Space and astronomy news
Why is there so much antimatter in the Universe? Ordinary matter is far more plentiful than antimatter, but scientists keep detecting more and more antimatter in the form of positrons. More positrons reach Earth than standard models predict. Where do they come from?
Scientists think pulsars are one source, and a new study strengthens that idea.
Continue reading “A Pulsar is Blasting out Jets of Matter and Antimatter”
Not that long ago,, astronomers weren’t sure that exoplanets even existed. Now we know that there are thousands of them and that most stars probably harbour exoplanets. There could be hundreds of billions of exoplanets in the Milky Way, by some estimates. So there’s no reason to think that stars in other galaxies don’t host planets.
But to find one of those planets in another galaxy? That is a significant scientific achievement.
Continue reading “Astronomers Might Have Found a Planet in Another Galaxy”
Planetary formation theory has been undergoing a lot of changes recently, with an ever expanding litany of events that can potentially impact it. Everything from gravity to magnetic fields seems to impact this complex process. Now scientists want to add another confounding factor – massive solar flares thousands of times more powerful than the most powerful we have ever observed from the Sun.
Continue reading “The Sun is Mellow Yellow Today. Billions of Years Ago? Not So Much”
One of the best things about that universe is that there is so much to it. If you look hard enough, you can most likely find any combination of astronomical events happening. Not long ago we reported on research that found 7 separate instances of three galaxies colliding with one another. Now, a team led by Jonathan Williams of the University of Maryland has found another triple galaxy merging cluster, but this one might potentially have two active supermassive black holes, allowing astronomers to peer into the system dynamics of two of the universe’s most extreme objects running into one another.
Continue reading “Rare Triple Galaxy Merger With at Least Two Supermassive Black Holes”
The core of the Milky Way Galaxy (aka. Galactic Center), the region around which the rest of the galaxy revolves, is a strange and mysterious place. It is here that the Supermassive Black Hole (SMBH) that powers the compact radio source known as Sagittarius A* is located. It is also the most compact region in the galaxy, with an estimated 10 million stars within 3.26 light-years of the Galactic Center.
Using data from Chandra X-ray Observatory and the MeerKAT radio telescope, NASA and the National Research Foundation (NSF) of South Africa created a mosaic of the center of the Milky Way. Combining images taken in the x-ray and radio wavelengths, the resulting panoramic image manages to capture the filaments of super-heated gas and magnetic fields that (when visualized) shows the complex web of energy at the center of our galaxy.
Continue reading “New Mosaic Shows the Galactic Core From Opposite Sides of the Electromagnetic Spectrum”
X-rays offer a unique insight into the astronomical world. Invisible to the naked eye, most commonly they are thought of as the semi-dangerous source of medical scans. However, X-ray observatories, like the Chandra X-ray Observatory are capable of seeing astronomical features that no other telescope can. Recently scientists found some of those X-rays coming from a relatively unexpected source – Uranus.
Continue reading “Uranus X-Rays are Probably Reflected Sunlight, but There Could be Another Source as Well”
It was the brightest supernova in nearly 400 years when it lit the skies of the southern hemisphere in February 1987. Supernova 1987A – the explosion of a blue supergiant star in the nearby mini-galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud – amazed the astronomical community. It offered them an unprecedented opportunity to observe an exploding star in real-time with modern instruments and telescopes. But something was missing. After the supernova faded, astronomers expected to find a neutron star (a hyper-dense, collapsed stellar core, made largely of neutrons) left-over at the heart of the explosion. They saw nothing.
Continue reading “Astronomers Think They’ve Found the Neutron Star Remnant Left Behind from Supernova 1987A”
Astronomers have spotted the remnant of a rare type of supernova explosion. It’s called a Type Iax supernova, and it’s the result of an exploding white dwarf. These are relatively rare supernovae, and astronomers think they’re responsible for creating many heavy elements.
They’ve found them in other galaxies before, but this is the first time they’ve spotted one in the Milky Way.
Continue reading “A New Supernova Remnant Found from an Exploding White Dwarf Star”
Some of the most stunningly powerful objects in the sky aren’t necessarily the prettiest to look at. But their secrets can allow humanity to glimpse some of the more intricate details of the universe that are exposed in their extreme environs. Any time we find one of these unique objects it’s a cause for celebration, and recently astronomers have found an extremely unique object that is both a magnetar and a pulsar, making it one of only 5 ever found.
Continue reading “Only 31 Magnetars Have Ever Been Discovered. This one is Extra Strange. It’s Also a Pulsar”
Four centuries ago, Johannes Kepler observed a bright new star in the night sky. Astronomers from all over the world noticed it, but it came to be known as Kepler’s star. It was caused by a stellar explosion 20,000 light-years from Earth, and it was the most recent naked-eye supernova to appear in our galaxy.
Continue reading “Supernova Wreckage is Still Expanding at Extreme Speeds After 400 Years”