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Category: space – Page 24

Magnetar ‘Starquakes’ Could Forge Gold in Space, Scientists Discover

Scientists have long been trying to determine how elements heavier than iron, including gold and platinum, were first created and scattered through the Universe, and new research may give us another part of the answer: magnetars.

Rare, giant flares erupting from these highly magnetized neutron stars could contribute to the production of the heavy elements, based on a fresh analysis of a magnetar burst captured in 2004.

The full story of that burst wasn’t understood at the time. The latest work, from an international team of scientists, suggests the flash of gamma ray light captured back then originated from heavy elements being shot out into space.

These are the sharpest images yet of planets being born around distant stars

Using ALMA, Teague’s team captured images of 15 young star systems sprinkled in space between a few hundred to 1,000 light-years from Earth. Rather than rely on direct detection of a young planet’s faint light, Teague’s team looked for the subtle clues these infant worlds imprint on their surroundings — such as gaps and rings in dusty disks, swirling gas motions caused by a planet’s gravity, and other physical disturbances that hint at a planet’s presence. To uncover these signatures, the researchers used ALMA to map the motion of gas within over a dozen protoplanetary disks.

“It’s like trying to spot a fish by looking for ripples in a pond, rather than trying to see the fish itself,” Christophe Pinte, an astrophysicist at the Institute for Planetary sciences and Astrophysics in France, who was also a principal investigator of the project, said in the statement.

Depictions of the Milky Way found in ancient Egyptian imagery

An interest in understanding the role that the Milky Way played in Egyptian culture and religion has led University of Portsmouth Associate Professor of Astrophysics, Dr. Or Graur to uncover what he thinks may be the ancient Egyptian visual depiction of the Milky Way.

Various Egyptian gods are either associated with, symbolize, or directly embody certain . In his study, Dr. Graur reviewed 125 images of the sky-goddess Nut (pronounced “Noot”), found among 555 ancient Egyptian coffins dating back nearly 5,000 years.

Combining astronomy with Egyptology, he analyzed whether she could be linked to the Milky Way and his findings are now published in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage.

Gravity is Result of Computational Process within Our Universe, Physicist Says

“My findings in this study fit with the thought that the Universe might work like a giant computer, or our reality is a simulated construct,” Dr. Vopson said.

“Just like computers try to save space and run more efficiently, the Universe might be doing the same.”

“It’s a new way to think about gravity — not just as a pull, but as something that happens when the Universe is trying to stay organized.”

Webb Telescope Uncovers Star Birth Struggles in a Magnetic Maze at the Milky Way’s Core

Two new research studies explore how a stellar nursery in the heart of the Milky Way is affected by the region’s strong magnetic fields. Despite decades of research, the process of how stars form is still filled with unanswered questions. Because stars create nearly all the chemical elements in the