radio waves tagged posts

Astronomers spot Bizarre, never-before-seen activity from One of the Strongest Magnets in the Universe

Astronomers spot bizarre, never-before-seen activity from one of the strongest magnets in the Universe
Artist’s impression of the active magnetar Swift J1818.0-1607. Credit: Carl Knox, OzGrav.

Astronomers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) and CSIRO have just observed bizarre, never-seen-before behavior from a radio-loud magnetar—a rare type of neutron star and one of the strongest magnets in the universe.

Their new findings, published today in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), suggest magnetars have more complex magnetic fields than previously thought, which may challenge theories of how they are born and evolve over time.

Magnetars are a rare type of rotating neutron star with some of the most powerful magnetic fields in the universe...

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Dead Planets can ‘Broadcast’ for up to a Billion Years

Planetary nebula with white dwarf illustration (stock image).
Credit: © Peter Jurik / Adobe Stock

Astronomers are planning to hunt for cores of exoplanets around white dwarf stars by ‘tuning in’ to the radio waves that they emit. In new research led by the University of Warwick, scientists have determined the best candidate white dwarfs to start their search, based upon their likelihood of hosting surviving planetary cores and the strength of the radio signal that we can ‘tune in’ to.

Published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the research led by Dr Dimitri Veras from the Department of Physics assesses the survivability of planets that orbit stars which have burnt all of their fuel and shed their outer layers, destroying nearby objects and removing the outer l...

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Search for 1st Stars uncovers ‘Dark Matter’

Pattern of radio waves on the sky caused by the combination of radiation from the first stars and the effect of dark matter. Blue regions are those where the dark matter cooled down the ordinary matter most strongly. If a similar pattern is detected with new radio telescopes over the next few years, this will confirm that the first stars have revealed the dark matter. Credit: Prof. Rennan Barkana.

Pattern of radio waves on the sky caused by the combination of radiation from the first stars and the effect of dark matter. Blue regions are those where the dark matter cooled down the ordinary matter most strongly. If a similar pattern is detected with new radio telescopes over the next few years, this will confirm that the first stars have revealed the dark matter. Credit: Prof. Rennan Barkana.

Discovery offers first direct proof that dark matter exists and that it is made up of low-mass particles. A team of astronomers led by Prof...

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Earth-Space Telescope produces Hot Surprise

Artistic view of the 10-meter space radio telescope on the Russian satellite Spektr-R comprising the space-borne component of the RadioAstron mission. Credit: © Astro Space Center of Lebedev Physical Institute

Artistic view of the 10-meter space radio telescope on the Russian satellite Spektr-R comprising the space-borne component of the RadioAstron mission. Credit: © Astro Space Center of Lebedev Physical Institute

Super high resolution reveals new details of Quasar and Milky Way. Astronomers using an orbiting radio telescope in conjunction with 4 ground-based radio telescopes have achieved the highest resolution, or ability to discern fine detail, of any astronomical observation ever made. Their achievement produced a pair of scientific surprises that promise to advance the understanding of quasars, supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies.

The scientists combined Russian RadioAstron satellite with the ground-based telescopes to produce a virtual radio telescope more than 100,000 mil...

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