Latest news with #RutgersSchoolofArtsandSciences
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Intrigued by Glowing Cloud Near Our Solar System
Scientists have discovered a gigantic, glowing gas of hydrogen gas lurking just 300 light-years away. As detailed in a paper to be published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the international team of researchers spotted the crescent-shaped gas cloud, dubbed Eos, on the edge of the Local Bubble, an enormous cavity that encompasses our entire solar system. The team discovered the cloud by scanning the skies for ultraviolet emissions of molecular hydrogen, the first implementation of such a technique, which they conducted using the far-ultraviolet spectrograph attached to the South Korean satellite STSAT-1. Conventionally, researchers use radio or infrared observatories to pick up the chemical signatures. "The data showed glowing hydrogen molecules detected via fluorescence in the far ultraviolet," said Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences associate professor and team lead Blakesley Burkhart in a statement. "This cloud is literally glowing in the dark." The researchers are hoping the discovery could allow them to better understand the interstellar medium, the space between stars, and how molecular clouds of gas eventually go on to form new stars. "When we look through our telescopes, we catch whole solar systems in the act of forming, but we don't know in detail how that happens," Burkhart explained. "Our discovery of Eos is exciting because we can now directly measure how molecular clouds are forming and dissociating, and how a galaxy begins to transform interstellar gas and dust into stars and planets." Eos itself has a mass of roughly 3,400 times that of the Sun, and it could take six million years to evaporate. "The story of the cosmos is a story of the rearrangement of atoms over billions of years," Burkhart explained. "The hydrogen in Eos has been traveling for 13.6 billion years since the Big Bang." The cloud eluded scientists for so long because it doesn't emit the usual mix of carbon monoxide gases that have previously been picked up in radio and infrared observations. Meanwhile, Burkhart and her colleagues are excited about spotting far more distant clouds of hydrogen with the help of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. As detailed in a draft paper, the team believes that "we may have found the very furthest hydrogen molecules from the Sun," Burkhart explained in the statement. "So, we have found both some of the closest and farthest using far-ultraviolet emission," she added. More on molecular clouds: Scientists Detect "Strange Filaments" at the Heart of Our Galaxy
CNN
28-04-2025
- Science
- CNN
Scientists discover massive molecular cloud close to Earth
An invisible molecular cloud that could shed light on how stars and planets form has been detected surprisingly close to Earth. Named Eos after the Greek goddess of the dawn, the cloud of gas would appear huge in the night sky if visible to the naked eye. It measures roughly 40 moons in width and has a weight about 3,400 times the mass of the sun, researchers reported in a study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. 'In astronomy, seeing the previously unseen usually means peering deeper with ever more sensitive telescopes — detecting those smaller planets … those more distant galaxies,' said study coauthor Thomas Haworth, an astrophysicist at Queen Mary University of London. 'This thing was pretty much in our cosmic backyard, and we've just missed it,' he added. Molecular clouds are composed of gas and dust from which hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules can form. Dense clumps within these clouds can collapse to form young stars. Scientists usually spot a molecular cloud using radio and infrared observations that can pick up the chemical signature for carbon monoxide, Haworth explained. 'We normally look for carbon monoxide, just one carbon atom and one oxygen atom, and that emits light pretty easily at wavelengths that we can detect,' he said. '(Carbon monoxide is) bright, and we have lots of facilities that can spot that.' However, Eos eluded discovery despite being the closest molecular cloud to Earth because it does not contain much carbon monoxide, and therefore doesn't emit the characteristic signature detected by conventional approaches, the researchers said. The key to unlocking this stunning find was searching for ultraviolent light emitted by hydrogen in the cloud. 'The only reason we managed to catch it in this instance is because we've been able to look with a different color of light,' Haworth added. Haworth and his colleagues detected Eos in data collected by a far-ultraviolet spectrograph called FIMS-SPEAR that operated as an instrument on a Korean satellite called STSAT-1. The data had just been released publicly in 2023 when lead study author Blakesley Burkhart, an associate professor in the department of physics and astronomy in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, came across it. The spectrograph breaks down far-ultraviolet light emitted by a material into its component wavelengths, similar to what a prism does with visible light, creating a spectrum that scientists can analyze. 'This is the first-ever molecular cloud discovered by looking for far ultraviolet emission of molecular hydrogen directly,' Burkhart said in a news release. 'The data showed glowing hydrogen molecules detected via fluorescence in the far ultraviolet. This cloud is literally glowing in the dark.' The molecular cloud's proximity to Earth provides a unique opportunity to study how solar systems form, Burkhart said. 'Our discovery of Eos is exciting because we can now directly measure how molecular clouds are forming and dissociating, and how a galaxy begins to transform interstellar gas and dust into stars and planets,' Burkhart said. Astronomers thought they had a good handle on the locations and properties of the molecular clouds within about 1,600 light-years of the sun, making this 'pretty cool discovery' quite a surprise, said Melissa McClure, an assistant professor at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. 'This new molecular cloud, Eos, is only 300 light-years away, which is closer than any of the molecular clouds that we've known about previously,' McClure, who wasn't involved in the research, said. 'It's puzzling why there's something this big right in our solar neighborhood that we didn't see before,' McClure added. 'It would be a bit like living in a suburb with above-ground houses and open lots in it, and suddenly realizing that one of the open lots actually hosts a hidden underground bunker in it.'
CNN
28-04-2025
- Science
- CNN
Scientists discover massive molecular cloud close to Earth
An invisible molecular cloud that could shed light on how stars and planets form has been detected surprisingly close to Earth. Named Eos after the Greek goddess of the dawn, the cloud of gas would appear huge in the night sky if visible to the naked eye. It measures roughly 40 moons in width and has a weight about 3,400 times the mass of the sun, researchers reported in a study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. 'In astronomy, seeing the previously unseen usually means peering deeper with ever more sensitive telescopes — detecting those smaller planets … those more distant galaxies,' said study coauthor Thomas Haworth, an astrophysicist at Queen Mary University of London. 'This thing was pretty much in our cosmic backyard, and we've just missed it,' he added. Molecular clouds are composed of gas and dust from which hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules can form. Dense clumps within these clouds can collapse to form young stars. Scientists usually spot a molecular cloud using radio and infrared observations that can pick up the chemical signature for carbon monoxide, Haworth explained. 'We normally look for carbon monoxide, just one carbon atom and one oxygen atom, and that emits light pretty easily at wavelengths that we can detect,' he said. '(Carbon monoxide is) bright, and we have lots of facilities that can spot that.' However, Eos eluded discovery despite being the closest molecular cloud to Earth because it does not contain much carbon monoxide, and therefore doesn't emit the characteristic signature detected by conventional approaches, the researchers said. The key to unlocking this stunning find was searching for ultraviolent light emitted by hydrogen in the cloud. 'The only reason we managed to catch it in this instance is because we've been able to look with a different color of light,' Haworth added. Haworth and his colleagues detected Eos in data collected by a far-ultraviolet spectrograph called FIMS-SPEAR that operated as an instrument on a Korean satellite called STSAT-1. The data had just been released publicly in 2023 when lead study author Blakesley Burkhart, an associate professor in the department of physics and astronomy in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, came across it. The spectrograph breaks down far-ultraviolet light emitted by a material into its component wavelengths, similar to what a prism does with visible light, creating a spectrum that scientists can analyze. 'This is the first-ever molecular cloud discovered by looking for far ultraviolet emission of molecular hydrogen directly,' Burkhart said in a news release. 'The data showed glowing hydrogen molecules detected via fluorescence in the far ultraviolet. This cloud is literally glowing in the dark.' The molecular cloud's proximity to Earth provides a unique opportunity to study how solar systems form, Burkhart said. 'Our discovery of Eos is exciting because we can now directly measure how molecular clouds are forming and dissociating, and how a galaxy begins to transform interstellar gas and dust into stars and planets,' Burkhart said. Astronomers thought they had a good handle on the locations and properties of the molecular clouds within about 1,600 light-years of the sun, making this 'pretty cool discovery' quite a surprise, said Melissa McClure, an assistant professor at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. 'This new molecular cloud, Eos, is only 300 light-years away, which is closer than any of the molecular clouds that we've known about previously,' McClure, who wasn't involved in the research, said. 'It's puzzling why there's something this big right in our solar neighborhood that we didn't see before,' McClure added. 'It would be a bit like living in a suburb with above-ground houses and open lots in it, and suddenly realizing that one of the open lots actually hosts a hidden underground bunker in it.'
CNN
28-04-2025
- Science
- CNN
Scientists discover massive molecular cloud close to Earth
An invisible molecular cloud that could shed light on how stars and planets form has been detected surprisingly close to Earth. Named Eos after the Greek goddess of the dawn, the cloud of gas would appear huge in the night sky if visible to the naked eye. It measures roughly 40 moons in width and has a weight about 3,400 times the mass of the sun, researchers reported in a study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. 'In astronomy, seeing the previously unseen usually means peering deeper with ever more sensitive telescopes — detecting those smaller planets … those more distant galaxies,' said study coauthor Thomas Haworth, an astrophysicist at Queen Mary University of London. 'This thing was pretty much in our cosmic backyard, and we've just missed it,' he added. Molecular clouds are composed of gas and dust from which hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules can form. Dense clumps within these clouds can collapse to form young stars. Scientists usually spot a molecular cloud using radio and infrared observations that can pick up the chemical signature for carbon monoxide, Haworth explained. 'We normally look for carbon monoxide, just one carbon atom and one oxygen atom, and that emits light pretty easily at wavelengths that we can detect,' he said. '(Carbon monoxide is) bright, and we have lots of facilities that can spot that.' However, Eos eluded discovery despite being the closest molecular cloud to Earth because it does not contain much carbon monoxide, and therefore doesn't emit the characteristic signature detected by conventional approaches, the researchers said. The key to unlocking this stunning find was searching for ultraviolent light emitted by hydrogen in the cloud. 'The only reason we managed to catch it in this instance is because we've been able to look with a different color of light,' Haworth added. Haworth and his colleagues detected Eos in data collected by a far-ultraviolet spectrograph called FIMS-SPEAR that operated as an instrument on a Korean satellite called STSAT-1. The data had just been released publicly in 2023 when lead study author Blakesley Burkhart, an associate professor in the department of physics and astronomy in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, came across it. The spectrograph breaks down far-ultraviolet light emitted by a material into its component wavelengths, similar to what a prism does with visible light, creating a spectrum that scientists can analyze. 'This is the first-ever molecular cloud discovered by looking for far ultraviolet emission of molecular hydrogen directly,' Burkhart said in a news release. 'The data showed glowing hydrogen molecules detected via fluorescence in the far ultraviolet. This cloud is literally glowing in the dark.' The molecular cloud's proximity to Earth provides a unique opportunity to study how solar systems form, Burkhart said. 'Our discovery of Eos is exciting because we can now directly measure how molecular clouds are forming and dissociating, and how a galaxy begins to transform interstellar gas and dust into stars and planets,' Burkhart said. Astronomers thought they had a good handle on the locations and properties of the molecular clouds within about 1,600 light-years of the sun, making this 'pretty cool discovery' quite a surprise, said Melissa McClure, an assistant professor at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. 'This new molecular cloud, Eos, is only 300 light-years away, which is closer than any of the molecular clouds that we've known about previously,' McClure, who wasn't involved in the research, said. 'It's puzzling why there's something this big right in our solar neighborhood that we didn't see before,' McClure added. 'It would be a bit like living in a suburb with above-ground houses and open lots in it, and suddenly realizing that one of the open lots actually hosts a hidden underground bunker in it.'
CNN
28-04-2025
- Science
- CNN
Huge star-forming cloud discovered in Earth's ‘cosmic backyard'
An invisible molecular cloud that could shed light on how stars and planets form has been detected surprisingly close to Earth. Named Eos after the Greek goddess of the dawn, the cloud of gas would appear huge in the night sky if visible to the naked eye. It measures roughly 40 moons in width and has a weight about 3,400 times the mass of the sun, researchers reported in a study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. 'In astronomy, seeing the previously unseen usually means peering deeper with ever more sensitive telescopes — detecting those smaller planets … those more distant galaxies,' said study coauthor Thomas Haworth, an astrophysicist at Queen Mary University of London. 'This thing was pretty much in our cosmic backyard, and we've just missed it,' he added. Molecular clouds are composed of gas and dust from which hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules can form. Dense clumps within these clouds can collapse to form young stars. Scientists usually spot a molecular cloud using radio and infrared observations that can pick up the chemical signature for carbon monoxide, Haworth explained. 'We normally look for carbon monoxide, just one carbon atom and one oxygen atom, and that emits light pretty easily at wavelengths that we can detect,' he said. '(Carbon monoxide is) bright, and we have lots of facilities that can spot that.' However, Eos eluded discovery despite being the closest molecular cloud to Earth because it does not contain much carbon monoxide, and therefore doesn't emit the characteristic signature detected by conventional approaches, the researchers said. The key to unlocking this stunning find was searching for ultraviolent light emitted by hydrogen in the cloud. 'The only reason we managed to catch it in this instance is because we've been able to look with a different color of light,' Haworth added. Haworth and his colleagues detected Eos in data collected by a far-ultraviolet spectrograph called FIMS-SPEAR that operated as an instrument on a Korean satellite called STSAT-1. The data had just been released publicly in 2023 when lead study author Blakesley Burkhart, an associate professor in the department of physics and astronomy in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, came across it. The spectrograph breaks down far-ultraviolet light emitted by a material into its component wavelengths, similar to what a prism does with visible light, creating a spectrum that scientists can analyze. 'This is the first-ever molecular cloud discovered by looking for far ultraviolet emission of molecular hydrogen directly,' Burkhart said in a news release. 'The data showed glowing hydrogen molecules detected via fluorescence in the far ultraviolet. This cloud is literally glowing in the dark.' The molecular cloud's proximity to Earth provides a unique opportunity to study how solar systems form, Burkhart said. 'Our discovery of Eos is exciting because we can now directly measure how molecular clouds are forming and dissociating, and how a galaxy begins to transform interstellar gas and dust into stars and planets,' Burkhart said. Astronomers thought they had a good handle on the locations and properties of the molecular clouds within about 1,600 light-years of the sun, making this 'pretty cool discovery' quite a surprise, said Melissa McClure, an assistant professor at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. 'This new molecular cloud, Eos, is only 300 light-years away, which is closer than any of the molecular clouds that we've known about previously,' McClure, who wasn't involved in the research, said. 'It's puzzling why there's something this big right in our solar neighborhood that we didn't see before,' McClure added. 'It would be a bit like living in a suburb with above-ground houses and open lots in it, and suddenly realizing that one of the open lots actually hosts a hidden underground bunker in it.'
