Astronomy news
Kepler and the Search for Life in Our Galaxy
Sep 15, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (9) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- There are so many stars in our galaxy that even if planets with complex life (animals and plants) are rare - say one for every billion stars - there could still be dozens here in the Milky ...
Craters on Vesta and Ceres Could Hold Key to Jupiter's Age
Sep 15, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (5) |
0
Crater patterns on Vesta and Ceres could help pinpoint when Jupiter began to form during the evolution of the early solar system.
Making Massive Stars
Sep 15, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (3) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Our understanding of star formation leans heavily on observations of stars like the sun, namely, those that are modest in mass and that are born and evolve at a relatively leisurely pace. ...
Black Hole Pumps Iron
Sep 14, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (15) |
6
(PhysOrg.com) -- This composite image of the Hydra A galaxy cluster shows 10-million- degree gas observed by Chandra in blue and jets of radio emission observed by the Very Large Array in pink. Optical data ...
Astronomers unveil an amazing, interactive, 360-degree panoramic view of the entire night sky
Sep 14, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (14) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- The first of three images of ESO's GigaGalaxy Zoom project — a new magnificent 800-million-pixel panorama of the entire sky as seen from ESO's observing sites in Chile — has just been released ...
Magnetic fields play larger role in star formation than previously thought
Sep 09, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (14) |
12
The simple picture of star formation calls for giant clouds of gas and dust to collapse inward due to gravity, growing denser and hotter until igniting nuclear fusion. In reality, forces other than gravity also influence ...
Fermi Large Area Telescope reveals pulsing gamma-ray sources
Sep 09, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (12) |
9
Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Space Science Division and a team of international researchers have positively identified cosmic sources of gamma-ray emissions through the discovery of 16 ...
Researchers explain the activity of black holes at the centre of galaxy clusters
Sep 04, 2009 |
3.9 / 5 (15) |
27
(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers at the University of Bonn have clarified the connection between black holes at the centre of galaxy clusters and surrounding gas, which serves them as "food". The scientists have ...
XMM-Newton uncovers a celestial Rosetta stone
Sep 03, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (16) |
7
(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 ...
Will Kepler find habitable moons?
Sep 03, 2009 |
5 / 5 (14) |
5
(PhysOrg.com) -- Since the launch of the NASA Kepler Mission earlier this year, astronomers have been keenly awaiting the first detection of an Earth-like planet around another star. Now, in an echo of science ...
Component of mothballs is present in deep-space clouds
Sep 02, 2009 |
4 / 5 (2) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Interstellar clouds, drifting through the unimaginable vastness of space, may be the stuff dreams are made of. But it turns out there's an unexpectedly strange component in those clouds, and it's not dreams ...
No strain for Andromeda: Galaxy is cosmic cannibal (w/ Video)
Sep 02, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (9) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- A huge galaxy neighbouring our own Milky Way appears to have expanded by "digesting" smaller galaxies nearby, a new study has shown.
NGC 4945: The Milky Way's not-so-distant Cousin
Sep 02, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (3) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- ESO has released a striking new image of a nearby galaxy that many astronomers think closely resembles our own Milky Way. Though the galaxy is seen edge-on, observations of NGC 4945 suggest ...
Giant Galaxy Hosts the Most Distant Supermassive Black Hole
Sep 02, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (15) |
26
(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Hawaii (UH) astronomer Dr. Tomotsugu Goto and colleagues have discovered a giant galaxy surrounding the most distant supermassive black hole ever found. The galaxy, so distant ...
Is the Milky Way doomed to be destroyed by galactic bombardment? Probably not
Aug 31, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (12) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- As scientists attempt to learn more about how galaxies evolve, an open question has been whether collisions with our dwarf galactic neighbors will one day tear apart the disk of the Milky ...
