Category Astronomy/Space

This artist’s impression shows a possible seed for the formation of a supermassive black hole. Two of these possible seeds were discovered by an Italian team, using three space telescopes: the NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss

For years astronomers have debated how the earliest generation of supermassive black holes formed very quickly, relatively speaking, after the Big Bang. Now, an Italian team has identified 2 objects in the early Universe that seem to be the origin of these early supermassive black holes. The two objects represent the most promising black hole seed candidates found so far

The group used computer models and applied a new analysis method to data from the NASA Chandra X-ray...

Griffin and Dai developed the data collection methodology used to detect the gamma-ray emission from Arp 220. Credit: University of Oklahoma and NASA

A Uni of Oklahoma team has detected for the first time the most luminous gamma-ray emission from a galaxy -the merging galaxy Arp 220 is the nearest ultraluminous infrared galaxy to Earth, and it reveals the hidden extreme energetic processes in galaxies. The first gamma-ray detection of an ultraluminous infrafred galaxy occurs when the most energetic cosmic rays collide with the interstellar medium causing these galaxies to glow – expanding observations of these galaxies to the highest energy ranges...

Composite image of the galaxy cluster from three different filters on the Hubble Space Telescope. The wave charts (insets at left) show spectra of the multiply imaged systems. The fact that they share peaks at the same wavelength shows that they belong to the same source. At bottom right, the Keck I and Keck II Telescopes at Hawaii’s the W. M. Keck Observatory. Credit: BRADAC/HST/W. M. Keck Observatory

Discovery could help explain how ‘cosmic dark ages’ ended. Using the W. M. Keck Observatory on the summit on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the researchers detected the galaxy as it was 13 billion years ago. The researchers made the discovery using gravitational lensing to see the incredibly faint object, which was born just after the Big Bang...

Using data from the LAMP instrument aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a Southwest Research Institute-led team of scientists discovered two geologically young craters — one (right) 16 million, the other (left) between 75 and 420 million, years old — in the Moon’s darkest regions. One lies within Slater Crater, named for the late Dr. David C. Slater, a former SwRI space scientist who designed and built the LAMP instrument. Credit: Albedo map credit: NASA GSFC/SwRI; Topographic map credit: NASA GSFC/ASU Jmoon

New technique allows scientists to ‘age’ craters in the darkest regions of the Moon. A team of scientists discovered 2 geologically young craters – one 16 million, the other between 75 and 420 million years old...