Space & Time News -- ScienceDaily
Astronomers have identified a surprisingly young population of fading radio galaxies whose supermassive black holes have already switched off their powerful jets. The confirmed remnants range from about 8 to 42 million years old, suggesting many may disappear from view much faster than previously recognized. More distant remnants also seem to fade especially quickly, helping explain why they have…
A huge 10-sided atmospheric pattern has appeared around Saturn’s south pole, giving the planet a surprising counterpart to its famous northern hexagon. Hubble data suggest the strange decagon only began emerging in the past few years and is still growing stronger. Researchers hope continued observations will reveal why it suddenly formed and whether it could persist for decades.
NASA has brought two of Swift’s telescopes back online after technical problems derailed a commercial mission intended to rescue the aging observatory by raising its orbit. With atmospheric drag pulling the spacecraft downward faster than expected, scientists may have only another month or two before Swift falls below a critical operating altitude.
NASA and SpaceX have delayed Crew-13 after finding an oxidizer leak in the Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system during prelaunch preparations. Engineers are investigating the problem before the four-person crew can begin its journey to the International Space Station.
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope has launched on a million mile journey to L2, where it will scan huge portions of the cosmos for clues about dark matter, dark energy, and distant worlds. With survey speeds roughly 1,000 times faster than Hubble and a torrent of 1.4 terabytes of data per day, Roman could uncover cosmic surprises astronomers have never seen before.
Rocky planets may have been able to start forming just 100 million years after the Big Bang, thanks to enormous early supernovae that scattered planet-building elements across space. Simulations found enough solid material and water around a young star to suggest that Earth-like worlds could have appeared far earlier than previously believed.
A major new analysis challenges recent claims that the universe's expansion is slowing, finding that the evidence for cosmic acceleration remains strong. The findings preserve the leading role of dark energy, while leaving scientists with the enduring mystery of what this strange cosmic force actually is.
Astronomers have captured their clearest image yet of Betelgeuse’s long-suspected companion, potentially ending a search that lasted about 100 years. The surprisingly massive hidden star could help explain Betelgeuse’s changing brightness and may influence its future supernova.
Today’s mysterious gravitational-wave background may preserve clues about how the Universe’s first supermassive black holes formed. Descendants of hypothetical Dark Stars could be responsible for a major portion of the signal, offering a surprising new way to investigate cosmic dawn and dark matter.
A magnetar with an astonishingly powerful magnetic field may have revealed a quantum effect predicted by Werner Heisenberg nearly 90 years ago. Its light shows signs that supposedly empty space is altering how the light travels, potentially providing the first evidence of vacuum birefringence.
NASA has successfully tested a system that allows satellites to navigate without GPS by using other spacecraft and debris as landmarks in orbit. In just three days, FALCON also improved the known orbits of more than 200 space objects completely autonomously.
A single asteroid impact may explain two of Deimos’s most puzzling features: its huge southern depression and unusually smooth, dusty surface. Simulations suggest a roughly 320-meter asteroid struck the Martian moon at an angle, throwing debris around the entire world without breaking it apart. New observations from ESA’s Hera spacecraft support the scenario and indicate that Deimos is surprising…
NASA scientists found that microbes brought by astronauts could survive in cold, shadowed niches around the Moon’s South Pole, potentially complicating future searches for pristine lunar chemistry. Some refuges may be no larger than a footprint, while one hardy fungus could even withstand limited exposure to sunlight.
Astronomers have found stars that repeatedly skim past supermassive black holes, surviving each encounter while producing a new burst of light. In some systems, those flares mysteriously fade with every return. Researchers now think the key may be stars that were already spinning extremely fast before being captured. That rapid rotation could explain both the fading flares and how the stars ended…
Extreme experiments have revealed how diamond behaves at crushing pressures beyond those inside Neptune and Uranus, resolving a decades-old conflict between theory and observation. The results could help scientists boost fusion energy output while revealing more about the exotic diamond rain hidden inside ice giant planets.
Spain’s total solar eclipse delivered an unexpected sight: a corona glowing gold instead of its usual pearly white. Because the Sun was setting, its light passed through more atmosphere, while smoke from nearby wildfires filtered out even more blue light. The result was a dramatic golden eclipse, punctuated by a bright pink solar prominence.
A supermassive black hole has been found lurking about 30,000 light-years from the center of its galaxy—the first dormant black hole detected so far from a galactic core. It revealed itself only after shredding a passing star and producing a brief, brilliant flare. Astronomers think it may be the remnant of a devoured galaxy or a black hole flung outward during a chaotic cosmic encounter.