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Category: cosmology – Page 261

Neutrino detectors are about to get a lot bigger.

One of the most mysterious particles in the universe are neutrinos, with only dark matter out-baffling scientists as a more puzzling phenomenon.

And while there are neutrino detectors in operation hunting for the rarified particles, we might need to resort to the colossal scales of the Pacific Ocean to detect a class of ultra-powerful neutrinos, according to a recent study shared on a preprint server.

And, with a small-scale demo in the works, we may soon see whether this idea will pan out, and transform our grasp of the universe.

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Continue reading “Astronomers Want to Build a Neutrino Telescope. Using the Pacific Ocean?” | >

It’s time to make peace with one of the largest-known stars.

Everything is relative. By that, I mean: Jupiter, when compared to Earth, is large. Yet Jupiter, when compared to the Sun, is small. By virtue, the Sun in comparison with hypergiants is basically microscopic. Our local star actually sits right in the middle, between big and small, by star classification. There are many stars in our galaxy alone that fall on one end of the spectrum or the other. Yet, none has quite captured the imagination exactly like the “nearby” star known as VY Canis Majoris (otherwise known as HD 58,061 or HIP 35793) can.

Located approximately between 3,800 and 5,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Canis Major, VY Canis Majoris is technically classified as a red hypergiant, which means it is among the largest of stars known to exist in our galaxy. How large is it, you might ask? Well, VY Canis Major is estimated to be larger than between 1,800 and 2100 Suns, with between 15 to 25 times more mass. At its peak, it may be even weighed as much as 40 solar masses (one solar mass is equivalent to one of our suns, or 1.989 × 1,030 kg), but astronomers believe the star has moved beyond “main sequence” and is reaching the end of its stellar life span. Therefore, a significant amount of its mass has already been blown away by solar winds.

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VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest stars in the galaxy. Here’s everything you need to know:

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A new discovery could help scientists to understand “strange metals,” a class of materials that are related to high-temperature superconductors and share fundamental quantum attributes with black holes.

Scientists understand quite well how temperature affects electrical conductance in most everyday metals like copper or silver. But in recent years, researchers have turned their attention to a class of materials that do not seem to follow the traditional electrical rules. Understanding these so-called “strange metals” could provide fundamental insights into the quantum world, and potentially help scientists understand strange phenomena like high-temperature superconductivity.

Now, a research team co-led by a Brown University physicist has added a new discovery to the strange metal mix. In research published in the journal Nature, the team found strange metal behavior in a material in which electrical charge is carried not by electrons, but by more “wave-like” entities called Cooper pairs.

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Sagittarius A* keeps flashing randomly on a daily basis. Astronomers mapped 15 years of radiation bursts to try to figure out why.

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A*, keeps releasing random bursts of radiation on a daily basis and no one can figure out what is causing it. Now, an international team of researchers compiled 15 years of data to try and solve the mystery.

The team, led by a postgraduate student named Alexis Andrés, mapped a decade and a half’s worth of gamma-ray bursts from Sagittarius A* using NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.

These bursts ranged from tens to hundreds of times brighter than the normal signals sent out by the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy, but they don’t appear to follow a discernable pattern.

The data from 2006 to 2008 show high levels of gamma-ray activity, followed by a rapid four-year-long drop, after which activity shot back up, starting in 2012.

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Continue reading “Black Hole at Heart of Milky Way Keeps Flashing and No One Knows Why” | >

Supernovae and black holes, although they surprise scientists, are gradually being studied and recorded. Scientists are much more concerned with strange places in the Universe, which are difficult to explain by the laws of physics and nature we know. The Bootes Void is one such place. It is not considered to be emptiness by chance – there is absolutely nothing in it. Astronomers for a long time could not believe their own eyes, because in a colossal area of 300 million light years there was not a single galaxy or star. Solid blackness extends over unimaginable distances. Like anomalien.com on Facebook…

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