#TESS delivers new insights into an ultrahot world

“#TESS delivers new insights into an ultrahot world” Illustration shows how planet KELT-9 b sees its host star. Over the course of a single orbit, the planet twice experiences cycles of heating and cooling caused by the star’s unusual pattern of surface temperatures. Between the star’s hot poles and cool equator, temperatures vary by about…

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#To find giant black holes, start with Jupiter

“#To find giant black holes, start with Jupiter” On a quest to find the Universe’s largest black holes, Vanderbilt researcher identifies the center of the solar system within 100 meters. Credit: David Champion The revolution in our understanding of the night sky and our place in the universe began when we transitioned from using the…

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#Explainer: A theoretical cosmologist describes how large black holes really are, and the ‘point of no return’

“#Explainer: A theoretical cosmologist describes how large black holes really are, and the ‘point of no return’” The first photo of a black hole, taken in 2019, shows light bending around a black hole that is 6.5 billion times larger than the sun. Credit: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration Black holes are among the most fascinating…

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#What happens before a star explodes and dies: New research on ‘pre-supernova’ neutrinos.

“#What happens before a star explodes and dies: New research on ‘pre-supernova’ neutrinos.” Exploded star blooms like a cosmic flower. Credit: NASA/CXC/U.Texas A recent study on pre-supernova neutrinos—tiny cosmic particles that are extremely hard to detect—has brought scientists one step closer to understanding what happens to stars before they explode and die. The study, co-authored…

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#A cosmic mystery: Very Large Telescope captures the disappearance of a massive star

“#A cosmic mystery: Very Large Telescope captures the disappearance of a massive star” This illustration shows what the luminous blue variable star in the Kinman Dwarf galaxy could have looked like before its mysterious disappearance. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have discovered the absence of an unstable…

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#Giant star spots likely cause of Betelgeuse dimming

“#Giant star spots likely cause of Betelgeuse dimming” Red Supergiant: An artist’s impression of Betelgeuse. Its surface is covered by large star spots, which reduce its brightness. During their pulsations, such stars regularly release gas into their surroundings, which condenses into dust. Credit: MPIA graphics department Betelgeuse, the bright star in the constellation of Orion,…

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#Astronomers investigate chemical composition of a nearby star-forming dwarf galaxy

“#Astronomers investigate chemical composition of a nearby star-forming dwarf galaxy” Color composite image of JKB 18. Credit: James et al., 2020. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have probed the chemical composition of a nearby metal-poor star-forming dwarf galaxy known as JKB 18. Results of the new observations indicate that the galaxy is chemically…

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