New observations of the spectacular M87 galaxy reveal how a powerful jet forms around a monstrous black hole contained inside it. The Giant Galaxy Around the Giant Black Hole: The…
Category: Astronomy
Neutron star’s X-rays reveal the beauty of ‘photon metamorphosis’
A “beautiful effect” predicted by quantum electrodynamics (QED) can explain the puzzling first observations of polarized X-rays emitted by a magnetar – a neutron star featuring a powerful magnetic field,…
Mysterious flashes: Now we have double the number of known ‘repeating fast radio bursts’
Astronomers in the Canadian-led CHIME/FRB Collaboration – including researchers from the University of Toronto – have doubled the number of known repeating sources of mysterious flashes of radio waves, known as…
New map of the universe’s cosmic growth supports Einstein’s theory of gravity
Cosmic growth: unlike ancient philosophers imagining the universe’s origins, modern cosmologists use quantitative tools to gain insights into its evolution and structure. Modern cosmology dates back to the early 20th…
The Cosmochemist’s Guide to the Galaxy
At the end of 2020, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully returned about 5.4 grams of the asteroid Ryugu. NASA’s sister mission, OSIRIS-REx, is currently flying back to Earth with…
The Young Cluster of Galaxies at the Edge of the Universe
An image of many oval and spiral shaped galaxies. Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Takahiro Morishita (IPAC); Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI) Astronomers have looked back in time to the early…
Doubling the number of sources of repeating fast radio bursts
Astronomers from McGill University are part of an international team that has discovered 25 new sources of repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs), these explosions in the sky come from far…
Metal-poor stars are more life-friendly
Stars that contain comparatively large amounts of heavy elements provide less favourable conditions for the emergence of complex life than metal-poor stars, as scientists from the Max Planck Institutes for…
‘Alien’ comet ‘Oumuamua’s weird orbit may have surprisingly simple explanation
A 2017 comet’s unusual acceleration explained by hydrogen outgassing from ice. In 2017, a mysterious comet dubbed ‘Oumuamua fired the imaginations of scientists and the public. It was the first…
Pioneering research sheds new light on the origins and composition of planet Mars
The InSight mission’s seismometer, though coated by several years of Martian dust, was able to capture recordings of seismic events from the far side of the planet. NASA’s InSight Mars…
