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Nature Astronomy

All articles tagged with #nature astronomy

science16 days ago•72 min saved

JWST reveals how giant star clusters sculpt galaxies through stellar feedback

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope, with support from Hubble data, tracked about 9,000 young star clusters in four nearby galaxies and found that the most massive clusters clear their birth gas within ~5 million years (smaller clusters up to ~8 million), with intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds reshaping surrounding gas. This stellar feedback can regulate future star formation and potentially influence planet formation, offering new constraints on how star clusters drive galactic evolution, and the findings appear in Nature Astronomy.

via Space|

#galactic-evolution #james-webb-space-telescope #nature-astronomy

science1 month ago•6 min saved

Cygnus X-1's Jets Reveal Power of 10,000 Suns, Study Finds

A new analysis of Cygnus X-1 using a global network of telescopes quantifies its jets, showing they travel at about half the speed of light and carry roughly 10% of the energy from infalling matter, emitting power equal to 10,000 Suns.

via NDTV|

#astrophysics #black-hole #cygnus-x-1

space1 month ago•79 min saved

Einstein Cross Lens Hints at Complex Galaxy Growth

Astronomers have identified a rare Einstein Cross gravitational lens in the elliptical galaxy J1453g, enabling precise weighing of the lensing mass. The cross magnifies a distant quasar, revealing a central stellar population in a relatively young galaxy that resembles the Milky Way, challenging the idea that elliptical galaxies form rapidly with predominantly low-mass stars and suggesting a more complex formation history, possibly involving slower growth or past mergers. The findings, published in Nature Astronomy, imply galaxy evolution may be more dynamic than current models predict.

via Space|

#einstein-cross #galaxy-evolution #gravitational-lensing

science2 months ago•5 min saved

Milky Way Enveloped in a Vast Dark Matter Plane That Shapes Local Motion

A new Nature Astronomy study using constrained, Lambda-CDM–based simulations finds the Local Group’s unseen mass is arranged not in a spherical halo but in a flattened dark matter plane tens of millions of light-years across. This geometry better reproduces the observed motions of nearby galaxies and the local Hubble flow, reducing discrepancies seen in spherical models while remaining consistent with overall cosmology. The result highlights how the dark matter around us likely forms sheets and filaments in the cosmic web, though more data is needed to pin down the plane’s thickness and orientation.

via Indian Defence Review|

#cosmic-web #dark-matter #local-group

physics-and-mathematics3 months ago•82 min saved

Webb Telescope Maps Cosmos's Invisible Skeleton in Unprecedented Detail

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope produced the most detailed map of dark matter yet, revealing how its gravity shapes ordinary matter in a patch of the Sextans constellation and uncovering about 800,000 galaxies; the findings, published in Nature Astronomy from 255 hours of JWST observations, demonstrate dark matter as the universe's scaffolding and hint at how cosmic structure formed, with plans to expand mapping using NASA's Roman Space Telescope.

via Live Science|

#astronomy #cosmology #dark-matter

space3 months ago•78 min saved

Jupiter’s true size revealed by Juno measurements

NASA's Juno spacecraft has produced the clearest measurements yet of Jupiter's shape, finding its equator is about 5 miles (8 km) smaller and its poles roughly 15 miles (24 km) shorter than previously estimated. The update, drawing on 26 Juno flybys (versus six earlier data points), helps reconcile atmospheric and gravity data with interior models, and may lead textbooks to be updated about Jupiter’s size and structure.

via Space|

#gas-giant #juno-spacecraft #jupiter

science3 months ago•14 min saved

Giant Sulfur Molecule Found in Space Hints at Cosmic Life-Building Blocks

Scientists reported the largest sulfur-bearing molecule ever found in space—2,5-cyclohexadiene-1-thione, a 13-atom compound—in a Nature Astronomy study, suggesting sulfur-containing molecules could be abundant beyond Earth and may be part of the building blocks of life.

via The Daily Beast|

#life #molecule #nature-astronomy

science1 year ago•0 min saved

New Insights Suggest Uranus May Host Life and Defy Past Understandings

A new study in Nature Astronomy suggests that the data collected by NASA's Voyager 2 during its 1986 flyby of Uranus may have been influenced by a rare solar wind event, potentially leading to misconceptions about the ice giant for nearly 40 years.

via The Washington Post|

#nasa #nature-astronomy #science

astronomy2 years ago•0 min saved

"Unveiling the Universe's Brightest and Hungriest Black Hole"

Scientists have discovered what may be the brightest object in the universe, a quasar generated by a massive black hole, emitting light that's 500 trillion times more intense than the sun, as reported in Nature Astronomy.

via PBS NewsHour|

#astronomy #black-hole #brightness

astronomy2 years ago•2 min saved

"Unveiling the Smallest Stars in Exotic Binary Systems"

Astronomers have discovered the smallest known star, part of a binary system called J0526, located 2,760 light years from Earth. The star, named J0526B, is a hot subdwarf approximately seven times the size of Earth with a surface temperature of 2,226°C, and it orbits a larger unseen white dwarf, J0526A, every 20 minutes. This finding challenges previous theories about the size and nature of stars, suggesting that they can be smaller than previously thought and leading to speculation about the existence of even smaller stars with unknown properties.

via Phys.org|

#astronomy #binary-system #hot-subdwarf