The story of how black holes, especially young ones, grow so fast and become massive, even supermassive, has been puzzling astronomers for a long time.
Sep 30th: Cosmic Monsters’ Growth Secret
Richard B. Drumm Archive
Aug 24th: A Rare Cosmic Magic Jug
Astronomers recently captured this rare structure using NSF NOIRLab’s Gemini South telescope. The image is that of a reflection nebula, nicknamed the Toby Jug Nebula, resembling the shape of an old style English pottery jug.
Jul 29th: When Exactly Do We Celebrate Planet Birthdays?
Just how young can a proto-planetary disk be and be forming planets? Proto-planetary discs only exist for a few million years, which means that all planet formation in the system must take place within this, uh, narrow time frame.
Jun 16th: Watch out, Earth! A Dying Star Just Ate A Planet
For the first time astronomers found direct clues of a dying sun-like star eating an exoplanet. The star is in the constellation Aquila, the Eagle, and is called ZTF SLRN-2020
May 30th: Fast and Furious Starring Dual Quasars
Astronomers describe ‘cosmic noon’ as a dramatic period in the history of our Universe when it was buzzing with galaxy mergers and furious star formation. And here’s the evidence of the early merger.
Apr 29th: Playing Connect-the-dots Around a Baby Star
Have you ever played a connect-the-dots game? Recently, astronomers noticed a mysterious spiral pattern hiding around a baby star. But instead of dots, the pattern was made up by a strange kind of physics phenomenon called masers!
Apr 20th: A Supernova Coming Back to Life
Baby stars form when thick clouds of gas and dust fall into themselves or collapse due to gravity. Not all of the material collapses to form a baby star.
Mar 21st: High – Speed Baby Star Tantrums
Baby stars form when thick clouds of gas collapse. But not all the material collapse. A new study shows that some gas can escape at a high speed.
Mar 3rd: Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars, How We Wonder Where You Are
A recent study by NOIRLab’s educational project ‘Globe at Night’, shows how light pollution is increasing fast, taking away the majestic view of our starry night sky.
Feb 8th: AI Reveals Black Holes and Galaxies Grow up Together
Astronomers recently found that the growth of a galaxy and the growth of the supermassive black hole, or SMBH, at its center have a lot in common.