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Writer Fuel: How to Make a Super Massive Black Hole

Triple Quasar Creates Super Massive Black Hole - NASA/ESA

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 … 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: 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: How to Find a Wormhole

Wormhole - deposit photos

If wormholes exist, they could magnify the light of distant objects by up to 100,000 times — and that could be the key to finding them, according to research published Jan. 19 in the journal Physical Review D. Wormholes are theoretical funnel-shaped portals through which matter (or perhaps spacecraft) could travel great distances. To imagine … 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” How We Might Find Planet Nine (If It Exists)

Planet Nine - deposit photos

The elusive “Planet Nine,” which may or may not lurk in the outer reaches of the solar system, could be surrounded by a small swarm of potential moons, a new study reveals. What’s more, these moons could be the key to finding the missing planet. Planet Nine, if it exists, lurks beyond the orbit of … 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

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Writer Fuel: There’s A Thing Called a Kilonova, and Astronomers Found One About to Happen

supernova - deposit photos

For the first time, scientists have discovered a double-star system that is doomed to explode in a fiery “kilonova,” a precious-metal-creating blast caused by the merger of two stellar corpses. The kilonova — which will send gold, silver, platinum and other new heavy elements careening into space — won’t happen for millions of years. But … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Scientists Discover “Tides” in Space, Caused by the Moon

tides in space

The moon exerts a previously unknown tidal force on the “plasma ocean” surrounding Earth’s upper atmosphere, creating fluctuations that are similar to the tides in the oceans, a new study suggests. In the study, published Jan. 26 in the journal Nature Physics, scientists used more than 40 years of data collected by satellites to track … Read more