Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope revealed a large amount of dense hot gas moving outwards through Betelgeuse’s extended atmosphere. This gas might have cooled and formed a dust cloud that partially blocked the star’s light as seen from Earth, earlier this year. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/betelgeuses-early-2020-dimming-explained…
Tag: pulsating
Exoplanet-hunter TESS completes its primary mission
NASA’s 2nd planet-hunter, TESS, has spent 2 years surveying the sky for exoplanets orbiting distant stars. It has found over 2,000 exoplanets so far. TESS now moves into its extended mission phase. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/exoplanet-hunter-tess-completes-primary-mission…
Images show Martian night sky pulsing with ultraviolet light
Vast areas of Mars’ nightside atmosphere glow and pulsate with ultraviolet light, according to images from NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-night-sky-ultraviolet-light-images…
Stellar pulsations distribute key ingredient for life
As Carl Sagan famously said, “We’re made of star stuff”—but how do stars distribute their essential “stuff” for life into space? NASA’s telescope on an airplane, SOFIA, is finding some answers by watching pulsating stars as they expand and contract, almost like-beating hearts. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-08-stellar-pulsations-key-ingredient-life.html…
Why fireflies light up
A firefly’s familiar glow is caused by a chemical reaction. Explanation here, plus many wonderful firefly photos. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/bugs-firefly-light…
Could Brain Diseases Like Alzheimer’s Be Treated With Flashing Lights?
Writing for Quanta magazine, an adjunct professor of neuroscience at the University of Maryland described an intriguing study led by MIT neuroscientist Li-Huei Tsai: Incredible as it may sound, the researchers improved the brains of animals with Alzheimer’s simply by using LED lights that flashed 40 times a second. Even sound played at this charmed frequency, 40 hertz, had a similar…
1st super-fast pulsar found snacking on its companion in far-flung star cluster
China’s FAST radio telescope has uncovered the first known pulsar in the star cluster Messier 92. The super-fast pulsating object forms one part of an eclipsing binary. Source: https://www.livescience.com/millisecond-pulsar-discovery-china-fast-telescope-m92.html
Astronomers find regular rhythms among pulsating stars
By listening to the beating hearts of stars, astronomers have for the first time identified a rhythm of life for a class of stellar objects that had until now puzzled scientists. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-05-mysterious-delta-scuti-stars-surrender.html…