Latest news with #supernova
Forbes
9 hours ago
- Science
- Forbes
See The First Jaw-Dropping Space Photos From Humanity's Biggest-Ever Camera
In a moment long-awaited by astronomers, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in the Chilean Andes has today published its first images and time-lapse videos. A combination of a unique telescope and the largest digital camera ever built for astronomy, Rubin will begin a 10-year mission later this year, during which it's expected to discover 10 million supernovas, 20 billion galaxies, and millions of asteroids and comets. Its debut images are being shown live on YouTube today at 11:00 a.m. EDT . This image combines 678 separate images taken by NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in just over ... More seven hours of observing time. Combining many images in this way clearly reveals otherwise faint or invisible details, such as the clouds of gas and dust that comprise the Trifid nebula (top right) and the Lagoon nebula, which are several thousand light-years away from Earth. NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Its 'first light' collection includes images that showcase its enormous field of view, the dense background of galaxies when zoomed in, and time-lapse videos. They include an image of the Triffid nebula and the the Lagoon nebula that combines 678 separate images in just over seven hours of observing time, as well as panoramas of the Virgo cluster. Later in 2025, the Rubin Observatory will begin the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), which is expected to detect 90% of all potentially hazardous asteroids over 140 meters wide, as well as rogue planets, interstellar comets, and supernovae — exploding stars. Its 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope's unique three-mirror design gives it a field of view equivalent to seven full moons. Its unmatched étendue — a measure of optical throughput — allows it to collect more wide-field light than any other telescope on Earth. Using a rapid 39-second imaging cycle, its unique camera will produce around 800 images per night and scan the entire southern sky every three to four nights, allowing scientists to track phenomena as they occur over months, days, or even seconds. It will create an evolving, decade-long time-lapse of the cosmos in what is known as time-domain astronomy. At about 20 terabytes every night, the amount of data gathered by Rubin Observatory in just the first year of the LSST will be greater than that collected by all other observatories combined. The facility, named after Vera C. Rubin — the astronomer who confirmed the existence of dark matter in galaxies — aims to continue her legacy by mapping dark matter and probing dark energy. It will also supernova, help model how stars die and study the accelerating expansion of the universe. This image shows another small section of NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory's total view of the ... More Virgo cluster. Visible are two prominent spiral galaxies (lower right), three merging galaxies (upper right), several groups of distant galaxies, many stars in the Milky Way galaxy and more. NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Funded by the US Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, Rubin will observe from Cerro Pachón, an 8,900-foot (2,700-meter-high) mountain peak accessed from the Elqui Valley near La Serena, Chile, in the foothills of the Andes and in the southern Atacama Desert — one of the driest places on Earth, with the clearest sky. It's far from light pollution and major flight paths. The Southern Hemisphere also offers a clearer view of the Milky Way's center, which is dense with star fields and nebulae, as well as of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way. This image shows a small section of NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory's total view of the Virgo ... More cluster. Bright stars in the Milky Way galaxy shine in the foreground, and many distant galaxies are in the background. NSF-DOE Rubin Virgo cluster 1 Its $168 million LSSTCam imager is about the size of a car, weighs over three tons and captures 3,200-megapixel images — each large enough to fill 378 4K screens. Developed over more than a decade, its suite of six optical filters enables astronomers to peer across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from ultraviolet to near-infrared. It has a 9.6 square-degree field of view. The telescope inside the dome of the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/H. Stockebrand 'a Taste Of Rubin's Discovery Power' 'Since we take images of the night sky so quickly and so often, we'll detect millions of changing objects literally every night,' said Professor Aaron Roodman, program lead for the LSST Camera at Rubin Observatory and Deputy Director for Rubin construction, in a press briefing. 'We will also combine those images to be able to see incredibly dim galaxies and stars, including galaxies that are billions of light years away. The first images provide just a taste of Rubin's discovery power.' Staff in the control room of the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory celebrate the "first photon" from ... More the sky captured by the Legacy Survey of Space and Time Camera in April 2025. NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/W. O'Mullane It's built for the era of big data and automation, with fiber optics from Cerro Pachón to La Serena enabling Rubin's images to be relayed to supercomputers in California within seconds, where AI-driven systems will compare them with previous captures. If an object's position or brightness has changed, an alert will be issued to the global scientific community within just two minutes. During its 10-year mission, Rubin will generate up to 10 million alerts per night, identifying cosmic events faster than any telescope before. A view of NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory beneath the Milky Way galaxy. NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/H. Stockebrand Beyond 'snapshots' Of The Sky 'What astronomy has given us mostly so far are just snapshots, but the sky and the world aren't static — there are asteroids zipping by and supernovas exploding,' said Dr. Yusra AlSayyad, who oversees image processing at Rubin Observatory, in a press briefing. 'One of the reasons we haven't been able to convert the snapshots of the sky that we've had so far into time-lapse video is that the data management technology technologies simply did not exist 20 years ago to store transfer process and interpret the petabytes of data that this would require.' New cutting-edge automated algorithms will be used to analyze and mine the LSST data set, enabling the expected scientific discoveries. The telescope inside the closed dome of the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Why Supernovas Matter Among the Rubin Observatory's many targets, supernovas are perhaps the most scientifically tantalizing. These powerful stellar explosions serve as cosmic lighthouses, helping astronomers measure vast cosmic distances and understand the accelerating expansion of the universe. Supernova data first revealed the presence of dark energy in the 1990s. Rubin is set to take that discovery to the next level. By detecting millions of supernovas — far beyond the handful historically observed in our galaxy — the LSST will refine the timeline of cosmic expansion and offer vital clues to the nature of dark energy. Further Reading Forbes Asteroid Larger Than Golden Gate Bridge Approaches Earth In Rare Event By Jamie Carter Forbes When To See June's 'Strawberry Moon,' The Lowest Full Moon Since 2006 By Jamie Carter Forbes In Photos: Strawberry Moon Skims Horizon In Once-In-A-Generation Event By Jamie Carter
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Supernova may have caused an ice age: Study
(NewsNation) — A supernova could have triggered one of the Earth's ice ages, something that could happen again in the future. A new study revealed the timing of the Vela supernova aligned with a period known as the Younger Dryas, when global temperatures dropped and ice sheets began advancing. Scientists believe the exploding star bombarded the planet with radiation that severely damaged the ozone layer based on tree ring records showing a spike in radioactive carbon-14, which indicates atmospheric radiation increased. Bobcat Fever: Deadly disease that kills cats in the Midwest Ice cores also revealed a decrease in methane concentrations, and archaeological sites across North America have 'black mat' deposit,s and fossil records show the extinction of mammals, including the mammoth and saber-toothed cats. Without protection from the ozone layer, harmful ultraviolet radiation would reach the surface of the Earth, triggering massive wildfires and causing DNA damage to plants and animals. The study also found several other potential connections between supernova incidents and changes in the Earth's climate. Toxic-exposed veterans: Bill calls for more research on health issues among families Other scientists are skeptical about the results, pointing out alternative explanations, including ocean circulation disruptions from freshwater floods, solar storms spiking carbon-14 and mammal extinctions due to asteroid impacts or human hunting. If supernovas are the cause, it could be something the Earth faces again. Several nearby stars could become future supernovas, including a red giant called Betelgeuse that may explode within the next million years. A supernova might not necessarily cause a mass extinction, but it could still have impacts on the planet's atmosphere and climate. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The Universe's Most Powerful Cosmic Rays May Finally Be Explained
Somewhere in our galaxy are engines capable of driving atomic fragments to velocities that come within a whisker of lightspeed. The explosive deaths of stars seems like a natural place to search for sources of these highly energetic cosmic bullets, yet when it comes to the most powerful particles, researchers have had their doubts. Numerical simulations by a small international team of physicists may yet save the supernova theory of cosmic ray emissions at the highest of energies, suggesting there is a brief period where a collapsing star could still become the Universe's most extreme accelerator. For more than a century, scientists have scanned the skies for phenomena that may be responsible for the relatively constant showers of atomic nuclei and occasional electrons that pepper our planet. Simply following their trajectory would be like picking up a bottle on the beach and looking to the horizon for its home. The charges of most cosmic rays put them at the mercy of a turbulent ocean of magnetic fields across the galaxy and beyond, leaving researchers to search for other clues. A mere few thousand light years away in our galactic backyard, the historic supernova known as Tycho's star has been studied for signs of physics capable of accelerating charged particles. In 1572, astronomers marveled at the star's sudden brightening, now understood to be the final hoorah of a white dwarf ending its life in a thermonuclear catastrophe. As its core collapsed under its own weight, the burst of heat and radiation slammed into the shell of surrounding gases, generating immense magnetic fields. In 2023 researchers published their analysis on those fields, finding their ability to generate cosmic rays was "significantly smaller" than those expected of existing models. While this doesn't rule out collapsing stars as potential particle accelerators, it does raise questions on just how much power they can provide. Every now and then, Earth is struck by some true monsters – particles that are up to a thousand times more powerful than anything our own technology has been capable of generating. These peta-electronvolt (PeV) energies are the work of hypothetical cosmic engines dubbed PeVatrons. According to astrophysicists Robert Brose from the University of Potsdam in Germany, Iurii Sushch from the Spanish Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research, and Jonathan Mackey from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, dying stars just might be the mysterious PeVatrons scientists have been searching for. For it to work, the dying star first needs to cough up enough material to form a dense shell around itself. Then, at the moment of supernova the rapidly expanding shock wave smashes into this dense environment, generating the necessary magnetic turbulence to whip nuclei and electrons towards PeV-levels of acceleration. The critical element, they claim, is timing – only within its first decade or two is the surrounding shell dense enough to provide the amount of turbulence required for particles to reach the highest of energies. "It is possible that only very young supernova remnants evolving in dense environments may satisfy the necessary conditions to accelerate particles to PeV energies," the team writes. Had Tycho's star held its breath for just another few centuries, astrophysicists may have recorded a shower of cosmic rays at the highest of magnitudes. Perhaps in the near future, the violent end of another nearby star just might give us the opportunity they need to solve the perplexing mystery of PeVatrons once and for all. This research has been accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. China's Tianwen-2 Launches to Grab First 'Living Fossil' Asteroid Samples Scientists Have Clear Evidence of Martian Atmosphere 'Sputtering' Chance X-Ray Discovery Reveals Mystery Object 15,000 Light Years Away
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Mysteriously Perfect Sphere Spotted in Space by Astronomers
Our Milky Way galaxy is home to some extremely weird things, but a new discovery has astronomers truly baffled. In data collected by a powerful radio telescope, astronomers have found what appears to be a perfectly spherical bubble. We know more or less what it is – it's the ball of expanding material ejected by an exploding star, a supernova remnant – but how it came to be is more of a puzzle. A large international team led by astrophysicist Miroslav Filipović of Western Sydney University in Australia has named the object Teleios, after the ancient Greek for "perfection". After an exhaustive review of the possibilities, the researchers conclude that we're going to need more information to understand how this object formed. Their analysis has been submitted to the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, and is available on preprint server arXiv. The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) has been uncovering a trove of peculiar circles of various kinds in the sky as part of its Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey. Some of them at intergalactic distances have been a little difficult to figure out, like the famous Odd Radio Circles (ORCS). Teleios, located within the Milky Way, has a different origin story than the ORCS found across the deep cosmos, but even though it is closer and therefore smaller, an inability to narrow down exactly how far away it is has proven a significant barrier to understanding its origin. Filipović and his colleagues conducted a thorough analysis of the object, and found that it glows faintly only in radio wavelengths. The wavelength of its glow revealed it most likely to be the remnant of a Type Ia supernova – one of the brightest types of supernova in the Universe. These supernovae occur when a white dwarf in a close binary orbit with a companion star slurps up so much material from said companion that it exceeds its mass limit and explodes. So far, so straightforward. But working out distances to things in space is surprisingly quite difficult. The researchers were able to work out estimates for the distance to Teleios, but couldn't narrow it down beyond two options – around 7,175 light-years, and around 25,114 light-years. As you can imagine, both of these distances would mean different things for the evolutionary history of Teleios. Because things look smaller the farther away they are, the two distances would yield vastly different sizes for the bubble. At the nearer distance, the supernova remnant would be 46 light-years across. At the greater distance, it would be 157 light-years across. A supernova remnant often consists of an expanding cloud of material – so each of these sizes suggests a different age for the remnant. The closer distance suggests a younger supernova remnant that has had less time to grow, less than 1,000 years. At the greater distance, it would have to be more than 10,000 years old. The problem with both of these scenarios is that evolutionary models of Type Ia supernovae predict there should also be X-rays. The lack of X-rays is a bit of a head-scratcher. Another possibility is that Teleios is the remnant of a Type Iax supernova, a kind of Type Ia supernova that doesn't destroy the white dwarf entirely, but leaves behind a 'zombie' star remnant. This neatly fits Teleios's emission properties, but it would need to be a lot closer, around 3,262 light-years away. This scenario would mean Teleios is a bit smaller, about 11 light-years across. There's even a star at that distance that could be a candidate for the zombie star… but none of the other independent measurements of the distance to Teleios find that it could be that close. All these other issues make the unusual issue of the remnant's near-perfect symmetry fade into the background a little. Supernova remnants are almost always asymmetrical in some way. The explosion itself may be asymmetrical; the expanding material may push into interstellar gas or dust that was already hanging out nearby; and eventually, the shell will expand enough to start to fragment. However, if the supernova is symmetrical and takes place in an empty enough region of space, it can expand symmetrically. It just hasn't yet reached the point of fragmentation. It's a rare sight, but not an impossible one. That makes Teleios pretty nifty, really. We're just going to need to look at it a bit more to work out its story. "We have made an exhaustive exploration of the possible evolutionary state of the supernova based on its surface brightness, apparent size and possible distances," the researchers write. "All possible scenarios have their challenges, especially considering the lack of X-ray emission that is expected to be detectable given our evolutionary modelling. While we deem the Type Ia scenario the most likely, we note that no direct evidence is available to definitively confirm any scenario and new sensitive and high-resolution observations of this object are needed." Their paper can be read on arXiv. The Most Violent Solar Storm Ever Detected Hit Earth in 12350 BCE Dark Matter Could Be Evolving, And The Implications Are Profound Kosmos 482's Final Descent Captured in One Haunting Image
