By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two large stars residing inside a spectacular cloud of gas and dust nicknamed the “Dragon’s Egg” nebula have presented a puzzle to astronomers. One of them has a magnetic field, as does our sun. Its companion does not. And such massive stars are not usually associated with nebulae. Researchers […]
Tag: Astronomers
For the Maya, solar eclipses were a sign of heavenly clashes − and their astronomers kept sophisticated records to predict them
We live in a light-polluted world, where streetlamps, electronic ads and even backyard lighting block out all but the brightest celestial objects in the night sky. But travel to an officially protected “Dark Sky” area, gaze skyward and be amazed. This is the view of the heavens people had for millennia. Pre-modern societies watched the […]
Why are some supermassive black hole jets so short? Astronomers may have cracked the case
A new investigation into a rare and short-lived type of galaxy has revealed that such objects harbor slumbering supermassive black holes that briefly awaken to rip apart a massive star and devour its remains as a giant cosmic breakfast. “Compact Symmetric Objects,” or CSOs, are active galaxies that have two jets blasting out from them […]
Cosmic gold rush! Astronomers find 49 new galaxies in just 3 hours
Astronomers have been surprised by a “gold rush” of new galaxies, racking up 49 discoveries in just 3 hours. The gas-rich galaxies were uncovered by a team using the MeerKAT radio telescope located in South Africa. They have been dubbed the “forty-niners,” a callback to the nickname given to the thousands of gold miners who […]
How are extreme “blue supergiant” stars born? Astronomers may finally know
Astronomers may have solved the mystery of how some of the brightest and hottest stars in the cosmos are born. The team, led by researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), found clues that suggest blue supergiants are created when two stars in a binary system spiral together and merge. B-type blue supergiant […]
A discovery from on high — astronomers are geeked about the 2024 solar eclipse, too
Ed Cackett is a professional astronomer, poking into grand and mysterious things billions of miles away. By his standards, this rare total solar eclipse the rest of us are besotted with is happening around the corner. Dr. Cackett, distinguished chair of the physics and astronomy department at Wayne State University, watched the last total eclipse […]
Astronomers call for radio silence on the far side of the moon
There’s a growing and passionate call for preserving radio silence on the far side of the moon. A first-of-its-kind international symposium is being held this week, turning up the volume to mull over the prospect of protecting real estate on the moon’s far side exclusively for dedicated scientific purposes. Despite the moon being surrounding by […]
Astronomers discover the ingredients for habitable worlds — and maybe a cocktail — around two baby stars
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have detected commonplace chemical ingredients found in vinegar, ant stings and even margaritas around two young stars, according to NASA. The complex organic molecules they observed using the space […]
Astronomers discover oldest ‘dead’ galaxy in the distant universe
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Astronomers have spotted the oldest “dead” galaxy ever observed while studying the cosmos with the James Webb Space Telescope, and it’s one of the deepest views into the distant universe made with the observatory to […]
Astronomers discover 3 previously unknown moons orbiting planets in our solar system
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Astronomers have discovered three previously unknown moons around Uranus and Neptune, the most distant planets in our solar system. The find includes one moon spotted orbiting Uranus — the first discovery of its kind in more […]
Astronomers observe scar on white dwarf ‘cannibal’ star
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A slowly cooling stellar ember called a white dwarf with a scar on its face is providing new insight into the behavior of certain “cannibal” stars at the end of their life cycle. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Chile-based Very Large Telescope, researchers studied a white dwarf located about […]
Eclipse chasers, astronomers preparing for April’s once in a lifetime solar event
The first total eclipse to be seen from New York in nearly a century is around the corner, and local astronomers are over the moon for the phenomenon with activities and discussion centered around the annual event. The sun and the moon will finally visibly cross paths in New York for the first time in […]