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Astronomers have detected one of the longest, brightest and most energetic cosmic objects ever observed — and they’ve named it “Scary Barbie,” in part due to its terrifying power.

The remote object, an astonishingly bright flash of light that has lasted for more than two years, was discovered lurking inside an enormous data set gathered by computer-guided telescopes.

After finding the brightly burning patch of sky in the data and cross-referencing it with observations made by other telescopes, the astronomers realized they had stumbled across one of the most powerful cosmic explosions ever witnessed. They reported their findings April 17 on the preprint server arXiv (opens in new tab) , and their paper has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Related: Black hole ‘spaghettified’ a star into a doughnut shape, and astronomers captured the gory encounter

“It’s absurd. If you take a typical supernova and multiply it a thousand times, we’re still not at how bright this is — and supernovas are among the most luminous objects in the sky,” co-author Danny Milisavljevic (opens in new tab) , an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Purdue University, said in a statement (opens in new tab) . “This is the most energetic phenomenon I have ever encountered.”

Scary Barbie was born from the final death throes of a star being torn to shreds by a supermassive black hole.

Black holes feed upon unfortunate stars that cross their paths, using tidal forces exerted by their immense gravitational pulls. As the star is reeled ever closer to the black hole’s maw, the gravity affecting the regions of the star closer to the black hole is far stronger than that acting on the star’s farside. This disparity “spaghettifies” the star into a long, noodle-like string that gets tightly wound around the black hole layer by layer — like spaghetti around a fork. 

This noodle of hot plasma then quickly accelerates around the black hole and spins out into an enormous jet of energy and matter, which produces a distinctive bright beam of light — known as a transient event — that optical, X-ray and radio-wave telescopes can detect.

Because Scary Barbie’s light came from a remote region of the sky — traveling around 7.7 billion years across the expanding fabric of space-time — astronomers didn’t spot the event directly. Instead, by developing a machine-learning system called Recommender Engine For Intelligent Transient Tracking, the researchers combed through data from many observations before finding the extremely bright light source. By using the Lick Observatory in California and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, the researchers were better able to characterize the light as coming from a transient event. related stories—1st image of our galaxy’s ‘black hole heart’ unveiled

—Black holes may be swallowing invisible matter that slows the movement of stars

—What’s the biggest black hole in the universe?

But Scary Barbie — a nickname made by appending its randomly assigned alphanumeric name, ZTF20abrbeie, with a reference to its frightening power — is weird even among other rare and extreme astronomical events. It is much brighter than any other transient event the astronomers could compare it to, and, while transient events usually last only weeks or months, Scary Barbie has already burned incandescently for more than two years, with no indication it will sputter out.

The astronomers said further observations of Scary Barbie, possibly using the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, could enable them to snap some high-resolution images of the incredibly rare cosmic outburst.

“There are few things in the universe that can be so powerful, reactions that can be this long-lived,” Milisavljevic said. “Discoveries like this really open our eyes to the fact that we are still uncovering mysteries and exploring wonders in the universe — things no one has ever seen before.”

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US Supreme Court will not review IRS case involving Coinbase user data

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US Supreme Court will not review IRS case involving Coinbase user data

US Supreme Court will not review IRS case involving Coinbase user data

A lower court ruling will stand in a case involving a Coinbase user who filed a lawsuit against the IRS after the crypto exchange turned over transaction data.

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Solar and wind industry faces up to $7 billion tax hike under Trump’s big bill, trade group says

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Solar and wind industry faces up to  billion tax hike under Trump's big bill, trade group says

Witthaya Prasongsin | Moment | Getty Images

Senate Republicans are threatening to hike taxes on clean energy projects and abruptly phase out credits that have supported the industry’s expansion in the latest version of President Donald Trump‘s big spending bill.

The measures, if enacted, would jeopardize hundreds of thousands of construction jobs, hurt the electric grid, and potentially raise electricity prices for consumers, trade groups warn.

The Senate GOP released a draft of the massive domestic spending bill over the weekend that imposes a new tax on renewable energy projects if they source components from foreign entities of concern, which basically means China. The bill also phases out the two most important tax credits for wind and solar power projects that enter service after 2027.

Republicans are racing to pass Trump’s domestic spending legislation by a self-imposed Friday deadline. The Senate is voting Monday on amendments to the latest version of the bill.

The tax on wind and solar projects surprised the renewable energy industry and feels punitive, said John Hensley, senior vice president for market analysis at the American Clean Power Association. It would increase the industry’s burden by an estimated $4 billion to $7 billion, he said.

“At the end of the day, it’s a new tax in a package that is designed to reduce the tax burden of companies across the American economy,” Hensley said. The tax hits any wind and solar project that enters service after 2027 and exceeds certain thresholds for how many components are sourced from China.

This combined with the abrupt elimination of the investment tax credit and electricity production tax credit after 2027 threatens to eliminate 300 gigawatts of wind and solar projects over the next 10 years, which is equivalent to about $450 billion worth of infrastructure investment, Hensley said.

“It is going to take a huge chunk of the development pipeline and either eliminate it completely or certainly push it down the road,” Hensley said. This will increase electricity prices for consumers and potentially strain the electric grid, he said.

The construction industry has warned that nearly 2 million jobs in the building trades are at risk if the energy tax credits are terminated and other measures in budget bill are implemented. Those credits have supported a boom in clean power installations and clean technology manufacturing.

“If enacted, this stands to be the biggest job-killing bill in the history of this country,” said Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions, in a statement. “Simply put, it is the equivalent of terminating more than 1,000 Keystone XL pipeline projects.”

The Senate legislation is moving toward a “worst case outcome for solar and wind,” Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco told clients in a Sunday note.

Shares of NextEra Energy, the largest renewable developer in the U.S., fell 2%. Solar stocks Array Technologies fell 8%, Enphase lost nearly 2% and Nextracker tumbled 5%.

Trump’s former advisor Elon Musk slammed the Senate legislation over the weekend.

“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country,” The Tesla CEO posted on X. “Utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.”

Catch up on the latest energy news from CNBC Pro:

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Nissan is in crisis mode as job cuts begin and suppliers are caught in the crosshairs

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Nissan is in crisis mode as job cuts begin and suppliers are caught in the crosshairs

Is Nissan raising the red flag? Nissan is cutting about 15% of its workforce and is now asking suppliers for more time to make payments.

Nissan starts job cuts, asks supplier to delay payments

As part of its recovery plan, Nissan announced in May that it plans to cut 20,000 jobs, or around 15% of its global workforce. It’s also closing several factories to free up cash and reduce costs.

Nissan said it will begin talks with employees at its Sunderland plant in the UK this week about voluntary retirement opportunities. The company is aiming to lay off around 250 workers.

The Sunderland plant is the largest employer in the city with around 6,000 workers and is critical piece to Nissan’s comeback. Nissan will build its next-gen electric vehicles at the facility, including the new LEAF, Juke, and Qashqai.

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According to several emails and company documents (via Reuters), Nissan is also working with its suppliers to for more time to make payments.

Nissan-delays-supplier-payments
The new Nissan LEAF (Source: Nissan)

“They could choose to be paid immediately or opt for a later payment,” Nissan said. The company explained in a statement to Reuters that it had incentivized some of its suppliers in Europe and the UK to accept more flexible payment terms, at no extra cost.

The emails show that the move would free up cash for the first quarter (April to June), similar to its request before the end of the financial year.

Nissan-delays-supplier-payments
Nissan N7 electric sedan (Source: Dongfeng Nissan)

One employee said in an email to co-workers that Nissan was asking suppliers “again” to delay payments. The emails, viewed by Reuters, were exchanged between Nissan workers in Europe and the United Kingdom.

Nissan is taking immediate action as part of its recovery plan, aiming to turn things around, the company said in a statement.

Nissan-Micra-EV
The new Nissan Micra EV (Source: Nissan)

“While we are taking these actions, we aim for sufficient liquidity to weather the costs of the turnaround actions and redeem bond maturities,” the company said.

Nissan didn’t comment on the internal discussions, but the emails did reveal it gave suppliers two options. They could either delay payments at a higher interest rate, or HSBC would make the payment, and Nissan would repay the bank with interest.

Nissan-delays-supplier-payments
Nissan’s upcoming lineup for the US, including the new LEAF EV and “Adventure Focused” SUV (Source: Nissan)

The company had 2.2 trillion yen ($15.2 billion) in cash and equivalents at the end of March, but it has around 700 billion yen ($4.9 billion) in debt that’s due later this year.

As part of Re:Nissan, the Japanese automaker’s recovery plan, Nissan looks to cut costs by 250 billion yen. By fiscal year 2026, it plans to return to profitability.

Electrek’s Take

With an aging vehicle lineup and a wave of new low-cost rivals from China, like BYD, Nissan is quickly falling behind.

Nissan is launching several new electric and hybrid vehicles over the next few years, including the next-gen LEAF, which is expected to help boost sales.

In China, the world’s largest EV market, Nissan’s first dedicated electric sedan, the N7, is off to a hot start with over 20,000 orders in 50 days.

The N7 will play a role in Nissan’s recovery efforts as it plans to export it to overseas markets. It will be one of nine new energy vehicles, including EVs and PHEVs, that Nissan plans to launch in China.

Can Nissan turn things around? Or will it continue falling behind the pack? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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