Category Astronomy/Space

A team of Japanese astronomers used simultaneous ground-based and space-based observations to capture a more complete picture of a superflare on a star. The observed flare started with a very massive, high-velocity prominence eruption. These results give us a better idea of how superflares and stellar prominence eruptions occur.

Some stars have been seen releasing superflares over 10 times larger than the largest solar flare ever seen on the Sun. The hot ionized gas released by solar flares can influence the environment around the Earth, referred to as space weather...

Elusive intermediate-mass black holes take a few bites, then eject the leftovers

In new 3D computer simulations, astrophysicists modeled black holes of varying masses and then hurled stars (about the size of our sun) past them to see what might happen. If they exist, intermediate-mass black holes likely devour wayward stars like a messy toddler — taking a few bites and then flinging the remains across the galaxy.

When a star approaches an intermediate-mass black hole, it initially gets caught in the black hole’s orbit, the researchers discovered. After that, the black hole begins its lengthy and violent meal. Every time the star makes a lap, the black hole takes a bite — further cannibalizing the star with each passage...

A weird asteroid has just gotten a little weirder.

We have known for a while that asteroid 3200 Phaethon acts like a comet...

An international team of space scientists has found evidence suggesting that planets could have formed during the so-called “cosmic noon.” In their study, reported in the journal Nature Astronomy, the group used data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study a part of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) to learn more about planet development around young stars.

For many years, astronomers have been studying planet creation and the likelihood of the existence of planets similar to Earth. But it is still not clear how planets could have could come to exist in the early universe when most, if not all of the stars, were small...