Molecules spewed outward from a dying star are confined into narrow jets by a tightly-wound magnetic field, according to astronomers who used the National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope to study an old star about 8,500 light-years from Earth.
Planets Orbiting Star in Opposite Directions
Astronomers studying a disk of material circling a still-forming star inside our Galaxy have found a tantalizing result — the inner part of the disk is orbiting the protostar in the opposite direction from the outer part of the disk.
Astronomers Discover Fastest-Spinning Pulsar
Astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope have discovered the fastest-spinning neutron star ever found, a 20-mile-diameter superdense pulsar whirling faster than the blades of a kitchen blender.
Fastest Pulsar Speeding Out of Galaxy, Astronomers Discover
A speeding, superdense neutron star somehow got a powerful ‘kick’ that is propelling it completely out of our Milky Way Galaxy into the cold vastness of intergalactic space.
First Stages of Planet-Building Around Nearby Star
Interstellar travelers might want to detour around the star system TW Hydrae to avoid a messy planetary construction site.
Scientists Track Collision of Powerful Stellar Winds
Astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope have tracked the motion of a violent region where the powerful winds of two giant stars slam into each other.