Astronomy Now – Page 48

Astronomers thrilled by most powerful gamma ray burst to date

24 November 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have spotted the most powerful gamma ray burst to date, a titanic explosion that emitted radiation a trillion times more energetic than visible light.

As Orion graces the evening sky, enjoy an infrared view courtesy of the VLT

23 November 2019 Astronomy Now

A favourite target for amateur and professional astronomers alike, the Orion Nebula is once again gracing the autumn-winter skies in the Northern Hemisphere. It is just as glorious in the infrared, as seen by the Very Large Telescope and the HAWK-I camera.

A galactic train wreck with three supermassive black holes

23 November 2019 Astronomy Now

A third supermassive black hole has been found near the heart of an ongoing collision of three massive galaxies 300 million light years from Earth.

New technique touted for spotting elusive black hole mergers

18 November 2019 Astronomy Now

Black holes merging in the accretion disc of a supermassive black hole like the one at the core of the Milky Way might generate a visible signature, astronomers say.

Magnetized plasma jets likely mechanism for heating Sun’s corona

17 November 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found evidence for a complex mechanism that may explain how the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, is driven to such extreme temperatures.

Milky Way’s central black hole flings star out of galaxy

13 November 2019 Astronomy Now

A star has been spotted racing out of the Milky Way at more than 6 million kph after a close encounter with the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole.

Juno peers into the depths of a titanic jovian storm system

12 November 2019 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured a jaw-dropping down-the-throat view of a huge storm swirling in Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere earlier this month, a 2,000-kilometre-wide cyclonic system in the giant planet’s northern hemisphere.

The first stars may have formed even earlier than first thought

10 November 2019 Astronomy Now

Analysis of light passing through an ancient gas cloud indicates the the first generation of stars began shining sooner than previously thought.

NICER spots thermonuclear flash from pulsar detonation

8 November 2019 Astronomy Now

The NICER X-ray telescope array aboard the International Space Station has witnessed a brilliant Type 1 X-ray burst from a pulsar 11,000 light years away.

Ancient stars concentrated in a huge globular cluster

7 November 2019 Astronomy Now

Globular clusters offer stunning starscapes for amateur astronomers, but the Hubble Space Telescope takes it to another level as seen in this jaw-dropping image of Messier 2 some 55,000 light years from Earth.