Space

MIT astronomers have witnessed flashes of X-rays shooting out of a black hole and believe that a dead star, or white dwarf, passing close by the black hole could be causing the eruptions, reports Mark Kaufman for Mashable. “The astronomers ran simulations of what could drive these unusual bursts of energy,” writes Kaufman. “The most plausible outcome is this brazen white dwarf (the spent core of a sun-like star), which is about one-tenth the mass of our sun. It's shedding its dense, outer layer and triggering these pulses of X-rays.” 

Space.com reporter Robert Lea writes that using the XMM-Newton X-ray telescope, MIT astronomers have observed bursts of X-rays erupting with increasing frequency from a supermassive black hole, a behavior they think could be caused by a “dead stellar core, or white dwarf, daringly teetering on the edge of the black hole.” Lea explains that “if the source of these strange episodes is a finely balanced white dwarf, the researchers theorize that it could be detected using ripples in space and time called gravitational waves emitted from the system.”

Graduate student William Parker SM '22 has discovered that two geomagnetic storms have “affected the orbits of thousands of satellites, resulting in an unprecedented mass migration,” reports Passant Rabie for Gizmodo. “Geomagnetic storms are disturbances in Earth’s magnetosphere—a large bubble of magnetic field around our planet—caused by solar wind,” explains Rabie. 

New research by graduate student William Parker SM '22 has found that two geomagnetic storms have led to the mass migrations of thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit, reports Jeff Foust for Space News. “This is a significant impact,” says Parker. “This is critical infrastructure to all of our space operations moving forward, and it will only become more important as time goes on.”

The MIT Museum is hosting an “After Dark: Made in the ‘90s” event on December 12, reports Claudine Bellanger for The Boston Globe. The event “will feature retro games, a discussion of the decade’s space exploration pursuits with former astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman,” and more, writes Bellanger. 

Prof. Alan Lightman speaks with Boston Globe correspondent Kate Tuttle about his new book, “The Miraculous from the Material: Understanding the Wonders of Nature,” in which Lightman “celebrates the phenomena that inspire awe.” Lightman explains: “I think the humanities are even more important now in a period of exponentially advancing technology. We really have to think hard about what makes us human. Like having compassion for other people. The ability to fall in love, the ability to appreciate beauty.”

MIT researchers have analyzed tiny particles from a distant asteroid and found that a weak magnetic field may have helped form the outer planets in our solar system,  reports Sabrina Lam for The Boston Globe. In the future, the researchers hope to use samples from other celestial bodies to identify magnetic fields in our universe. “An exciting thing that’s probably going to happen in the next few decades,” says Prof. Benjamin Weiss, “is that we’re going to start bringing samples back from comets.”

Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have discovered a “black-hole triple, the first known instance of a three-body system that includes a black hole, which is not supposed to be part of the mix,” reports Dennis Overbye for The New York Times.  The researchers propose that the black hole “could have resulted from a sort of immaculate conception whereby the progenitor star disappeared from the universe without any fireworks.”

Astronomers from MIT and elsewhere have “identified a black hole that appears to have come into being through the collapse of the core of a large star in its death throes, but without the usual blast,” explains Will Dunham for Reuters. “Black holes have previously been spotted orbiting with one other star or one other black hole in what are called binary systems,” explains Dunham. “But this is the first known instance of a triple system with a black hole and two stars.”

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have discovered a black hole triple – a black hole with two orbiting stars around it at varying distances – for the first time, reports Jess Thomson for Newsweek. The researchers believe this “first-of-its-kind discovery could help unravel the mysteries of how black holes form and how they enter into binaries or triples,” writes Thomson. 

MIT scientists have discovered a complex form of carbon, crucial for life on Earth, outside our solar system for the first time, demonstrating how “the compounds needed for life could come from space,” reports Alex Wilkins for New Scientist. “Now, we’re seeing both ends of this life cycle,” explains Prof. Brett McGuire. He explains that we can see the chemical archaeological record in our solar system in asteroids and on Earth, “and now we’re looking back in time at a place where another solar system will form, and seeing these same molecules there forming. We’re seeing the start of the archaeological record.”

Popular Science reporter Laura Baisas writes that MIT physicists have discovered, for the first time, a black hole triple. “Since the new triple system includes a very far-off star, the system’s black hole was potentially born through [a] gentler direct collapse,” writes Baisas. “While astronomers have been observing violent supernovae for centuries, this new triple system may be the first evidence of a black hole that formed from this more gentle process.” 

Physicists from MIT and Caltech have discovered a black hole triple system, “consisting of three bodies spinning around each other about 7,800 light-years from Earth,” writes Isaac Schultz for Gizmodo. Schultz notes that the finding “pushes the envelope,” revealing “a system with one black hole and two stars—a configuration never seen before.”

Boston Globe reporter Nick Stoico spotlights how researchers from MIT and Caltech have observed a “black hole triple” for the first time. “This one is satisfying because it’s kind of a simple discovery,” explains postdoctoral associate Kevin Burdge. “It’s just looking at a picture, and I think it reminds a lot of astronomers that there’s more to the job than just analyzing complicated data. You shouldn’t forget to do the simple things, like just look with your own eyes at some pictures and see what you find.” 

Using the James Webb Telescope, researchers at MIT have found quasars, “some of the brightest objects in the cosmos, adrift in the empty voids of space,” reports Mark Kaufman for Mashable. “This latest cosmic quandary is not just about how these quasars formed in isolation, but how they formed so rapidly,” explains Kaufman.