Let's go back to the stars.
I've spent most of the last six months nose-down in the dirt, more or less, or on my way to one place or another.
As a result, I haven't spent much time behind the eyepiece, so astronomical concerns haven't appeared in this space for some time. Here are a couple of items meant to end that trend.
"Astronomers have spotted a space oddity in Earth's (so-called) neighbourhood -- a dead star with some unusual characteristics.
"The object, known as a neutron star, was studied using space telescopes and ground-based observatories. But this one, located in the constellation Ursa Minor, seems to lack some key characteristics found in other neutron stars...
"If confirmed, [the object nicknamed "Calvera"] would be only the eighth known isolated neutron star -- meaning a neutron star that does not have an associated supernova remnant, binary companion, or radio pulsations...
"Exactly what type of neutron star Calvera is remains a mystery. According to [McGill University's Robert] Rutledge, there are no widely accepted alternative theories to explain objects such as this that are bright in X-rays and faint in visible light.
"'Either Calvera is an unusual example of a known type of neutron star, or it is some new type of neutron star, the first of its kind,' said Dr. Rutledge."
"A computer model of the early universe indicates the first stars could have formed in spectacular, long filaments.
"These structures, which may have been thousands of light-years across, would have been shaped by dark matter... Astronomers believe that more than three-quarters of the matter in our universe may be dark. It does not reflect or emit detectable light, and so cannot be seen directly -- but it does gravitationally pull on normal matter (the gas, stars, and planets we see in space).
"Computer modelling suggests there is a link between the structures assumed by early stars and the temperature of the dark matter amongst them...
"Tom Theuns, from Durham's Institute for Computational Cosmology, told the festival: "What we found for the first time is that the nature of the dark matter is crucial to the nature of the first stars.
"'In cold dark matter the particles move very slowly; in warm dark matter they move very quickly,' he explained. 'We found that if the dark matter consists of these fast moving particles, then the first stars form in very long, thin filaments... The filaments have a length about a quarter the size of the Milky Way and contain an amount of matter and gas [that is] about 10 million times the mass of the Sun, so that provides a lot of fuel for many stars.'
"Some of the stars that formed within the filaments would have had a relatively low mass, which is of interest to astronomers as they have a long lifespan and could still survive today."
As a result, I haven't spent much time behind the eyepiece, so astronomical concerns haven't appeared in this space for some time. Here are a couple of items meant to end that trend.
"Astronomers have spotted a space oddity in Earth's (so-called) neighbourhood -- a dead star with some unusual characteristics."The object, known as a neutron star, was studied using space telescopes and ground-based observatories. But this one, located in the constellation Ursa Minor, seems to lack some key characteristics found in other neutron stars...
"If confirmed, [the object nicknamed "Calvera"] would be only the eighth known isolated neutron star -- meaning a neutron star that does not have an associated supernova remnant, binary companion, or radio pulsations...
"Exactly what type of neutron star Calvera is remains a mystery. According to [McGill University's Robert] Rutledge, there are no widely accepted alternative theories to explain objects such as this that are bright in X-rays and faint in visible light.
"'Either Calvera is an unusual example of a known type of neutron star, or it is some new type of neutron star, the first of its kind,' said Dr. Rutledge."
"A computer model of the early universe indicates the first stars could have formed in spectacular, long filaments."These structures, which may have been thousands of light-years across, would have been shaped by dark matter... Astronomers believe that more than three-quarters of the matter in our universe may be dark. It does not reflect or emit detectable light, and so cannot be seen directly -- but it does gravitationally pull on normal matter (the gas, stars, and planets we see in space).
"Computer modelling suggests there is a link between the structures assumed by early stars and the temperature of the dark matter amongst them...
"Tom Theuns, from Durham's Institute for Computational Cosmology, told the festival: "What we found for the first time is that the nature of the dark matter is crucial to the nature of the first stars.
"'In cold dark matter the particles move very slowly; in warm dark matter they move very quickly,' he explained. 'We found that if the dark matter consists of these fast moving particles, then the first stars form in very long, thin filaments... The filaments have a length about a quarter the size of the Milky Way and contain an amount of matter and gas [that is] about 10 million times the mass of the Sun, so that provides a lot of fuel for many stars.'
"Some of the stars that formed within the filaments would have had a relatively low mass, which is of interest to astronomers as they have a long lifespan and could still survive today."
Let's go back to the stars.
mr damon, 17:00
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