Astronomy
'Chaos' reigns beneath the ice of Jupiter moon Europa, James Webb Space Telescope reveals
Sprinkling limestone on farms may offer an unexpected climate win
Sprinkling limestone on farms may offer an unexpected climate win
Eclipse chasers share insider tips, travel advice and skywatching secrets for the 2026 total solar eclipse
This new 'CosmoCube' moon orbiter could eavesdrop on whispers from the early universe
Optimists Are Alike, but Pessimists Are Unique, Brain Scan Study Suggests
Optimists have similar patterns of brain activation when they think about the future—but pessimists are all different from one another, a brain scan study suggests
NASA's X-59 'quiet' supersonic jet rolls out for its 1st test drive (video)
These Massive Runaway Stars Were Birthed in a Chaotic Cluster
Mysteries abound in space. In the Tarantula Nebula, which lies in the Large Magellanic Cloud, astronomers used simulations to reconstruct how three stars were ejected from the star cluster R136, about 60,000 years ago. The analysis, published in Physical Review Letters, reveals that five stars were involved, an unexpected result.
The Most Massive Black Hole Merger Ever
Astronomers using the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA gravitational wave detectors announced the most massive black hole merger ever seen. Two black holes crashed together, producing a final black hole with approximately 225 times the mass of the Sun. Designated GW231123, it was detected during the 2023 observing run, and appears to be from the collision of 100- and 140-stellar-mass black holes. Black holes this massive are hard to get through standard stellar evolution, but could be the results of previous mergers.
Supernova Cinematography: How NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Will Create a Movie of Exploding Stars
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope isn't due to launch until May 2027, but astronomers are preparing for its science operations by running simulated operations. One of those involves supernovae, massive stars the end their lives in gargantuan explosions. Research shows that the Roman could find 100,000 supernovae in one of its surveys.
HWO Could Find Irrefutable Signs Of Life On Exoplanets
Searching for habitable exoplanets will require decades of work, new technologies, and new ideas. A lot of that effort seems to coalescing around the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a proposed mission expected to launch in the early 2040s that would be capable of directly imaging potentially habitable worlds, and, importantly, detecting features about them that could prove whether or not they host life as we know it. A new paper by exobiology specialists in Europe and the US, led by Svetlana Berdyugina of ISROL in Locarno, Switzerland, details an observational plan with HWO that could definitely prove that life exists on another planet - if they’re able to find one where it does anyway.
Some Planets Are Bigger Than We Thought
More than 200 planets in the TESS catalogs may be bigger than originally estimated — putting initially Earth-size planets into the super-Earth category.
The post Some Planets Are Bigger Than We Thought appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
These 3 popular skywatching star clusters may be branches of the same family tree
Try These Logic Puzzles from the International Logic Olympiad
In only its second year, the International Logic Olympiad is already booming as logic becomes more and more crucial in our ever changing world