Latest news with #TonyRodriguez
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Missing link star? Why this 'teenage vampire' white dwarf has scientists so excited
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Astronomers have discovered the "missing link" connecting the death of sunlike stars to the birth of white dwarf stellar remnants, in the form of a "teenage vampire" white dwarf. This vampire isn't interested in the blood that runs through your veins, though. The white dwarf in question, designated Gaia22ayj and located around 8,150 light-years from Earth, is ravenously feeding on stellar plasma from a companion star. The team that made this discovery observed the white dwarf using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at the Palomar Observatory in California. The researchers scanned the night sky over the Northern Hemisphere, hunting "transients" — astronomical bodies undergoing rapid change. Gaia22ayj originally attracted the attention of astronomers with its rapidly pulsing signal, which led to it being classified as a detached double white dwarf binary — two white dwarf stars orbiting each other. However, this theory didn't quite match further observations of Gaia22ayj, which revealed it to be one of the most extreme pulsating objects ever seen, increasing in brightness by 700% over just a 2-minute span. That's because Gaia22ayj is actually a white dwarf feeding on a companion star, with this binary in a rare and short-lived phase of its life (or should that be death). Stars die after they use up the fuel needed for nuclear fusion. What kind of death, and afterlife, they experience depends on their mass. Stars with masses above eight times that of the sun die in violent supernova explosions and then become either highly dense neutron stars or black holes. Stars with masses closer to that of the sun don't "go nova," instead undergoing more muted transformations into white dwarfs. Our own sun will experience this latter transformation in around six billion years after shedding most of its mass during a swollen red giant phase, eventually sputtering out as a smoldering stellar ember. However, around half of all stars with masses similar to that of the sun have a binary companion star. And, if their companion stars get too close, white dwarfs can get a second burst of life by stripping them of stellar material. That vampiric mass transfer process is exactly what seems to be happening between the white dwarf of Gaia22ayj and its companion star. Gaia22ayj initially confused astronomers. The way that its light intensity varied over time — its light curve— made no sense for a detached double white dwarf binary. This led Tony Rodriguez, a graduate student in the California Institute of Technology's ZTF Stellar Group, to question why the light curve would take the shape it did. Gathering more data, Rodriguez and colleagues realized that Gaia22ayj is likely a white dwarf orbited by a "normal" low-mass star, not a second white dwarf. And they further determined that Gaia22ayj is highly magnetic, with its white dwarf component spinning at a rapid rate. This reminded them of a white dwarf pulsar, a highly magnetic dead star that sweeps electromagnetic radiation across the universe as it spins, like a cosmic lighthouse. However, the vampiric feeding process found in Gaia22ayj isn't something usually associated with white dwarf pulsars. The team eventually concluded that Gaia22ayj is a missing link in the life cycle of white dwarf pulsars, a rare and short-lived early phase of these objects. "We have already seen two infant systems, white dwarf stars in a binary system whose rapid spin builds up a strong magnetic field. And we had seen lots of adult star systems where the white dwarf star was spinning very slowly," Rodriguez said in a statement. "But this was the first star we've seen that is right in the middle of its 'teenage' phase, when it has already established a strong magnetic field and is just beginning to funnel matter from the companion star onto itself," he added. "We have never before caught a system in the act of spinning so rapidly but also slowing down dramatically, all while gaining mass from its companion." This discovery is even more exciting because this phase lasts for just around 40 million years. That might sound like an incredibly long period of time, but it's relatively short when considering that stars like the sun live for around 10 billion years before they even transform into white dwarfs. Thus, this "teenage phase" accounts for just 0.4% of a star's lifetime. For context, if the star were an average human, this teenage phase would last just around 107 days. Hardly enough time to paint your bedroom black. Related Stories: — Puffy white dwarfs could shed light on mysterious dark matter. Here's how. — White dwarfs are 'heavy metal' zombie stars endlessly cannibalizing their dead planetary systems — 'Daredevil' white dwarf star could be closest-known object to a weird black hole "The data taken at the W. M. Keck Observatory provided firm evidence that this system had a strong magnetic field and was funneling matter onto the white dwarf," Rodriguez said. "Additional data from the unique instruments available at Palomar Observatory showed that this system is, remarkably, slowing down." The team's research was published in February in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
Time of India
28-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Asian shares track Wall Street gains, bonds steady
Asian shares gained at the open, tracking the biggest rally on Wall Street in more than two weeks, as sentiment was boosted by a rebound in US consumer confidence and a global surge in bonds. A regional stock gauge rose 0.4% led by shares in Japan, which jumped more than 1%. Yields on the 30-year Treasury were steady after posting their biggest one-day slide since late March, on signs that Japan may adjust debt sales following a market rout. The dollar edged down, while the yen strengthened. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play War Thunder now for free War Thunder Play Now Undo Investors are awaiting Nvidia Corp. earnings and a key 40-year government bond auction in Japan Wednesday to see if the momentum can be sustained. Tuesday's rebound broke a 'Sell America' trend in the markets that was most visible in the dollar after President Donald Trump unleashed his tariff war and pushed for tax cuts, which raised concerns about US fiscal deficit. 'There is a little bit more optimism. It's certainly a calmer market,' Tony Rodriguez, Nuveen's head of fixed income strategy, said on Bloomberg TV. Still, 'we're settling into a range that feels very tenuous because there's so much uncertainty.' Browbeaten long-bond investors got some relief on Tuesday as a global debt rally sent benchmark yields tumbling. Solid demand for a $69 billion sale of two-year Treasuries added to the advance in the US. Live Events Concerns on the ability of governments to cover massive budget deficits weighed on developed-market debt in recent days, pushing long-dated US yields toward levels last seen in 2007. In Japan, investors will be focused on the key bond sale on Wednesday. The Ministry of Finance's debt sale is coming at a time when long-term borrowing costs have also surged in other major economies, including the US. Japan's yields, particularly in the super-long sector, have been on the rise as the Bank of Japan scales back its bond purchases, while life insurers are failing to fill in that gap. In Asian company earnings, Xiaomi Corp. reported better-than-expected revenue in the March quarter as it moves to aggressively expand its presence in China's EV market and grow its core smartphone business. Shares of Temu owner PDD Holdings Inc. plunged in US trading after its quarterly sales and profit missed estimates, underscoring how trade tensions between Beijing and Washington are taking a toll on its business. Meanwhile, US consumer confidence rebounded sharply in May from a near five-year low as the outlook for the economy and labor market improved amid a truce on tariffs. Despite widespread apprehension among consumers and companies alike, the economy at large and the job market in particular have held up fairly well. Tariffs will probably take months to make their way through the economy, forecasters say, and consumers have so far been shielded from the brunt of the impact by retailers absorbing much of the higher costs. 'The book is far from closed on tariffs, as we saw over the past few days with the threat of 50% tariffs for the EU, but financial markets seem ready to move past it, and these numbers suggest that households may be moving in that direction as well,' Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Santander US Capital Markets, said in a note. Elsewhere, the US government is poised to receive a so-called golden share in United States Steel Corp. as a condition for approving Nippon Steel Corp.'s proposed acquisition of the American company, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg
27-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
S&P 500 Climbs 2% on Economic and Trade Optimism
Bloomberg Television brings you the latest news and analysis leading up to the final minutes and seconds before and after the closing bell on Wall Street. Today's guests are Tony Rodriguez, Nuveen, Kai Haakon E. Liekefett, Sidley Austin LLP, Timna Tanners, Wolfe Research, Chad Tredway, JPMorgan Asset Management, Thomas Buckley, Bloomberg News, Holly MacDonald, Bessemer Trust, Ed Mills, Raymond James, Akayla Gardner, Bloomberg News, Sarah Green Carmichael, Bloomberg Opinion, Dana Telsey, Tesley Advisory Group, Doug Clinton, Intelligent Alpha, Jason Kelly, Bloomberg News. (Source: Bloomberg)
Bloomberg
16-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Sentiment Data Keeps Fed Alert: PGIM's Tipp
PGIM Fixed Income Chief Investment Strategist and Head of Global Bonds Robert Tipp says the University of Michigan sentiment survey data shows good numbers. Nuveen Head of Fixed Income Strategy Tony Rodriguez sees some modest pressure lower in yields next 6 to 18 months. They speak with Dani Burger on "Real Yield." (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
More on the volunteer group that led to local man's child enticement charges
FAIRPORT, N.Y. (WROC) — While this case allegedly started on the app Roblox, it came to a head earlier this year at the Fairport Public Library. Fairport Police Chief Matthew Barnes says a group out of Texas convinced Tony Rodriguez, 40, of Fairport, that he was talking with an 11-year-old girl and asked him to meet up at the library. Fairport man accused of using Roblox to contact minors for sex Barnes says the group did the right thing and alerted local police to the situation allowing them and the FBI to conduct their own investigation, which led to the federal child enticement charges Rodriguez is now facing. Some groups, Barnes says, get physical with the accused, which isn't just illegal, but can also muddy the legal process. 'So if people are trying to take action because sometimes law enforcement maybe, I'm not going to say handcuffed, but behind due to several issues, I can't say it's wrong, but as long as they would coordinate with police and try to work hand in hand with them especially when they come from out of state, in our case they came from out of state,' Barnes said. As it happens, that Texas group came in first, then a few weeks later Barnes says another group – this one out of Pennsylvania – pointed the finger at the same man, Tony Rodriguez, and accused him of basically the same thing only this interaction, the said, was on Facebook. Barnes says kids are targeted are all the time these days, so parents need to monitor their kid's online activity. 'Get involved in your kids' lives, have a relationship with your kids, this is nothing new, I shouldn't be preaching anything new about what to do with kids, and if this is new to you then shame on you as a parent,' Barnes said. 'You make room for other things in life, you brought a kid into this world, make time for them. It's sickening how widespread this is, it really is.' To learn about parental controls in Roblox, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to RochesterFirst.
