अंतरिक्ष विज्ञान – आवारा मुसाफिर

‘Cosmic joust’: astronomers observe pair of galaxies in deep-space battle

May 21, 2025241 Views

Astronomers have witnessed for the first time a violent cosmic collision in which one galaxy pierces another with intense radiation. Their results, published today in Nature, show that this radiation dampens the wounded galaxy’s ability to form new stars. This new study combined observations from both the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), revealing all the gory details of this galactic battle. In the distant depths of the Universe, two galaxies are locked in a thrilling war. Over and over, they charge towards each other at speeds of 500 km/s on a violent collision course, only to land a glancing blow before retreating and winding up for another round. “We hence call this system the ‘cosmic joust...

अंतरिक्ष विज्ञान

“Big surprise”: astronomers find planet in perpendicular orbit around pair of stars

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

April 16, 2025301 Views

Astronomers have found a planet that orbits at an angle of 90 degrees around a rare pair of peculiar stars. This is the first time we have strong evidence for one of these ‘polar planets’ orbiting a stellar pair. The surprise discovery was made using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Several planets orbiting two stars at once, like the fictional Star Wars world Tatooine, have been discovered in the past years. These planets typically occupy orbits that roughly align with the plane in which their host stars orbit each other. There have previously been hints that planets on perpendicular, or polar, orbits around binary stars could exist: in theory, these orbits are stable, and planet-forming discs on polar orbits around stellar pairs have been detected. Howe...

अंतरिक्ष विज्ञान

Oxygen discovered in most distant known galaxy

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

March 20, 2025170 Views

Two different teams of astronomers have detected oxygen in the most distant known galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0. The discovery, reported in two separate studies, was made possible thanks to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner. This record-breaking detection is making astronomers rethink how quickly galaxies formed in the early Universe. Discovered last year, JADES-GS-z14-0 is the most distant confirmed galaxy ever found: it is so far away, its light took 13.4 billion years to reach us, meaning we see it as it was when the Universe was less than 300 million years old, about 2% of its present age. The new oxygen detection with ALMA, a telescope array in Chile’s Atacama Desert, suggests the galaxy is much mor...

अंतरिक्ष विज्ञानखबरनामाघटनाएंचिली

Threat to the world’s darkest and clearest skies

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

March 17, 2025220 Views

New ESO analysis confirms severe damage from industrial complex planned near Paranal An in-depth technical analysis by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has evaluated the impact of the INNA megaproject on the facilities at the Paranal Observatory, Chile — and the results are alarming. The analysis reveals that INNA would increase light pollution above the Very Large Telescope (VLT) by at least 35% and by more than 50% above the south site of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO-South). INNA would also increase air turbulence in the area, further degrading conditions for astronomical observations, while vibrations from the project could seriously impair the functioning of some of the astronomical facilities, like the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), at the Paranal Obser...

अंतरिक्ष विज्ञान

Star cluster reveals its colours in stunning 80-million-pixel image

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

February 13, 2025289 Views

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a stunning 80 million-pixel image of the star cluster RCW 38, as captured by ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), operating in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Meet the colourful extravaganza of the RCW 38 stellar nursery, located some 5500 light-years away from us, in the constellation Vela. With its bright streaks and swirls, this birthplace of stars is not afraid to flaunt its colours. From the vivid pink of gas clouds to the multi-coloured dots, which are young stars, this image has it all. This is an 80-million-pixel picture of the star cluster RCW 38, located 5500 light-years away in the constellation Vela. RCW 38 is a young cluster containing about 2000 stars, and is bursting with star-forming activity....

अंतरिक्ष विज्ञान

Extreme supersonic winds measured on planet outside our Solar System

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

January 21, 2025549 Views

Astronomers have discovered extremely powerful winds pummeling the equator of WASP-127b, a giant exoplanet. Reaching speeds up to 33 000 km/h, the winds make up the fastest jetstream of its kind ever measured on a planet. The discovery was made using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile and provides unique insights into the weather patterns of a distant world. Tornados, cyclones and hurricanes wreak havoc on Earth, but scientists have now detected planetary winds on an entirely different scale, far outside the Solar System. Ever since its discovery in 2016, astronomers have been investigating the weather on WASP-127b, a giant gas planet located over 500 light-years from Earth. The planet is slightly larger than Jupiter, but has only a fraction...

अंतरिक्ष विज्ञानखबरनामाघटनाएंस्वीडन

Swedish Red Cottage flies to the Moon

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

January 10, 2025263 Views

Historic Space Launch On 15 January At exactly 01:11 AM (UTC-5), on 15 January, a little piece of Sweden will boldly go where no red cottage has gone before. History is about to be made as the Swedish MoonHouse takes off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mastermind behind this cosmic escapade? Swedish artist Mikael Genberg, who cheekily admits, "It only took 25 years." Turns out, turning a whimsical idea into lunar reality is no small feat. The Swedish MoonHouse Computer Rendered A cottage like no other This isn't the plot of Fly Me to the Moon or the next blockbuster sci-fi. Soon, an original Swedish red cottage – the iconic symbol of Swedish charm – will set up shop on the Moon. It's not a vacation rental (yet), but a testament to Genberg's passion for blending art, ...

अंतरिक्ष विज्ञानघटनाएंचिली

World’s darkest and clearest skies at risk from industrial megaproject

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

January 10, 2025280 Views

On December 24th, AES Andes, a subsidiary of the US power company AES Corporation, submitted a project for a massive industrial complex for environmental impact assessment. This complex threatens the pristine skies above ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert, the darkest and clearest of any astronomical observatory in the world. The industrial megaproject is planned to be located just 5 to 11 kilometres from telescopes at Paranal, which would cause irreparable damage to astronomical observations, in particular due to light pollution emitted throughout the project’s operational life. Relocating the complex would save one of Earth's last truly pristine dark skies. An irreplaceable heritage for humanity Since its inauguration in 1999, Paranal Observatory, built ...

अंतरिक्ष विज्ञान

NASA spacecraft ‘safe’ after closest-ever approach to Sun

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

December 28, 2024299 Views

NASA said on Friday that its Parker Solar Probe was "safe" and operating normally after successfully completing the closest-ever approach to the Sun by any human-made object. The spacecraft passed 3.8 million miles (6.1 million km) from the solar surface on Dec. 24, flying into the sun's outer atmosphere called the corona, on a mission to help scientists learn more about Earth's closest star. The agency said the operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland received the signal, a beacon tone, from the probe just before midnight on Thursday. FILE PHOTO: An artist's concept shows the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft flying into the Sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona, on a mission to help scientists learn more about the Sun. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/S...

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First ever binary star found near our galaxy’s supermassive black hole

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

December 17, 2024718 Views

An international team of researchers has detected a binary star orbiting close to Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. It is the first time a stellar pair has been found in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole. The discovery, based on data collected by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), helps us understand how stars survive in environments with extreme gravity, and could pave the way for the detection of planets close to Sagittarius A. “Black holes are not as destructive as we thought,” says Florian Peißker, a researcher at the University of Cologne, Germany, and lead author of the study published today in Nature Communications. Binary stars, pairs of stars orbiting each other, are very common in the Universe, b...