Astronomy / Astrophysics

A study of 20 radio galaxies offers new information on the activity of the supermassive black holes at their center

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports a study on the properties of the ionized gas that surrounds supermassive black holes in 20 galaxies selected as a sample. A team of researchers led by Barbara Balmaverde of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, Turin, used the MUSE spectrograph mounted on ESO’s VLT in Chile to carry out the MURALES (MUse RAdio Loud Emission line Snapshot) survey, which includes the 20 galaxies studied. These are powerful sources of radio emissions thanks to their active galactic nuclei. The mapping of the ionized gas and its interaction with the relativistic jet produced by central black holes helps to understand the mechanisms of growth and interaction with their host galaxies.

Interstellar comet 2I/Borisov seen by Hubble (Image NASA, ESA, D. Jewitt (UCLA))

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An article published in the “Astrophysical Journal Letters” reports the detection of what have been interpreted as traces of water emitted by interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. A team of researchers led by Adam McKay of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center used the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico to study the light reflected from the comet detecting the “signature” of oxygen in large amounts. The most likely explanation for the presence of this element is that the ultraviolet light from the Sun broke the water molecules emitted into oxygen and hydrogen.

Artist's concept of a Voyager space probe (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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Five articles published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” report various detections carried out by NASA’s Voyager 2 space probe in interstellar space. A number of teams of researchers examined the data collected by the five instruments still in use with each article dedicated to the data from a single instrument. Taken together, they help to understand interstellar space outside the heliosphere, the bubble in which the influence of the Sun is felt. One year after coming out of that bubble, Voyager 2 sent a lot of data on plasma and cosmic rays showing the differences compared to those within the heliosphere.

A possible low-mass black hole discovered

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An article published in the journal “Science” reports the discovery of what could be the lowest-mass known black hole, perhaps even the first of a new class of black holes. A team of researchers led by Professor Todd Thompson of Ohio State University used data from APOGEE (Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment) to discover a binary system that includes an invisible object that could be a black hole. If instead it were a neutron star it would be by far the most massive known, far beyond the theoretical highest limit before the collapse of such an object into a black hole.

Artist's concept of exoplanet near its star (Image ESA)

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports the study of exoplanets that orbit two red giant stars: HD 212771 and HD 203949. A team of researchers led by Tiago Campante of the Instituto de Astrofísica and Ciências do Espaço (IA) of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, applied the astrosismology technique to observations conducted with NASA’s TESS space telescope. The result was surprising in the case of the HD 203949 system because the planet wasn’t swallowed by the star during its expansion even though it orbited very close to it.