Black Holes Turn up the Heat

So far, astrophysicists thought that super-massive black holes can only influence their immediate surroundings. A collaboration of scientists at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) and in Canada and the US now discovered that diffuse gas in the universe can absorb luminous gamma-ray emission from black holes, heating it up strongly. This surprising result has important implications for the formation of structures in the universe. The results have just been published in 'The Astrophysical Journal“ and „Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society”.

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NASA Sees the Light of Alien 'Super Earth'

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a 'super-Earth' planet beyond our solar system for the first time. While the planet is not habitable, the detection is a historic step toward the eventual search for signs of life on other planets.

'Spitzer has amazed us yet again,' said Bill Danchi, Spitzer program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 'The spacecraft is pioneering the study of atmospheres of distant planets and paving the way for NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope to apply a similar technique on potentially habitable planets.'

The planet, called 55 Cancri e, falls into a class of planets termed super Earths, which are more massive than our home world but lighter than giant planets like Neptune. The planet is about twice as big and eight times as massive as Earth. It orbits a bright star, called 55 Cancri, in a mere 18 hours.

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