Tag Archive for 'X-rays'

This illustration shows the surroundings of a black hole feeding on ambient gas as mapped using ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory. Image credit: ESA.

Astronomers Map Surroundings of Supermassive Black Hole

Jan 22, 2020 by News Staff

As material spirals towards a black hole, it is heated up and emits X-rays that, in turn, echo and reverberate as they interact with nearby gas. These...

This composite image shows the Milky Way-like spiral galaxy Messier 106: X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory are shown in blue, radio data from the NSF’s Karl Jansky Very Large Array are shown in purple, optical data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope are shown in yellow and infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope are shown in red. Image credit: NASA / CXC / Caltech / P. Ogle et al / STScI / JPL-Caltech / NSF / NRAO / VLA.

Astronomers Capture Galactic Fireworks in Nearby Spiral Galaxy

Jan 1, 2020 by News Staff

This impressive fireworks display, which involves a supermassive black hole, enormous shock waves and vast reservoirs of gas, is taking place in an intermediate...

Giant cavities in the X-ray emitting intracluster medium (shown in blue, as observed by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory) have been carved out by a black hole outburst. X-ray data are overlaid on top of optical data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (in red/orange), where the central galaxy that is likely hosting the culprit supermassive black hole is also visible. Image credit: Calzadilla et al.

Astronomers Witness Extremely Powerful Black Hole Outburst in Distant Galaxy Cluster

Dec 25, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have spotted an unusual outburst activity in the center of SPT-CLJ0528-5300 (SPT-0528 for short),...

This composite image of the galaxy group-galaxy group merger NGC 6338 contains X-ray data from Chandra (displayed in red) that shows hot gas with temperatures upward of about 20 million degrees Celsius, as well as cooler gas detected with Chandra and XMM (shown in blue) that also emits X-rays. The image contains optical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Image credit: Chandra / NASA / CXC / SAO / E. O’Sullivan / ESA / XMM / SDSS.

NGC 6338: Two Galaxy Groups are Colliding at Incredible Speed

Dec 19, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, ESA’s XMM-Newton, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, and the Apache Point Observatory, astronomers...

Astronomers Measure Size and Mass of Nearby Pulsar, Create Map of Its Surface Hot Spots

Dec 17, 2019 by News Staff

Using the X-ray data from NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), astronomers have produced a map of hot spots on the surface of a...

X-ray image of the gravitational lens system SDSS J1004+4112 taken by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory; the central red extended emission is from the hot gas in the foreground lens galaxy cluster and the four blue point sources are the lensed images of the background quasar. Image credit: University of Oklahoma.

Free-Floating Planet-Mass Objects are Common in Galaxies

Dec 13, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using a technique called quasar microlensing, a team of astronomers at the University of Oklahoma has detected populations of free-floating planet-mass...

This composite image shows the surroundings of a supermassive black hole that is triggering star formation across the longest distance ever seen; as hot gas swirls around the black hole, it emits large amounts of X-rays that Chandra detects; the black hole is also the source of radio-wave emission from a jet of high-energy particles -- previously detected by scientists with the VLA -- that stretches about a million light-years. Image credit: NASA / CXC / INAF / R. Gilli et al / NRAO / VLA / STScI.

Supermassive Black Hole Triggers Star Formation in Multiple Galaxies

Dec 5, 2019 by News Staff

Enormous black holes usually affect their surroundings through the so-called ‘negative feedback’ — in other words, suppressing the formation...

This image of the Phoenix Cluster combines X-ray, radio and optical data; side panels show the individual images making up the composite. Image credit: NASA / CXC / MIT / M. McDonald et al / NRAO / AUI / NSF / STScI.

Enormous Black Hole Boosts Star Formation in Phoenix Galaxy Cluster

Nov 22, 2019 by News Staff

Supermassive black holes in the center of galaxy clusters usually suppress star formation, but the one in the Phoenix Cluster, a group of about 1,000 galaxies...

A thermonuclear blast on a pulsar called SAX J1808.4-3658 resulted in the brightest burst of X-rays seen to date by NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

NICER Detects Thermonuclear Burst from X-Ray Pulsar

Nov 8, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) has detected an extremely energetic explosion called a Type I X-ray burst from SAX J1808.4-3658,...

This image of Tycho’s SNR from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals an intriguing pattern of bright clumps and fainter holes. To emphasize these features, two narrow ranges of X-ray energies were selected to isolate material (silicon, colored red) moving away from Earth, and moving towards us (also silicon, colored blue). The other colors in the image (yellow, green, blue-green, orange and purple) show a broad range of different energies and elements, and a mixture of directions of motion. Chandra’s X-ray data are shown alongside an optical image of the stars in the same field of view from the Digitized Sky Survey. Image credit: NASA / CXC / RIKEN / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / T. Sato et al / DSS.

Chandra Sheds New Light on Tycho’s Supernova Remnant

Oct 21, 2019 by News Staff

X-ray images of Tycho’s supernova remnant (Tycho’s SNR) show a pattern of bright clumps and fainter holes. By comparing new data from NASA’s Chandra...

False-color and X-ray images of the giant arc in SPT-CLJ2344-4243: the X-ray-emitting giant arc is shown relative to the center of the foreground lensing galaxy cluster in a false-color image at optical wavelengths; the inset shows Chandra X-ray (left) and Hubble optical (right) images of the giant arc at a scale 1.5 times larger; the optical colors here are given by Hubble imaging data in the F850LP (red), F775W (green) and F475W (blue) filters; two magenta circles indicate the locations of the X-ray emission from the giant arc in both inset panels; the lensing geometry of the giant arc is a pair of merging images, where the lower and upper halves of the arc are each a single image with mirror symmetry. Image credit: Bayliss et al, doi: 10.1038/s41550-019-0888-7.

Phoenix Cluster’s Gravity Magnifies X-Rays from Extremely Distant Star-Forming Galaxy

Oct 15, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers have used a huge group of galaxies called the Phoenix cluster as a cosmic magnifying glass to detect X-ray emission from a very distant dwarf...

This scanning electron microscope image shows a tardigrade. Image credit: Diane Nelson, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Study: Tardigrades’ Unique Protein Forms Protective Cloud against Extreme Survival Threats

Oct 1, 2019 by News Staff

Tardigrades, also known as water bears and moss piglets, are small invertebrate animals that are found in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats...

Pfeifle et al provide the strongest evidence yet for a system of three supermassive black holes. Image credit: NASA / CXC / George Mason University / R. Pfeifle et al / SDSS / NASA / STScI.

Astronomers Find Triple Supermassive Black Hole

Sep 29, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from several space- and ground-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered a system of three supermassive black holes within SDSS J084905.51+111447.2,...

This visible-light image of NGC 6946 comes from the Digital Sky Survey, and is overlaid with data from NASA’s NuSTAR observatory (in blue and green). ULX-4 is the green blob near the bottom of the galaxy. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NuSTAR Spots Mysterious Source of Ultraluminous X-Rays in Nearby Spiral Galaxy

Sep 5, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) have found a remarkable source of X-rays in NGC 6946, a spiral galaxy located...

This composite image of Cassiopeia A combines data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory color coded by element, ground-based images obtained in 1996 and 1999, and images taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope between 2004 and 2011. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / STScI.

Chandra Tracks Evolution of Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant

Aug 28, 2019 by News Staff

A new video released by NASA’s Chandra mission shows how Cassiopeia A has evolved over more than a dozen years in X-ray light. Cassiopeia A, which is...

The central region of our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: NASA / CXC.

Chandra Celebrates 20th Anniversary with Spectacular X-Ray Images of Astrophysical Objects

Jul 31, 2019 by News Staff

On July 23, 1999, NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center carrying the agency’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Twenty years...

An artist’s impression of a pair of orbiting white dwarfs, ZTF J153932.16+502738.8. Image credit: Caltech / IPAC.

Astronomers Discover Record-Breaking White Dwarf Binary System

Jul 25, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the KPED (Kitt Peak Electron Multiplying CCD demonstrator) instrument at NSF’s Kitt Peak National Observatory have discovered ZTF J153932.16+502738.8,...

Vibrational motions of N-methyl morpholine. Image credit: Brown University.

Scientists Observe Molecular Motions in Real Time

Jul 17, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of researchers led by Brown University has used ultra-high-speed X-ray pulses to image subtle motions of a molecule of N-methyl morpholine. Vibrational...

Dai et al used Chandra to measure the spin of five quasars. Gravitational lensing of the light from each of these black holes by an intervening galaxy has created multiple images of each quasar, as shown by these Chandra images of four of the targets. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Oklahoma / Dai et al.

Chandra Uses Gravitational Lens to Capture Spinning Black Holes

Jul 5, 2019 by News Staff

By combining the capability of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with the power of a natural phenomenon called gravitational lensing, a team of astronomers...

This scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image depicts a close up of Aspergillus sp. fungal fruiting body. This reproductive structure is composed of a septate filament known as a conidiophore, which is topped by chains of conidiospores. Image credit: Janice Haney Carr & Robert Simmons, CDC.

Fungal Spores Can Withstand High Doses of Cosmic Radiation, Microbiologists Find

Jul 4, 2019 by News Staff

According to new research, spores of the fungus Aspergillus niger are able to withstand higher doses of radiation than previously thought, which can have...

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