Saturn’s Rings: A new Insight into their Age
A recent study published in Science Advances estimates that Saturn’s rings were formed less than 400 million years ago We know that Saturn is about the same age as all…
Continue readingGalaxy Collisions: Cosmic Mergers and the Destiny of the Milky Way
Galaxy collisions are a key factor in the evolution of cosmic structures. Between 4 and 6 billion years from now, it will be the turn of the Milky Way and…
Continue readingIndia’s Journey into Space Exploration
A rich sequence of space missions that paints a vivid picture of India’s journey in space exploration, from the early days of Aryabhata to the Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander on the…
Continue readingSirius: The Brightest Star in the Night Sky
A fascinating star that has captured the attention of astronomers and cultures throughout history: introducing Sirius Sirius, also known as the Dog Star, is one of the brightest stars in…
Continue readingThe Radioactive Universe: the Synthesis of 26Al in Stars
The detection of 26Al provides evidence of ongoing nucleosynthesis in the Universe The short-lived radioisotope 26Al (t1/2 =0.7 Myr) plays a unique role in our understanding of the origin of…
Continue readingAGB Stars: Cosmic Element Forges
Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are one of the main contributors of the chemical evolution of galaxies, and their ejecta represents an exceptional test for our theoretical knowledge of stellar…
Continue readingWhat will Betelgeuse do next?
John Percy (University of Toronto) tried to answer this question in an article, dated 2020, focused on the evolution of Betelgeuse Betelgeuse is not new to visible changes in luminosities….
Continue readingUnderstanding the life of stars with the James Webb Space Telescope
A meaningful comparison between the capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope and the new James Webb Space Telescope What we can observe in the picture is the Carina Nebula, a…
Continue readingWhat are pulsars?
To work out what pulsars are, we must go back to massive stars exploding as supernovae, and to the “wild” idea of Fritz Zwicky. Despite the obvious importance of Jocelyn…
Continue readingStars and dust
Space is actually full of dust, which can impact the evolution of stars and even of whole galaxies The following picture is an artistic creation by the twelve-year-old Polish student…
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