Astronomy news

Carbon atmosphere discovered on neutron star

Carbon Atmosphere Discovered on Neutron Star

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (19) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Evidence for a thin veil of carbon has been found on the neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. This discovery, made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, resolves a ten-year ...


High-precision measurements confirm cosmologists' standard view of the universe

Precise picture of early Universe supports 'dark matter' theory

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (17) | comments 9

A detailed picture of the seeds of structures in the universe has been unveiled by an international team co-led by a Cardiff University scientist.


Dark Matter in a Galaxy

Dark Matter in a Galaxy

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 30, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (20) | comments 19

(PhysOrg.com) -- Stars, the most familiar objects in the night sky, make up only a tiny percentage of the total amount of matter in the universe -- about 2%.


Infrared Image of Circumstellar Disk Illuminates Massive Star Formation Process

Infrared Image of Circumstellar Disk Illuminates Massive Star Formation Process

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 24, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 1

(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 ...


Hunting for Planets in the Dark

Hunting for Planets in the Dark

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 5

A proposed space mission that aims to measure dark energy could also detect planets that current surveys are unable to find.


Maps Unveil the Source of Starburst Galaxy's Winds

Maps Unveil the Source of Starburst Galaxy's Winds

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A research group at Kyoto University has discovered that shocks are the primary energy sources that excite the galactic wind region of starburst galaxy NGC 253. Their images of the center ...


Subaru Telescope Spots Strange Spin

Discovery of a Retrograde or Highly Tilted Extrasolar Planet

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 1

Astronomers have found that the extrasolar planet HAT-P-7b has a retrograde or highly tilted orbit. Studying such planets is important in understanding the diversity of planetary systems and assessing current ...


NASA's Wise Gets Ready to Survey the Whole Sky

NASA's Wise Gets Ready to Survey the Whole Sky (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or Wise, is chilled out, sporting a sunshade and getting ready to roll. NASA's newest spacecraft is scheduled to roll to the pad on Friday, Nov. ...


Mysterious X-rays from a Nearby Galaxy

Mysterious X-rays from a Nearby Galaxy

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 13, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (15) | comments 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- The nucleus of an active galaxy, an AGN, contains a massive black hole that is vigorously accreting material. In the process it typically ejects jets of particles and radiates brightly at ...


Research gives new insights into 4 billion year-old meteorites

Research gives new insights into 4 billion year-old meteorites

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have gained new insight into the makeup of ancient meteorites called Carbonaceous Chondrites, in research published in the October edition of the journal Earth Science and Planetary Le ...


Rapid star formation spotted in 'stellar nurseries' of infant galaxies

Rapid star formation spotted in 'stellar nurseries' of infant galaxies

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 11, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (5) | comments 1

The Universe's infant galaxies enjoyed rapid growth spurts forming stars like our sun at a rate of up to 50 stars a year, according to scientists at Durham University.


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 ...


'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 ...


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.


Hubble Image Showcases Star Birth in M83, the Southern Pinwheel

Hubble Image Showcases Star Birth in M83, the Southern Pinwheel

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- The spectacular new camera installed on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope during Servicing Mission 4 in May has delivered the most detailed view of star birth in the graceful, curving arms of ...