X-rays

Artwork of X-ray binary system

Warped black hole is totally gnarly, and so is what messed it up

An X-ray transient that was one of the brightest such objects ever observed came out of a warped black hole.

By Elizabeth Rayne 2 months ago

The central 1,000 x 2,000 light years of the galaxy seen in X-rays (red, green, blue) by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and radio waves (gray and purple) by MeerKAT. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UMass/Q.D. Wang; Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKAT

Incredible image: Gorgeous magnetic chaos in the galactic center

By Phil Plait 8 months ago

A composite of Hoinga in X-rays (magenta) and radio (blue). Extremely hot gas filling the remnant emits X-rays, while electrons whizzing around magnetic fields at the edge of the shell structure generate radio waves.

A huge cloud of expanding supernova debris was found hidden in plain sight

By Phil Plait 9 months ago

Artwork depicting the magnetic field surrounding a neutron star. Credit: Casey Reed / Penn State University

Are neutron stars blasting out dark matter?

By Phil Plait 12 months ago

An all-sky map showing the X-ray bubbles seen by eROSITA (teal) and in gamma rays by Fermi (red). The X-ray bubbles are larger and appear to fully enclose the gamma-ray bubbles. Credit: MPE/IKI courtesy eROSITA PI Andrea Merloni

Our galaxy is blowing enormous hot bubbles into space and no one knows why

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

Artwork depicting a supermassive black hole surrounded by an accretion disk and magnetic corona, with powerful jets launching away in opposite directions. Credit: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss

How do supermassive black holes launch powerful jets of matter? With hot gas and magnetism.

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

A Hubble image of the Circinus Galaxy taken in 1999, after SN1996cr exploded but before it was discovered, with an arrow representing the approximate location of the supernova. The red glow is from hydrogen.

The nearby supernova no one saw

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

Cosmos hero

Even Superman's X-ray vision can't capture images like this six-month, all-sky shot of the cosmos

By Jeff Spry 1 year ago

An all-sky map showing what may be a change in the expansion rate of the Universe across the sky; faster in some places (red-yellow) and slower in others (purple-black). Credit: K. Migkas et al. 2020, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Are some parts of the Universe expanding faster than others? Maaaaaaybe.

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

eROSITA observation of the interacting galaxy clusters Abell 3391 and 3395. An image in three X-ray colors shows the clusters (left), and a different view highlights the gas connecting them (right).

eROSITA is now scanning the skies for X-rays

By Phil Plait 2 years ago