Nature Hub

   From - Live Science   By - Paul Sutter  Editted by - Amal Udawatta The moon passes in front of the sun during a solar eclipse as seen from the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on April 8, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio.   (Image credit: Kirby Lee / Contributor via Getty Images) When astronomers combed through an ancient Hindu text known as the Rig Veda, they discovered that it referenced a  total solar eclipse  that occurred roughly 6,000 years ago — making it the oldest known mention of an eclipse. The Rig Veda, a collection of sayings and hymns from various religious and philosophical schools, was compiled around 1500 B.C. Like nearly all religious texts, it mentions historical events. Most are contemporary to when it was written, but some stretch back much further. For example, various passages in the Rig Veda mention the location of the rising  sun  during the vernal equinox. One reference describes the vernal equinox as occurring...

  From - Sky & Telescope By - Colin Stuart  Editted by - Amal Udawatta   Astronomers have used an array of telescopes to reconstruct images of the surface of  Polaris, the North Star . It's the first time that astronomers have glimpsed the surface of a Cepheid variable. Polaris is one of the most famous stars in the night sky. Sitting almost directly at the celestial north pole, the star’s position on the sky barely varies throughout the year. However, Polaris does change in other ways. It is the nearest Cepheid variable star, a type of giant star that brightens and dims in a regular, repeating pattern. What’s more, it’s a binary, with a companion star on a wide orbit. To get a closer look at Polaris, a team of astronomers led by Nancy Evans (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) set out to map the orbit of a companion star that swings around Polaris once every 30 years. The results are published in the August 20th   Astrophysical Journal . “The small ...

  From - Sky & Telescope By - Arielle Frommer Editted by - Amal Udawatta The iconic globular cluster Omega Centauri globular cluster. home to some 10 million stars. ESO / INAF-VST / OmegaCAM; Acknowledgement: A. Grado, L. Limatola / INAF-Capodimonte Observatory Last month, astronomers discovered a giant black hole in Omega Centauri. But it might contain a swarm of stellar-mass black holes instead. A new study has revealed that the Milky Way’s largest globular cluster, where astronomers recently reported the discovery of a central intermediate-mass black hole, may in fact contain thousands of stellar-mass black holes instead. Around 17,000 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus, Omega Centauri is unique among globular clusters. With its large mass and complex stellar dynamics, astronomers think it originated as an dwarf galaxy that was swallowed by the Milky Way long ago. The discovery of an  intermediate-mass black hole  (IMBH) at its center was an  exci...

From - Live Science By-  Kristel Tjandra Edited by - Amal Udawatta   A 3,500-year-old mummy dubbed the 'Screaming Woman' was found in an Egyptian tomb. A virtual autopsy of the mummy showed that her organs were still intact and well preserved.   (Image credit: Sahar Saleem) An ancient Egyptian woman died in so much pain, her muscles instantaneously locked up — freezing her final scream in place for 3,500 years, an analysis of the mummy, dubbed the "Screaming Woman," reveals.  The researchers also found that the woman had been embalmed in expensive imported substances and had all of her organs inside her body, suggesting a unique way of preservation. The researchers revealed their findings in a new study published Friday (Aug. 2) in the journal  Frontiers in Medicine . "Mummification in  ancient Egypt  is still full of secrets," study co-author  Sahar Saleem , a mummy radiologist at Kasr Al Ainy Hospital of Cairo University, told Live Science in an...