https://phys.org/space-news/astronomy en-us The latest science news on astronomy, space, and astrophysics. 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 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 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 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 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 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 A trio of astrophysicists, two from Carnegie Mellon University and the third from Bahamas Advanced Study Institute and Conferences, is proposing a new theory to explain the unique lensing seen with Abell 3827—a galaxy cluster approximately 1.3 billion light-years away. In their paper published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Joyce Lin, Richard Griffiths and Jenny Wagner, describe their new theory and explain how it might help better understand the nature of dark matter. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-theory-abell-hazy-askew-gravitationally.html Astronomy Thu, 12 Oct 2023 11:22:04 EDT news616328522 Showers in bathrooms bring us comfort; showers from space bring astrophysicists joy. Osaka Metropolitan University scientists have observed, with their novel method, cosmic-ray extensive air showers with unprecedented precision, opening the door to new insights into the universe's most energetic particles. When a high energy cosmic ray collides with the Earth's atmosphere, it generates an enormous number of particles known as an extensive air shower. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-lens-universe-energetic-particles.html Astronomy Thu, 12 Oct 2023 09:57:03 EDT news616323421 Using ESA's XMM-Newton satellite and the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR), a team of European astronomers has explored a galaxy cluster known as PSZ2G113.91-37.01 (or G113 for short). Results of the observational campaign, presented in a paper published October 5 on the pre-print server arXiv, shed more light on the properties and nature of this cluster. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-european-astronomers-explore-galaxy-cluster.html Astronomy Thu, 12 Oct 2023 09:24:17 EDT news616321455 Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are an astronomical mystery, with their exact cause and origins still unconfirmed. These intense bursts of radio energy are invisible to the human eye, but show up brightly on radio telescopes. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-fast-radio-distant-neutron-stars.html Astronomy Wed, 11 Oct 2023 15:00:01 EDT news616236700 For the first time, an international group of astronomers have seen the heat glow of two ice giant planets colliding, and the resultant dust cloud then move in front of the parent star several years later. The star ASASSN-21qj—named after the network of telescopes that first detected the fading of the star at visible wavelengths—was then studied intensively by a network of amateur and professional astronomers including Dr. Matthew Kenworthy at Leiden Observatory (the Netherlands), who monitored the changes in the star's brightness over the next two years. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-cloud-colliding-ice-planets-dims.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Wed, 11 Oct 2023 11:00:01 EDT news616146907 Stars like our sun end their lives as white dwarfs. Some of them are surrounded by a planetary nebula consisting of gas ejected by the dying star shortly before its death. An international research team led by Professor Klaus Werner of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Tübingen has for the first time studied a central star of a planetary nebula located in an open star cluster. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-central-star-planetary-nebula-reveals.html Astronomy Wed, 11 Oct 2023 09:57:25 EDT news616237041 Indian astronomers have conducted a study aimed at investigating a large-scale turbulence in the interstellar medium of a spiral galaxy known as NGC 6946. Results of the study, published October 4 on the pre-print server arXiv, could help us better understand the nature of this phenomenon. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-large-scale-turbulence-galaxy-ngc.html Astronomy Wed, 11 Oct 2023 09:50:15 EDT news616236612 Within a neighboring dwarf galaxy known as the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) lies a dramatic region of star birth—NGC 346, shown here. As the brightest and largest star-forming region in the SMC, it has been studied intensely by a variety of telescopes. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope showed a visible-light view filled with thousands of stars. More recently, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope offered a near-infrared vista highlighting both cool and warm dust. Now, Webb has turned its mid-infrared gaze to NGC 346, revealing streamers of gas and dust studded with bright patches filled with young protostars. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-nasa-webb-captures-ethereal-view.html Astronomy Tue, 10 Oct 2023 11:36:48 EDT news616156605 ESA's Gaia provides many new and improved insights into our galaxy and beyond with the release of five new data products. Among other findings, the mission reveals half a million new and faint stars in a massive cluster. The new Gaia stars revealed in Omega Centauri live in one of the most crowded regions in the sky. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-gaia-cluster-cores-unforeseen-science.html Astronomy Tue, 10 Oct 2023 10:53:03 EDT news616153982 Since Mercury is the closest planet to the sun among the solar system planets, it is strongly influenced by the solar wind, a high-speed (several hundred km/s) stream of plasma blowing from the sun. Explorations of Mercury were first carried out by the Mariner 10 spacecraft in 1974 and 1975, which revealed that Mercury has a magnetic field, and thus a magnetosphere, similar to that of Earth. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-source-electron-x-ray-aurora-mercury.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Tue, 10 Oct 2023 10:43:04 EDT news616153381 An international team led by Dr. Florian Peißker at the University of Cologne's Institute of Astrophysics has analyzed in detail a young star cluster in the immediate vicinity of the super massive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) in the center of our galaxy and showed that it is significantly younger than expected. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-stellar-fountain-youth-turbulent-formation.html Astronomy Tue, 10 Oct 2023 10:33:03 EDT news616152781 Galaxy Cruise, a citizen science project led by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), has been sailing the cosmic ocean with citizen astronomers to uncover the secrets of galaxies since 2019. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-scientific-results-galaxy-cruise.html Astronomy Tue, 10 Oct 2023 10:27:03 EDT news616152421