Category Astronomy/Space

Quantum particles of different energies sense different properties of spacetime. The effect is similar to the dispersion of light in prism: photons of different energies sense the same prism as having slightly different properties. (Source: FUW, jch) Credit: Source: FUW, jch

When white light is passed through a prism, the rainbow on the other side reveals a rich palette of colors. Theorists from University of Warsaw have shown that in models of the Universe using any of the quantum theories of gravity there must also be a ‘rainbow’ of sorts, composed of different versions of spacetime. The mechanism predicts that instead of a single, common spacetime, particles of different energies essentially sense slightly modified versions thereof.

We have probably all seen the experiment: when white l...

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the compact green pea galaxy J0925+1403. The diameter of the galaxy is approximately 6,000 light years, and it is about twenty times smaller than the Milky Way. Credit: NASA

Astronomers gain a new understanding of the re-ionization of the universe by studying a nearby dwarf ‘green pea’ galaxy. Newly formed dwarf galaxies were likely the reason that the universe heated up about 13 billion years ago. The finding opens an avenue for better understanding the early period of the universe’s 14 billion year history.

In the period of several hundred thousand yrs after the Big Bang, the universe was so hot and dense that matter was ionized instead of being in a neutral form...

In the last year, astronomers from Wyoming Uni have discovered 100 of the fastest-moving stars in the Milky Way galaxy with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and use of the Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) on Jelm Mountain, Wyo.

When some swift, massive stars – moving at > 50,000 miles/h- plow through space, they can cause material to stack up in front of them in the same way that water piles up ahead of a ship or a supersonic plane creates a shockwave in front of it. Called bow shocks, these dramatic arc-shaped features in space are helping researchers to uncover massive, so-called runaway stars...

As part of the first observations with the new GRAVITY instrument the team looked closely at the bright, young stars known as the Trapezium Cluster, located in the heart of the Orion star-forming region. Already, from these first data, GRAVITY made a discovery: one of the components of the cluster (Theta1 Orionis F) was found to be a double star for the first time. The brighter double star Theta1 Orionis C is also well seen. The background image comes from the ISAAC instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The views of two of the stars from GRAVITY, shown as inserts, reveal far finer detail than could be detected with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: ESO/GRAVITY consortium/NASA/ESA/M. McCaughrean

GRAVITY at ESO’s VLT successfully combined starlight using all 4 Auxiliary Telesc...