Astronomy tagged posts

These ‘pebbles’ detected for 1st time: crucial link in building planets. Since1990s, astronomers have found both disks of gas and dust, and nearly 2000 fully formed planets, but the intermediate stages of formation are harder to detect.

Dr Greaves and Dr Anita Richards from Manchester University used e-MERLIN array of radio telescopes centred on Jodrell Bank, Cheshire, and that stretches across England in an interferometer, mimicking resolution of a single large telescope. They observed the star DG Tauri, a youthful star just 2.5 million years old and 450 light years away in constellation of Taurus. Looking at radio wavelengths, they discovered a faint glow characteristic of rocks in orbit around the newly formed star.

An artist’s imp...

An artist’s illustration of a supermassive black hole, actively feasting on its surroundings. The central black hole is hidden from direct view by a thick layer of encircling gas and dust. Credit: NASA/ESA.

Using NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) satellite observatory, a Durnham University team detected high-energy xrays from 5 supermassive black holes previously clouded from direct view by dust and gas. It supports the theory that potentially millions more supermassive black holes exist in the Universe, but are hidden from view.

The scientists pointed NuSTAR at 9 candidate hidden supermassive black holes that were thought to be extremely active at the centre of galaxies, but where the full extent of this activity was potentially obscured from view.
High-energy x-r...