Last year, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers made the startling discovery of some free-floating, planetary-mass objects in the Orion nebula that threw their ideas of planet and star formation into doubt. And now, new research has further deepened the mystery around these so-called Jupiter-mass binary objects, or JuMBOs. JuMBOs aren’t stars, but aren’t really planets either. Mark McCaughrean, senior science advisor at the European Space Agency (ESA), and colleagues originally located the objects in the Orion nebula. This nebula is a star birthing region, also known as Messier…
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Scientists create 5 new isotopes to learn how neutron star collisions forge gold
Researchers have synthesized five new isotopes that could help bring the stars down to Earth — and coax scientists a step closer to understanding how collisions between ultra-dense, dead stars could create heavy elements like gold and silver. The isotopes are Thulium-182, thulium-183, ytterbium-186, ytterbium-187 and lutetium-190; this is the first time they’ve been ever been synthesized on Earth. Their creation took place at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University (MSU) and represents a step towards building atoms on Earth that are typically only created…
Read More‘Odd couple’ kissing stars created by unromantic cannibalistic feeding dance
Valentine’s Day won’t be all hearts and flowers for some “kissing stars” — or, in other words, stars that exist in close binaries that have been locked in a waltz that has left one a shrunken husk, and the other a swollen orb. Astronomers have zoomed in on a group of such “odd couple” stars, only to discover the bodies appear to have been created by a voracious and essentially cannibalistic stellar feeding process. How unromantic. The team, led by Georgia State Postdoctoral Research Associate Robert Klement, used the Center…
Read MoreDecade-long Dark Energy Survey offers new insights into the expansion of the universe
A survey of over 1,500 supernovas conducted by the Dark Energy Camera has placed strong constraints on the accelerating expansion of the universe. The results suggest that the mysterious force that drives this cosmic acceleration, dark energy, may change over time, varying in density, which calls the standard model of cosmology into question. Related: Dark energy remains a mystery as Einstein’s theory of gravity passes another test The results were delivered by the largest sample of supernovas ever harvested by a single instrument as part of the Dark Energy Survey.…
Read MoreNeutron stars could be the ultimate dark matter detectors
Astronomers continue to struggle in their hunt for dark matter, the elusive and mysterious form of matter that dominates the mass of the universe. But one astronomer proposes that, instead of building gigantic, expensive experiments on Earth, we should try another method of searching for dark matter: Looking to the stars. Multiple independent lines of evidence suggest that dark matter exists. Something is keeping stars contained within galaxies despite their enormous speeds. Something is keeping galaxies contained within clusters despite their excess motion. Something is bending the path of light…
Read MoreGold mine of kilonova explosions forged by neutron stars crashing together
The gold that comprises the ring on your ring, the jewelry, and the uranium used as fuel in nuclear power plants is believed to come from the violent conditions created when two ultradense dead stars called neutron stars collide. This collision between neutron stars also generates ripples in spacetime called gravitational waves, blasts of high-energy radiation called gamma-ray bursts, and a flash of light called a kilonova that can be detected here on Earth. Signatures from just such an event were detected on 17 August 2017. Now, a team of…
Read MoreMeet the Infrared Telescopes That Paved the Way for NASA’s Webb
Scientists have been studying the universe with infrared space telescopes for 40 years, including these NASA missions, from left: the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), launched in 1983; the Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003; and the James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021. NASA/JPL-Caltech The Webb telescope has opened a new window onto the universe, but it builds on missions going back 40 years, including Spitzer and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite. On Dec. 25, NASA will celebrate the two-year launch anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope – the largest…
Read MoreStrange ‘slide whistle’ fast radio burst picked up by alien-hunting telescope defies explanation
Astronomers watched 35 explosive outbursts from a rare repeating “fast radio burst” (FRB) as it shifted in frequency like a “cosmic slide whistle,” blinking in a puzzling pattern never seen before. FRBs are millisecond-long flashes of light from beyond the Milky Way that are capable of producing as much energy in a few seconds as the sun does in a year. FRBs are believed to come from powerful objects like neutron stars with intense magnetic fields — also called magnetars — or from cataclysmic events like stellar collisions or the…
Read MoreHow the songs of stars can help perfect Gaia’s sweeping map of our galaxy
Astronomers have developed a new way of measuring cosmic distances by listening to the frequencies of “music” played by vibrating stars that collectively act as a vast orchestra of different cosmic instruments. The results could help the European Space Agency (ESA) satellite Gaia better measure the positions of about two billion stars as well as their distances from Earth and movements while building a precise, 3-dimensional map of the Milky Way. Scientists typically use a process called parallax, the apparent shift in an object’s position when seen from two different…
Read MoreWebb Sheds Light on an Exploded Star
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s new view of Cassiopeia A (Cas A) in near-infrared light is giving astronomers hints at the dynamical processes occurring within the supernova remnant. Tiny clumps represented in bright pink and orange make up the supernova’s inner shell, and are comprised of sulfur, oxygen, argon, and neon from the star itself. A large, striated blob at the bottom right corner of the image, nicknamed Baby Cas A, is one of the few light echoes visible NIRCam’s field of view. In this image, red, green, and blue…
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