Space Thread
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DrCaleb @ Mon Mar 10, 2025 6:49 am
That galaxy next door? It's home to a monster black hole
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A new study of super-fast-moving stars suggests that they were accelerated by a monster black hole that's been lurking unseen in the galaxy next door.
This appears to be the closest supermassive black hole outside our Milky Way galaxy, according to a report that's appearing in The Astrophysical Journal.
While scientists think that most galaxies have a giant black hole at their centers, until now no one knew that one of these beasts resides in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that's right near the Milky Way.
"Now that there is strong evidence that it should be there, you can rest assured that we are very excitedly following up," says Jesse Han of the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, who led the study. "The search is on and we're using all the telescopes we can to look for it."
This appears to be the closest supermassive black hole outside our Milky Way galaxy, according to a report that's appearing in The Astrophysical Journal.
While scientists think that most galaxies have a giant black hole at their centers, until now no one knew that one of these beasts resides in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that's right near the Milky Way.
"Now that there is strong evidence that it should be there, you can rest assured that we are very excitedly following up," says Jesse Han of the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, who led the study. "The search is on and we're using all the telescopes we can to look for it."
DrCaleb @ Thu Mar 20, 2025 6:52 am
Can NASA remain nonpartisan when basic spaceflight truths are shredded?
$1:
Kate Tice, an engineer from SpaceX on the webcast, noted that touchdown was imminent. "We're going to stand by for splashdown located in the Gulf of America," she said.
Ah, yes. The Gulf of America.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Ah, yes. The Gulf of America.
This is why we can't have nice things.
DrCaleb @ Wed Mar 26, 2025 6:20 am
As preps continue, it’s looking more likely that NASA will fly the Artemis II mission
DrCaleb @ Mon Mar 31, 2025 6:23 am
NASA’s Curiosity rover has found the longest chain carbon molecules yet on Mars
DrCaleb @ Thu Apr 03, 2025 6:54 am
Recent image of Neptune taken by the KECK telescopes.
DrCaleb @ Mon Apr 07, 2025 5:15 am
Starliner’s flight to the space station was far wilder than most of us thought
They almost didn't make it to the station, and they weren't sure they could make it back to Earth safely.
DrCaleb @ Mon Apr 21, 2025 5:55 am
Yes, there really is a black hole on the loose in Sagittarius
$1:
For the first time, astronomers have confirmed the existence of a lone black hole — one with no star orbiting it.
It’s “the only one so far,” says Kailash Sahu, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
In 2022, Sahu and his colleagues discovered the dark object coursing through the constellation Sagittarius. A second team disputed the claim, saying the body might instead be a neutron star. New observations from the Hubble Space Telescope now confirm that the object’s mass is so large that it must be a black hole, Sahu’s team reports in the April 20 Astrophysical Journal.
It’s “the only one so far,” says Kailash Sahu, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
In 2022, Sahu and his colleagues discovered the dark object coursing through the constellation Sagittarius. A second team disputed the claim, saying the body might instead be a neutron star. New observations from the Hubble Space Telescope now confirm that the object’s mass is so large that it must be a black hole, Sahu’s team reports in the April 20 Astrophysical Journal.
DrCaleb @ Thu Apr 24, 2025 6:18 am
Hubble celebrates 35th year in orbit
DrCaleb @ Thu May 01, 2025 5:33 am
A competing theory to 'dark energy' suggests the universe has different time zones
Dark matter was proposed to explain why we see galaxies rotate faster than they should be able to without flying apart. Speed is distance/time. We assume the time we see there is the same as the time we see here. But there is nothing in General Relativity that requires that, in fact GR says that mass slows down time. So there could be areas of the universe with more mass, in which time could pass slower.
This is called 'Modified Newtonian Dynamics" and explains what we observe without the need for dark matter that we can't see. So places that have more matter in them may cause time to pass slower than empty places.
I think this also might solve the Hubble Tension, were the gravitational constant of the universe seems to be two different values, depending on where we look.
DrCaleb @ Wed May 07, 2025 6:48 am
Aurora seen by Weather satellites, with city lights below.
DrCaleb @ Mon May 12, 2025 6:09 am
A star has been destroyed by a wandering supermassive black hole
$1:
Back in 2024, a system set up to identify objects that suddenly brighten found something unusual. Unfortunately, the automated system that was supposed to identify it couldn't figure out what it was looking at. Now, about a year later, we know it's the first tidal disruption event—meaning a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole—identified at visual wavelengths. It's also a rather unusual one, in that the supermassive black hole in question does not reside at the center of its galaxy. Instead, there's an even more massive object there, which is feeding on matter at the same time.
Relax, it's 600M LY away, so in a different galaxy.
https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/b ... at2024tvd/
DrCaleb @ Thu May 15, 2025 4:55 am
For the first time in the US, a rotating detonation rocket engine takes flight
DrCaleb @ Fri May 23, 2025 6:35 am
FAA: Airplanes should stay far away from SpaceX’s next Starship launch
DrCaleb @ Fri May 23, 2025 6:35 am
New data confirms: There really is a planet squeezed in between two stars
DrCaleb @ Tue Jun 03, 2025 5:19 am
Trump pulls Isaacman nomination for [NASA Head]. Source: “NASA is f***ed.”
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