Telescopes

The galaxy LEDA 131342

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal Letters” reports a study of the galaxy LEDA 131342 that identified nine concentric rings composed of stars that make it look like a sort of cosmic bullseye. A team of researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii to identify these rings that form a truly extraordinary configuration considering that so far, galaxies with only two or three rings were known. The cause of this unique conformation is a dwarf galaxy that, according to calculations, about 50 million years ago passed through LEDA 131342 drastically changing its original shape.

Scheme of the the HD 20794 system with its habitable zone in green (Image courtesy Gabriel Pérez (IAC))

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports the identification of the exoplanet that was cataloged as HD 20794 d. A team of researchers used data collected in more than twenty years with two spectrographs: ESPRESSO, mounted on the VLT, and HARPS, at the La Silla Observatory, both of ESO in Chile, to identify HD 20794 d and define its orbit and characteristics. The analysis indicates that it’s a super-Earth with a mass almost six times the Earth’s with a highly elliptical orbit that brings it into the habitable zone of its star system for part of its year.

Perseus and Centaurus galaxy clusters

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An article published in the journal Nature Astronomy reports the results of a study of seven galaxy clusters which contain various supermassive black holes that offers evidence that outbursts generated at these black holes help cool the gas they feed on. A team of researchers used observations with multiple instruments to examine seven galaxy clusters. Outbursts in the form of jets from the supermassive black holes in those clusters cool the gas by forming thin filaments. Some of that gas will eventually flow back toward those black holes, triggering more outbursts in a mechanism in which the black holes “cook” their own meals.

The Andromeda Galaxy

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A new image of the Andromeda Galaxy has been created by combining images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope from about 600 separate fields of view. It took two observing programs over a total of more than a decade and a thousand Hubble orbits to achieve this result. The new mosaic includes more than two hundred million individual stars in the Andromeda Galaxy, a minority made up of the stars that are more massive and bright than the Sun. Hubble’s observations provide a wealth of information about these stars that helps us better understand Andromeda’s history.

Artist's concept of a neutron star emitting a fast radio burst from its magnetosphere (Image courtesy Daniel Liévano, edited by MIT News)

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An article published in the journal “Nature” reports the identification of the origin of the fast radio burst cataloged as FRB 20221022A linking it to a magnetar-class neutron star, probably emerging from its magnetosphere. A team of researchers coordinated by MIT used observations conducted with the CHIME radio telescope to identify the origin of this already-known fast radio burst by exploiting the phenomenon of scintillation, comparable to how stars twinkle in the sky. This is further evidence of the link between magnetars and fast radio bursts, the very powerful emissions that can be one-time or repeated events.