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Astronomy news. New! Earth-like extrasolar planet found; double helix nebula; supermassive black holes, astronomy articles, astronomy pictures. Updated daily.
Updated: 15 hours 43 min ago

Nasa’s Webb, Hubble telescopes affirm universe’s expansion rate, puzzle persists

Mon, 03/11/2024 - 2:58pm
When you are trying to solve one of the biggest conundrums in cosmology, you should triple check your homework. The puzzle, called the 'Hubble Tension,' is that the current rate of the expansion of the universe is faster than what astronomers expect it to be, based on the universe's initial conditions and our present understanding of the universe's evolution.

Baby quasars: Growing supermassive black holes

Thu, 03/07/2024 - 11:07am
The James Webb Space Telescope makes one of the most unexpected findings within its first year of service: A high number of faint little red dots in the distant Universe could change the way we understand the genesis of supermassive black holes.

Finding new physics in debris from colliding neutron stars

Wed, 03/06/2024 - 3:06pm
Neutron star mergers are a treasure trove for new physics signals, with implications for determining the true nature of dark matter, according to physicists.

Astronomers spot oldest 'dead' galaxy yet observed

Wed, 03/06/2024 - 3:06pm
A galaxy that suddenly stopped forming new stars more than 13 billion years ago has been observed by astronomers. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have spotted a 'dead' galaxy when the universe was just 700 million years old, the oldest such galaxy ever observed.

Discovery tests theory on cooling of white dwarf stars

Wed, 03/06/2024 - 3:05pm
Open any astronomy textbook to the section on white dwarf stars and you'll likely learn that they are 'dead stars' that continuously cool down over time. Astronomers are challenging this theory after discovering a population of white dwarf stars that stopped cooling for more than eight billion years.

Space tourism? Cosmic radiation exposure

Tue, 03/05/2024 - 1:43pm
Space weather experts are urging regulators and space tourism innovators to work together to protect their passengers and crews from the risks of space weather radiation exposure.

Groundbreaking survey reveals secrets of planet birth around dozens of stars

Tue, 03/05/2024 - 1:42pm
A team of astronomers has shed new light on the fascinating and complex process of planet formation. The research brings together observations of more than 80 young stars that might have planets forming around them, providing astronomers with a wealth of data and unique insights into how planets arise in different regions of our galaxy.

What makes black holes grow and new stars form? Machine learning helps solve the mystery

Tue, 03/05/2024 - 1:42pm
It takes more than a galaxy merger to make a black hole grow and new stars form: machine learning shows cold gas is needed too to initiate rapid growth -- new research finds.

JWST captures the end of planet formation

Mon, 03/04/2024 - 7:55pm
The James Webb Space Telescope is helping scientists uncover how planets form by advancing understanding of their birthplaces and the circumstellar disks surrounding young stars. Scientists have imaged winds from an old planet-forming disk (still very young relative to the Sun) which is actively dispersing its gas content. Knowing when the gas disperses is important as it constrains the time left for nascent planets to consume the gas from their surroundings.

Webb unlocks secrets of one of the most distant galaxies ever seen

Mon, 03/04/2024 - 1:59pm
Looking deeply into space and time, astronomers have studied the exceptionally luminous galaxy GN-z11, which existed when our 13.8 billion-year-old universe was only about 430 million years old.

Study determines the original orientations of rocks drilled on Mars

Mon, 03/04/2024 - 1:57pm
Geologists determined the original orientation of many of the Mars bedrock samples collected by the Perseverance rover. The findings can give scientists clues to the conditions in which the rocks originally formed.

New insights on how galaxies are formed

Fri, 03/01/2024 - 1:47pm
Astronomers can use supercomputers to simulate the formation of galaxies from the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago to the present day. But there are a number of sources of error. An international research team has spent a hundred million computer hours over eight years trying to correct these.

Ultraviolet radiation from massive stars shapes planetary systems

Fri, 03/01/2024 - 1:46pm
Up to a certain point, very luminous stars can have a positive effect on the formation of planets, but from that point on the radiation they emit can cause the material in protoplanetary discs to disperse.

Ice shell thickness reveals water temperature on ocean worlds

Thu, 02/29/2024 - 6:29pm
Astrobiologists have devised a novel way to determine ocean temperatures of distant worlds based on the thickness of their ice shells, effectively conducting oceanography from space.

Astronomers measure heaviest black hole pair ever found

Thu, 02/29/2024 - 6:28pm
Using archival data from the Gemini North telescope, a team of astronomers has measured the heaviest pair of supermassive black holes ever found. The merging of two supermassive black holes is a phenomenon that has long been predicted, though never observed. This massive pair gives clues as to why such an event seems so unlikely in the Universe.

Astronomers reveal a new link between water and planet formation

Thu, 02/29/2024 - 12:46pm
Researchers have found water vapor in the disc around a young star exactly where planets may be forming. Water is a key ingredient for life on Earth, and is also thought to play a significant role in planet formation. Yet, until now, we had never been able to map how water is distributed in a stable, cool disc -- the type of disc that offers the most favorable conditions for planets to form around stars.

Astronomers discover heavy elements after bright gamma-ray burst from neutron star merger

Thu, 02/29/2024 - 12:45pm
An international team of astronomers obtained observational evidence for the creation of rare heavy elements in the aftermath of a cataclysmic explosion triggered by the merger of two neutron stars.

'Cosmic lighthouses' that cleared primordial fog identified with JWST

Wed, 02/28/2024 - 1:20pm
Scientists working with data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have obtained the first full spectra of some of the earliest starlight in the universe. The images provide the clearest picture yet of very low-mass, newborn galaxies, created less than a billion years after the Big Bang, and suggest the tiny galaxies are central to the cosmic origin story.

Metal scar found on cannibal star

Mon, 02/26/2024 - 11:40am
When a star like our Sun reaches the end of its life, it can ingest the surrounding planets and asteroids that were born with it. Now, researchers have found a unique signature of this process for the first time -- a scar imprinted on the surface of a white dwarf star.

Webb finds evidence for neutron star at heart of young supernova remnant

Thu, 02/22/2024 - 9:40pm
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has found the best evidence yet for emission from a neutron star at the site of a recently observed supernova. The supernova, known as SN 1987A, was a core-collapse supernova, meaning the compacted remains at its core formed either a neutron star or a black hole. Evidence for such a compact object has long been sought, and while indirect evidence for the presence of a neutron star has previously been found, this is the first time that the effects of high-energy emission from the probable young neutron star have been detected.

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