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Stars

This artist???s impression shows a two-star system where micronovae may occur. The blue disc swirling around the bright white dwarf in the centre of the image is made up of material, mostly hydrogen, stolen from its companion star. Towards the centre of the disc, the white dwarf uses its strong magnetic fields to funnel the hydrogen towards its poles. As the material falls on the hot surface of the star, it triggers a micronova explosion, contained by the magnetic fields at one of the white dwarf???s poles.

Space

Small explosions called micronovae discovered on dead stars

Micronovae are about 1 million times less bright than a classical nova and last just half a day, but they release as much energy as the sun would in a day

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360 degree massive black hole panorama, equirectangular projection, environment map. HDRI spherical panorama. Space background with black hole and stars. 3d illustration; Shutterstock ID 1159292119; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Space

Gravitational waves could let us find tiny black holes devouring stars

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Hubble?s view of supernova explosion Cassiopeia A A new image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provides a detailed look at the tattered remains of a supernova explosion known as Cassiopeia A (Cas A). It is the youngest known remnant from a supernova explosion in the Milky Way. The new Hubble image shows the complex and intricate structure of the star?s shattered fragments. Acknowledgement: Robert A. Fesen (Dartmouth College, USA) and James Long (ESA/Hubble). NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

Space

Scientists simulated a supernova blast with a foam ball and a laser

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Illustration of the Milky Way galaxy as it might appear edge on. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy roughly 100000 light-years in diameter. It is flat, shaped like two fried eggs back-to-back. At the centre is the nucleus, a vast flattened ball of old, red stars orbiting a supermassive black hole. This view imagines our galaxy seen from far from its nucleus, within the galactic plane. A lane of dust bisects the galaxy. Globular clusters (spherical clusters of stars) orbit here. One is seen in close up on the lower right.

Space

Some of the fastest stars in the Milky Way come from other galaxies

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early universe

Space

Furthest star ever seen offers glimpse 12.8 billion years into past

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An artistic impression of the high-frequency retrograde (HFR) vorticity waves. These waves appear as swirling motions near the equator of the Sun. The rotation in the north is always anti-symmetric to the rotation in the southern hemisphere. These mysterious waves move in the opposite direction to the sun's rotation, which is to the right, three times faster then what is allowed by hydrodynamics alone.

Space

Strange waves in the sun are travelling far faster than they should be

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Space

A planet-spotting extravaganza is coming, if you are an early riser

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New research using data from ESO?s Very Large Telescope and Very Large Telescope Interferometer has revealed that HR 6819, previously believed to be a triple system with a black hole, is in fact a system of two stars with no black hole. The scientists, a KU Leuven-ESO team, believe they have observed this binary system in a brief moment after one of the stars sucked the atmosphere off its companion, a phenomenon often referred to as ?stellar vampirism?. This artist?s impression shows what the system might look like; it?s composed of an oblate star with a disc around it (a Be ?vampire? star; foreground) and B-type star that has been stripped of its atmosphere (background).

Space

Our closest black hole is actually just one star eating another

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Artist's impression of a rare kind of stellar merger event between two white dwarf stars.

Space

Astronomers have found two unexpectedly hot stars covered in ash

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An artist?s impression of the white dwarf star WD1054?226 orbited by clouds of planetary debris and a major planet in the habitable zone.

Space

First hints of a planet orbiting in a white dwarf’s habitable zone

Astronomers have found 65 evenly spaced rocks orbiting a white dwarf star in its habitable zone, hinting that a planet’s gravity may be holding them there

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Space

A strange object in space is blasting out radio waves every 18 minutes

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Space

It’s official – we don’t know how fast the universe is expanding

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Space

Watch the best ever simulation of stars being born in a cosmic cloud

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Space

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is the first spacecraft to ‘touch’ the sun

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