Tag Archive for 'X-rays'

This artist’s impression shows Proxima b orbiting Proxima Centauri, which at only 4.23 light-years is the closest star to our Solar System. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image between the exoplanet and Proxima itself. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Exoplanets in Habitable Zones of Active Red Dwarfs May Face Oxygen Loss

Feb 11, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Vladimir Airapetian, a solar scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, has developed a model that estimates the oxygen...

This composite image shows IC 3639, a galaxy with an active galactic nucleus. Image credit: ESO / NASA / JPL-Caltech / STScI.

NuSTAR Finds Two Enormous Black Holes in Milky Way’s Neighborhood

Jan 17, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission has identified two gas-enshrouded supermassive black holes, located at the centers of nearby...

This composite image of NGC 6357 contains X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the ROSAT telescope (purple), infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (orange), and optical data from the SuperCosmos Sky Survey (blue) made by the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope. Image credit: X-ray – NASA / CXC / PSU / L.Townsley et al; optical - UKIRT; infrared – NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA Releases Spectacular Image of NGC 6357

Dec 20, 2016 by News Staff

NASA has released an amazing composite image of NGC 6357, a region where radiation from hot, young stars is energizing the surrounding gas and dust. This...

This artist’s concept illustrates how KSw 71 compares with the Sun. Both stars are shown to scale. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Francis Reddy.

Astronomers Find Group of Fast-Spinning, X-ray Active Stars

Oct 29, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers using observations from NASA’s Kepler and Swift space observatories have spotted 18 fast-spinning stars that produce X-rays at more than...

This Chandra image shows the location in the elliptical galaxy NGC 5128 of a remarkable source that dramatically flares in X-rays unlike any ever seen. Low, medium, and high-energy X-rays are colored red, green, and blue. Image credit: NASA / CXC / UA / J. Irwin et al.

Two Mysterious X-ray Sources Spotted in Nearby Elliptical Galaxies

Oct 25, 2016 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Chandra and ESA’s XMM-Newton space telescopes, astronomers have found a pair of remarkable sources that dramatically flare in...

This Hubble image shows the lenticular galaxy GJ1417+52. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Astronomers Find Wandering Black Hole in Galaxy 4.5 Billion Light-Years Away

Oct 7, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A rogue black hole has been found in the outer regions of the lenticular galaxy SDSS J141711.07+522540.8 (GJ1417+52 for short). Evidence suggests this...

The first detection of Pluto in X-rays has been made using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The main panel in this graphic is an optical image taken from New Horizons on its approach to Pluto, while the inset shows an image of Pluto in X-rays from Chandra. There is a significant difference in scale between the optical and X-ray images. New Horizons made a close flyby of Pluto but Chandra is located near the Earth, so the level of detail visible in the two images is very different. The Chandra image is 180,000 miles across at the distance of Pluto, but the planet is only 1,500 miles across. Pluto is detected in the X-ray image as a point source, showing the sharpest level of detail available for Chandra or any other X-ray observatory. This means that details over scales that are smaller than the X-ray source cannot be seen here. Image credit: X-ray – NASA / CXC / JHUAPL / R.McNutt et al; optical – NASA / JHUAPL.

NASA’s Chandra Observatory Detects X-Rays from Pluto

Sep 14, 2016 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have made the first detections of X-rays from Pluto. This X-ray emission comes from interaction between...

This composite image shows the young galaxy cluster CL J1001 in X-rays from Chandra (purple), infrared data from ESO’s UltraVISTA survey (red, green, and blue), and radio waves from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (green). Image credit: X-ray – NASA / CXC / CEA / T. Wang et al; infrared – ESO / UltraVISTA; radio – ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / ALMA.

Astronomers Find Young Galaxy Cluster 11.1 Billion Light-Years Away

Aug 31, 2016 by News Staff

Using five space- and four ground-based telescopes, an international team of astronomers has found the most distant galaxy cluster to date. This composite...

Researchers Find What Causes Jupiter’s X-ray Aurora

Mar 23, 2016 by Natali Anderson

According to a study led by University College London researcher William Dunn, the solar wind is causing intense X-ray bursts over Jupiter’s polar regions. Solar...

Messier 51 (M51) system of galaxies: the main panel shows M51 in visible light data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, and blue); the box at the top outlines the field of view by Chandra in the latest study, which focuses on the smaller component of M51, NGC 5195; the inset to the right shows the details of the Chandra data (blue) of this region. Dr Schlegel and co-authors found a pair of arcs in X-ray emission close to the center of NGC 5195, which they interpret as two outbursts from the galaxy’s supermassive black. They estimate that it took about one to three million years for the inner arc to reach its current position, and three to six million years for the outer arc. Image credit: X-ray – NASA / CXC / University of Texas / E.Schlegel et al; optical – NASA / STScI.

Chandra Spots Very Active Supermassive Black Hole 26 Million Light-Years Away

Jan 8, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

One of the nearest supermassive black holes to Earth with active powerful outbursts has been discovered by a team of astronomers using NASA’s Chandra...

A supermassive black hole is depicted in this artist’s concept, surrounded by a swirling disk of material falling onto it. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Find Clue to How Supermassive Black Holes Emit X-ray Flares

Oct 29, 2015 by News Staff

In 2014, NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the agency’s Swift satellite observed an X-flare from the supermassive black hole...

ASASSN-14li: X-Ray Telescopes Catch Supermassive Black Hole Shredding Star to Pieces

Oct 22, 2015 by News Staff

Using a trio of X-ray telescopes, astronomers have observed material being blown away from a supermassive black hole after it tore a star apart. The event...

The Sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 10:58 a.m. EDT on September 28. This SDO image shows a subset of extreme UV light that highlights the extraordinarily hot material in flares and which is typically colorized in red. Image credit: NASA / SDO.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Sees Mid-Level Solar Flare

Sep 28, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a mid-level solar flare – as seen in the bright flash in the lower right hand side of the...

The upper two panels of this graphic represent a possible explanation for a recent increase in X-ray flares from Sagittarius A* seen by three X-ray telescopes. As part of a long monitoring campaign, astronomers observed the black hole as a mysterious object called G2 appeared to pass close to the black hole. The timing of G2’s passage could suggest that material from G2 caused the surge in X-ray activity, but it is also possible that this unrelated behavior of Sagittarius A*. The bottom panel is a view of the region around the black hole where red, green, and blue represent low, medium, and high-energy X-rays detected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Sagittarius A* itself is not visible in this image, but is embedded in the white dot at the end of the arrow. Image credit: NASA / CXC / MPE / G.Ponti et al. / M.Weiss.

X-Ray Observations of Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole Reveal Unusual Activity

Sep 24, 2015 by News Staff

A long monitoring campaign of the Milky Way’s black hole, called Sagittarius A*, has revealed some unusual activity. Typically relatively quiet, the...

X-ray view of the central region of our Milky Way Galaxy. This image was put together in a new study by compiling all observations of this region that were performed with ESA’s XMM-Newton, adding up to over one month of monitoring in total. The image combines data collected at energies from 0.5 to 2 keV (shown in red), 2 to 4.5 keV (shown in green) and 4.5 to 12 keV (shown in blue). It spans about 2.5 degrees across, equivalent to about 1,000 light-years. Image credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / G. Ponti et al.

XMM-Newton Snaps Stunning X-ray Portraits of Milky Way’s Central Region

Aug 22, 2015 by News Staff

New images from ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory reveal some of the most intense processes taking place at the hearth of our Milky Way Galaxy. X-ray...

RGG 118: Astronomers Find Smallest Known Supermassive Black Hole

Aug 12, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the 6.5-m Clay Telescope in Chile has found the smallest supermassive black hole ever...

False-color micrograph of human hair cross-section: the top region shows the external part of the hair - cuticle region; the bottom region shows the internal macrofibrils - cortex region. Image credit: Fabiano Emmanuel Montoro / LNNano / CNPEM.

Scientists Discover New Structural Features of Human Hair

Jul 30, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of scientists – led by Dr Vesna Stanic of the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Source – has detected new structural features of...

X-ray evidence from NASA’s Chandra Observatory suggests that a clump of stellar material has been jettisoned away from the binary system B1259 at incredibly high speeds. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M.Weiss.

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory Zooms in on Violent Binary Star System

Jul 24, 2015 by News Staff

X-rays from NASA’s Chandra Observatory reveal that a fast-moving pulsar in orbit around a massive star punched a hole in a circumstellar disk of material...

Unwrapped texture image of the Ein Gedi scroll, showing letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Image credit: Seth Parker / University of Kentucky.

Scientists Decipher 1,500-Year-Old Hebrew Scroll

Jul 22, 2015 by News Staff

A burned 1,500-year-old scroll found at Ein Gedi, on the western shore of the Dead Sea, has been read using advanced digital imaging. Unwrapped texture...

High-energy X-rays from NuSTAR are shown in blue; low-energy X-rays from Hinode are green; and extreme UV light from SDO is yellow and red. All three telescopes captured their solar images around the same time on April 29, 2015. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / GSFC / JAXA.

Space Observatories See Active Sun in UV Light and X-Rays

Jul 8, 2015 by News Staff

Active regions of the Sun are highlighted in this composite image combining observations from a fleet of sun-monitoring satellites: NASA’s NuSTAR (Nuclear...

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