Astronomy news

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

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

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 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 ...


Starring Intelligent Aliens

Starring Intelligent Aliens

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (10) | comments 7

The most probable place to find intelligent life in the galaxy is around stars very similar to our sun, a new study has found.


'Dropouts' pinpoint earliest galaxies

'Dropouts' pinpoint earliest galaxies

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 06, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (13) | comments 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 ...


Fermi telescope detects gamma-ray from 'star factories' in other galaxies

Fermi Telescope Detects Gamma-Ray From 'Star Factories' in Other Galaxies

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Nearby galaxies undergoing a furious pace of star formation also emit lots of gamma rays, say astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Two so-called "starburst" galaxies, plus a satellite ...


Unsettled Youth: Spitzer Observes a Chaotic Planetary System

Unsettled Youth: Spitzer Observes a Chaotic Planetary System

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Before our planets found their way to the stable orbits they circle in today, they wiggled and jostled about like unsettled children. Now, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found a young ...


Shedding light on the cosmic skeleton

Shedding Light on the Cosmic Skeleton

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 03, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (22) | comments 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have tracked down a gigantic, previously unknown assembly of galaxies located almost seven billion light-years away from us. The discovery, made possible by combining two of the ...


Solar winds triggered by magnetic fields

Solar winds triggered by magnetic fields

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Solar wind generated by the sun is probably driven by a process involving powerful magnetic fields, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers based on the ...


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

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

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 20, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 1

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 ...


Starburst galaxy sheds light on longstanding cosmic mystery

Starburst galaxy sheds light on longstanding cosmic mystery

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international collaboration that includes scientists from the University of Delaware's Bartol Research Institute in the Department of Physics and Astronomy has discovered very-high-energy ...


NASA's Great Observatories Celebrate International Year of Astronomy

NASA's Great Observatories Celebrate International Year of Astronomy

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 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 ...


In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 06, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 38

(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. ...


China Joins Thirty Meter Telescope Project

China Joins Thirty Meter Telescope Project

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 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 ...


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

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

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 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 ...


The Ring Nebula

The Ring Nebula

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (7) | comments 2

The diversity of colours, shapes, and sizes of planetary nebulae make them fascinating objects. In this photo release Calar Alto presents a rather unique view combining both optical and near-infrared data ...


New type of supernova explosion reported; predicted by theoretical physicists at UCSB

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0

A new class of supernova was discovered by scientists at Berkeley and may be the first example of a new type of exploding star. A team of astrophysicists at UC Santa Barbara had predicted this kind of explosion in their t ...