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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Study shows First Evidence of Winds outside Black Holes throughout their Mealtimes

    January 23, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Study shows first evidence of winds outside black holes throughout their mealtimes

    Artistic rendition of strong winds disrupting the outer disc of material surrounding a stellar-mass black hole. The disk material (mostly in yellow) is first pulled from the outer parts of a nearby star (upper right-hand). The stellar-mass black hole sits at the center of the approximately 5 million kilometer disc, but it only consumes the material if and when it reaches the central 30 kilometers. Credit: NASA/Swift/A. Simonnet, Sonoma State University 

    New research shows the first evidence of strong winds around black holes throughout bright outburst events when a black hole rapidly consumes mass. The study, published in Nature, sheds new light on how mass transfers to black holes and how black holes can affect the environment around them...

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    New research challenges Existing Models of Black holes

    January 21, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A precise measurement of the magnetic field in the corona of the black hole binary V404 Cygni. Science, 2017; 358 (6368): 1299 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6368/1299

    A precise measurement of the magnetic field in the corona of the black hole binary V404 Cygni. Science, 2017; 358 (6368): 1299 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6368/1299

    Chris Packham, associate professor of physics and astronomy at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), has collaborated on a new study that expands the scientific community’s understanding of black holes in our galaxy and the magnetic fields that surround them. Packham and astronomers observed the magnetic field of a black hole within our own galaxy from multiple wavelengths for the first time.

    Black holes usually form when a massive star explodes and the remnant core collapses under the force of intense gravity...

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    Middle-Aged Sun observed by Tracking Motion of Mercury

    January 20, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    NASA and MIT scientists analyzed subtle changes in Mercury's motion to learn about the Sun and how its dynamics influence the planet's orbit. The position of Mercury over time was determined from radio tracking data obtained while NASA's MESSENGER mission was active. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

    NASA and MIT scientists analyzed subtle changes in Mercury’s motion to learn about the Sun and how its dynamics influence the planet’s orbit. The position of Mercury over time was determined from radio tracking data obtained while NASA’s MESSENGER mission was active. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

    Like the waistband of a couch potato in midlife, the orbits of planets in our solar system are expanding. It happens because the Sun’s gravitational grip gradually weakens as our star ages and loses mass. Now, a team of NASA and MIT scientists has indirectly measured this mass loss and other solar parameters by looking at changes in Mercury’s orbit.

    The new values improve upon earlier predictions by reducing the amount of uncertainty...

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    Meteoritic Stardust unlocks Timing of Supernova Dust Formation

    January 20, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    An electron microscope image of a micron-sized supernova silicon carbide, SiC, stardust grain (lower right) extracted from a primitive meteorite. Such grains originated more than 4.6 billion years ago in the ashes of Type II supernovae, typified here (upper left) by a Hubble Space Telescope image of the Crab Nebula, the remnant of a supernova explosion in 1054. Laboratory analysis of such tiny dust grains provides unique information on these massive stellar explosions. (1 ?m is one millionth of a meter.) Credit: NASA and Larry Nittler.

    An electron microscope image of a micron-sized supernova silicon carbide, SiC, stardust grain (lower right) extracted from a primitive meteorite. Such grains originated more than 4.6 billion years ago in the ashes of Type II supernovae, typified here (upper left) by a Hubble Space Telescope image of the Crab Nebula, the remnant of a supernova explosion in 1054. Laboratory analysis of such tiny dust grains provides unique information on these massive stellar explosions. (1 ?m is one millionth of a meter.) Credit: NASA and Larry Nittler.

    To astronomers, dust can be a nuisance by blocking the light of distant stars, or it can be a tool to study the history of our universe, galaxy, and Solar System...

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