Astronomers recently saw a huge explosion that happened 180 million light-years away. What’s unusual about this is that it looks very different compared to other explosions seen in space, with much flatter shape than anticipated!
Explosions usually look like a round ball, much like stars do. But one explosion was definitely different – it was way flatter than usual! This rare event is called a Fast Blue Optical Transient (FBOT) or just “the cow”, and only four of these have ever been seen. Scientists are still trying to figure out how these explosions work, but the recent observation has helped them piece together the puzzle!
Scientists are understanding a huge explosion that is as big as our solar system. It’s odd though, because it looks like an extremely flat disc. They think that the star it came from could have been surrounded by something dense or maybe the star didn’t explode fully (a failed supernova).
Scientists recently observed a very rare type of explosion known as a “Fast Blue Optical Transient” or FBOT. They called this one the “the cow”, since it was the first one ever seen! It’s much less common than other types of explosions like supernovas.
Stars exploding in space usually look like a sphere, because stars themselves are round. But recently astronomers saw something far from normal: an explosion 180 million light-years away that wasn’t round like the other ones. Instead, it was shaped like a disc a few days after it happened. Scientists think the shape came from something that flew off the star just before it exploded.
Scientists don’t know why FBOT explosions happen yet, but recently research was published in the “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” that may be able to help them figure it out.
Dr. Justyn Maund from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Physics and Astronomy shared that FBOT explosions don’t happen in the normal way like other stars do. He also said that these explosions are extra bright and they change fast, which makes them really strange to watch! In other words, there’s something special about these kinds of stars that make them even weirder than we thought before!
We recently found something really interesting – exploding stars can actually be shaped differently from what we thought! This could be caused by two things. Firstly, the stars might have formed a disc just before they died. Alternatively, these stars may have been going to turn into supernovas but only part of them ended up becoming a black hole or neutron star instead and ate the rest of the star.
We now know that the differences between stars exploding are very important to figure out. This surprises us because previously we had different ideas about how stars exploded in space.
Scientists discovered something incredible by a stroke of luck – they observed a bright light that had been polarized! To measure it, they used special astronomical “sunglasses” called the Liverpool Telescope which was owned by Liverpool John Moores University and located in La Palma.
Scientists were able to measure the shape of a supernova explosion that happened 180 million light years away, which is the same size as our own Solar System. To do this, they measured the polarization and used those measurements to make a 3D picture of the blast. With this 3D picture, researchers could see how flat the blast was.
The Liverpool Telescope has a mirror that is only 2.0m wide, but the scientists studying it found out what the explosion was like as if the telescope was really big – about 750 km in diameter!
Researchers will use another telescope in Chile called the Vera Rubin Observatory to try and find more of these explosions (FBOTs) and learn even more about them.
A group of researchers just released a study in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society about the effects of a special type of lens implant for children with cataracts. This lens uses light to help the child’s vision become more aspherical, like that of a cow, and it has long-term clinical benefits.
1. Scientists use a model eye called the “Hwey-Lan Liou” model to measure how well Toric intraocular lenses work.
2. The new COVID-19 is causing more people to suffer from neglected tropical diseases again.
3. Our biological clock helps us measure light that comes into our eyes using small cells found in the retina of our eyes called intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells.
4. Computer software, like ‘IVAN’, can be used to check and compare the size of blood vessels inside the retina accurately.
5. Scientists have noticed changes in the quality of vision when multifocal intraocular lenses have been damaged with a type of laser beam known as Nd: YAG laser beam.
1. This passage talks about five different things experts recommend that we do for eye and muscle diseases.
2. Firstly, to use a medicine called ‘Selinxor’ properly in illnesses related to the blood system.
3. Secondly, have an expert check to find out if people with myasthenia gravis (a type of muscle disease) have specific autoantibodies in their blood.
4. Next, figure out if differences in genes that are connected to the optic disc (the part of your brain responsible for vision) can tell us if someone is more likely to get primary open angle glaucoma in Inner Mongolia.
5. Lastly, be careful when using Toric intraocular lens as certain errors need to be analysed and controlled during application.
