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Writer Fuel: Where Earth’s Water Came From

rain - deposit photos

Astronomers studying a remote baby star have found a “missing link” that could finally explain the origins of water on Earth, a new study suggests. By training a powerful radio telescope at V883 Orionis, a protostar 1,300 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Orion, astronomers have spotted gaseous water with a chemical composition close … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Telescope Captures Ghost Remnants of Supernova that Shone in Earth’s Skies 1800 Years Ago

supernova remnants - NOIRLab/ National Science Foundation

The shredded remnants of the first supernova ever recorded by humans — which appeared in the sky more than 1,800 years ago and vanished within eight months — rise from the cosmic grave in a stunning new image from the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab. Tinged blood red and swirling around an invisible center of mass, … Read more

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Writer Fuel: The Whole Universe is Dancing

galaxies / the universe - deposit photos

For the first time, astronomers have spotted enormous, galaxy-scale shock waves rattling the “cosmic web” that connects nearly all known galaxies. These cosmic waves could reveal clues about how the largest objects in the universe were sculpted. The discovery was made by stitching and stacking thousands of radio telescope images together, which revealed the soft … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Building Blocks of Life Found in Asteroid Sample

Grains from the asteroid Ryugu

The asteroid Ryugu, which orbits the sun between Earth and Mars, contains many of the building blocks for life, a new analysis finds. The study, published Feb. 23 in the journal Science, is one of the first peeks at the samples from Ryugu brought back by Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft in 2020. The mission is only … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Researchers Discover the Secret Behind Solar Flare “Heartbeats”

solar flare - deposit photos

Researchers have finally pinpointed the likely origin of mysterious heartbeat-like signals spat out by the sun during solar flares. The findings could help us learn more about how potentially damaging solar storms are unleashed, a new study shows. Solar radio bursts are streams of electromagnetic radiation — made up mainly of radio waves, as well … Read more

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Writer Fuel: The Era of the Megastars

megastar - deposit photos

The first stars in the cosmos may have topped out at over 10,000 times the mass of the sun, roughly 1,000 times bigger than the biggest stars alive today, a new study has found. Nowadays, the biggest stars are 100 solar masses. But the early universe was a far more exotic place, filled with mega-giant … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Runaway Black Hole Trailing newborn Stars Spotted in Intergalactic Space

runaway black hole

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. According to the team’s research, which was published April 6 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (opens in new tab), the discovery offers the first observational evidence that supermassive … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Astronomers Discover “Impossible” Ring Around a Dwarf Planet

Quaoar

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. It is only the third ring to be found … Read more

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Writer Fuel: How to See the Beginning of Time

gravity waves - deposit photos

Ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves could help reveal the secrets at the dawn of time, just moments after the Big Bang, new research suggests. And physicists say they can learn more about these primeval gravitational waves using nuclear fusion reactors here on Earth. In a new study, physicists used equations that govern how … Read more

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Writer Fuel: How Much Does a White Dwarf Weigh?

white dwarf - deposit photos

Astronomers have finally weighed an isolated white dwarf, or the shriveled husk of a dead star, using a strange phenomenon predicted by Einstein’s theory of relativity decades ago. The findings confirm astronomers’ predictions about how massive white dwarfs can be, and may help explain the strange, ultra-dense matter that makes up these stellar leftovers. In … Read more