Astronomy news

Fermi Telescope reveals a population of radio-quiet gamma-ray pulsars

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jul 02, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (9) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new class of pulsars detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is solving the mystery of previously unidentified gamma-ray sources and helping scientists understand the mechanisms ...

VLBA locates superenergetic bursts near giant black hole

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jul 02, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (7) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using a worldwide combination of diverse telescopes, astronomers have discovered that a giant galaxy's bursts of very high energy gamma rays are coming from a region very close to the supermassive ...

Intense heat killed the Universe's would-be galaxies, researchers say

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jul 01, 2009 | 3.4 / 5 (22) | 29

(PhysOrg.com) -- Our Milky Way galaxy only survived because it was already immersed in a large clump of dark matter which trapped gases inside it, scientists led by Durham University's Institute for Computational ...

Herschel Opens Its Infrared Eyes

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 29, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (9) | 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Herschel Space Observatory has snapped its first picture since blasting into space on May 14, 2009. The mission, led by the European Space Agency with important participation from NASA, ...

Milky Way's super-efficient particle accelerators caught in the act

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 25, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (12) | 16

Thanks to a unique "ballistic study" that combines data from ESO's Very Large Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have now solved a long-standing mystery of the Milky Way's particle ...

Galaxies coming of age in cosmic blobs

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 24, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (6) | 2

The "coming of age" of galaxies and black holes has been pinpointed, thanks to new data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes. This discovery helps resolve the true nature of gigantic ...

Galactic Colonization Limited By The Inability To Expand Exponentially

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 23, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (49) | 91

(PhysOrg.com) -- For more than 50 years, many have taken the so-called Fermi Paradox to indicate that the existence of intelligent alien civilizations is an impossibility. However, a recent re-examination ...

Magnetic field on bright star Vega

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 23, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (6) | 1

Astronomy & Astrophysics journal publishes the first detection of a magnetic field on the bright star Vega. Using the NARVAL spectropolarimeter of the Bernard-Lyot telescope on top of the Pic du Midi (Franc ...

Herschel's daring test: A glimpse of things to come

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 19, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (25) | 2

Herschel opened its 'eyes' on 14 June and the Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer obtained images of M51, 'the whirlpool galaxy' for a first test observation. Scientists obtained images in three colours ...

Odd discovery may help refine theories about how planets form

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 17, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (7) | 9

An international team of researchers has found a planet around another star whose orbit is steeply tilted from the plane of the star's equator, a finding that contradicts some theories about how solar systems form.

Unusual shape of exploded star puzzles scientists

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 17, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (12) | 2

Penn State astronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to produce a new image of a ghostly exploded star with an unusual shape in a galaxy near the Milky Way. Astronomers think the object may be ...

Giant eruption reveals 'dead' star

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 16, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (8) | 9

An enormous eruption has found its way to Earth after travelling for many thousands of years across space. Studying this blast with ESA's XMM-Newton and Integral space observatories, astronomers have discovered a dead star ...

Unique sky survey brings new objects into focus

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 15, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (8) | 2

An innovative sky survey has begun returning images that will be used to detect unprecedented numbers of powerful cosmic explosions-called supernovae-in distant galaxies, and variable brightness stars in our ...

Meteorite grains divulge Earth's cosmic roots

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 15, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (5) | 3

The interstellar stuff that became incorporated into the planets and life on Earth has younger cosmic roots than theories predict, according to the University of Chicago postdoctoral scholar Philipp Heck and ...

Peculiar, junior-sized supernova discovered by New York teen

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 11, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (9) | 1

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 ...

Earth-Venus smash-up possible in 3.5 billion years: study

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 10, 2009 | 3.1 / 5 (21) | 12

A force known as orbital chaos may cause our Solar System to go haywire, leading to possible collision between Earth and Venus or Mars, according to a study released Wednesday.

Red giant star Betelgeuse is mysteriously shrinking

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 10, 2009 | 5 / 5 (20) | 4

The red supergiant star Betelgeuse, the bright reddish star in the constellation Orion, has steadily shrunk over the past 15 years, according to University of California, Berkeley, researchers.

The search for ET just got easier

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Jun 10, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (13) | 2

Astronomers using the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma have confirmed an effective way to search the atmospheres of planets for signs of life, vastly improving ...