astronomy-and-astrophysics5.635 min read
Cosmic sugar detected in interstellar space hints at life’s origins
1 month ago•Source: Nature
Astronomy And Astrophysics News
The latest astronomy and astrophysics stories, summarized by AI
Featured Astronomy And Astrophysics Stories
View original source
3.82 min•5 months ago
Magnetar wobble could power the universe's brightest supernovae
Observations of an ultra-bright supernova suggest a wobbling magnetar engine, caused by Lense–Thirring precession, could explain why some supernovae are 10–100 times brighter than expected.
More Top Stories
2
"Unveiling the Mysteries of Planet Formation Around Young Stars"
Phys.org•2 years ago
3
"Flat Protoplanets: A Surprising Twist in Gas Giant Formation"
Hackaday•2 years ago
More Astronomy And Astrophysics Stories
"Planetary Origins: Young Planets Resemble Flattened Smarties, Not Spheres"
Astrophysicists from the University of Central Lancashire have discovered that young planets have flattened shapes like oblate spheroids rather than being spherical, challenging previous assumptions. Using computer simulations, the researchers found that protoplanets form as flattened structures called oblate spheroids, similar to smarties, and grow predominantly from their poles rather than their equators. This finding has important implications for understanding planet formation mechanisms and suggests that observations of young planets through telescopes may depend on the viewing angle. The researchers are now working on improved computational models to further examine the shape and chemical composition of these young planets.
"eROSITA Unveils Largest X-ray Sky Survey Catalog with 900,000 High-Energy Cosmic Sources"
The German eROSITA consortium has released the largest X-ray catalog ever published, containing about 900,000 distinct sources from the first eROSITA All-Sky Survey (eRASS1). The data, which includes scientific papers describing new results, will revolutionize our knowledge of the universe at high energies. The catalog covers half the X-ray sky and includes supermassive black holes, X-ray-emitting stars, clusters of galaxies, and other exotic sources. The release also provides images of the X-ray sky, individual photon lists, and software for data analysis, with cosmology results expected in approximately two weeks.
"Unbalanced Galaxies Illuminate Dark Matter's Velocity"
Researchers have developed a method to calculate the forces affecting galaxies in tidal cycles, aiming to find lopsided galaxies in the universe to study the velocity of dark matter relative to the galaxies. The speed of dark matter can be measured by observing how galaxies affect the trajectory of dark matter particles as they pass by, causing a phenomenon called dynamical friction. Identifying lopsided galaxies isolated from other influences is crucial for accurately measuring the velocities of dark matter, which could provide valuable insights for testing new dark matter models and understanding the nature of dark matter.