Monthly Archives: May 2021

In the last few years, astronomers have spotted a handful of gigantic and almost perfectly circular radio objects out in the distant universe. Though no one has an explanation for these mysterious entities yet, a team has recently added another one to their catalog, potentially moving them closer to solving this head-scratcher.

The enigma began shortly after the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathnder (ASKAP), a bank of 36 colossal dishes in Western Australia that scans the heavens in the radio part of the electromagnetic spectrum, began producing maps of the entire night sky in 2019.

ASKAP scientists were mainly looking for bright sources that could indicate the presence of black holes or huge galaxies glowing in radio waves. But some in the team are always on the hunt "for whatever is weird, whatever is new, and whatever looks like nothing else," Brbel Koribalski, a galactic astronomer at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Western Sydney University in Australia, told Live Science.

Related: The 12 strangest objects in the universe

In the data, group member Anna D. Kapiska of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico, spotted four bright radio circles, Koribalski recalled, though initially the rest of the researchers dismissed them as a more familiar phenomenon.

But when telescopes tried to look at the objects in other wavelengths, such as the optical light our eyes use to see, they turned up empty, leading the team to dub them odd radio circles (ORCs).

Even stranger, each of the ORCs had a galaxy perched almost exactly in its center, like a bullseye. The astronomers were able to determine that the entities were each several billion light-years away and potentially as big as a few million light-years in diameter.

No one had seen anything like these before, and in a paper published last year, the team offered 11 potential explanations as to what they could be, including imaging glitches, warps in space-time known as Einstein rings, or a new type of remnant from a supernova explosion.

The researchers have since scanned the skies again with ASKAP and found one more ORC to add to their collection, an entity about 1 million light-years across located about 3 billion light-years away. They posted their findings on April 27 to the preprint database arXiv, and they have been accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The team has now narrowed their ideas down to three potential explanations, Koribalski said. The first is that perhaps there are additional galaxies forming a cluster near the object and bending bright material into a ring-like structure. These might simply be too faint to be picked up by current telescopes.

Another possibility is that the central supermassive black hole of these galaxies is consuming gas and dust, producing humongous, cone-shape jets of particles and energy. Astronomers have often spotted such phenomena in the universe, though generally the jets align in such a way with Earth that observatories see them as moving out of the sides of the galaxy.

Perhaps in the case of the ORCs, the jets are simply pointing directly towards our planet, Koribalski suggested, so that we are in essence looking down the barrel of a long tube, creating a circular, two-dimensional image around a central galaxy.

"The other explanation is more exciting," she said. "This could be something completely new."

It's possible that some unknown but highly energetic event took place in the middle of these galaxies, creating a blast wave that traveled out as a sphere and resulted in a ring structure. Koribalski isn't yet sure what type of event could leave such a signature, though perhaps it's a previously unknown product of crashing black holes such as the kind seen in gravitational waves at the Large Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States.

But Harish Vedantham, an astronomer at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy who was not associated with the work, favors the simpler idea that the ORCs are a manifestation of a well-known phenomenon, and are bright jets shooting from a galaxy at a rarely seen angle.

Vedantham is guided in this by the principle of Occam's razor, which prefers mundane explanations over strange, new ones. "You can construct an exotic scenario," he told Live Science. "But the simplest answer is almost always correct."

In a similar vein, the possibility that an ORC is an invisible galactic cluster isn't appealing to him because "it's kind of hard to hide a cluster," he said. The objects are far away, but they are not that far, so at least a few additional galaxies should be noticeable, he added.

Both Vedantham and Koribalski agree that more telescope observations in other wavelengths should help scientists get a better idea of what's going on. New data will be forthcoming in the next six months or so, hopefully adding additional ORCs to their catalog, Koribalski said.

In the meantime, she is somewhat enjoying the mystery. "You become a detective. You look at all the clues and weigh them up against each other," she said. "Sometimes the universe just comes up with weird and wonderful shapes."

Originally published on Live Science.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to note that the new research has been accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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Astronomers keep finding mysterious circular rings in the sky and don't know how to explain them - Livescience.com

Newswise Three projects from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) are featured in the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded 2021 STEM for All Video Showcase running from May 11 to May 18, 2021.

NRAOs three featured projects include a Chile-based STEM role models program called PROVOCA, a case study of the National Astronomy Consortiums (NAC) pivot to a virtual environment in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a presentation and outreach development assistance program called On-the-Spot Feedback.

PROVOCA inspires young girls in Chile to pursue careers in STEM fields by showing them that STEM careers are both rewarding and within reach. The initiative launched in 2019 with a communications campaign focused on highlighting female role models in STEM careers and has evolved to include workshops and trainings. Role models are important for girls and young university students interested in pursuing STEM careers, but lasting impact comes from continuous support and involvement, said Paulina Bocaz, NRAO Assistant Director for Chile. STEM for All is a unique opportunity to share the initiative, get feedback, and learn from other projects and peers. Now the next step for PROVOCA is a mentoring program. Watch the PROVOCA video in the STEM for All Showcase.

Virtual NAC follows the National Astronomy Consortiums strong pivot from an in-person summer research program to a virtual environment in order to continue providing support and opportunities for students overlooked by the traditional academic pipeline. Angelina Gallego, STEM for All project co-presenter and NAC graduate student said, Its important for everyone to have equal access to STEM no matter where they are or who they are. Many are able to work from home, do research, and meet with advisors with the help of technology. Doing this helps strengthen the careers of young scientists. In 2020, the program was developed and delivered by NAC program undergraduate and graduate alums. Alia Wofford, project narrator and NAC graduate student said, There isnt the hands-on or physical instruction that we are normally used to, so we had to become more resilient and inquisitive to continue our work. STEM for All gave us the opportunity to showcase how students are adapting and coming up with unique ways to learn and share their experiences. Watch the Virtual NAC video in the STEM for All Showcase.

On-the-Spot Feedback supports research scientists in developing more engaging presentations about their work. On-the-Spot Feedback has developed a great strategy for training scientists to think differently about their outreach presentations. It starts with clear goal setting for the outreach. Then, structuring the presentation to have deeper engagement with the audience using the tactics developed to get feedback from their audience and to adjust in a responsive way to the feedback they receive, said Suzanne Gurton, NRAO Assistant Director for Education and Public Outreach. STEM for All is a great opportunity for us to find future collaborators for these types of projects. Watch the On-the-Spot Feedback video in the STEM for All Showcase.

Now in its seventh year, the annual showcase features more than 250 innovative projects aimed at improving Science, Math, Engineering, and CS Education, which have been funded through NSF and other federal agencies. During the eight-day event, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and members of the public are invited to view the short videos, discuss them with the presenters online, and vote for their favorites.

The theme for this years showcase is COVID, Equity & Social Justice. Video presentations address broadening participation, impacts of COVID on STEM teaching and learning, design implementation on STEM and CS programs, research informing STEM and CS teaching and learning, and measuring impact of innovative programs. Collectively, the presentations cover a broad range of topics including science, mathematics, computer science, engineering, cyberlearning, citizen science, maker spaces, broadening participation, research experiences, mentoring, professional development, NGSS, and Common Core.

The STEM for All Video Showcase is hosted by TERC, in partnership with: STEMTLnet, CADRE, CAISE, CIRCL, STELAR, CS for All Teachers, NARST, NCTM, NSTA, NSF INCLUDES, and QEM. The Showcase is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (#1922641).

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National Radio Astronomy Observatory featured in the 2021 STEM for All Video Showcase - Newswise

For the first time, astronomers have caught a glimpse of a star being "spaghettified" as a supermassive black hole rips it apart.

After getting too close to a colossal black hole located 750 million light-years from Earth and weighing 30 million times the mass of our sun the hapless star was ensnared by the holes gravity and devoured.

Black holes are messy eaters that like to play with their food. As it drew the star closer, the black holes gravity produced powerful tidal forces, stretching the star out into a long noodle shape and producing a bright flash of optical light, X-rays and radio waves that telescopes on Earth detected .

Related: 9 ideas about black holes that will blow your mind

Although astronomers have spotted bursts like this and attributed them to "spaghettification" for decades, only recently did a group of researchers working at SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research and Radboud University, also in the Netherlands, observe a star being spaghettified around a black hole.

The researchers captured the image by spotting unusual absorption line patterns around the pole of the black hole. It revealed a long strand wrapped many times around the black hole like a ball of yarn. Usually, absorption lines (the gaps observed in the light spectrum when matter absorbs light of very specific wavelengths) can only be spotted when we look at the equator of the black hole, which is the line along which the black hole spins and where a flow of material called an accretion disk orbits. Seeing absorption lines at one of the poles led the scientists to conclude that they were looking at the spaghettified remnants of a freshly shredded star.

"Moreover, the absorption lines are narrow. The Doppler effect does not broaden them like youd expect when you would be looking at a rotating disk," lead author Giacomo Cannizzaro, a doctoral student at SRON, said in a statement. (The Doppler effect describes shifts in the wavelengths of emitted or absorbed light depending on whether the source is moving towards or away from the observer.) Not seeing this shift meant that the material wasnt orbiting the black hole a big clue that the researchers werent just looking at another accretion disk.

Spaghettification happens because of the sharp increase in gravity that an object experiences as it nears a black hole. The effect is so pronounced that an astronaut falling feet first into a black hole would have their legs sucked in more powerfully than their head, stretching them out into a long strand of human spaghetti.

For a star the process is no less dramatic. The outer atmospheric layers of the star are the first to be stripped, circling the black hole to form the tight yarn ball the researchers observed. The remainder of the star soon follows, accelerating around the black hole and getting spun out into an enormous jet of energy and matter that produces a distinctive bright flash. Only 1% of the star ever gets swallowed by the black hole, Live Science previously reported.

This is not the first time that this particular stars evisceration by a black hole has attracted scientific attention. A 2021 research paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy details the detection of a high-energy neutrino flung out into space by the event. The particle travelled more than 750 million light-years before smashing into the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica. The particle had 10 times more energy than could be achieved by the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland, the most powerful particle accelerator in the world.

The researchers published their findings March 24 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical society.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Hapless star 'spaghettified' by black hole. And astronomers capture the gory show in a first. - Livescience.com

By reflecting even small amounts of light, objects in orbit can interfere with sensitive instruments used by astronomers pointed out into the dark of the universe.

SEATTLE Satellites from a SpaceX launch danced in the night sky over western Washington Tuesday, catching the attention of stargazers once again. But the spectacle is concerning to some local astronomers.

People shared photos and videos on social media just after 9 p.m. Tuesday showing a long streak of lights moving through the sky. People reported seeing the lights from Bellevue, Puyallup, Covington and even Portland, Ore.

TheNational Weather Service tweeted the lights appear to be associated with SpaceX's Starlink satellite launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit, according to the SpaceX website.

Dr. James Davenport, an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington, explained Tuesday night why people are seeing the satellites.

"What we actually saw was the 60 Starlink satellites that had just been deployed this afternoon and they were still in low orbit, and they were still clustered together so we call this like the Starlink train," said Davenport. "You see like a little chain of satellites all close together reflecting sunlight back at us."

KING 5 has not received any word from SpaceX.

In March, a strikingly similar scenario played out in the night sky, which turned out to be debris from a SpaceX rocket coming back down from orbit.

SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, launched that Falcon 9 stage 2 rocketon March 4, and the debris was seen in the sky the night of March 25. The rocket was supposed to de-orbit over the ocean, but came down over the Northwest instead. A piece of that rocket was actually found in Grant County days later.

The lights Tuesday night were striking, and clearly visible to many people using their phones. Though Davenport said recently launched "trains" are the brightest, even dimmer satellites can cause problems.

By reflecting even small amounts of light, objects in orbit can interfere with sensitive instruments pointed out into the dark of the universe. It's a concern astronomers have been raising as SpaceX and other companies send exponentially more satellites into orbit. Amazon has also said it plans to put thousands of satellites into low-earth orbit.

"So we're busy taking pictures of the night sky all around the world, almost the entire night sky every night," Davenport said. "And these things show up as big streaks across your image. It's like waving a flashlight right in front of your camera when you're trying to take a picture of your kids. It ruins the shot."

"We're really worried about the impact it's going to have on science projects that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and have taken decades to build," he added. "These kinds of things can super interfere with our science."

SpaceX made modifications to its initial satellites in an effort to reduce light pollution, but the issue persists.

Davenport noted: scientific discoveries from our use of space have led to the advancement of society. Still, it's a balancing act to preserve the dark skies, while sustainably utilizing the natural resources aroundthe planet.

"We're never going back. I mean, technology is the genie that doesn't go back in the bottle," Davenport said. "But this is where smart consumers and smart governments and productive regulation, this is where these things come in to help us preserve the environment in this, the environment around Earth."

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How the Starlink satellites spotted over western Washington can interfere with astronomers research - KING5.com

Newswise Three striking new images of Jupiter show the stately gas giant at three different types of light infrared, visible, and ultraviolet. The visible and ultraviolet views were captured by the Wide Field Camera 3 on theHubble Space Telescope, while the infrared image comes from the Near-InfraRed Imager (NIRI) instrument atGemini Northin Hawaii, the northern member of theinternational Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSFs NOIRLab. All of the observations were taken simultaneously (at 15:41 Universal Time) on 11 January 2017.

These three portraits highlight the key advantage of multiwavelength astronomy: viewing planets and other astronomical objects at different wavelengths of light allows scientists to glean otherwise unavailable insights. In the case of Jupiter, the planet has a vastly different appearance in the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet observations. The planets Great Red Spot the famous persistent storm system large enough to swallow the Earth whole is a prominent feature of the visible and ultraviolet images, but it is almost invisible at infrared wavelengths. Jupiters counter-rotating bands of clouds, on the contrary, are clearly visible in all three views.

Observing the Great Red Spot at multiple wavelengths yields other surprises the dark region in the infrared image is larger than the corresponding red oval in the visible image. This discrepancy arises because different structures are revealed by different wavelengths; the infrared observations show areas covered with thick clouds, while the visible and ultraviolet observations show the locations ofchromophores the particles that give the Great Red Spot its distinctive hue by absorbing blue and ultraviolet light.

The Great Red Spot isnt the only storm system visible in these images. The region sometimes nicknamed Red Spot Jr. (known to Jovian scientists as Oval BA) appears in both the visible and ultraviolet observations[1]. This storm to the bottom right of its larger counterpart formed from the merger of three similar-sized storms in 2000[2]. In the visible-wavelength image, it has a clearly defined red outer rim with a white center. In the infrared, however, Red Spot Jr. is invisible, lost in the larger band of cooler clouds, which appear dark in the infrared view. Like the Great Red Spot, Red Spot Jr. is colored by chromophores that absorb solar radiation at both ultraviolet and blue wavelengths, giving it a red color in visible observations and a dark appearance at ultraviolet wavelengths. Just above Red Spot Jr. in the visible observations, a Jovian superstorm appears as a diagonal white streak extending toward the right side of Jupiters disk.

One atmospheric phenomenon that does feature prominently at infrared wavelengths is a bright streak in the northern hemisphere of Jupiter. This feature a cyclonic vortex or perhaps a series of vortices extends 72,000 kilometers (nearly 45,000 miles) in the east-west direction. At visible wavelengths the cyclone appears dark brown, leading to these types of features being called brown barges in images from NASAs Voyager spacecraft. At ultraviolet wavelengths, however, the feature is barely visible underneath a layer of stratospheric haze, which becomes increasingly dark toward the north pole.

Similarly, lined up below the brown barge, four large hot spots appear bright in the infrared image but dark in both the visible and ultraviolet views. Astronomers discovered such features when they observed Jupiter in infrared wavelengths for the first time in the 1960s.

As well as providing a beautiful scenic tour of Jupiter, these observations provide insights about the planets atmosphere, with each wavelength probing different layers of cloud and haze particles. A team of astronomers used the telescope data to analyze the cloud structure within areas of Jupiter where NASAsJunospacecraft detected radio signals coming from lightning activity.

The scientific story behind these striking images is told in full in a newNOIRLab Stories blog post. As well as discovering the science behind these images, we invite you to inspect observations of Jupiter at home! Three interactive images let you compare observations of Jupiter at different wavelengths and peer beneath the gas giants clouds:

The Gemini North observations were made possible by the telescopes location within the Maunakea Science Reserve, adjacent to the summit of Maunakea, acknowledges the observation teams leader, Mike Wong of the University of California, Berkeley. We are grateful for the privilege of observing Kawela (Jupiter) from a place that is unique in both its astronomical quality and its cultural significance.

More information on the infrared observations from Gemini is provided in the NOIRLab press releaseGemini Gets Lucky and Takes a Deep Dive Into Jupiters Clouds.

[1] While it appears red in Hubbles visible-light image of Jupiter taken in January 2017, Red Spot Jr. does not always appear red. It was white when it first formed but turned red several years later. It has changed color since then and once again appears white.

[2] The three storms that merged to form Red Spot Jr. in 2000 were similar in size to each other and similar in size to Red Spot Jr. Interestingly, Red Spot Jr. did not become much larger than any of the three individual storms after they merged.

NSFs NOIRLab(National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory), the US center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the internationalGemini Observatory(a facility ofNSF,NRCCanada,ANIDChile,MCTICBrazil,MINCyTArgentina, andKASIRepublic of Korea), Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), andVera C. Rubin Observatory(in cooperation withDOEsSLACNational Accelerator Laboratory). It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement withNSFand is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The astronomical community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Duag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawaii, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachn in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that these sites have to the Tohono O'odham Nation, to the Native Hawaiian community, and to the local communities in Chile, respectively.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by AURA.

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By Jove! Jupiter Shows Its Stripes and Colors - Newswise