In a recent study published in Nature Astronomy, an international team of researchers led by NASA and The George Washington University examined data from an October 2020 detection of what’s known as a “large spin-down glitch event”, also known as an “anti-glitch”, from a type of neutron star known as a magnetar called SGR 1935+2154 and located approximately 30,000 light-years from Earth, with SGR standing for soft gamma repeaters. Such events occur when the magnetar experiences a sudden decrease in its rotation rate, which in this case was followed by three types of radio bursts known as extragalactic fast radio bursts (FRBs) and then pulsed radio emissions for one month straight after the initial rotation rate decrease.Continue reading “Magnetars are Extreme in Every Way, Even Their Volcanoes”
The Technique for Detecting Meteors Could be Used to Find Dark Matter Particles Entering the Atmosphere
Researchers from Ohio State University have come up with a novel method to detect dark matter, based on existing meteor-detecting technology. By using ground-based radar to search for ionization trails, similar to those produced by meteors as they streak through the air, they hope to use the Earth’s atmosphere as a super-sized particle detector. The results of experiments using this technique would help researchers to narrow down the range of possible characteristics of dark matter particles.Continue reading “The Technique for Detecting Meteors Could be Used to Find Dark Matter Particles Entering the Atmosphere”
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Binary Stars Live Complicated Lives, Especially Near the End
We know what will happen to our Sun.
It’ll follow the same path other stars of its ilk follow. It’ll start running out of hydrogen, swell up and cool and turn red. It’ll be a red giant, and eventually, it’ll become so voluminous that it will consume the planets closest to it and render Earth uninhabitable. Then billions of years from now, it’ll create one of those beautiful nebulae we see in Hubble images, and the remnant Sun will be a shrunken white dwarf in the center of the nebula, a much smaller vestige of the luminous body it once was.
This is the predictable life the Sun lives as a solitary star. But what happens to stars that have a solar sibling? How would its binary companion fare?Continue reading “Binary Stars Live Complicated Lives, Especially Near the End”
Astronomers Simulate the Cat’s Eye Nebula in 3D
In a recent study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, an international team of researchers led by Stanford University have produced the first computer-generated 3D model of the Cat’s Eye Nebula, which unveiled a symmetric pair of rings that enclose the outer shell of the nebula. This study holds the potential for helping us better understanding the nebula’s makeup and how it formed, as the symmetric rings provides clues that they were formed from a precessing jet, which produces strong confirmation that a binary star exists at the nebula’s center.Continue reading “Astronomers Simulate the Cat’s Eye Nebula in 3D”
Can Astronomers Predict Which Stars Are About to Explode as Supernovae?
In a recent study submitted to High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, a team of researchers from Japan discuss strategies to observe, and possibly predict precursor signatures for an explosion from Local Type II and Galactic supernovae (SNe). This study has the potential to help us better understand both how and when supernovae could occur throughout the universe, with supernovae being the plural form of supernova (SN). But just how important is it to detect supernovae before they actually happen?Continue reading “Can Astronomers Predict Which Stars Are About to Explode as Supernovae?”
Hubble Checks the Weather on Hot Jupiters. Forecast: 100% Chance of Hellish Conditions
While the Hubble Space Telescope celebrates 32 years in orbit, like a fine wine, it has only gotten better with age as it continues to study the Universe and teach us more about our place in the cosmos. Hubble doesn’t just take breathtaking images of our Universe, but it also studies our own solar system, galaxies, and exoplanets, as well. It is this last subject where Hubble has recently been hard at work, though.Continue reading “Hubble Checks the Weather on Hot Jupiters. Forecast: 100% Chance of Hellish Conditions”
Mixing Science and Art, One Painting at a Time
All her life, Laci Shea Brock has needed to be creative and inventive. So, perhaps it’s not completely surprising that in addition to pursuing her PhD in planetary sciences and astrophysics, she’s also a talented artist.
“My Dad says I’ve always had a paintbrush in my hand,” Brock said, “and I’ve always been inspired by space and nature.Continue reading “Mixing Science and Art, One Painting at a Time”
The Destruction of Dark Matter isn’t Causing Extra Radiation at the Core of the Milky Way
There are times when it feels like dark matter is just toying with us. Just as we gather evidence that hints at one of its properties, new evidence suggests otherwise. So it is with a recent work looking at how dark matter might behave in the center of our galaxy.Continue reading “The Destruction of Dark Matter isn’t Causing Extra Radiation at the Core of the Milky Way”
Supercomputer Simulation Shows a Supernova 300 Days After it Explodes
The answers to many questions in astronomy are hidden behind the veil of deep time. One of those questions is around the role that supernovae played in the early Universe. It was the job of early supernovae to forge the heavier elements that were not forged in the Big Bang. How did that process play out? How did those early stellar explosions play out?
A trio of researchers turned to a supercomputer simulation to find some answers.Continue reading “Supercomputer Simulation Shows a Supernova 300 Days After it Explodes”
Detecting the Neutrinos From a Supernova That’s About to Explode
Neutrinos are puzzling things. They’re tiny particles, almost massless, with no electrical charge. They’re notoriously difficult to detect, too, and scientists have gone to great lengths to detect them. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, for instance, tries to detect neutrinos with strings of detectors buried down to a depth of 2450 meters (8000 ft.) in the dark Antarctic ice.
How’s that for commitment.Continue reading “Detecting the Neutrinos From a Supernova That’s About to Explode”