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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightA Black Hole Collided With Something That Shouldn’t Exist
Astronomers are puzzling over observations that show a black hole smashing into a mystery object of unusual size. New research published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters describes a collision between a black hole and a yet-to-be identified object. At the time of this celestial tryst, the black hole was 23 times more massive than our … Continued
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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightA Typical Neutron Star Is Only 13.6 Miles Wide, According to New Ultra-Precise Measurement
A typical neutron star measures 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) wide, according to new research. It’s the most accurate measurement yet of these highly compact, super-dense objects. If black holes are the most extreme phenomena in the universe, then neutron stars have to be a close second (unless quark stars exist, which has yet to be … Continued
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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightTelescope Detects Fast Radio Burst Hitting Earth Every 16 Days
A telescope in Canada has found a source of mysterious fast radio bursts that repeat every 16 days, according to a new paper. It’s the first regularly repeating fast radio burst known to science. Fast radio bursts (FRB) are bright radio blips that originate from deep space. After the initial fast radio burst discovery in 2001, … Continued
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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightExtremely Massive Neutron Star May Be the Largest Ever Spotted
Scientists have discovered what could be the largest neutron star on record, according to new research. Neutron stars are among the strangest objects in the sky. They’re wildly compact: just a few miles across yet more massive than the Sun. Measurements have shown that a neutron star called MSP J0740+6620 is the first whose mass … Continued
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SciencePhysics & ChemistryMystery Deepens Around Newly Detected Ripples in Space-Time
The true identity of last week’s purported neutron star-black hole merger may never be known, as follow-up searches for a source of the signal have turned up nothing. Scientists affiliated with the LIGO detector announced last week that they’d spotted, in the form of gravitational waves, what appeared to be a black hole gobbling up … Continued
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SciencePhysics & ChemistryFamous Nebula Produces Highest-Energy Light Ever Observed
A telescope in Tibet consisting of plastic detectors and underground water vat observed the highest-energy light yet—and it came from one of the most famous light sources in the sky. For the first time, a team of scientists from 28 institutions across China, Tibet, and Japan report having measured photons, particles of electromagnetic radiation, with … Continued
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SciencePhysics & ChemistryGravitational Wave Detectors May Have Spotted a Neutron Star Colliding With a Black Hole
A pair of objects, each more massive than the Sun but only as wide as a city, have once again produced ripples in spacetime that were picked up by sensitive gravitational wave detectors on Earth. But this time, scientists think they may have measured something even weirder the usual. After booting up a month ago … Continued
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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightScientists Locate Neutron Star Collision That Could Have Created Our Solar System’s Plutonium
In 2017, observatories around the world observed a high-energy collision between a pair of dense objects, each slightly more massive than the Sun but only the size of a city. A similar collision closer to home could have been responsible for producing some of the heaviest elements in our own solar system—and scientists think they … Continued
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SciencePhysics & ChemistryNeutron Star Collisions Could Reveal Mysterious Quark Matter
Scientists are dreaming up ways to probe the nature of the Universe’s smallest bits—quarks—by observing ultra-dense neutron stars slamming into each other. Particle colliders in Switzerland and on Long Island, New York, have each seen evidence of a whole new form of matter in which quarks, rather than atoms, are the basic unit. But scientists … Continued
