Category Astronomy/Space

Markarian 1018 is an “active galaxy” that has brightened and dimmed over about 30 years. The black hole at the center waS being deprived of enough fuel to illuminate its surroundings. Credit X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Sydney/R.McElroy et al, Optical: ESO/CARS Survey

Astronomers may have solved the mystery of the peculiar volatile behavior of a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy. Combined data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other observatories suggest the black hole is no longer being fed enough fuel to make its surroundings shine brightly. Many galaxies have an extremely bright core, or nucleus, powered by material falling toward a supermassive black hole. These “active galactic nuclei”, AGN, are some of the brightest objects in the Universe.

Astronomers classify AGN...

“Chury” with his bi-lobe structure and the weakest part, the neck. Credit: © ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM CC BY-SA IGO 3.0

Based on computer simulations, Astrophysicists at the University of Bern, Switzerland, conclude that the comet Chury did not obtain its duck-like form during the formation of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Although it does contain primordial material, they are able to show that the comet in its present form is hardly more than a billion years old. Based on data from the Rosetta space probe, scientists have so far assumed that the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko originated from the initial phase of our solar system. Its peculiar, duck-shaped structure would have resulted from a gentle collision of 2 objects about 4.5 billion years ago.

Based on new research, Martin Jutz...

Stunning moon rise over Brokeoff Mountain, California. Jillian Kern/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

A beautiful full moon will grace our skies on Monday Nov 14 this year. Full moons always rise around sunset, so look for it towards the east during evening twilight. Every month, occasionally even twice a month, the full moon adorns the night. What makes this one so special is all the hype of the supermoon. A quick glance at the statistics and you can see what everyone’s buzzing about. The supermoon is up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the smallest full moon of the year (which occurred last April).

What’s more, this supermoon is the closest full moon since January 26, 1948, making it the closest to date in the 21st century. The full moon won’t be this close again until November 25, 2034...

These three planetary discs have been observed with the SPHERE instrument, mounted on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The observations were made in order to shed light on the enigmatic evolution of fledgling planetary systems. The central parts of the images appear dark because SPHERE blocks out the light from the brilliant central stars to reveal the much fainter structures surrounding them. Credit: ESO

3 teams of astronomers have made use of SPHERE, an advanced exoplanet-hunting instrument on the VLT at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, in order to shed light on the enigmatic evolution of fledgling planetary systems. The explosion in the number of known exoplanets in recent years has made the study of them one of the most dynamic fields in modern astronomy...