Tagged: star

Astronomers have long assumed that supernova explosions are responsible for cosmic rays – which are high-energy particles – zipping through space at the speed of light and regularly bombarding Earth from various directions in the galaxy. But supernovae can’t explain cosmic rays with the highest...

There are lots of binary stars – two stars revolving around a common center of mass – populating the starry sky. In fact, a large majority of all stars we see (around 85%) are part of a multiple star system of two or more stars!...

First spotted in March, Nova V1405 Cas has suddenly flared in brightness over the past week, enabling observers to spot it without binoculars or a telescope. You can see it too, if you observe from a dark-sky site and know just where to look! Plus...

The larger star swallowed up its smaller companion 10,000 years ago, NASA says. Two stars, bound together in orbital matrimony, are slowly ripping each other apart. And, like many relationship squabbles, this stellar spat ends with jewelry. Meet the Necklace Nebula (known less sexily as...

The simulation can take three months to run on one of the world’s fastest supercomputers. Astrophysicists have developed the first high-resolution 3D model of a gas cloud coalescing to form a star — and it’s mind-blowing. The “Starforge” model (which stands for “star formation in...

For decades astronomers have been spotting bursts of electromagnetic radiation coming from black holes. They assumed those are the result of stars being torn apart, but they have never seen the silhouette of the actual material ligaments. Now a group of astronomers, including lead author...

  Astronomers report the discovery of a new ultra-metal-poor star as part of the Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS). The newly found star, designated SPLUS J210428.01−004934.2, turns out to have the lowest carbon abundance among the ultra-metal-poor stars so far detected. The finding is...

KIC 8462852 (aka. Tabby’s Star) continues to be a source of both fascination and controversy. Ever since it was first seen to be undergoing strange and sudden dips in brightness (in October of 2015) astronomers have been speculating as to what could be causing this....

Stars form by the gravitational contraction of clouds of gas in space and can have various masses. Massive stars, together with many other stars, may form a huge star cluster (a group of more than 10,000 stars). The formation of such a star cluster requires...

For its 31st anniversary, NASA and ESA’s famous space telescope captured a view of a star surrounded by a nebula. The Hubble Space Telescope is a scientific marvel, still plugging away after 31 years. To celebrate its space birthday, NASA and the European Space Agency...