https://phys.org/space-news/astronomy en-us The latest science news on astronomy, space, and astrophysics. Engineers for NASA's Voyager mission are taking steps to help make sure both spacecraft, launched in 1977, continue to explore interstellar space for years to come. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-nasa-voyager-team-focuses-software.html Astronomy Space Exploration Fri, 20 Oct 2023 13:12:03 EDT news617026321 An international team has spotted a remote blast of cosmic radio waves lasting less than a millisecond. This 'fast radio burst' (FRB) is the most distant ever detected. Its source was pinned down by the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in a galaxy so far away that its light took 8 billion years to reach us. The FRB is also one of the most energetic ever observed; in a tiny fraction of a second it released the equivalent of our sun's total emission over 30 years. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-astronomers-distant-fast-radio-date.html Astronomy Thu, 19 Oct 2023 14:00:01 EDT news616926269 The birth of a star is a spectacular event that plays out behind a veil of gas and dust. It's a detailed process that takes millions of years to play out. Once a star leaves its protostar stage behind and begins its life of fusion, the star's powerful radiative output blows the veil away. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-dark-nebula-enormous-star.html Astronomy Thu, 19 Oct 2023 13:02:03 EDT news616939321 Jupiter has some of the most conspicuous atmospheric features in our solar system. The planet's Great Red Spot, large enough to envelop Earth, is nearly as well known as some of the various rivers and mountains on the planet we call home. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-webb-feature-jupiter-atmosphere.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Thu, 19 Oct 2023 12:13:04 EDT news616936382 An international team of researchers led by Dutch Ph.D. candidate Mark Snelders (ASTRON and University of Amsterdam) has discovered radio pulses from the distant universe that last only millionths of a second. They found these microsecond bursts after a meticulous examination of archival data from a known millisecond source. It's unclear how the ultrafast bursts are created. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-astronomers-telescope-archive-microsecond-duration.html Astronomy Thu, 19 Oct 2023 11:00:02 EDT news616670681 New observations have confirmed a key step in the process of star formation: a rotating "cosmic wind" made of molecules, which is vitally important for collapsing gas clouds to contract sufficiently so as to form a hot, dense young star. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-important-star-formation.html Astronomy Thu, 19 Oct 2023 10:47:04 EDT news616931220 Using various spacecraft and ground-based observatories, an international team of astronomers has performed a multi-wavelength study of a cataclysmic variable system known as Swift J0503.7-2819. Results of the study, published October 11 on the pre-print server arXiv, deliver important insights into the nature of this system. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-cataclysmic-variable-swift-j05037-.html Astronomy Thu, 19 Oct 2023 10:30:01 EDT news616929620 Astronomers have created a detailed atlas of almost 400,000 galaxies in our cosmic neighborhood. The Siena Galaxy Atlas was compiled using data from NSF's NOIRLab telescopes, and is designed to be the preeminent digital galaxy atlas for large galaxies. It's a treasure trove of information for researchers investigating everything from galaxy formation and evolution to dark matter and gravitational waves. It's also freely available online for the public to explore. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-space-precisely-nearby-galaxies.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Oct 2023 15:59:28 EDT news616863564 October and November are always great months to watch for meteors, and 2023 is no exception. This year provides a special reason to be vigilant, as the source of the November Taurid Fireballs Comet 2P Encke reaches perihelion for 2023 on October 22nd, at 0.34 Astronomical Units (AU) from the sun. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-comet-encke-halloween-fireballs.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Oct 2023 13:29:03 EDT news616854542 A team of astronomers and astrophysicists from INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, Universidad Diego Portales, the University of Exeter and Sorbonne Université has found evidence that gas giants may be more common than thought in some parts of the galaxy. In their study, reported in the journal Nature Communications, the group analyzed the mass and movement of 30 stars in the Beta Pictoris Moving Group. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-gas-giants-common-thought-galaxy.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Wed, 18 Oct 2023 10:50:01 EDT news616844198 Using India's AstroSat spacecraft, astronomers have observed a magnetar known as SGR J1830–0645 during its recent bursting activity. Results of the observational campaign, published October 6 on the preprint server arXiv and accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, shed more light on the properties and behavior of this object. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-magnetar-sgr-j18300645-astrosat.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Oct 2023 10:40:01 EDT news616844167 An advanced new three-dimensional (3D) computer simulation of the light emitted following a merger of two neutron stars has produced a similar sequence of spectroscopic features to an observed kilonova. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-simulating-three-dimensional-morphology-kilonovae.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Oct 2023 10:38:51 EDT news616844328 Astronomers are one step closer to understanding one of the most enduring solar mysteries, having captured unprecedented data from the sun's magnetic field. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-patterns-sun-layers-scientists-solar.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Oct 2023 10:36:47 EDT news616844204 Spider pulsars are a subclass of millisecond pulsar binary systems with low mass companions in short-period orbits. In spider pulsars, the pulsar wind and electromagnetic emission ablate and may destroy the companion. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-magnetic-field-eclipse-medium-spider.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Oct 2023 08:29:30 EDT news616836568 When stars are born, they do it inside a molecular cloud. Astronomers long assumed that the "crèche" supplied all the nutrients that protostars needed to form. However, it turns out they get help from outside the nest. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-protostars-siphon-material.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Tue, 17 Oct 2023 14:04:03 EDT news616770241 Astronomers report the discovery of a new ultrastripped supernova in the galaxy UGC 3855. The supernova was detected using the Half Meter Telescope (HMT) at the Xingming Observatory in China. The finding was detailed in a paper published October 7 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-astronomers-discovery-closest-ultrastripped-supernova.html Astronomy Tue, 17 Oct 2023 10:10:01 EDT news616755925 The Kuiper Belt, the vast region at the edge of our solar system populated by countless icy objects, is a treasure trove of scientific discoveries. The detection and characterization of Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), sometimes referred to as Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), has led to a new understanding of the history of the solar system. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-jwst-kuiper-belt-sedna-gonggong.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Mon, 16 Oct 2023 13:37:04 EDT news616682221 Ah, dark matter particles, what could you be? The answer still eludes us, and astronomers keep trying new ideas to find them. A new paper in Physical Review Letters suggests that if dark matter is made of axions, we might see their remnant glow near pulsars. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-pulsars-key-dark.html Astronomy Mon, 16 Oct 2023 12:09:38 EDT news616676975 Type I X-ray bursts are the most frequent types of thermonuclear stellar explosions in the galaxy. As the key nucleosynthesis process in X-ray bursts, the rapid proton capture process (rp-process) is an important scientific frontier in nuclear astrophysics. Titanium-42 is a typical branching nucleus in the rp-process, so the accuracy of 42Ti(p, γ)43V reaction rate is crucial for comprehensively understanding the reaction path of rp-process in X-ray bursts. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-nuclear-astrophysical-team-reaction-path.html Astronomy Mon, 16 Oct 2023 12:07:32 EDT news616676851 Modern astronomy holds that all major galaxies (with the Milky Way as no exception) are the accumulation of numerous small mergers. Thus, it should be expected that some of the globular clusters that are now part of our galaxy are likely inherited from other galaxies which have been cannibalized by the Milky Way, or even stolen from intact companion galaxies such as the Magellanic Clouds. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-milky-stolen-globular-clusters.html Astronomy Mon, 16 Oct 2023 11:20:04 EDT news616674002 Researchers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have detected evidence for quartz nanocrystals in the high-altitude clouds of WASP-17 b, a hot Jupiter exoplanet 1,300 light-years from Earth. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-webb-quartz-crystals-clouds-hot.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Mon, 16 Oct 2023 11:01:03 EDT news616672861 A research team led by Dr. Zhang Jujia from Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. Wang Xiaofeng from Tsinghua University has revealed the stellar mass violently ejected from a progenitor at the end of its life by observing the once-in-a-decade supernova SN 2023ixf. Such mass loss processes can provide essential information for understanding the final evolution of a massive star. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-reveals-violent-material-ejection-dying.html Astronomy Mon, 16 Oct 2023 10:24:23 EDT news616670661 China is building a new neutrino detector named TRIDENT, the Tropical Deep-sea Neutrino Telescope. They're building it in the South China Sea, near the equator. This next-generation neutrino telescope will feature improved sensitivity and should help clear up the mystery around cosmic rays and their origins. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-china-site-trident-neutrino-detector.html Astronomy Mon, 16 Oct 2023 10:12:56 EDT news616669969 Using the MeerKAT radio telescope, an international team of astronomers has observed a Galactic globular cluster known as NGC 6522. As a result, they have discovered two new isolated pulsars in this cluster. The finding is reported in a paper published October 5 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-pulsars-globular-cluster-ngc.html Astronomy Mon, 16 Oct 2023 09:01:51 EDT news616665709 A fully automated process, including a brand-new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, has successfully detected, identified and classified its first supernova. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-supernova-ai.html Astronomy Fri, 13 Oct 2023 12:40:55 EDT news616419649 There's a common pattern in science. We develop some new process or tool that allows us to gather all kinds of data we've never had before, the data threatens to overturn all we've assumed about some long-established theory, and then the dust settles. Unfortunately, the early stage of this process generates a lot of sensationalism in the press. Early results from the JWST are a good example of this. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-jwst-early-massive-galaxies.html Astronomy Fri, 13 Oct 2023 12:02:03 EDT news616417321 Research led by the University of Hertfordshire has revealed the dramatic history of Andromeda, our nearest neighboring galaxy. Using state-of-the-art modeling, Professor Chiaki Kobayashi and a team of international astrophysicists have determined details about the galaxy's history through galactic archaeology—an approach that examines the chemical composition of stars and the development of their host galaxy, to reconstruct its past. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-galactic-archaeology-uncovers-history-next-door.html Astronomy Thu, 12 Oct 2023 14:29:41 EDT news616339778 The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) recently disclosed a prototype radio telescope antennae for its next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) to a group of press, scientists, engineers, and government and business leaders from the United States and Germany at the end of a workshop held at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-peek-generation-large-array-antennae.html Astronomy Thu, 12 Oct 2023 13:34:03 EDT news616336441 NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft flew by Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, dropping off its sample of dust and pebbles gathered from the surface of near-Earth asteroid Bennu. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-astronomers-lots-universebut-astronomical-distant.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Thu, 12 Oct 2023 13:15:03 EDT news616335301 The afterglow of a massive collision between two giant planets may have been detected for the first time. The wreckage of the collision could eventually cool and form an entirely new planet. If the observation is confirmed, it provides an amazing opportunity to watch the birth of a new world in real time and open a window into how planets form. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-afterglow-explosive-collision-giant-planets.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Thu, 12 Oct 2023 12:42:03 EDT news616333321