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Scientists have developed a new way to "mine" old radio telescope data
Scientists have developed a new way to "mine" old radio telescope data, uncovering thousands of hidden signals from dwarf stars and potential exoplanets. Modern radio telescopes collect colossal volumes of data. Traditionally, astronomers look at this data one source at a time. It's painstaking work.
Jan 291 min read


Runaway Black Holes: New evidence suggests these "cosmic cannons" are real.
Imagine an invisible object millions of times heavier than the sun, tearing through space at 3,000 km/s. New evidence suggests these "cosmic cannons" are real. Last year, we marveled at a fast-moving asteroid. But recent studies confirm something far more terrifying and fascinating might be out there: Supermassive Black Holes ejected from their host galaxies.
Jan 291 min read


Runaway Stars: They are the galaxy's fastest drifters. Massive stars ejected from their homes
They are the galaxy's fastest drifters. Massive stars ejected from their homes, racing through the void. A new study finally reveals how they escaped. Massive stars usually live in clusters or pairs. Yet, astronomers find many of them isolated, speeding through space at unusually high velocities. These are "Runaway Stars."
Jan 281 min read


WOH G64, one of the largest stars known, was fading. Astronomers thought it was dying. They were wrong.
WOH G64, one of the largest stars known, was fading. Astronomers thought it was dying. They were wrong.WOH G64 is a leviathan. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, this red supergiant is so massive it's expected to end in a supernova. But recently, it started behaving strangely. It faded. Its pulse weakened. Dust obscured it.
Jan 281 min read


Computer simulations reveal that our Local Group of galaxies is embedded in a flat sheet of dark matter
Computer simulations reveal that our Local Group of galaxies is embedded in a massive, flat sheet of dark matter, solving a decades-old puzzle about galactic motion. For half a century, astronomers have been puzzled. The Local Group—a cluster containing the Milky Way, Andromeda, and dozens of smaller galaxies—is massive. Its gravity should be pulling nearby galaxies inward. Yet, almost everything is moving away from us.
Jan 281 min read


An AI neural network has scanned 100 million archival Hubble images in just days
An AI neural network has scanned 100 million archival Hubble images in just days, uncovering hundreds of rare anomalies that humans missed for decades. The Hubble Space Telescope has been observing the cosmos for 35 years. Its legacy archive contains millions of observations.
Jan 281 min read


The Perseverance rover has discovered definitive traces of an ancient beach
The Perseverance rover has discovered definitive traces of an ancient beach and evidence of extensive underground water, rewriting the history of habitability on Mars.
Jan 281 min read


Energy-harvesting structures like Stellar Engines and Dyson Bubbles can theoretically remain stable
New calculations confirm that immense, energy-harvesting structures like Stellar Engines and Dyson Bubbles can theoretically remain stable without active control.
For decades, astronomers have imagined alien civilizations deploying vast structures to harvest stellar energy. These concepts range from Stellar Engines (turning a star system into a spaceship) to Dyson Bubbles (energy collection swarms).
Jan 281 min read


A 60-meter asteroid might strike the Moon in 2032.
A 60-meter asteroid might strike the Moon in 2032. It could be a scientific goldmine—or a satellite-destroying nightmare. If Asteroid 2024 YR4 hits, it won't be a pebble in a pond. It will release energy equivalent to a medium-sized thermonuclear weapon.
Jan 281 min read


Why do our tiny "cell factories" fail in space?
Why do our tiny "cell factories" fail in space? A new Naval Research Laboratory study reveals that zero-g rewires microbial metabolism, prioritizing survival over production.
As humanity prepares for long-duration missions to Mars and beyond, we cannot carry everything with us. We will need to manufacture medicines, materials, and life-support components on the fly. The solution? Bio-manufacturing using engineered microbes.
Jan 271 min read


The James Webb Space Telescope has created the sharpest map of dark matter ever
The James Webb Space Telescope has created the sharpest map of dark matter ever, revealing the "invisible scaffolding" that holds the universe together.
Scientists have created the highest resolution map of the dark matter that threads through the universe. The research, led by Durham University, NASA's JPL, and EPFL, shows exactly how this invisible substance pulls ordinary matter into galaxies like our own Milky Way.
Jan 271 min read


Astronomers have discovered five rare "Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor" (CEMP) stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Astronomers have discovered five rare "Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor" (CEMP) stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud for the first time.
Using the BOSS spectrograph, a team led by Madeline Lucey (University of Pennsylvania) analyzed data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). They were looking for something that shouldn't be there—or at least, hadn't been found yet.
Jan 271 min read
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