Astronomy news

A Superbright Supernova That’s the First of Its Kind

A Superbright Supernova That’s the First of Its Kind

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 02, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (22) | comments 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- An extraordinarily bright, extraordinarily long-lasting supernova named SN 2007bi, snagged in a search by a robotic telescope, turns out to be the first example of the kind of stars that first ...


Newly discovered star one of hottest in Galaxy

Newly discovered star one of hottest in Galaxy (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 02, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (19) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers at The University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics have discovered one of the hottest stars in the Galaxy with a surface temperature of around 200,000 degrees ...


Fermi Telescope Peers Deep into Microquasar

Fermi Telescope Peers Deep into Microquasar (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 27, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (17) | comments 0

(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

The Energy Sources of Ultraluminous Galaxies

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 27, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (20) | comments 3

(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 ...


Monster Waves on the Sun are Real

Monster Waves on the Sun are Real (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (20) | comments 2

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 ...


Cosmic 'dig' reveals vestiges of the Milky Way's building blocks

Cosmic 'Dig' Reveals Vestiges of the Milky Way's Building Blocks

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (21) | comments 1

(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 ...


First black holes may have incubated in giant, starlike cocoons, says CU-Boulder study

First black holes may have incubated in giant, starlike cocoons

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 24, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (20) | comments 22

(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 ...


'Cosmic fruit machine' matches collisions

'Cosmic fruit machine' matches collisions

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 24, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 2

(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

Spitzer Telescope Observes Baby Brown Dwarf

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (13) | comments 0

(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 ...


Mystery of the Solar Tsunami -- Solved

Mystery of the Solar Tsunami -- Solved (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (27) | comments 9

(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 ...


Baffling boxy bulge

NGC 4710 galaxy: Baffling boxy bulge (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 0

(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

Ticking stellar time bomb identified (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (11) | comments 0

(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

Close-up movie shows hidden details in the birth of super-suns (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 1

(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 ...


2 Earth-sized bodies with oxygen rich atmospheres found -- but they're stars not planets

Two Earth-sized bodies with oxygen rich atmospheres found -- but they're stars not planets

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (21) | comments 1

(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 ...


A faraway planet intrigues: Exoplanet with extremely tilted orbit raises new interest in stellar astronomy

A faraway planet intrigues: Exoplanet with extremely tilted orbit raises new interest in stellar astronomy

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (12) | comments 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- Two teams of astronomers have found a planet outside the solar system that might be orbiting backwards compared to its star's rotation, a discovery that could shed light on how unique the ...