Our telescopes have never detected a black hole more massive than twenty times the mass of the Sun. Nevertheless, we now know of their existence as dozens of those black holes have recently been “heard” to merge via gravitational wave radiation. A team of astronomers led by Peter Jonker (SRON/Radboud) has now discovered that these … Continue reading Lack Of Massive Black Holes in Telescope Data is Caused by Bias (Astronomy) →

TES bolometers with simultaneous readout of multiple pixels are the candidate detector technology for a number of space missions for sub-millimeter and far-infrared wavelengths, such as LiteBIRD and OST. Qian Wang, a PhD student at SRON and RUG, has demonstrated a simultaneous readout of 60 TES bolometers. Publication in Applied Physics Letters. Light with sub-millimeter and … Continue reading Simultaneous Readout of 60 Bolometers For Far-infrared Space Telescopes (Astronomy) →

Australian astronomers hunting for Earth-like planets outside our solar system and investigating the dramatic life and death of stars have been given a major boost. The newly released 2020 United States Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics has listed the revolutionary Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) as one of its top priorities. The recommendation opens the door for … Continue reading World’s Most Powerful Telescope Keeps Eyes On The Skies (Astronomy) →

A team of international scientists, including researchers from The Australian National University (ANU), have unveiled the largest number of gravitational waves ever detected. The discoveries will help solve some of the most complex mysteries of the Universe, including the building blocks of matter and the workings of space and time. The global team’s study, published … Continue reading Scientists Detect A “Tsunami” of Gravitational Waves (Astronomy) →

The solution to remotely deflecting potentially dangerous space debris, or to slowing damaged satellites into uncontrolled rotation in order to repair them, is called magnetic manipulation. In particular, the one proposed by the University of Utah exploits the currents induced by moving magnetic fields in the metal pieces constituting the space debris. All the details on Nature … Continue reading Magnetic Manipulation of Space Junk (Astronomy) →

Advanced manufacturing experts from Manchester have revealed what human life in space could look like—with a graphene-enhanced space habitat developed to meet anticipated demand for human settlements beyond Earth. A community of specialists at The University of Manchester have teamed up with global architect firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to research the design and … Continue reading Supporting Life Beyond Earth Could Be Possible Thanks To Graphene Innovation (Astronomy) →

Analyzed in detail a promising signal that could be due to the so-called gravitational wave background produced by the gravitational energy released by pairs of supermassive black holes in mutual approach. The study, which was also attended by researchers from INAF, represents a step forward on the road to the detection of gravitational waves of very … Continue reading On the trail of ultra-low gravitational waves (Astronomy) →

Researchers have developed a concept that would make Martian rocket fuel, on Mars, that could be used to launch future astronauts back to Earth. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a concept that would make Martian rocket fuel, on Mars, that could be used to launch future astronauts back to Earth. The … Continue reading Making Martian Rocket BioFuel on Mars (Astronomy) →

Findings Published in Nature Astronomy; Publicly Available at seti.berkeley.edu/blc1. An intriguing candidate signal picked up last year by the Breakthrough Listen project has been subjected to intensive analysis that suggests it is unlikely to originate from the Proxima Centauri system. Instead, it appears to be an artifact of Earth-based interference from human technologies, the Breakthrough Initiatives … Continue reading Breakthrough Listen Releases Analysis Of Previously Detected Signal (Astronomy) →