Cosmic ray originated in cataclysmic event

Astronomers found a high energy neutrino – a cosmic ray – that apparently originated during a “tidal disruption event,” that is, when a supermassive black hole shredded a distant star. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/origin-cosmic-ray-when-black-hole-shreds-star…

Ultraluminous X-ray pulsar M51 ULX-7 inspected by researchers

Using NASA’s Swift and Chandra space observatories, astronomers have investigated an ultraluminous X-ray pulsar known as M51 ULX-7. The study, detailed in a paper published February 16 on the arXiv pre-print server, sheds more light on the X-ray variability of this source. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-ultraluminous-x-ray-pulsar-m51-ulx-.html…

Research reveals stellar kinematics of the galactic disc

By using a sample of 118945 red giant branch (RGB) stars from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and Gaia, Dr. Wu Yaqian from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) investigated the stellar kinematics of the galactic disc in 7 Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-reveals-stellar-kinematics-galactic-disc.html…

Signals in optical band can be used as probe to detect atmosphere escape of hot Jupiters

YAN Dongdong, GUO Jianheng and Xing Lei from Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, collaborating with Huang Chenliang from University of Arizona, deduced that there is an expanding and escaping thermal neutral hydrogen atmosphere around hot Jupiter WASP-121b by simulating the optical transmission spectrum (Hα) of this exoplanet. The study was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-optical-band-probe-atmosphere-hot.html…

Today in science: A spacecraft obliterated a sundog

On February 11, 2010, a solar observatory launched into space ripped apart a sundog and created a new ice halo that amazed scientists. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/video-when-a-spacecraft-destroyed-a-sundog…

JADES will go deeper than the Hubble Deep Fields

Astronomers announced this month that a new deep-field survey called JADES will be carried out with the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble’s much-anticipated successor. The Webb is due to launch later this year. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/jades-deep-field-surveys-epoch-of-1st-galaxies…

Low-cost approach to scanning historic glass plates yields an astronomical surprise

You never know what new discoveries might be hiding in old astronomical observations. For almost a hundred years starting in the late 19th century, emulsion-coated dry glass plate photography was the standard of choice used by large astronomical observatories and surveys for documenting and imaging the sky. These large enormous glass plate collections are still out there around the world, filed…

The largest-ever catalog of gravitational waves released

One of humankind’s greatest achievements was made on 14th Sept 2015 when the first direct detection of a gravitational wave event was made using the aLIGO observatories in Washington State and Louisana in the U.S. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-largest-ever-gravitational.html…

China’s huge FAST telescope to open to international observers

FAST’s 500-meter (1,640-foot) dish makes it the world’s largest single-dish radio observatory. It’s expected to open to international observers in 2021. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/worlds-largest-radio-telescope-china-fast…

3-D simulation helps revealing accretion process in progenitor of tycho’s supernova

Dr. JIAO Chengliang from Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, collaborating with Prof. XUE Li’s group from Xiamen University, performed three-dimensional (3-D) simulations of the accretion flow in the progenitor of Tycho’s supernova, which helps identifying the physical properties of the accretion process. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-d-simulation-revealing-accretion-progenitor.html…