Tag Archives: Astrophysics

Webb Telescope Searches for Exoplanet Atmospheres

Posted on October 4, 2022 by rberkowitz

The recent detection of CO2 around a distant Jupiter-like planet spurs
optimism for detecting atmospheric gases around Earth-like planets
orbiting faraway stars. Continue reading →

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Early JWST targets set the stage for the next decade of observations

Posted on June 8, 2022 by rberkowitz

Data gathered by the telescope in its first five months of science will show what it’s capable of while enabling insight into ancient galaxies, newborn planets, and more. Continue reading →

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High Expectations for Black Hole Simulations

Posted on February 11, 2022 by rberkowitz

Andrew Chael’s simulations identify black hole features that he hopes could be spotted by the next-generation Event Horizon Telescope. Continue reading →

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Galactic Debris as a Dark Matter Identifier

Posted on February 9, 2022 by rberkowitz

Dynamic maps of 12 stellar streams trace paths that are determined by the distribution of mass in the Milky Way. Continue reading →

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Blowin’ in the Galactic Wind

Posted on February 3, 2022 by rberkowitz

Nuclear winds expel cold molecular hydrogen gas from the Galactic Center, providing new clues to how star-forming material circulates through the Galaxy. Continue reading →

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How a simple magnetic field configuration could trigger solar eruptions

Posted on August 4, 2021 by rberkowitz

The reconnection of single-looped field lines in the Sun’s corona can create tension forces strong enough to hurl material into space, according to a new simulation. Continue reading →

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Balding Black Holes Lose Their Magnetic Hair

Posted on July 28, 2021 by rberkowitz

First-principles plasma simulations show that black holes can’t keep their magnetic fields. Read more in APS Physics… Continue reading →

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Polarized light shows hot gas swirling around a galactic core

Posted on June 1, 2021 by rberkowitz

The images of galaxy Messier 87 provide evidence of magnetic field lines in its innermost region. Those lines likely trace the event horizon of a supermassive black hole. Continue reading →

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Do Merging Dwarf Galaxies Explain a Peculiar Gravitational-Wave Detection?

Posted on May 11, 2021 by rberkowitz

The hard-to-explain masses of two coalescing black holes could be accounted for if they were the central black holes in two distant, tiny galaxies that merged. Continue reading →

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Counting All the Antistars in the Sky

Posted on April 22, 2021 by rberkowitz

Analyzing gamma-ray sources leads to an upper limit on how many antimatter stars could exist in the Milky Way. Read more in APS Physics…

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