Latest news with #NuclearSpectroscopicTelescopeArray
UPI
24-06-2025
- Science
- UPI
NASA working to fix space station's NICER X-ray telescope
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope on November 25 captured an image of the Sombrero galaxy, which is similar to celestial objects tracked by the NICER telescope that is paused while undergoing repairs. File Photo by NASA | License Photo June 24 (UPI) -- The Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer X-ray telescope has a bad motor that paused its tracking of cosmic objects until NASA engineers can fix it. NASA engineers are working to fix the problem after pausing the telescope's operations on June 17, when its ability to track celestial objects degraded, according to NASA. The space agency did not say when the telescope might resume working. The telescope is mounted on the International Space Station near its starboard solar array and has been in use since 2017. It can measure neutron stars, identify black holes, active galaxies and other phenomena. It also can help to map routes to Mars for future exploration and other missions. The latest issue with the NICER telescope is among many that it has experienced since its 2017 deployment. The NICER telescope developed a light leak in May 2023 when several thin thermal shields were damaged and let in sunlight that made the telescope useless during daylight hours. NASA astronaut Nick Hague in January installed nine patches to fix the worst areas of damage, but some light interference continued to affect the telescope's performance. A closer inspection showed several smaller cracks and holes that still allowed light to enter the telescope. NASA engineers reconfigured the telescope's measurement-power unit to compensate for the light intrusion, which enabled the telescope to resume its normal operations on March 12. Additional damage to at least one thermal shield forced NASA to minimize daytime observations on May 22, which caused another modification in the telescope's use. X-ray telescopes, like the NICER, enable NASA scientists to study and better understand extreme radio events in space. Observations from the NICER telescope and a Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array that is in low-Earth orbit enabled NASA scientists to assess a rapid burst of radio waves from a dead star called a magnetar in 2020. The burst released as much energy in a fraction of a second as the sun does during an entire year, according to a study published in the journal Nature. The powerful energy burst produced a laser-like beam instead of an explosion. NASA scientists in October 2022 used the same two telescopes to observe another burst of radio waves from the same magnetar.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A Strange New Cosmic Explosion May Have Just Been Discovered
A bizarre cosmic explosion has puzzled astronomers. It's either a very rare case of the stars aligning just right (literally) – or something powerful never seen before. The event is designated EP240408a, as it was first detected by the Einstein Probe, an X-ray space telescope, on 8 April 2024. At a glance, it appeared to be a run-of-the-mill gamma ray burst, which typically emits bright X-rays too. But when an all-star cast of telescopes observed it in a range of wavelengths, including ultraviolet, optical, near-infrared, radio, X-rays, and gamma rays, they found that it didn't quite match any particular known type of event. The current leading explanation, according to a new study, is that it's the death throes of a white dwarf being torn apart by a medium-sized black hole. This created a high-speed jet of material that, as luck would have it, is pointing directly at Earth. "EP240408a ticks some of the boxes for several different kinds of phenomena, but it doesn't tick all the boxes for anything," says Brendan O'Connor, astronomer at Carnegie Mellon University and lead author of the study. "In particular, the short duration and high luminosity are hard to explain in other scenarios. The alternative is that we are seeing something entirely new!" The Universe is ablaze with transient events – energetic flashes caused by outbursts from stars and black holes, stars exploding as supernovae, stars being devoured by black holes, and all kinds of other cosmic drama. Astronomers can figure out what each event is by its duration, frequency, source, and the specific combination of wavelengths it emits. After its discovery by the Einstein Probe, EP240408a was observed by a squad of other ground- and space-based telescopes, including the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), Swift, Gemini, Keck, the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), the Very Large Array (VLA), the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), and the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). Armed with this data, astronomers pieced together the event's properties – but that only deepened the mystery. EP240408a flared up in soft X-rays for the first 10 seconds, plateaued at a steady glow for about four days, then faded quickly within another day. That's much longer than most gamma-ray bursts, which last up to several hours, but not long enough to fit into other known categories. Its brightness in X-rays was in a similar reverse-Goldilocks zone: too bright for some phenomena and not bright enough for others. Weirdest of all, the VLA saw no sign of radio emission from the source when it checked 11 days, 158 days, and 258 days after the initial flare-up. "When we see something this bright for this long in X-rays, it usually has an extremely luminous radio counterpart," says O'Connor. "And here we see nothing, which is very peculiar." After ruling out several possible explanations, such as quasars or the mysterious fast blue optical transients, the astronomers put forward the most likely culprit: a tidal disruption event (TDE). These are flashes of light thrown off when black holes messily gobble up stars. In rare cases, TDEs produce huge jets of material that blast off from the black hole's poles. These can, by chance, point straight towards Earth, which produces the signature seen. The characteristics of the signal suggest that specifically, it was an intermediate-mass black hole chowing down on a white dwarf star. The thing is, there should still be some radio emissions from a jetted TDE. The team's hypothesis for why none have been found so far is that the event was caught too early – previous research suggests that it can take hundreds or even thousands of days for jet material to slow down enough to begin beaming radio signals. If future observations do detect radio emissions, this could close the case on EP240408a. But if it stays silent, it could mean it's a particularly weird gamma-ray burst – or perhaps a brand new type of transient. The research was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Astronomers Amazed by Perfect 'Einstein Ring' Gleaming in Space Astronomers Capture Breathtaking Image of Newborn Star Taking Shape The Risk of Space Junk Hitting Planes Is Rising in The Era of SpaceX
