Runaway Star Might Explain Mysterious Black Hole Disappearing Act
The telltale sign that the black hole was feeding vanished, perhaps when a star interrupted the feast. The event could lend new insight into these…
Astrophysics
Mini-Neptunes Could Be Irradiated Ocean Planets
Many exoplanets known today are ‘super-Earths,’ with a radius 1.3 times that of Earth, and ‘mini-Neptunes,’ with 2.4 Earth radii. Mini-Neptunes, which are less dense,…
Monster Black Hole Found in the Early Universe – 1.5 Billion Times More Massive Than Our Sun
The second most distant quasar ever discovered now has a Hawaiian name. Astronomers have discovered the second most distant quasar ever found, using the international…
Exploring the Fundamental Mysteries of the Universe by Seeing the Invisible
Michael Troxel has always liked puzzles, especially challenging ones. Which is fortunate, since his job is solving some of the most perplexing, fundamental mysteries of…
New Insight Into Interstellar Organic Matter and the Origin of Water on the Earth
Scientists have found the interstellar organic matter could produce an abundant supply of water by heating, suggesting that organic matter could be the source of terrestrial water….
How Galaxies Die: New Insights Into Galaxy Halos, Black Holes, and Quenching of Star Formation
A simple model explains a wide range of observations by describing a contest between galaxy halos and their central black holes that eventually turns off…
World Discovered Orbiting a Unique Young Star Provides Astronomers With a One-of-Kind Laboratory
The newly discovered planet’s parent star is still encircled by the disk of material from which both objects formed, giving scientists a glimpse at early…
Fresh Twist to Debate Over Universe’s Age From New View of the Oldest Light in the Universe
Atacama Cosmology Telescope findings suggest the universe is 13.8 billion years old. From a mountain high in Chile’s Atacama Desert, astronomers with the National Science…
Students Make Critical Breakthrough in Separating Gamma-Ray Bursts
By applying a machine-learning algorithm, scientists at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, have developed a method to classify all gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), rapid…
Astrophysicists Shocked by Short Gamma Ray Burst Afterglow 10 Billion Light Years Away
Rare event occurred 10 billion lightyears away, 3.8 billion years after the Big Bang SGRB181123B is the most distant short gamma ray burst with its…
Moon Formed 100 Million Years More Recently Than Thought – Had Magma Ocean Over 1000 Km Deep
Earth’s natural satellite was formed from debris created by a collision between the young Earth and a protoplanet. During this process, the Moon heated up…
Astronomers Watch a Black Hole’s Corona Mysteriously Disappear, Then Reappear
A colliding star may have triggered the drastic transformation. It seems the universe has an odd sense of humor. While a crown-encrusted virus has run…
Bold Plan to Determine If Planet Nine Is a Primordial Black Hole
Scientists at Harvard University and the Black Hole Initiative (BHI) have developed a new method to find black holes in the outer solar system, and…
COSMA Supercomputer Reveals Dramatic Impact of Massive Planetary Collisions
The giant impacts that dominate late stages of planet formation have a wide range of consequences for young planets and their atmospheres, according to new…
Thermonuclear Blast Sends Supernova Survivor Star Hurtling Across the Milky Way at 560,000 MPH
An exploding white dwarf star blasted itself out of its orbit with another star in a ‘partial supernova’ and is now hurtling across our galaxy,…
“Ghost” Galaxy Offers Breakthrough in Deciphering Birth of Supermassive Black Holes
Astronomers zoom in on black hole with one of the lowest masses ever observed in nearby “ghost” galaxy. A research team led by Cardiff University…
Artificial Intelligence Predicts Which Planetary Systems Will Survive 100,000 Times Faster
Why don’t planets collide more often? How do planetary systems — like our solar system or multi-planet systems around other stars — organize themselves? Of…
Earth-Shaking Science at Cryogenic Temperatures: Next Generation Vibration Sensors
A cutting-edge vibration sensor may improve the next generation of gravitational-wave detectors to find the tiniest cosmic waves from the background hum of Earth’s motion….