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Astronomers at NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered at least six early galaxies, massive in size, which were “dead” when the universe was about 3 billion years old. These galaxies had run out of cold hydrogen, something necessary for the formation of stars. With no fuel to form stars, the galaxies were running “empty”, NASA said.   

Lead author Kate Whitaker said that at this point in the universe — 3 billion years after the Big Bang — all galaxies should be forming lots of stars, adding that it’s the “peak epoch” of star formation. So what happened to all the cold gas in these galaxies so early on, asks Whitaker, also an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

This study of early, distant, and dead galaxies, has been published in the journal Nature and was part of the REQUIEM — Resolving QUIEscent Magnified Galaxies At High Redshift — programme. The REQUIEM team uses huge foreground galaxy clusters as natural telescopes.

It doesn’t look like these kinds of dead galaxies rejuvenate even after later minor mergers and accretions of nearby small galaxies and gas, NASA said. Eleven billion years later, when analysed in the present-day universe, these compact galaxies are thought to have evolved to be larger but are still “dead”, for they form no stars now. 

While the US space agency said that the six galaxies in question lived “fast and furious” lives and formed stars in a short time, why they ran out of cold oxygen and then stopped creating stars remains a mystery.  

Did a supermassive black hole in the galaxy’s centre turn on and heat all the gas? Whitaker said that if that is the case the gas could still be there, but it’s hot.

The next possible explanation, according to Whitaker, is that the gas could have been expelled, and now it’s being stopped from accreting back onto the galaxy. Or the galaxy just use it all up and the supply is cut off, she says, adding that these are among the questions the team will continue to explore following new observations.

This week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, we discuss the Surface Pro 8, Go 3, Duo 2, and Laptop Studio — as Microsoft sets a vision for Windows 11 hardware. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Astronomers Capture First-Ever Image of a Dead Star That Exploded Twice in Rare Supernova Event

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July 5, 2025

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Astronomers Capture First-Ever Image of a Dead Star That Exploded Twice in Rare Supernova Event

For the first time, a team of astronomers has captured a clear image of a white dwarf star that exploded not just once, but twice, as a Type Ia supernova — a “double-detonation” that scientists hadn’t thought possible until now. The extraordinary observation could revise our long-held notions of how stars die, suggesting that some stars can explode as supernovas without ever crossing the Chandrasekhar limit, the minimum mass normally thought necessary for such an explosion. The astronomers employed the Very Large Telescope’s MUSE instrument to zoom in on the four-century-old supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5, which sits 60,000 light-years away in the constellation Dorado, revealing evidence of two separate blasting catastrophes in its construction.

First Visual Proof Shows White Dwarfs Can Explode Twice Without Reaching Chandrasekhar Limit

As the researchers report on July 2 in Nature Astronomy, the team found a distinctive “fingerprint” in the debris of SNR 0509-67.5 in the Large Magellanic Cloud that the models predicted. White dwarfs—which are the dead stage of sun-like stars—usually blow up into Type Ia supernovas after they hit the Chandrasekhar limit by stealing matter from a neighbouring star.

However, this finding shows that the detonation can be launched at an earlier time. The explosion is likely to have a two-step origin, the team argues, with the initial blast being generated when an unstable layer of helium that the star had acquired exploded on its surface; the resulting shock wave then drove a second and main detonation.

“This physical proof of a double-detonation not only helps solve a long-standing mystery of what causes these explosions, but it represents the most visually compelling evidence for this origin.” Priyam Das, University of New South Wales, team leader and author.

Something is happening to Type Ia supernovas, the “standard candles” used to measure cosmic distances, because their brightness doesn’t fluctuate. But they have long mystified scientists with how they explode. Until this discovery, an explosion white dwarf that didn’t surpass the Chandrasekhar limit was only considered in theory.

This fresh visual evidence for the double detonation model further informs our knowledge of stellar evolution and also informs how we should interpret light from distant supernovas. More than its scientific implications, its discovery adds a colourful new page to the story of dying stars — stars that, as it now appears, will not go gently into that night but will light up the sky twice over in fantastic fireworks before vanishing from the cosmos.

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Climate Satellite MethaneSAT Fails After Just One Year in Orbit

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July 5, 2025

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Climate Satellite MethaneSAT Fails After Just One Year in Orbit

One of the world’s most advanced satellites for detecting methane and other gases that contribute to the warming of the planet has gone dark and stopped communicating with ground-based controllers just over a year after being launched into orbit. Created by the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the satellite — estimated to cost as much as $88 million — hitched a ride into space on a SpaceX rocket in March 2024. It was charged with monitoring methane leaks from oil and gas operations, and then making the data available to policymakers and scientists through open access. But on June 20, contact with the satellite was lost, and attempts to recover it have failed. EDF officially reported on July 1 that MethaneSAT has lost power and appears unlikely to recover.

MethaneSAT Failure Marks Setback for Climate Transparency Despite Data Gains and Global Support

As per a statement released by EDF, MethaneSAT’s failure came despite multiple recovery attempts. The satellite was constructed to lift the veil off methane’s invisible, weighty impact on global warming. It is nowhere near as common as carbon dioxide, but over a timescale of, say, a century, it is 20 to 30 times more efficient at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. That makes its emissions a prime target in the effort to minimize the risks of global warming. MethaneSAT was developed to independently corroborate industrial methane reports, especially those from fossil fuel extraction. The loss of the satellite is a remarkable setback for transparency in climate science and monitoring of emissions worldwide.

Yet mission operators are hopeful that data already collected will have far-reaching effects. EDF emphasized that insights from MethaneSAT’s year in orbit will continue to be processed and made public in the coming months. The mission included backing from 10 partners such as Harvard University, the New Zealand Space Agency, BAE Systems, Google, and the Bezos Earth Fund.

Officials called MethaneSAT a bold and needed move to hold our climate accountable. Although the mission was cut short, it signaled one of the largest joint efforts between science, advocacy, and technology to battle climate change. “To succeed in meeting the climate challenge, we need bold action and fearless innovation,” EDF mentioned, describing the satellite as “at the vanguard of science.”
MethaneSAT’s brief history highlights the difficulty — and importance — of deploying space-based instruments to try and combat climate change. As other missions get ready to blaze the same trail, the data and experience this little spacecraft provided will influence the future of Earth observation.

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Microsoft Says Xbox Chief Phil Spencer Not Retiring ‘Anytime Soon’ After Rumour Surfaces Amid Layoffs

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New Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Speeds Through Solar System

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July 5, 2025

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New Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Speeds Through Solar System

A newly confirmed interstellar comet is making a rare passage through our solar system — and skywatchers can catch it live online tonight. The object, now called 3I/ATLAS, is just the third interstellar visitor ever detected after the well-known ‘Oumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019). The comet was so fresh when first detected on July 1 by the ATLAS telescope in Chile that it hadn’t even been given a name yet; the Minor Planet Center has it listed as “3I,” the “I” standing for interstellar. Tonight’s webcast will kick off at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) from the Virtual Telescope Project’s virtual observing facilities in Italy.

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Speeds Toward Sun at 68 km/s, Offers Rare Study Opportunity

As per a report by Space.com, 3I/ATLAS was detected as a faint object displaying subtle cometary features, including a marginal coma and a short tail. Currently located 4.5 astronomical units (AU) from the sun — about 670 million kilometers (416 million miles) — the comet is faint at magnitude 18.8, making it invisible to amateur telescopes. The interstellar object is traveling at an astonishing pace of 68 kilometers per second (152,000 mph) relative to the sun, but NASA officials say it poses no danger to Earth.

It was imaged by the Virtual Telescope Project on July 2, showing the comet as a point of light within the trailing background stars — a sure indication that it is indeed moving through space. 3I/ATLAS should brighten a little as it approaches the sun, particularly when it gets closest, or its perihelion, on Oct. 30, when it swings within 1.4 astronomical units of the sun or Mars’ orbit.

The close pass by this interstellar visitor is a rare chance for astronomers to study the materials and dynamics outside our solar system. 3I/ATLAS, which is racing along at a frenetic pace on an elliptical orbit, may also support research into how these objects change as they sit in different stellar environments.

After disappearing behind the sun in late fall, 3I/ATLAS is projected to return to observational reach in early December. Researchers anticipate further analysis then, expanding our understanding of these rare visitors that traverse the galaxy — and occasionally, pass through our celestial neighborhood.

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The Hunt: Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Now Available For Streaming on SonyLIV

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