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Astrophysics

V838 Monocerotis A red variable star in the Monocros group. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Cosmic dust factories: variable stars and the origin of life

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It was found that stars with variable light intensity influence the production of the interstellar dust and its enrichment in heavy elements from which life was created
Measuring the atmosphere of the planet Trappist-1b. NASA/MIT figure

Two new types of planets have been discovered by the Webb Space Telescope

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For the first time, the temperature of a rocky planet was measured, as well as a planet similar to Jupiter but containing large amounts of heavy elements
Three new fast radio bursts discovered by the Westerburk telescope in the Netherlands penetrated the halo of our neighbor the Triangulum Galaxy. Credit: ASTRON/Futselaar/van Leeuwen

Astronomers discover powerful fast radio bursts impaling nearby galaxies and help find dark matter

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Many astronomers think they are emitted by neutron stars. The density and magnetic field strength of these very compact stars are unique in the universe. Now they have become a tool that measures the concentration of dark atoms in the galaxies it passes through
Webb and Hubble Space Telescope composite image of the RX J2129 galaxy cluster, with three images of the 9.51 redshift galaxy circled in green. From the scientific article

Ancient compact galaxy with high star formation rate discovered by Webb Space Telescope

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The redshift of this galaxy reaches 9.51 meaning that it was seen when the age of the universe was only 550 million years old. The rate of star formation in it is 10 times greater than the Milky Way
A star exploding is a dramatic event, but the debris the star leaves behind can be even more dramatic. A new mid-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope provides one stunning example. It shows the remains of the supernova Cassiopeia A (Cas A), created by a stellar explosion 340 years ago. The image shows bright colors and complex structures. Cas A is the youngest known remnant of a massive exploding star in our galaxy, offering astronomers an opportunity to understand the star's death process. Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, D. Milisavljevic (Purdue University), T. Temim (Princeton University), I. De Looze (UGent), J. DePasquale (STScI)

Let's see how Cassiopeia is doing: Webb reveals new details on the Cassiopeia A supernova

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Webb recorded what remained after the death of a star only 11 thousand light years away from us. It is a relatively new supernova - only 350 years old
The black holes discovered by the Gaia spacecraft. Figure: European Space Agency

The closest black hole to the solar system

An international team, which includes a group of researchers from Tel Aviv University, has identified the first black hole, Gaia BH1, which is 1500 light years from Earth
Gravitational waves are created by a pair of stars turning into black holes. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Gravitational waves light up the universe

Gravitational wave analysis hints at the way black hole pairs are formed
Viewed from this side of the universe simulation, each dot represents a galaxy whose size and brightness are proportional to its mass. Slices from different eras show how Roman could see the universe throughout cosmic history. Astronomers will use these observations to understand how cosmic evolution led to the web-like structure we see today. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and A. Yung

Hubble glances at a galactic "sea" landscape

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A "Medusa Galaxy" with trailing star tentacles hangs in inky darkness in this image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope
Viewed from this side of the universe simulation, each dot represents a galaxy whose size and brightness are proportional to its mass. Slices from different eras show how Roman could see the universe throughout cosmic history. Astronomers will use these observations to understand how cosmic evolution led to the web-like structure we see today. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and A. Yung

Turning Back the Cosmic Clock: How NASA's Novel Space Telescope Will Turn Back the Universe

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Planets in another solar system. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Researchers have classified the thousands of solar systems that have been discovered into four possible types

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The study, published in the Astrophysical Journal, was led by researchers from the University of Arizona and the California Institute of Technology. The team used data from NASA's Kepler space telescope launched in 2009 to search for exoplanets, or planets orbiting stars other than our sun
The concept of the early universe. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Cosmic Breakthrough: A new and accurate map of all matter in the universe has been published

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A team of scientists made a drastic announcement about one of the most accurate measurements to date of the distribution of matter in the universe using, among other things, the radio telescope at the South Pole
Artist's rendering of a gamma-ray burst caused by a powerful collision between two massive neutrino stars after their spiral dance of death. In addition to high-energy radiation and material emitted in a narrow jet, the event is thought to be the main factory in the universe of heavy elements, including gold and platinum. Credit: A. Simonnet (Sonoma State University) and Goddard Space Flight Center

A burst of gamma radiation that lasted almost a minute

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The radiation originates in binary stars that have merged after being ejected from their galaxy. Usually bursts that do not occur within a galaxy last a few seconds. In such eruptions, heavy elements including gold and platinum are formed
A two-dimensional projection of the cosmic web as obtained from a supercomputer simulation. Credit: Dr. Ewald Puchwein and the Sherwood-Relics collaboration

New research suggests that dark matter may be made of dark photons

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The new hypothetical particles may be able to explain the observations made by the Cosmic Source Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope
The Webb Space Telescope observes NGC 346 (NIRCam Image) Photo: NASA, ESA

The Webb Space Telescope reveals star formation in the dusty bands of the Small Magellanic Cloud

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Previous infrared studies of the NGC 346 nebula have focused on stellar embryos heavier than five to eight times the mass of our Sun. With the help of the Web, it is possible to reach even lighter protostars, as small as a tenth of our sun
The planet LHS 475 b is similar in size to Earth: NASA, ESA, CSA, L. Hustak (STScI)

The Webb Space Telescope has discovered an Earth-sized planet 41 light-years away

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However, the conditions there are more reminiscent of Venus than Earth. It orbits a red dwarf in an orbit that lasts only two days * Webb was able to confirm the existence of the planet after only two orbits
solar system trappist-1. Illustration: depositphotos.com

An innovative system estimates the habitability (ability to support life) of distant planets

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A computerized system classifies the atmospheres of planets outside the solar system. and determines which of them are capable of sustaining human settlement in the future
Pictured: two views of the gas in the Southern Ring Nebula, based on recent data from the Webb Space Telescope. Photo: NASA

Spread the mist over the nebula rings

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Researchers at the Faculty of Physics at the Technion present surprising discoveries regarding the development of the rings around the "Southern Ring Nebula"

First simulation of a wormhole on a quantum computer

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A team of researchers from Harvard University, MIT and Calcutta in collaboration with Google successfully simulated a traversable wormhole with the help of a quantum computer. The experiment performed on Google's quantum processor demonstrated the passage of information in the interlaced system. According to the principle of holography, the physics demonstrated in the experiment is the same as that of particles passing through wormholes. Although it was conducted on only nine qubits, the experiment is of great importance because it illustrates for the first time the possibility of testing quantum gravity with the help of entangled systems.
Ancient galaxies. Courtesy of Prof. Renan Branka, Tel Aviv University

A team of international researchers succeeded for the first time in characterizing the first galaxies in the universe - only about 200 million years after the Big Bang

According to the groundbreaking findings, the first galaxies were small and dim. They were dimmer than galaxies today, converting only less than 5% of their gas into stars. Also, the first galaxies did not emit much higher intensity radio radiation than we see today
Two of the most distant galaxies ever seen have been revealed in Webb Space Telescope images of the outer regions of the giant galaxy cluster Abell 2744. The galaxies are not inside the cluster, but many billions of light-years behind it. The galaxy shown in the top image in the center was extracted from the image on the left. It existed only 450 million years after the big bang. The galaxy shown in the lower center image is drawn from the image on the right. It existed 350 million years after the big bang. Both galaxies appear to be very close in time to the Big Bang that occurred 13.8 billion years ago. These galaxies are tiny compared to our Milky Way. Webb Space Telescope photo, ESA/NASA

Webb discovered the oldest galaxies, their age and properties surprised astronomers

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One of these galaxies is observed as it appeared about 300 million years after the Big Bang and shines much brighter than expected. This figure now makes researchers estimate that the first galaxies were formed 100 million years after the Big Bang. "It's like an archaeological dig, when you suddenly find a lost city or something you didn't know about," said one of the researchers
The cosmic background radiation in the microwave field. Photo: NASA

We tested Einstein's theory of gravity on the scale of the universe - here's what we found

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Researchers who have examined whether Einstein's theory of gravity works on the largest possible scale claim that there are deviations that need to be checked and corrected similar to those at small distances that can be answered using quantum theory
Deinococcus radiodurans (affectionately known as "the bacteria nest") is particularly suited to survive in the harsh environment of Mars. In tests, it survived astronomical amounts of radiation in a frozen, arid environment. Credit: Michael J. Daly/USU

Life on Mars: Ancient bacteria may be lurking beneath the Martian surface

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Researchers simulated the harsh ionizing radiation conditions of Mars to see how long freeze-dried bacteria and fungi could survive
Black holes collide. Image: depositphotos.com

The most extreme "oscillating black hole" has been discovered - an exotic phenomenon predicted by Einstein's theory of gravity

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Cardiff University researchers have detected a strange twisting motion in the orbits of two colliding black holes, an exotic phenomenon predicted by Einstein's theory of gravity
A laser – like the one seen here – or a beam of radio waves deliberately aimed at Earth would be a strong sign of extraterrestrial life. G. Hüdepohl/ESO, CC BY

Signatures of alien technology could be how humanity first discovers extraterrestrial life

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New technologies could enable the discovery of technological markers from intelligent beings on distant planets
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured a rich and highly detailed view of the "Pillars of Creation." A region where new stars form within dense clouds of gas and dust previously captured in an iconic image by the Hubble Space Telescope in its early days. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI).

The Webb Space Telescope returns to Hubble's iconic "Pillars of Creation" and finds many more young stars

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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured a rich and highly detailed view of the "Pillars of Creation." A region where new stars form within dense clouds of gas and dust that was previously captured in an iconic image by the Hubble Space Telescope at the start of its operation and returned to after upgrades, along with Strong landmasses
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