Category: Cosmology

  Astronomers just quintupled the number of known repeating fast radio bursts A Canadian telescope spotted eight more repeating fast radio bursts. What causes these cryptic flashes of radio waves from deep space remains unclear. Source: www.sciencenews.org/article/astronomers-just-quintupled-number-known-repeating-fast-radio-bursts?tgt=nr

The first AI capable of simulating the universe works so well it’s scary A team of researchers recently pioneered the world’s first AI universe simulator. It’s fast; it’s accurate; and its creators are baffled by its ability to understand things about the cosmos that it shouldn’t. Scientists have used computer simulations to try and digitally…

Fast Radio Burst Pinpointed to Distant Galaxy In a rare feat, astronomers have pinpointed the place of origin of a fast radio burst, with a surprising outcome. Source: www.caltech.edu/about/news/fast-radio-burst-pinpointed-distant-galaxy

  What if Dark Matter is Lighter? Report Calls for Wider Hunt Researchers are designing nimble new experiments to look for dark matter in previously unexplored ranges of particle mass and energy. Source: newscenter.lbl.gov/2019/06/10/small-dark-matter-experiments-broaden-hunt/

  We May Be Floating in the Middle of the Observable Universe’s Largest Void There’s a lot of stuff here on Earth. Then again, everything is relative. In the grandest of the grand scheme of things — like, a universe-wide scheme — … Source: curiosity.com/topics/we-may-be-floating-in-the-middle-of-the-observable-universes-largest-void-curiosity/

  Big black holes can settle in the outskirts of small galaxies Astronomers have found dozens of surprisingly massive black holes far from the centers of their host dwarf galaxies. Source: www.sciencenews.org/article/big-black-holes-can-settle-outskirts-small-galaxies

  New Clues About How Ancient Galaxies Lit up the Universe An ambitious new study using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope shows that ancient galaxies were brighter than scientists anticipated and that their light may have changed the universe. Source: www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7397

  The Mystery of How Fast Our Universe Is Expanding Grows with New Hubble Data New measurements from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope confirm that the universe is expanding about 9 percent faster than expected based on its trajectory seen shortly after the Big Bang, astronomers say. Source: www.astrowatch.net/2019/04/the-mystery-of-how-fast-our-universe-is.html?m=1

  Gravitational wave detectors upgraded to hunt for ‘extreme cosmic events’ First we saw black hole mergers. Then we saw two neutron stars collide. Now LIGO’s gearing up to reveal the secrets of the universe’s birth. Source: www.cnet.com/news/gravitational-wave-detectors-upgraded-to-hunt-for-extreme-cosmic-events/’ 

  We Just Discovered The Milky Way Isn’t Actually a Flat Disc After All Apparently our galaxy really likes to boogie. It has, on several occasions, enjoyed a Monster Mash; now it’s been caught doing the Twist. A new study has revealed that the Milky Way isn’t a nice, neat, flat disc – it’s seriously…

Most Detailed Observations of Material Orbiting close to a Black Hole – ESO’s GRAVITY instrument confirms black hole status of the Milky Way centre ESO’s exquisitely sensitive GRAVITY instrument has added further evidence to the long-standing assumption that a supermassive black hole lurks in the centre of the Milky Way. New observations show clumps of…