Escuela de Astronomía de Cali

After 8 years travelling across the inner Solar System, BepiColombo has switched off its ion engines.

The ESA/JAXA mission is now entering its final approach to Mercury, with key arrival steps starting in September.

🔗 esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/End_of_the_blue_glow_BepiColombo_turns_off_solar_electric_propulsion_for_Mercury_arrival

JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)

En el fútbol, las jugadas se resuelven en segundos; el universo evoluciona a escala de millones de años. ⚽⏱️

Vozinha, el arquero veterano de Cabo Verde, se convirtió en uno de los protagonistas esta semana por su agilidad y sus reflejos defendiendo la portería. En la cancha, algunos disparos al arco pueden superar los 180 km/h (112 mph), pero incluso tiros mucho más comunes —de unos 70 a 100 km/h— dejan al portero con solo una fracción de segundo para reaccionar.

En el espacio, el tiempo opera en escalas dramáticamente mayores. Dentro de las columnas gigantes de gas y polvo de los Pilares de la Creación, por ejemplo, las estrellas pueden tardar millones de años en formarse.

The European Space Agency has approved a new space telescope to study the dim halos and wispy streams of stars that surround galaxies, mapping these faint structures to test models of galaxy formation.

Learn more: https://scim.ag/4vO460q

Did you miss the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus last night? You didn't! Not really, because the pair will still appear close together tonight. Look to the western sky after sunset. In this view from the Great Salt Lake in Utah on June 9th, see if you can spot Mercury near the horizon as well.

More skywatching tips: science.nasa.gov/skywatching

Connecting the (Little Red) Dots 🔴

Webb has delivered the strongest evidence yet that its discovery of mysterious Little Red Dots (LRD) are “black hole stars.” These objects are found in the early universe, starting at about 600 million years after the big bang, and they are so newly discovered that scientists are still working out exactly what they are.

Webb captured the most detailed data to date of one of these LRDs (named GLIMPSE-17775, dating back to 1.8 billion years after the big bang) that supports the interpretation that this object is a rapidly growing black hole enveloped in a dense gas cocoon. The presence of this gas accounts for why most LRDs are faint in X-rays, since any X-rays they give off are likely absorbed by the cocoons surrounding them. In contrast, more typical growing supermassive black holes are not embedded in dense gas, which allows bright ultraviolet light and X-rays from material orbiting them to escape.

This particular LRD has a giant host galaxy, and though this may not be typical of LRDs so far spotted, it isn’t inconsistent with the dense gas cocoon model. Additionally, excess blue light observed from LRDs is attributable to stars in the host galaxy.

Ultimately this is one more piece of an ongoing puzzle discovered by, and potentially solvable by Webb.

In this image, the LRD is in the inset box. The main image shows a massive galaxy cluster whose strong gravity is magnifying the light of this object, allowing us a better look at it. The location of the LRD is at the bottom of the image towards the right, marked by an orange outlined box.

Read more: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasa-webb-finds-strongest-evidence-yet-for-black-hole-stars/

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Vasily Kokorev (UT Austin); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Astronomers have released the newest list of gravitational-wave detections, almost doubling the number of known signals from colliding black holes.
Read more: https://buff.ly/DMhiiCv