Science & Space Roundup: Top News of the Day (Dec 17)

Here are today’s most important updates from the realm of Science and Space. A Long Look Into Darkness: NASA Solves How Black Hole Jets Really Work An international team of astronomers using NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) has identified the origin of X-rays in a supermassive black hole’s jet, answering a question that has been unresolved since the earliest days of X-ray astronomy. The IXPE mission observed the Perseus Cluster, the brightest galaxy cluster observable in X-rays, for more than 600 hours over a 60-day period between January and March. Not only is this IXPE’s longest observation of a single target to date, it also marks IXPE’s first time observing a galaxy cluster. Polarization measurements from IXPE carry information about the orientation and alignment of emitted X-ray light waves. The more X-ray waves traveling in sync, the higher the degree of polarization. Before Galaxies Took Shape, ‘Dinosaur Stars’ Ruled ...

Soham Halder

• 1 day ago
• 3 minutes read