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Archive for the ‘cosmology’ category: Page 109

Jul 6, 2023

Time appeared to move 5 times more slowly in 1st billion years after Big Bang, quasar ‘clocks’ reveal

Posted by in category: cosmology

Lewis and Brendon Brewer of the University of Auckland are co-authors on a new paper describing the long-sought after confirmation of time dilation effects in the variability of quasars. A quasar is powered by an accreting supermassive black hole at the heart of an extremely active galaxy. Because the accretion disk around the black hole is relatively small, fluctuations in the light emitted by the quasar can take place in just days. This makes them easier to track.

However, in the time since the light, and its fluctuations, was emitted from the 12 billion-year-old quasars, the universe has expanded greatly. This means that we are seeing the quasars as they existed over 12 billion years ago.

“We expected quasars to also exhibit this behavior, but previous searches had failed to find it,” said Lewis.

Jul 5, 2023

Long-sought hum of gravitational waves from giant black holes heard for first time

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

Subtle shifts in stellar signals reveal pervasive waves from mergers of giant black holes.

Jul 5, 2023

A 20-year study of 190 supermassive black holes has shown that time flowed five times slower at the dawn of the Universe than it does now

Posted by in categories: cosmology, robotics/AI

Researchers from the University of Tokyo pool knowledge of robotics and tissue culturing to create a controllable robotic finger covered with living skin tissue. The robotic digit has living cells and supporting organic material grown on top of it for ideal shaping and strength. As the skin is soft and can even heal itself, the finger could be useful in applications that require a gentle touch but also robustness. The team aims to add other kinds of cells into future iterations, giving devices the ability to sense as we do.


Albert Einstein proved decades ago that time and space are inseparable. However, because of the expansion of the Universe, events that occurred after the Big Bang now appear to have slowed down. As it turned out, time flowed many times slower at the dawn of the Universe than it does today.

Continue reading “A 20-year study of 190 supermassive black holes has shown that time flowed five times slower at the dawn of the Universe than it does now” »

Jul 4, 2023

Astronomers witness energetic switch on of black hole

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

A team of astronomers led by researchers from the University of Birmingham, University College London and Queen’s University Belfast have discovered one of the most dramatic ‘switches on’ of a black hole ever seen. They will present their findings on Tuesday 4 July at the 2023 National Astronomy Meeting in Cardiff. The work will also be published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

J221951-484240, known as J221951, is one of the most luminous transients—astrophysical objects that change their brightness over a short period of time—ever recorded. It was discovered by Dr. Samantha Oates, an astronomer at the University of Birmingham, and her team, in September 2019 while searching for the electromagnetic light from a gravitational wave event. The team were using the Ultra-Violet and Optical Telescope on board the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to look for a kilonova, the sign of a neutron star merging with another neutron star or a black hole. A kilonova typically appears blue, then fades and turns more red in color over a timescale of days. What they found instead something even more unusual: J221951. The transient appeared blue, but didn’t change color or fade rapidly as a kilonova would.

Multiple telescopes were used to follow-up J221951 and determine its nature, including NASA’s Swift/UVOT and Hubble Space Telescope, the South African Large Telescope, and ESO facilities such as the Very Large Telescope and the GROND instrument on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory.

Jul 3, 2023

Quasar ‘clocks’ show the universe was five times slower soon after the Big Bang

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

Scientists have for the first time observed the early universe running in extreme slow motion, unlocking one of the mysteries of Einstein’s expanding universe. The research is published in Nature Astronomy.

Einstein’s general theory of relativity means that we should observe the distant—and hence ancient— running much slower than the present day. However, peering back that far in time has proven elusive. Scientists have now cracked that mystery by using as “clocks.”

Continue reading “Quasar ‘clocks’ show the universe was five times slower soon after the Big Bang” »

Jul 2, 2023

Astronomers identify 19 new Wolf-Rayet stars in Andromeda Galaxy

Posted by in categories: cosmology, evolution

Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are not only hot, bright, and massive. They are also in an advanced stage of evolution, losing mass at an incredible rate.

While surveying the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, astronomers discovered a new batch of Wolf-Rayet stars.

Some huge stars in galaxies may develop into Wolf-Rayet stars before going supernova. That’s why, Wolf-Rayet stars are intriguing candidates for studying the universe’s evolution.

Jul 2, 2023

Euclid successfully launched into space by Falcon 9 rocket

Posted by in categories: cosmology, space travel

In three months, the tool will begin a six year exploration of dark energy and dark matter.

Dark energy and dark matter discovery tool Euclid successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA, at 11:11 local time / 16:11 BST / 17:11 CEST on Saturday 1 July 2023. The first stage proceeded to return to Earth to be recaptured and reused at later flights.

Continue reading “Euclid successfully launched into space by Falcon 9 rocket” »

Jul 1, 2023

Europe Is About to Launch The First Mission to Discover The Dark Side of The Universe

Posted by in category: cosmology

Europe’s Euclid space telescope is scheduled to blast off Saturday on the first-ever mission aiming to shed light on two of the Universe’s greatest mysteries: dark energy and dark matter.

Jul 1, 2023

An experiment that reaches across the galaxy has ‘heard’ an invisible sea of ripples in space-time for the first time. It’s surprisingly loud

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

This thrum of gravitational waves is constantly pulsing through the universe. It opens a window into the earliest moments after the Big Bang.

Jul 1, 2023

Scientists find evidence of gravitational waves warping space-time throughout the cosmos

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

Albert Einstein proposed in 1916 that the universe was constantly being pushed and stretched by space-time waves undulating throughout the universe. A group of scientists won the Nobel Prize for finding proof of these waves in 2016, using a laser interferometer to detect a high-frequency gravitational wave emanating from the collision of two black holes or neutron stars less than 100 times the mass of the sun.