Al Woods words
2022 has seen some pretty exciting things happen. From exciting scientific discoveries to eclipses and super moons. It has truly been a year for stargazers, stargazers and space enthusiasts. Let’s take a look at some of the latest astronomy stories as well as some celestial moments you can look forward to at the end of the year.
1. The most detailed portrait of the “Pillars of Creation” ever
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a highly detailed landscape of the Pillars of Creation, where we can watch new stars forming in dense clouds of gas and dust. If you’ve never seen it before, do yourself a favor and google it. The pillars are made of interstellar gas that appears partially transparent in the telescope’s near-infrared light, mimicking a majestic rock formation, but is much more permeable. This image was originally made famous by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, but satellite and space technology has come a long way since then. The new, clearer images and data will help researchers better understand how stars form from these dusty clouds over time. The newly observed stars are estimated to be only a few hundred thousand years old, which is incredibly exciting. The James Webb Space Telescope helps scientists understand and solve the mysteries of our solar system as well as those of the stars far beyond.
2. The role of supermassive black holes in the star formation of galaxies
Galaxies are generally divided into two classes: spirals and ellipticals. Spirals have blue spirals with an abundance of cold gas, star formation occurring at more regular intervals, while elliptical galaxies appear yellow, have no distinct features, and star formation is rare. In fact, the elliptical galaxies observed by scientists appear to have had no new star formation for billions of years. New evidence suggests that supermassive black holes may be responsible for depleting the fuel some galaxies need for star formation. Thanks to this discovery. Astronomers are on the verge of understanding the impact of supermassive black holes on elliptical galaxies.
3. Laugh in life
As we well know, certain chemical compounds must be present in a planet’s atmosphere for life to thrive. We generally look for gases found in abundance in the Earth’s atmosphere today, the most popular being the presence of oxygen and methane. But scientists are now considering the possibility of using nitrous oxide, more commonly known as “laughing gas”, as a biosignature. A team of researchers has determined that nitrous oxide could potentially be an indicator of life in the same way as CO2 or methane is. Living things create nitrous oxide in several ways, the most common being the metabolic process of converting nitrogen into cellular energy. The presence of nitrous oxide is not a guarantee of life, however, it is a rather rare gas, so scientists believe it stands to reason that planets, where it is present, could also have life. .
4. Mysterious ripples in the Milky Way
You may have heard of the mysterious ripples in the Milky Way discovered by a group of scientists using data from the Gaia Space Telescope. The ripples were caused by a dwarf galaxy that passed close to our galaxy a few hundred million years ago and is now visible in the constellation Sagittarius. As the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy passed, it caused the stars on our galaxy’s outer disk to “wobble” and moved things up and down at different speeds due to its gravitational pull.
5. Warning signs that stars are about to go supernova
Astronomers have developed an early warning system that alerts them when a star is about to go supernova. In the past, stars were known to dim before going supernova, but now researchers have simulated what it looks like when they’re embedded in what they call ‘pre-explosion cocoons’ and about to go supernova. ‘explode. The cocoon is assembled in less than a year and it completely obscures the star, causing the dimming. Researchers have found that the day before it explodes, the star is no longer visible, appearing as if it had never been there, and now is the time to begin your observation. This ensures observation of the supernova in real time rather than after the fact.
6. A black hole spits something out
As far as we know, black holes are these consuming voids and nothing can escape them. However, astronomers observed, completely accidentally, a black hole that had torn a system to shreds a few years before and, to their surprise, ignited again despite swallowing nothing new. Nothing like this has ever been observed and recorded before and the team concluded it was the black hole ejecting stellar matter traveling at 50% the speed of light. Scientists likened this behavior to burping, but couldn’t say why it was delayed for years. It’s an event that needs further study, and scientists are hoping to find out how often it happens.
7. Upcoming Event: Geminid Meteor Shower
If you are someone who enjoys a good meteor shower, keep your eyes peeled around the 14the of December. The annual Geminid meteor shower, with up to 120 meteors per hour, is one of the most spectacular meteor showers you will ever see. The best time to see it is early in the morning or a few hours after sunset. Go to your garden or find a roof and enjoy the view.
8. Upcoming Event: Partial Solar Eclipse
If you missed it in April, don’t worry, you can catch a glimpse of the partial solar eclipse on the 25th.e of October. Around 10:08 GMT, the Moon will begin its journey between the Sun and Earth, partially obscuring its light, reaching its peak around 11:00 GMT. We will not be shrouded in shadows as the sun will only be partially obscured by approximately 25%. It’s still pretty cool though.
As 2022 draws to a close, some exciting discoveries have laid the groundwork for more to come. There are also some cool celestial events about to happen, so grab your telescope and enjoy what the sky has to offer.
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