http://www.physorg.com/space-news/astronomy/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on astronomy, space, earth science and space exploration. (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has made the first unambiguous detection of high-energy gamma-rays from an enigmatic binary system known as Cygnus X-3. The system pairs a hot, massive star with a compact object -- either a neutron star or a black hole -- that blasts twin radio-emitting jets of matter into space at more than half the speed of light. http://www.physorg.com/news178547547.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:34:14 EST news178547547 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ultraluminous infrared galaxies ((ULIRGs) are galaxies whose luminosity exceeds that of a trillion suns; for comparison, the Milky Way galaxy has a typical (and much more modest) luminosity of only about ten billion suns. ULIRGs were discovered by an all-sky infrared survey satellite in the 1980's, and since then the origin(s) of their huge infrared emission has been widely debated. Extreme infrared activity is known to be associated with interacting galaxies, and optical imaging indeed shows that many ULIRGs are in collision, but this fact does not answer the question of what physical mechanism powers the luminosity. Might the same process be underway at a low level in our galaxy? http://www.physorg.com/news178544948.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:55:01 EST news178544948 Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft are telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as the "solar tsunami." http://www.physorg.com/news178395416.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:17:45 EST news178395416 (PhysOrg.com) -- Peering through the thick dust clouds of our galaxy's "bulge" (the myriads of stars surrounding its center), a team of astronomers has unveiled an unusual mix of stars in the stellar grouping known as Terzan 5. Never observed anywhere in the bulge before, this peculiar "cocktail" of stars suggests that Terzan 5 is in fact one of the bulge's primordial building blocks, most likely the relic of a dwarf galaxy that merged with the Milky Way during its very early days. http://www.physorg.com/news178377940.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:28:26 EST news178377940 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of astronomers from Ibaraki University, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Kanagawa University, University of Tokyo, Academica Sinica, and National Astronomical Observatory of Japan have used the Subaru Telescope`s Cooled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer (COMICS) to capture the first direct, well-resolved infrared images of a circumstellar disk around a young massive star -- HD200775. Their findings contribute to understanding the role of circumstellar disks in massive star formation in particular and to the birth of stars in general. http://www.physorg.com/news178310192.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:37:50 EST news178310192 (PhysOrg.com) -- The first large black holes in the universe likely formed and grew deep inside gigantic, starlike cocoons that smothered their powerful x-ray radiation and prevented surrounding gases from being blown away, says a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder. http://www.physorg.com/news178293451.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:58:28 EST news178293451 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new website will give everyone the chance to contribute to science by playing a 'cosmic fruit machine' and compare images of colliding galaxies with millions of simulated images of galactic pile-ups. http://www.physorg.com/news178264605.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:57:19 EST news178264605 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has contributed to the discovery of the youngest brown dwarf ever observed -- a finding that, if confirmed, may solve an astronomical mystery about how these cosmic misfits are formed. http://www.physorg.com/news178221292.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:55:42 EST news178221292 A proposed space mission that aims to measure dark energy could also detect planets that current surveys are unable to find. http://www.physorg.com/news177874211.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:00:05 EST news177874211 (PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) is telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as the "solar tsunami." http://www.physorg.com/news177872248.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:00:58 EST news177872248 (PhysOrg.com) -- A research group at Kyoto University has discovered that shocks are the primary energy sources that excite the galactic wind region of starburst galaxy NGC 253. Their images of the center of this galaxy, bright with intense star formation, have generated findings that substantially increase our meager knowledge of the physical properties of galactic winds and move us closer to understanding galaxy evolution. http://www.physorg.com/news177783331.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:20:03 EST news177783331 Astronomers have found that the extrasolar planet HAT-P-7b has a retrograde or highly tilted orbit. Studying such planets is important in understanding the diversity of planetary systems and assessing current models of how planets migrate. The findings could help astrobiologists in the search for habitable planets beyond our solar system. http://www.physorg.com/news177783167.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:30:19 EST news177783167 (PhysOrg.com) -- Just as many people are surprised to find themselves packing on unexplained weight around the middle, astronomers find the evolution of bulges in the centres of spiral galaxies puzzling. A recent NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 4710 is part of a survey that astronomers have conducted to learn more about the formation of bulges, which are a substantial component of most spiral galaxies. http://www.physorg.com/news177764242.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:58:27 EST news177764242 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or Wise, is chilled out, sporting a sunshade and getting ready to roll. NASA's newest spacecraft is scheduled to roll to the pad on Friday, Nov. 20, its last stop before launching into space to survey the entire sky in infrared light. http://www.physorg.com/news177698029.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:20:01 EST news177698029 (PhysOrg.com) -- "One of the major problems in modern astrophysics is the fact that we still do not know exactly what kinds of stellar system explode as a Type Ia supernova," says Patrick Woudt, from the University of Cape Town and lead author of the paper reporting the results. "As these supernovae play a crucial role in showing that the Universe's expansion is currently accelerating, pushed by a mysterious dark energy, it is rather embarrassing." http://www.physorg.com/news177676554.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:36:27 EST news177676554 (PhysOrg.com) -- The constellation of Orion is a hotbed of massive star formation, most prominently in the Great Nebula that sits in Orion's sword. The glowing gas of the Nebula is powered by a group of young massive stars, but behind it is a cluster of younger stars and clumps of gas. Still gathering together under gravity's pull, these gas clumps will eventually ignite into stars. http://www.physorg.com/news177602620.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:05:26 EST news177602620 (PhysOrg.com) -- The nucleus of an active galaxy, an AGN, contains a massive black hole that is vigorously accreting material. In the process it typically ejects jets of particles and radiates brightly at many wavelengths, in particular at X-ray wavelengths. http://www.physorg.com/news177337799.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:30:51 EST news177337799 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have gained new insight into the makeup of ancient meteorites called Carbonaceous Chondrites, in research published in the October edition of the journal Earth Science and Planetary Letters. http://www.physorg.com/news177264804.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:14:14 EST news177264804 (PhysOrg.com) -- Astrophysicists at the University of Warwick and Kiel University have discovered two earth sized bodies with oxygen rich atmospheres - however there is a bit of a disappointing snag for anyone looking for a potential home for alien life, or even a future home for ourselves, as they are not planets but are actually two unusual white dwarf stars. http://www.physorg.com/news177258394.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:27:33 EST news177258394 (PhysOrg.com) -- Two teams of astronomers have found a planet outside the solar system that might be orbiting backwards compared to its star's rotation, a discovery that could shed light on how unique the relatively perfect alignment of our solar system is compared to that of other planetary systems. http://www.physorg.com/news177231800.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:03:50 EST news177231800 (PhysOrg.com) -- A ground-breaking census of 500 stars, 70 of which are known to host planets, has successfully linked the long-standing "lithium mystery" observed in the Sun to the presence of planetary systems. Using ESO's successful HARPS spectrograph, a team of astronomers has found that Sun-like stars that host planets have destroyed their lithium much more efficiently than "planet-free" stars. This finding does not only shed light on the lack of lithium in our star, but also provides astronomers with a very efficient way of finding stars with planetary systems. http://www.physorg.com/news177168122.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:22:39 EST news177168122 The Universe's infant galaxies enjoyed rapid growth spurts forming stars like our sun at a rate of up to 50 stars a year, according to scientists at Durham University. http://www.physorg.com/news177138435.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:08:17 EST news177138435 (PhysOrg.com) -- While astronomers have studied lightweight and heavyweight black holes for decades, the evidence for black holes with intermediate masses has been much harder to come by. Now, astronomers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., find that an X-ray source in galaxy NGC 5408 represents one of the best cases for a middleweight black hole to date. http://www.physorg.com/news177073969.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:14:51 EST news177073969 Astronomers, conducting the broadest survey to date of galaxies from about 800 million years after the Big Bang, have found 22 early galaxies and confirmed the age of one by its characteristic hydrogen signature at 787 million years post Big Bang. The finding is the first age-confirmation of a so-called dropout galaxy at that distant time and pinpoints when an era called the reionization epoch likely began. The research will be published in a December issue of the Astrophysical Journal. http://www.physorg.com/news176737523.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:46:08 EST news176737523 The most probable place to find intelligent life in the galaxy is around stars very similar to our sun, a new study has found. http://www.physorg.com/news176661214.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:50:01 EST news176661214 (PhysOrg.com) -- An unusual supernova rediscovered in seven-year-old data may be the first example of a new type of exploding star, possibly from a binary star system where helium flows from one white dwarf onto another and detonates in a thermonuclear explosion. http://www.physorg.com/news176653360.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:33:57 EST news176653360 (PhysOrg.com) -- The spectacular new camera installed on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope during Servicing Mission 4 in May has delivered the most detailed view of star birth in the graceful, curving arms of the nearby spiral galaxy M83. http://www.physorg.com/news176638796.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:20:24 EST news176638796 (PhysOrg.com) -- Before our planets found their way to the stable orbits they circle in today, they wiggled and jostled about like unsettled children. Now, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found a young star with evidence for the same kind of orbital hyperactivity. Young planets circling the star are thought to be disturbing smaller comet-like bodies, causing them to collide and kick up a huge halo of dust. http://www.physorg.com/news176576185.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:56:58 EST news176576185 (PhysOrg.com) -- Evidence for a thin veil of carbon has been found on the neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. This discovery, made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, resolves a ten-year mystery surrounding this object. http://www.physorg.com/news176567767.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:37:05 EST news176567767 (PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have tracked down a gigantic, previously unknown assembly of galaxies located almost seven billion light-years away from us. The discovery, made possible by combining two of the most powerful ground-based telescopes in the world, is the first observation of such a prominent galaxy structure in the distant Universe, providing further insight into the cosmic web and how it formed. http://www.physorg.com/news176449128.html Space & Earth - Astronomy Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:40:02 EST news176449128