Most distant blazar is a high-energy astrophysics puzzle

(Phys.org) —Blazars are the brightest of active galactic nuclei, and many emit very high-energy gamma rays. New observations of the blazar known as PKS 1424+240 show that it is the most distant known source of very high-energy ...

Mystery of rare five-hour space explosion explained

Next week in St. Petersburg, Russia, scientists on an international team that includes Penn State University astronomers will present a paper that provides a simple explanation for mysterious ultra-long gamma-ray bursts—a ...

Researchers hope to shed light on dark lightning radiation

Scientists now know that thunderstorms, working as powerful natural terrestrial particle accelerators, produce intense flashes of ionizing radiation called "dark lightning." To further their understanding of this phenomena, ...

A spinning neutron star is tied to a mysterious tail

(PhysOrg.com) -- A spinning neutron star is tied to a mysterious tail -- or so it seems. Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory found that this pulsar, known as PSR J0357+3205 (or PSR J0357 for short), apparently ...

The orderly chaos of black holes

During the formation of a black hole, a bright burst of very energetic light in the form of gamma rays is produced, these events are called gamma ray bursts. The physics behind this phenomenon includes many of the least understood ...

Super-tiger backgrounder: The case of the cosmic rays

(Phys.org)—Grade-school science teachers sometimes hand out "mystery boxes" containing ramps, barriers and a loose marble. By rotating the boxes and feeling the marble hang up or drop, the students try to deduce what's ...

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