Tag: #astronomy

SPHEREx maps vast interstellar ices and carbon-rich dust across Cygnus X and North American Nebula

NASA’s SPHEREx produced large near-infrared spectral maps revealing water, CO2 and PAH distributions across star-forming regions like Cygnus X.

#astronomy, #spherex, #interstellarice, #milkyway

Astronomers Report Possible Direct Detection of Ionizing UV from Faint Galaxies at Redshift 6

A new arXiv preprint reports stacked detections of extreme‑UV photons from faint galaxies at z≈6, implying high escape fractions if confirmed.

#astronomy, #reionization, #astrosat, #hubble

JWST data suggest powerful galactic wind 300 million years after the Big Bang

JWST spectra show extended CIII] around a z≈14 galaxy, implying strong, metal‑rich outflows moved gas 300 million years after the Big Bang.

#astronomy, #jwst, #galaxies, #cosmicdawn

Sungrazing Comet MAPS Skims the Sun, Leaving Astronomers Waiting to See if It Survived

Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) whipped just 150,000 km above the Sun. Spacecraft images in coming days will reveal whether it held together.

#comet, #astronomy, #sun, #nasa, #space

Newly Found Sungrazing Comet Could Flare Brighter Than Venus—or Disintegrate at the Sun

Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) reaches a perilous April 4 sun-skimming perihelion. Astronomers say it could blaze briefly—or vanish in a breakup.

#comet, #astronomy, #sun, #space, #nasa

Astronomers confirm second newborn giant planet in ringed WISPIT 2 system

Interferometer data confirm a second forming gas giant around young sunlike star WISPIT 2, offering a rare view of how solar systems take shape.

#exoplanets, #astronomy, #planetformation, #eso, #vlt

A Superluminous Supernova Blinked Four Times—And May Reveal Einstein’s Frame-Dragging at Work

Astronomers report a rare “chirping” supernova whose four accelerating flares may trace frame-dragging around a newborn magnetar, testing relativity.

#astronomy, #supernova, #magnetar, #generalrelativity, #timedomain

Astronomers Spot Likely Giant Impact as Distant Star’s Light ‘Goes Bonkers’

A University of Washington team says unusual dimming and an infrared surge in a young star point to a rare, Moon-like planetary collision.

#astronomy, #exoplanets, #gaia, #planetaryscience, #space

Oven-Hot Exoplanet Near ‘Radius Valley’ Shows How Stars Strip Worlds Bare

TOI-5734 b is a dense, Neptune-size world losing its atmosphere under fierce radiation—an ideal test case for models of planetary erosion.

#exoplanets, #astronomy, #tess, #jwst, #planetaryscience

SpaceX’s Starlink Surpasses 10,000 Active Satellites, Reshaping Low Earth Orbit

Two March 17 Falcon 9 launches pushed Starlink past 10,000 working satellites—about three-quarters of active spacecraft—spurring debates over safety and science.

#spacex, #starlink, #satellites, #spacepolicy, #astronomy

A ‘Hostless’ Gamma-Ray Burst Traced to a Tiny Galaxy in Tidal Debris, Shedding Light on Gold’s Origins

Astronomers used Chandra and Hubble to trace a 2023 short gamma-ray burst to a faint mini-galaxy in a tidal tail, reshaping ideas on hostless blasts and gold.

#astronomy, #gammarayburst, #neutronstars, #hubble, #chandra

New LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA Catalog Lists 218 Gravitational-Wave Events, Nearly Doubling Known Cosmic Mergers

GWTC-4 adds 128 new detections from 2023–24, expanding the menagerie of black-hole and neutron-star mergers and sharpening tests of cosmology.

#ligo, #gravitationalwaves, #blackholes, #astronomy, #cosmology

Astronomers Spot a ‘Ghost Galaxy’ Made Almost Entirely of Dark Matter

Using Hubble, Euclid and Subaru, researchers confirmed an ultra-faint Perseus cluster galaxy whose mass appears to be more than 99% dark matter.

#darkmatter, #astronomy, #hubble, #euclid, #galaxies

LIGO’s latest catalog doubles the haul of gravitational-wave detections, revealing new black hole patterns

The GWTC-4.0 catalog adds 128 new merger candidates from LIGO’s latest run, bringing the total to 218 and sharpening clues about black holes and cosmic expansion.

#gravitationalwaves, #ligo, #blackholes, #astronomy, #cosmology

Rubin Observatory’s real-time sky alerts debut with 800,000 notifications in a night

Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s first large-scale public test sent 800,000 rapid alerts, previewing a system built for millions nightly in LSST.

#astronomy, #rubinobservatory, #lsst, #space, #datastreams