As a star runs out of fuel, it will billow out to a million times its original size, engulfing any matter — and planets — in its wake. Scientists have…
Category: Space
Hubble Follows Sneaky Shadow Play Around Planet-Forming Disk
The young star TW Hydrae is playing “shadow puppets” around the planet-forming disk with scientists observing it with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. In 2017, astronomers reported discovering a shadow sweeping across…
New Study of Uranus’ Large Moons Shows 4 May Hold Water
The new modeling explores how oceans could exist in unlikely places in our solar system, such as distant moons around other planets. Uranus is surrounded by its four major rings…
Star swallows planet in one big gulp
This illustration provided Caltech/IPAC by depicts a planet skimming the surface of its star. Astronomers reported their observations Wednesday, May 3, 2023, of what appears to be a gas giant…
Mass monster M87 with the cosmic digestive system
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…
1st lunar eclipse of 2023 dims full moon ever so slightly
Roof decorations depicting mythical sacred beasts are silhouetted near a penumbral lunar eclipse partially blocked by clouds during the early hours of Saturday, May 6, 2023 in Beijing. Credit: AP…
Gas observed moving into a massive galaxy offers evidence of material recycling
Direct imaging on the gas recycling around massive galaxy 11 billion years ago. Credit: Department of Astronomy, Tsinghua University An international team of space scientists has found that observation of…
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,…
‘H’ is for hot and huge in Chandra image
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Princeton Univ/C. Bambic et al.; Optical: SDSS; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA/ESO; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N.Wolk With a single letter seemingly etched in the X-ray glow around it, a giant black hole…
