Astronomy

Astronomers have identified what appears to be a massive cloud of dark matter roughly 3,000 light years from our solar system. Using pulsar observations, a team led by Sukanya Chakrabarti detected gravitational effects suggesting an object 60 million times the sun's mass. This could be the first such sub-halo found in the Milky Way.

28 Mwezi wa kwanza, 2026 Imeripotiwa na AI

For the first time, scientists have detected radio waves from a Type Ibn supernova, revealing the final years of a massive star's life. The signals show the star shed significant material just before exploding, likely due to a companion star. This discovery offers a new method to study stellar deaths using radio telescopes.

Researchers have mapped an ancient coastline on Mars, revealing a vast ocean comparable to Earth's Arctic Ocean that existed billions of years ago. Using data from orbiting spacecraft, the team identified geological features suggesting long-lasting surface water in the planet's largest canyon. This discovery provides the strongest evidence yet for Mars's watery past.

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Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have observed the ultra-hot gas giant WASP-121b losing its atmosphere over a full orbit, revealing two enormous helium tails extending across more than half its path around its star. This marks the first continuous tracking of such atmospheric escape, providing unprecedented details on the process. The findings, published in Nature Communications, highlight the complexity of exoplanetary environments.