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☆ Planet 9: Inside the search for a hidden planet in our solar system
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-04 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

“It could completely reshape our understanding of the solar system and of other planetary systems, and how we fit into that context. Brown and his colleague, planetary scientist Konstantin Batygin, reported having strong evidence of a hidden planet on the fringes of our solar system. “If you look at these bodies, their lifetimes are tiny compared to the age of the solar system,” Batygin said. “By now, we expected to have found many more of these extreme trans-Neptunian objects,” Sheppard said in an email. Finding a smaller planet would also spark excitement, Rice added, because every solar system planet is immensely useful for extrapolating information about the thousands of comparable exoplanets that researchers are uncovering across the galaxy.

Persons: Mike Brown, Pluto, ”, Brown, Pluto’s, Malena Rice, ” Rice, Konstantin Batygin, Neptune, they’ve, Brown’s, “, we’re, Scott Sheppard, Chadwick Trujillo, Trujillo, ” Brown, Batygin, ” Batygin, Patryk Sofia Lykawka, ” Lykawka, Lykawka, Rice, Hur, Renu Malhotra, Malhotra, Sheppard, ” Sheppard, ” Malhotra, she’s, “ It’s, Sigurd Naess, ” Naess, Vera C, Rubin, That’s Organizations: CNN, Caltech, NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Research, International Astronomical, ESA, Yale University, Getty, California Institute of Technology, Planet Nine, Carnegie Institution for Science, Northern Arizona University, Sheppard, Kindai University, Rice of Yale University, University of Arizona, Survey Telescope, Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, US National Science Foundation, Stanford University, Rubin, Rubin Observatory, Nine Locations: Pasadena , California, AFP, Washington ,, Japan, Neptune, Hawaii, Chile, Norway

☆ See the first piece of what promises to be the largest 3D map of the universe
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-23 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

One of Euclid’s primary goals is to observe dark matter and dark energy. While dark matter has never been detected, it is believed to make up 85% of the total matter in the universe. Meanwhile, dark energy is a mysterious force thought to play a role in the accelerating expansion of the universe. Rhodes is the US science lead for Euclid and principal investigator for NASA’s Euclid dark energy science team. “The images capture detail from clusters of stars near an individual galaxy to some of the largest structures in the universe.

Persons: ”, Valeria Pettorino, James Webb, Jason Rhodes, Rhodes, Euclid, Georges Lemaître, Edwin Hubble, Mike Seiffert Organizations: CNN, European Space Agency, Southern Hemisphere, ESA, International Astronautical, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, NASA Locations: Milan, Italy, Pasadena , California

☆ Astronomers spot the most massive black hole jets ever observed
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-24 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —Astronomers have observed a massive pair of jets releasing from a supermassive black hole 7.5 billion light-years from Earth. The megastructure spans 23 million light-years in length, making these black hole jets the largest ever seen, according to new research. Black hole jets can accelerate radiation and particles close to the speed of light, causing them to glow in wavelengths visible to radio telescopes. The massive black hole jets could help answer both. Martijn Oei (pictured), lead author of the new study, and his colleagues will continue their search for massive black hole jets.

Persons: Martijn Oei, ” Oei, Europe’s, Oei, “, Aivin Gast, Gast, LOFAR, “ Aivin, Porphyrion, NASA's, Powell, Nelson, Martin Hardcastle, Sasha Tchekhovskoy, ”, Tchekhovskoy Organizations: CNN —, California Institute of Technology, Astrophysics, University of Oxford, NASA, JPL, Caltech, CNN, Keck, NASA's Goddard, University of Hertfordshire, Northwestern University Locations: India, Hawaii, England

☆ NASA’s Chandra Observatory just celebrated 25 years in space. Budget cuts could threaten its future
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-24 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Chandra X-ray Observatory Center/NASASo far, Chandra has taken nearly 25,000 observations of the universe. Chandra X-ray Observatory Center/NASAShortly after launch, the observatory focused on what has become an iconic celestial target: supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. Chandra has returned to this feature again and again, revealing new insights each time. Chandra X-ray Observatory Center/NASA“Before Chandra, it was known that there was a sort of diffuse haze of X-ray emission coming from all directions in the sky. The NASA budget allotment for Chandra will gradually dwindle in the coming years, based on the agency’s budget request released in March. Chandra X-ray Observatory Center/NASADespite 25 years spent in space, Chandra remains in good health and virtually all of the spacecraft’s systems are in good condition, Slane said.

Persons: NASA’s Chandra, Chandra, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Eileen Collins, ” Collins, ”, Pat Slane, astrophysicists Riccardo Giacconi, Harvey Tananbaum, NASA’s, Slane, Chandra’s, ” Slane, “ Organizations: CNN, NASA, Center, Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Hubble, Telescope, Spitzer, Compton Gamma, “ NASA, Chandra Locations: Columbia, Cambridge , Massachusetts, “

☆ Cosmic dance of the Penguin and Egg galaxies glows in new Webb image
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-12 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning new view of two galaxies, nicknamed the Penguin and the Egg, locked in a cosmic dance to mark the observatory’s second anniversary. Launched on December 25, 2021, the Webb telescope shared its first science observations of the universe on July 12, 2022. Astronomers estimate that the Penguin and the Egg galaxies first interacted 25 million to 75 million years ago. NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI Arp 142 Hubble Webb NASA, ESA, CSA, STScIInitially, the Penguin looked like a spiral, but over time, its appearance has been reshaped through interactions with the Egg galaxy. Meanwhile, the oval-shaped Egg galaxy remains much the same.

Persons: James Webb, Webb, Bill Nelson, Arp, ”, Mark Clampin, “ Webb Organizations: CNN, Telescope, Penguin, NASA, Hubble, ESA, CSA, Hubble Webb NASA, NASA’s Astrophysics

☆ Meet Lokiceratops, the rock star cousin of Triceratops
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-22 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. The Triceratops fossil emerged first as it eroded from the rock of the Hell Creek Formation in 2006. Across the universeAn artist's illustration shows a supermassive black hole as it wakes up at the center of a faraway galaxy. M. Kornmesser/ESOAstronomers are watching a supermassive black hole awakening in the middle of a distant galaxy for the first time. Sign up here to receive in your inbox the next edition of Wonder Theory, brought to you by CNN Space and Science writers Ashley Strickland and Katie Hunt.

Persons: dino, rex, Mark Eatman, ”, Eatman, Sergey Krasovskiy, Lokiceratops rangiformis, Lokiceratops, Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, won’t, Stephen Hawking, Robert Erwan Fordyce, Benjamin Kear, Martin Bernetti, Fernando Trujillo, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, NASA, International Space Station, Boeing, ESO, University of Otago, Southern Hemisphere, Uppsala University’s Museum, Evolution, Getty, CNN Space, Science Locations: what’s, Montana, Raleigh, what's, Maribo, Denmark, British, New Zealand, Pangea, Uppsala, Sweden, Nui, Chile, AFP, Easter, Rapa, Colombian

☆ Dyson spheres: Could alien megastructures exist in the Milky Way? Scientists found 7 places to look
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Now, a new study that looked at 5 million stars in the Milky Way galaxy suggests that seven candidates could potentially be hosting Dyson spheres — a finding that’s attracting scrutiny and alternate theories. If Dyson spheres really exist, what could they be used for? “Freeman Dyson said that we should dismantle Jupiter — the whole planet (for the raw materials).”That supercolossal scale probably means that Dyson spheres, if they exist at all, are very rare. “However, contamination by circumstellar debris disks, which mimic Dyson Sphere infrared signatures, remains a concern,” he added in an email. However, he added, the radiation fingerprint of the seven Dyson sphere candidates might be explained by natural phenomena as well.

Persons: Freeman Dyson, ”, Dyson, Olaf Stapledon’s, George Dyson, ’, Freeman J, couldn’t, Matías Suazo, Suazo, “, Webb, that’s, Gabriella Contardo, NASA’s James Webb, ” Suazo, “ Freeman Dyson, Jason Wright, James Webb, —, Leslie Surginer, ” George Dyson, Tomotsugu Goto, Zaza Osmanov, ” Osmanov, George Organizations: CNN, Institute of, “, ‘, AP, Dyson, SETI Institute, Fermi, Accelerator Laboratory, Fermilab, Royal Astronomical Society, Uppsala University, NASA, Survey, JPL, ESA, European Space Agency, Micron, Sky Survey, University of Massachusetts, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, International School, Studies, Telescope, Penn State University, James Webb Space Telescope, William Press, Computer Science, University of Texas, Tsing Hua, SETI, of Physics, Free University of Tbilisi Locations: British, Princeton , New Jersey, Sweden, Trieste, Italy, Austin, Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, Georgia

☆ Study proves black holes have a ‘plunging region,’ just as Einstein predicted
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Using telescopes capable of detecting X-rays, a team of astronomers has for the first time observed this area — called the “plunging region” — in a black hole about 10,000 light-years from Earth. The study’s findings could help astronomers better understand the formation and evolution of black holes. One thing that’s missing from the study is an actual image of the black hole, because it is too small and far away. But another team of Oxford researchers is working on something even better than a picture: the first movie of a black hole. “For example, it can be used to measure the rotation rate of the black hole,” said Reynolds, who was not involved in the study.

Persons: CNN — Albert Einstein, “ We’ve, ”, Andrew Mummery, ” It’s, Einstein’s, Mummery, “, We’ve, ” Mummery, Weiss, Christopher Reynolds, Reynolds, Dan Wilkins, Wilkins, ” Wilkins Organizations: CNN, Royal Astronomical Society, Leverhulme, Peierls, University of Oxford, NASA, Space, JPL, Caltech, Oxford, University of Maryland, College, Stanford University in Locations: United Kingdom, Africa, Namibia, Stanford University in California

☆ Photos show what it's like to fall into a black hole
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A NASA video reveals in stunning detail what falling into a black hole would look like. AdvertisementNASA recently released a series of trippy videos showing what it would look like if you plunged into a black hole. But not just any black hole — a supermassive black hole with 4.3 million times the mass of our sun. That's about the size of the giant black hole that lurks at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Black holes are extreme cosmic environments where gravity, time, and light act differently from what we're used to on Earth.

Persons: — Organizations: NASA, Service, Business

☆ ‘God’s Hand’ cosmic feature reaches for a galaxy in new image
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The Dark Energy Camera captured a stunning image of “God’s Hand,” a cometary globule 1,300 light-years from Earth in the Puppis constellation. Cometary globules are unique because they have extended tails, like those seen on comets — but that’s the only cometlike thing about them. Astronomers still don’t know how cometary globules come to exist in such distinctive structures. The new image of the glowing red hand-like feature showcases CG 4, one of many cometary globules found across the Milky Way galaxy. The Gum Nebula is believed to contain 31 cometary globules in addition to CG 4.

Persons: Blanco, Cometary, Bok globule, it’s, globules Organizations: CNN, Energy, Cerro Tololo Inter, American, UK Schmidt Telescope, Astronomers Locations: Chile, Australia

☆ ‘Sleeping giant’ massive black hole found in the Milky Way galaxy
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Astronomers have spotted the most massive known stellar black hole in the Milky Way galaxy after detecting an unusual wobble in space. The wobbling movement of an old giant star in the Aquila constellation revealed that it was in an orbital dance with a dormant black hole, and it’s the third such dormant black hole spotted by Gaia. So Gaia BH3 is the most massive black hole in our galaxy that formed from the death of a massive star. Stellar black holes observed across the Milky Way galaxy are about 10 times as massive as the sun on average. True to expectations, the researchers found that the star orbiting Gaia BH3 was metal-poor, which means that the star that formed Gaia BH3 was likely the same.

Persons: ”, Gaia BH3, —, munch, Aquila, Gaia, Pasquale Panuzzo, BH3, hadn’t, Elisabetta Caffau, “, Carole Mundell Organizations: CNN —, Southern, Astrophysics, “, France’s National, for Scientific Research, ESO, Space Locations: Atacama, Paris, France’s

☆ A Harvard professor is risking his reputation to search for aliens. Tech tycoons are bankrolling his quest.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +26 min

The Harvard professor's research is bankrolled by tech tycoons "pissed off" at academia's dogma. But this boundary-pushing is exactly why he's backed Loeb's research. AdvertisementDesch, the astrophysicist from Arizona University, posted a critique of Loeb's work on arXiv alleging "multiple fatal flaws with the manuscript's arguments." Asked whether he no longer believes in a possible technological origin for the meteor, Loeb said they need to investigate further. As he plans more extravagant expeditions to prove the origin of the interstellar meteor, Loeb likens his critics to crows pecking at the neck of an eagle.

Persons: Avi Loeb, Loeb, —, Steven Desch, they're, Loeb's, they've, Charles Hoskinson, that's, Anibal Martel, Mark Zuckerberg, Stephen Hawking, Lucas Jackson, Oumuamua, Desch, It's, Meech, Hoskinson, Rather, Lane Turner, James Webb, Bill Diamond, Stenzel, AARO, UAPs, Loeb hasn't, Joe Rogan's, Eugene Jhong, Galileo, ", Frank Laukien, Laukien, Charles Alcock, Seth Shostak, Stephen Wolfram, Richard Branson's, Vera, Rubin, Avi Loeb Loeb, what's, Rob McCallum, Mariana Trench, James Cameron, Avi Loeb Hoskinson, spherules, Harvard's Stein Jacobsen, Loeb didn't, Monica Grady, Patricio Gallardo, it's, Diamond, That's Avi, Adam Glanzman Organizations: Harvard, Service, Arizona State University, Netflix, Galileo, Anadolu Agency, Reuters, University of Hawaii, Boston Globe, James Webb Telescope, NASA, SETI Institute, Pew Research Center, Department of Defense, UAP Department of Defense, Jhong, Bruker Corporation, Smithsonian's, for Astrophysics, MIT, Wolfram Research, Harvard University, Survey, US Space Command, Hoskinson, UK's Open University, University of Chicago, Arizona University, U.S . Government, The Washington, Getty, Loeb, Astronomy, Astrophysics Locations: Lexington , Massachusetts, United States, Getty, Loeb's, New York, Cambridge, Massachussetts, UAPs, Colorado, Chile, Papua New Guinea, 2401.09882, IM1

☆ This new photo of a supermassive black hole is unlike any before, showing powerful magnetic fields spiraling around it
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

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

☆ An ancient dinner still sits in a Bronze Age village 2,850 years later
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

First, one of the crew found a marble head of a Roman lady, and two weeks later its bust surfaced nearby, reuniting the pieces. Cambridge Archaeological UnitMust Farm was a thriving Bronze Age stilt village, perched above a river in eastern England, when it burned down 2,850 years ago — just nine months after its inhabitants had built it. The site, acclaimed by experts as “Britain’s Pompeii,” preserved rare information that reveals a new, less hierarchical portrait of Bronze Age society. Malhan/MPIAAstronomers have spied two streams of ancient stars that likely helped build the Milky Way galaxy billions of years ago. They find wonder in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.

Persons: Earl of Exeter, ”, Chris Wakefield, Kermit the, Jim Henson’s, Payne, Shiva, Li Yibo, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, Burghley, University of Cambridge, Smithsonian National Museum of, NASA, Force, Xinhua News Agency, Getty, CNN Space, Science Locations: United Kingdom, Peterborough, England, Cambridge, Africa, Ethiopia’s, China, Shaanxi, Iran

☆ Webb telescope spies millions of stars in stunning spiral galaxies
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The James Webb Space Telescope has captured scintillating portraits of 19 spiral galaxies — and the millions of stars that call them home — in unprecedented detail never seen before by astronomers. Astronomers believe that about 60% of all galaxies are spiral galaxies — and our solar system resides in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy. Webb’s observations can help astronomers better understand star formation and the evolution of spiral galaxies like our own. The James Webb Space Telescope captured images of 19 spiral galaxies in near- and mid-infrared light. The images will be used to help astronomers determine the distribution of gas and dust in spiral galaxies, as well as how galaxies both nurture and cease the formation of stars.

Persons: James Webb, Janice Lee, Thomas Williams, ”, Webb’s, cocooned, Erik Rosolowsky, Webb, Rosolowsky, ” Webb, Adam Leroy, Eva Schinnerer, Max Planck, Leroy, ” Leroy Organizations: CNN, Telescope, James Webb Space, NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Hubble, Telescope Science, University of Alberta, Ohio State University, Max, Max Planck Institute, Astronomy Locations: Oxford, Chile, Baltimore, Edmonton, Columbus, Heidelberg, Germany

☆ ‘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

☆ Astronomers surprised to find planet 'too massive for its star'
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] An undated handout image shows an artistic rendering of the mass comparison of the star LHS 3154 and its planet LHS 3154b, and our own Earth and Sun. The mass ratio of this planet with its star is more than 100 times greater than that of Earth and the sun. "We discovered a planet that is too massive for its star," said Penn State astronomer Suvrath Mahadevan, one of the leaders of the study published this week in the journal Science. The planet, called LHS 3154 b, orbits at about 2.3% of Earth's orbital distance from the sun, circling its star every 3.7 days. So a very low mass star should have a disk that is also low mass.

Persons: Suvrath Mahadevan, Guðmundur Stefánsson, Stefánsson, Mahadevan, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: LHS, Penn State University, Handout, REUTERS Acquire, Rights, Penn State, Princeton University, University of Texas, McDonald, Thomson

☆ Puzzlingly massive planet found orbiting a small star
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The planet, about the mass of Neptune and more than 13 times as massive as Earth, was detected orbiting an ultracool M-dwarf star called LHS 3154 — which is nine times less massive than our sun. This graphic compares the sizes of our sun and Earth with the smaller, cooler LHS 3154 star and its orbiting planet, LHS 3154b. For example, small M dwarf stars are the most common throughout the Milky Way galaxy, and they typically have small, rocky planets orbiting them, rather than gas giant planets. “The planet-forming disk around the low-mass star LHS 3154 is not expected to have enough solid mass to make this planet,” Mahadevan said. A team of scientists led by Mahadevan built the HPF, which was designed to detect planets orbiting within the habitable zone of small, cool stars.

Persons: ”, Suvrath Mahadevan, Verne M, ” Mahadevan, Mahadevan, “, Megan Delamer, ” Delamer Organizations: CNN —, LHS, Penn, Penn State, McDonald Observatory Locations: Texas

☆ Planet-forming disk detected around star in another galaxy for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —For the first time, astronomers have glimpsed a young star outside the Milky Way galaxy that’s ringed by a dense disk where planets may form. The massive star, called HH 1177, and its rotating disk were spotted in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring dwarf galaxy that’s about 160,000 light-years away. The gas and dust accumulate in a flat disk around the star, known as an accretion disk, as a result of strong gravitational forces. The Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, or MUSE instrument, on the telescope captured a jet of material releasing from the young star. To discern whether a disk was present around the star, the team needed to measure how quickly dense gas moved around the star.

Persons: ”, Anna McLeod, ” McLeod, McLeod, Jonathan Henshaw, aren’t, “ Organizations: CNN, Durham University, Southern, ESO, Liverpool John Moores University Locations: ALMA, United Kingdom, Chile

☆ In a first, a newborn star's spinning disk is seen in another galaxy
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Newborn stars with these circumstellar disks had been observed by astronomers only in our Milky Way galaxy - until now. Observing these disks in other galaxies is very important because it tells us about how stars form in environments different from that of the Milky Way," McLeod added. The Large Magellanic Cloud is considered a satellite galaxy of the sprawling Milky Way, as is another galaxy called the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Large Magellanic Cloud has less dust than the Milky Way and a smaller content of what astronomers call metallic elements - those other than hydrogen and helium. McLeod expressed hope for detecting other circumstellar disks in the Large Magellanic Cloud and perhaps the further Small Magellanic Cloud.

Persons: Anna McLeod, McLeod, Jonathan Henshaw, Liverpool, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: European Southern Observatory, Durham University, Liverpool John Moores University, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON, England, Atacama

☆ Six planets found in synchronized orbit may help solve cosmic puzzle
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

This illustration shows the orbital motion of six planets discovered orbiting star HD110067 located around 100 light-years from Earth. The planets all are a type called 'sub-Neptunes,' which have diameters between 2 and 3 times that of Earth. Earth, the largest of our solar system's four rocky planets, has a diameter of about 7,900 miles (12,750 km). The planets orbit the star between 6% and 20% of the distance between Earth and the sun. "None of them are in the nominal habitable zone for terrestrial planets.

Persons: Hugh Osborn, Handout, Osborn, Rafael Luque, Luque, James Webb, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: REUTERS Acquire, Rights, University of Bern, University of Chicago, James Webb Space, Thomson Locations: Switzerland, JWST

☆ Six exoplanets spotted in a cosmic waltz around nearby star
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

And the planets, labeled b through g, revolve around the star in a celestial dance known as orbital resonance. For every six orbits completed by planet b, the closest planet to the star, the outermost planet g completes one. As planet c makes three revolutions around the star, planet d does two, and when planet e completes four orbits, planet f does three. Detecting a mysteryResearchers first took notice of the star system in 2020 when NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, detected dips in the brightness of HD110067. “It shows us the pristine configuration of a planetary system that has survived untouched.”The discovery is the second time Cheops has helped reveal a planetary system with orbital resonance.

Persons: TESS, Rafael Luque, Cheops, ”, Luque, “ Cheops, ” Luque, Maximilian Günther, they’re, James Webb, Webb, Jo Ann Egger Organizations: CNN —, ESA, University of Chicago’s, “, James Webb Space, Telescope, University of Bern Locations: Switzerland

☆ 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

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronomers have discovered a rare in-sync solar system with six planets moving like a grand cosmic orchestra, untouched by outside forces since their birth billions of years ago. The find, announced Wednesday, can help explain how solar systems across the Milky Way galaxy came to be. The six found so far are roughly two to three times the size of Earth, but with densities closer to the gas giants in our own solar system. This solar system is unique because all six planets move similar to a perfectly synchronized symphony, scientists said. All solar systems, including our own, are thought to have started out like this one, according to the scientists.

Persons: Tess, —, Adrien Leleu, they're, ”, Enric Palle, Palle, University of Bern’s Hugh Osborn Organizations: —, University of Geneva, of Astrophysics, University of Bern’s, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla, Canary

☆ Scientists think they've finally solved the decades-long mystery of why our Milky Way galaxy is so rare
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Spiral galaxies like the Milky Way are surprisingly rare in our galactic neighborhood. The Milky Way, for example, is a spiral galaxy because of the way that stars, dust, and gas spiral out from the center of the galaxy. But spiral galaxies like ours are surprisingly rare in our galactic neighborhood, and for years, astronomers have wondered why since the 1960s. The simulation showed that galaxies in dense clusters, like the one our Milky Way calls home, experienced frequent collisions and mergers. For example, when two spiral galaxies collide, it's thought to create what's called an elliptical galaxy.

Persons: —, Carlos Frenk Organizations: Service, Institute, Durham University

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