Astronomy news
Galaxies Demand a Stellar Recount
Aug 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- For decades, astronomers have gone about their business of studying the cosmos with the assumption that stars of certain sizes form in certain quantities. Like grocery stores selling melons ...
Dirty stars make good solar system hosts (w/ Video)
Oct 06, 2009 |
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Some stars are lonely behemoths, with no surrounding planets or asteroids, while others sport a skirt of attendant planetary bodies. New research published this week in The Astrophysical Journal Letters explains why the co ...
Astronomers Find Hyperactive Galaxies in the Early Universe
Aug 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Looking almost 11 billion years into the past, astronomers have measured the motions of stars for the first time in a very distant galaxy and clocked speeds upwards of one million miles per ...
Heart of a galaxy emits gamma rays
Oct 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Quite a few distant galaxies turn out to be cosmic delivery rooms. Large numbers of massive stars are born in the hearts of these starburst galaxies, and later explode as supernovae. In the ...
Variability of type 1a supernovae has implications for dark energy studies
Aug 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The stellar explosions known as type 1a supernovae have long been used as "standard candles," their uniform brightness giving astronomers a way to measure cosmic distances and the expansion ...
Scientists discover a nearly Earth-sized planet (Update)
Apr 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Exoplanet researcher Michel Mayor announces the discovery of the lightest exoplanet found so far. The planet, "e," in the system Gliese 581, is only about twice the mass of our Earth. The ...
Trifid triple threat
Aug 26, 2009 |
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Smouldering several thousand light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer), the Trifid Nebula presents a compelling portrait of the early stages of a star's life, from gestation to first ...
Herschel's daring test: A glimpse of things to come
Jun 19, 2009 |
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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 ...
Oddball stars explained
Sep 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- New observations solve longstanding mystery of tipped rotation. In addition to shedding light on how binary stars form, the explanation knocks down a possible challenge to Einstein's theory ...
Astronomers do it Again: Find Organic Molecules Around Gas Planet (w/ Video)
Oct 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Peering far beyond our solar system, NASA researchers have detected the basic chemistry for life in a second hot gas planet, advancing astronomers toward the goal of being able to characterize ...
Planet Smash-Up Sends Vaporized Rock, Hot Lava Flying (w/ Video)
Aug 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found evidence of a high-speed collision between two burgeoning planets around a young star.
How to Make a Planet: Spitzer Spots Clump of Swirling Planetary Material
Sep 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have witnessed odd behavior around a young star. Something, perhaps another star or a planet, appears to be pushing a clump of planet-forming material around. The observations, ...
Double engine for a nebula
Aug 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The new image, showing a very rich field of stars towards the Carina arm of the Milky Way, is centred on the star HD 87643, a member of the exotic class of B[e] stars [1]. It is part of a ...
Herschel first images promise bright future
Jul 10, 2009 |
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Herschel has carried out the first test observations with all its instruments, with spectacular results. Galaxies, star-forming regions and dying stars comprised the telescope's first targets. The instruments ...
New class of black holes discovered
Jul 01, 2009 |
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A new class of black hole, more than 500 times the mass of the Sun, has been discovered by an international team of astronomers.
