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Astronomy news
The distance to the North Polar Spur
One of the largest structures in the Milky Way galaxy, the North Polar Spur, was discovered at radio and X-ray wavelengths. The Spur is a giant ridge of bright emission that rises roughly perpendicularly out of the plane ...
Astronomy
12 hours ago
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Gamma-ray and optical flares detected from the blazar S5 1803+784
Using NASA's Fermi spacecraft, astronomers have conducted a long-term monitoring campaign of a blazar known as S5 1803+784 and have identified several gamma-ray and optical flares from this source. The finding is detailed ...
Chemical signatures of iron predict red supergiant temperature
Red supergiants are a class of star that end their lives in supernova explosions. Their lifecycles are not fully understood, partly due to difficulties in measuring their temperatures. For the first time, astronomers have ...
Astronomy
14 hours ago
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The GRANTECAN discovers the largest cluster of galaxies known in the early universe
A study, led by researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and carried out with OSIRIS, an instrument on the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), has found the most densely populated galaxy cluster in formation ...
Astronomy
Feb 26, 2021
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New study suggests supermassive black holes could form from dark matter
A new theoretical study has proposed a novel mechanism for the creation of supermassive black holes from dark matter. The international team find that rather than the conventional formation scenarios involving 'normal' matter, ...
Astronomy
Feb 24, 2021
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Merging boson stars could explain massive black hole collision and prove existence of dark matter
An international team of scientists led by the Galician Institute of High Energy Physics (IGFAE) and the University of Aveiro shows that the heaviest black hole collision ever observed, produced by the gravitational-wave ...
Astronomy
Feb 24, 2021
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Astronomers detect new super-Earth exoplanet orbiting nearby star
Using the radial velocity (RV) technique, astronomers have discovered a new super-Earth alien world as part of the HADES and CARMENES programs. The newfound exoplanet, designated GJ 740 b, orbits a bright star some 36 light-years ...
Magnetic fields drive astrophysical jet shapes
Outflows of matter are general features stemming from systems powered by compact objects such as black holes, active galactic nuclei, pulsar wind nebulae, accreting objects such as Young Stellar Objects (YSO) and mature stars ...
Astronomy
Feb 24, 2021
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NASA's Webb telescope will capture more stars at higher resolution: What that means for astronomy
The combination of high resolution and infrared-detecting instruments on NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will reveal stars that are currently hidden even from the powerful Hubble Space Telescope. The wealth of ...
Astronomy
Feb 24, 2021
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Researchers detect cold gas pipelines feeding early, massive galaxies
To come into being, galaxies need a steady diet of cold gases to undergo gravitational collapse. The larger the galaxy, the more cold gas it needs to coalesce and to grow.
Astronomy
Feb 24, 2021
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Reclusive neutron star may have been found in famous supernova
What remains of the star that exploded just outside our galaxy in 1987? Debris has obscured scientists' view, but two of NASA's X-ray telescopes have revealed new clues.
Astronomy
Feb 23, 2021
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Delayed radio flares from a tidal disruption event
A team of researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) led by Dr. Assaf Horesh have discovered the first evidence of radio flares emitted only long after a star is destroyed by a black hole. Published in the ...
Astronomy
Feb 23, 2021
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Ultraluminous X-ray pulsar M51 ULX-7 inspected by researchers
Using NASA's Swift and Chandra space observatories, astronomers have investigated an ultraluminous X-ray pulsar known as M51 ULX-7. The study, detailed in a paper published February 16 on the arXiv pre-print server, sheds ...
Martian moons have a common ancestor
Mars's two moons, Phobos and Deimos, have puzzled researchers since their discovery in 1877. They are very small: Phobos's diameter of 22 kilometers is 160 times smaller than that of our moon, and Deimos is even smaller, ...
Astronomy
Feb 23, 2021
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Big galaxies steal star-forming gas from their smaller neighbours
Large galaxies are known to strip the gas that occupies the space between the stars of smaller satellite galaxies.
Astronomy
Feb 22, 2021
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NASA's Swift helps tie neutrino to star-shredding black hole
For only the second time, astronomers have linked an elusive particle called a high-energy neutrino to an object outside our galaxy. Using ground- and space-based facilities, including NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, ...
Astronomy
Feb 22, 2021
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Binary stars are all around us, new map of solar neighborhood shows
The latest star data from the Gaia space observatory has for the first time allowed astronomers to generate a massive 3-D atlas of widely separated binary stars within about 3,000 light years of Earth—1.3 million of them.
Astronomy
Feb 22, 2021
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The Milky Way may be swarming with planets with oceans and continents like here on Earth
Astronomers have long been looking into the vast universe in hopes of discovering alien civilisations. But for a planet to have life, liquid water must be present. The likelihood of that scenario has seemed impossible to ...
Astronomy
Feb 22, 2021
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Ghost particle from shredded star reveals cosmic particle accelerator
Tracing back a ghostly particle to a shredded star, scientists have uncovered a gigantic cosmic particle accelerator. The subatomic particle, called a neutrino, was hurled towards Earth after the doomed star came too close ...
Astronomy
Feb 22, 2021
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Big data to model the evolution of the cosmic web
The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has led an international team which has developed an algorithm called COSMIC BIRTH to analyze large scale cosmic structures. This new computation method will permit the analysis ...
Astronomy
Feb 22, 2021
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Other news
4-D bioengineering materials bend, curve like natural tissue
Optimally promoting biodiversity in agricultural landscapes
Velcro-like cellular proteins key to tissue strength
Rarest seal breeding site discovered
How a plant regulates its growth
Video: A signal from beyond
Image: Hubble takes portrait of nebula
Hot electrons send carbon dioxide back to the future
New skills of graphene: Tunable lattice vibrations
Wrasses dazzle: How fairy wrasses got their flamboyant colours
