Technologies

NASA satellite witnesses rare sight: Dying star ‘switching on and off’

In a «totally unexpected» turn of events, a white dwarf couldn’t swallow any of its star food floating nearby. That forced its lights to go out.

Deep within the cosmos, a fading star’s quiet death was sharply interrupted. Instead of gracefully vanishing into the heavy darkness of space, as stars typically do, it coughed out a mysterious, prolonged flicker of light.

This «has never been seen in other accreting white dwarfs,» Simone Scaringi, an astronomer at Durham University’s Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. «It appears to be switching on and off.» Scaringi is lead author of a study on the star published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Every iridescent star that decorates our universe — and those yet to add to the glittering collection — will one day disappear. Slowly but surely, their luster, fueled by heaps of hydrogen gas, will dwindle as the supply runs out. Entering their final stages of life, they will become white dwarfs.

And NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, caught a unique glimpse of this particular white dwarf’s strange behavior. The dying star is part of the two-star system dubbed TW Pictoris, located 1,400 light-years away.

«To see the brightness of TW Pictoris plummet in 30 minutes is, in itself, extraordinary,» Scaringi said. His team believes the star unexpectedly lost illumination because of a sudden hurdle in its food-funneling mechanism. Basically, the shiny space ball’s fiery snacks were falling out of reach.

White dwarfs feast on their companion stars by pulling flaming bits of the body into their Saturn-like ring of matter, or accretion disc, held in place by suspended magnetic fields. Swallowing a delicious bite makes a white dwarf literally light up with glee.

But these gently glimmering orbs are expected to pace themselves while feeding off their companion stars, meaning the sparkly spheres’ luminescence should dim gradually as they finish their dinner. Darkness isn’t anticipated to happen all at once, the way it did with TW Pictoris.

«The brightness variations seen in accreting white dwarfs are generally relatively slow, occurring on timescales of days to months,» Scaringi said. That’s why, he explained, TW Pictoris’ white dwarf switching off is «totally unexpected from our understanding of how these systems are supposed to feed through the accretion disc.»

In decoding the puzzle, the team found that during its «off» phase, the white dwarf’s accretion disc was spinning so fast it induced a centrifugal force strong enough to prevent the disc’s matter from ever reaching the central star. That’s why the expiring stellar object didn’t have anything to gobble on, thereby limiting its light. Such regulation, according to the research, is called magnetic gating.

The phenomenon is similar to what happens when you ride a roller coaster and enter a loop. A rider wouldn’t fall into the loop due to the force that presses the passengers into their seats.

After the «off» phase and during the «on» phase, the disc’s speed of rotation went back to normal. Matter could, once again, escape the grips of the spin for the white dwarf to snack on.

«This really is a previously unrecognized phenomenon,» Scaringi explained, adding that «because we can draw comparisons with similar behavior in the much smaller neutron stars, it could be an important step in helping us to better understand the process of how other accreting objects feed on the material that surrounds them, and the important role of magnetic fields in this process.»

Technologies

This 3-in-1 Charger Is a Must-Have for Travelers, and It Just Hit a Record-Low of $95

Snag it for $45 off and charge your iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch at the same time.

If you’re a frequent traveler, then you know that outlets are a precious commodity in places like airports and coffee shops. So why waste one on a single device when you can charge up to three at once? Right now, you can grab this seriously sleek Ugreen Magflow three-in-one foldable charger for just $95 at Amazon. That’s a $45 discount and the all-time lowest price we’ve seen. Just don’t wait too long, as this deal could expire at any time.

At just 7.4 ounces, this compact charging station is designed to be taken on the go. But despite its size, it still supports 25-watt MagSafe charging for iPhones, as well as 5-watt wireless charging for AirPods and Apple Watches. The charging stand also tilts up to double as a stand, and it’s equipped with 16 magnets to keep your phone aligned and securely in place. Plus, it’s got built-in protections against overheating, overcharging, short-circuiting and more to prevent damage to your devices.

Why this deal matters

This folding Ugreen charger is great for juicing up your devices on the go, and it’s never been more affordable. Plus, Ugreen makes some of the best MagSafe chargers on the market right now, so don’t miss your chance to grab one at a record-low price.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Jan. 13, #1669

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Jan. 13, No. 1,669.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a little tricky, and it might make you hungry. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with G.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with O.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a spicy Cajun stew popular in New Orleans.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is GUMBO.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Jan. 12, No. 1,668 was TRIAL.

Recent Wordle answers

Jan. 8, No. 1,664: BLAST

Jan. 9, No. 1,665: EIGHT

Jan. 10, No. 1,666: MANIC

Jan. 11, No. 1,667: QUARK

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.

Some solid starter words to try:

ADIEU

TRAIN

STARE

NOISE

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Jan. 13 #681

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Jan. 13, No. 681.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

It took me a while to figure out the theme for today’s NYT Strands puzzle, but once I did, I thought it was a fun one. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: You need to chill

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Brrrr!

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

GONE, ABLE, TABLE, FOOD, TEEN, LEAF, GOOF, GOOD, SAFE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: