A supermassive black hole in another galaxy tore a star to shreds and spewed its guts all over space.
<puts finger to earpiece> We're getting reports of a second supermassive black hole
Nothing about this story isn’t really big
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)
You've seen countless pics of them but have you ever wondered just what *exactly* is a galaxy?
Astronomers have wondered that too, and it's not so easy to define.
Galaxies come in many shapes and sizes, and trying to define them is difficult
Scientific American (www.scientificamerican.com)
It's easy to be somewhat amused by people who believe in ridiculously brain-melting anti-science conspiracy theories. But now they have access to the White House, and I'm very much not amused.
White House press corps being stacked with believers in nonsense
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)
Here's a fun question. Astronomers have found that about once per century, sun-like stars are capable of blasting out immense superflares *thousands of times* more powerful than regular solar flares.
So, um... can the Sun do that as well?
Stars like the sun might erupt with extreme explosions about once per century
Scientific American (www.scientificamerican.com)
I dumped all things Meta. Zuck can kiss my ass.
Waving bye-bye to Zuck’s domain, and a new (to us) planet is tugging on others in its system
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)
Also, paid subscribers can learn about a new planet discovered by accident in JWST observations!
So it turns out Alien was wrong.
In space, no one can hear you scream… unless you're in the right place, and you scream really, *really* loudly.
It seems contrary to common knowledge, but sound can travel through some parts of space quite well
Scientific American (www.scientificamerican.com)
So, did astronomers REALLY find the best evidence yet of alien life on another planet?
I'm gonna go with "no".
I’m not even convinced they found the molecules they claim to have found
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)
NGC 1514 is a nebula, the gas and dust ejected from a dying star. But hoo boy, is it *weird*. When you observe it with JWST, it looks like, well…
… a transparent tuna fish can with bright glowing rims.
Why?
Good question. We don't know.
It’s bizarre, and we still don’t understand this dusty structure
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)
Something very, very weird is going on over at Andromeda.
Why are all its satellite galaxies on one side — the side facing us?
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)
When I wrote this article it didn't seem like it would be a metaphor for today, but here we are.
X-rays from a nearby active galaxy show something is deflecting a black hole’s jet
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)
Makemake is a frigidly cold icy body that orbits the Sun well past Neptune. Yet there appears to be a spot on its surface that's *100 degrees* hotter than the ice around it. Or it may have rings. Or both!
The small body may have a hot spot on its surface. Or it may have rings! Or even both.
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)
When was the first exoplanet discovered? You might read it was in 1992, but in fact the first evidence for the existence of alien worlds was found before then. Way before then.
Like, in *1917*.
I love this story.
Evidence of alien worlds goes back farther than you think
Scientific American (www.scientificamerican.com)
There may be tens of BILLIONS of small (10 - 100 meter) asteroids out in the main belt past Mars, but they're too small to be seen from with our telescopes… until now. Astronomers used JWST data in a unique way to find over 130 of them!
Astronomers used a new technique to find the building-sized rocks, the smallest ever seen at that distance
Bad Astronomy Newsletter (badastronomy.beehiiv.com)