Tag Archives: Astrophysics

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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A galactic fast radio burst finally reveals its origin

Posted on January 1, 2021 by rberkowitz

Observations at multiple wavelengths provide compelling evidence that the first example of a fast radio burst detected in our galaxy came from a magnetized neutron star. Continue reading →

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A fast radio burst finally reveals its origins

Posted on December 8, 2020 by rberkowitz

Observations at multiple wavelengths provide compelling evidence that the first burst detected in our galaxy came from a magnetized neutron star. Continue reading →

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Nobel Prize in Physics honors the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the heart of the Milky Way

Posted on December 1, 2020 by rberkowitz

By tracking the orbits of stars close to the galactic center, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez ruled out all possibilities besides a black hole. Continue reading →

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Ion Recoil from Photon Beam Observed

Posted on June 22, 2020 by rberkowitz

Experiments confirm that photonionized molecules get a backward kick, as predicted by theory.  Continue reading →

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Three Helium-Ammonia Compounds Found for Icy Planets

Posted on April 10, 2020 by rberkowitz

Stable compounds made from helium and ammonia are predicted to form at the extreme pressures found inside Neptune and Uranus.  Continue reading →

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