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How a supermassive black hole originates

How do supermassive black holes in the early universe originate? Scientists have come up with an explanation: a massive seed black hole that the collapse of a dark matter halo could produce.

Jun 16th, 2021

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'Great Dimming' of Betelgeuse caused by a dusty fart

The red supergiant Betelgeuse - best known for being in Orion's armpit - has recently gone through what astronomers have named the 'Great Dimming', where the otherwise very bright star has become darker and cloudy. International researchers say that it's darkened state is likely the result of a toot of dust and gas that originated in a cool spot in the star's southern hemisphere.

Jun 16th, 2021

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Discovery of the largest rotation in the universe

By mapping the motion of galaxies in huge filaments that connect the cosmic web, astronomers have found that these long tendrils of galaxies spin on the scale of hundreds of millions of light years. A rotation on such enormous scales has never been seen before.

Jun 14th, 2021

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Astronomers spot a 'blinking giant' near the centre of the Galaxy

Astronomers observed the star decreasing in brightness by a factor of 30, so that it nearly disappeared from the sky. While many stars change in brightness because they pulsate or are eclipsed by another star in a binary system, it's exceptionally rare for a star to become fainter over a period of several months and then brighten again.

Jun 11th, 2021

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Astronomers discover earliest gigantic black hole storm

Researchers discovered a titanic galactic wind driven by a supermassive black hole 13.1 billion years ago. This is the earliest-yet-observed example of such a wind to date and is a telltale sign that huge black holes have a profound effect on the growth of galaxies from the very early history of the Universe.

Jun 11th, 2021

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Liquid water on exomoons of free-floating planets

The moons of planets that have no parent star can possess an atmosphere and retain liquid water. Astrophysicists have calculated that such systems could harbor sufficient water to make life possible - and sustain it.

Jun 10th, 2021

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Scientists discover new exoplanet with an atmosphere ripe for study

An international group of collaborators have discovered a new, temperate sub-Neptune sized exoplanet with a 24-day orbital period orbiting a nearby M dwarf star. The recent discovery offers exciting research opportunities thanks to the planet's substantial atmosphere, small star, and how fast the system is moving away from the Earth.

Jun 9th, 2021

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GMRT measures the atomic hydrogen gas mass in galaxies 9 billion years ago

This is the earliest epoch in the universe for which there is a measurement of the atomic hydrogen content of galaxies. The new result is a crucial confirmation of the group's earlier result, where they had measured the atomic hydrogen content of galaxies 8 billion years ago, and pushes our understanding of galaxies to even earlier in the universe.

Jun 7th, 2021

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