- Lucie Dospivová
- ustav
- 30.06.2023
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Workshop "Disk, Tori, Spheres: Accretion onto Compact Objects" in Opava
The Institute of Physics of the Silesian University in Opava hosted an international workshop entitled "Disk, Tori, Spheres: Accretion onto Compact Objects" in between 22nd to 27th of June, 2023. This prestigious event presented the scientific works of leading experts focused on accretion disks, general relativity and compact objects.
- Lucie Dospivová
- ustav
- 30.05.2023
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Milky Way above a turquoise wonderland
In its daily posting of the most beautiful astronomical photos, NASA published an image from a Czech artist on 29th of May, 2023. To date, a total of 61 Czech photographs have appeared in this prestigious list. The author of today's Astronomy Picture of the Day, Petr Horálek, dominates among them, reaching the full forty images published in this way. NASA's Astronomical Images of the Day are also available to the Czech public on the Czech Astronomical Society's website www.astro.cz, where they are published every day with a Czech description by Ing. Josef Chlachula, who has been translating it every day without a single break for more than 23 years.
- Lucie Dospivová
- ustav
- 03.05.2023
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Two rings around the black holes? Could be the dark matter!
Opava physicists in collaboration with foreign scientists are studying the so far unexplained properties of variable X-ray radiation coming from the vicinity of supermassive black holes. The conclusions of the new research lead scientists to, among other things, interesting information about the distribution and interaction of the poorly understood dark matter in the Universe. One implication of the research is the possible existence of two separate disks around supermassive black holes, which could figuratively resemble the distribution of rings in the large planets of the Solar System.
- Lucie Dospivová
- ustav
- 06.04.2023
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Space exploration of ATHENA nearby the black holes
The Advanced Telescope for High-energy Astrophysics (ATHENA) is due to launch in 2035, with a four-year mission to explore the Universe, particularly in the X-ray region of electromagnetic radiation. It will therefore also investigate the rapid phenomena in the vicinity of massive black holes, which are also studied on a theoretical basis by scientists from the Institute of Physics in Opava. One of the things the satellite could detect is radiation from disks of matter interacting with massive black holes. The results of the scientific research will serve both to better understand the black holes themselves and to predict the possible escape of dangerous radiation from their vicinity towards Earth.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 03.11.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Institute of Physics in NASA’s APOD for the 9th time
On a Czech national holiday, Friday, October 28, 2022, NASA published a photo of the day titled "Seven years of Halley dust". It captures the peak of the Orionids meteor shower, which this year took place on October 21st under very favourable conditions. But the phenomenon in the image is not just from this year: Because the frequency of the meteor shower is not very high, the author Petr Horálek has been recording it for seven years to get enough meteors in the image in order to show the meteor shower’s distribution. This is the 9th astrophotograph from the Institute of Physics in Opava that has been published as NASA’s Astronomy picture of the day.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 03.11.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Virtual tours of the world's largest observatories
The National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab), the US astronomy organization that operates some of the largest and most scientifically productive observatories in the world (Kitt Peak in Arizona, Gemini North in Hawaii, Cerro Pachón and Cerro Tololo in Chile), published exclusive virtual tours of all its sites on Tuesday, October 25, 2022. This project was created in collaboration with the Institute of Physics in Opava and is available online for free. NOIRLab uses the tours to present the technical facilities of all their observatories as well as the objects and phenomena observable above the high-altitude observatories.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 03.08.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Will supercomputers used to study black holes be our key to understanding fusion reactors?
An international team of physicists together with scientists from the Institute of Physics have published an article in the July issue of the scientific journal Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society which describes the behaviour of matter in the vicinity of black holes in an entirely new way. These new models, which are based on supercomputer simulations and describe the behaviour of matter in such an extreme environment, could be already used in practice when solving problems here on earth. They show in high detail how plasma behaves in extreme conditions and could therefore be used to realise the application of fusion reactors as a permanent source of energy for mankind.
- Lucie Dospivová
- ustav
- 01.07.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Mysterious radiation leads our physicists to consider parallel universes
Opava physicists in collaboration with foreign scientists are studying the so far unexplained properties of variable X-ray radiation coming from the vicinity of supermassive black holes. This radiation is emitted from a zone where it can still escape from the effects of strong gravity, and according to calculations, the observed oscillation frequencies can only occur in less massive black holes. For the very massive ones, the observed frequencies of "stellar" radiation oscillations differ significantly from theory. One explanation is that the radiation comes from the vicinity of the wormhole - a bridge to a parallel universe.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 25.03.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Total solar eclipse over the Antarctic
On December 4, 2021, the only total solar eclipse of the year occurred (next total solar eclipse will occur in april 2023). This time, the total eclipse belt passed through practically the least accessible area in the world - on the sixth continent, Antarctica. Petr Horálek from the Institute of Physics in Opava decided to go there and took several interesting photographs and recordings for the documentary work of students of the Multimedia Techniques of the Faculty of Medicine in Opava during the expedition. Now we bring you an interview with Petr Horálek, filmed shortly after his return to Europe, as well as resulting photography pictures of solar eclipse.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 25.03.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
