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Science journalist specialising in science, space, physics, astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, quantum mechanics, and technology. Published in Newsweek, Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, Space dot com, All About Space, and ZME Science. Science communication articles for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics.
When neutron stars collide, heavy elements like gold can be forged in the extremely violent aftermath. But what else can 3D simulations of the event show us?
Distant quasar sheds light on the reionization of the cosmos
The very fabric of the universe is ringing with gravitational waves from its earliest epoch, and researchers have finally "heard" this cosmic symphony.
Observing time distortions could show whether Einstein's theory of general relativity accounts for the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.
The discovery of the giant planet Halla suggests that planets close to their stars can survive the rapid expansion seen as they enter their end-of-life red giant phase.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Werner Heisenberg is driving down the road when he gets pulled over by a traffic cop. “Excuse me, sir,” the cop says. “Do you know how fast you were going?”“No,” Heisenberg replies. “But, I know exactly where I am.”
Scientists may have solved a 60-year-old mystery by discovering that quasars - energetic objects that are powered by ravenous supermassive black holes and can outshine trillions of stars combined - form when galaxies collide and merge. The findings indicate that the Milky Way could host a quasar of its own when it collides with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy several billion years from now.
Astronomers have completed a comprehensive examination of large asteroids that zoom near our planet, determining that Earth probably won't be struck by such an object for at least 1,000 years.
Glimpsed only occasionally at the hearts of massive clusters of galaxies, ultramassive black holes are some of the largest and most elusive objects in the universe. These black hole behemoths have masses exceeding that of 10 billion suns, making them far more monstrous than even the supermassive black holes found at the centers of galaxies like the Milky Way, and their tremendous size has long perplexed astronomers.
These tiny black holes might finally be found thanks to their interactions with another of the universe’s most exotic objects: neutron stars.
(Image credit: Keio University) Astronomers have spotted a runaway supermassive black hole, seemingly ejected from its home galaxy and racing through space with a chain of stars trailing in its wake.
A controversial new theory suggests that supermassive black holes that lurk at the heart of most large galaxies could be the source of dark energy, the mysterious force driving the accelerating expansion of the universe.
The first observation of a stellar system that is destined to explode as a kilonova has been made by astronomers in the US and New Zealand. The evolution of the rare binary star is described as a "one in 10 billion" event and could help astronomers develop a better understanding of how heavy elements are created in the universe.
(Image credit: ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) Astronomers have discovered an entirely new ring system within the solar system, and it's located at such a great distance from its dwarf planet parent that it should be impossible. The ring surrounds Quaoar, which is around half the size of Pluto and located beyond Neptune.
Wen-fai Fong, assistant professor in physics and astronomy and head of Northwestern University's Fong group, talks to Rob Lea about her journey into physics and mentoring the scientists of the future during one of astronomy's most exciting eras "It's very cliché, but I was never really interested in astronomy in particular until I was forced to look up at the sky in the 8th grade," says astronomer Wen-fai Fong.
(Image credit: agsandrew/Getty Images) A new dark matter model suggests a new candidate for the constituent particles of this mysterious form of matter that could mean it is detectable by future experiments.
(Image credit: NASA/CXC/U.Texas) Two decades' worth of observations of supernova explosions and a powerful new analysis tool has provided the most accurate accounting of dark energy and dark matter to date. Dark energy and dark matter - often collectively known as the "dark universe" - are mysterious because despite making up at least 95% of the universe's energy and matter content, they can't be observed directly.
(Image credit: NASA/Swift/A. Beardmore (University of Leicester)) Astronomers have spotted a bright blast of high-energy light that may be the most powerful cosmic explosion ever detected. The high-energy emission known as a burst (GRB) - the most powerful type of explosion seen in our universe since the Big Bang - likely represents the moment a dying star collapsed into a , triggering a tremendous supernova explosion, astronomers said.
New research suggests that using gravitational waves from the collisions of distant black holes could solve one of the most troubling aspects of cosmology - the rate of expansion of the universe, known as the Hubble constant. There are two standard ways of measuring the Hubble constant.
(Image credit: Mark Garlick/Getty Images) Bosons are particles that carry energy and forces throughout the universe. The standard model of particle physics - the most robust theory we have of the sub-atomic world - divides every particle in the universe and even the larger composite particles fit into two broad categories; fermions and bosons.
NASA's venerable space telescope has spotted stars and gas spiraling towards the heart of a massive, curiously shaped stellar nursery in the nearby Small Magellanic Cloud. Astronomers think that the outer arm of this spiral of and gas could be providing a river-like flow of gas that is fueling star formation in the stellar nursery, called NGC 346, seen in the newly released image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope .
You might have noticed, if you've set foot in a cinema this year, that Hollywood has fallen in love with the multiverse. From Marvel to DC to Disney, alternate universes, realities and timelines are being written into scripts to wow audiences and make life a bit easier when A-list celebrities tire of yanking on the latex.
New research has uncovered 34 new binary-star systems in which low-mass stars partner up with a so-called "failed star" or brown dwarf. The discoveries almost double the number of known systems and could help astronomers better understand where the dividing line between planets and stars is.
Researchers have observed the "dead cone effect" for the first time ever. The dead cone effect is a fundamental element of the strong nuclear force, which is responsible for binding quarks and gluons. This work, published last month in the journal , proves that the charm quark has mass.
An unusual pulsating radio signal emerging from a "stellar graveyard" could be evidence for a new class of neutron star, according to an international team of scientists. The pulsar signal comes from a 53 million-year-old neutron star rotating once every 76 s - making this the slowest rotating neutron star ever observed.
Astronomers have uncovered the first solid evidence that merger events between black holes can deliver a "kick" powerful enough to send a black hole spinning out of its galaxy. The team, which included Vijay Varma, a physicist at Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Albert Einstein Institute, Germany, examined gravitational-wave data from the merger event known as GW200129 collected by the LIGO detectors and their European counterpart, Virgo.
Astronomers have made the first observations of X-rays being emitted from a white-dwarf star that has burst into life while stripping material from a companion star. The process caused a thermonuclear runaway that resulted in a massive explosion or nova.
(Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO) The Chandrasekhar limit determines if a star dies as a white dwarf, or has the mass to exceed this, launching a supernova to create a black hole or neutron star. Stars are locked in battles against their own gravity, all of which will eventually be lost, leading to violent and radical changes that mark the end of their main sequence lifetimes.
(Image credit: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) A particle accelerator that slams electrons together here on Earth has achieved temperatures colder than those of outer space. Using the free-electron laser at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory - part of an upgrade project to the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), called LCLS II - scientists chilled liquid helium to minus 456 degrees Fahrenheit ( minus 271 degrees Celsius), or 2 .
Taken from the May 2022 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. The University of Liverpool's synchrocyclotron helped define physics in the 20th century, yet little trace of it remains.
(Image credit: NASA/CXC/Caltech/M.Muno et al.) Sagittarius A*, often abbreviated to Sgr A* and pronounced "Sagittarius A star", is a supermassive black hole located at the center of our spiral galaxy, the Milky Way. Sagittarius A* is mostly dormant and only occasionally absorbs gas or dust, but nonetheless has an estimated mass millions times that of our sun.
As NASA gears up for the next age of crewed space exploration, scientists are testing how well astronauts will be able to perform mission-critical tasks immediately after landing. These challenges include debarking from a space capsule, walking in a spacesuit and even setting up life-support devices.
The enormous Saturn V rocket is one of humanity's most impressive and important technological achievements. In the history of human achievement and scientific progress, few moments are as singularly important as the first time we set foot on the moon.
(Image credit: Illustration Credit & Copyright Tom Abel & Ralf Kaehler (KIPAC, SLAC), AMNH) Dark matter, the elusive substance that accounts for the majority of the mass in the universe, may be made up of massive particles called gravitons that first popped into existence in the first moment after the Big Bang.
(Image credit: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser) Exoplanets have long occupied the thoughts scientists and dreamers. Ever since humanity first discovered that the stars in the night sky were bodies similar to our own sun, we have imagined and speculated about the worlds that could orbit these stars.
The sun is a yellow dwarf star in the center of the solar system , and it is the largest, brightest and most massive object in the system. The sun formed around 4.5 billion years ago.
Astronomers have observed a remarkable arrangement in a young binary star system which is giving birth to three separate systems of planets. The team also found within the three planet-forming disks of gas and dust, complex organic molecules that could, in the future, seed life on the planets that form.
Astronomers have discovered a distant binary arrangement that contains the most tilted black hole system ever found, consisting of a black hole feeding on material snatched from a companion star. The misalignment between the two cosmic bodies (in what is known as an x-ray binary) is so extreme that it could force scientists to change models that explain how black holes form.
With billions of stars visible from Earth, cataloging asterisms provides beneficial reference points in the night sky. And throughout history, this cataloging process, which still only encompasses a tiny fraction of the stars in the night sky, has been guided by our myths and legends, as well as the objects and creatures that populate our terrestrial lives.
Astronomers have discovered the closest pair of supermassive black holes to Earth. Not only are they the most proximate objects of this type to our planet, but they are also closer to each other than any such pairing ever before observed.
The aim of researchers to bring nuclear fusion-the process that powers the stars-down to Earth has been bolstered after the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy's Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) reactor maintained super-hot plasma within a magnetic field for 30 seconds.
(Image credit: Wikicommons/Angus MacRae) The Winter Solstice, or the December Solstice, is the point at which the path of the sun in the sky is farthest south. At the Winter Solstice, the sun travels the shortest path through the sky resulting in the day of the year with the least sunlight and therefore, the longest night.
(Image credit: Yuichiro Chino via Getty Images) Traveling faster than light and time-travel could be real for tachyons. If one thing science fiction excels at, it's allowing us to marvel at the breaking of the physical laws of the universe.
The laureates list for sciences at the 2021 Nobel Prizes does not include a single woman, widening the gap between male and female recipients of the prestigious awards. History was made last year when the 2020 chemistry prize went to two women.
(Image credit: ESA - P.Carril) On Friday, April 13, 2029, Earth will experience a dramatic close encounter with the 99942 Apophis. The 1,120 feet (340-meter) wide object will pass within just 19,000 miles (31,000 km) of our home planet - a distance that brings it closer than most geostationary satellites.
A volcano has erupted on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma, prompting unfounded fears that a so-called mega-tsunami could be headed to the East Coast of the United States. The Cumbre Vieja volcano began erupting at around 3.12 p.m. local time (10:12 a.m. EDT) on Sunday, according to officials.
Astronomers have discovered a gigantic cavity in space while studying 3D maps of nearby star-forming clouds of gas and dust. The bubble-shaped void in the Milky Way is around 500 light-years wide and is located between the star-forming clusters of gas, or molecular clouds, in the Perseus and Taurus constellations.
The internal structure of Saturn has been mapped by using data from the Cassini spacecraft to observe seismic oscillations in the planet's rings. The study reveals that the core is both larger and more diffuse than previously thought. The research is described in a paper in Nature Astronomy and could improve our understanding of the Saturn's formation and evolution.
Planetary nebulae as far away as 40 Mpc (about 130 million light-years) have been observed by astronomers for the first time. The objects had been too distant to see until an international team of astronomers used a new filter on data from the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument - which operates on European Space Agency's Very Large Telescope (VLT).
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) It's almost hard to believe that until the early years of the 1990s, astronomers had yet to discover a planet outside the solar system.
Astronomers have followed up their seminal 2019 observation of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87) with stunning images of another black hole. This time they have used the Event Horizon Telescope to make high-resolution observations of a jet of plasma emerging from the supermassive black hole in the active galaxy Centaurus A, which lies 12 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus.
Over the past 25 years astronomers have observed thousands exoplanets - planets that orbit stars other than the Sun. So, it stands to reason that alien astronomers on exoplanets may have observed Earth.
In late 2019 and early 2020 Betelgeuse, a red supergiant in the constellation of Orion, made headlines when it underwent a period of extreme dimming. This dip in brightness for the star, which is usually around the tenth brightest in the night sky over Earth, was so extreme it could even be seen with the naked eye.
Taken from the June 2021 issue of Physics World where it first appeared under the headline "Reaching out to the stars". Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app.
A new explanation for how white dwarf stars explode as type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) has been proposed by astrophysicists in Brazil and Mexico. Their model suggests that the explosions are ignited when primordial black holes (PBHs) collide with white dwarfs.
(Image credit: Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA) The next era of our investigation of the cosmos is about to be kick-started by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a ground-based telescope currently under construction on the El Penón peak of Cerro Pachón in northern Chile. The observatory is a federal project run by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S.
Taken from the March 2021 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. The long-standing problem of the cosmological constant, described both as "the worst prediction in the history of physics" and by Einstein as his "biggest blunder", is being tackled with renewed vigour by today's cosmologists.
Over the centuries, our understanding of the cosmos has grown by leaps and bounds. But it wasn't until relatively recently that astronomers discovered that around 85 percent of the matter in the universe takes on a bizarre, foreign form.
Black holes could be a cosmological engine. When their magnetic fields disconnect and reconnect, they can accelerate plasma particles near the event horizon - the point beyond which nothing can escape a black hole's gravitational pull. The finding could allow astronomers to better estimate the mass and spin of black holes.
Despite peacefully floating in the night sky, stars are not docile creatures. They're churning caldrons of roiling plasma stirred by countless nuclear explosions within. Scientists know that such stellar nuclear fusion is responsible for creating many heavy elements necessary for life in the universe, such as carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) to observe the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87), astronomers have once again produced another first in the field of astronomy and cosmology.
Supermassive black holes may be monsters, but that doesn’t mean they are always alone, cosmological models suggest they can exist in pairs, but evidence is sparse. A new review points the way to future investigations of such systems.
Our galaxy is teeming with rogue planets either torn from their parent stars by chaotic conditions or born separate from a star. These orphan planets could be discovered en masse by an outcoming NASA project - Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
Using the phenomenon of gravitational lensing astronomers have examined an extremely distant galaxy that shares many features with the Milky Way. The discovery of a calm galaxy so early in the Universe's history calls into question our theories of how galaxies form.
Details Published on 29 May 2020 An increase in space launches requires the development of a method to clear space debris which could collide with valuable equipment. One plausible method of achieving this through the use of a tug vehicle requires a successful connection procedure.
Much mystery surrounds dark energy and the cosmological constant, the proxies used to explain the accelerating expansion of the Universe. New research suggests that an early model of dark energy presents a competing theory that offers all the benefits of current models without the baggage that comes associated with the cosmological constant.
The black hole is the first object of its kind with a mass above 100 solar masses but below a million solar masses to be discovered. The most powerful graviational wave signal ever detected as yeilded the first confirmation of an intermediete black hole and hierarchical black hole mergers.
Astronomers have discovered a spectacular first in terms of star clusters and planet-forming discs of gas, a system-GW Orionis-with a warped disc with torn out inner rings. The team believes that the disc's odd shape -which defies the common view of a flat plane orbiting planets and gas discs-was created when the misalignment of the three stars at the centre of the disc caused it to fracture into distinct rings.
Caption: The unification of classical and quantum mechanics is quite the puzzle. But, new research suggests the solution may lie in a new approach to an old idea. (Peter Morgan/ Robert Lea) Without a shadow of a doubt, the crowning achievement of early twentieth-century physics was the development of quantum mechanics.
Image: Provided by the author. Original source Ore Gottlieb graduate student at Tel Aviv University - author's institute.] Caption: A snapshot of a relativistic shock propagating from a black hole engine after the collapse of a stellar core. When it breaks free it will create an initial electromagnetic signal that could teach us a great deal about how stars die.
"The Earth is being constantly bombarded from space by cosmic rays of an unknown origin!" This may seem like the cry of a panicking news reporter in a lurid sci-fi tale, but it's actually a scientific fact - albeit a slightly hyperbolic one.
Graphene is a modern wonder material possessing unique properties of strength, flexibility and conductivity whilst being abundant and remarkably cheap to produce, lending it to a multitude of useful applications -- especially true when these 2D atom-thick sheets of carbon are split into narrow strips known as Graphene Nanoribbons (GNRs).
This could solve the mystery of tidal disruption events or 'spaghettification.' Astronomers have spotted the light emitted from a star as it is ripped apart and consumed by a supermassive black hole. This detailed investigation promises to unveil the mystery of tidal disruption events or 'spaghettification.'
Using the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) NASA researchers have made a stunning discovery regarding the Moon, finding that water is present on the natural satellite's dayside, as well as its colder nightside. Hydrogen traces had previously been found at the lunar south pole, which experiences near-constant sunlight, but researchers did not believe this was related to water molecules.
Astronomers have discovered a unique system of exoplanets in which all but one of the planets orbit their parent star in a rare rhythm. The finding could force us to revise our ideas of how planets-including those in our own solar system-form.
If the galaxy Messier 106 (pictured) is contained within a 'Hubble bubble' of low-density, it could explain Hubble tension - why local and global measurements of the Hubble constant continue to disagree. Ever since Edwin Hubble and his colleagues discovered the expanding nature of the Universe in the early 20th Century, scientists have tried to measure its rate of expansion.
The European Space Agency's (ESA) space telescope CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) begins its journey into space aboard the Soyuz rocket on December 17th. In preparation for the launch from French Guiana, collaborators in the mission, the ESA, the University of Geneva and the University of Bern held a press conference on the morning of the 5th December.
Marie Curie is rightly regarded as not just one of the greatest women who ever lived, but also, one of the most accomplished scientists in history. Her tale is one of sacrifice and suffering for science and of unparalleled dedication to unlocking nature's secrets.
By studying Westerlund 2, a dense star cluster containing stars 100 times the size of the Sun, astronomers have discovered why planets don't form around some stars. Using the Hubble Space Telescope researchers have conducted a pioneering 3-year study of the massive dense young star cluster Westerlund 2.
Hubble Bubble: Solving the Expanding Universe Trouble. The Milky Way could be within a low-density bubble explaining the disparity in measurements of the rate of Universal expansion..
Caption: A depiction of the photoacoustic process originating from an aerosol particle (represented by the purple sphere). A laser induces periodic heating and cooling of the particle, creating a measurable sound wave. Credit: Diveky et al., Figure 1 of the cited paper. Earth's atmosphere is filled with aerosols-tiny particles that absorb and reflect sunlight, influencing our planet's temperature.
Our theories of the Universe have a missing matter problem: half of its matter is missing. But now this 'missing baryon problem' one of the most lingering puzzles in cosmology has been solved.
The event signalling detection of the Higgs boson particle at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector in 2012. Could interactions between the Higgs boson and dark matter lie in a framework called the Higgs portal?
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is more than a mathematical quirk, a handy guiding principle, or the inspiration for some really nerdy t-shirts. It is intrinsic to nature, weaved into the fabric of all matter. Together we take a trip to ZME labs to use some everyday objects to demonstrate how nature tells us "you can't have it all."