Category Astronomy/Space

The black hole named Cygnus X-1 formed when a large star caved in. This black hole pulls matter from the blue star beside it.
Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

Physicists have described how observations of gravitational waves limit the possible explanations for the formation of black holes outside of our galaxy; either they are spinning more slowly than black holes in our own galaxy or they spin rapidly but are ‘tumbled around’ with spins randomly oriented to their orbit. The paper, published in Nature, is based on data that came about following landmark observations of gravitational waves by the LIGO gravitational wave detector in 2015 and again in 2017.

In our own galaxy we have been able to electromagnetically observe black holes orbited by stars and map their behaviour – notably their rapid spin...

The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, IC 1727, is currently interacting with its near neighbor, NGC 672 (which is just out of frame). Credit: NASA/Hubble/ESA

Gravity governs the movements of the cosmos. It draws flocks of galaxies together to form small groups and more massive galaxy clusters, and brings duos so close that they begin to tug at one another. This latter scenario can have extreme consequences, with members of interacting pairs of galaxies often being dramatically distorted, torn apart, or driven to smash into one another, abandoning their former identities and merging to form a single accumulation of gas, dust and stars.

The subject of this Hubble Space Telescope image, IC 1727, is currently interacting with its near neighbor, NGC 672 (which is just out o...

By using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have found that the varying glow of brown dwarfs over time can be explained by bands of patchy clouds rotating at different speeds. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Dim objects called brown dwarfs, less massive than the Sun but more massive than Jupiter, have powerful winds and clouds – specifically, hot patchy clouds made of iron droplets and silicate dust. Scientists recently realized these giant clouds can move and thicken or thin surprisingly rapidly, in less than an Earth day, but did not understand why.

Now, researchers have a new model for explaining how clouds move and change shape in brown dwarfs, using insights from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope...

Astronauts could someday benefit from recycling human waste on long space trips using a yeast and  a carbon fixing cyanobacteria or algae
Credit: American Chemical Society

Imagine you’re on your way to Mars, and you lose a crucial tool during a spacewalk. Not to worry, you’ll simply re-enter your spacecraft and use some microorganisms to convert your urine and exhaled CO2 into chemicals to make a new one. That’s one of the ultimate goals of scientists who are developing ways to make long space trips feasible. Astronauts can’t take a lot of spare parts into space because every extra ounce adds to the cost of fuel needed to escape Earth’s gravity...