http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- In the early Universe, some galaxies may have had stars packed together a hundred times more closely than in the present day, according to research by a University of Bonn team to be published in a paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.( http://www.physorg.com/news153679859.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:51:37 EST news153679859 (PhysOrg.com) -- Processes that laid the foundation for life on Earth -- star and planet formation and the production of complex organic molecules in interstellar space -- are yielding their secrets to astronomers armed with powerful new research tools, and even better tools soon will be available. Astronomers described three important developments at a symposium on the "Cosmic Cradle of Life" at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago, IL. http://www.physorg.com/news153679446.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:45:40 EST news153679446 The large and beautiful image displays the full variety of this impressive skyscape, spattered with clusters of young stars, large nebulae of dust and gas, dust pillars, globules, and adorned by one of the Universe's most impressive binary stars. It was produced by combining exposures through six different filters from the Wide Field Imager (WFI), attached to the 2.2 m ESO/MPG telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory, in Chile. http://www.physorg.com/news153673752.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:09:49 EST news153673752 (PhysOrg.com) -- ESA`s Herschel and Planck missions that will study the formation of stars and galaxies and the relic radiation from the Big Bang, respectively, have successfully completed their test campaigns in Europe. The two spacecraft will soon be shipped to Europe`s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. http://www.physorg.com/news153407441.html Space & Earth Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:11:26 EST news153407441 (PhysOrg.com) -- Space dust annoys astronomers just as much as the household variety when it interferes with their observations of distant stars. And yet space dust also poses one of the great mysteries of astronomy. http://www.physorg.com/news153074950.html Space & Earth Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:50:17 EST news153074950 Galaxies, including our own Milky Way, consist of hundreds of billions of stars. How did such gigantic galactic systems come into being? Did a central region with stars first form then with time grow? Or did the stars form at the same time throughout the entire galaxy? An international team led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy is now much closer to being able to answer these questions. http://www.physorg.com/news153054280.html Space & Earth Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:05:07 EST news153054280 (PhysOrg.com) -- SF State's planet hunting team is trying new avenues of investigation in the quest to discover planets beyond our solar system. At the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting in January, graduate students presented novel approaches being used by the Exoplanet Group to search for earth-like planets. http://www.physorg.com/news152900631.html Space & Earth Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:24:14 EST news152900631 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study unveils NGC 604, the largest region of star formation in the nearby galaxy M33, in its first deep, high-resolution view in X- rays. This composite image from Chandra X-ray Observatory data (colored blue), combined with optical light data from the Hubble Space Telescope (red and green), shows a divided neighborhood where some 200 hot, young, massive stars reside. http://www.physorg.com/news152291894.html Space & Earth Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:19:03 EST news152291894 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Yale University astronomers has discovered that galaxies stop forming stars long before their central supermassive black holes reach their most powerful stage, meaning the black holes can't be responsible for shutting down star formation. http://www.physorg.com/news151838307.html Space & Earth Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:18:47 EST news151838307 (PhysOrg.com) -- Theorists have long wondered how massive stars--up to 120 times the mass of the Sun--can form without blowing away the clouds of gas and dust that feed their growth. But the problem turns out to be less mysterious than it once seemed. A study published this week by Science shows how the growth of a massive star can proceed despite outward-flowing radiation pressure that exceeds the gravitational force pulling material inward. http://www.physorg.com/news151252308.html Space & Earth Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:31:48 EST news151252308 (PhysOrg.com) -- A Cornell-led team of astronomers has observed dust forming around a dying star in a nearby galaxy, giving a glimpse into the early universe and enlivening a debate about the origins of all cosmic dust. http://www.physorg.com/news151251695.html Space & Earth Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:21:35 EST news151251695 Researchers have discovered evidence that blue stragglers in globular clusters, whose existence has long puzzled astronomers, are the result of 'stellar cannibalism' in binary stars. In other words, binary stars are eating each other and turning into a blue straggler. http://www.physorg.com/news151160938.html Space & Earth Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:08:58 EST news151160938 (PhysOrg.com) -- XMM-Newton has caught the fading glow of a tiny celestial object, revealing its rotation rate for the first time. The new information confirms this particular object as one of an extremely rare class of stellar zombie - each one the dead heart of a star that refuses to die. http://www.physorg.com/news151064499.html Space & Earth Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:21:39 EST news151064499 (PhysOrg.com) -- Even some stars go ballistic, racing through interstellar space like bullets and tearing through clouds of gas. http://www.physorg.com/news150562469.html Space & Earth Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:54:29 EST news150562469 (PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have turned to an unexpected place to study the evolution of planets -- dead stars. Observations made with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal six dead "white dwarf" stars littered with the remains of shredded asteroids. This might sound pretty bleak, but it turns out the chewed-up asteroids are teaching astronomers about the building materials of planets around other stars. http://www.physorg.com/news150394045.html Space & Earth Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:07:25 EST news150394045 (PhysOrg.com) -- Brown dwarfs, objects that are less massive than stars but larger than planets, just got more elusive, based on a study of 233 nearby multiple-star systems by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble found only two brown dwarfs as companions to normal stars. This means the so-called "brown dwarf desert" (the absence of brown dwarfs around solar-type stars) extends to the smallest stars in the universe. http://www.physorg.com/news150388037.html Space & Earth Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:27:17 EST news150388037 (PhysOrg.com) -- Life on a planet ruled by two suns might be a little complicated. Two sunrises, two sunsets. Twice the radiation field. http://www.physorg.com/news150383704.html Space & Earth Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:15:04 EST news150383704 (PhysOrg.com) -- The center of the Milky Way presents astronomers with a paradox: it holds young stars, but no one is sure how those stars got there. The galactic center is wracked with powerful gravitational tides stirred by a 4 million solar-mass black hole. Those tides should rip apart molecular clouds that act as stellar nurseries, preventing stars from forming in place. Yet the alternative - stars falling inward after forming elsewhere - should be a rare occurrence. http://www.physorg.com/news150383551.html Space & Earth Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:12:31 EST news150383551 The planet Jupiter gained weight in a hurry during its infancy. It had to, since the material from which it formed probably disappeared in just a few million years, according to a new study of planet formation around young stars. http://www.physorg.com/news150383252.html Space & Earth Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:07:32 EST news150383252 From troubled beginnings nearly 18 years ago, the Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized astronomy and its stunning images have stirred the imaginations of people around the globe. http://www.physorg.com/news149951903.html Space & Earth Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:18:23 EST news149951903 (PhysOrg.com) -- Some stars have it tough when it comes to raising planets. A new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows one unlucky lot of stars, born into a dangerous neighborhood. The stars themselves are safe, but the material surrounding them -- the dusty bits of what might have been future planets -- can be seen blowing off into space. http://www.physorg.com/news148752771.html Space & Earth Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:12:51 EST news148752771 NGC 2264 lies about 2600 light-years from Earth in the obscure constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn, not far from the more familiar figure of Orion, the Hunter. The image shows a region of space about 30 light-years across. http://www.physorg.com/news148653675.html Space & Earth Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:41:15 EST news148653675 A new project, the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment, or APOGEE, will survey more than 100,000 Milky Way red giant stars -- bright, bloated stars in a late stage of their evolution. APOGEE will provide enormous new insight to the processes that make stars and that drive the formation and evolution of galaxies. http://www.physorg.com/news148573532.html Space & Earth Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:25:32 EST news148573532 By watching the motions of 28 stars orbiting the Milky Way's most central region with admirable patience and amazing precision, astronomers have been able to study the supermassive black hole lurking there. It is known as "Sagittarius A*" (pronounced "Sagittarius A star"). The new research marks the first time that the orbits of so many of these central stars have been calculated precisely and reveals information about the enigmatic formation of these stars - and about the black hole to which they are bound. http://www.physorg.com/news148069800.html Space & Earth Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:30:00 EST news148069800 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a turbulent star-forming region, where rivers of gas and stellar winds are eroding thickets of dusty material. http://www.physorg.com/news147973511.html Space & Earth Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:45:11 EST news147973511 (PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have uncovered strong evidence that brown dwarfs form like stars. Using the Smithsonian's Submillimeter Array (SMA), they detected molecules of carbon monoxide shooting outward from the object known as ISO-Oph 102. Such molecular outflows typically are seen coming from young stars or protostars. However, this object has an estimated mass of 60 Jupiters, meaning it is too small to be a star. Astronomers have classified it as a brown dwarf. http://www.physorg.com/news147529378.html Space & Earth Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:22:58 EST news147529378 Sparkling away at magnitude 3.7 and appearing nearly as large as the full moon on the southern night sky, Omega Centauri is visible with the unaided eye from a clear, dark observing site. Even through a modest amateur telescope, the cluster is revealed as an incredible, densely packed sphere of glittering stars. But astronomers need to use the full power of professional telescopes to uncover the amazing secrets of this beautiful globular cluster. http://www.physorg.com/news147448563.html Space & Earth Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:56:03 EST news147448563 (PhysOrg.com) -- Planet hunters searching for planets suitable for life will likely find them first around low-mass stars because it's technically easier than finding such planets around hotter, more massive stars, researchers predict. http://www.physorg.com/news147014943.html Space & Earth Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:29:03 EST news147014943 (PhysOrg.com) -- The image shows a pair of colossal stars, WR 25 and Tr16-244, located within the open cluster Trumpler 16. This cluster is embedded within the Carina Nebula, an immense cauldron of gas and dust that lies approximately 7500 light-years from Earth. The Carina Nebula contains several ultra-hot stars, including these two star systems and the famous blue star Eta Carinae, which has the highest luminosity yet confirmed. http://www.physorg.com/news146831018.html Space & Earth Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:23:38 EST news146831018 (PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have long puzzled over why a small, nearby, isolated galaxy is pumping out new stars faster than any galaxy in our local neighborhood. http://www.physorg.com/news146410412.html Space & Earth Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:33:32 EST news146410412