Astronomy news
Vampires and collisions rejuvenate stars
19 hours ago |
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Stars in globular clusters are generally extremely old, with ages of 12-13 billion years. However, a small fraction of them appear to be significantly younger than the average population and, because they ...
Keck Telescopes Take Deeper Look at Planetary Nurseries
16 hours ago |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory have peered far into a young planetary system, giving an unprecedented view of dust and gas that might eventually form planets similar to Jupiter, ...
Astronomers discover 'tilted planets'
Dec 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Exeter, UK, research has added to a growing evidence that several giant planets have orbits so tilted that their orbits can be perpendicular or even backwards relative to their ...
A New Method of Estimating Stellar Distances
Dec 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The star Chi Cygni is located about 550 light-years away, in the direction of the constellation of Cygnus the Swan. It is a notable star because, unlike the sun which still burns hydrogen ...
Brown dwarf pair mystifies astronomers
Dec 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Two brown dwarf-sized objects orbiting a giant old star show that planets may assemble around stars more quickly and efficiently than anyone thought possible, according to an international ...
Avatar's moon Pandora could be real
Dec 17, 2009 |
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In the new blockbuster Avatar, humans visit the habitable - and inhabited - alien moon called Pandora. Life-bearing moons like Pandora or the Star Wars forest moon of Endor are a staple of science fiction. ...
Supernova explosions stay in shape
Dec 17, 2009 |
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At a very early age, children learn how to classify objects according to their shape. Now, new research suggests studying the shape of the aftermath of supernovas may allow astronomers to do the same.
Astronomers Find Super-Earth Using Amateur, Off-the-Shelf Technology (w/ Video)
Dec 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers announced today that they have discovered a "super-Earth" orbiting a red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth. They found the distant planet with a small fleet of ground-based ...
Close-up photos of dying star show our sun's fate (w/ Video)
Dec 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- About 550 light-years from Earth, a star like our Sun is writhing in its death throes. Chi Cygni has swollen in size to become a red giant star so large that it would swallow every planet ...
Black Holes in Star Clusters stir up Time and Space (w/ Video)
Dec 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Within a decade scientists could be able to detect the merger of tens of pairs of black holes every year, according to a team of astronomers at the University of Bonn’s Argelander-Institut ...
A star is born? Herschel space observatory captures the birth of stars
Dec 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The European Space Agency has released a preview of the first science results from the Herschel Space Observatory, including the UK-led SPIRE instrument. The new data which include images ...
New planet discoveries suggest low-mass planets are common around nearby stars (w/ Video)
Dec 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of planet hunters has discovered as many as six low-mass planets around two nearby Sun-like stars, including two "super-Earths" with masses 5 and 7.5 times the mass of ...
How water forms where Earth-like planets are born
Dec 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In a study that helps to explain the origins of water on Earth, University of Michigan astronomers have found that water vapor can form spontaneously in habitable zones of solar systems, and that it develops ...
First Direct Imaging of a Young Binary System
Dec 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of astronomers from The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, and other universities have captured the first direct image of a young ...
Hubble's Deepest View of Universe Unveils Never-Before-Seen Galaxies (w/ Video)
Dec 08, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In 2004, Hubble created the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), the deepest visible-light image of the Universe, and now, with its brand-new camera, Hubble is seeing even farther. This image was ...
