Page 2 - Astronomy

Astronomers detect hot gas bubbles swirling around supermassive black hole

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have spotted signs of a 'hot spot' orbiting Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the centre of our galaxy. The finding helps us better understand the enigmatic and dynamic environment of our supermassive black hole."We think we're looking at a hot bubble of gas zipping around Sagittarius A* on an orbit similar in size to that of the planet Mercury, but making a full loop in just around 70 minutes. This requires a mind blowing velocity of about 30% of the speed of light!" says Maciek Wielgus of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, who led the study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.The observations were made with ALMA in the Chilean Andes -- a radio telescope co-owned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) -- during a campaign by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration to image black holes. In April 2017 the EHT linked together eight existing radio telescopes ...

Don't miss Jupiter's closest date with Earth in 70 years on September 26

Jupiter's opposition occurs every 13 months, making the planet appear larger and brighter than any other time of the year

Astronomers find new Saturn-like planet hiding in disc through novel method

All astronomers concur that planets are created in protoplanetary discs, which are the bands of gas and dust that encircle newly formed, young stars. Even though the universe has hundreds of these discs, it has been challenging to observe genuine planetary birth and development in these settings.Currently, astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian have created a novel method to find these elusive newborn planets, along with "smoking gun" proof of a small Neptune or Saturn-like planet hiding in a disc. The Astrophysical Journal Letters today published a description of the findings.According to Feng Long, a postdoctoral scholar at the Center for Astrophysics and project leader, "directly finding young planets is highly tough and has thus far only been effective in one or two situations." Because they are encased in substantial amounts of gas and dust, planets are always too dim for us to see them.Instead, they must look for signs that a planet is forming ..

All you need to know about India's first dark sky reserve in Ladakh

Government plans to promote astronomy tourism at the reserve, which is located in Hanle in Ladakh

Length of Earth's day is mysteriously increasing, scientists don't know why

Atomic clocks, combined with precise astronomical measurements, have revealed that the length of a day is suddenly getting longer, and scientists don't know why

After Russian withdrawal, what next for International Space Station?

The International Space Station was a symbol of post-Cold War peace and cooperation, and the Russian announcement of withdrawal after 2024 signifies the reversal of that cooperation

Chinese astronauts enter lab module after docks with space station

It was the first time the Chinese astronauts had entered the lab module in orbit

How James Webb Space Telescope lets us see first galaxies in the universe

It has been an exciting week with the release of breathtaking photos of our Universe by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Images such as the one below give us a chance to see distant galaxies

James Webb telescope captures images of universe: How astronomy will change

Unveiled by US president Joe Biden, the stunning image of SMACS 0723, a cluster of thousands of galaxies, was released on July 11

International astronomers in Australia capture black hole eruption

Astronomers from Curtin University, as part of an international team, have produced the most comprehensive images of the nearest active black hole to earth.

Indian astronomers discover new exoplanet, rare stars hotter than Sun

Indian astronomers have added another feather to their cap as they have recently made two new discoveries -- an exoplanet 1.4x the size of Jupiter and a rare class of radio stars hotter than the Sun.

Star system with right-angled planets surprises astronomers

Two planets orbit the poles while another revolves around the star's equator, suggesting a mysterious force

Planet X or a mirage?

This theoretical planet could be taking between 10,000 and 20,000 Earth years for one full revolution around the Sun

Space nationalism

There is an ongoing space race between global powers, also driven by nationalism (and military necessities) despite multi-national collaborations

Astronomers discover concentration of small black holes in cluster NGC 639

The researchers used previous estimates of the stars' tiny proper motions (their apparent motions on the sky), which allow for determining their true velocities within the cluster

Death of galaxy: Galactic collision spews gases equal to 10,000 suns a year

The merging galaxy formed 4.5 billion years ago is dubbed ID2299 and is ejecting gases equivalent to 10,000 Suns-worth of gas a year

Cabinet apprised of MoU between India, Spain for collaboration in astronomy

The Union Cabinet was apprised on Wednesday of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Spain for scientific and technical collaborations in the field of astronomy

Nobel Prize in physics goes to work on black holes: Here is the discovery

The fact that mathematics demonstrated that astrophysical black holes may exactly exist in nature is exactly what has energized the quest to search for them using astronomical techniques

Penrose, Genzel and Ghez win Nobel Physics Prize for black hole research

Penrose, professor at the University of Oxford, won half the prize for his work using mathematics to prove that black holes are a direct consequence of the general theory of relativity

Astronomers find potential sign of life high in Venus's atmosphere

Two telescopes in Hawaii and Chile spotted in the thick Venutian clouds the chemical signature of phosphine, a noxious gas that on Earth is only associated with life