Latest news with #UniversityofHawai'i's
Economic Times
3 days ago
- Science
- Economic Times
The biggest explosion since the Big Bang; Star ripped apart by a Black Hole unleashes history's most powerful and brightest known explosion
TIL Creatives Astronomers discover new class of extreme outbursts shining 25 times brighter than the strongest supernovae Imagine a star, more than three times the mass of our Sun, straying too close to a supermassive black hole. Instead of quietly fading, it's torn apart, and what follows is one of the most powerful explosions ever witnessed. Astronomers now call these titanic outbursts Extreme Nuclear Transients, or ENTs, and they may be the most energetic cosmic phenomena since the universe's inception. ENTs stand apart from regular tidal disruption events (TDEs) and supernovae by a staggering margin. The largest event recorded, named 'Gaia18cdj', unleashed 25 times more energy than the most powerful supernova ever found, equivalent to what 100 Suns would emit over their entire lifetimes, concentrated in a year. The discovery was led by Jason Hinkle, a doctoral researcher at the University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy. While combing through data from ESA's Gaia mission, Hinkle noticed something odd: smooth, long‑lasting flares from galactic centers that looked nothing like typical cosmic fireworks. 'Gaia doesn't tell you what a transient is, but when I saw these smooth, long‑lived flares… I knew we were looking at something unusual,' Hinkle said Two such flares were traced to 2016 and 2018, with a third dubbed 'Scary Barbie' detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility in 2020. Follow‑up observations from the WM Keck Observatory and other telescopes confirmed their extraordinary brightness and behave differently from more common cosmic explosions. Typical TDEs brighten and fade within weeks, but ENTs linger for months or even years, shining nearly ten times brighter than any previously studied events For co‑author Benjamin Shappee, ENTs offer something deeper than just fireworks.'ENTs provide a valuable new tool for studying massive black holes in distant galaxies, and we gain insights into black‑hole growth when the universe was half its current age,' he rare, estimated to be ten million times less frequent than supernovae, these cosmic giants offer a powerful way to study black holes in action. With upcoming telescopes like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and NASA's Roman Space Telescope, astronomers expect to find more ENTs, painting a richer picture of how black holes shaped our cosmos. As Hinkle puts it, 'This was the final piece of my doctoral work… thrilling to think we're opening a new chapter in understanding how stars die and how black holes shape the universe.'
Time of India
3 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
The biggest explosion since the Big Bang; Star ripped apart by a Black Hole unleashes history's most powerful and brightest known explosion
Imagine a star, more than three times the mass of our Sun , straying too close to a supermassive black hole . Instead of quietly fading, it's torn apart, and what follows is one of the most powerful explosions ever witnessed. Astronomers now call these titanic outbursts Extreme Nuclear Transients , or ENTs, and they may be the most energetic cosmic phenomena since the universe's inception. ENTs stand apart from regular tidal disruption events (TDEs) and supernovae by a staggering margin. The largest event recorded, named 'Gaia18cdj', unleashed 25 times more energy than the most powerful supernova ever found, equivalent to what 100 Suns would emit over their entire lifetimes, concentrated in a year. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The price of dental implants may surprise you Dental Implants | Search Ads Search Now The discovery was led by Jason Hinkle, a doctoral researcher at the University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy. While combing through data from ESA's Gaia mission , Hinkle noticed something odd: smooth, long‑lasting flares from galactic centers that looked nothing like typical cosmic fireworks. 'Gaia doesn't tell you what a transient is, but when I saw these smooth, long‑lived flares… I knew we were looking at something unusual,' Hinkle said Live Events Two such flares were traced to 2016 and 2018, with a third dubbed 'Scary Barbie' detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility in 2020. Follow‑up observations from the WM Keck Observatory and other telescopes confirmed their extraordinary brightness and longevity. ENTs behave differently from more common cosmic explosions . Typical TDEs brighten and fade within weeks, but ENTs linger for months or even years, shining nearly ten times brighter than any previously studied events For co‑author Benjamin Shappee, ENTs offer something deeper than just fireworks. 'ENTs provide a valuable new tool for studying massive black holes in distant galaxies, and we gain insights into black‑hole growth when the universe was half its current age,' he said. While rare, estimated to be ten million times less frequent than supernovae, these cosmic giants offer a powerful way to study black holes in action. With upcoming telescopes like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and NASA's Roman Space Telescope, astronomers expect to find more ENTs, painting a richer picture of how black holes shaped our cosmos . As Hinkle puts it, 'This was the final piece of my doctoral work… thrilling to think we're opening a new chapter in understanding how stars die and how black holes shape the universe.'
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The universe isn't just expanding—it may be spinning
The prevailing consensus in astrophysics is that the universe has spent the past 13-or-so billion years expanding outward in all directions, ever since the Big Bang. It's expanding at this very moment, and will continue to do so until… a number of possible theoretical endings. Meanwhile, the specific rate at which the universe is growing remains a longstanding point of contention known as the 'Hubble tension.' However, there may be a way to finally ease that tension—you just need to put a slight spin on everything. In simplest terms, the rate at which the universe expands on paper doesn't match actual astronomical observations. That speed—called the Hubble Constant—is measured in units of kilometers per second per megaparsec (km/s/Mpc), with a megaparsec measuring about 300,000 light years. The most widely accepted theoretical model, the Lambda/Cold Dark Matter model (ΛCDM), says the universe is growing at 67-68 km/s/Mpc. But what astronomers see through their equipment is a little faster, at about 73 km/s/Mpc. And therein lies the Hubble tension. In a study published in the April issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, a team of researchers including experts at the University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy argue that introducing a miniscule amount of rotation to standard mathematical model of the universe may provide the way to align both expansion theories.'Much to our surprise, we found that our model with rotation resolves the paradox without contradicting current astronomical measurements,' study co-author and astrophysicist? István Szapudi said in a statement. 'Even better, it is compatible with other models that assume rotation.' In addition to its mathematical compatibility, the concept also doesn't break any of the known laws of physics. The problem is detecting this spin, given just how slowly the universe may be turning. But while it is difficult to discern with current tools, the spin is still fast enough to influence the expansion of space over the eons. Szapudi and their colleagues' new model indicates the universe finishes a single rotation once every 500 billion years—meaning there's still quite a bit of time before the universe completes its first full circuit. 'To paraphrase the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, who famously said 'Panta Rhei' (everything moves), we thought that perhaps 'Panta Kykloutai,' everything turns,' said Szapudi. Looking ahead, astronomers hope to construct a full computer model of the universe based in part of their new theory. From there, they will hopefully be able to pinpoint signs of cosmic spinning to search for among the stars.
