All articles tagged with #x ray astronomy
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows that supermassive black holes grew rapidly in the early universe but have slowed dramatically over more than ten billion years, likely due to dwindling cold gas, fewer galaxy mergers, and feedback processes; the study combines multiple X-ray datasets to provide a comprehensive view of this long-term decline and its implications for how galaxies evolve.
Astronomers using the XRISM X-ray observatory have shown that the Be-star gamma-Cas is being slowly fed by a compact companion, likely a white dwarf, explaining its unusual X-ray emissions and solving a long-standing mystery about this nearby star.
XRISM data show gamma Cas’s extreme X-rays track the orbit of a magnetized white dwarf siphoning material from its Be-star companion, not the Be star itself, confirming a Be–white-dwarf binary and prompting new models of binary evolution.
AXIS (Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite), NASA’s planned replacement for the Chandra X-ray Observatory, was halted from eligibility in NASA’s Astrophysics Probe Explorer program amid 2025 budget-related mismanagement and turmoil at Goddard Space Flight Center. Project leader Christopher Reynolds says GSFC staff losses, furloughs, and leadership upheaval compromised AXIS’s Phase A submission, while NASA maintains the cancellation followed its standard review process. The upheaval included the early retirement of key tech developer Will Zhang and a seven-week shutdown, contributing to cost/schedule delays and prompting Reynolds to blame programmatic chaos rather than the science value of AXIS.
Astronomers using China’s Einstein Probe spotted an extreme X-ray outburst (EP250702a) in a distant galaxy that models as an intermediate-mass black hole tearing apart a white dwarf, a finding supported by HKU simulations and follow-up observations. The event’s unusual timing and rapid evolution provide what researchers call the first direct evidence of this feeding process and could help uncover the long-m missing population of intermediate-mass black holes, with implications for multi-messenger astronomy.
NASA/JAXA’s XRISM X‑ray mission uses high‑resolution spectroscopy to measure gas motions around supermassive black holes, notably M87* and the Perseus cluster, unveiling the strongest turbulence seen near a black hole and the kinetic energy of surrounding gas. This helps explain how black holes heat their environments and influence galactic evolution; findings published late Jan 2026 in Nature and built on XRISM’s 2023 launch in collaboration with ESA.
Astronomers using the eROSITA X-ray instrument have mapped a hot, low-density plasma channel extending from the Local Hot Bubble toward Centaurus (and possibly toward Canis Major), a finding that supports the idea of interstellar “tunnels” linking the solar neighborhood to distant stars and suggesting a larger network of channels in the Milky Way; researchers note more data are needed to fully understand these structures.
Using XRISM's high-resolution instruments alongside ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's NuSTAR, scientists captured unprecedented details of a supermassive black hole in galaxy MCG–6-30-15, confirming relativistic effects near the event horizon, identifying multiple wind zones, and challenging previous models of distant reflection, thus advancing our understanding of black hole physics and galaxy growth.
Scientists observed a supermassive black hole in galaxy NGC 3783 eject matter at a record-breaking speed of 60,000 km/sec, using X-ray satellites. This rapid wind formation, triggered by a burst of X-ray light, resembles solar eruptions but on a vastly larger scale, providing new insights into black hole behavior.
Scientists using eROSITA data have discovered narrow, tunnel-like plasma structures within the Local Hot Bubble, potentially shaped by ancient supernova explosions, which may connect our solar system to distant regions of the galaxy and support models of interconnected superbubbles in the Milky Way.
Astronomers using X-ray observations discovered that Betelgeuse's companion is likely a young Sun-like star rather than a white dwarf or neutron star, challenging previous expectations and offering new insights into stellar evolution and binary systems.
Astronomers using advanced X-ray technology have discovered a cosmic tunnel within the Local Hot Bubble that may connect our solar system to distant stars, challenging the idea of space as a vast emptiness and revealing a more interconnected universe.
The XRISM mission has discovered that the winds from a neutron star system are unexpectedly dense and slower than those from supermassive black holes, challenging current understanding of how such winds form and influence their environments. The findings suggest that differences in accretion disc temperature and size may explain the variations, providing new insights into cosmic feedback mechanisms and galaxy evolution.
Astronomers have discovered a cosmic 'interstellar tunnel' connecting our solar system to distant stars, revealed through X-ray observations that map hot, low-density plasma regions shaped by ancient supernovae, challenging previous notions of space as empty and suggesting a complex network of interstellar pathways.
NASA's IXPE has measured a higher-than-expected polarization degree in the black hole IGR J17091-3624, challenging existing theories about the matter near black holes and suggesting new models involving winds or fast outflows in the corona.,