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UrduMore than 15 years after deep-space fast radio bursts were first discovered, their perplexing nature continues to surprise astronomers – and newly published research only deepens the mystery surrounding them.
Tag: ASTROPHYSICS
ESA Solar Orbiter confirms solar switchback origin theory by UAH’s Dr. Gary Zank
For the first time a solar switchback has been directly observed that confirms 2020 models by astrophysicist Dr. Gary Zank at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) that theorized how these surprising structures in the solar wind originate.
Scientists Take Another Theoretical Step to Uncovering the Mystery of Dark Matter, Black Holes
A study by a team of scientists including three from Stony Brook University proposes a novel method to search for new particles not currently contained in the standard model of particle physics. Their method, published in Nature Communications, could shed light on the nature of dark matter.
Scientists reveal distribution of dark matter around galaxies 12 billion years ago–further back in time than ever before
A collaboration led by scientists at Nagoya University in Japan has investigated the nature of dark matter surrounding galaxies seen as they were 12 billion years ago, billions of years further back in time than ever before.
Why Jupiter doesn’t have rings like Saturn
Because it’s bigger, Jupiter ought to have larger, more spectacular rings than Saturn has. But new UC Riverside research shows Jupiter’s massive moons prevent that vision from lighting up the night sky.
Discovery brings scientists one step closer to solving century-old cosmic ray mystery
For more than a century, astrophysicists have tried to determine the origin of extremely energetic particles, which are up to a million times more energetic than anything achieved by the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland.
Webb telescope rewrites cosmic history with images of universe
A time travel machine, the $10 billion space observatory is being considered well worth the price tag because it will help answer long-held questions about the big bang and search for signs of alien life, University of Miami astrophysicists maintain.
UNLV professor available for NASA James Webb Telescope comment
UNLV professor of physics and astronomy Jason Steffen is available to talk about the significance of the James Webb Space Telescope imagery, and how it broadens our understanding of the universe. Today is the day that scientists are saying could…
Citizen Scientist Leads Discovery of 34 Ultracool Dwarf Binaries Using Archive at NSF’s NOIRLab
How often do stars live alone? For brown dwarfs — objects that straddle the boundary between the most massive planets and the smallest stars — astronomers need to uncover more examples of their companions to find out. Ace citizen scientist Frank Kiwy has done just that by using the Astro Data Lab science platform at NSF’s NOIRLab to discover 34 new ultracool dwarf binary systems in the Sun’s neighborhood, nearly doubling the number of such systems known.
Science Results From NRAO Facilities to Be Presented at Multiple AAS 240 Press Conferences
Seven new scientific results from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Very Large Array (VLA), and the Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS) will be revealed at multiple press conferences during the 240th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) between June 13-15, 2022 in Pasadena, California.
ORNL, partners launch first experiments using new facility to make cosmic isotopes on Earth
A new flagship facility for nuclear physics has opened, and scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory have a hand in 10 of its first 34 experiments.
Close Encounter More Than 10,000 Years Ago Stirred Up Spirals in Accretion Disk
Dr. LU Xing, an associate researcher from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with collaborators from Yunnan University, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the Max Planck Institute, have used high-resolution observational data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to discover a massive protostellar disk in the Galactic Center and determine how its spiral arms were formed.
Black Holes Helped Quenching Star Formation in the Early Universe
While some galaxies form stars at a continuous rate, others die out and lead a more passive life.
UCI-led astronomy team finds evidence of galactic metal shrouded in dust
A thorough understanding of galaxy evolution depends in part on an accurate measurement of the abundance of metals in the intergalactic medium – the space between stars – but dust can impede observations in optical wavelengths.
New Discovery About Distant Galaxies: Stars Are Heavier Than We Thought
A team of University of Copenhagen astrophysicists has arrived at a major result regarding star populations beyond the Milky Way.
Planets of Binary Stars as Possible Homes for Alien Life
Nearly half of Sun-size stars are binary. According to University of Copenhagen research, planetary systems around binary stars may be very different from those around single stars. This points to new targets in the search for extraterrestrial life forms.
Unraveling a perplexing explosive process that occurs throughout the universe
Novel simulation brings extraordinary fast radio bursts into the laboratory in a way once thought impossible.
Researchers Use Galaxy as a ‘Cosmic Telescope’ to Study Heart of the Young Universe
A unique new instrument, coupled with a powerful telescope and a little help from nature, has given researchers the ability to peer into galactic nurseries at the heart of the young universe.
Gravity telescope to image exoplanets
In the time since the first exoplanet was discovered in 1992, astronomers have detected more than 5,000 planets orbiting other stars.
Search reveals eight new sources of black hole echoes
Scattered across our Milky Way galaxy are tens of millions of black holes —immensely strong gravitational wells of spacetime, from which infalling matter, and even light, can never escape. Black holes are dark by definition, except on the rare occasions when they feed.
Revealing the Secret Language of Dark Matter
In the Universe, dark matter and standard matter “talk” to each other using a secret language.
Why Venus rotates, slowly, despite sun’s powerful grip
If not for the soupy, fast-moving atmosphere on Venus, Earth’s sister planet would likely not rotate.
Astronomers Closer to Unlocking Origin of Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts
Nearly 15 years after the discovery of fast radio bursts (FRBs), the origin of the millisecond-long, deep-space cosmic explosions remains a mystery. That may soon change, thanks to the work of an international team of scientists – including UNLV astrophysicist Bing Zhang – which tracked hundreds of the bursts from five different sources and found clues in FRB polarization patterns that may reveal their origin.
Gamma ray discovery could advance understanding of UFOs’ role in the evolution of galaxies
Researchers detected gamma rays from ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) in several nearby galaxies for the first time, providing a basis for scientists to understand what happened in our own Milky Way galaxy.
Astrophysicists reveal largest-ever suite of universe simulations
Collectively clocking in at nearly 60 trillion particles, a newly released set of cosmological simulations is by far the biggest ever produced.
BICEP3 tightens the bounds on cosmic inflation
A new analysis of the South Pole-based telescope’s cosmic microwave background observations has all but ruled out several popular models of inflation.
Need for Larger Space Telescope Inspires Lightweight Flexible Holographic Lens
Inspired by a concept for discovering exoplanets with a giant space telescope, a team of researchers is developing holographic lenses that render visible and infrared starlight into either a focused image or a spectrum.
PPPL scientists win highly competitive awards to bring cosmic processes to Earth
The two awards will enable physicists to use lasers to reproduce high-energy astrophysical plasmas under extreme conditions to probe processes such as space storms that can disrupt cell phone service.
Three PPPL scientists win competitive awards to conduct frontier plasma science work
World-class expertise in the study of plasma — the hot, charged state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei, or ions, that makes up 99 percent of the visible universe — has won frontier science projects for three physicists at PPPL.
How to catch a perfect wave: Scientists take a closer look inside the perfect fluid
Scientists have reported new clues to solving a cosmic conundrum: How the quark-gluon plasma – nature’s perfect fluid – evolved into the building blocks of matter during the birth of the early universe.
Cosmic Rays May Be Key to Understanding Galactic Dynamics
While moving around within the gas in the interstellar medium, cosmic rays kickstart the background protons, which causes a collective plasma wave movement akin to ripples on a lake. The big question is how cosmic rays deposit their momentum into the background plasma. In Physics of Plasmas, plasma astrophysicists review recent developments within the field of studying the streaming instability triggered by cosmic rays, which likely have more impacts on galactic dynamics and the star formation cycle than previously known.
Scientists Observe Gas Re-accretion in Dying Galaxies for the First Time
A new study from scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) suggests that previously displaced gases can re-accrete onto galaxies, potentially slowing down the process of galaxy death caused by ram pressure stripping, and creating unique structures more resistant to its effects.
First Detection of Light From Behind a Black Hole
Watching X-rays flung out into the universe by the supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy 800 million light-years away, Stanford University astrophysicist Dan Wilkins noticed an intriguing pattern.
Dalian Coherent Light Source reveals strong isotope effects in photodissociation of water isotopolog
Recently, a research group led by Prof. YUAN Kaijun and Prof. YANG Xueming from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences revealed strong isotope effects in photodissociation of the water isotopologue (HOD) using the…
Antimatter From Laser Pincers
In the depths of space, there are celestial bodies where extreme conditions prevail: Rapidly rotating neutron stars generate super-strong magnetic fields.
Spotted: An exoplanet with the potential to form moons
Cambridge, MA ¬- Astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian have helped detect the clear presence of a moon-forming region around an exoplanet — a planet outside of our Solar System. The new observations, published Thursday in…
Mars: Scientists determine crustal thickness
Based on the analysis of marsquakes recorded by NASA’s InSight mission, the structure of Mars’s crust has now been determined in absolute numbers for the first time. Beneath the InSight landing site, the crust is either approximately 20 or 39…
A large tidal stream observed in the Sombrero galaxy
According to the latest cosmological models, large spiral galaxies such as the Milky Way grew by absorbing smaller galaxies, by a sort of galactic cannibalism. Evidence for this is given by very large structures, the tidal stellar streams, which are…
The origin of bifurcated current sheets explained
A Korean research team has identified the origin of bifurcated current sheets, considered one of the most unsolved mysteries in the Earth’s magnetosphere and in magnetized plasma physics. A POSTECH joint research team led by Professor Gunsu S. Yun of…
From the Sun to the stars
A journey of exoplanet discovery begins as Penn State’s NEID spectrometer starts its scientific mission
Cosmic rays help supernovae explosions pack a bigger punch
The final stage of cataclysmic explosions of dying massive stars, called supernovae, could pack an up to six times bigger punch on the surrounding interstellar gas with the help of cosmic rays, according to a new study led by researchers…
RAS launches new multi-disciplinary journal
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is pleased to announce the launch of its first new journal in almost 100 years. Tentatively titled RAS Techniques and Instruments , it will cover topics in astronomy and geophysics ranging from instrumentation, data science,…
Tail without a comet: the dusty remains of Comet ATLAS
A serendipitous flythrough of the tail of a disintegrated comet has offered scientists a unique opportunity to study these remarkable structures, in new research presented today at the National Astronomy Meeting 2021. Comet ATLAS fragmented just before its closest approach…
Researchers reveal cause of Jupiter’s x-ray aurorae
An international research team led by YAO Zhonghua from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS) has explained the cause of Jupiter’s X-ray aurorae, a mystery that has puzzled scientists for 40 years. The…
Galactic fireworks: New ESO images reveal stunning features of nearby galaxies
A team of astronomers has released new observations of nearby galaxies that resemble colourful cosmic fireworks. The images, obtained with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), show different components of the galaxies in distinct colours, allowing astronomers…
National Astronomy Meeting 2021: Media invitation
Around 850 astronomers and space scientists will gather online from 19 – 23 July, for the Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting 2021 (NAM 2021) hosted by the University of Bath. Postponed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the…
Physicists describe sun’s electric field
As the Parker Solar Probe ventures closer to the sun, we are learning new things about our home star. In a new study, physicists led by the University of Iowa report the first definitive measurements of the sun’s electric field,…
A star in a distant galaxy blew up in a powerful explosion, solving an astronomical mystery
Giant explosion in space illuminates thousand-year mystery
CUR Physics and Astronomy Division Announces 2021 Outstanding Research Mentor Awardee
The Physics and Astronomy Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research announces the 2021 recipient of its Outstanding Research Mentor award: Thomas Pannuti (Morehead State University).
Galactic gamma ray bursts predicted last year show up right on schedule
Sherlock Holmes story gives clue to successful prediction of bursts from nearby magnetar