Astronomy news
First black holes may have incubated in giant, starlike cocoons
Nov 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The first large black holes in the universe likely formed and grew deep inside gigantic, starlike cocoons that smothered their powerful x-ray radiation and prevented surrounding gases from ...
Monster Waves on the Sun are Real (w/ Video)
Nov 25, 2009 |
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Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft are telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as the "solar ...
Fermi Telescope Peers Deep into Microquasar (w/ Video)
Nov 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has made the first unambiguous detection of high-energy gamma-rays from an enigmatic binary system known as Cygnus X-3. The system pairs a hot, massive ...
The Energy Sources of Ultraluminous Galaxies
Nov 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Ultraluminous infrared galaxies ((ULIRGs) are galaxies whose luminosity exceeds that of a trillion suns; for comparison, the Milky Way galaxy has a typical (and much more modest) luminosity ...
Cosmic 'Dig' Reveals Vestiges of the Milky Way's Building Blocks
Nov 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Peering through the thick dust clouds of our galaxy's "bulge" (the myriads of stars surrounding its center), a team of astronomers has unveiled an unusual mix of stars in the stellar grouping ...
Herschel takes a peek at the ingredients of the galaxies
Nov 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The European Space Agency has today released spectacular new observations from the Herschel Space Observatory, including the UK-led SPIRE instrument. Spectrometers on board all three Hershel ...
'Cosmic fruit machine' matches collisions
Nov 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new website will give everyone the chance to contribute to science by playing a 'cosmic fruit machine' and compare images of colliding galaxies with millions of simulated images of galactic ...
Spitzer Telescope Observes Baby Brown Dwarf
Nov 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has contributed to the discovery of the youngest brown dwarf ever observed -- a finding that, if confirmed, may solve an astronomical mystery about how these ...
Infrared Image of Circumstellar Disk Illuminates Massive Star Formation Process
Nov 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of astronomers from Ibaraki University, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Kanagawa University, University of Tokyo, Academica Sinica, and National Astronomical Observatory of Japan ...
Mystery of the Solar Tsunami -- Solved (w/ Video)
Nov 19, 2009 |
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(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 ...
NGC 4710 galaxy: Baffling boxy bulge (w/ Video)
Nov 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Just as many people are surprised to find themselves packing on unexplained weight around the middle, astronomers find the evolution of bulges in the centres of spiral galaxies puzzling. A ...
Ticking stellar time bomb identified (w/ Video)
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- "One of the major problems in modern astrophysics is the fact that we still do not know exactly what kinds of stellar system explode as a Type Ia supernova," says Patrick Woudt, from the University ...
Close-up movie shows hidden details in the birth of super-suns (w/ Video)
Nov 16, 2009 |
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(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 ...
Two Earth-sized bodies with oxygen rich atmospheres found -- but they're stars not planets
Nov 12, 2009 |
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(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 ...
Exoplanets Clue to Sun's Curious Chemistry
Nov 11, 2009 |
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(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. ...
