X-Ray Astronomy
Japan’s New X-Ray Observatory Sees First Light
XRISM, the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, is a joint NASA/JAXA mission led by JAXA. The X-ray space telescope began…
Spider Pulsars are Tearing Apart Stars in the Omega Cluster
Pulsars are extreme objects. They're what's left over when a massive star collapses on itself and explodes as a supernova.…
Confirmed. Ultra-Luminous X-Ray Sources are Really That Bright
At the extreme end of astrophysics, there are all sorts of phenomena that seem to be counter-intuitive. For example, how…
The Crab Nebula Looks Completely Different in X-Rays, Revealing its Magnetic Fields
An international team of astronomers has created the most accurate map to date of the Crab Nebula's magnetic field, revealing…
Hungry Black Hole was Already Feasting 800 Million Years After the Big Bang
Black holes swallow everything—including light—which explains why we can't see them. But we can observe their immediate surroundings and learn…
A Star Came too Close to a Black Hole. It Didn’t End Well
Black holes are confounding objects that stretch physics to its limits. The most massive ones lurk in the centers of…
How Dangerous are Nearby Supernovae to Life on Earth?
Life and supernovae don't mix. From a distance, supernovae explosions are fascinating. A star more massive than our Sun runs…
Most Black Holes Spin Rapidly. This one… Doesn’t
A Chandra X-ray Observatory view of the supermassive black hole at the heart of quasar H1821+643. Courtesy NASA/CXC/Univ. of Cambridge/J.…
Astronomers Finally Catch a Nova Detonating on a White Dwarf as it's Happening
On July 7, 2020, the X-ray instrument eROSITA captured an astronomical event that – until then – had only been…
A Pulsar is Blasting out Jets of Matter and Antimatter
Why is there so much antimatter in the Universe? Ordinary matter is far more plentiful than antimatter, but scientists keep…