Category 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...

A scorching “lava world” once thought barren may actually be wrapped in a thick, mysterious atmosphere. Astronomers have uncovered surprising evidence of a thick atmosphere surrounding TOI-561 b, a scorching, fast-orbiting rocky planet once thought too extreme to hold onto any gas...

How fast can a galaxy build ordered magnetic fields spanning thousands of light-years? Existing theories say several billion years, but observations of galaxies in our universe imply shorter timescales...

Every eleven years, the sun’s magnetic field flips. Sunspots—dark, cooler regions on the sun’s surface that mark intense magnetic activity and often trigger solar eruptions—appear at mid-latitudes and migrate toward the star’s equator in a butterfly-shape pattern before fading as the cycle resets. While this spectacle on the star’s surface has long been visible to astronomers, where this powerful cycle begins inside the star has remained hidden until now.

Researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have analyzed nearly three dec...