New Webinar: Chaos in astrophysical N-body systems
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Capturing the International Space Station
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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope took its first direct image of an exoplanet. The photographed gas giant has no rocky surface and is too far from its star to be habitable, but the image is a significant breakthrough for exoplanet exploration. Webb's powerful infrared gaze can easily capture worlds beyond our solar system, pointing the way to future observations that will reveal more information than ever before about exoplanets.
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New Quiz: Modern Astrophysics Quiz
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Analyzing data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and several other observatories, astronomers have concluded that the red supergiant star Betelgeuse lost a substantial part of its visible surface in an event known as a Surface Mass Ejection (SME) in 2019. This is something never before seen in a normal star's behavior.
Our Sun routinely blows off parts of its tenuous outer atmosphere, the corona, in an event known as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). But the Betelgeuse SME blasted off 400 billion times as much mass as a typical CME! The star is still slowly recovering from this catastrophic upheaval.
These new observations yield clues as to how red stars lose mass late in their lives as their nuclear fusion furnaces burn out, before exploding as supernovae.
Our Sun routinely blows off parts of its tenuous outer atmosphere, the corona, in an event known as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). But the Betelgeuse SME blasted off 400 billion times as much mass as a typical CME! The star is still slowly recovering from this catastrophic upheaval.
These new observations yield clues as to how red stars lose mass late in their lives as their nuclear fusion furnaces burn out, before exploding as supernovae.
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All five classical naked-eye planets will be aligned in the early morning skies over the next couple of weeks in June. Capture photographs of this beautiful celestial event and share it with us using the hashtag #OnePeopleOneSky on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Via our friends at Astronomers Without Borders (AWB). IAAA is an affiliate member of AWB.
Via our friends at Astronomers Without Borders (AWB). IAAA is an affiliate member of AWB.
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An international group led by INAF researchers have confirmed that a gamma-ray burst, which lasted less than two seconds – typical of short bursts – is associated with the explosion of a massive star, which is typical of long gamma-ray bursts.
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How to take a picture of a black hole
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Image of Sgr A*, the black hole at the centre of our galaxy
