Marshall Astrophysics

Galaxies

Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes

Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Research

Science & Research

The Universe

Black Hole Jet Stumbles Into Something in the Dark

Even matter ejected by black holes can run into objects in the dark. Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have found an unusual mark from a giant black hole’s powerful jet striking an unidentified object in its path. The discovery was made in a galaxy called Centaurus A (Cen A), located about 12 million light-years […]

Posted December 10, 2024

Astrophysics

Black Holes

Goddard Space Flight Center

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

The Universe

Astronomers Find Early Fast-Feeding Black Hole Using NASA Telescopes

A rapidly feeding black hole at the center of a dwarf galaxy in the early universe, shown in this artist’s concept, may hold important clues to the evolution of supermassive black holes in general.

Posted November 13, 2024

Spitzer Space Telescope

Star Clusters

Stars

Planets Beware: NASA Unburies Danger Zones of Star Cluster

Most stars form in collections, called clusters or associations, that include very massive stars. These giant stars send out large amounts of high-energy radiation, which can disrupt relatively fragile disks of dust and gas that are in the process of coalescing to form new planets. A team of astronomers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, in […]

Posted October 28, 2024

Galaxies

The Universe

NASA’s Chandra Finds Galaxy Cluster That Crosses the Streams

Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have found a galaxy cluster has two streams of superheated gas crossing one another. This result shows that crossing the streams may lead to the creation of new structure.

Posted September 19, 2024

Astrophysics

Black Holes

Goddard Space Flight Center

IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer)

The Universe

How Students Learn to Fly NASA’s IXPE Spacecraft

The large wall monitor displaying a countdown shows 17 seconds when Amelia “Mia” De Herrera-Schnering tells her teammates “We have AOS,” meaning “acquisition of signal.” “Copy that, thank you,” Alexander Pichler replies.

Posted August 21, 2024

Coming in Hot – NASA’s Chandra Checks Habitability of Exoplanets

This graphic shows a three-dimensional map of stars near the Sun. The blue haloes represent stars observed with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton. Astronomers are using these X-ray data to determine how habitable exoplanets may be based on whether they receive lethal radiation from the stars they orbit.

Posted August 6, 2024

Paper on “X-rays from the Nearby Compact Emission-Line Galaxy NGC 2366” Published in the Astrophysical Journal

Phil Kaaret (ST12) is lead author on the paper which describes Chandra X-ray Observatory observations of the galaxy NGC 2366. Escape of Lyman continuum (LyC) emission from galaxies found in the early universe was essential for the reionization of the universe when the intergalactic medium (IGM) changed from being neutral gas to the ionized IGM […]

Posted August 5, 2024

Imaging X-ray Polarimetery Explorer (IXPE) Conference Presentation at the 244th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society

Phil Kaaret (ST12) gave a talk on “Particle acceleration and magnetic field geometry in the eastern jet of the microquasar SS 433” at the session on Black Holes on 6/12/24. At the end of his talk, Kaaret promoted the upcoming IXPE GO cycle 2 and the NICER/IXPE workshop that will be a hybrid meeting held […]

Posted August 5, 2024