Gravitational waves lead to ground-breaking, “impossible” discovery; Triple-star planetary rings

Gravitational waves lead to ground-breaking, “impossible” discovery; Triple-star planetary rings

Sep 8, 2020 | Black Holes (Stellar), Cosmology, Daily Space, Exoplanets, Supermassive Black Holes

Join us today as we examine major news coming out last week from institutions analyzing data from the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors: the largest and farthest collision detected yet has led to the discovery of an “impossible” black hole. Plus a triple-star system has planetary rings and the camera that will be at the heart of the Vera Rubin Observatory takes its first images… of broccoli.

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Black hole’s corona disappearing act; white dwarf hurtling across Milky Way; SDSS fills in gap in expansion history; new image of CMB continues age debate; using science to analyze art

Black hole’s corona disappearing act; white dwarf hurtling across Milky Way; SDSS fills in gap in expansion history; new image of CMB continues age debate; using science to analyze art

Jul 20, 2020 | Cosmology, Daily Space, Rockets, Supermassive Black Holes, White Dwarfs

Join us today as we examine one possible reason a black hole’s corona may have disappeared. Be on the lookout for a runaway white dwarf whose supernova sent it hurtling across the Milky Way. We take a look at new survey results that fill in an 11-billion-year gap in the expansion of the universe. A new image of the cosmic microwave background suggests the universe is 13.77 billion years old, give or take 40 million years. And as a fun bonus, scientists use celestial sleuthing on a Vermeer painting to determine when it was actually painted.

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Second-most distant quasar found and given Hawai’ian name; theoretical axion particles may explain origin of dark matter

Second-most distant quasar found and given Hawai’ian name; theoretical axion particles may explain origin of dark matter

Jun 29, 2020 | Cosmology, Daily Space, Dark Matter, Gemini South, Quasar, Supermassive Black Holes

Join us today as we look at big news on a big quasar! Pōniuāʻena is the second-most distant quasar ever found, and its existence challenges conventional black hole formation theory. Also, we explain how the theoretical axion particle might be involved in the origin of dark matter.

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