https://phys.org/space-news/astronomy en-us The latest science news on astronomy, space, and astrophysics. The Hubble Space Telescope was carried to space inside the space shuttle Discovery and then released into low-Earth orbit. The James Webb Space Telescope was squeezed inside the nose cone of an Ariane 5 rocket and then launched. It deployed its mirror and shade on its way to its home at the sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-space-robot-giant-telescope.html Astronomy Space Exploration Thu, 07 Nov 2024 14:37:04 EST news650212621 A team of astrophysicists, led by scholars from the Institute for Advanced Study, has developed an innovative technique to search for black hole light echoes. Their novel method, which will make it easier for the mass and the spin of black holes to be measured, represents a major step forward, since it operates independently of many of the other ways in which scientists have probed these parameters in the past. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-astrophysicists-echoes-illuminate-black-holes.html Astronomy Thu, 07 Nov 2024 12:59:04 EST news650206742 Using the CHIME telescope, an international team of astronomers has detected a new repeating fast radio burst (FRBs) source in the outskirts of a quiescent galaxy. The finding of a new FRB, which experienced 22 repeating bursts, was reported in a research paper published October 30 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-astronomers-fast-radio.html Astronomy Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:30:01 EST news650200879 The Hubble Classification, also known as the Hubble Sequence, is a widely recognized method for systematically categorizing galaxy morphology. Galaxies are classified into elliptical, lenticular, and spiral (or barred spiral) galaxies. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-image-exceptionally-rare-triple-galaxy.html Astronomy Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:19:02 EST news650200741 Since their discovery in 2007, fast radio bursts—extremely energetic pulses of radio-frequency light—have lit up the sky repeatedly, leading astronomers on a chase to uncover their origins. Currently, confirmed fast radio bursts, or FRBs, number in the hundreds, and scientists have assembled mounting evidence for what triggers them: highly magnetized neutron stars known as magnetars (neutron stars are a type of dead star). https://phys.org/news/2024-11-mighty-radio-linked-massive-galaxies.html Astronomy Wed, 06 Nov 2024 13:10:39 EST news650121031 In 1963, the Arecibo Observatory became operational on the island of Puerto Rico. Measuring 305 meters (~1000 ft) in diameter, Arecibo's spherical reflector dish was the largest radio telescope in the world at the time—a record it maintained until 2016 with the construction of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China. In December 2020, Arecibo's reflector dish collapsed after some of its support cables snapped, leading the National Science Foundation (NSF) to decommission the observatory. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-arecibo-observatory.html Astronomy Wed, 06 Nov 2024 12:49:03 EST news650119741 Tiny grains from a distant asteroid are revealing clues to the magnetic forces that shaped the far reaches of the solar system more than 4.6 billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-asteroid-grains-outer-solar.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Wed, 06 Nov 2024 12:14:04 EST news650117641 Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international team of astronomers have observed a giant spiral galaxy designated ADF22.A1. Results of the observational campaign, published October 29 on the pre-print server arXiv, provide more insights into its inner structure. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-astronomers-jwst-alma-explore-giant.html Astronomy Wed, 06 Nov 2024 10:09:42 EST news650110179 On Nov. 9, 2024, the world will mark Carl Sagan's 90th birthday—but sadly without Sagan, who died in 1996 at the age of 62. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-viewpoint-carl-sagan-scientific-legacy.html Astronomy Tue, 05 Nov 2024 12:23:17 EST news650031785 Many people think of the James Webb Space Telescope as a sort of Hubble 2. They understand that the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has served us well but is now old and overdue for replacement. NASA seems to agree, as they have not sent a maintenance mission in over 15 years, and are already preparing to wind down operations. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-hubble-webb-team-dont.html Astronomy Tue, 05 Nov 2024 10:01:56 EST news650023313 The gravitational field of a rotating black hole is powerful and strange. It is so powerful that it warps space and time back upon itself, and it is so strange that even simple concepts such as motion and rotation are turned on their heads. Understanding how these concepts play out is challenging, but they help astronomers understand how black holes generate such tremendous energy. Take, for example, the concept of frame dragging. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-energy-black-holes.html Astronomy Tue, 05 Nov 2024 09:59:02 EST news650023141 Using the Gemini-South telescope, astronomers have performed high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy of stars in a Galactic globular cluster known as Gran 5. They found that this cluster harbors two stellar populations with different metallicities. The finding was reported in a paper published October 28 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-globular-cluster-gran-hosts-stellar.html Astronomy Tue, 05 Nov 2024 09:00:02 EST news650019248 A study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics marks a significant milestone in our understanding of the formation and dynamical evolution of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters (spherical and very compact stellar agglomerates typically populated by 1–2 million stars). https://phys.org/news/2024-11-3d-view-formation-evolution-globular.html Astronomy Tue, 05 Nov 2024 08:56:55 EST news650019410 Perhaps the greatest tool astronomers have is the ability to look backward in time. Since starlight takes time to reach us, astronomers can observe the history of the cosmos by capturing the light of distant galaxies. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-webb-longstanding-galaxy.html Astronomy Mon, 04 Nov 2024 15:52:12 EST news649957926 On Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, NASA's Parker Solar Probe will complete its final Venus gravity assist maneuver, passing within 233 miles (376 km) of Venus's surface. The flyby will adjust Parker's trajectory into its final orbital configuration, bringing the spacecraft to within an unprecedented 3.86 million miles of the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024. It will be the closest any human-made object has been to the sun. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-venus-flyby-nasa-parker-solar.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Mon, 04 Nov 2024 14:43:03 EST news649953781 Space-based telescopes are remarkable. Their view isn't obscured by the weather in our atmosphere, and so they can capture incredibly detailed images of the heavens. Unfortunately, they are quite limited in mirror size. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-future-space-telescopes-thin-membranes.html Astronomy Mon, 04 Nov 2024 14:11:03 EST news649951862 Supermassive black holes exist at the center of most galaxies, and modern telescopes continue to observe them at surprisingly early times in the universe's evolution. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-black-hole-early-universe-consuming.html Astronomy Mon, 04 Nov 2024 11:00:01 EST news649935139 Using the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), Chinese astronomers have identified nearly 300 candidate supergiant stars in the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies. The finding was reported in a research paper published October 25 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-hundreds-supergiant-stars-nearby-galaxies.html Astronomy Mon, 04 Nov 2024 09:31:58 EST news649935113 Most of the diverse elements in the universe come from supernovae. We are, quite literally, made of the dust of those long-dead stars and other astrophysical processes. But the details of how it all comes about are something astronomers strive to understand. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-supernovae-stardust.html Astronomy Sat, 02 Nov 2024 19:50:02 EDT news649680176 Black holes continue to captivate scientists: they are purely gravitational objects, remarkably simple, yet capable of hiding mysteries that challenge our understanding of natural laws. Most observations thus far have focused on their external characteristics and surrounding environment, leaving their internal nature largely unexplored. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-black-hole-kerr-solution-assumptions.html Astronomy Fri, 01 Nov 2024 14:11:03 EDT news649689061 In the 1997 movie "Contact," adapted from Carl Sagan's 1985 novel, the lead character scientist Ellie Arroway (played by actor Jodi Foster) takes a space-alien-built wormhole ride to the star Vega. She emerges inside a snowstorm of debris encircling the star—but no obvious planets are visible. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-hubble-webb-probe-smooth-disk.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Fri, 01 Nov 2024 12:48:03 EDT news649684081 On a mountain in northern Chile, scientists are carefully assembling the intricate components of the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, one of the most advanced astronomical facilities in history. Equipped with an innovative telescope and the world's largest digital camera, the observatory will soon begin the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). https://phys.org/news/2024-11-scientists-ambitious-sky-survey-insight.html Astronomy Fri, 01 Nov 2024 10:23:50 EDT news649675424 Comets have long been seen as omens and portents, and it's easy to understand why. They first appear as faint smudges of light in the sky, sometimes fading soon after and sometimes becoming brighter than the planets, with a long, glowing tail. They have been observed throughout human history, but it wasn't until the eighteenth century that astronomers began to predict the return of some comets. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-astronomers-orbits-potentially-hazardous-comets.html Astronomy Thu, 31 Oct 2024 14:38:10 EDT news649604285 How did everything begin? It's a question that humans have pondered for thousands of years. Over the last century or so, science has homed in on an answer: the Big Bang. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-big-quest-unravel-mystery-birth.html Astronomy Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:12:05 EDT news649599121 NASA's SPHEREx mission won't be the first space telescope to observe hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies when it launches no later than April 2025, but it will be the first to observe them in 102 colors. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-nasa-spherex-mission-cosmic.html Astronomy Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:11:38 EDT news649595487 Stare deeply at these galaxies. They appear as if blood is pumping through the top of a flesh-free face. The long, ghastly "stare" of their searing eye-like cores shines out into the supreme cosmic darkness. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-webb-hubble-spooky-galaxy-pair.html Astronomy Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:11:11 EDT news649595467 From its perch on the western wall of Mars' Jezero Crater, NASA's Perseverance rover recently spied a "googly eye" peering down from space. The pupil in this celestial gaze is the Martian moon Phobos, and the iris is our sun. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-video-nasa-perseverance-captures-googly.html Astronomy Thu, 31 Oct 2024 11:17:18 EDT news649592234 A team of computer scientists, astronomers and historians in Berlin has used machine-learning applications to learn more about the evolutionary history of European astronomical thought in the 15th and 16th centuries. In their study published in the journal Science Advances, the group trained machine-learning applications to make sense of hand-written texts, graphs, charts and other data from textbooks of the era. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-machine-analysis-tracks-evolution-16th.html Astronomy Thu, 31 Oct 2024 09:56:19 EDT news649587368 Astronomers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have inspected a Galactic open cluster known as NGC 2506 as part of the WIYN Open Cluster Study. Results of the study, published October 14 in The Astronomical Journal, shed more light on the properties of this cluster. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-astronomers-properties-cluster-ngc.html Astronomy Thu, 31 Oct 2024 09:25:07 EDT news649585502 For Halloween, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) reveals this spooktacular image of a dark nebula that creates the illusion of a wolf-like silhouette against a colorful cosmic backdrop. Fittingly nicknamed the Dark Wolf Nebula, it was captured in a 283-million-pixel image by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-eso-image-captures-dark-wolf.html Astronomy Thu, 31 Oct 2024 09:12:03 EDT news649584721