There are space explosions that are not the end. It's often the beginning.
The explosion of huge stars spread essential elements around the universe. Our cells use iron to carry blood and Oxygen. Heavy elements are created by the blasts. You are like stars as well. When stars explode, they can create huge regions of gas and dust, which can be found in the clouds.
Astronomers found a number of violent explosions and crashes in space. These are the most significant events in our solar system.
An artist's conception of a gamma-ray burst from an exploding star. Credit: NASA / ESA / M. Kornmesser
Astronomers observed a huge boom. NASA's Swift Observatory, which is designed to spot the most powerful explosions in the universe, detected an extremely strong burst. Scientists say the jets of energy that travel through space are caused by the collapse and explosion of huge stars.
It must be at least eight times the size of the sun for a star to explode. The star of a supernova needs to be at least 30 to 40 times the size of the sun. This new powerful detection, so rare that we'll probably only see it once a decade, came from a mighty star.
The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics astronomer said that it was a very unique event.
It's important that you don't worry. The explosion happened in a distant universe. The energy that has traveled and spread through space poses no danger to us. We can see it with satellites.
The equivalent of getting front row seats at a fireworks show is what it is.
The full story can be found on the website.
An artist's conception of the aftermath of a kilonova blast in deep space. Credit: X-ray: NASA / CXC / Northwestern Univ. / A. Hajela et al. // Illustration: NASA / CXC / M.Weiss
The scientists observed a blast some 130 million light-years away. They found a collision between two collapsed stars that are the densest objects in the universe. The dramatic event produced a powerful stream of energy. Three and a half years later, something else, something new, has released energy.
Edo Berger is an astronomer at Harvard University and one of the scientists who detected this new event.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory picked up a burst of energy from a hot place. It's like a sonic boom when a plane breaks the sound barrier.
Astronomers propose two possible explanations for the event, neither of which has ever been observed before, according to the leader of the research. Hajela is a PhD student in physics and astronomy.
There is a "kilonova glow". The most likely explanation is that when two stars collide, they create a bright blast called a kilonova. Astronomers suspect important elements and metals are forged in these blasts, like gold and Platinum. According to Hajela, it is one of the main places for heavier elements in the universe.
Astronomers theorize that debris expanded into space after the explosion. There was a blast that heated things up. We can detect this afterglow from millions of light years away.
There is a chance that the merger of two stars created a black hole that is so strong that no light can escape it. The bounty of energy is released when debris falls around an object. This could be the source of the new energy.
The full story can be found on the website.
The exploded star Tycho, called the Tycho Supernova. (It's not the star recently observed exploding, but a past supernova event.) Credit: NASA / CXC / RIKEN And GSFC / T. Sato Et Al. / Optical: DSS
Astronomers had never seen the explosion of a giant star. Astronomers on a mountain in Maui used a powerful telescope to find a red supergiant that was much more distant than Betelgeuse. They watched it for 130 days and were able to see the end. "super nova 2020tlf" is a name for the explosion.
The astronomer who led the research said that they saw the star violently erupt. We wanted to find it.
This year's research was published in a journal.
There is no close-up footage of the explosion of this star. Dots are seen through our telescopes when we see stars well beyond our galaxy. The explosion was imminent and the astronomer used specialized equipment at the W.M. Keck Observatory to observe it.
There was a blast in a distant universe. It takes just one star to surpass the others.
The full story can be found on the website.
The rocky asteroid Dimorphos. Credit: NASA / JHUAPL
NASA successfully moved an asteroid.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, was humanity's first attempt to deliberately cause an object to move. The rocky target, Dimorphos, is not a threat to Earth, but the mission was an experiment to see how civilization could alter the path of a menacing asteroid.
At the time of impact, Dimorphos was some 6.8 million miles away. The goal was to hit the asteroid with a small craft. The ability to alter an asteroid's trajectory was demonstrated by scientists.
The impact created a tail that was tens of thousands of miles long. The impact slowed Dimorphos' path around Didymos and proved that the experiment worked.
We can learn a lot from the DART mission. Tom Statler, the program scientist for DART at NASA, stated in a statement that NASA's overarching work to understand asteroids and other small bodies in our Solar System. It was just the beginning. We use the observations to study what these bodies are made of and how they were formed, as well as how to defend our planet.
The full story can be found on the website.
A rocket booster impacted the moon on March 4, leaving a crater on the lunar surface. Credit: NASA / Goddard / Arizona State University
There is a crater on the moon. This one isn't normal.
The impact site of a recent rocket crash on the far side of the moon was spotted by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The space agency published images of the impact in June, which resulted in a double crater.
It was the first time that space debris unintentionally impacted our satellite when a rocket booster slammed into the moon. The double crater was not what NASA expected.
According to NASA, the double crater was unexpected and may indicate that the rocket body had large mass at each end. The rest of the rocket stage consists of an empty fuel tank. The double nature of the crater could indicate the identity of the rocket body.
The full story can be found on the website.
A large crater on Mars created by a meteoroid impact. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona
A stunning picture of a new crater on Mars was snapped by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling the red planet for a decade and a half.
It is unprecedented to find a fresh impact of this size, according to the leader of NASA's Impact Science working group. It's an exciting moment in geologic history and we have to watch it.
The event was picked up in late 2021. Valuable resources were discovered in the image from the year 2022. The report was reported by Mashable's Elisha Sauers.
But what's thrilled scientists perhaps as much as or more than the recorded seismic activity is what the meteor uncovered when it slammed into Mars — huge, boulder-size chunks of ice blasted out of the crater. Up until now, underground ice hadn't been found in this region, the warmest part of the planet.
"This is really an exciting result," said Lori Glaze, NASA's director of planetary science, during a news conference. "We know, of course, that there's water ice near the poles on Mars. But in planning for future human exploration of Mars, we'd want to land the astronauts as near to the equator as possible, and having access to ice at these lower latitudes, that ice can be converted into water, oxygen, or hydrogen. That could be really useful."
The full story can be found on the website.
Next year will see more space blasts. The following year. You understand the idea.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
