Black holes may leak more energy to their surroundings than previously suspected — and the faster these voids spin, the more efficient this energy extraction seems to be. With this in mind, a team of scientists has discovered how the disks of gas and dust that swirl around black holes can become the powerful engines … Read more
Recent research on lightweight particles called neutrinos might have passed you by – much like the more than 10 trillion neutrinos passing through your body each second. Now, our new paper – with 21 countries, more than 60 institutes and around 360 scientists contributing – reports the observation of the most energetic neutrino yet. Despite … Read more
Astronomers are expressing disappointment and alarm as the federally-funded Rubin Observatory altered the biography of renowned astronomer Vera Rubin, for whom the facility is named, on its website. The amended version curtails her legacy of championing women in science and removes all mentions of the observatory’s efforts to reduce barriers for women and other historically … Read more
Having launched on January 9, 2024 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Einstein Probe detected several new events during its commissioning phase. Last October, Yuan Weimin, the spacecraft’s principle investigator, told China Central Television that the X-ray observatory had already discovered around 60 very strong transient celestial objects, close to a thousand potential transients, … Read more
NEW ORLEANS — Scientists continue to advance the process of updating the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Scales, with the next steps expected to be taken as early as this year. Just like there’s a classification system for hurricanes and tornadoes, space weather storms that develop and pose threats to Earth have … Read more
Scientists believe that two asteroids might be fragments of long-lost “planetary embryos” from the early solar system. These embryos, somewhere between small planetesimals and fully formed planets, were abundant during the solar system’s formative stages and played a critical role in planetary formation. Two asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, (246) … Read more
Researchers have obtained the first conclusive evidence of an elusive third class of magnetism, called altermagnetism. Their findings, published Dec. 11 in the journal Nature, could revolutionize the design of new high-speed magnetic memory devices and provide the missing puzzle piece in the development of better superconducting materials. “We have previously had two well-established types … Read more
Scientists have discovered that some supermassive black holes rotate much more rapidly than expected. The discovery came as the result of a new form of “black hole archeology” that links black hole spins to the gas and dust they have consumed to grow over 7 billion years of cosmic history. The findings, courtesy of the … Read more
Humanity needs to start addressing the growing space junk problem now, before it gets out of hand, scientists stress. Earth orbit is getting more and more crowded, with both active satellites and pieces of debris. There’s so much stuff up there that it’s far from alarmist to start worrying about the Kessler syndrome, a nightmare … Read more
Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io doesn’t appear to have a subsurface ocean of magma, resolving some issues about how Io’s volcanoes erupt and raising broader questions about similar magma oceans within other moons and planets. Data from previous missions had made planetary scientists wonder whether, rather than just pockets of melt, Io contained a 31-mile (50-kilometer) … Read more