Articles by Shreejaya Karantha
Phys.org / Heavy-element exotic dust may solve a neutron star merger mystery
When neutron stars merge, they create a powerful explosion called a kilonova that flings out neutron-rich material, some of which decays into heavy elements through a process called the r-process. Recent observations of kilonovae ...
Phys.org / JWST's 'overmassive' early black holes may not be so massive after all
Astronomers studying a population of unusually X-ray-silent and overmassive black holes discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope have found that they may not be as massive as they appear. The new paper, outlining a plausible ...
Phys.org / JWST finds the most distant barred galaxy candidate in the early universe
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have identified what may be the most distant barred spiral galaxy ever discovered, dating to a time less than 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. The paper outlining its ...
Phys.org / 'Cosmic wallflowers' may hold the key to the origin of globular clusters
Astronomers using computer simulations have investigated whether a class of star clusters nicknamed "cosmic wallflowers" could be the long-sought ancestors of the globular clusters we see orbiting galaxies today. Their paper, ...
Phys.org / Astronomers may have caught an early galaxy in the process of dying
Astronomers have spotted many "red and dead" galaxies in the early universe. These are massive systems that stopped forming stars surprisingly early in cosmic history. Now, they may have found evidence of one in the act of ...
Phys.org / One of the most distant 'leaky' galaxies ever found may reveal how the universe reionized
Astronomers have identified one of the most distant candidate galaxies known to leak ionizing radiation—the same kind of radiation thought to have transformed the early universe during the epoch of reionization.
Phys.org / Reanalysis suggests 'Phoebe' is a variable star, not a primordial black hole
A new study debunks a recent claim that astronomers may have detected a lunar-mass primordial black hole. In a reanalysis of observations from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), researchers found that the star nicknamed "Phoebe" ...
Phys.org / Off-center stellar death points to wandering supermassive black hole stripped of its own galaxy
Astronomers have uncovered new details about the black hole that ripped apart a star in a tidal disruption event named AT2024tvd. Findings suggest it is a wandering supermassive black hole—the kind that is not located at ...
Phys.org / ALMA spots a nine-member stellar family in the act of formation
Massive stars much bigger than our sun always come in pairs or groups, not alone. But astronomers don't fully understand how these groupings form. In a new study, astronomers using ALMA have serendipitously discovered a young ...
Phys.org / Einstein Probe detects mysterious X-ray transient that doesn't fit any known class
Astronomers have reported the discovery of an unusual X-ray transient detected by the Einstein Probe that does not fit any known class of cosmic explosions. The paper presenting its multiwavelength analysis was published ...
Phys.org / Powerful UFO spotted blasting from a distant black hole
Astronomers have detected one of the most powerful ultra-fast outflows ever seen from a distant supermassive black hole. Using XMM-Newton and NuSTAR, a team studied a hyper-luminous quasar at cosmic noon and found two distinct ...
Phys.org / A cornerstone of Milky Way history may need rewriting with evidence of multiple ancient mergers
Astronomers may have uncovered new details about one of the Milky Way's most important ancient collisions. Using data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and a new clustering algorithm, researchers have found ...
Phys.org / Possible dark matter-deficient twins discovered in the Fornax Cluster
Astronomers have identified a possible new example of one of the universe's strangest galaxy types: galaxies that appear to contain little or no dark matter. The newly studied pair, FCC 224 and FCC 240, on the outskirts of ...
Phys.org / Black hole feeding bursts may explain JWST's Little Red Dots in early universe
A new theoretical study may have cracked one of the most puzzling discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST): Little Red Dots, spotted across the early universe. The paper, posted to the arXiv preprint server on ...
Phys.org / Did this star eat its planets? A new study offers clues on 'chemical paradox' of a binary system
Astronomers have investigated a puzzling binary star system in which two stars that may have formed together now show dramatically different chemical compositions. The new study, uploaded to the arXiv preprint server on May ...