TON 618 is a hyperluminous quasar located near the border of Canes Venatici and Coma Berenices constellations. Its comoving distance from Earth is 3.2 billion parsecs. TON 618’s luminosity is 40 billion times greater than the Sun’s. The supermassive black hole powering TON 618 has an estimated mass of 6.6 billion solar masses. TON 618’s…
J1407b is a massive exoplanet or brown dwarf located 430 light-years from Earth. J1407b orbits a young, sun-like star called J1407 in the constellation Scorpius. J1407b’s mass is estimated to be 10-40 times that of Jupiter. J1407b possesses an enormous ring system measuring approximately 90 million km in radius. The rings appear 200 times larger…
The Milky Way is a large barred spiral galaxy containing 200-400 billion stars. It spans approximately 100,000 light-years in diameter. Observers on Earth see it as a bright, hazy band of light across the night sky. The galaxy’s center is located 26,000 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. A supermassive…
A solar system is a collection of celestial bodies orbiting a central star. Our solar system contains eight planets, five dwarf planets, over 190 known moons, and numerous smaller objects. The Sun contains 99.8% of the solar system’s total mass. Solar system objects include planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and Kuiper belt objects. Our…
Zeta Reticuli is a binary star system located 39.5 light-years from Earth. The system resides in the Reticulum constellation and consists of two Sun-like G-type stars, Zeta-1 and Zeta-2 Reticuli. Zeta Reticuli is visible to the naked eye from Earth’s southern hemisphere, appearing as a double star. Astrobiologists study the system for potential life-supporting planets…
Betelgeuse is a massive red supergiant star in the Orion constellation. It occupies the hunter’s shoulder position and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. Betelgeuse ranks as the 10th brightest star, with its brightness fluctuating in a semi-regular pattern. Its diameter measures 700-900 times larger than our Sun, extending past Mars’…
UY Scuti is a red supergiant star in the constellation Scutum. It lies 9,500 light-years from Earth and has a radius 1,708-2,100 times that of the Sun. UY Scuti’s brightness fluctuates between magnitude 8.9 and 10.5, classifying it as a pulsating variable star. The star has a cool surface temperature of 3,300 Kelvin, giving it…
T Coronae Borealis is a recurrent nova located 3,000 light-years away in the Corona Borealis constellation. The binary star system consists of a white dwarf and a red giant companion, orbiting each other every 227.5 days. T Coronae Borealis experiences periodic explosive eruptions every 80-100 years, causing a 10,000-fold increase in luminosity. Astronomers predict T…