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Category: cosmology – Page 5

Imaging Uncovers Hidden Structures in Exploding Stars

“Novae are more than fireworks in our galaxy — they are laboratories for extreme physics,” said Dr. Laura Chomiuk.

What can imaging supernovae (plural for supernova) explosions teach astronomers about their behavior and physical characteristics? This is what a recent study published in Nature Astronomy hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated the mechanisms behind the thermonuclear eruptions that supernovae cause. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand supernovae, as they are hypothesized to be responsible for spreading the chemical elements and molecules needed for life throughout the universe.

For the study, the researchers used the Georgia State University CHARA Array to observe exploding supernovae from two separate white dwarfs: nova V1674 Her and nova V1405 Cas, which are located approximately 16,200 and 5,500 light-years from Earth, and were observed days 2 & 3 and days 53, 55, & 67 after first light of eruption, also known as t0, respectively. For nova V1674 Her, the researchers observed outflows during days 2 & 3, while they observed this same behavior for nova V1405 Cas during days 53, 55, & 67. The researchers note these contrasting observations challenge longstanding hypotheses regarding supernovae behavior during their eruption periods.

10 Spooky Possibilities of the Multiverse

An exploration of ten spooky aspects of the multiverse and our universe within it.

https://www.patreon.com/johnmichaelgodier.

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Cylinder Eight by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.…
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Cylinder Five by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.…
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Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Peculiar supernova SN 2021ukt transitions from Type IIn to Type Ib

Astronomers from the University of California (UC), Berkeley and elsewhere have performed spectroscopic and photometric study of a peculiar supernova designated SN 2021ukt, which underwent a transition from Type IIn to Type Ib. Results of the new study, presented Nov. 28 on the arXiv pre-print server, shed more light on the nature of this supernova.

Ramanujan’s 100-Year-Old Pi Formula That Hides the Secrets of the Universe

A new study reveals that Srinivasa Ramanujan’s century-old formulas for calculating pi unexpectedly emerge within modern theories of critical phenomena, turbulence, and black holes. In school, many of us first encounter the irrational number π (pi) – rounded off as 3.14, with an infinite number o

Scientists Unveil the Most Realistic Black Hole Accretion Model Ever Created

Using cutting-edge algorithms and exascale supercomputers, researchers have created the most realistic simulations yet of matter flowing into black holes. Building on decades of research, a group of computational astrophysicists has reached an important breakthrough: they have created the most de

Astronomers spot one of the largest spinning structures ever found in

An international team led by the University of Oxford has identified one of the largest rotating structures ever reported: a ‘razor-thin’ string of galaxies embedded in a giant spinning cosmic filament, 140 million light-years away. The findings, published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, could offer valuable new insights into how galaxies formed in the early Universe.

Cosmic filaments are the largest known structures in the Universe: vast, thread-like formations of galaxies and dark matter that form a cosmic scaffolding. They also act as ‘highways’ along which matter and momentum flow into galaxies. Nearby filaments containing many galaxies spinning in the same direction-and where the whole structure appears to be rotating – are ideal systems to explore how galaxies gained the spin and gas they have today. They can also provide a way to test theories about how cosmic rotation builds up over tens of millions of light-years.

What makes this structure exceptional is not just its size, but the combination of spin alignment and rotational motion. You can liken it to the teacups ride at a theme park. Each galaxy is like a spinning teacup, but the whole platform-the cosmic filament-is rotating too.

Gemini and Blanco Telescopes Unlock Clues to Origin of Longest Gamma-ray Burst Ever Observed

Astronomers have observed the longest-ever gamma-ray burst — a powerful, extragalactic explosion that lasted over seven hours. Rapid follow-up observations with the U.S. Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera and the International Gemini Observatory, funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, provided crucial information about the possible origin of this extraordinary event and the galaxy that hosts it.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the most powerful explosions in the Universe, second only to the Big Bang. The majority of these bursts are observed to flash and fade within a few seconds to minutes. But on 2 July 2025, astronomers were alerted to a GRB source that was exhibiting repeating bursts and would end up lasting over seven hours. This event, dubbed GRB 250702B, is the longest gamma-ray burst humans have ever witnessed.

GRB 250702B was first identified by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi). Shortly after space-based telescopes detected the initial bursts in gamma-rays and pinpointed its on-sky location in X-rays, astronomers around the world launched campaigns to observe the event in additional wavelengths of light.

Long-term study of nearby blazar reveals complex emission patterns

Using NASA’s Swift and Fermi space telescopes, Indian astronomers have conducted a long-term multiwavelength study of a nearby blazar designated TXS 0518+211. Results of the study, published Nov. 26 on the arXiv pre-print server, reveal the complex nature of this object.

Blazars are very compact quasi-stellar objects (quasars) associated with supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the centers of active, giant elliptical galaxies. They are the most luminous and extreme subclass of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The characteristic features of blazars are highly collimated relativistic jets pointed almost exactly toward Earth.

Blazars are usually divided by astronomers into two classes, based on their optical emission properties: flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) that feature prominent and broad optical emission lines, and BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs), which do not.

Most normal matter in the universe isn’t found in planets, stars or galaxies: An astronomer explains

If you look across space with a telescope, you’ll see countless galaxies, most of which host large central black holes, billions of stars and their attendant planets. The universe teems with huge, spectacular objects, and it might seem like these massive objects should hold most of the universe’s matter.

But the Big Bang theory predicts that about 5% of the universe’s contents should be atoms made of protons, neutrons and electrons. Most of those atoms cannot be found in stars and galaxies—a discrepancy that has puzzled astronomers.

If not in visible stars and galaxies, the most likely hiding place for the matter is in the dark space between galaxies. While space is often referred to as a vacuum, it isn’t completely empty. Individual particles and atoms are dispersed throughout the space between stars and galaxies, forming a dark, filamentary network called the “cosmic web.”

Earlier ultra-relativistic freeze-out could revive a decades-old theory for dark matter

A new theory for the origins of dark matter suggests that fast-moving, neutrino-like dark particles could have decoupled from Standard Model particles far earlier than previous theories had suggested.

Through new research published in Physical Review Letters, a team led by Stephen Henrich and Keith Olive at the University of Minnesota proposes that this “ultra-relativistic freeze-out” mechanism could have produced dark matter particles which are almost undetectable, but still compatible with the observed history of the universe.

Despite comprising some 85% of the universe’s total mass, dark matter has never been seen to interact with regular matter except via gravity, making its origins one of the most enduring mysteries in cosmology.

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