VLT tagged posts

Black holes are often portrayed as cosmic gluttons that swallow everything that comes too close. But new observations of a dramatic black hole outburst—led by Warwick Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Noel Castro Segura—suggest the reality is much messier.

Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers followed the newly discovered black hole system Swift J1727.8−1613 through a spectacular 2023 eruption. The work is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Astronomers found that as the black hole consumed gas from a nearby star, it simultaneously launch...

A team of astronomers has found the strongest evidence yet that some planets outside our solar system may be magnetic. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) and the GeminiNorth telescope, the researchers measured wind speeds on seven very hot, Jupiter-like exoplanets.

The observations reveal that the winds on these planets are most likely governed by magnetic fields, providing the first robust measurement of magnetism on planets outside the solar system.

“This breakthrough opens a completely new window on exoplanet research...

Starlight and stardust are not enough to drive the powerful winds of giant stars, transporting the building blocks of life through our galaxy. That’s the conclusion of a new study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, of red giant star R Doradus. The result overturns a long-held idea about how the atoms needed for life are spread.

The study, “An empirical view of the extended atmosphere and inner envelope of the asymptotic giant branch star R Doradus II...

Astronomers have discovered a planet that orbits at a 90-degree angle around a rare...