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A Star Lost 97% of Its Light for 9 Months — And Astronomers Know Why

Astronomers have confirmed that ASASSN-24fw dimmed by an extraordinary 97% over a period of more than nine months, starting in late 2024 making it one of the longest and deepest stellar eclipses ever recorded. The star, located in the Monoceros constellation, was monitored through sky surveys that track brightness changes in stars over time. The data clearly shows a prolonged and structured drop in light, far beyond what a normal planet could cause. Scientists say the most likely explanation is a massive ringed object passing in front of the star either a brown dwarf or a super Jupiter–type planet. Unlike typical transits that last hours or days, this event stretched across months, pointing to something enormous in size. The ring system itself is estimated to span about 16 million miles (25 million km), making it one of the largest ever inferred. As different parts of the rings moved across the star, they created layered dimming patterns, which allowed astronomers to study the...
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Hidden Highways of the Milky Way — Gaia Reveals Dozens of Stellar Streams

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Astronomers analyzing data from the Gaia mission have identified dozens of previously unseen stellar streams in the outer regions of the Milky Way. These streams are elongated chains of stars that are remnants of smaller galaxies and star clusters that were torn apart and absorbed by our galaxy over billions of years.
The streams are extremely faint and sparse, making them difficult to detect until the precise measurements provided by Gaia’s advanced instrumentation were available. Researchers say that the discovery of these structures offers direct evidence of the Milky Way’s hierarchical assembly, confirming that our galaxy grew by merging with smaller stellar systems.
This is like finding the Milky Way’s fossil record,” said one study author. The stellar streams retain information about the original trajectories and compositions of the smaller galaxies, allowing scientists to reconstruct past mergers and understand how the galaxy’s halo formed over time. The findings also have implications for dark matter studies. Stellar streams act as tracers of the gravitational field in the outer galaxy, providing constraints on the distribution of dark matter and helping refine models of galactic dynamics. Future observations will focus on mapping these streams in even greater detail, determining the age, metallicity, and kinematics of their stars. Scientists hope that combining Gaia data with upcoming telescopes, such as James Webb Space Telescope, will provide an even deeper understanding of the Milky Way’s history and the processes that shaped its structure.

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