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Joshua Simon Bloom is an American astrophysicist, full professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and was the CTO and co-founder of the machine-learning company wise.io. He received a Bachelor of Arts in astronomy and astrophysics and physics from the Harvard College in 1996, an M.Phil from Cambridge University in 1997, and a PhD in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology in 2002. He was a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows from 2002 to 2005. His astronomy research focuses on gamma-ray bursts and other astrophysical transients such as supernovae and tidal disruption events. He is author of the book What Are Gamma-Ray Bursts? published by Princeton University Press in 2011.
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![SN 2018cow Very powerful astronomical explosion, 10–100 times brighter than a normal [[supernova]]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Possible_AT2018cow_244.000927647_%2B22.2680094118_20180624.png/320px-Possible_AT2018cow_244.000927647_%2B22.2680094118_20180624.png)
SN 2018cow was a very powerful astronomical explosion, 10–100 times brighter than a normal supernova, spatially coincident with galaxy CGCG 137-068, approximately 200 million ly (60 million pc) distant in the Hercules constellation. It was first detected on 16 June 2018 by the ATLAS-HKO telescope, and had generated significant interest among astronomers throughout the world. Later, on 10 July 2018, and after AT 2018cow had significantly faded, astronomers, based on follow-up studies with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), formally described AT 2018cow as SN 2018cow, a type Ib supernova, showing an "unprecedented spectrum for a supernova of this class"; although others, mostly at first but also more recently, have referred to it as a type Ic-BL supernova. An explanation to help better understand the unique features of AT 2018cow has been presented. AT2018cow is one of the few reported Fast Blue Optical Transients (FBOTs) observed in the Universe. In May 2020, however, a much more powerful FBOT than AT2018cow was reportedly observed.
FRB 180916.J0158+65, is a repeating Fast radio burst (FRB) discovered in 2018 by astronomers at the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) Telescope. According to a study published in the 9 January 2020 issue of the journal Nature, CHIME astronomers, in cooperation with the radio telescopes at European VLBI Network (VLBI) and the optical telescope Gemini North on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, were able to pinpoint the source of FRB 180916 to a location within a Milky Way-like galaxy named SDSS J015800.28+654253.0. This places the source at redshift 0.0337, approximately 457 million light-years from the Solar System,, and 457 million years in the past, during the Ordovician period.
SGR 1935+2154 is a soft gamma repeater (SGR) that is an ancient stellar remnant, in the constellation Vulpecula. Currently, the SGR-phenomena and the related anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXP) are explained as arising from magnetars. On 28 April 2020, this remnant in the local galaxy about 30,000 light-years away was observed to be associated with a very powerful radio pulse known as a fast radio burst or FRB, and a related very bright x-ray counterpart. The detection is notable as the first FRB detected inside the Milky Way, and the first to be linked to a known source. Later in 2020, SGR 1935+2154 was found to be associated with repeating fast radio bursts.
References
- ↑ "VOEvent becomes International Standard" (Press release). US National Virtual Observatory. 2006-11-13. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- ↑ Joshua Bloom; Wozniak, P.; Williams R. (2004-09-17). VOTransients: Adding the Temporal Domain. NVO Summer School 2004. Aspen, CO. Retrieved 2007-08-20. Joshua Bloom (September 17, 2004). "rtVO: Real-Time Virtual Observatory". Archived from the original on October 19, 2004. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
- ↑ White, R.; Wren, James; Davis, Heath R.; Galassi, Mark; Starr, Daniel; Vestrand, W. T.; Wozniak, P. (September 2004). "TALON: the telescope alert operation network system: intelligent linking of distributed autonomous robotic telescopes". In Lewis, Hilton; Raffi, Gianni (eds.). Advanced Software, Control, and Communication Systems for Astronomy. 5496. pp. 302–312. arXiv: astro-ph/0409654 . Bibcode:2004SPIE.5496..302W. doi:10.1117/12.549438.