip the mass of a nearby star. Type-Be stars, characterized by their large size and surrounding rings of gas, are a subset of type-B stars , which are very hot, bright, and blue. The nickname "vampire stars" comes from the most accepted theory of how type-Be stars form rings, researchers said in the study — by sucking the metaphorical neck of an intergalactic victim. AdvertisementThe team observed the type-Be stars by comparing the positions of various stars over longer and shorter periods. However, the team was surprised to learn that they were detecting a higher rate of binary systems for type-B stars than for type-Be stars.

Persons: —, Jonathan Dodd, de Mink, thrall, Dodd Organizations: Service, Royal Astronomical Society, ESO, University of Leeds, European Space Agency

☆ The black hole at the center of the Milky Way is spinning so fast, it's squishing space-time down like a football
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Scientists found that the black hole at the center of our galaxy is spinning so fast its dragging space-time along. AdvertisementA team of scientists has discovered that the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is spinning so fast that it's squishing space-time. Advertisement"But if you have a rapidly rotating black hole, the space-time around it is not symmetric," Daly said, according to CNN. "The spinning black hole is dragging all of the space-time around with it … it squishes down the space-time, and it sort of looks like a football." That may sound alarming, but don't worry; the black hole is way too far away to affect us here on Earth.

Persons: —, Chandra, Ruth Daly, We're, Daly Organizations: Service, Royal Astronomical Society, NASA, CNN

☆ Sagittarius A*, our galaxy’s black hole, spins fast and drags space-time with it
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The researchers confirmed that the black hole is spinning, which causes what is known as the Lense-Thirring effect. “But if you have a rapidly rotating black hole, the space-time around it is not symmetric — the spinning black hole is dragging all of the space-time around with it … it squishes down the space-time, and it sort of looks like a football,” she said. Black holes and galactic historyKnowing the mass and the spin of a black hole helps astronomers understand how the black hole might have formed and evolved, Daly said. However, a black hole that was made with accretion of surrounding gas would see a high spin value. “The question of whether our central galactic black hole rotates or not, or how fast it rotates, is quite important,” Stojkovic said in an email.

Persons: NASA’s Chandra, Ruth Daly, Daly, ” Daly, “ We’re, ”, “, Dejan Stojkovic, ” Stojkovic Organizations: CNN, Royal Astronomical Society, Penn State University, University, Buffalo

☆ NASA's Hubble spots a mysterious flash in the middle of nowhere that defies science
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Scientists had previously thought Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients were caused by dying stars. AdvertisementAdvertisementA bright flash of blue light appearing in the middle of seemingly empty space has scientists confused. Scientists previously thought they knew what could cause such a bright burst of energy. That's much too far for a core-collapse supernova to travel. There are a few more hypotheses for what could cause the bright blue flashes.

Persons: —, Ashley Chrimes, Finch, hasn't, James Webb Organizations: Service, NASA, Space Agency Research, Space Flight, Royal Astronomical Society

☆ A brilliant cosmic burst 100 times as bright as our galaxy came from 2 black holes circling each other, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Chris Panella | Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Huge cosmic bursts are coming from two black holes circling each other in a distant galaxy. In this case, the flare came from a binary system consisting of two black holes trapped in a rapid dance. A cosmic burst 100 times brighter than our galaxyThe recorded burst, which astronomers observed in February 2022, occurred when the smaller black hole crashed into a disk of gas surrounding the larger black hole, the study's scientists said. Up to this point, its presence was only predicted through observations of its gravitational influence on the larger black hole. An illustration of the binary black hole system, OJ 287, showing the massive black hole surrounded by an accretion disk.

Persons: —, Mauri Valtonen, Valtonen, Swift, Cruz, they've Organizations: Service, Royal Astronomical Society, ESO, ESA, Hubble, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, NASA, OJ, University of Turku Locations: OJ287

☆ The Biggest Explosion in the Cosmos Just Keeps Going
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Dennis Overbye | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Not two weeks ago, on May 3, astronomers reported observing a star that was in the process of swallowing one of its own planets. Just two days earlier, another team had described black holes that were ripping stars apart and consuming them in a process known as tidal disruption event, or T.D.E. Now an international group of astronomers reports that it is observing one of the most violent and energetic acts of cosmic cannibalism ever witnessed, perhaps the biggest explosion seen yet in the history of the universe. A study of the phenomenon appeared Friday in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Most supernovas fade after a few weeks; this one, known as AT2021lwx, kept going — and has continued to explode for three years now.

☆ Solving the mystery of the most powerful objects in the universe
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Astronomers first discovered quasars, considered to be the brightest and most powerful objects in the universe, 60 years ago — but they didn’t understand their origin. Now, scientists think they have unlocked the mystery behind what ignites these celestial objects. Astronomers observed 48 different galaxies that contain quasars and compared them to more than 100 galaxies without them. When two galaxies merge, massive amounts of gas are pushed toward the supermassive black holes located at their centers. “Quasars play a key role in our understanding of the history of the Universe, and possibly also the future of the Milky Way.”

The northern and southern lights, which are usually confined to the Arctic and Antarctica, have generated awe and wonder for centuries. The northern lights were visible over St. Mary's lighthouse in Whitley Bay, England on Monday. The southern lights glowed over Lake Ellesmere on the outskirts of Christchurch, New Zealand on Monday. Over the next few years, the northern lights might appear further south more regularly, said Robert Massey, executive director at the Royal Astronomical Society. A National Weather Service employee took a photo of the northern lights in Maine on Sunday.

☆ An 'ultramassive' black hole has been discovered that's 33 billion times the mass of the sun
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

They estimate this black hole is 30 billion times bigger than our sun. That would make it one of the biggest black holes ever discovered. This black hole may remain one of the biggest holes ever discovered because physicists think black holes can't grow much bigger than that, Nightingale said. The technique could unveil 'inactive' black holesThe discovery of this black hole pushes back the limits of cosmology, Nightingale told the BBC. "How do you form a black hole this big in just 13 billion years of the universe's existence?"

☆ Calea Lactee îşi pierde din viteza de rotaţie
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-19 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +3 min

Materia întunecată nu emite şi nici nu absoarbe lumina sau radiaţiile electromagnetice sau de altă natură, şi implicit nu poate fi observată direct cu telescoapele. Astrofizicienii estimează că materia întunecată constituie 73% din materia din Univers şi 23% din masa-energia sa. Calea Lactee este o galaxie spiralată cu o concentraţie mare de stele în zona sa centrală şi uriaşe braţe pivotante care se extind în cosmos. Cercetătorii au descoperit dovezi ale acestei migraţii cosmice spre exteriorul Căii Lactee a stelelor din Hercules Stream, atunci când au analizat compoziţia chimică a acestor stele. "Contragreutatea care a încetinit viteza de rotaţie trebuie să fie materia întunecată.

Persons: Ralph Schoenrich, Deocamdată, Schoenrich Organizations: University College London, Agerpres, Hercules, Stream, Astronomical Society Locations: Lactee

☆ В центре нашей Галактики обнаружено скопление таинственного вещества
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-17 | by ( Mld Media Srl | ) noi.md time to read: +1 min

В центре Млечного Пути находится скопление темной материи, чье влияние приводит к замедлению вращения центральной области Галактики, состоящей из миллиардов звезд. Астрофизики доказали существование невидимого вещества, опираясь на данные, полученные от телескопа Gaia. В частности, ученые проанализировали показатели металличности звезд (обогащенности металлами, то есть элементами тяжелее водорода и гелия) в центре Галактики. Согласно гипотезе, существование темной материи должно оказывать влияние на вращение перемычки - зоны звезд и газа, от которой расходятся ветви Галактики. Что и было доказано: с момента формирования центр Млечного Пути замедлил свое вращение на четверть.

Organizations: Royal Astronomical Society, Университетский колледж, Оксфордский университет Locations: Млечное Пути, Галактика, Лондон

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