Astronomy news

Planck mission steps closer to the cosmic blueprint

(PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's Planck mission has revealed that our Galaxy contains previously undiscovered islands of cold gas and a mysterious haze of microwaves. These results give scientists new treasure to mine ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created 3 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Gearing up for data deluge from world's biggest radio telescope

The amount of computer data generated by the entire world in a whole year will need to be stored in a single day for the world's most powerful telescope − the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) − and ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created 2 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 2

Transforming galaxies

(PhysOrg.com) -- Many of the Universe's galaxies are like our own, displaying beautiful spiral arms wrapping around a bright nucleus. Examples in this stunning image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created 4 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The turbulent birth of super star clusters in galaxy mergers

By combining two of the most advanced telescopes in the world -- the new Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of ESO -- a team of French astronomers from the Institut d'astrophysique ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Black holes and star formation

(PhysOrg.com) -- It has long been recognized that galaxy mergers or even close interactions can play a vital role in shaping the morphology of galaxies. One way they can do so, it is thought, is by triggering ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (7) | comments 7 | with audio podcast


Young stars at home in ancient cluster

(PhysOrg.com) -- Looking like a hoard of gems fit for an emperor's collection, this deep sky object called NGC 6752 is in fact far more worthy of admiration. It is a globular cluster, and at over 10 billion ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 4

Distorting the lens

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the most bizarre predictions of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity is the existence of back holes, objects that are so dense that not even light can escape from their gravitational ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 3

Chandra finds Milky Way's black hole grazing on asteroids

(PhysOrg.com) -- The giant black hole at the center of the Milky Way may be vaporizing and devouring asteroids, which could explain the frequent flares observed, according to astronomers using data from NASA's ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 14 | with audio podcast

Astronomy team discovers nearby dwarf galaxy

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team led by UCLA research astronomer Michael Rich has used a unique telescope to discover a previously unknown companion to the nearby galaxy NGC 4449, which is some 12.5 million light years ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (8) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

VLT takes most detailed infrared image of the Carina Nebula

(PhysOrg.com) -- ESO's Very Large Telescope has delivered the most detailed infrared image of the Carina Nebula stellar nursery taken so far. Many previously hidden features, scattered across a spectacular ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

New images capture 'stealth merger' of dwarf galaxies

New images of a nearby dwarf galaxy have revealed a dense stream of stars in its outer regions, the remains of an even smaller companion galaxy in the process of merging with its host. The host galaxy, known ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

When stars play planetary pinball

Many of us remember playing pinball at the local arcade while growing up; it turns out that some stars like it as well. Binary stars can play tug-of-war with an unfortunate planet, flinging it into a wide ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

ESO team succeeds in linking telescopes at Paranal Observatory into giant VLT

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers working as part of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at the Cerra Paranal Mountain Observatory in the Atacama Desert in Chile, have succeeded in virtually connecting all ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (18) | comments 2 | with audio podcast report

Scientists chart high-precision map of Milky Way's magnetic fields

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are part of an international team that has pooled their radio observations into a database, producing the highest precision map to date of ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 03, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (11) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Do black holes help stars form?

(PhysOrg.com) -- The center of just about every galaxy is thought to host a black hole, some with masses of thousands of millions of Suns and consequently strong gravitational pulls that disrupt material around ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 03, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

More News

Classic portrait of a barred spiral galaxy

(PhysOrg.com) -- The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1073, which is found in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, ...

Radio stars: Caltech's astronomy professor searches for cosmic radio waves

Growing up in rural northwest Ireland, beyond the reach of city lights, Gregg Hallinan fell in love with the night sky. "When you didn't have bad weather, and you didn't have clouds, the skies were nothing ...

New super-earth detected within the habitable zone of a nearby star

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of scientists has discovered a potentially habitable super-Earth orbiting a nearby star. With an orbital period of about 28 days and a minimum mass 4.5 times that of ...

Hubble zooms in on a magnified galaxy

(PhysOrg.com) -- Thanks to the presence of a natural "zoom lens" in space, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope got a uniquely close-up look at the brightest "magnified" galaxy yet discovered.

Remnant of an explosion with a powerful kick?

(PhysOrg.com) -- Vital clues about the devastating ends to the lives of massive stars can be found by studying the aftermath of their explosions. In its more than twelve years of science operations, NASA's ...

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Writing a new code for life?

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Stellar astrophysics explains the behavior of fast rotating neutron stars in binary systems

Pulsars are among the most exotic celestial bodies known. They have diameters of about 20 kilometres, but at the same time roughly the mass of our sun. A sugar-cube sized piece of its ultra-compact matter ...

Scientists help define structure of exoplanets

Using models similar to those used in weapons research, scientists may soon know more about exoplanets, those objects beyond the realm of our solar system.

A pocket of star formation

(PhysOrg.com) -- This new view shows a stellar nursery called NGC 3324. It was taken using the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. The intense ultraviolet ...

Study finds 'cool' gas may form and strengthen sunspots

Hydrogen molecules may act as a kind of energy sink that strengthens the magnetic grip that causes sunspots, according to scientists from Hawaii and New Mexico using a new infrared instrument on an old telescope.

How well can astronomers study exoplanet atmospheres?

Exoplanet discoveries are happening at a frenetic pace, and some of the latest newly discovered worlds are sometimes described as “Earth-Like” and “potentially habitable.”


Writing a new code for life?

In older adults, fluctuating sense of control linked to cognitive ability

Fast photon control brings quantum photonic technologies closer

Obama budget slashes Mars exploration

New devices could hold key to predicting premature births

China's pollution related to E-cars may be more harmful than gasoline cars, researchers find

Children at risk for ingestion of PAHs from pavement sealant, study finds

U.S. clears path for offshore wind farms

Slowing ocean current caused Earth to spin faster

New HIV-vaccine tested on people

New cases of rare genetic disorder identified

Know a teen hurt by a date? Someone else has been hurting them too, research finds

Humans blamed as shark attacks 'double'

Apple stock breaks $500 level, continuing rally

Study evaluates the factors underlying Medicare decisions on coverage of medical technology

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