Science & Technology - Jun 19, 2009 15:41 - 2 Comments

What a view! Shorefront property found on Mars

U. COLORADO (US)—The discovery of the first evidence of shorelines on Mars indicates the presence of a deep ancient lake and past life on the Red Planet, say researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jun 15, 2009 9:49 - 0 Comments

Mars rover finds telltale signs of water in crater

CORNELL (US)—The two-year exploration of Victoria Crater by the Mars rover Opportunity points to the red planet’s windy past and supports previous findings that water once flowed there. (more…)

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

U. WASHINGTON (US)—Using instruments aboard NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft, a team of astronomers and astrobiologists has devised a technique to tell whether Earth-like exoplanets harbor liquid water, which in turn could tell whether they might support life. (more…)

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?

U. COLORADO (US)—The bombardment of Earth nearly 4 billion years ago by asteroids as large as Kansas would not have had the firepower to extinguish potential early life on the planet and may even have given it a boost, says a new University of Colorado at Boulder study. (more…)

Science & Technology - May 26, 2009 16:02 - 0 Comments

Zeroing in on supernova distance

YALE (US)—A new technique for accurately measuring the distances to supernovae may help scientists test predictions about the history of dark energy and its behavior in the early universe. (more…)

Science & Technology - May 26, 2009 11:06 - 0 Comments

Nature caught ‘recycling’ a star

MCGILL (Canada)—For the first time, researchers have observed the rare rebirth of an ordinary, slow-rotating pulsar into a superfast millisecond pulsar with an almost infinite lifespan. (more…)

Science & Technology - May 19, 2009 11:48 - 0 Comments

Catching gravity waves from the big bang

U. CHICAGO (US)—A tiny fraction of a second following the big bang, the universe allegedly experienced remarkable growth, with space expanding faster than the speed of light. A University of Chicago team is hoping to prove the theory by detecting remnants of radiation emitted at that early moment, when gravity waves rippled through the very fabric of space-time itself. (more…)

Science & Technology - May 11, 2009 11:58 - 0 Comments

Dark energy model suggests frozen universe

VANDERBILT (US)—Imagine a time when the entire universe froze. According to a new model for dark energy, that is essentially what happened about 11.5 billion years ago, when the universe was a quarter of the size it is today. (more…)

Science & Technology - May 6, 2009 10:32 - 0 Comments

Searching space for clues to life on Earth

U. MICHIGAN (US)—In a mission to learn more about how life formed on Earth—and how organic molecules form in space—astronomers will use the Herschel Space Observatory, scheduled to launch May 6, to study the chemistry of warm gas and dust clouds around young stars. (more…)

Science & Technology - Apr 29, 2009 15:52 - 1 Comment

Missing planets? Signs point to killer stars

U. WASHINGTON (US)—Astronomers during the past two decades have found hundreds of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. They might have found more, except some of the planets appear to be missing. New research suggests stars—and their gravitational tug—may be to blame. (more…)

Science & Technology - Apr 3, 2009 10:52 - 0 Comments

80 telescopes. 24 hours. One world.

U. CHICAGO (US)—“Around the World in 80 Telescopes” is a live 24-hour webcast, following night and day around the globe to some of the most advanced observatories both on and off the planet. The webcasts start Friday, April 3, in Hawaii, then move around the world. (more…)

Science & Technology - Mar 16, 2009 13:11 - 5 Comments

Cosmic-ray ‘hot spots’ point to mystery source

NYU (US)—Physicists have observed for the first time two distinct “hot spots” that appear to be showering Earth with an excess of cosmic rays. The discovery calls into question nearly a century of understanding about galactic magnetic fields near our solar system, and suggests the possibility that an unknown source or magnetic effect could be responsible. (more…)

Science & Technology - Mar 11, 2009 14:16 - 0 Comments

Fermi telescope captures ‘whopper’ gamma-ray burst

STANFORD (US)—Just months after its launch, the Fermi gamma-ray telescope has revealed the most massive gamma-ray blast ever detected, painting a new picture of our high-energy universe. The mind-boggling blast exceeded the power of nearly 9,000 ordinary supernovae. (more…)

Science & Technology - Mar 11, 2009 13:40 - 0 Comments

From Hawaii to the dark corners of space

PRINCETON (US)—The isolated peak of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano in Hawaii, is home-base for a team of international scientists with sights set on deep space. (more…)

Science & Technology - Mar 9, 2009 19:07 - 0 Comments

Citizen sky gazers help put galaxies in their place

YALE (US)—How do you entice hundreds of thousands of people to volunteer their time to sort images of galaxies? For a few astronomers, the answer was as simple as build it and they will come.

Posts Tagged ‘astronomy’