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    NEOWISE tagged posts

    JWST uncovers hidden black holes devouring stars in dusty galaxies

    July 28, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The James Webb Space Telescope in front of a tidal disruption event, a black hole shredding a star
    Caption:Astronomers at MIT, Columbia University, and elsewhere have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to peer through the dust of nearby galaxies and into the aftermath of a black hole’s stellar feast. Credits:Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF/NASA

    Astronomers at MIT, Columbia University, and elsewhere have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to peer through the dust of nearby galaxies and into the aftermath of a black hole’s stellar feast.

    In a study appearing today in Astrophysical Journal Letters, the researchers report that for the first time, JWST has observed several tidal disruption events—instances when a galaxy’s central black hole draws in a nearby star and whips up tidal forces that tear the star to shreds, giving off an enormous burst of energy in the process.

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    Astronomers Spot a Star Swallowing a Planet

    May 5, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A dynamic rendering shows, on the left, the edge of a gigantic, yellow spherical star. A tiny red planet is in the middle and has skimmed the star. Rays of white light and blue energy radiate out from their touch.
    Caption:This artist’s impression shows a doomed planet skimming the surface of its star. Astronomers used a combination of telescopes to spot the first direct evidence of an aging, bloated sun-like star, like the one pictured here, engulfing its planet. These telescopes included the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory, the W.M. Keck Observatory, and NASA’s NEOWISE mission.
    Credits:Image: K. Miller/R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC)

    Earth will meet a similar fate in 5 billion years. As a star runs out of fuel, it will billow out to a million times its original size, engulfing any matter — and planets — in its wake...

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    TESS discovers New Worlds in a River of Young Stars

    February 15, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This illustration sketches out the main features of TOI 451, a triple-planet system located 400 light-years away in the constellation Eridanus.
    Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

    Using observations from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a trio of hot worlds larger than Earth orbiting a much younger version of our Sun called TOI 451. The system resides in the recently discovered Pisces-Eridanus stream, a collection of stars less than 3% the age of our solar system that stretches across one-third of the sky.

    The planets were discovered in TESS images taken between October and December 2018...

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    Hubble snaps close-up of Celebrity Comet NEOWISE

    August 24, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This ground-based image of comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) was taken from the Northern Hemisphere on July 16, 2020. The inset image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on Aug. 8, 2020, reveals a close-up of the comet after its pass by the Sun. Hubble’s image zeroes in on the comet’s nucleus, which is too small to be seen. It’s estimated to measure no more than 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) across. Instead, the image shows a portion of the comet’s coma, the fuzzy glow, which measures about 11,000 miles (18,000 kilometers) across in this image. Comet NEOWISE won’t pass through the inner solar system for another nearly 7,000 years.
    Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, Q. Zhang (Caltech); ground-based image copyright © 2020 by Zoltan G. Levay, used with permission

    NASA Hubble Space Telescope images ...

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