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<ul><li>The <keyword id="7913670" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="zwicky-transient-facility">Zwicky Transient Facility</keyword> (ZTF) has spotted the fastest 'eclipsing binary system' till date. </li><li>Two white dwarf stars are zipping around each other so quickly that its causing an <keyword id="45623" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="eclipse">eclipse</keyword> every seven minutes. </li><li>In addition to orbiting each other, they're emitting <keyword id="1860685" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="gravitational-waves">gravitational waves</keyword> pushing them closer together. </li></ul>Two white dwarf stars, more or less the same size as the Earth, are circling each other at hundreds of kilometers per second causing an eclipse every seven minutes. The pair of dead stars — remnants of what used to be a star like our Sun only nine times hotter — have been dubbed as ZTF J1539+5027 and are the fastest 'eclipsing binary system' according to the Zwicky Transient Facility (<a href="https://www.ztf.caltech.edu/news/ztf-found-shortest-period-eclipsing-binary">ZTF</a>). As they circle each other 8,000 light years from Earth in the Boötes constellation — they're also being pulled closer together. Inching closer The pair is <a href="http://sci.esa.int/lisa/">noted</a> for being one of the few known sources of gravitational waves in the universe, which is causing the two dead stars to merge. And unlike with other <keyword id="1289795" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="binary-star">binary star</keyword> systems, one white dwarf star hasn't eaten up the other yet. Nonetheless, they're already so close together that the distance between them is one-fifth of the distance between the Earth and the moon. The circumference of their orbit is so small that they could fit inside Saturn at this point, according to ZTF. Blinking in the night sky "As the dimmer star passes in front of the brighter one, it blocks most of the light, resulting in the seven-minute blinking pattern we see in the ZTF data," stated Kevin Burdge, lead author of the study published in Nature. ZTF's 576 megapixel camera caught the stars through its lens during its regular scans of the night sky every three days. "Sometimes these binary white dwarfs merge into one star, and other times the orbit widens as the lighter white dwarf is gradually shredded by the heavier one," stated James Fuller, one of the co-authors of the study. The hotter of the two stars is estimated to be burning at around 50,000 degrees Celsius and ordinarily, its assumed that the high temperature is because the hotter star is 'feeding' off its companion. In this case, the 'feeding' or accretion process doesn't seem to be present since the researchers can't spot the associated x-rays. "We're not sure what will happen in this case, but finding more such systems will tell us how often these stars survive their close encounters," Fuller explained. Even though the stars are moving closer together, scientists estimate that they will continue to blink in the night sky for another hundred thousand years before finally colliding into each other. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/zombie-stars-dont-turn-into-blackholes-after-supernova/articleshow/70288635.cms">'Zombie' stars are coming back to life and scientists are on the hunt for more</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/china-made-an-artificial-star-thats-6-times-hotter-than-the-sun-and-it-could-be-the-future-of-energy/articleshow/67164428.cms">China made an artificial star that's 6 times hotter than the sun and it could be the future of energy</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/This-insane-golden-chamber-contains-water-so-pure-it-can-dissolve-metal-and-is-helping-scientists-detect-dying-stars/articleshow/64709367.cms">This insane golden chamber contains water so pure it can dissolve metal, and is helping scientists detect dying stars</a>

Two dead stars are causing an eclipse every seven minutes

<div type="image" title="green comet streaking across starry night sky with long white tail" height="1600" width="2492" msid="97185531" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>A rare green comet is flying past Earth, making its closest pass on Thursday.</li><li>Comet ZTF hasn't approached our planet since the last Ice Age, and humans may never see it again.</li></ul>A rare green comet is passing Earth, and this could be humanity's last chance to see it. Stunning photos reveal what you might see if you look to the pre-dawn skies and spot the ball of frozen gas and dust shooting past this week.Formally, the comet is called C/2022 E3 (ZTF), named for the Zwicky Transient Facility, which first discovered it in March. But skywatchers call it Comet ZTF for short.This icy cosmic passerby is painting a green streak across the sky through the first few days of February, reaching its closest point to Earth on Thursday, skimming past from 27 million miles away. You probably need binoculars to spot it, under <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-dark-skies-look-like-how-many-more-stars-than-cities-suburbs">dark skies far from city lights</a>.If you catch Comet ZTF with a telescope, which would offer the clearest view, you could see something like this:<div type="image" title="green comet with diffuse white skirt and long white tail" height="1976" width="3044" msid="97534076" hostid="261" sizebytes="213704"></div>Many comets glow green like this. Laboratory <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2113315118" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">research</a> has <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/why-do-some-comets-glow-green" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">linked this aura</a> to a reactive molecule called dicarbon, which emits green light as sunlight decays it.Though green comets occasionally pass Earth, this one won't return for about 50,000 years, if ever. That's how long it takes Comet ZTF to orbit the sun, which means that Neanderthals still walked the Earth when it last whizzed by, during the last Ice Age.<div type="image" title="green comet with yellow skirt and long white tail in starry night sky" height="2692" width="2046" msid="97185532" hostid="261"></div>"We like viewing and photographing the comet because bright ones are not only rare, but beautiful like this one. The tails of comets are never two alike," Chris Schur, an amateur astronomer and night-sky photographer in Arizona, told Insider in an email. "[Comets] move amongst the stars from night to night, making them a challenge sometimes to just find."Astronomer Gianluca Masi captured the footage below of Comet ZTF, with its moving background of stars, during a live feed of his telescope observations:<div type="image" title="black and white bright comet against moving starry background" height="677" width="1024" msid="97185533" hostid="261"></div>"Observing such an 'icy world' is always very fascinating," Masi told Insider via email. "Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF reminds us, with its beauty, that those objects are the most elegant ones up there and we cannot simply miss the opportunity to have a look."Want to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/green-comet-ztf-viewing-where-when-how-see-2023-1">see the green comet yourself</a>? Go to a place with dark skies, far from city lights, and look to the North before dawn, after the moon has set. Use a telescope if you can, or at least bring binoculars. Unless you're under very, very dark skies, the comet may not be visible to the naked eye.According to <a href="https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/new-comet-might-get-bright-enough-for-binoculars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">EarthSky.org</a>, the comet is carving a path past the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor."Keep in mind that the light from a comet is not a bright point, but a fuzzy, diffuse spot. So, train your eyes to look for the lighter haze on the background sky and you might see it," professional skywatchers at EarthSky wrote.They recommend scanning the northern sky with binoculars until you spot the comet, then try to see it with your unaided eye.

See the rare green comet in pictures so you know what to look for in the sky

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists have spotted the brightest-ever explosion recorded in the cosmos. </li><li>The explosion, AT2021lwx, has been ongoing for around three years.</li></ul>Scientists have spotted the biggest cosmic explosion ever recorded. This enormous fireball, which is about 8 billion light years away, is approximately 100 times bigger than the solar system.It is estimated to be two trillion times brighter than the sun, and about twice as hot as the surface of the sun, according to lead study author Philip Wiseman, an astronomer at the University of Southampton. "In just terms of physical size, it's just ginormous," Wiseman told Insider. It is not only very large, but also long-lasting. It has been spotted exploding for three years. Wiseman said the leading theory is that the explosion is caused by a supermassive black hole sending shock waves through a cloud of cosmic gas.<h2>An explosion on an unprecedented scale </h2><div type="image" title="A photomontage shows pictures taken at regular intervals showing the explosion evolve over time." height="1511" width="3024" msid="100183877" hostid="261"></div>When the Zwicky Transient Facility in California and the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System telescopes first spotted the blast, they didn't pay it much attention, said Wiseman. These telescopes, which survey the sky for comets or asteroids, see flashes from supernovae all the time. But these flashes usually die out within a couple of months. This flash lasted for more than three years. When Wiseman and his team made calculations to figure out just how big the explosion was, "we were just blown away," he said. <div type="image" title="A gif shows pictures taken at regular intervals showing the explosion evolve over time." height="416" width="833" msid="100183882" hostid="261"></div>The blast, called AT2021lwx, is ten times brighter than any supernova and three times brighter than a tidal disruption event, which is when a star falls into a black hole.The explosion is expected to continue to shine for at least another couple of years, meaning it is extremely long-lasting, Wiseman said.While it's not the brightest flash ever seen, it is "by far the most energy released" from a single explosion, Wiseman added. <h2>This may be a black hole slurping up a cloud of gas and dust</h2><div type="image" title="A yellow ring shows a black hole outlined by a bright yellow ring of dust being burnt up." height="573" width="765" msid="100183886" hostid="261"></div>There are two leading theories to explain this blast. One is that it is a star being shredded by a black hole.But for a blast of this size to happen, the black hole would have to be enormous and the star extremely energetic.The likelihood of two such objects meeting during the lifetime of that type of star is extremely small and the analysis of the light coming from the blast suggests this isn't what is happening, said Wiseman.The other theory, which is the most probable at this point, is that a supermassive black hole is gobbling up its cloud of gas and dust.Black holes are often surrounded by a ring of gas and dust. The theory is that the cloud has been knocked off of its orbit and is being absorbed by the black hole. As this is happening, shock waves are spreading through the cloud, heating it up the matter in the cloud and shooting out bright light. "It's like there's been one massive dump of material onto a black hole, completely isolated from anything else, which has never really been seen before," said Wiseman. <h2>We may be witnessing the death of a galaxy</h2><div type="image" title="An artist's impression fo a galaxy around a quasar." height="2160" width="2880" msid="100183890" hostid="261"></div>Studying this event could teach us a lot about black holes. For instance, this event could provide clues about where light comes from when black holes are very bright, something that scientists are still puzzled by. Wiseman hopes this explosion might also inform how galaxies change and die.Theoretically, there's no reason for galaxies to stop growing. Galaxies "should keep on forming new stars and keep on forming new stars, because there's a constant supply of gas from the cosmic web," he said."But at some point, a lot of galaxies die and just stop making new stars," and it's not clear why, he said. One theory is that explosions could emerge from the black hole to stop gas from falling into the black hole. It's possible that what we're seeing is one of those explosions. "This might be that this is how centers of galaxies are actually regulated and change over time," said Wiseman. "You need many of these over time to cumulatively build up the energy that is being blown out into the galaxy. On a time scale of millions of years, you can start actually blowing the galaxy to pieces," he said. Right now, the explosion is so bright that it's not possible to see a galaxy around the black hole. But as it dims, Wiseman hopes the galaxy will appear, shedding light on how galaxies regulate. In the coming years, the team is hoping to turn telescopes like Hubble and JWST to get a better look.

Astronomers spot the biggest cosmic explosion ever seen, and it's 100 times the size of our solar system

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Astronomers recently discovered a green comet approaching Earth for the first time in 50,000 years.</li><li>Here's how, where, and when to see Comet ZTF as it passes Earth in late January and early February.</li></ul>We could be the last humans to ever see the green comet hurtling past Earth from the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-will-voyager-1-2-probes-see-next-nasa">outer reaches of the solar system</a> in late January and early February.C/2022 E3 (ZTF), or Comet ZTF for short — the name astronomers gave this space snowball after the Zwicky Transient Facility discovered it in March — hasn't been in our cosmic neighborhood since the last Ice Age.<a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?postID=63bf0d283295302a7e6344b3&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fgo.skimresources.com%2F%3Fid%3D35871X1550380%26isjs%3D1%26jv%3D15.3.0-stackpath%26sref%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.insider.com%252Fgreen-comet-to-pass-earth-for-the-first-time-since-the-stone-age-2023-1%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.haus-der-astronomie.de%252Fperson%252F26477%252F4111658%26xs%3D1%26xtz%3D480%26xuuid%3Da0189b8ffd4fe1f73f05df7860e65c2c%26abp%3D1%26xjsf%3Dother_click__contextmenu%2520%255B2%255D">Researchers</a> <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?postID=63bf0d283295302a7e6344b3&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fgo.skimresources.com%2F%3Fid%3D35871X1550380%26isjs%3D1%26jv%3D15.3.0-stackpath%26sref%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.insider.com%252Fgreen-comet-to-pass-earth-for-the-first-time-since-the-stone-age-2023-1%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fnews.virginia.edu%252Fcontent%252Fqa-comet-cometh-will-it-dazzle-or-be-dud-what-you-need-know%26xs%3D1%26xtz%3D480%26xuuid%3Da0189b8ffd4fe1f73f05df7860e65c2c%26abp%3D1%26xjsf%3Dother_click__contextmenu%2520%255B2%255D">calculated</a> that the icy ball of gas, dust, and rock orbits the sun roughly ever 50,000 years, which means that Neanderthals were still walking the Earth and humans had just migrated out of Africa for the first time when the comet last whizzed by.With no telescopes or binoculars, those ancient peoples may not have spotted the comet at all. And there may never be an opportunity to see it again."Some predictions suggest that the orbit of this comet is so eccentric it's no longer in an orbit — so it's not going to return at all and will just keep going," Jessica Lee, an astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich, told <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/once-lifetime-cosmic-event-could-visible-naked-eye-1770383" rel=" nofollow">Newsweek</a>.So it might be worth the effort to look for Comet ZTF and become one of the few humans to ever see it up close. Here's what you need to know to maximize your chances.<h2>When to see the green comet</h2><div type="image" title="Man stargazing with a telescope" height="1132" width="1509" msid="97107194" hostid="261"></div>In the Northern Hemisphere, the green comet was visible just before dawn in late January, according to <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/whats-up-january-2023">NASA</a>. Amateur astronomers took <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/green-comet-ztf-what-look-like-see-photos-2023-1">photographs of the green comet to show what you could see</a>.A completely shaded new moon provided ideal dark skies for spying the comet on January 21.If you missed that, your last, best chance to see the comet in the Northern Hemisphere was on and around Monday, January 30, when ZTF was between the end of the Big Dipper and Polaris, the North Star.Then on early February 1 and February 2, the comet will be visible in the Southern Hemisphere, when it makes its closest pass by Earth since the stone age at around 26 million miles away, according to <a href="https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/new-comet-might-get-bright-enough-for-binoculars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EarthSky</a>. That's nearly 109 times the average distance of the moon, but the comet is burning so bright that it could still be visible in the night sky.The comet is expected to be brightest on January 31 and February 1, though the moon will be bright and the comet will be "the faintest an object can be seen without optical aid in a very clear, very dark sky," according to the <a href="https://www.adlerplanetarium.org/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-green-comet-aka-comet-c-2022-e3-ztf/">Adler Planetarium</a>.It's important to set yourself up for success if you're trying to spot it.<h2>How to spot the green comet</h2>At first, spotting Comet ZTF may require a telescope, but as it approaches Earth, viewers may be able to see it with binoculars, or even the naked eye."Comets are notoriously unpredictable, but if this one continues its current trend in brightness, it'll be easy to spot with binoculars, and it's just possible it could become visible to the unaided eye under dark skies," NASA wrote in an update on December 29.For the best viewing, choose a cloudless night and get yourself far from city lights, to the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-dark-skies-look-like-how-many-more-stars-than-cities-suburbs">darkest skies possible</a>. When the moon is dim, or at least when it's below the horizon, the sky will be even darker.If you're near an urban area, you may want to bring binoculars or even a telescope, in case the lights drown out the comet to the naked eye.<h2>Where to look in the night sky for comet ZTF</h2>Look to the right stars to see the green comet. According to <a href="https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/new-comet-might-get-bright-enough-for-binoculars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EarthSky.org</a>, the comet will pass below <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1944/what-is-the-north-star-and-how-do-you-find-it/">Polaris</a> — the North Star at the tip of the Little Dipper — and will be visible in the star's vicinity on January 30. It will appear earlier in the evening as it approaches Polaris."It will distinguish itself probably from other stars because it will look a little bit fuzzy compared to other stars," Thomas Prince, director of the WM Keck Institute for Space Studies at Caltech, told <a href="https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/new-comet-visible-earth-50000-year-event">FOX Weather</a>.In the Southern Hemisphere, on February 10, the comet will be about 1.5 degrees from Mars, according to Prince. That's about the width of your pinky finger when you hold it at arms length. If you can locate Mars shining bright in the sky, look just around it for the comet.EarthSky publishes <a href="https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/new-comet-might-get-bright-enough-for-binoculars/">maps</a> to help you locate the reference objects — Hercules, Polaris, and Mars — in the night sky.<h2>Why the comet is green</h2>The comet has a "greenish coma, short broad dust tail, and long faint ion tail," according to NASA.Many comets glow green. Laboratory <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2113315118" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">research</a> has <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/why-do-some-comets-glow-green" rel=" nofollow">linked this aura</a> to a reactive molecule called dicarbon, which emits green light as sunlight decays it.Dicarbon is common in comets, but it's not usually found in their tails.That's why the coma — the haze surrounding the ball of frozen gas, dust, and rock at the center of a comet — is glowing green, while the tail remains white.

We could be the last humans to see the green comet passing Earth for the first time since the Ice Age. Here's how, where, and when to watch it.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11908743" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="spacex" source="Orion">SpaceX</keyword>'s satellites are increasingly photobombing astronomical images, a study has found.</li><li>It identified a 35-fold increase in the twilight images corrupted by streaks caused by satellites.</li></ul>There has been a huge increase in the number of astronomers' images corrupted by streaks of reflected sunlight caused by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-launch-every-week-payload-2022-2">SpaceX</a>'s satellites, a new <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ac470a">study</a> has found.According to the study, which was published by the Astrophysical Journal Letters, SpaceX launched 150 <keyword id="11897866" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="starlink" source="Orion">Starlink</keyword> satellites in the last month, with more than 1,900 satellites now launched.SpaceX has received approval from the US Federal Communications Commission to operate 12,000 satellites.The study found a 35-fold increase in Zwicky Transient Facility [ZTF] images taken during twilight that were corrupted by streaks – from less than 0.5% in late 2019 to 18% in August, 2021."We find that the number of affected images is increasing with time as SpaceX deploys more satellites," the researchers wrote."We estimate that once the size of the Starlink constellation reaches 10,000, essentially all ZTF images taken during twilight may be affected."A spokesperson for NASA told <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/spacexs-starlink-satellites-are-photobombing-astronomy-images-study-says-11644062404?mod=Searchresults_pos1&amp;page=1">The Wall Street Journal</a> that satellites "have the potential to interfere with ground-based observations by increasing the complexity of differentiating artificial satellites from natural objects like asteroids and comets."SpaceX and NASA did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Eric Bellm, a University of Washington astronomer, told the WSJ that the streaks shouldn't comprise the image's research purposes, but they could complicate efforts to detect potentially hazardous asteroids.The study's researchers argue the chances of streaks that could hinder spotting of dangerous asteroids remain small. However, "the number of images affected by satellite trails is alarmingly growing as more and more Starlink satellites are being deployed in orbit," they wrote.Insider's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-launch-every-week-payload-2022-2">Kate Duffy</a> reported that SpaceX sent 49 of its Starlink satellites into orbit Thursday with the help of a Falcon 9 rocket.

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Two dead stars are causing an eclipse every seven minutes

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See the rare green comet in pictures so you know what to look for in the sky

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Astronomers spot the biggest cosmic explosion ever seen, and it's 100 times the size of our solar system

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We could be the last humans to see the green comet passing Earth for the first time since the Ice Age. Here's how, where, and when to watch it.

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SpaceX has so many Starlink satellites they're increasingly photobombing astronomers' images, a study says

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