The Star That Survived a Supernova
Versão portuguesa disponível aqui A supernova is the catastrophic explosion of a star. Thermonuclear supernovae, in particular, signal the complete destruction of a white dwarf star, leaving nothing behind. At least that’s what models and observations suggested. So when a team of astronomers went to look at the site of…
A red needle in a haystack
A team of astronomers has found what could be the most distant galaxy ever spotted. Named HD1, it is about billion light-years away – which is to say it is quite close to the 14 billion year old Big Bang. The finding shows that bright systems like HD1 can be…
ESA’s Gaia mission released new data
Versão portuguesa disponível On June 13th, ESA's Gaia mission released its new treasure trove of data about our home galaxy. Astronomers describe strange ‘starquakes’, stellar DNA, asymmetric motions and other fascinating insights in this most detailed Milky Way survey to date. Gaia is ESA’s mission to create the most accurate…
First Images From NASA’s Webb Space Telescope Coming Soon
Versão Portuguesa 🇵🇹 NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), will release its first full-color images and spectroscopic data on July 12, 2022. As the largest and most complex observatory ever launched into space, Webb has been going through…
A snapshot from the heart of our galaxy
Versão Portuguesa 🇵🇹 You might have heard that at the very center of the Milky Way, a giant black hole lurks around. And a few days ago, a team of astronomers released the very first image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy. It is the very…
A cosmic duet
Versão Portuguesa 🇵🇹 Scientists have just captured a new image of a beautiful “dance” between two galaxies: the spiral NGC 1512 (the largest in the picture) and its small neighbour NGC 1510. They are located in the direction of constellation Horologium (The Clock) some 60 million light-years from us, on Earth’s…
Astrophysicist Ue-Li Pen on the first image of the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole
Versão Portuguesa 🇵🇹 Astronomers last week revealed the first image of the supermassive black hole at the heart of a galaxy not so far, far away – our home galaxy, the Milky Way. Scientists had previously observed stars orbiting around something invisible, compact and very massive at the centre of the…
Swift Tracks Potential Magnetic Flip of Monster Black Hole
Versão Portuguesa 🇵🇹 A rare and enigmatic outburst from a galaxy 236 million light-years away may have been sparked by a magnetic reversal, a spontaneous flip of the magnetic field surrounding its central black hole. Artist's impression of the unusual eruption of the galaxy 1ES 1927+654. A sudden reversal of…
Artificial brain helps “see” plasma moving on the Sun
Versão Portuguesa 🇵🇹 The study of the Sun has many challenges. While it is relatively easy to observe its temperature and the movement of solar plasma boiling up and down on the solar surface, it is quite hard to spot how this same plasma moves from side to side. Given…
NASA’s Webb In Full Focus, Ready for Instrument Commissioning
NASA’s Webb In Full Focus, Ready for Instrument Commissioning Alignment of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is now complete. After full review, the observatory has been confirmed to be capable of capturing crisp, well-focused images with each of its four powerful onboard science instruments. Upon completing the seventh and…
