A Metal-Poor Intergalactic Gas Cloud in the Early Universe
Today’s guest post looks a gas cloud situated between galaxies that seems to lack the presence of metals!
Double-Peak and Destroy: Accretion in a Tidal Disruption Event Reveals Itself
We know that supermassive black holes consume almost anything that comes near them. But have you ever wondered how we know when or what they are devouring? Today’s paper provides an answer to that question as the author’s present the first confident detection of an accretion disk around a supermassive black hole following the tidal disruption of a star. Find out what astronomers see when a supermassive black hole has star for lunch!
Dust n’ H2
The diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) isn’t as smooth as its name makes it sound. In today’s astrobite, we look at one mechanism for clumping up the diffuse ISM, and how that mechanism could affect molecular hydrogen formation.
Rock & Roll & Water: a Statistical Look at Water Accretion as a Polluter of White Dwarfs
Astronomers have found hydrogen contamination in the atmospheres of helium white dwarfs – but where in the world/universe is it coming from?! The authors of today’s astrobite perform statistical tests to see if the source of this pesky hydrogen could be water-bearing rocky bodies out in space.
What’s going on in Orion’s head?
A wealth of observations tell an active accretion story within the Lambda Orionis Star Forming Region, at the head of the Orion constellation.
Do stars throw snowballs?
Compositional investigations of comets have suggested that they are “icy dirtballs,” so would it be possible to detect traces of hydrogen and oxygen if they were flung from one stellar system into the atmosphere of another star?