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Just how massive can a star get? Pretty danged massive... but it depends on when you look. A thing I wrote for Scientiifc American, just like I do every Friday!
Just how big can a star become? The answer depends on when in cosmic history you’re asking the question
Scientific American (www.scientificamerican.com)
So, have astronomers found a supermassive black hole blasted away from its galaxy and barrelling through intergalactic space... or is it just a weird galaxy?
Despite years of debate and follow-up studies, an odd streak of cosmic light still defies a final explanation. Is it a giant black hole screaming through intergalactic space?
Scientific American (www.scientificamerican.com)
Today's Bad Astronomy Newsletter covers a bunch of news from NASA's DART mission, which whacked an asteroid back in 2022. Very cool stuff including streaks on the asteroid moon's surface, the plume generated, and how the orbit of the binary pair changed!
The NASA spacecraft hit the moon Dimorphos, but that yanked the whole system hard enough to measure. Also, the plume was modeled in 3D, and the bigger asteroid is spitting rocks at its moon. So yeah, a lot.
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)
Looks like the moon is safe from a 2032 asteroid impact — unfortunately, kinda — and if you want to keep up with the changing sky, the Rubin Observatory will be happy to alert you millions of times per day.
Supernovae, asteroids, and more: That’s a lot of alerts.
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)
Elon Musk has already started plans to launch a million satellites.
Yes. A MILLION.
This is a colossally bad idea, and it's not too late to make your voice heard. I explain everything:
Satellites are wonders of modern technology that have improved all of our lives. But having more than a million of them in orbit could destroy our view of the heavens and seriously damage our planet
Scientific American (www.scientificamerican.com)
If you need a momentary distraction right now — and by heavens (literally) we all do — then here's a story about how our local supermassive black hole undergoes episodes of cosmic indigestion. The last one was just over a century ago!
It may erupt every few centuries, but don’t panic!
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)
Premium subbies to my newsletter can watch the debris from a catastrophic supernova explosion expand before their eyes!
Animation shows X-rays from an exploded star as it expands over the decades
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)
