Webb Finds Evidence of Black Hole Stars

🔴 Black hole stars finally have evidence

🌌 Universe expansion crisis averted

💨 Galaxy-killing wind found early

🪐 Dusk to dawn across the cosmos

☀️ Parker Probe's 28th solar pass

University of Texas astronomer Vasily Kokorev led a team analyzing GLIMPSE-17775, a mysterious "little red dot" object first discovered by NASA's JWST in the early universe.

Webb's 30-hour spectrum, amplified to 80 hours equivalent via gravitational lensing, revealed over 40 spectral lines including 16 iron lines and electron scattering signatures indicating a dense gas cocoon surrounding an accreting black hole.

The findings support the "black hole star" model explaining little red dots, which Kokorev says resolves concerns that early massive galaxies had "broken cosmology" by requiring lower black hole masses.

University of Southampton physicist Phil Wiseman led an international team including two Nobel laureates to investigate claims that the universe's expansion was decelerating, publishing their rebuttal in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The researchers identified errors in a South Korean study that incorrectly assumed galaxy age equaled supernova progenitor age and failed to apply standard host galaxy mass corrections used in modern Type Ia supernova cosmology.

Nobel laureate Adam Riess stated that when supernovae are properly calibrated for host environments, evidence for cosmic acceleration remains "remarkably consistent," preserving the dark energy-driven expansion model established since 2011.

Swinburne University astronomer Rebecca Davies used JWST and ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) to study CRISTAL-02, a galaxy undergoing rapid star formation one billion years after the Big Bang.

Observations revealed a massive cold gas plume nearly as long as the galaxy itself, with material ejecting twice as fast as stars form, potentially killing the galaxy within 50 million years.

Davies suggests this supernova-driven wind mechanism explains the abundance of massive dead galaxies in the early universe, noting nearly half of early massive galaxies show similar collision-driven interactions.

Max Planck Institute PhD student Cyril Gapp led researchers using JWST to detect atmospheric differences between morning and evening terminator zones on ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-121 b, confirming theoretical predictions.

JWST's NIRSpec instrument measured dayside temperatures reaching 2770 Kelvin versus 1000 Kelvin on the nightside, with the evening terminator absorbing more light due to hot eastward winds and water molecule dissociation.

Co-author Tom Evans-Soma notes the 30-degree planetary rotation during transit enabled unprecedented longitudinal atmospheric mapping, though cloud modeling remains needed to fully explain observed temperature asymmetries.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe completed its 28th perihelion on June 8, matching its record-setting closest approach while operating autonomously for nine days as planned during limited Earth communications windows.

The spacecraft reached 3.8 million miles from the Sun at 430,000 mph, with heat shield temperatures estimated at 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit while internal spacecraft temperatures remained consistent across all six closest approaches.

Johns Hopkins APL mission engineer John Wirzburger stated temperature consistency confirms the Thermal Protection System shows no degradation, enabling continued solar wind measurements through the Sun's declining activity phase.