Space

Nov 19th, 2024 - A new JWST study has revealed the true origins of a luminous quasar that has been duplicated six times as its light "zig-zags" through space-time via a phenomenon first predicted by Albert Einstein. The unusual light show could help tackle one of cosmology's biggest problems, experts claim. For the first time, researchers have used data from the James Webb Space Telescope ( JWST ) to uncover an example of a previously hypothetical phenomenon known as an "Einstein zig-zag" — where light ... [Read More]

Nov 19th, 2024 - A long-standing enigma surrounding the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star at the center of the Crab Nebula, may have been unraveled by a theoretical astrophysicist from the University of Kansas.  The study, led by Professor Mikhail Medvedev and recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters , explains the origins of the pulsar's unique "zebra" pattern, a peculiar banding in high-frequency radio waves. Powerful emission from the Crab Nebula At the heart of the Crab Nebula, 6,000 light ... [Read More]

Nov 18th, 2024 - The active galaxy Centaurus A, with jets emanating from the central black hole. ESO/WFI (Optical); MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A.Weiss et al. (Submillimetre); NASA/CXC/CfA/R.Kraft et al. (X-ray), CC BY Black holes don't have many identifying features. They come in one color (black) and one shape (spherical). The main difference between black holes is mass: some weigh about as much as a star like our Sun, while others weigh around a million times more. Stellar-mass black holes can be found anywhere in a ... [Read More]

Nov 18th, 2024 - Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more . Famously known for its extensive ring system, Saturn is one of four planets in our solar system that have the distinctive feature. And now, scientists hypothesize that Earth may have sported its own ring some 466 million years ago. During the Ordovician Period , a time of significant changes for Earth's life-forms, plate tectonics and climate, the ... [Read More]

Nov 18th, 2024 - Uranus has long captivated scientists with its mysteries, particularly those that remain hidden within our solar system. Decades-old data from Voyager 2, a NASA spacecraft, has now breathed new life into our understanding of this distant, enigmatic planet, settling age-old questions that have puzzled researchers for years. Voyager 2: Journey to Uranus In 1986, Voyager 2 embarked on a momentous journey that brought it into close proximity with Uranus, providing the first – and so far, only ... [Read More]

Nov 18th, 2024 - Like the Sun, black holes also have a corona. When astronomers look deep into space, black holes often appear as inscrutable giants, swallowing everything that crosses their path. But a new study has finally revealed details about an elusive feature of these cosmic entities: their superheated corona. Using data from NASA's IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) mission, researchers have, for the first time, mapped the shape of this plasma region, helping to clarify how black holes consume ... [Read More]

Nov 18th, 2024 - Astronomers from the Steward Observatory in Arizona and elsewhere report the discovery of a structure consisting of a quasi-stellar object (QSO) and a dusty star-forming galaxy (DSFG), linked by a bridge of ionized carbon. The finding of this unique system was detailed in a paper published November 11 on the pre-print server arXiv . Quasars, or quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), are active galactic nuclei (AGN) of very high luminosity powered by supermassive black holes (SMBHs), emitting ... [Read More]

Nov 17th, 2024 - What it is: The spiral galaxies IC 2163 (left) and NGC 2207 (right) Where it is: 80 million light-years away, in the constellation Canis Major When it was shared: Oct. 31, 2024 Why it's so special: This eerie scene, a composite of images captured by both the James Webb Space Telescope ( JWST ) and the Hubble Space Telescope , features a pair of spiral galaxies with bright cores that resemble a spooky set of "blood-soaked" eyes. These galaxies grazed each other millions of years ago and are ... [Read More]

Nov 17th, 2024 - While space is often thought of as a quiet, eerie place of stillness, a dramatic saga is unfolding on the outskirts of our Milky Way galaxy. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is serving as an eyewitness to this interstellar drama. The protagonist of this tale? None other than the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of our closest galactic neighbors. A brush with the Milky Way Even though it is classified as a dwarf galaxy , the LMC steals the show on the canvas of the southern night sky, where it ... [Read More]

Nov 17th, 2024 - Researchers have had their first-ever look at samples brought back from the Moon's far side — and they detail a history of volcanic activity that spans billions of years. The results are the first scientific analyses of samples retrieved by the Chinese mission Chang'e-6, which scooped up nearly two kilograms of lunar soil and returned it to Earth in a capsule in June . Independent research teams in China published separate papers in Science 1 and Nature 2 on 15 November. "We can tell the ... [Read More]

Nov 17th, 2024 - Black holes lie at the heart of an extraordinary cosmic event that is currently unfolding. With the help of NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, scientists have detected a peculiar phenomenon involving a pair of what they refer to as "monster" black holes. "It's a very weird event, called AT 2021hdr, that keeps recurring every few months," explained Lorena Hernández-García, an astrophysicist at the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, the Millennium Nucleus on Transversal ... [Read More]

Nov 15th, 2024 - Every day, invisible to the human eye, thousands of enigmatic flashes of cosmic energy known as fast radio bursts (FRBs) erupt across the sky, releasing as much energy in milliseconds as the sun does in a day. Thanks to their fleeting nature, scientists have often had to rely on luck just to observe FRBs, let alone pinpoint where they come from or what causes them to behave the way they do. Now, astronomers led by Kritti Sharma at the California Institute of Technology posit that such ... [Read More]

Nov 15th, 2024 - Volcanoes were erupting on the mysterious far side of the moon billions of years ago just like on the side that we can see, new research confirms. Researchers analyzed lunar soil brought back by China's Chang'e-6 , the first spacecraft to return with a haul of rocks and dirt from the little-explored far side. Two separate teams found fragments of volcanic rock that were about 2.8 billion years old. One piece was even more ancient, dating back to 4.2 billion years. "To obtain a sample from this ... [Read More]

Nov 15th, 2024 - Friday, November 15 We're starting out the week strong with the Moon on center stage. November's Full Moon, also called the Beaver Moon, occurs at 4:29 P.M. EST. But there's more to this Full Moon — it's a Super Moon, which occurs when the Moon reaches Full near its closest point to Earth, called perigee. It reached this point yesterday, and this afternoon is still just 224,853 miles (361,866 kilometers) from Earth. This is the fourth and final Super Moon of 2024; the next Super Moon ... [Read More]

Nov 15th, 2024 - New observations suggest that the universe's oldest galaxies are brighter than expected. Here's why this may be a big deal. The cosmos is not turning out quite the way astronomers had imagined. When the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) began peering back through time, into the depths of the universe, scientists anticipated it would detect faint, fledgling galaxies — small and dim signals from the earliest moments of cosmic history. But instead of hazy glimmers of primordial galaxies ... [Read More]

Nov 15th, 2024 - Today, we know of more than 5,000 exoplanets : planets outside our solar system that orbit other stars. While the effort to discover new worlds goes on, we're steadily learning more about the exoplanets we've already detected: their sizes, what they're made of and whether they have atmospheres. Our team has now provided tentative evidence for a sulfur -rich atmosphere on a world that's 1.5 times the size of Earth and located 35 light years away. If confirmed, it would be the smallest known ... [Read More]