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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Earth’s magnetic field creates a previously undetected pocket of protection from radiation on the moon

    March 27, 2026, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Earth's magnetic field creates a previously undetected pocket of protection from radiation on the moon
    Illustration of the formation of the GCR cavity in the ecliptic plane. white lines from the Sun show the typical pattern of magnetic field lines in interplanetary space, referred to as the Parker spiral IMF. The magenta segment of the lunar orbit (dashed white circle) indicates the operational periods of LND, specifically from LP = 7.5 to 16.5 hM. The cylindrical spirals in two colors indicate two opposing directions of motion for GCR protons along the magnetic field lines. Shielded by Earth’s magnetic field, two regions of reduced GCRs in the near-Earth space are expected to exist, as marked by the shadowed areas...
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    Webb and Hubble share the most comprehensive view of Saturn to date

    March 26, 2026, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Side-by-side comparison of Saturn observed at different wavelengths and times show how differently it appears in infrared, on the left, versus visible light, on the right. Left image is labeled Saturn, Webb Infrared Light, November 29, 2024. Right image is labeled Saturn, Hubble Visible Light, August 22, 2024. In infrared, Saturn has horizontal bands, with bands at the north and south poles appearing darker orange and lightening to tan as they approach the equator. The north and south poles glow a greenish-grey. The rings appear in an icy neon white. White dots, representing several of Saturn’s moons, are labeled Janus, Dione, and Enceladus. In visible, Saturn’s horizontal bands appear pale yellow, with some bands towards the north and south pole having a light blue hue. The rings appear bright white, glowing slightly less than Webb’s infrared image. White dots, representing several of Saturn’s moons, are labeled Janus, Mimas, and Epimetheus.
    Complementary views of Saturn from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope show a dynamic planet with atmospheric features, orbiting moons, and bright rings.
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

    NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope have teamed up to capture new views of Saturn, revealing the planet in strikingly different ways. Observing in complementary wavelengths of light, the two space observatories provide scientists with a richer, more layered understanding of the gas giant’s atmosphere.

    Both sense sunlight reflected from Saturn’s banded clouds and hazes, but where Hubble reveals subtle color variations across the planet, Webb’s infrared view se...

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    Chandra resolves why black holes hit the brakes on growth

    March 25, 2026, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Astronomers have an answer for a long-running mystery in astrophysics: why is the growth of supermassive black holes so much lower today than in the past? A study using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other X-ray telescopes found that supermassive black holes are unable to consume material as rapidly as they did in the distant past. The results appeared in the December 2025 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

    Ten billion years ago, there was a period that astronomers call “cosmic noon,” when the growth of supermassive black holes (those with millions to billions of times the mass of the sun) was at its peak across the entire history of the universe. Between cosmic noon and now, however, astronomers have seen a major slowdown in how rapidly black holes are growing.

    “A longst...

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    Astrophysicists resolve ‘negative superhump’ conundrum of deep-space binary star systems

    March 24, 2026, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    New UNLV-led research is helping to unravel clues to a cosmic mystery that has eluded scientists for decades. Cataclysmic variables (CVs) are binary star systems in which primary stars—incredibly dense and compact white dwarfs—accumulate material from nearby companion stars. The material spirals in towards the white dwarf through what is known as an accretion disk. These deep space systems are responsible for a number of cosmic phenomena, including sudden bursts of light known as classical novae that temporarily appear to resemble new stars before fading away over time.

    A long-standing mystery in cataclysmic variables
    Modern astronomical instruments have enabled scientists to understand many of the mechanisms that drive CVs...

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