Tag: astronomers

Astronomers Discover Potentially Hazardous Asteroid That Could Collide With Earth

Astronomers have discovered three asteroids hiding in the sun’s glare, one of which could potentially collide with Earth in the future. The team of astronomers published the findings on Sept. 29 in The Astronomical Journal in a study titled, “A Deep and Wide Twilight Survey for Asteroids Interior to Earth and Venus.” Astronomers were able to…


Stargazing Essentials

Even a casual gaze up at the heavens can spark the desire to see the stars and planets above in more detail. Unless you’re booked on an upcoming Virgin Galactic spaceflight, this equipment will have to do. On the plus side, you could buy it all for far less than the $450,000 cost of the…


Astronomers Capture 1st Image of Milky Way’s Huge Black Hole

WASHINGTON—The world got a look Thursday at the first wild but fuzzy image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, with astronomers calling it a “gentle giant” on a near-starvation diet. Astronomers believe nearly all galaxies, including our own, have these giant black holes at their center, where…


Astronomers Down Under Spot ‘Spooky’ Ultra-Slow Flashing Light 4,000 Light-Years Away Unlike Anything in Space

Scanning the skies from Down Under, a team of astronomers detected an enigmatic burst of radio energy unlike anything that has been seen before. Thousands of light-years away, a distant object smaller than our sun was observed emitting pulsating radio light, which was not strange itself; what was unique about these intermittent flashes was the…


Astronomers Discover ‘Spooky’ Object in Space That Converts Magnetic Energy to Radio Waves

A team of astronomers mapping radio waves in the universe has discovered something “kind of spooky” spinning around in space that converts magnetic energy to radio waves much more effectively than anything they’ve ever witnessed before. In a press release on Wednesday, researchers at the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) said the strange object…


Second Alien Moon Identified Is Much Like the First: Big and Strange

WASHINGTON—For only the second time, astronomers have detected what appears to be a moon orbiting a planet in another solar system. Just like the first time, this one has traits suggesting that such moons may differ greatly from those populating our solar system. Data obtained by NASA’s Kepler space telescope before it was retired in…


Cosmic Gulp: Astronomers See Black Hole Swallow Neutron Star

Talk about a heavy snack. For the first time, astronomers have witnessed a black hole swallowing a neutron star, the most dense object in the universe—all in a split-second gulp. Ten days later they saw the same thing, on the other side of the universe. In both cases, a neutron star—a teaspoon of which would…


How to Watch the Upcoming ‘Super Flower Blood Moon’ Eclipse

The full moon on Wednesday will be the year’s biggest “supermoon” and feature the first total lunar eclipse in more than two years. During the eclipse, the full moon will pass through the Earth’s shadow. It appears red, known as a “blood moon,” as light is scattered through the Earth’s atmosphere, much like during sunset….