All posts tagged: Curtin University

Ancient Britons likely transported Stonehenge’s Altar Stone 700 kilometers from Scotland

Ancient Britons likely transported Stonehenge’s Altar Stone 700 kilometers from Scotland

Published by Jenni Sidey

Stonehenge has always invited big questions, but one of its most stubborn mysteries sits low to the ground. The Altar Stone, a six-ton sandstone block at the monument’s center, appears to have come from northeast Scotland, about 700 kilometers away, and new research suggests that even ice could not have finished the job. That matters because the stone’s journey has often been pulled between two explanations. Either people moved it across Britain, or glaciers did most of the work during the Ice Age. The new analysis does not entirely erase ice from the picture, but it sharply narrows what glaciers could have done and leaves human effort at the center of the story. The research team, led in part by Curtin University, combined two approaches to revisit the puzzle. One traced the stone’s likely birthplace by comparing the ages of mineral grains inside it with rock samples from across Scotland. The other used ice-sheet modelling to test whether shifting glacial flows could have carried a massive sandstone block south toward Salisbury Plain. Their answer is …

‘Dancing jets’ from black hole reveal their immense power

‘Dancing jets’ from black hole reveal their immense power

Published by Jenni Sidey

The jets do not move in a straight, obedient line. Around Cygnus X-1, a black hole and a massive supergiant star circle each other every 5.6 days. The black hole’s jets get shoved sideways by the star’s powerful wind. Over time, that pressure makes the outflow twist and bend. This creates what one researcher called “dancing jets.” Now, by tracking those bends in fine detail, astronomers have pulled off something that has long been out of reach. They have made a direct, instantaneous measurement of how much power the jets carry away from a feeding black hole. That matters well beyond one binary system. Black hole jets are thought to help shape galaxies and larger cosmic structures by stirring gas, driving shocks, and dumping energy into their surroundings. Scientists have built that idea into large simulations of the Universe for years. However, confirming the key assumptions by observation has been difficult. Cygnus X-1 offered a rare opening. Artist’s impression of the Cygnus X-1 binary system, showing how the wind of the supergiant star bends the …

New evidence reveals how Stonehenge’s stones were transported across ancient Britain

New evidence reveals how Stonehenge’s stones were transported across ancient Britain

Published by Jenni Sidey

Stonehenge, one of the most examined prehistoric structures globally, is located on Salisbury Plain in southern England. The long-standing debate has continued for decades regarding whether glaciers transported some of the stones to Salisbury Plain or whether Neolithic people transported them over long distances. A new geological study led by researchers from Curtin University in Australia employs a novel methodology in order to resolve the controversy by utilizing tiny mineral particles, or grains, from sediment deposited in contemporary rivers rather than the stones of Stonehenge. Researchers from the Curtin University School of Earth and Planetary Sciences collaborated with Curtin University’s John de Laeter Centre in this study to try to establish whether glaciers existed in the region of Salisbury Plain. If they did, then the very presence or absence of a trail of minerals would indicate how the out-of-area stones were transported to Stonehenge. A simplified geological map and stratigraphic column of Salisbury Plain, England. (CREDIT: Communications Earth & Environment) Glacial Sediments Used To Identify Glacial Sources Dr. Anthony Clarke of Curtin University and his …