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Alison Klesman@Astronomy Magazine - 44d
The winter solstice occurred on December 21st, 2024 at 09:21 UTC, marking the shortest day and longest night of the year for the Northern Hemisphere. This astronomical event happens when the Earth's Northern Hemisphere is at its maximum tilt away from the sun. A NOAA satellite, GOES-16, captured an image of the Earth at the precise moment of this tilt. This event marks the official start of astronomical winter, and signifies a turning point where daylight hours will gradually increase until the summer solstice. The sun appears at its lowest point in the sky on this day, and after the solstice, the noontime sun's elevation appears to remain the same for a few days before rising.
In other astronomical news, scientists have made a surprising discovery in the center of the Milky Way galaxy. For the first time, binary stars were observed orbiting the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. This discovery, made using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, challenges previously held beliefs about star formation in extreme environments. The binary system, named D9, is estimated to be only 2.7 million years old, and is surrounded by gas and dust, indicating that the galactic center might be a surprisingly good environment for star formation, despite the intense gravitational forces from the black hole. The findings suggest that stable stellar and potentially planetary systems may form closer to black holes than scientists once thought.
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