Latest news with #ChandraXrayObservatory
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Listen to the Andromeda galaxy's stars played as musical notes in eerie NASA video
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Andromeda galaxy's spiralling stars are played as musical notes in a new NASA observatory video, creating a cosmic crescendo that's out of this world. The sonification video, released by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, combines observations of the Andromeda galaxy collected by some of the world's most powerful telescopes, according to a NASA statement. Chandra also released a spectacular composite image of the galaxy, which is the closest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way. Researchers created the composite image by stacking photos taken in different light wavelengths, merging radio, infrared, optical, ultraviolet and X-ray data. The researchers then converted those images to sound by assigning a separate range of notes to each of these wavelengths. In the video, a line passes across the lights, playing each assigned note like keys on a piano. "Musical notes ring out when the line encounters light," a representative for NASA wrote in the statement. "The lower the wavelength energy, the lower the pitches of the notes. The brighter the source, the louder the volume." NASA described the composite image as a tribute to pioneering astronomer Vera Rubin, who studied Andromeda. The tribute comes days after a new observatory named after Rubin released its first images. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory features the world's largest digital camera and will spend the next decade creating a time-lapse movie of the universe. Related: 6 incredible objects hidden in Vera C. Rubin Observatory's mind-boggling first image Andromeda, or Messier 31 (M31), is located around 2.5 million light-years from the Milky Way. Studying the galaxy has led to many scientific discoveries. For example, Rubin and her colleagues' observations of Andromeda led them to conclude that there must be an unseen matter influencing how its spiral arms rotate, according to the statement. The research was pivotal in furthering scientists' understanding of dark matter, an enigmatic non-luminous substance that shapes the universe. Researchers created the new image and soundscape of Andromeda by combining different data collected over many years. For example, the X-ray image comes from data collected by Chandra and the European Space Agency's X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton). Researchers used this data to identify high-energy radiation around the supermassive black hole at the heart of Andromeda, according to the statement. RELATED STORIES —Monster black hole jet from the early universe is basking in the 'afterglow' of the Big Bang —'This doesn't appear in computer simulations': Hubble maps chaotic history of Andromeda galaxy, and it's nothing like scientists expected —James Webb telescope unveils largest-ever map of the universe, spanning over 13 billion years The images and sounds aren't just for fun. They are another way of examining Andromeda, and therefore a learning opportunity. Andromeda offers a view of a spiral galaxy that we can't get from the Milky Way, given we're inside it, and so studying Andromeda furthers researchers' understanding of our own spiral galaxy, according to the statement. "This collection helps astronomers understand the evolution of the Milky Way, our own spiral galaxy, and provides a fascinating insight into astronomical data gathering and presentation," the NASA representative wrote.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA offers dazzling new sights (and sounds) of the Andromeda galaxy
Even a century after Edward Hubble confirmed its existence, astronomers learn new details about the Andromeda galaxy that help us better understand our cosmic neighborhood and the wider universe. Earlier this week, NASA released its latest detailed images of the Milky Way's spiral sibling, as well an ethereal sonification of its energy wavelengths. Attaining an outside view of the Milky Way galaxy is a bit like trying to examine the entire planet from your backyard—that is to say, it's impossible from humanity's current vantage point. The next best option for astronomers is gazing at similar nearby spiral galaxies, the closest of which is Messier 31. Also known as Andromeda, the Milky Way's most immediate neighbor is about 2.5 million light-years away, and provides an excellent option for studying how spiral galaxies form and evolve over time. It's also where a team led by astronomer Vera Rubin first detected the anomalous material now known as 'dark matter' in the 1960s. The newest glimpses at Andromeda are based on composite data collected by an international array of the world's most powerful telescopes, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the ESA's XMM-Newton, and even optical information from a pair of astrophotographers. The various kinds of light span the visible, infrared, radio, and ultraviolet wavelengths. When layered, they depict a vibrant and active galaxy reminiscent of our own—and the information is already helping experts expand on Andromeda's ongoing life story. 'For example, Chandra's X-rays reveal the high-energy radiation around the supermassive black hole at the center of M31 as well as many other smaller compact and dense objects strewn across the galaxy,' NASA explained in its announcement. Astronomers aren't limited to studying visual representations of Andromeda's energy; they can also assess them through sound. In addition to the images, NASA researchers compiled the galaxy datasets into a sonification by separating out each wavelength, rotating them, and stacking them on top of one another in order of their frequency. From top to bottom, that means X-rays, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and finally radio waves. These are next assigned a range of corresponding notes, with brightness designating volume while spectrum location determines pitch. The result is a dreamlink chorus of tones as the space telescopes traverse Andromeda's 152,000 light-year diameter. There's still an untold wealth of information to learn from the Milky Way's neighbor, possibly even the means to finally understand the dark matter first detected by Rubin. That's at least what NASA hopes to achieve with the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope currently scheduled to go into operation in 2027.
BBC News
06-06-2025
- Science
- BBC News
ASKAP J1832: Scientists discovers mysterious pulsating star in space
Scientists say they've spotted a mysterious object in space behaving in a very strange star, which has been named ASKAP J1832, is acting unlike anything seen before, according to Nasa around 15,000 light years from Earth, it is pulsing every 44 even more strange is that it is doing it with both radio waves and X-rays. What did scientists find? A team of astronomers looked at data from Nasa's space-based Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope in Australia to study the discovered object, which has been called ASKAP found that the star belongs to a class of objects called "long period radio transients" - that means it sends out radio waves of different levels over tens of minutes - in this case every 44 they also found that it is also sending X-rays every 44 minutes to Nasa, this combination of factors is "unlike anything astronomers have seen in the Milky Way galaxy."Experts are trying to work out what type of object ASKAP J1832, however they think it might be one of two could be a magnetar - which is a neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field, with an age of more than half a million it could also be possibly an unusual white dwarf star which has a companion star.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Spot Mysterious Object in Our Galaxy Pulsing Every 44 Minutes
Astronomers have spotted something strange and spectacular: a mysterious object that keeps emitting pulses every 44 minutes. In a press release from Australia's Curtin University, which was part of the international team that detected the object just 15,000 light-years away in our Milky Way galaxy, astronomers explained that the find was all the more stunning because the signal is coming in the form of both X-rays and radio waves. The object, which was named ASKAP J1832-0911 after Australia's ASKAP radio telescope that was used to detect it, was discovered emitting two-minute-long pulses that would pause and then repeat 44 minutes later. As the Curtin press release explains, the researchers lucked out when they realized that NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory was observing the same part of the sky and detected the same repeating signal in X-ray form. This dual-natured pulse belongs to a newly-discovered class of space phenomena known as "long-period radio transients," or LPTs for short. Discovered in 2022 by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research — which also sponsored this latest study — these mystery pulses have unknown origins and occur in fixed intervals of minutes or hours. They're considered by astronomers to be remarkably slow as compared to the signals emitted by pulsars, those rapidly-rotating stars that send out similar bursts every few milliseconds when their poles point in Earth's direction. In the years since they were first discovered, astronomers around the world have only detected some 10 other LPTs — but before now, none have been run through X-ray telescopes as well. According to Ziteng "Andy" Wang, an ICRAR-affiliated Curtin astronomer and the lead author a paper about the finding that was just published in the journal Nature, discovering the dual nature of LPTs in such a coincidental manner "felt like finding a needle in a haystack." "The ASKAP radio telescope has a wide field view of the night sky, while Chandra observes only a fraction of it," Wang explained in the Curtin press release. "So, it was fortunate that Chandra observed the same area of the night sky at the same time." Because LPTs are such a new phenomenon to astronomers, they can't say for sure what causes them. When the first of them were discovered, astronomers posited that they could be coming from magnetars, a type of neutron star with extremely strong magnetic fields that also emit radio pulses at faster intervals, leading to the ICRAR team positing that they may have an "ultra-long-period magnetar" on their hands. While the magnetar theory appears to have been scrapped, the astronomers behind this update in LPT knowledge are hopeful that it will help them figure out what these strange, slow pulses are about. "This object is unlike anything we have seen before," said Wang. More on strange space: Scientists Startled by Discovery of Small Star Swimming Through Outer Layers of Another Larger Star
The Independent
30-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Scientists can't figure out mysterious signal from deep space
Scientists have detected a mysterious, regular signal, named ASKAP J1832-0911, flashing from 15,000 light years away in space, emitting radio waves and X-rays every 44 minutes. The object was discovered using an Australian telescope and NASA 's Chandra X-ray Observatory, marking the first time an LPT (long-period transient) has been observed emitting both X-rays and radio signals. Researchers note that the X-ray and radio wave emissions from ASKAP J1832-0911 have decreased over time, an unprecedented phenomenon in the Milky Way galaxy. The nature of the object remains unknown, with theories suggesting it could be a magnetar or a binary star system involving a highly magnetised white dwarf, but these theories do not fully explain the observed behaviour. Scientists aim to continue studying ASKAP J1832-0911 and search for similar objects, hoping the X-ray emissions will provide insights into the origin and mechanism of the signals, potentially indicating new physics or stellar evolution models.
