astronomy

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NASA Just Spotted a Wandering Black Hole Devouring a Star
2 months ago
- A wandering supermassive black hole 750 million light-years away is consuming stars, detected through a tidal disruption event.
- This is only the second orphan black hole spotted, located in Cetus, in galaxy WISEA J014656.04-152214.7.
- The destruction heats star fragments to 54,000°F, creating a bright signature observed by Swift Observatory.
- The black hole is about 1.2 billion times the mass of the sun; the consumed star radiated with the strength of 10 billion suns.
- It strayed 11-12 times farther from its galaxy center than the first orphan black hole.
- Orphan black holes may be set loose during galaxy mergers.
- The discovery validates a new technique to find wandering black holes.
Betelgeuse Astronomers capture clearest image yet of famous star's companion
2 months ago
- Astronomers used the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to obtain the clearest image yet of Betelgeuse's companion star, Betelgeuse B, providing the strongest evidence that Betelgeuse is a binary system.
- The existence of Betelgeuse B was proposed about 100 years ago to explain the star's unusual dimming, but this new direct observation confirms it after a century-long quest.
- The companion star was found to have a mass two to three times that of the Sun, larger than previously theorized, and was detected using the SPHERE instrument's coronagraph and advanced optics.
- The discovery was made possible by predicting Betelgeuse B's position in December 2024, and the team aims to confirm the finding with further observations on the opposite side of the star.
- The presence of Betelgeuse B raises questions about its impact on the evolution of the red supergiant star, which is nearing the end of its life.
Ars Astronomica – English translations of rare Hebrew and Latin astronomy texts
2 months ago
- A scholarly imprint produces first English translations of historical Hebrew and Latin works in astronomy, cosmology, and natural philosophy, many never before available in English.
- The texts span centuries and include Gersonides' 136-chapter mathematical astronomy, which survives only in manuscript and was never printed.
- These works cite and respond to each other, addressing the same cosmological questions, but until now could not be read side by side in a single language.
- Translations are produced through an AI-assisted, multi-stage pipeline and are nearly publication-ready, pending diagrams and illustrations.
- The goal is fluent, readable modern English that preserves fidelity, technical precision, and mathematical content, with glosses for technical terms and inline corrections.
- Public PDFs are text-only; diagrams are replaced with structured descriptions of every label, arc, and geometric relationship.
- The translations are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license, with support encouraged via Ko-fi.
Arp 90
2 months ago
- Arp 90 consists of two interacting galaxies in the east.
- A weird distorted galaxy to the west may be a tidal fragment or gravitationally bound irregular galaxy.
- Total exposure time was 2.6 hours, with 2.3 hours used in stack.
- Telescope: C9.25 with 0.63 Starizona reducer, camera: IMX533.
- Processing involved calibration, stacking, white balance, asinh stretch, rotation, crop, and tone curve.
- Image was rotated to align north for easier cross-referencing.
The Tadpole galaxy:
2 months ago
- The Tadpole galaxy has a massive and bright tidal tail, but no obvious companion galaxy; it is suspected there is a second galaxy behind it, with a nearby elliptical having a similar redshift.
- Total exposure time was 3 hours (364 × 30 seconds), with 1.3 hours (165 × 30 seconds) used in the final stack.
- Telescope: C9.25 (230mm, f/10, focal length 2300mm) with a 0.63 Starizona reducer; camera: IMX533 (16mm diagonal, square, color).
- Processing steps: calibration (dark + flat), stacking with outlier rejection, white balance and background subtraction, asinh stretch (color preserving), rotation/crop, and tone curve.
- The result is noted as not the finest work due to patchy clouds but still acceptable; links to raw stacks and Arp's image are provided.
We're Thinking About Darkness All Wrong
2 months ago
- Haleakalā National Park offers one of the darkest skies on Earth, ideal for astronomy tours led by Serena Wurmser, who emphasizes the stars as a universal connection.
- Light pollution affects 99% of Americans, causing the sky to brighten 10% annually, with artificial light reaching even remote natural areas like Death Valley and Haleakalā.
- Health consequences of light pollution include sleep disturbances, depression, obesity, diabetes, and a 14% increased breast cancer risk as shown in a Harvard study.
- Artificial light at night (ALAN) creates 'evolutionary traps' for animals like sea turtles mistaking hotel lights for the moon, leading to fatal collisions with cars.
- Dung beetles lose navigational ability under light pollution, causing collisions and fights, contributing to insect decline and 'temporal disorientation.'
- Light pollution is often driven by unplanned, excessive outdoor lighting (e.g., unshielded bulbs, 'glare bombs'), far outpacing population growth.
- Solutions include DarkSky's five principles: useful, targeted, low-level, controlled, and warm-colored lighting, plus municipal adoption of maximum brightness standards.
- Fear of the dark is primal, but lighting does not necessarily reduce crime; criminals can benefit from light, and studies show no causal link between lighting and crime decrease.
- Dark sky advocates are working to restore natural darkness through education, astrotourism, and policy changes, highlighting the beauty and cultural value of the night sky.
Neo Radar: A browser-based orbital mechanics engine with 41k real asteroids
2 months ago
- NEO Radar is a real orbital-mechanics engine for tracking Near-Earth Objects, integrating 47 high-fidelity objects with full RK4 N-body dynamics and 41,812 MPC catalog asteroids, simulating all 8 planets.
- Every trajectory is derived from JPL Horizons ephemeris with full gravitational perturbation from outer planets, providing mission-planning accuracy.
- Uses Newton-Raphson method to convert mean anomaly to eccentric anomaly, converging to 1×10⁻¹² within four iterations even for high-eccentricity orbits.
- Allows toggling outer-planet gravity, revealing uncertainty cones that widen on Jupiter-flyby trajectories (the keyhole problem).
- Benchmarked against JPL Horizons over a 50-year window: simplified two-body models drift by tens of thousands of kilometers, while NEO Radar stays within the actual uncertainty cone.
The Dark Energy Camera's New Image Is Reminiscent of van Gogh
2 months ago
- The Dark Energy Camera captured a new image of the Corona Australis molecular cloud, featuring gas swirls reminiscent of Van Gogh's 'The Starry Night'.
- Corona Australis is a dark nebula about 425 light years away, one of the closest star-forming regions to Earth.
- The binary star R Coronae Australis illuminates a nearby orange cloud and creates reflection and emission nebulae like NGC 6729.
- Newborn stars light up gas, turning it blue, while reflection nebulae NGC 6726, NGC 6727, and IC 4812 appear in beige and yellow.
- NGC 6723 (Chandelier Cluster) is about 29,000 light years away and contains hundreds of thousands of stars.
- Research shows Corona Australis is dynamic: a 2023 paper found it accelerating away from the Galactic plane due to two supernova explosions.
- A 2025 paper divided the complex into two subregions (CrA-Main and CrA-North) moving apart from each other.
- Herbig-Haro objects like HH100 are transient, lasting only tens of thousands of years.
Astronomers Have Found a Sugar Molecule in Deep Space for the First Time Ever
2 months ago
- Astronomers detected erythrulose, a four-carbon sugar molecule, in interstellar space for the first time.
- The molecule was found in molecular cloud G+0.693−0.027 near the Milky Way's center, a region rich in complex organic molecules.
- Sugars like erythrulose are essential for life, fueling cells and forming part of RNA and DNA, but their origin on early Earth is unclear.
- The discovery supports the idea that some sugars may have originated in space and reached Earth via meteorites, similar to ribose found on asteroid Bennu.
- Data from radio telescopes in Spain enabled the identification, marking a major advance in understanding prebiotic chemistry in space, though it does not prove extraterrestrial life.
NASA's Hubble Discovers First of Star Cluster's Missing Black Holes
2 months ago
- Astronomers used Hubble and Webb data to find the first stellar-mass black hole in Omega Centauri, named oMEGACat BH-2.
- The black hole has a mass of 4.46 solar masses, lower than expected, and orbits a visible star every 94 years, the longest orbital period known for such a binary.
- This discovery helps refine black hole formation theories and suggests the binary was dynamically formed within the cluster.
- Finding more black holes in globular clusters like Omega Centauri is crucial for understanding gravitational wave events.
- Future telescopes like NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope may help locate similar black hole binary systems.
Study: ultra-black coating could reduce satellite light pollution
2 months ago
- Astrophysicists at the University of Surrey propose using Vantablack® 310, an ultra-black coating, to reduce satellite brightness and light pollution.
- The coating reflects only about 2% of light, distributing it diffusely to minimize bright streaks and flares that interfere with astronomical observations.
- Simulations show the coating can make satellites significantly fainter, nearly meeting International Astronomical Union brightness limits for protecting the night sky.
- The research is part of the Light Pollution and Sustainable Space initiative, which won a sustainability award and includes an upcoming in-orbit demonstration on the Jovian-1 CubeSat mission.
- The findings have been presented internationally, including at a UN workshop and a TEDx talk, highlighting the need to address satellite light pollution.
Large planets lighter than cotton candy
2 months ago
- Astronomers discovered two exceptionally low-density exoplanets, comparable in size to Jupiter but lighter than cotton candy.
- These 'super-puffs' orbit a star 1,110 light-years away in the Volans constellation and have densities likened to shaving foam.
- The planets are likely composed of hydrogen and helium, with potential white or blue coloration, pending confirmation by the Webb Telescope.
- Their orbits are unusually long, taking 139 and 232 days respectively, and they are rare, with fewer than 40 such planets confirmed among nearly 6,300 exoplanets.
- The discovery challenges existing models of planet formation, representing a cosmic puzzle for astronomers to solve.
Cosmic Fireworks by Infant Stars
2 months ago
- New James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) image shows infant stars (protostars) in FS Tau region, celebrating independence from molecular clouds.
- NASA released image commemorating U.S. 250th anniversary, depicting protostars becoming full stars via nuclear fusion of hydrogen to helium.
- Protostars form from collapsing clumps in molecular clouds, gathering material until triggering fusion, defining main-sequence stars.
- JWST's infrared power reveals FS Tau protostars in detail, 450 light-years away, aiding study of low-mass star evolution.
- Research investigates radiation and outflows from low-mass stars affecting environment, with JWST showing episodic matter accretion.
- Blue ridges in image indicate gas shunted by protostar outflows, creating dense regions reflecting light, resembling cosmic fireworks.
Wallace the 6 inch f/2.8 telescope, building it, and hiking with it
3 months ago
- The author built an ultra-wide-field telescope named 'Wallace', a 153mm f/2.8 instrument, and shares the experience of combining astronomy with hiking.
- The telescope is designed for ultra-wide deep-sky views, with technical details including a coma corrector and a unique construction featuring 3D-printed parts.
- The author enjoyed the outdoor process of observing, despite carrying extra gear, and found that documenting the hike enhanced their focus on the environment.
- Future plans include a new, lighter mirror with improved cooling and a goal of achieving a Strehl ratio above 0.95 for better optical performance.

astronomy

NASA Just Spotted a Wandering Black Hole Devouring a Star

Betelgeuse Astronomers capture clearest image yet of famous star's companion

Ars Astronomica – English translations of rare Hebrew and Latin astronomy texts

Arp 90

The Tadpole galaxy:

We're Thinking About Darkness All Wrong

Neo Radar: A browser-based orbital mechanics engine with 41k real asteroids

The Dark Energy Camera's New Image Is Reminiscent of van Gogh

Astronomers Have Found a Sugar Molecule in Deep Space for the First Time Ever

NASA's Hubble Discovers First of Star Cluster's Missing Black Holes

Study: ultra-black coating could reduce satellite light pollution

Large planets lighter than cotton candy

Cosmic Fireworks by Infant Stars

Wallace the 6 inch f/2.8 telescope, building it, and hiking with it