NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory captured an “orphan” black hole lighting up as it devoured a star on the outskirts of a faraway galaxy. These phenomena are rare to begin with, and none had ever before been seen so far outside of a galaxy’s core. “We were looking for these star-shredding events as a way […]
Category: Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Research
NASA’s Roman Telescope Will Spot Distant Black Holes That Shred Stars
Lee esta nota de prensa en español aquí. How do black holes at the center of galaxies form and grow over time? To answer this question, scientists need to detect and study supermassive black holes at great distances, which existed much earlier in the universe’s history. New research suggests NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which […]
NASA Connects Little Red Dots with Chandra, Webb
A newly discovered object may be a key to unlocking the true nature of a mysterious class of sources that astronomers have found in the early universe in recent years. A “X-ray dot” found by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory could explain what the hundreds or potentially thousands of these objects are. A paper describing the […]
NASA Connects Little Red Dots with Chandra, Webb
A newly discovered object may be a key to unlocking the true nature of a mysterious class of sources that astronomers have found in the early universe in recent years. A “X-ray dot” found by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory could explain what the hundreds or potentially thousands of these objects are. A paper describing the […]
- Ames Research Center
- Astrophysics
- Astrophysics Pioneers
- CubeSats
- Exoplanet Science
- Exoplanet Transits
- Exoplanets
- Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Research
- Goddard Space Flight Center
- Infrared Light
- James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Kepler / K2
- SmallSats Program
- Stars
- Studying Exoplanets
- TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)
- The Universe
- Visible / Optical Light
NASA’s Pandora Satellite, CubeSats to Explore Exoplanets, Beyond
A new NASA spacecraft called Pandora is awaiting launch ahead of its journey to study the atmospheres of exoplanets, or worlds beyond our solar system, and their stars. Along for the ride are two shoebox-sized satellites called BlackCAT (Black Hole Coded Aperture Telescope) and SPARCS (Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat), as NASA innovates with ambitious science […]
NASA’s Fermi Spots Young Star Cluster Blowing Gamma-Ray Bubbles
For the first time, astronomers using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have traced a budding outflow of gas from a cluster of young stars in our galaxy — insights that help us understand how the universe has evolved as NASA explores the secrets of the cosmos for the benefit of all. The cluster, called Westerlund […]
NASA’s Chandra Finds Small Galaxies May Buck the Black Hole Trend
Most smaller galaxies may not have supermassive black holes in their centers, according to a recent study using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. This contrasts with the common idea that nearly every galaxy has one of these giant black holes within their cores, as NASA leads the world in exploring how our universe works. A team […]
NASA’s TESS Spacecraft Triples Size of Pleiades Star Cluster
Astronomers have revolutionized our understanding of a collection of stars in the northern sky called the Pleiades. They used data from NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and other observatories as NASA explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all, from the Moon to Mars and beyond. By examining the rotation, chemistry, […]
NASA’s Chandra Finds Black Hole With Tremendous Growth
A black hole is growing at one of the fastest rates ever recorded, according to a team of astronomers. This discovery from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory may help explain how some black holes can reach enormous masses relatively quickly after the big bang. The black hole weighs about a billion times the mass of the […]
NASA’s Chandra Finds Black Hole With Tremendous Growth
A black hole is growing at one of the fastest rates ever recorded, according to a team of astronomers. This discovery from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory may help explain how some black holes can reach enormous masses relatively quickly after the big bang. The black hole weighs about a billion times the mass of the […]