Using a spectral synthesis code designed to simulate conditions in interstellar matter, astronomers have explored a faint tidal disruption event (TDE) designated iPTF16fnl. Results of the study, published Dec. 29 on the pre-print ...
The universe's very first stars had an important job. They formed from the primordial elements created by the Big Bang, so they contained no metals. It was up to them to synthesize the first metals and spread them out into ...
Astronomy
Dec 20, 2023
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64
It's a classic tale of apocalyptic fiction. The sun, our precious source of heat and light, collapses into a black hole. Or perhaps a stray black hole comes along and swallows it up. The End is Nigh! If a stellar-mass black ...
Astronomy
Dec 18, 2023
12
254
Stars are gravitationally fastened to their galaxies and move in concert with their surroundings. But sometimes, something breaks the bond. If a star gets too close to a supermassive black hole, for example, the black hole ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 27, 2023
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53
When the universe erupted into existence with the Big Bang, all of its matter was compressed into a tiny area. Cosmologists theorize that in some regions, subatomic matter may have been so tightly packed that matter collapsed ...
Astronomy
Nov 7, 2023
12
47
The swirling arms of a spiral galaxy are among the most recognized features in the cosmos: long sweeping bands spun off from a central core, each brimming with dust, gas, and dazzling pockets of newly formed stars. Yet this ...
Astronomy
Oct 25, 2023
0
131
Everyone loves a good mystery, and astronomers have just uncovered a new one in a nearby supermassive galaxy called M87. Like most galaxies, M87 regularly plays host to a smattering of stellar explosions called novae, each ...
Astronomy
Oct 9, 2023
0
57
In 2009 a giant star 25 times more massive than the sun simply vanished. OK, it wasn't quite that simple. It underwent a period of brightening, increasing in luminosity to a million suns, just as if it was ready to explode ...
Astronomy
Oct 4, 2023
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28
An international consortium of astronomers, including staff from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, has successfully unraveled the intricate formation mechanisms of the elusive intermediate-mass black holes. They could ...
Astronomy
Sep 27, 2023
0
13
At the center of every galaxy is a supermassive black hole. Beyond a certain size, these become active, emitting huge amounts of radiation, and are then called quasars. It is thought these are activated by the presence of ...
Astronomy
Sep 12, 2023
0
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