University of Warwick astronomers, in partnership with institutions in Spain, are showing how astronomy tools, that are usually used to study stars, can be repurposed as climate sensors, helping us track how Earth's atmosphere is changing in the face of global warming. 

Aug. 1 is Women Astronomers Day, highlighting the historical achievements of women in astronomy. The designation honors the birthdate, in 1818, of Maria Mitchell, the first American woman astronomer and professor of astronomy.

At Case Western Reserve University, astrophysicists Idit Zehavi and Johanna Nagy work in theoretical and experimental cosmology, respectively; fields that straddle astronomy and physics.

Supercomputer simulations are helping scientists sharpen their understanding about the environment beyond a black hole’s ‘shadow,’ material just outside its event horizon. Snapshot image from radiative simulations of M87 black hole. Supercomputer simulations are helping scientists sharpen their understanding about the environment beyond a black hole’s ‘shadow,’ material just outside its event horizon.

Technicians have successfully installed two sunshields onto NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s inner segment. The panels (together called the Lower Instrument Sun Shade), will play a critical role in keeping Roman’s instruments cool and stable as the mission explores the infrared universe.

Kyoto, Japan -- Black holes embody the ultimate abyss. They are the most powerful sources of gravity in the universe, capable of dramatically distorting space and time around them. When disturbed, they begin to "ring" in a distinctive pattern known as quasinormal modes: ripples in space-time that produce detectable gravitational waves.

In events like black hole mergers, these waves can be strong enough to detect from Earth, offering a unique opportunity to measure a black hole's mass and shape. However, precise calculation of these vibrations through theoretical methods has proven a major challenge, particularly for vibrations that are rapidly weakening.

This inspired a team of researchers at Kyoto University to try a new method of calculating the vibrations of black holes. The scientists applied a mathematical technique called the exact Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin, or exact WKB analysis to carefully trace the behavior of waves from a black hole out into distant space. While this method has long been studied in mathematics, its application to physics -- especially to black holes -- is still a newly developing area.