Daniela Mata, Author at Astronomy.com

What is Vega’s smooth-surface secret?

Daniela Mata — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Vega, located in the constellation Lyra, is the fifth-brightest star in the night sky. It is known to be surrounded a disk of particle debris that’s almost 100 billion miles (160 billion kilometers) in diameter. The star and its orbiting disk have been photographed countless times by several observatories and satellites, although it was onlyContinue reading "What is Vega’s smooth-surface secret?"

The post What is Vega’s smooth-surface secret? appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

This black hole is gulping material 40 times faster than the theoretical limit

Daniela Mata — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 16:39:02 +0000

For decades, astronomers have puzzled over how the supermassive black holes residing in the center of galaxies form. Now, researchers may have found the biggest clue yet to how these monstrous objects — weighing millions of solar masses — came to exist. An international team used the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) high sensitivity toContinue reading "This black hole is gulping material 40 times faster than the theoretical limit"

The post This black hole is gulping material 40 times faster than the theoretical limit appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Exploring Turkey’s dark-sky delights

Daniela Mata — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Merhaba! That’s Turkish for “hello.” After a week of encountering so many warm-hearted Turkish people, I was saying this word in my sleep. My adventure began with 12 hours of travel from Milwaukee. When my feet touched Turkish soil in Kayseri, it finally felt official: I was going to observe the Perseids at Turkey’s annualContinue reading "Exploring Turkey’s dark-sky delights"

The post Exploring Turkey’s dark-sky delights appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.