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☆ Hubble image may contain evidence of stellar cannibalism in dumbbell-shaped nebula
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The nebula, 3,400 light-years away in the Perseus constellation, is an expanding shell of gases kicked out by a dying red giant star. Before the aging red giant star collapsed, it released a ring of gas and dust. The companion star, once in orbit around the red giant, is nowhere to be seen in Hubble’s image. Since collapsing, the red giant star has transformed into a dead stellar remnant known as an ultra-dense white dwarf star. “The space telescope is the most scientifically productive space astrophysics mission in NASA history,” according to a NASA release.

Persons: Charles Messier, Pierre Méchain, Hubble, James Webb Organizations: CNN, Hubble, NASA

☆ Black holes are rampaging through our universe at more than 2.2 million mph and scientists think they now know why
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Maiya Focht | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

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

☆ ‘Tasmanian devil’ is a stellar corpse showing energetic signs of life
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Space is full of extreme phenomena, but the “Tasmanian devil” may be one of the weirdest and rarest cosmic events ever observed. Astronomers dubbed the celestial object the “Tasmanian devil,” and they observed it exploding repeatedly following its initial detection in September 2022. But the Tasmanian devil is revealing more questions than answers with its unexpected behavior. While LFBOTs are unusual events, the Tasmanian devil is even stranger, causing astronomers to question the processes behind the repetitive explosions. We’d never seen that, period, in astronomy.”To better understand the quick luminosity changes occurring in the Tasmanian devil, Ho and her colleagues reached out to other researchers to compare observations from multiple telescopes.

Persons: supernovas, —, ”, Anna Y.Q, Ho, “, Jeff Cooke, ” Ho, We’d, Anna Ho, Jason Koski, ” Cooke, they’ve, Vik Dhillon Organizations: CNN, Cornell University’s College of Arts and Sciences, Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology, ARC Centre, Cornell University Altogether, Telescope, ”, University of Sheffield Locations: California, United Kingdom

☆ Gamma-ray burst in faraway galaxy disturbed Earth's upper atmosphere
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

This gamma-ray burst, researchers said on Tuesday, caused a significant disturbance in Earth's ionosphere, a layer of the planet's upper atmosphere that contains electrically charged gases called plasma. It helps form the boundary between the vacuum of space and the lower atmosphere inhabited by people and Earth's other denizens. The gamma rays from the burst impacted Earth's atmosphere for a span of about 13 minutes on Oct. 9, 2022. Instruments on Earth showed that the gamma rays disturbed the ionosphere for several hours and even set off lightning detectors in India. The effects of this gamma-ray burst were studied with the help of the China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES), also called Zhangheng, a Chinese-Italian mission launched in 2018.

Persons: Mirko Piersanti, Piersanti, Pietro Ubertini, Ubertini, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: REUTERS, Acquire, Rights, Ray Astrophysics, University of L'Aquila, Nature Communications, National Institute for Astrophysics, Thomson Locations: Italy, India, China

☆ Cosmic ‘Christmas tree’ dazzles in new image captured by Hubble and Webb
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

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

☆ Star-filled Euclid images spur mission to probe 'dark universe'
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Tim Hepher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

PARIS, Nov 7 (Reuters) - European astronomers on Tuesday released the first images from the newly launched Euclid space telescope, designed to unlock the secrets of dark matter and dark energy - hidden forces thought to make up 95% of the universe. Scientists believe vast, seemingly organised structures such as Perseus could only have formed if dark matter exists. "The rest of the universe we call dark because it doesn't produce light in the normal electromagnetic spectrum. Tell-tale signs of the hidden force exerted by dark matter include galaxies rotating more quickly than scientists would expect from the amount of visible matter that can be detected. We think there's lots of dark matter in that cluster and pulling these galaxies together," she added.

Persons: Carole Mundell, Mundell, Euclid, we've, Europe's, NASA's James Webb, You'll, Tim Hepher, Steve Gorman, Alex Richardson Organizations: European Space Agency, NASA, Reuters, Hubble, ESA, SpaceX, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, Thomson Locations: Darmstadt, Germany, Spain, Ukraine, Florida, Los Angeles

☆ Massive cosmic explosion creates rare elements in space
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The James Webb Space Telescope and other observatories witnessed a massive explosion in space that created rare chemical elements, some of which are necessary for life. Tracking stellar explosionsAstronomers have long believed that neutron star mergers are the celestial factories that create rare elements heavier than iron. What was unusual about this burst is that it lasted for 200 seconds, making it a long gamma-ray burst. One of the pair exploded as a supernova, leaving behind a neutron star, and then the same thing happened to the other star. Finding cosmic elementsAstronomers have been trying to determine how chemical elements are created in the universe for decades.

Persons: James Webb, ”, Andrew Levan, Levan, Webb, Fermi, Neil Gehrels, “, Dmitri Mendeleev, ” Levan, it’s, supernovas, Eric Burns, Om Sharan Salafia, Nancy Grace, “ Webb, Ben Gompertz, ” Gompertz Organizations: CNN, James Webb Space Telescope, Way Galaxy, Telescope, Radboud University, Observatory, Royal Society of Chemistry, Astronomers, Louisiana State University, National Institute for Astrophysics, Institute, Gravitational, School of Physics, University of Birmingham Locations: Netherlands, Italy, United Kingdom

☆ Scientists untangle mystery about the universe's earliest galaxies
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

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

☆ A Cow, a Camel and a Finch Exploded in Space. What Is Going On?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Jonathan O Callaghan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

What do a cow, a koala, a camel, a Tasmanian devil and now a finch all have in common? They are nicknames given to a weird class of space explosions scientists can’t explain. They are more technically called luminous fast blue optical transients, or LFBOTs. These space explosions are much brighter than supernovas (which occur when stars explode), hence the “luminous” designation. They brighten quickly — hence “fast” — and are extremely hot, reaching 70,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and thus emitting “blue” light.

Persons: We’ve, ”, Daniel Perley, Finch, Perley Organizations: Liverpool John Moores University, Palomar Locations: Tasmanian, Madagascar, England, California

☆ Quasars reveal the early universe moved slower than it does now
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Scientists have peered into the early days of the universe, when it was about 1 billion years old, and discovered that things moved in slow motion compared with now. Unlocking what happened during the early days of the universe can help scientists tackle the biggest mysteries about its origin, how it evolved and what the future holds. “This expansion of space means that our observations of the early universe should appear to be much slower than time flows today. While very bright, supernovas become much harder to observe at greater distances from Earth, which means that astronomers needed another source that would be visible deeper in the early universe. “What we have done is unravel this firework display, showing that quasars, too, can be used as standard markers of time for the early universe.”

Persons: Albert Einstein’s, ”, Geraint Lewis, Einstein, ” Lewis, Brendon Brewer Organizations: CNN —, University of Sydney’s School of Physics, Sydney Institute for Astronomy, University of Auckland

☆ Ferocious black holes reveal 'time dilation' in early universe
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Scientists made that point anew on Monday in a study that used observations of a ferocious class of black holes called quasars to demonstrate "time dilation" in the early universe, showing how time then passed only about a fifth as quickly as it does today. The observations stretch back to about 12.3 billion years ago, when the universe was roughly a tenth its present age. Quasars - among the brightest objects in the universe - were used as a "clock" in the study to measure time in the deep past. Quasars are tremendously active supermassive black holes millions to billions of times more massive than our sun, usually residing at centers of galaxies. The explosion of individual stars cannot be seen beyond a certain distance away, limiting their use in studying the early universe.

Persons: Albert Einstein, Dr, Geraint Lewis, Lewis, today's, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: University of Sydney, Thomson Locations: Australia

☆ With neutrinos, scientists observe our galaxy in a whole new way
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] An artist's composition of the Milky Way seen with a neutrino lens (blue) is shown in this undated handout image. Scientists said on Thursday they have produced an image of the Milky Way not based on electromagnetic radiation - light - but on ghostly subatomic particles called neutrinos. Neutrinos are produced by the same sources as cosmic rays, the highest-energy particles ever observed, but differ in a key respect. They released an illustration of their findings with neutrinos from the Milky Way represented by light, with a heavy concentration at the galaxy's core. "The most likely source of neutrinos and cosmic rays in our galaxy," Taboada added, "are the remains of past supernova explosions.

Persons: Lily Le, Shawn Johnson, Ignacio Taboada, Francis Halzen, Taboada, Naoko Kurahashi Neilson, Halzen, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: . National Science Foundation, REUTERS, Georgia Tech, of Wisconsin, Drexel University, Thomson Locations: REUTERS WASHINGTON, Philadelphia

☆ Ancient galaxy reveals a surprising way to annihilate a star
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The explosion lasted just over a minute — considered long, like any gamma-ray burst, or GRB, that lasts more than two seconds. These violent, destructive bursts can leave behind dense remnants like neutron stars or result in the creation of black holes. Why ancient galaxies could hide star deathsDuring their search for the origin of the gamma-ray burst, astronomers used the Gemini South telescope located in Chile to observe the afterglow of the cosmic explosion. Compared with younger, more typical galaxies, ancient galaxies can have up to a million or more stars densely packed into their cores. But they had no evidence for any long gamma-ray bursts originating from ancient galaxies — until now.

Persons: NASA’s Neil Gehrels, ”, Wen, fai Fong, Andrew Levan, Albert Einstein, Jillian Rastinejad, Fong Organizations: CNN, fai, Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Radboud University, telltale, Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration, Research, Astrophysics, Northwestern Locations: Nijmegen , Netherlands, Chile, Northwestern

☆ 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.

☆ Image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope reveals a rare star preparing to explode and die in a supernova
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured a star getting ready to die in stunning detail. The image shows a rare Wolf-Rayet star, expelling its outer layers in the phase before a supernova. A Wolf-Rayet star is "among the most luminous, most massive, and most briefly-detectable stars known," according to NASA. Webb helps investigate a dusty cosmic mysteryThat cosmic dust is of great interest to astronomers. An artist's conception of the James Webb Space Telescope.

☆ Astronomers document a not-so-super supernova in the Milky Way
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

This binary system, studied using a telescope at the Chile-based Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, is located about 11,000 light years from Earth in our Milky Way galaxy in the direction of the constellation Puppis. Its companion star boasts a mass 18 to 19 times greater than the sun after cannibalizing its mate. The two stars orbit around each other every 59-1/2 days, separated by about eight-tenths of the distance existing between Earth and the sun. The type of binary system examined in this study is rare, with roughly 10 estimated to exist in a Milky Way populated by about 100-400 billion stars. "In the case of these massive stars, we have not yet detected planets around them.

☆ Rare cosmic collision acted like one of the ‘factories of gold’ in the universe
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The gamma-ray burst, called GRB 211211A, lasted about a minute. Gamma-ray bursts are considered among the strongest and brightest explosions in the universe, and they can range from a few milliseconds to several hours in length. An artist's illustration of GRB 211211A shows the kilonova and gamma-ray burst (right) and ejected material from the explosion (left). After determining that a kilonova created the infrared light, astronomers grew even more puzzled by the gamma-ray burst’s duration. Gamma-ray bursts caused by these rare explosions have only ever been observed to last less than two seconds, but this signal lasted for at least one minute.

☆ How Tom Brady, LeBron James, Serena Williams and more older athletes can refuse to retire
▼ + stars: | 2022-03-19 | by ( Dr. Jalal Baig | Dr. Jalal Baig Is A Physician | Writer Based In Chicago. His Work Has Appeared In The Washington Post | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Despite that, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback led the league in regular season passing yards, completions and touchdown passes. And he was the starting quarterback in four of the past six Super Bowls, bagging three Lombardi Trophies in that span. At the game Brady attended, Ronaldo became the highest scorer in FIFA history after netting his 807th career goal. Not everyone is brimming with the baseline talents of James or Brady or has the discipline or resources to stick with such regimens. With time, this may radically alter how athletes at all levels are nurtured, and even how nonathletes fend off the crippling effects of age.

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