Stars | Astronomy.com

‘Blue straggler’ likely born from a collision of stars

Alison Klesman — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 14:00:00 +0000

Meet HD 65907, an imposter. It’s a star that appears far too young for its age. Astronomers have finally cracked the case of this mysterious object, which has not led a normal life. Instead, the star appears to be the result of the merger of two much older stars. Astronomers have a name for starsContinue reading "‘Blue straggler’ likely born from a collision of stars"

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Binary star system finally discovered near Milky Way center

Randall Hyman — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 16:05:57 +0000

Veiled in gas and clouds, the Milky Way’s center does not easily give up secrets. The initial detection of its supermassive black hole (SMBH) decades ago posed as many riddles as it solved, including the puzzling absence of binary stars around it. The hot, massive stars that populate the region are almost always found asContinue reading "Binary star system finally discovered near Milky Way center"

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What’s in the National Academies’ Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics?

Christopher Cokinos — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 14:00:00 +0000

At its current solar maximum, our Sun has been pretty busy of late, flinging parts of itself at Earth and raising concerns about effects on satellites and power grids while also gracing us with incredible aurorae. Solar and space-weather scientists have been busy too. They’ve just released a mammoth, nearly 800-page report to set prioritiesContinue reading "What’s in the National Academies’ Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics?"

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Sun-like stars experience superflares roughly once per century

Korey Haynes — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 19:00:00 +0000

Solar flares are bright flashes of light from the Sun that release large amounts of electromagnetic radiation. And while normal flares can release as much as 1025 joules of energy, so-called superflares, observed on other stars, are up to 10,000 times more powerful. Even normal solar flares and the charged particles that often accompany themContinue reading "Sun-like stars experience superflares roughly once per century"

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This distant star is about to die — and astronomers caught it in close-up

Mark Zastrow — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 17:42:14 +0000

After years of effort, astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) announced they managed to capture the first closeup image of a star beyond our galaxy. This remarkable achievement offers more than just stunning visuals — it provides a rare glimpse into the final moments of a star that will inevitably explode as a spectacularContinue reading "This distant star is about to die — and astronomers caught it in close-up"

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This famous black hole system is actually a triple

Daniela Mata — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Despite their destructive forces, black holes are often seen in with a companion, such as a star, neutron star, white dwarf, or even another black hole. However, a study published Oct. 23 in Nature has found that the black hole binary system V404 Cygni, which contains a black hole and a small star, has anContinue reading "This famous black hole system is actually a triple"

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Bringing the Sun to light

Sten Odenwald — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 13:00:00 +0000

For thousands of years, humans have worshipped the Sun. Our ancestors built monuments and temples to it, and used it to mark the annual cycle of seasons. For ancient Egyptians, their most important god, Re, was the personification of the Sun itself. Today, we are no less in thrall to the wonders and mysteries ofContinue reading "Bringing the Sun to light"

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Watch a zombie star feed on its companion

Daniela Mata — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 13:00:00 +0000

“Watch out for rambunctious stars. They are trouble,” says Astronomy Editor David Eicher. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) just published a new photograph showing the stunning masterpiece that is R Aquarii, lying about 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius the Water-bearer. It is an uncommon type of binary star system displaying chaotic behavior andContinue reading "Watch a zombie star feed on its companion"

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Astronomers find out the first known brown dwarf is actually twins

Alison Klesman — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 15:00:00 +0000

In 1995, a parallel race was on in astronomy — one to find the first planet beyond our own solar system, and the other to find the first brown dwarf, a class of object too heavy to be a planet, but below the mass of a star. Astronomers ended up publishing the discovery of theContinue reading "Astronomers find out the first known brown dwarf is actually twins"

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Is this black hole jet making stars explode?

Daniela Mata — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 19:33:48 +0000

Supernovae, the violent explosions that occur when stars die, normally happen sporadically within galaxies. However, by shifting the angle of the Hubble Space Telescope’s line of sight toward M87, astronomers recently spotted double the expected amount of supernovae along a massive 3,000-light-year-long jet blasting out of the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center. ResearchersContinue reading "Is this black hole jet making stars explode?"

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