Astronomers have spotted a rare blast of light from a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. The phenomenon – known as a tidal disruption event – is the closest such flare recorded to date at just over 215 million light-years from Earth. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/star-spaghettified-by-black-hole-at2019qiz…
Tag: debris
Telescopes Record Last Moments of Star Devoured By a Black Hole
Iwastheone shares a report from SciTechDaily: Using telescopes from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and other organizations around the world, astronomers have spotted a rare blast of light from a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. The phenomenon, known as a tidal disruption event, is the closest such flare recorded to date at just over 215 million light-years…
The current state of space debris
Swirling fragments of past space endeavors are trapped in orbit around Earth, threatening our future in space. Over time, the number, mass and area of these debris objects grows steadily, boosting the risk to functioning satellites. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-current-state-space-debris.html…
15 million tons of microplastics pollute the seafloor
A new report finds that microplastic debris is twice as abundant in the deep ocean as it is on the sea surface. Source: https://www.livescience.com/14-million-tons-microplastics-ocean.html
Bright fireball widely seen over northeastern Mexico
A fireball is an especially bright meteor from space. It can start out icy and burn up entirely in our atmosphere, or rocky … in which case a meteorite sometimes falls to Earth’s surface. This bright fireball blazed over northeastern Mexico on Tuesday, October 6, 2020. Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/video-photos-bright-fireball-northeastern-mexico…
Dual-Flush Toilets ‘Wasting More Water Than They Save’
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Toilets specially designed to save water are wasting more than they conserve, the UK’s largest water firm has warned. Campaigners have warned for years that dual-flush toilets, introduced as more efficient alternatives that were expected to use less than half the amount of water per flush, are more prone to leaks. The…
The Only Black Hole We’ve Ever Seen Has a Shadow That Wobbles
The supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy has a shadow crescent that moves, like a dancer in the dark. From a report: Over a year ago, scientists unleashed something incredible on the world: the first photo of a black hole ever taken. By putting together radio astronomy observations made with dishes across four continents, the collaboration known…
Faint orbital debris that threatens satellites not being monitored closely enough, warn astronomers
University of Warwick astronomers are warning that orbital debris posing a threat to operational satellites is not being monitored closely enough, as they publish a new survey finding that over 75% of the orbital debris they detected could not be matched to known objects in public satellite catalogs. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-09-faint-orbital-debris-threatens-satellites.html…
Asteroid or space junk? Approaching object might become Earth’s mini-moon
A newly discovered “asteroid” may become a new mini-moon for Earth. Instead of an ordinary asteroid, it might be a lost rocket from the Surveyor 2 mission, launched from Earth more than 50 years ago. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/2020-so-mini-moon-asteroid-or-space-junk…
ISS Successfully Dodges ‘Unknown Piece of Space Debris’
With space junk piling up around our planet, the International Space Station needed to perform a last-minute avoidance maneuver Tuesday to steer clear of an “unknown piece of space debris expected to pass within several kilometers.” From a report: Mission Control in Houston conducted the move at 2:19 p.m. PT using the Russian Progress resupply spacecraft docked to the ISS to…