Latest news with #Hubble
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Amazing Time Lapse Of Fading Supernova Spied By Hubble
The Hubble Space Telescope captured imagery of supernova 2018 GV from 2018-2019. It was seen in barred spiral galaxy NGC 2525, which is located about 70 million light-years away in the constellation Puppis. Credit: / footage courtesy: NASA, ESA, J. DePasquale (STScI), M. Kornmesser and M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble), A. Riess (STScI/JHU) and the SH0ES team, and the Digitized Sky Survey / produced & edited by Steve Spaleta
Scientific American
2 days ago
- Science
- Scientific American
Why Do We Launch Space Telescopes?
On April 24, 1990, NASA and the European Space Agency launched an astronomical revolution. When the Space Shuttle Discovery roared into the sky on that day, it carried the Hubble Space Telescope in its payload bay, and the astronauts aboard deployed it into low-Earth orbit soon thereafter. Hubble is not the largest telescope ever built—in fact, with a 2.4-meter mirror, it's actually considered by astronomers to be small—but it has a huge advantage over its earthbound siblings: it's above essentially all of our planet's atmosphere. That lofty perch makes Hubble's views sharper and deeper—and even broader, by allowing the telescope to gather types of light invisible to human eyes and otherwise blocked by Earth's air. And, after 35 years in orbit, Hubble is still delivering incredible science and cosmic vistas of breathtaking beauty. Launching telescopes into space takes much more effort and money than building them on the ground, though. Space telescopes also tend to be smaller than ground-based ones; they have to fit into the payload housing of a rocket, limiting their size. That restriction can be minimized by designing an observatory to launch in a folded-up form that then unfurls in space, as with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) —but this approach almost inevitably piles on more risk, complexity and cost. Given those considerable obstacles, one might ask whether space telescopes are ever really worth the hassle. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. The short answer is: Yes, of course! For astronomical observations, getting above Earth's atmosphere brings three very basic but extremely powerful advantages. The first is that the sky is much darker in space. We tend to think of our atmosphere as being transparent, at least when it's cloudless. But unwanted light still suffuses Earth's air, even on the clearest night at the planet's darkest spot. Light pollution—unneeded illumination cast up into the sky instead of down to the ground—accounts for some of this, but the air also contains sunlight-energized molecules that slowly release this energy as a feeble trickle of visible light. This 'airglow' is dim but, even at night, outshines very faint celestial objects, limiting what ground-based telescopes can see. It's a problem of contrast, like trying to hear a whisper in a crowded restaurant. The quieter the background noise level, the better you can hear faint sounds. It's the same with the sky: a darker sky allows fainter objects to be seen. The second advantage to observing from space is that this escapes the inherent unsteadiness of our air. Turbulence in the atmosphere is the reason stars twinkle. That's anathema to astronomers; the twinkling of a star smears out its light during an observation, blurring small structures together and limiting a ground-based telescope's effective resolution (that is, how well it can distinguish between two closely spaced objects). This also makes faint objects even dimmer and harder to detect because their light isn't concentrated into a single spot and is instead diffused. Above the atmosphere, the stars and nebulas and galaxies appear crisp and unwavering, allowing us to capture far greater detail. The third reason to slip the surly bonds of Earth is that our air is extremely good at shielding us from many wavelengths of light our eyes cannot see. Ultraviolet light has wavelengths shorter than visible light (the kind our eyes detect), and while some of it reaches Earth's surface from space—enough from the sun, at least, to cause sunburns—a lot of it is instead absorbed by the air. In fact, light with a wavelength shorter than about 0.3 micron is absorbed completely. (That's a bit shorter than that of violet light, the shortest we can see, at about 0.38 micron.) So any sufficiently shortwave light—not just ultraviolet, but also even more cell-damaging x-rays and gamma rays—is sopped up by molecules in the air. That's good for human health but not great for observations of astronomical phenomena that emit light in these regimes. This happens with longer wavelengths, too. Carbon dioxide and water are excellent absorbers of infrared light, preventing astronomers on the ground from seeing most of those emissions from cosmic objects, too. As we've learned with JWST, observations in infrared can show us much about the universe that would otherwise lie beyond our own limited visual range. As just one example, the light from extremely distant galaxies is redshifted by the cosmic expansion into infrared wavelengths, where JWST excels. In fact, space telescopes that can see in different wavelengths have been crucial for discovering all sorts of surprising celestial objects and events. X-rays were critical in finding the first black holes, whose accretion disks generate high-energy light as the matter within them falls inward. Gamma-ray bursts, immensely powerful explosions, were initially detected via space-based observations. Brown dwarfs (which are essentially failed stars) emit very little visible light but are bright enough in the infrared that we now count them by the thousands in our catalogs. Observing in these other kinds of light is critical for unveiling important details about the underlying astrophysics of these and other phenomena. It's only by combining observations across the electromagnetic spectrum that we can truly understand how the universe works. Still, launching telescopes into space is a lot of trouble and expense. Official work on Hubble started in the 1970s, but delays kept it on the ground for decades. It also cost a lot of money: roughly $19.5 billion total between 1977 and 2021, in today's dollars. (Operational costs have been about $100 million per year in recent years, but Hubble is facing budget cuts.) JWST was $10 billion before it even launched, and running it adds about $170 million annually to the project's total price tag. Compare that with the European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope, or ELT, a 39-meter behemoth currently under construction that has an estimated budget of under $2 billion. Building on the ground is simpler, requires less testing and is more fault-tolerant, allowing much more bang for the buck. The capabilities of ground-based versus space-based telescopes are different, however. In general, big earthbound telescopes can collect a lot of light and see faint structures, but except for the ELT, they don't have the resolution of their space-based counterparts and can't see light outside the transparency window of our planet's air. Also, not every observation needs to be done from space; many can be done just fine from the ground, freeing up time on the more expensive and tightly scheduled space telescopes. Pitting these two kinds of facilities against each other—why have one when we can have the other?—is the wrong way to think about this. They don't compete; they complement. Together they provide a much clearer view of the cosmos than either can give by itself. Astronomy needs both.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
Planet nine stays hidden, but the solar system has a new mystery guest
Astronomers have discovered a new dwarf planet far beyond Neptune . Named 2017 OF201 , the object measures roughly 700 kilometres across and lies three times farther from Earth than Neptune. Its elongated orbit swings out over 1,600 times the distance between Earth and the Sun, taking it deep into the Oort cloud—a distant shell of icy objects surrounding the solar system. The new find comes from a US-based research team that had been searching for the mysterious Planet Nine. While they didn't locate the long-theorised giant planet, their work led to the unexpected discovery of 2017 OF201. What makes 2017 OF201 different According to lead author Sihao Cheng of the Institute for Advanced Study in New Jersey, the orbit of this object spans 25,000 years. During that time, it is visible from Earth for only around 0.5 percent of its orbit—about one century. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Fix Grammatical Errors and Typos With this Desktop App Grammarly Install Now Undo 'It's already getting fainter and fainter,' Cheng said. Despite being three times smaller than Pluto, the object is likely large enough to qualify as a dwarf planet. Pluto itself, once considered the ninth planet, was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. Live Events Amateur astronomer Sam Deen , aged 23, independently traced 2017 OF201 using archival data. 'OF201 is, in my opinion, probably one of the most interesting discoveries in the outer solar system in the last decade,' he said. A challenge to the Planet Nine theory The theory of Planet Nine originated from observations that icy objects in the Kuiper Belt tend to move in clustered orbits. Scientists suggested this pattern might be caused by the gravitational pull of an undiscovered planet, possibly up to 10 times the size of Earth. However, 2017 OF201 does not follow the clustered pattern seen in those earlier discoveries. This raises questions about whether the clustering is really due to an unseen planet. Cheng acknowledged this, saying the object's orbit could 'pose a problem for the Planet Nine theory ,' though he added that more data is required before drawing firm conclusions. Samantha Lawler, an astronomer at the University of Regina in Canada, described the find as a 'great discovery' and added that it weakens the original argument for Planet Nine. 'The original argument for Planet Nine is getting weaker and weaker,' she said. Despite the doubts, Cheng remains hopeful. 'We're in an era when big telescopes can see almost to the edge of the universe,' he said. 'But what is in our backyard still largely remains unknown.' The researchers are now requesting time on high-powered observatories , including the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble, to study the object further. Meanwhile, astronomers are also looking ahead to the Vera Rubin Observatory , due to become operational in Chile this year. Deen is optimistic. 'With Vera Rubin on the horizon I don't think we'll have to wonder about its existence for much longer,' he said.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
A new kid in our solar system? Hunt for mysterious 'Planet Nine' offers a surprise
A new kid in our solar system? Hunt for mysterious 'Planet Nine' offers a surprise PARIS: It's an evocative idea that has long bedevilled scientists: a huge and mysterious planet is lurking in the darkness at the edge of our solar system , evading all our efforts to spot it. Some astronomers say the strange, clustered orbits of icy rocks beyond Neptune indicate that something big is out there, which they have dubbed Planet Nine. Now, a US-based trio hunting this elusive world has instead stumbled on what appears to be a new dwarf planet in the solar system's outer reaches. And the existence of this new kid on the block could challenge the Planet Nine theory. Named 2017 OF201 , the new object is roughly 700km across, according to a preprint study published online last week. That makes it three times smaller than Pluto. But that is still big enough to be considered a dwarf planet, lead study author Sihao Cheng of New Jersey's Institute for Advanced Study said. The object is currently three times farther away from Earth than Neptune. And it's extremely elongated orbit swings out over 1,600 times the distance between Earth and the Sun, taking it into the ring of icy rocks around the solar system called Oort cloud . It goes so far out, it could have passed by stars other than our Sun in the past, Cheng said. During its 25,000-year orbit, the object is only close enough to Earth to be observed around 0.5% of the time, which is roughly a century. "It's already getting fainter and fainter," Cheng said. The discovery suggests "there are many hundreds of similar things on similar orbits" in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune. After spending over half a year sorting through a difficult dataset in search of Planet Nine, Cheng said he was "lucky" to have found anything at all. Researchers are seeking time to point James Webb, Hubble and ALMA telescopes at their discovery. But Sam Deen, a 23-year-old amateur astronomer , has been able to track the dwarf planet candidate through old datasets. "OF201 is probably one of the most interesting discoveries in the outer solar system in last decade," he said. Back in 1930, astronomers were searching for Planet X when they found Pluto, which became our solar system's ninth planet. But Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status in 2006. There are now four other dwarf planets, and Cheng believes 2017 OF201 could join their ranks. When researchers modelled its orbit, they found it did not follow the clustered trend of similar objects. This could pose a problem for Planet Nine theory, but Cheng said more data is needed. He hopes this huge planet is out there somewhere. "We're in an era when big telescopes can see almost to the edge of universe," he said. But what's in our "backyard" largely remains unknown.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Uranus changed structure and brightened significantly, study finds
A new study revealed Uranus's structure as a planet changed and brightened significantly over the past 20 years. The study, performed by researchers from the University of Arizona and the University of Wisconsin, observed Uranus four times (2002, 2012, 2015, 2022) in the 20 years using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. 'Hubble observations suggest complex atmospheric circulation patterns on Uranus during this period, NASA said. 'The data that are most sensitive to the methane distribution indicate a downwelling in the polar regions and upwelling in other regions,' the agency added. Researchers discovered the south polar region of the planet got darker in winter shadow, while the north polar region brightened as it began to come into a more direct view as northern summer approached. Uranus's atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, with a small amount of methane and traces of water and ammonia. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
