Telescopes

Blogs about telescopes and astronomical observations instruments

An artistic representation of a tidal disruption event: a star is destroyed by the intense tidal forces of a supermassive black hole, while some of its material forms an accretion disk around it. (Image generated by Google Gemini)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” reports the results of a study on the formation of jets of materials by black holes, identifying a rule that appears to be independent of their mass. Adelle Goodwin of the Curtin University’s International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Australia, and Andrew Mummery of Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, USA, studied a series of tidal disruption events in which black holes destroyed a star. By analyzing the collected data, the researchers concluded that all black holes emit powerful jets of material at the same stage of their accretion cycle, a stage linked solely to the rate at which the black hole feeds, rather than its mass.

Two views of Saturn obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. On the right, a view of the planet's south pole, with the decagon that is the subject of this study

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An article published in the journal “Science Advances” reports the discovery of a decagon-shaped structure at the planet Saturn’s south pole. A team of researchers led by Professor Agustín Sánchez-Lavega of the University of the Basque Country combined observations conducted with the Hubble Space Telescope between 2023 and 2025. They observed an evolution of this structure, which was initially only vaguely defined and then took on more defined contours. This decagon has similarities to the hexagon at Saturn’s north pole but also exhibits some differences. The researchers believe it could be generated by a new atmospheric phenomenon.

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope blasting off atop a Falcon Heavy rocket (Image NASA+)

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A little while ago, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center. After just over 31 minutes, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and set course for the area known as L2 (Lagrange Point 2), where its scientific mission will begin.

Originally known as the Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (WFIRST) and later named after astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, this space telescope had a complicated and unusual history. Various infrared astronomy projects seemed impossible to approve due to a lack of funding, but in 2012, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) donated two unused spy satellites to NASA, each equipped with a mirror the size of Hubble’s, which has a diameter of 2.4 meters. This allowed this project to get started.

Betelgeuse as seen by the ALMA radio telescope (Image ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/W. Dent et al.)

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An article accepted for publication in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports the results of observations of structures that are lasting longer than predicted in the atmosphere of the star Betelgeuse. A team of researchers used the ALMA radio telescope to obtain some of the most detailed views of Betelgeuse’s surface ever obtained. This allowed them to study its really uneven surface and the structures within its atmosphere.

Some of the galaxies included in the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys map (Image: DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys/LBNL/DOE & KPNO/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)

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The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys team has released the largest 2D map of the universe. Consisting of 5.6 trillion pixels, this map includes nearly 4 billion celestial objects, ranging from asteroids to galaxies, as well as other objects such as stars, black holes, and more. It’s a vast archive spanning approximately three-quarters of the sky, useful for astronomical studies requiring information at optical and near-infrared frequencies. This result isn’t the final one, as the map will be used to determine the distances to objects such as quasars to construct a new map, this time 3D.