light curve tagged posts

NASA has a long tradition of unexpected discoveries, and the space program’s TESS mission is no different. SMU astrophysicist and her team have discovered a particularly bright gamma-ray burst using a NASA telescope designed to find exoplanets — those occurring outside our solar system — particularly those that might be able to support life.

It’s the first time a gamma-ray burst has been found this way.

Gamma-ray bursts are the brightest explosions in the universe, typically associated with the collapse of a massive star and the birth of a black hole. They can produce as much radioactive energy as the sun will release during its entire 10-billion-year existence.

Krista Lynne Smith, an assistant professor of physics at Southern Methodist Uni...

The Kepler space telescope’s planet-hunting mission was launched in 2009 but lost its key orientation abilities in 2013

Mysterious light on a distant star could be a sign of alien civilisation, some astronomers have claimed, stirring controversy. Not so fast, said NASA.

“The mysterious star, KIC 8462852, does have an odd light curve,” said Steve Howell, working on the Kepler space telescope’s planet-hunting mission. “It does not look like a normal exoplanet or binary star light curve. However, I think that saying that it immediately is alien is a bit of a stretch,” Howell said in an email to AFP.

Kepler observes distant planets and stars by observing transits, or the dimming of light when another celestial body passes in front...