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) -- A team of Chinese astronomers have discovered a giant planet close to the exotic binary star system QS Virginis. Although dormant now, in the future the two stars will one day erupt in a violent nova outburst. Professor Shengbang Qian of Yunnan Observatory leads the team of scientists who report their work in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. http://www.physorg.com/news180173732.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:20:07 EST news180173732 (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 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:36:27 EST news177676554 (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 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:27:33 EST news177258394 A new class of supernova was discovered by scientists at Berkeley and may be the first example of a new type of exploding star. A team of astrophysicists at UC Santa Barbara had predicted this kind of explosion in their theoretical work. http://www.physorg.com/news176654551.html Space & Earth Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:50:01 EST news176654551 (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 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:33:57 EST news176653360 This week, Astronomy & Astrophysics publishes a somewhat unusual research article because it is co-authored by German high-school students. Led by astronomer Klaus Beuermann (University of Göttingen, Germany), the team involves a secondary school physics teacher, three students from two high schools in Göttingen, and three professional astronomers. http://www.physorg.com/news176637137.html Space & Earth Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:20:02 EST news176637137 The diversity of colours, shapes, and sizes of planetary nebulae make them fascinating objects. In this photo release Calar Alto presents a rather unique view combining both optical and near-infrared data of the Ring Nebula (M57). http://www.physorg.com/news176374973.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:20:01 EST news176374973 The precise conditions inside a white dwarf star in the hours leading up to its explosive end as a Type Ia supernova are one of the mysteries confronting astrophysicists studying these massive stellar explosions. But now, a team of researchers, composed of three applied mathematicians at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and two astrophysicists, has created the first full-star simulation of the hours preceding the largest thermonuclear explosions in the universe. http://www.physorg.com/news172856010.html Space & Earth Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:10:03 EST news172856010 (PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's XMM-Newton orbiting X-ray telescope has uncovered a celestial Rosetta stone: the first close-up of a white dwarf star, circling a companion star, that could explode into a particular kind of supernova in a few million years. These supernovae are used as beacons to measure cosmic distances and ultimately understand the expansion of our Universe. http://www.physorg.com/news171208399.html Space & Earth Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:54:28 EST news171208399 (PhysOrg.com) -- The stellar explosions known as type 1a supernovae have long been used as "standard candles," their uniform brightness giving astronomers a way to measure cosmic distances and the expansion of the universe. But a new study published this week in Nature reveals sources of variability in type 1a supernovae that will have to be taken into account if astronomers are to use them for more precise measurements in the future. http://www.physorg.com/news169303137.html Space & Earth Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:10:02 EST news169303137 (PhysOrg.com) -- Exploring distant parts of the galaxy, astrophysicist Denis Sullivan has collaborated on the discovery of about six extrasolar planets--not bad for an accidental astronomer. http://www.physorg.com/news168010625.html Space & Earth Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:39:07 EST news168010625 In November 2008, Caroline Moore, a 14-year-old student from upstate New York, discovered a supernova in a nearby galaxy, making her the youngest person ever to do so. Additional observations determined that the object, called SN 2008ha, is a new type of stellar explosion, 1000 times more powerful than a nova but 1000 times less powerful than a supernova. Astronomers say that it may be the weakest supernova ever seen. http://www.physorg.com/news163905854.html Space & Earth Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:24:57 EST news163905854 A new image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory shows a supernova remnant with a different look. This object, known as SNR 0104-72.3 (SNR 0104 for short), is in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a small neighboring galaxy to the Milky Way. Astronomers think that SNR 0104 is the remains of a so-called Type Ia supernova caused by the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf. http://www.physorg.com/news163771339.html Space & Earth Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:03:09 EST news163771339 In a controversial new paper in the journal Nature, astronomers from Queen's University Belfast have proposed a new physical interpretation of a supernova discovered on 7th November 2008. http://www.physorg.com/news163760815.html Space & Earth Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:07:23 EST news163760815 The Whole Earth Telescope (WET), a worldwide network of observatories coordinated by the University of Delaware, is synchronizing its lenses to provide round-the-clock coverage of a cooling star. As the star dims in the twilight of its life, scientists hope it will shed light on the workings of our own planet and other mysteries of the galaxy. http://www.physorg.com/news161629628.html Space & Earth Fri, 15 May 2009 18:07:38 EST news161629628 (PhysOrg.com) -- A 25-year old astronomical mystery has been solved: Most of the diffuse X-ray emissions in the Milky Way do not originate from one single source but from so-called white dwarfs and from stars with active outer gas layers. Mikhail Revnivtsev from the Excellence Cluster Universe at the TU Munich and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, the Space Research Institute in Moscow and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge have now succeeded in proving this. http://www.physorg.com/news160755456.html Space & Earth Tue, 05 May 2009 15:18:02 EST news160755456 (PhysOrg.com) -- Stellar explosions called novć are caused by nuclear reactions between the star's atoms. In order to better understand such violent phenomena, astrophysicists study the radiation emitted by certain types of atom, and in particular the fluorine-18 produced by these reactions. http://www.physorg.com/news160317543.html Physics Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:39:51 EST news160317543 (PhysOrg.com) -- Professor Adrienne Cool has discovered 24 unusual stars in an ancient star cluster in the Milky Way. Made of helium rather than the usual carbon and oxygen, these white dwarf stars appear as faint, pale blue dots as spotted in new Hubble telescope images. http://www.physorg.com/news160067023.html Space & Earth Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:04:16 EST news160067023 Twenty-four unusual stars, 18 of them newly discovered, have been observed in new Hubble telescope images. The stars are white dwarfs, a common type of dead star, but they are odd because they are made of helium rather than the usual carbon and oxygen. This is the first extensive sequence of helium-core white dwarfs to be observed in a globular cluster, a dense swarm of some of the oldest stars in our galaxy. http://www.physorg.com/news159700039.html Space & Earth Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:07:52 EST news159700039 (PhysOrg.com) -- Using NASA`s Spitzer Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers have found that at least 1 in 100 white dwarf stars show evidence of orbiting asteroids and rocky planets, suggesting these objects once hosted Solar Systems similar to our own. http://www.physorg.com/news159460384.html Space & Earth Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:33:37 EST news159460384 Astronomers have announced plans to build an ultra-stable, high-precision spectrograph for the Science and Technology Facilities Council's 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT - part of the Isaac Newton Group or ING on La Palma) in an effort to discover habitable Earth-like planets around other stars. http://www.physorg.com/news159460097.html Space & Earth Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:28:44 EST news159460097 (PhysOrg.com) -- The Helix Nebula, NGC 7293, lies about 700 light-years away in the constellation of Aquarius (the Water Bearer). It is one of the closest and most spectacular examples of a planetary nebula. http://www.physorg.com/news154782744.html Space & Earth Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:13:46 EST news154782744 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of German and American astronomers present far-ultraviolet observations of white dwarf KPD 0005+5106 and reveal that it is among the hottest stars ever known with a temperature of 200 000 K at its surface. Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing this discovery, which was made through spectroscopic observations with NASA's space-based Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). http://www.physorg.com/news148315351.html Space & Earth Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:42:31 EST news148315351 Imagine having three clocks in your house, each chiming at a different time. Astronomers have found the equivalent of three out-of-sync "clocks" in the ancient open star cluster NGC 6791. The dilemma may fundamentally challenge the way astronomers estimate cluster ages, researchers said. http://www.physorg.com/news134909180.html Space & Earth Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:46:20 EST news134909180