W1200-7845 was discovered through Disk Detective, a citizen science project funded by NASA and hosted by Zooniverse that provides images of objects in space for the public to classify, with the aim of picking out objects that are likely stars with disks that could potentially host planets. Citizen scientists can look through ‘flipbooks’ —images of…
Astronomers using European Southern Observatory (ESO) telescopes have discovered giant spots on the surface of extremely hot stars hidden in stellar clusters. Not only are these stars plagued by magnetic spots, some also experience superflare events, explosions of energy several million times more energetic than similar eruptions on the Sun. The findings, published today in…
Pasadena, CA— The universe is full of billions of galaxies—but their distribution across space is far from uniform. Why do we see so much structure in the universe today and how did it all form and grow? A 10-year survey of tens of thousands of galaxies made using the Magellan Baade Telescope at Carnegie’s Las…
A young planet located 150 light-years away has given UNSW Sydney astrophysicists a rare chance to study a planetary system in the making. The findings, recently published in The Astronomical Journal, suggest that the planet DS Tuc Ab — which orbits a star in a binary system — formed without being heavily impacted by the gravitational…
Rationale Lyman alpha emission is a prominent signpost of the most actively star forming galaxies. Which galaxies can be found by Lyman alpha emission is determined by Lyman alpha production and escape, which are both interesting and challenging to understand in detail. Moreover, because of its strong interaction with neutral hydrogen, Lyman alpha affords a…
Pasadena, CA—NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has for the first time seen the aftermath of a star that was violently ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. Catching such a rare event in action will help astronomers understand these mysterious phenomena. The observation is reported in The Astrophysical Journal by a team of astronomers led by…
Pasadena, CA—Carnegie’s Eduardo Bañados led a team that found a quasar with the brightest radio emission ever observed in the early universe, due to it spewing out a jet of extremely fast-moving material. Bañados’ discovery was followed up by Emmanuel Momjian of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which allowed the team to see with unprecedented…
Washington, DC—A group of astronomers from Carnegie’s Las Campanas Observatory including Mark Phillips and Guillermo Blanc, along with Miguel Roth from the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization, presented the case against light pollution to Chilean authorities earlier this month. Combating light pollution is not about demanding complete darkness, it is about illuminating human spaces well, Blanc…
