Astronomy news

NJIT receives funding to improve Big Bear Telescope, study solar energy

Space & Earth / Astronomy

52 minutes ago | 3 / 5 (1) | 0

NJIT researchers are at work on many scientific and technological frontiers. The National Science Foundation has recently provided support that totals nearly $4.3 million for the diverse efforts of the following ...

Hunting for Planets in the Dark

Space & Earth / Astronomy

23 hours ago | 4.7 / 5 (3) | 2

A proposed space mission that aims to measure dark energy could also detect planets that current surveys are unable to find.

Mystery of the Solar Tsunami -- Solved (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 19, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (22) | 6

(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 ...

China Joins Thirty Meter Telescope Project

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 17, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (6) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) has joined the Thirty Meter Telescope Project (TMT). As an Observer, China will participate in planning the ...

Close-up movie shows hidden details in the birth of super-suns (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 16, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (10) | 1

(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 ...

Record-Breaking Radio Astronomy Project to Measure Sky with Extreme Precision

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 16, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (4) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers will tie together the largest collection of the world's radio telescopes ever assembled to work as a single observing tool in a project aimed at improving the precision of the ...

Mysterious X-rays from a Nearby Galaxy

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 13, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (15) | 8

(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 ...

Two Earth-sized bodies with oxygen rich atmospheres found -- but they're stars not planets

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 12, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (20) | 1

(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 ...

A faraway planet intrigues: Exoplanet with extremely tilted orbit raises new interest in stellar astronomy

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 12, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (12) | 6

(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 ...

Research gives new insights into 4 billion year-old meteorites

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 12, 2009 | 5 / 5 (3) | 1

(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 Le ...

Exoplanets Clue to Sun's Curious Chemistry

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 11, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (20) | 15

(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. ...

Rapid star formation spotted in 'stellar nurseries' of infant galaxies

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 11, 2009 | 4 / 5 (5) | 1

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.

Swift, XMM-Newton satellites tune into a middleweight black hole

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 10, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (3) | 1

(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 ...

NASA's Great Observatories Celebrate International Year of Astronomy

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 10, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (6) | 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- A never-before-seen view of the turbulent heart of our Milky Way galaxy is being unveiled by NASA on Nov. 10. This event will commemorate the 400 years since Galileo first turned his telescope ...

'Dropouts' pinpoint earliest galaxies

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 06, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (11) | 15

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 ...

In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 06, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (7) | 31

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have published the discovery of the farthest known object in the cosmos: a star that exploded when the universe was only 630 million years old -- only 4.6% of its current age. ...

Rapid supernova could be new class of exploding star

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (17) | 5

(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 ...

Hubble Image Showcases Star Birth in M83, the Southern Pinwheel

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (10) | 1

(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 ...