Science

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Earth-Size, Habitable-Zone Planet Found Hidden in Early NASA Kepler Data

While the star it orbits is much smaller than our Sun, it gets about 75% of the sunlight Earth does. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory managed Kepler mission development.

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This artist's concept shows what exoplanet Kepler-1649c could look like on its surface. The planet is the closest to Earth in size and temperature found yet in data from the Kepler space telescope.

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Event Horizon Telescope observes a black hole-powered jet

MIT Haystack Observatory researchers coauthor a paper announcing the observation of a surprising structure in a distant quasar, 3C 279.

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The multi-wavelength 3C 279 jet structure is seen in April 2017. The wavelengths (λ) in millimeters, observation days, and arrays are noted in each panel.

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Gemini Detects Most Energetic Wind from Distant Quasar

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The image at left shows an artist’s conception of the central portion of the galaxy that hosts the quasar SDSS J135246.37+423923.5 viewed at optical wavelengths. Thick winds obscure our view, and imprint signatures of the energetic outflow on the SDSS spectrum. The image at right shows the same artist’s view at infrared wavelengths, as seen by the Gemini GNIRS detector. The thick outflow is transparent at infrared wavelengths, giving us a clear line of sight to the quasar. The infrared spectrum yields the quasar redshift, and from that reference frame, we measured the record-breaking outflow velocity.

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New research helps explain why the solar wind is hotter than expected

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The solar wind causes events such auroras, like this one photographed by a U.S. astronaut after docking with the International Space Station. It can also interfere with satellite communications and distort the magnetic field of earth.

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Discovery of a Young Blazar Produced by the Merger of Two Galaxies

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The galaxy TXS 2116-077 (seen on the right) collides with another spiral-shaped galaxy of similar mass, creating a relativistic jet in TXS 2116-077's centre. Both galaxies have AGNs. Shown here is an image of the emission in the H-alpha line with superposed isophotes of the infrared emission in the J band. Also shown in black lines is the region where a spectrum was obtained with ISIS on the WHT and OSIRIS on the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). Figure extracted from Paliya et al., 2020, ApJ, 892, 133.

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NASA Successfully Tests Telemetry Signal on Agency’s First All-Electric X-plane

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Telemetry testing begins on the X-57 Maxwell, NASA’s first all-electric X-plane, as the operations crew at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center records the results. Telemetry testing is a critical phase in X-57’s functional test series. In addition to confirming the ability of the X-57 aircraft to transmit speed, altitude, direction, and location to teams on the ground, telemetry testing also confirms the ability to transmit mission-critical-data, such as voltage, power consumption, and structural integrity. X-57’s goal is to help set certification standards for emerging electric aircraft markets.

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Explosion

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A GIF cycles between an image of V906 Carinae taken on April 7, 2018, about 18 days after the nova's discovery and near its peak brightness, and one showing its faded appearance on May 4, 2019.

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Scientists Discover Brightest Supernova Ever Seen

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Scientists Discover Brightest Supernova Ever Seen

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Piercing the Dark Birthplaces of Massive Stars with Webb

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The Snake is a serpentine-shaped, extremely filamentary cloud. In this infrared image from the Spitzer Space Telescope, the blue dots are stars relatively undimmed by dust, while the red dots are embedded, forming stars.

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Merger Partners? Maybe.

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Simulated image of two merging black holes, viewed face-on. LIGO has announced the detection of ten of these events from its first two observing runs.