Latest news with #ChandraX-ray
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Exoplanet is shrinking before the X-ray eyes of NASA's Chandra spacecraft: 'The future for this baby planet doesn't look great'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Using NASA's Chandra X-ray spacecraft, astronomers have witnessed a distant, Jupiter-size world "shrinking" as its host star bombards it with heavy radiation. The extrasolar planet, or "exoplanet," is named TOI 1227 b and is a cosmic baby at just 8 million years old (remember, Earth is around 4.5 billion years old). And, incredibly, the world orbits its star at a distance of just 8.2 million miles, a fraction of the distance between the sun and Mercury, with a year that lasts just 28 days. This proximity means the star, named TOI 1227 and located around 330 light-years away, is blasting the planet with powerful X-rays. This radiation is stripping the exoplanet's atmosphere away; in fact, the atmosphere of TOI 1227 b is likely to be completely gone in around 1 billion years. This will reduce the exoplanet to nothing more than a small, rocky and barren core. The team behind this research estimates TOI 1227 b will have ultimately lost the equivalent of two Earths' worth of mass by the conclusion of its transformation. As of now, the world has a mass around 17 times that of Earth's. "It's almost unfathomable to imagine what is happening to this planet," Attila Varga, study team leader and a researcher at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), said in a statement. "The planet's atmosphere simply cannot withstand the high X-ray dose it's receiving from its star." While this exoplanet's parent star is less massive than the sun (with about 10% the mass of our star) and is cooler and fainter in optical light, it is actually brighter than our star in X-rays. "A crucial part of understanding planets outside our solar system is to account for high-energy radiation like X-rays that they're receiving," team member and RIT scientist Joel Kastner said in the statement. "We think this planet is puffed up, or inflated, in large part as a result of the ongoing assault of X-rays from the star." The team used Chandra to determine just how much X-ray radiation is roasting TOI 1227 b. The researchers then used computer modeling to assess the impact of this radiation on the exoplanet and its atmosphere. This revealed that roughly every two centuries, the world loses the equivalent of Earth's entire atmosphere from its own atmosphere. "The future for this baby planet doesn't look great," Alexander Binks, a study team member and researcher at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, said in the statement. "From here, TOI 1227 b may shrink to about a tenth of its current size and will lose more than 10 percent of its weight." Related Stories: — The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its 1st exoplanet and snapped its picture (image) — Astronomers discover origins of mysterious double hot Jupiter exoplanets: 'It is a dance of sorts' — NASA exoplanet-hunting spacecraft and citizen scientists discover a cool new alien world The researchers estimated the age of TOI 1227 b using estimates of its host star's velocity through space and comparing them with the speed of nearby stellar populations with known ages. The team also compared the surface brightness of TOI 1227 with models of stellar evolution. TOI 1227 b stands out from other exoplanets aged less than 50 million years because, among the set, it seems to have the longest year and a host star with the lowest mass. The team's research has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal and appears as a preprint on the repository site arXiv. Solve the daily Crossword
Indian Express
01-07-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
From James Webb to Euclid, here are top 10 most powerful space telescopes
One of the many breakthroughs of the scientific community remains the invention of space telescopes — telescopes that orbit above the Earth's atmosphere to observe the Universe (planets, stars, galaxies) closely with significant clarity. These telescopes have an important advantage over ground-based telescopes in that they have access to a wider electromagnetic spectrum, enabling them to detect the wavelengths of light (such as X-rays, gamma rays, infrared) which generally gets absorbed or reflected by the Earth's atmosphere, Las Cumbres Observatory stated. The first ever space telescope, the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 (OAO-2), was launched into the low Earth orbit in 1968 aboard an Atlas-Centaur rocket, as per the National Space Centre. For the next four years following its placement, as per the Centre, the OAO-2 beamed data back to scientists on Earth, including the first observations of astronomical objects in ultraviolet light. There are more than 30 space telescopes which are currently active, and here, we take a look at the 10 most powerful of them: 1. James Webb Space Telescope Launched in the year 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope is the largest and the most powerful observatory, as per the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). One of the most significant endeavours of the Webb telescopes include studying every phase in the history of our Universe, which ranges from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System, as per NASA. The Space Administration has referred to the Webb as the 'premier observatory of the next decade'. The telescope observes the cosmos in infrared using highly sensitive instruments. The agencies overlooking the JWST are NASA, European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Spaece Agency (CSA). 2. Hubble Space Telescope Launched in April 1990, the Hubble Space telescope has proven to be a testament to the revolutionary scientific instruments that have propelled our understanding with their remarkable discoveries. Its design, technology and serviceability have made it one of NASA's most transformative observatories, NASA's website states hailing the telescope's achievements. From determining the atmospheric composition of planets around other stars to discovering dark energy, Hubble has changed humanity's understanding of the universe, the website added. Operated by the agencies NASA and ESA, the Hubble observes the cosmos in untraviolet, visible and near-infrared, from the low Earth orbit. 3. Chandra X-ray observatory Launched in the year 1999, the Chandra X-ray observatory, NASA's flagship mission for X-ray astronomy, detects X-ray emissions from very hot regions of the universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies, and matter around black holes, as per the website. Operated solely by NASA, it is the 'most powerful X-ray telescope, with eight times the resolution of any previous X-ray telescope and able to detect sources more than 20 times fainter,' the website describes. Here are some mind-blowing facts about the Chandra observatory, according to the Harvard University: – Chandra can observe X-rays from particles up to the last second before they fall into a black hole. – At 45 feet long, Chandra is the largest satellite the shuttle has ever launched. – The electrical power required to operate the Chandra spacecraft and instruments is 2 kilowatts, about the same power as your hair dryer. – STS-93, the space mission that deployed Chandra, was the first NASA shuttle mission commanded by a woman. 4. Spitzer Space Telescope Launched in 2003, the Spitzer Space Telescope was the final mission in NASA's Great Observatories Program — a unit of four space-based observatories, each observing the Universe in a different kind of light, as per the Caltech's Cosmos website. Spitzer, though retired in 2020, continues to remain the most influential as it allowed scientists to peek into cosmic regions which were hidden when observed through optical telescopes. Operated by NASA, its observations, in infrared light, included dusty stellar nurseries, centers of galaxies, and starlight from very distant galaxies at the edge of the Universe. 5. Planck Space Observatory Planck was ESA's first mission to study the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the relic radiation from the Big Bang, which occurred about 14 thousand million years ago, according to the operator's website. Launched in 2009, Planck measured the temperature variations across the microwave background with much better sensitivity, angular resolution and frequency range than any previous satellite, giving astronomers an unprecedented view of our Universe when it was extremely young, just 300 000 years old, the website highlighted. Planck worked perfectly for 30 months, completing five full-sky surveys with both its instruments. Able to work at slightly higher temperatures than HFI, the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) continued to survey the sky for a large part of 2013, providing even more data to improve the Planck final results, before being turned off later that year, as per the ESA website. 6. Gaia Launched in 2013, Gaia has made more than three trillion observations of two billion stars and other objects throughout our Milky Way galaxy and beyond, mapping their motions, luminosity, temperature and composition, the European Space Agency highlighted over its website. The telescope's extraordinarily precise three-dimensional map will provide the data needed to tackle an enormous range of important questions related to the origin, structure and evolutionary history of our galaxy. While the telescope ended its observations this year in January, the telescope was responsible for creating a 3D map of over 1 billion stars in the Milky Way, leading the ESA, its operator, to call it the 'billion star surveyor.' 7. Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is a powerful space observatory that detects gamma rays, the most energetic form of light, the NAS website states. Launched in 2008, Fermi enables scientists to address questions revolving around 'crushed stellar remnants like pulsars and the origin of high-energy charged particles called cosmic rays to stellar explosions known as gamma-ray bursts,' it stated. As per NASA's observations, Fermi data has revealed a vast new component of our galaxy known as the Fermi Bubbles, a structure that spans 50,000 light-years and likely formed as a result of an outburst from the monster black hole at the center of our galaxy. According to the National Space Centre, Fermi was initially expected to operate (under NASA) for five years, but the mission has been extended with no signs of stopping any time soon. 8. TESS (Transiting Exoplant Survey Satellite) Launched in 2018 as a follow-up to Kepler, NASA's TESS is responsible for discovering exoplanets, that is, worlds beyond our solar system. During the course of its extended observations of the sky under optical wavelengths, TESS finds and monitors all types of objects that change in brightness, from nearby asteroids to pulsating stars and distant galaxies containing supernovae. In July 2020, TESS finished its primary mission, imaging about 75 per cent of the starry sky as part of a two-year-long survey, the NASA website highlighted. While capturing this giant mosaic, TESS found 66 new exoplanets. 9. Euclid Space Telescope Euclid is an ESA (European Space Agency) mission with critical contributions from NASA that aims to explore two of the biggest mysteries about the universe today: dark matter and dark energy, the NASA website highlighted. To study the evolution of the 'dark universe,' Euclid will make a 3D map of the universe, it added. It will do so by observing billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years, across more than a third of the sky. Recently launched in 2023, Euclid is designed to tackle some of the most pertinent questions related to the Universe, including, what is the structure and history of the cosmic web? How has the expansion of the Universe changed over time? What is the nature of dark matter and dark energy? The telescope observes the cosmos in visible and near-infrared light. The mission's lifetime is six years, with the possibility of extension, as per the ESA website. 10. XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) NASA has partnering with JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) on the XRISM mission to study celestial objects that emit X-rays, its website stated. Launched in 2023, the mission aims to investigate big cosmic questions such as how the largest structures in the universe came to be, what happens to matter under extreme gravitational force, and how high-energy particle jets work. It's purpose involves studying the dynamics of hot gas in galaxy clusters, and black holes. In one of its significant breakthroughs, XRISM has managed to capture the most detailed portrait yet of gases flowing within Cygnus X-3, one of the most studied sources in the X-ray sky, according to NASA.
New York Post
31-05-2025
- Science
- New York Post
Astronomers baffled by mystery object flashing signals at Earth every 44 minutes: ‘Like nothing we've ever seen'
The truth is out there. Astronomers say they're stunned by an unidentified object flashing strange signals from deep space. The object, named ASKAP J1832-0911, was detected by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and NASA'S Chandra X-ray observatory — the world's most powerful X-ray telescope. 'It is unlike anything we have seen before,' Andy Wang, an astronomer at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, declared in a statement published this week. ASKAP J1832-0911 emits pulses of radio waves and X-rays for two minutes every 44 minutes, according to the experts, who documented their findings in Nature journal. An image of the sky showing the region around ASKAP J1832-0911. Ziteng Wang, ICRAR ASKAP J1832-0911 has been classified as a 'long-period transient' or 'LPT' — a cosmic body that emits radio pulses separated by a few minutes or a few hours. Wang and has team theorize that the object could be a dead star, but they don't know why it 'switches on' and 'switches off' at 'long, regular and unusual intervals,' reports. 'ASKAP J1831-0911 could be a magnetar (the core of a dead star with powerful magnetic fields), or it could be a pair of stars in a binary system where one of the two is a highly magnetised white dwarf (a low-mass star at the end of its evolution),' Wang wrote. 'However, even those theories do not fully explain what we are observing,' he added. 'This discovery could indicate a new type of physics or new models of stellar evolution.' Wang and his team hope to detect similar another using radio waves and the Chandra X-ray observatory, saying a subsequent discovery will help them learn more about the nature of such LPTs. An artist's illustration of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in space. NASA/CXC & J. Vaughan, NASA/CXC & J. Vaughan It's not the only space discovery to hit headlines and spark conversation in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Cambridge University Press revealed that astronomers had detected a signal extracted from interstellar noise that could be a sign of active biology on another planet. 'Astronomers have detected the most promising signs yet of a possible biosignature outside the solar system, although they remain cautious,' a press release from the prestigious publisher read.
Scientific American
29-05-2025
- Science
- Scientific American
Astronomers Discover Mysterious Object Bursting with X-Rays
3 min read A celestial object some 15,000 light-years away is emitting bright flashes of radio and X-rays that scientists are struggling to explain By & One of the strangest cosmic objects ever seen just got even weirder — NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope caught it blasting out X-ray radiation and radio waves. The mystery object, known as ASKAP J1832- 0911, is located within the Milky Way about 15,000 light-years away from Earth. It's now known to flash in both radio waves and X-rays for a two-minute period every 44 minutes. This is the first time an object like this, a so-called "long-period transient" or "LPT," has been seen in high-energy X-ray light as well as low-energy radio wave light. The team behind this discovery hopes the finding could help reveal what these flashing objects actually are and how they launch their mystery signals. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. However, not only is there no explanation for how the signals from LPTs are generated yet, but astronomers also don't know why these signals "switch on" and "switch off" at long, regular and unusual intervals. "This object is unlike anything we have seen before," team leader and Curtin University researcher Zieng (Andy) Wang said in a statement. Chandra gets lucky. Star doesn't. LPTs are flashing cosmic bodies that emit radio pulses separated by a few minutes or a few hours. They were first discovered in 2022, making them a very recent discovery. Since this initial detection, astronomers from around the globe have discovered a further 10 LPTs. None seem to be quite like this one, though — not yet anyway. ASKAP J1832- 0911 was first spotted by astronomers using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope in Wajarri Country, Australia. The team then followed this initial LPT discovery in radio waves with further investigation using NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope, shockingly finding that its highly periodic and unusual radio emissions are mimicked in X-rays. In fact, catching ASKAP J1832- 0911 throwing its regular X-ray tantrum was a matter of good fortune. "Discovering that ASKAP J1832-0911 was emitting X-rays felt like finding a needle in a haystack," Wang said. "The ASKAP radio telescope has a wide field view of the night sky, while Chandra observes only a fraction of it. So, it was fortunate that Chandra observed the same area of the night sky at the same time." The team believes the true nature of ASKAP J1832-0911 is a dead star, they just don't quite know what form that star takes. A highly magnetic neutron star, or " magnetar," is one option, and a a white dwarf — the kind of stellar remnant the sun will leave behind when it dies in over 5 billion years — is another. 'ASKAP J1831- 0911 could be a magnetar, the core of a dead star with powerful magnetic fields, or it could be a pair of stars in a binary system where one of the two is a highly magnetized white dwarf, a low-mass star at the end of its evolution," Wang said. "However, even those theories do not fully explain what we are observing. "This discovery could indicate a new type of physics or new models of stellar evolution." The hope is the discovery that at least one LPT emits X-rays in the same way it does radio waves could help shed light on the mysterious origins of these objects. That's because the fact that X-rays are so much more energetic than radio waves are means whatever the object behind ASKAP J1832- 0911 is, it must be able to produce both types of radiation. That should narrow down the field of suspects — and, there should be more LPTs out there acting just like this one, the study team reasons. "Finding one such object hints at the existence of many more," Nanda Rea, study team member and a researcher at the Institute of Space Science (ICE-CSIC) and Catalan Institute for Space studies (IEEC), said in the statement. "The discovery of its transient X-ray emission opens fresh insights into their mysterious nature." The team's research was published on Wednesday (May 28) in the journal Nature.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'Unlike anything we have seen before': Astronomers discover mysterious object firing strange signals at Earth every 44 minutes
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Astronomers have discovered a mysterious object flashing strange signals from deep space, and they have no idea what it is. The object, named ASKAP J1832-0911, spits out pulses of radio waves and X-rays for two minutes straight, once every 44 minutes. Detected by Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory, the strange repeating signals are currently unexplained — and unravelling this cosmic mystery could reveal new physics, according to the researchers who discovered it. The team published their findings May 28 in the journal Nature. "This object is unlike anything we have seen before," lead study author Andy Wang, an astronomer at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, said in a statement. "ASKAP J1831-0911 could be a magnetar (the core of a dead star with powerful magnetic fields), or it could be a pair of stars in a binary system where one of the two is a highly magnetised white dwarf (a low-mass star at the end of its evolution)." "However, even those theories do not fully explain what we are observing," Wang added. "This discovery could indicate a new type of physics or new models of stellar evolution." ASKAP J1832-0911 is a long-period transient (LPT), a class of rare and extreme astrophysical events that sweep out beams of radio waves like cosmic lighthouses. First discovered in 2022, thus far ten LPTs have been catalogued by astronomers. Related: 'Cosmic cannonballs' exploding out of dead star could explain mysterious flicker in the night sky Unlike traditional pulsars, which are produced by neutron stars and spit out radio signals every few seconds or milliseconds, LPTs emit pulses at intervals of minutes or hours apart — a period previously thought to be impossible. This has made the cause of the signals, and how they are able to switch on and off at long and regular intervals, a mystery among astronomers. After discovering the signals using the ASKAP telescope, the researchers turned to the Chandra X-ray observatory (which was coincidentally pointing at the same patch of sky) to double check what they had found. Chandra's observations confirmed ASKAP J1832-0911's presence, while also making the first-ever detection of an LPT in X-rays. RELATED STORIES —Immensely powerful 'magnetar' is emitting wobbly radio signals in our galaxy — and scientists can't explain them —Strange radio bursts that outshine entire galaxies may come from colliding neutron stars —Faint radio signal from ancient star cluster could be rare 'missing link' black hole "Discovering that ASKAP J1832-0911 was emitting X-rays felt like finding a needle in a haystack," Wang said. "The ASKAP radio telescope has a wide field view of the night sky, while Chandra observes only a fraction of it. So, it was fortunate that Chandra observed the same area of the night sky at the same time." The astronomers believe that the detection of an LPT emitting radio waves and X-rays simultaneously could offer them a valuable clue as to what's producing them, as any theory that explains the object must now account for both types of emission. To assemble more of the puzzle, the researchers suggest that more detections using radio and X-ray telescope pairs should be made. "Finding one such object hints at the existence of many more," second author Nanda Rea, an astrophysicist at the Catalan Institute for Space Studies in Spain, said in the statement. "The discovery of its transient X-ray emission opens fresh insights into their mysterious nature."
