Exciting New Paper Tests a Dark Matter And Black Hole Prediction Made by Hawking

The Universe is too heavy. According to our measurements of the normal matter in the Universe, there’s not nearly enough of it to account for the strength of the gravitational effects we can see.   Whatever is making up the rest of the mass is nothing we can detect directly, and the quest to figure … Read more

Australian wildlife: Newly discovered millipede has a record-breaking 1306 legs

A millipede with 1306 legs has smashed the world record after being discovered 60 metres underground in Australia   Life 16 December 2021 By Alice Klein A 10-centimetre-long female Eumillipes persephone millipede with 1306 legs Paul Marek, Virginia Tech A millipede with over 1300 legs has smashed the world record for the most limbs, … Read more

The Deepest Images Yet of The Galactic Center Reveal a Beautiful Cosmic Dance

In the heart of the Milky Way, stars tread a complex measure. Bound by the gravitational field of the supermassive black hole in the galactic center, Sagittarius A*, a group of stars known as S-stars swoop on wild, years-long orbits. These orbits were recently studied to measure Sgr A*, a result that won the scientists … Read more

We’ve seen our galaxy’s huge black hole more clearly than ever before

Astronomers have observed Sagittarius A* – the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy – closer than ever before, and Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity still holds up Space 14 December 2021 By Leah Crane Stars orbiting very close to Sagittarius A* (centre), the supermassive black hole at the heart of the … Read more

We May Finally Know The Cause of ‘The Cow’, a Freakishly Exciting Space Explosion

The cause of a mysterious cosmic kaboom – so bright it led to the classification of a new type of space explosion – may have now been revealed. According to an analysis of the 2018 event, nicknamed “the Cow” (AT2018cow), it was likely an unusual kind of core-collapse supernova that led to the formation of … Read more

Mysterious Object That Survived a Close Encounter With a Black Hole Is Unmasked

A mysterious cloud that somehow survived a close encounter with a supermassive black hole has now been unmasked. According to a new study of the object, called G2, it’s actually three baby stars, shrouded in a thick cloud of the gas and dust from which they were born. This interpretation offers a very tidy solution … Read more

Black hole jet boasts double helix structure molded by powerful magnetic fields

An extraordinary galactic jet ejected from a supermassive black hole boasts a corkscrew-like helical structure, new ground-based telescope views reveal. The black hole lies at the center of an elliptical galaxy called Messier 87 (M87), which is located roughly 55 million light-years from Earth. The black hole — the first, and only, black hole ever … Read more

The Milky Way’s supermassive black hole burps ‘mini-jets,’ scientists find

 The supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy periodically “burps” a “mini-jet” out into space.  The Milky Way‘s supermassive black hole, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), is over 4 million times more massive than our sun. Its strong gravitational pull draws nearby stars and gas clouds into its accretion disk. … Read more