When you buy through links in our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn commission. A jet of particles ejected from a dying star at speeds close to the speed of light. When such a jet is directed at us, we see a gamma-ray burst. | Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s Conceptual Imaging… Read More »
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have mapped for the first time the plasma “burps” of a quasar powered by a feeding supermassive black hole living relatively close to Earth. While supermassive black holes with masses millions or billions of times that of the Sun are thought to be at the heart of all galaxies,… Read More »
Albert Einstein is on the board. Special relativity is beyond weird. Among its many expressions are that moving clocks run slower and moving rulers become smaller. So how do we make sense of this? To understand the physics of relativity, we need to look back. time A little. in 1865 James Clerk Maxwell We discovered… Read More »
The world is under constant bombardment cosmic raysShowers of high-energy particles blasting our planet from all directions at near the speed of light. While this may seem like a foreshadowing of a science fiction alien invasion, it is a real phenomenon that scientists have been aware of for over a century. Despite their dramatic description,… Read More »
An artist’s impression shows a microquasar, allowing scientists to locate the natural particle accelerator.Science Communication Laboratory for MPIK/HESS A study has revealed how cosmic objects send accelerated particles into space. Jets from quasars and supernovae can send dangerous cosmic rays hitting Earth. For the first time, a study has shown how cosmic rays are accelerated… Read More »
Due to the mind-boggling distances and speeds required, interstellar travel would be extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, for humanity to achieve. But new research highlights another challenge: communication breakdowns. The star system closest to ours is alpha centauriIt’s over 4 light years away, so barring any fancy sci-fi technological revolutions over the next few centuries,… Read More »