26 March 2023
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Latest News
  • [ 23 March 2023 ] A simpler, more mundane explanation for ‘Oumuamua’s strange behaviour News
  • [ 22 March 2023 ] Japanese Hakuto-R moon lander slips into lunar orbit News
  • [ 21 March 2023 ] Analysis of Magellan data shows apparent volcanic activity on Venus News
  • [ 23 February 2023 ] Webb images M92, one of the Milky Way’s oldest globular clusters News
  • [ 20 February 2023 ] The Eskimo: observe one of winter’s best planetary nebulae News
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First light detected from violent neutron star collision

16 October 2017 Astronomy Now

For the first time, scientists have detected light tied to a gravitational-wave event, thanks to two merging neutron stars in the galaxy NGC 4993, located about 130 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra.

News

Andromeda’s bright X-ray mystery solved by NuSTAR

24 March 2017 Astronomy Now

The Milky Way’s closest neighbor, Andromeda, features a dominant source of high-energy X-ray emission, but its identity was mysterious until now. As reported in a new study, NASA’s NuSTAR mission has pinpointed an object responsible for this high-energy radiation.

News

NASA’s Swift mission maps a star’s ‘death spiral’ into a black hole

21 March 2017 Stephen Clark

Some 290 million years ago, a star much like the sun wandered too close to the central black hole of its galaxy. Intense tides tore the star apart, which produced an eruption of optical, ultraviolet and X-ray light that first reached Earth in 2014.

News

Mind the gap: ‘Rapid Burster’ behaviour explained

7 February 2017 Stephen Clark

Scientists observing a curious neutron star in a binary system known as the ‘Rapid Burster’ may have solved a forty-year-old mystery surrounding its puzzling X-ray bursts. They discovered that its magnetic field creates a gap around the star, largely preventing it from feeding on matter from its stellar companion.

News

Black hole meal sets record for duration and size

6 February 2017 Stephen Clark

A giant black hole ripped apart a star and then gorged on its remains for about a decade, according to astronomers. This is more than 10 times longer than any observed episode of a star’s death by black hole.

News

Microlensing observations with space telescope duo reveals brown dwarf

12 November 2016 Astronomy Now

In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, NASA’s Spitzer and Swift space telescopes joined forces to observe a microlensing event, when a distant star brightens due to the gravitational field of at least one foreground cosmic object. This technique is useful for finding low-mass bodies orbiting stars, such as planets. In this case, the observations revealed a brown dwarf.

News

NASA’s unprecedented look at superstar Eta Carinae

8 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Eta Carinae is the most luminous and massive stellar system within 10,000 light-years of Earth. A long-term study led by astronomers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center used satellites, ground-based telescopes and theoretical modelling to produce the most comprehensive picture of Eta Carinae to date.

News

Pulsar with black hole could hold the ‘holy grail’ of gravity

6 December 2014 Astronomy Now

The intermittent light emitted by a pulsar allows scientists to verify Einstein’s theory of relativity, especially when paired up with another neutron star that interferes with its gravity. According to researchers from Spain and India, this theory could be analysed much more effectively if a pulsar with a black hole were found.

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News Headlines

  • A simpler, more mundane explanation for ‘Oumuamua’s strange behaviour
    23 March 2023
  • Japanese Hakuto-R moon lander slips into lunar orbit
    22 March 2023
  • Analysis of Magellan data shows apparent volcanic activity on Venus
    21 March 2023
  • Webb images M92, one of the Milky Way’s oldest globular clusters
    23 February 2023
  • The Eskimo: observe one of winter’s best planetary nebulae
    20 February 2023
  • Home
  • The Magazine
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      • March last issue
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  • AstroFest 2023
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  • Reviews
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    • Book Reviews
  • Spaceflight Now
  • Shop
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