Core collapse supernovae sometimes lead to spinning black holes and gamma ray bursts. In this astrobite, we explore the results of a recent simulation of these “collapsar” systems to understand the impact of neutrino cooling on the black hole spin and subsequent gamma ray bursts.
The Shapley Supercluster is widely recognised as the most massive gravitationally bound structure in the local universe.The supercluster is made up of 11 galaxy clusters and groups and extends across ~ 260 megaparsecs. At its core, which this paper focuses on, are five clusters. This core hosts several radio haloes,which are caused by shock-heated gas from the Intracluster medium (ICM) and is evidence of ongoing cluster merger activity. This supercluster core is highly dynamically active (full of cluster-cluster mergers), which could influence the evolution of galaxies within the core. This paper examines the evolution of galaxies by observing the cold gas within galaxies (i.e. the neutral hydrogen) and compares several galaxy properties to do so (see also: this previous Astrobite featuring ram-pressure stripped galaxies in the Shapley Supercluster).
Space is full of unusual and (sometimes) quite powerful phenomena that cause light to behave in unexpected ways. Maser systems are one of these phenomena. The MeerKAT Radio Telescope recently detected the most luminous and distant hydroxyl (or OH) maser system – so intense it crossed the threshold from “mega-maser” to “giga-maser”. Discover why this system is so remarkable in this bite!