The findings could topple our current understanding of how galaxies merge.
The Universe’s densest stars have a maximum mass limit, researchers find
Stopping just shy of a black hole’s density, neutron stars play a dangerous game.
How to find constellations: a starter’s guide
You’ll never know what’s written in the stars for you if you can’t read them.
The first ever supernova-in-progress seen shows we don’t quite yet understand them
A really lucky find.
Astronomers discover the first white dwarf pulsar in history, ending half a century of searching
It’s small but it will rip you apart using only magnetism.
Astronomers may have discovered a new cosmic phenomena — and we don’t really know what it is
What we do know is that it blasts enormously powerful X-rays into the void.
Scientists may have seen a black hole being born for the first time ever
Awww, it has your….mass.
New class of star-stripped super-Earths discovered
Astrophysicists have discovered a new class of exoplanets whose atmospheres and volatile elements have been blown away by the star they’re orbiting. Their findings help cover a previously uncharted gap in planetary populations, and offers valuable insight for locating new worlds to colonize.
Gold doesn’t fall out of the sky – but it’s created in the heavens
Research based on recent observations of a nearby gamma-ray burst, GRB 130603B, help explain how gold, silver and other heavy metal atoms are created.
A crime in the sky: galaxies die by strangulation
There are two types of galaxies: ‘alive’ and ‘dead’ ones. Those galaxies that are still alive are called so because they still produce stars inside, while the dead ones are stripped and devoid of their stellar nurseries. In a case of forensic astronomy of the utmost importance, a team at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Observatory Edinburgh has revealed the leading cause of death for most deceased galaxies of average size: death by strangulation. What remains now is to identify the killer, the researchers say.
Capturing music from the stars
Musica Universalis or Music of the Spheres is an philosophical concept which portrays the proportions in the movement of the celestial bodies – the sun, planets, stars and so on – as a form of music. These observable patterns aren’t quite musical, since they lack harmony, but the idea itself has influenced a great of artists, namely musicians in this
Youngest ‘baby star’ ever discovered
Astronomers have come across something truly amazing. Observations have surprised a protostar – a star in the making – in its earliest stage ever witnessed. The stellar fetus has only accreted about 20 percent of the matter surrounding it and has yet to begin nuclear fusion. Theories regarding star formation are rather well established, however there are many gaps in
Seeing stars during daytime – is it possible?
The short answer is, no. Not with the naked eye at least, but if you use a highly potent set of binoculars or a telescope, this is indeed possible. There are a number of accounts, some dating back from ancient times, that tell of how star gazing is possible during the daytime. Various old wives’ tales speak of the possibility of seeing
Most powerful stars are actually vampire binary systems. The weaker feeds on the stronger
A new research has found that the massively powerful O-type stars, which can be up to 90 times more powerful than our own sun, actually come in pairs most of the time, as a binary system. The two stars wrapper in this dance have a special kind of relationship developed with one another. Thus, one of the stars feeds on
Stars spew out organic matter into space – life may have its origin in star dust
A new study published by researchers at University of Hong Kong has produced controversial waves among the astronomy community, as it claims, backed by sound evidence, that organic matter can be created naturally by stars and travel through out the universe via interstellar dust. It’s somewhat hard to believe, even picture, how organic matter can be spewed out by stars
How many planets are in the Milky Way? Over 50 billion
Yes, you’ve read that right. There are over 50 billion planets in our galaxy alone, according to the Kepler telescope, scientists now estimate that not only there are over 500 bilion planets in the galaxy, but that there are over 500 million life-cable planets out there as well. These numbers obviously come from Nasa’s own database created by the Kepler
A star is born [great pics]
The nebula you are looking at is known as the North American nebula, and the pictures were taken with the Spitzer telescope, using an infrared vision; researchers still have some unanswered questions about the group of massive stars thought to be dominating the nebula. The lower left of this first image shows the “baby” stars in the complex, no older
Physicists create a supernova in a jar
A supernova is a stellar explosion of cosmic proportions, that often can outshine the entire galaxy it is located in, before fading away in a matter of weeks or months. During this short period however, supernovae emit as much energy as the Sun emits during its entire life span – it’s the same kind of phenomena that researchers from the
Universe could hold three times more stars than previously believed
A new study suggests that a blunder of cosmic proportions has been made when estimating the total number of stars in the universe; the research points out that a specific kind of galaxy has 10 times more red dwarf stars than previously estimated. This would not only triple the number of stars throughout the universe, but also hold significant implications
Amazing NASA pic shows how galaxies collide
I gotta say, this is one of the most beautiful pictures I’ve seen all year ! This amazing image released by NASA shows a collision betweet two galaxies that began 100 million years ago (when dinosaurs were still kings) and is still happening today. The bright sources you see are in fact produced by huge amounts of material that falls
