La NASA revela los secretos de una explosión estelar que se expandió como nada visto en el universo

La NASA revela que una supernova avanzó a una velocidad descomunal tras atravesar una gigantesca cavidad espacial. El hallazgo podría reescribir lo que creíamos saber sobre estas explosiones.

La NASA mide una enana blanca con IXPE y revela su geometría

La NASA logra un hito con la misión IXPE al estudiar la enana blanca EX Hydrae. Descubre cómo la polarimetría de rayos X ha revelado la estructura de este sistema binario a 200 años luz.

Home Decor Guideline: IXPE vs. EVA Underlayment

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High optical to X-ray polarization ratio reveals Compton scattering in BL Lacertae's jet

Blazars, supermassive black hole systems (SMBHs) with highly relativistic jets aligned with the line of sight, are the most powerful long-lived emitters of electromagnetic emission in the Universe. We report here on a radio to gamma-ray multiwavelength campaign on the blazar BL Lacertae with unprecedented polarimetric coverage from radio to X-ray wavelengths. The observations caught an extraordinary event on 2023 November 10-18, when the degree of linear polarization of optical synchrotron radiation reached a record value of 47.5%. In stark contrast, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) found that the X-ray (Compton scattering or hadron-induced) emission was polarized at less than 7.4% (3sigma confidence level). We argue here that this observational result rules out a hadronic origin of the high energy emission, and strongly favors a leptonic (Compton scattering) origin, thereby breaking the degeneracy between hadronic and leptonic emission models for BL Lacertae and demonstrating the power of multiwavelength polarimetry to address this question. Furthermore, the multiwavelength flux and polarization variability, featuring an extremely prominent rise and decay of the optical polarization degree, is interpreted for the first time by the relaxation of a magnetic "spring" embedded in the newly injected plasma. This suggests that the plasma jet can maintain a predominant toroidal magnetic field component parsecs away from the central engine.

Microsoft expands Copilot Pages to all users, offering a collaborative space for creative projects

  Microsoft is spreading Copilot Pages to all users worldwide. The new artificial intelligence area, which was announced last week, is a mu...

APOD: 2025 May 9 – IXPE Explores a Black Hole Jet

A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.

NASA’s IXPE Reveals X-ray-Generating Particles in Black Hole Jets - NASA

Data from NASA’s IXPE enables astronomers to learn more about black hole jets known as blazars.