IT is well known that for the excitation of the characteristic X-ray spectra of elements, an electron has first to be removed from some internal level; when this is done, an electron from an outer ...

Virtually everything that we know about distant stars, gas nebula and galaxies is based on the analysis of light that we receive from them. More precisely, the electromagnetic waves, as their entire ...

A black hole’s event horizon – beyond which not even light can escape the extreme pull of gravity – creates a unique X-ray signature as matter is sucked in, new research demonstrates. Event horizons ...

Researchers use light and other electromagnetic radiation for developing new materials at work in electronics, automobiles, aircraft or power plants, as well as for studies on biomolecules such as ...

Images and spectra—charts showing the distribution of light across different wavelengths from an object—are the two main ways astronomers investigate the universe. Images tell them what things look ...

Models showing what happens to matter just before it is sucked into a black hole may need to be revised after laboratory experiments using the world's most powerful X-ray machine contradicted one of ...