Total annihilation for supermassive stars

A renegade star exploding in a distant galaxy has forced astronomers to set aside decades of research and focus on a new breed of supernova that can utterly annihilate its parent star—leaving no remnant behind. The signature ...

Hubble image: The sleeping giant

The placid appearance of NGC 4889 can fool the unsuspecting observer. But the elliptical galaxy, pictured in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, harbours a dark secret. At its heart lurks one of the most ...

What do Uranus's cloud tops have in common with rotten eggs?

Hydrogen sulfide, the gas that gives rotten eggs their distinctive odor, permeates the upper atmosphere of the planet Uranus - as has been long debated, but never definitively proven. Based on sensitive spectroscopic observations ...

Explosion illuminates invisible galaxy in the dark ages

(Phys.org) —More than 12 billion years ago a star exploded, ripping itself apart and blasting its remains outward in twin jets at nearly the speed of light. At its death it glowed so brightly that it outshone its entire ...

Young lithium-rich giant star discovered

(Phys.org)—An Argentinian team of astronomers from the Astronomical Observatory of Córdoba has announced the finding of a new exceptional young lithium-rich giant star, designated KIC 9821622. Using the data obtained with ...

Astronomers measure heaviest black hole pair ever found

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 ...

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