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Search resuls for: "Neil Gehrels Swift"


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CNN —Astronomers are witnessing a never-before-seen spectacle in the cosmos: the awakening of a supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy. In late 2019, a team of astronomers took notice of an otherwise unremarkable galaxy named SDSS1335+0728, 300 million light-years away in the Virgo constellation. “If so, this would be the first time that we see the activation of a massive black hole in real time.”Sleeping celestial giantsSupermassive black holes are classified as having masses more than 100,000 times that of our sun. “In the case of SDSS1335+0728, we were able to observe the awakening of the massive black hole, (which) suddenly started to feast on gas available in its surroundings, becoming very bright.”Previous research has pointed to inactive galaxies that appeared to become active after several years, which is usually triggered by black hole activity, but the process of a black hole awakening has never been directly observed before, until now, Hernández García said. The same scenario may play out with Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, but astronomers aren’t sure how likely it is to occur, Ricci said.
Persons: , Paula Sánchez Sáez, Neil Gehrels Swift, Chandra, Sánchez Sáez, Lorena Hernández García, Claudio Ricci, , Hernández García, Ricci Organizations: CNN —, Palomar, Astrophysics, European Southern Observatory, Survey, Micron, Sky Survey, Sloan, European Southern, Southern Astrophysical Research, Keck, Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, University of Valparaíso, Diego Portales University Locations: California, Germany, European, Chile, Hawaii,
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
It was observed being plundered by a supermassive black hole at the heart of a spiral-shaped galaxy. The supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, called Sagittarius A*, possesses about 4 million times the mass of our sun. Most galaxies have such black holes at their center, and the environment around them can be among the most violent places in the universe. The star was observed orbiting the black hole every 20 to 30 days. This marked the first time that scientists had observed a sun-like star being repeatedly snacked upon by a supermassive black hole.
Persons: Neils Bohr, Daniele Malesani, Neil Gehrels, Rob Eyles, Ferris, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: NASA, Neils, REUTERS Acquire, Rights, NASA's, University of Leicester, Thomson Locations: Hawaii, U.S, Handout, England
Peculiar dead white dwarf star has two faces
  + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +5 min
CNN —Astronomers have made a first-of-its-kind discovery — a white dwarf star with two completely different faces. White dwarfs are burnt remains of dead stars. The newly discovered white dwarf has two sides, one made of hydrogen and the other made of helium. Researchers have nicknamed the star Janus, for the Roman god of transition, which has two faces. “We might have possibly caught one such white dwarf in the act.”As the white dwarf cools over time, the heavier and lighter materials may mix together.
Persons: Janus, , Ilaria Caiazzo, Caiazzo, Neil Gehrels, ” Caiazzo, , K, Miller, James Fuller Organizations: CNN —, California Institute of Technology, Observatory, Gran, Canarias, Keck, Caltech Locations: Canary, Maunakea, Hawaii
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
NASA space telescopes detected the brightest explosion ever recorded. Images show the faint object erupting with powerful gamma rays. About 1.9 billion years ago, a dying star collapsed, exploding in a powerful burst of gamma rays that careened toward Earth. Images taken in visible light by Swift’s Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope show how the afterglow of GRB 221009A (circled) faded over the course of about 10 hours. It could be decades before another gamma-ray burst this bright appears again.
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