Globular clusters are spherical collections of up to perhaps a million stars, orbiting mostly in the star halo of spiral galaxies, containing some of a galaxy’s oldest stars. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/definition-what-is-a-globular-cluster…
Tag: Horizon telescope
Famous black hole has jet pushing cosmic speed limit
The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration released the first image of a black hole with observations of the massive, dark object at the center of Messier 87, or M87, last April. This black hole has a mass of about 6.5 billion times that of the sun and is located about 55 million light years from Earth. The black hole has been called…
Top 9 EarthSky stories of 2019
From the 1st landing on the moon’s far side to the 1st actual image of a black hole, here’s a quick roundup of 9 of the stories our readers enjoyed most in 2019. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/top-9-stories-of-2019…
A second black hole at our galaxy’s center?
There’s a supermassive black hole – 4 million times our sun’s mass – in the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers who’ve measured star movements near this central black hole are now saying there might be a 2nd companion black hole near it. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/supermassive-black-hole-milky-way-galaxys-center-may-have-friend…
Thousands of exoplanets may orbit supermassive black holes
It sounds unbelievable, but a new study from Kagoshima University and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan says that exoplanets – thousands of them – could be orbiting supermassive black holes. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/thousands-of-exoplanets-may-orbit-supermassive-black-holes…
NASA’s space geodesy project mapping out a bright future
In April 2019, an international team of more than 300 scientists unveiled the first recorded images of a black hole, its dark shadow and vivid orange disk peering back across 55 million light years of space. Capturing images from so far away required the combined power of eight radio telescopes across four continents, working together to essentially form a massive Earth-sized…
NASA creates stunning new black hole visualization
For decades, astronomical theorists have told us that a black hole’s powerful gravity would warp the space around it. This new visualization from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is the best yet at showing exactly how. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/black-hole-visualization-from-side-schnittman-goddard…
Mystery green blob appears and disappears in distant galaxy
What is ULX-4 – a mystery green blob of X-ray light that appeared in the Fireworks Galaxy – and then soon disappeared again? A black hole or neutron star are 2 possibilities. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mystery-green-blob-ulx-4-fireworks-galaxy…
Astrophysicist Tries Machine Learning To Generate a Black Hole Movie
One of the scientists who worked on the black hole picture is now pursuing an even more ambitious visualization, this time for the super-massive black hole at the center of our own galaxy. Long-time Slashdot reader Esther Schindler shares this report from Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Insights blog: Lia Medeiros, a physicist, astrophysicist, and National Science Foundation fellow, is working to put…
Today in science: Einstein’s triumph
May 29, 2019, is the 100th anniversary of a total solar eclipse, during which Sir Arthur Eddington observed the bending of light around the sun, thereby proving Einstein’s general relativity theory and catapulting Einstein into rock star fame. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/may-29-1919-solar-eclipse-einstein-relativity…