Beyond the brim, Sombrero Galaxy’s halo suggests turbulent past

Surprising new data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope suggests the smooth, settled “brim” of the Sombrero galaxy’s disk may be concealing a turbulent past. Hubble’s sharpness and sensitivity resolves tens of thousands of individual stars in the Sombrero’s vast, extended halo, the region beyond a galaxy’s central portion, typically made of older stars. These latest observations of the Sombrero are turning…

New clues in the search for the universe’s oldest galaxies

An astronomer reports on a very old galaxy cluster – labeled XLSSC 122 – whose light has taken 10.4 billion years to travel across the universe to us. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-clues-search-oldest-galaxies-in-the-universe…

Warm water measured below Antarctic glacier

The warm water found flowing under Thwaites Glacier in western Antarctica helps explain its rapid melting. Thwaites is part of what’s described the “weak underbelly” of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Its melting has implications for sea-level rise around the world. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/warm-water-measured-below-thwaites-glacier-antarctica…

This week’s Venus and Neptune conjunction

The Venus-Neptune in conjunction on January 27 was the closest planetary conjunction of 2020. But – because Neptune is so faint – it wasn’t easy to capture. Plus a star near Venus confused people! Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/venus-neptune-january2020-photos…

XMM-Newton discovers scorching gas in Milky Way’s halo

ESA’s XMM-Newton has discovered that gas lurking within the Milky Way’s halo reaches far hotter temperatures than previously thought and has a different chemical make-up than predicted, challenging our understanding of our galactic home. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-01-xmm-newton-gas-milky-halo.html…

Giant magnetic ropes seen in Whale Galaxy’s halo

Using the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array radio telescope, a team of astronomers has captured for the first time an image of large-scale, coherent, magnetic fields in the halo of a faraway spiral galaxy, confirming theoretical modeling of how galaxies generate magnetic fields and potentially increasing knowledge of how galaxies form and evolve. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-12-giant-magnetic-ropes-whale-galaxy.html…

Investigators capture image of ‘shadow person’

An investigation of a reportedly haunted residence in Sacramento recently yielded some intriguing evidence. Paul Dale Roberts and colleagues from Halo… Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/333209/investigators-capture-image-of-shadow-person…

Fermi mission links nearby pulsar’s gamma-ray ‘halo’ to antimatter puzzle

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has discovered a faint but sprawling glow of high-energy light around a nearby pulsar. If visible to the human eye, this gamma-ray “halo” would appear about 40 times bigger in the sky than a full Moon. This structure may provide the solution to a long-standing mystery about the amount of antimatter in our neighborhood. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-12-fermi-mission-links-nearby-pulsar.html…

Chennai engineer helped find India’s Vikram lander

In September, India hoped to become the 4th nation to soft land on the moon successfully with its Chandrayaan 2 mission. Moments before touchdown, the mission’s Vikram lander crashed. Now the lander has been found again. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/chennai-engineer-helps-nasa-find-vikram-lander…