Posts Tagged ‘astronomy’
Science & Technology - Nov 2, 2009 23:27 - 0 Comments
Starburst galaxy emits intense gamma rays
IOWA STATE (US)—A galaxy quickly creating new stars is also a source of high energy gamma rays, according to a recent discovery. Gamma rays are high energy electromagnetic radiation. The rays discovered have a trillion times the energy of visible light. (more…)
Science & Technology - Oct 27, 2009 10:37 - 3 Comments
Cosmic ‘weather’ at edge of solar system
U. CHICAGO (US)—Scientists have published the first comprehensive sky maps revealing a surprising ribbon of energetic neutral atoms at the outer edge of the solar wind bubble surrounding the solar system. (more…)
Science & Technology - Oct 21, 2009 17:05 - 3 Comments
Playing hide and seek with exoplanets
U. COLORADO (US)—A precise “laser ruler” is being developed to look for Earth-like planets around other stars. The device will measure tiny changes in infrared light caused by the gravitational wobble of small, cool stars as they are tugged back and forth by their rocky planets. (more…)
Science & Technology - Oct 20, 2009 11:00 - 0 Comments
Cassini reshapes view of solar system
JOHNS HOPKINS (US)—It turns out that the solar system may look more like a basketball than a comet. Images from one of the sensors on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft suggest that the heliosphere—the region of our sun’s influence—may not have the comet-like shape predicted by existing models. (more…)
Science & Technology - Oct 5, 2009 12:01 - 0 Comments
Model suggests it’s raining rocks on exoplanet
WASHINGTON-ST. LOUIS (US)—An exoplanet discovered last February by the COROT space telescope is close enough to its star that its “day-face” is hot enough to melt rock. Theoretical models suggest the planet has a gaseous-rock atmosphere and boiling oceans on its surface. (more…)
Science & Technology - Sep 30, 2009 12:41 - 1 Comment
‘Beautiful’ stellar jet recreated in lab
U. ROCHESTER (US)—Certain stars stream vast amounts of matter into space, creating some of the most beautiful—and inexplicable—objects in the universe. Now, astrophysicists have replicated the physics of a stellar jet in a laboratory. (more…)
Science & Technology - Sep 29, 2009 11:52 - 0 Comments
Messenger makes final Mercury flyby
U. COLORADO (US)—NASA’s Messenger spacecraft will zip by Mercury for the third and final time today, September 29, cruising within 142 miles of the planet’s surface at more than 100,000 mph. Messenger will take high-resolution color images of the surface terrain before making a clever gravity-assist maneuver that will steer it into orbit around the rocky planet beginning in March 2011. (more…)
Science & Technology - Sep 23, 2009 4:00 - 1 Comment
Watching glass age in slow motion
U. PENN (US)–Despite thousands of years of household and industrial use, certain aspects of glasses have perplexed physicists. Now researchers have found new clues to why the dynamics of glasses get slower and more sluggish as they age. (more…)
Science & Technology - Aug 7, 2009 4:00 - 1 Comment
Stars in early galaxies zoom, zoom, zoom
“We do find stars with comparable speeds in mature galaxies in today’s nearby universe, but those galaxies are typically many tens of thousands of light years across,” says lead researcher Pieter van Dokkum. “Here we have a very small galaxy in the young universe whose stars behave as if they were in a giant galaxy.” (Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Field/STScI)
Science & Technology - Aug 3, 2009 13:51 - 0 Comments
Don’t believe what you hear about Mars
EMORY (US)—“Every year about this time, people say to me, ‘Gee, I hear Mars is going to get really close to the Earth in August, and it will look as big as the moon,’” says astronomer Horace Dale, who has developed a Mars distance calculator that—he hopes—will help “stamp out this rumor.” (more…)
Science & Technology - Jul 31, 2009 15:35 - 0 Comments
Don’t blame comets for Earth’s extinctions
This Hubble picture, taken on July 23, by the new Wide Field Camera 3, is the sharpest visible-light picture taken of the atmospheric debris from a comet or asteroid that collided with Jupiter on July 19. This is Hubble’s first science observation following its repair and upgrade in May. The size of the impactor is estimated to be as large as several football fields. (Credit: NASA, ESA, and H. Hammel/Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo., and the Jupiter Impact Team)
Science & Technology - Jul 29, 2009 14:35 - 0 Comments
Rare ‘Green Pea’ galaxies crank out stars
The Green Peas stuck out because of their small size and green color compared to the more common galaxies—such as the one on bottom right. (Courtesy: Carolin Cardamone and Sloan Digital Sky Survey.)
Science & Technology - Jun 19, 2009 15:41 - 2 Comments
What a view! Shorefront property found on Mars
Reconstructed landscape showing the Shalbatana Lake on Mars as it may have looked roughly 3.4 billion years ago. Data used in reconstruction are from NASA and the European Space Agency. (Credit: G. Di Achille/ University of Colorado)
Science & Technology - Jun 15, 2009 9:49 - 0 Comments
Mars rover finds telltale signs of water in crater
A mosaic of Cape St. Vincent, a promontory in the north wall of Victoria Crater, taken by the Mars rover Opportunity on May 6, 2007. (Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell)
Science & Technology - Jun 10, 2009 6:00 - 1 Comment
Photos capture debris from galactic collisions
STONY BROOK (US)—An international team of astronomers has found and photographed enormous fields of debris floating in deep space—remnants of violent galactic collisions that took place hundreds of millions of years ago. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jun 8, 2009 11:55 - 1 Comment
Seeing blue in search for Earth-like planets
This artist’s impression shows a gas-giant exoplanet transiting across the face of its star. (Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Science & Technology - Jun 5, 2009 10:11 - 0 Comments
The science (fiction) of ‘Angels & Demons’
IOWA STATE (US)—Soeren Prell, a professor at Iowa State University, admits to being amused by some of the high energy physics portrayed in Angels & Demons, the summer thriller starring science, religion, and Tom Hanks. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jun 2, 2009 15:17 - 3 Comments
Asteroids hammering Earth a boon to early life?
Credit: NASA
