Tag: Astronomy

NASA satellites show Antarctica has gained ice despite rising global temperatures. How is that possible?

NeRD

Antarctica has gained ice in recent years, despite increasing average global temperatures and climate change, a new study finds. Using data from NASA satellites, researchers from Tongji University in Shanghai tracked changes in Antarctica’s ice sheet over more than two decades. The overall trend is one of substantial ice loss on the continent, but from 2021 to 2023, Antarctica gained some of that lost ice back. However, this isn’t a sign that global warming and climate change have miraculously reversed. Picture a long ski slope with a small jump at…

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New 8K-resolution photos of the sun show off incredible details of raging sunspots

NeRD

Incredible new images of the sun’s surface provide an unprecedented view of raging sunspots and solar activity. A new high-resolution camera system developed by the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) for the Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT), located at the Observatorio del Teide in Tenerife, reconstructed views of the sun with an 8K image resolution for the first time, according to a statement from AIP. Solar observations often face a trade-off between field of view and resolution. Large solar telescopes provide high-resolution images but cover limited areas, while smaller instruments…

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Scientists spot high-speed galaxy collision 11 billion light-years away: ‘We hence call this system the cosmic joust’

NeRD

Using a telescope in Chile, astronomers have captured a high-speed collision between two galaxies located more than 11 billion light-years away, getting a rare direct glimpse into how the universe’s most luminous sources of energy, known as quasars, can sculpt their surroundings and influence the evolution of galaxies. The new findings describe a galactic battle between the galaxy on the right in the image above, which hosts an actively feeding black hole, a quasar, at its center, and its neighbor on the left, which is being bombarded by intense radiation…

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When lightning bolts collide, do they unleash powerful gamma-ray flashes?

NeRD

The most powerful explosions in the known universe come from what are known as gamma-ray bursts — though they may not sound particularly exciting, scientists usually speak about these incredible blasts of electromagnetic radiation in the same breath as giant collapsing stars and black holes. We’ve catalogued quite a few of these events since the 1960s, and even used them to help us understand more about galaxy superclusters, but one particular kind of gamma-ray burst has remained somewhat of a mystery. It’s called a terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF), and it…

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‘We don’t know how bad it could get’: Are we ready for the worst space weather?

NeRD

Imagine being told a storm is heading your way, but you won’t know how bad the winds are or whether they’ll knock out power until just minutes before it hits. That’s the challenge scientists face when it comes to predicting solar storms. We’ve come a long way in understanding space weather. We can spot solar storm eruptions, track their speed, and estimate when they’ll arrive at Earth, sometimes with up to a day’s warning. However, one critical piece of information remains frustratingly out of reach until the last moment: the…

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Black hole dance illuminates hidden math of the universe

NeRD

Scientists have made the most accurate predictions yet of the elusive space-time disturbances caused when two black holes fly closely past each other. The new findings, published Wednesday (May 14) in the journal Nature, show that abstract mathematical concepts from theoretical physics have practical use in modeling space-time ripples, paving the way for more precise models to interpret observational data. Gravitational waves are distortions in the fabric of space-time caused by the motion of massive objects like black holes or neutron stars. First predicted in Albert Einstein’s theory of general…

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Solar storms and cyberattacks can both cause blackouts. Knowing the difference could save billions of dollars

NeRD

Space weather and cyberattacks can cause similar disruption to our civilization’s indispensable technology systems. Telling one from the other swiftly and reliably can make billions of dollars’ worth of difference to economies that could grind to a halt when such disruptions occur. Shortly after noon on April 28, the whole of Europe’s Iberian Peninsula plunged into darkness. An unknown incident shut down power grids serving Spain, Portugal and parts of Southern France. In an instant, the working day was over for millions of people as anything not powered by a…

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Strongest solar flare of 2025 erupts from sun, sparking radio blackouts across Europe, Asia and the Middle East

NeRD

The sun roared to life early Tuesday (May 14), unleashing a powerful X-class solar flare from a newly emerging sunspot region AR4087. The eruption peaked at 4:25 a.m. EDT (0825 GMT), triggering strong R3-level radio blackouts across Europe, Asia and the Middle East — the sunlit side of Earth at the time — as sunspot region 2087 crackles with activity. Solar flares of this magnitude are uncommon, according to the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). Solar flares are ranked by strength in five classes: A, B, C, M and…

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Modern-day alchemy! Scientists turn lead into gold at the Large Hadron Collider

NeRD

For centuries, alchemists dreamed of turning lead into gold — not through magic, but by unlocking the hidden potential within metals themselves. While their methods never panned out, those of modern science finally have. Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) — the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator — have observed a real-life transmutation of lead into gold. But this transformation didn’t come from direct collisions, as was previously observed. Instead, it emerged through a new mechanism involving near-miss interactions between atomic nuclei. The LHC was built to accelerate…

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It’s been one year since the most intense solar storm in decades created worldwide auroras. What have we learned?

NeRD

I’ll never forget the night of May 10, 2024. I remember having dinner with a friend and talking about the potential of seeing the northern lights in Northeast Ohio, a conversation that I had never had before or even thought was possible. It sounded unlikely, but earlier that week, the possibility was brought to my attention when I wrote one of my first-ever stories highlighting space weather triggered by the sun. As a meteorologist, space weather wasn’t something I talked about often, but the more I was learning that week,…

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