Posts Tagged ‘astrophysics’
Lens method puts dark new galaxy in focus
UC DAVIS (US) — A faint “satellite galaxy” 10 billion light years from Earth is the lowest-mass object ever detected at such a distance, say researchers. Continue…
Monday, February 6, 2012 17:03 - 2 Comments
Science & Technology - Jan 23, 2012 13:53 - 0 Comments
When galaxy clusters collide
UC DAVIS (US) — Researchers have new details about what happens when two clusters of galaxies collide. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jan 13, 2012 12:55 - 5 Comments
Tiny planet triplets orbit dwarf star
CALTECH (US) — Astronomers have discovered the three smallest confirmed planets ever detected outside our solar system. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jan 12, 2012 12:36 - 0 Comments
El Gordo: Big, hot galaxy cluster found
RUTGERS (US) — Astrophysicists have discovered the largest galaxy cluster ever seen in the distant universe, located more than 7 billion light years from Earth. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jan 11, 2012 11:45 - 0 Comments
Hubble spies farthest galaxy cluster yet
U. COLORADO-BOULDER (US) — According to researchers, the most distant cluster of galaxies ever observed in the early universe has been discovered. (more…)
Top Stories - Jan 5, 2012 12:17 - 5 Comments
Computer model explains Titan mystery
CALTECH (US) — A new computer model may explain the mysterious polar lakes, rainstorms, and clouds on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. (more…)
Top Stories - Dec 16, 2011 11:04 - 2 Comments
Supernova fireworks shed light on cosmos
CALTECH (US) — The brightest and closest stellar explosion seen from Earth in 25 years offers the most detailed picture yet of how this kind of explosion happens. (more…)
Science & Technology - Dec 6, 2011 12:27 - 0 Comments
18 Jupiter-like planets orbit massive stars
CALTECH (US) — A team of astronomers have found 18 Jupiter-like planets—the largest collection ever confirmed—in orbit around “retired” stars that are one and a half times more massive than the Sun. (more…)
Science & Technology - Nov 10, 2011 11:48 - 0 Comments
Dwarf galaxies put dark matter to the test
U. MICHIGAN (US) — Two satellite dwarf galaxies found 1.1 million and 600,000 light years from Andromeda, the closest spiral galaxy to Earth, may help reveal the nature of dark matter. (more…)
Science & Technology - Oct 21, 2011 10:49 - 0 Comments
How ‘blue stragglers’ stay forever young
NORTHWESTERN (US) — To maintain their youthful bright appearance, old stars called blue stragglers eat up the outer envelope of giant-star companions, stripping them down to their white dwarf core in a process called mass transfer. (more…)
Science & Technology - Oct 19, 2011 10:58 - 0 Comments
Did massive stars blow away cosmic fog?
U. MICHIGAN (US) — High-energy light from massive stars may have cleared the dense fog that existed between galaxies in the early universe, new research suggests. (more…)
Science & Technology - Oct 13, 2011 12:08 - 1 Comment
‘Super-Earth’ found orbiting Kepler 18
U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US) — A “super-Earth” and two Neptune-sized planets have been discovered orbiting Kepler 18, a star that is 10 percent larger than the Sun with 97 percent of the Sun’s mass. (more…)
Science & Technology - Oct 4, 2011 10:33 - 8 Comments
Solar wind whips up Mercury’s poles
U. MICHIGAN (US) — Sodium and oxygen particles kicked up by a blistering solar wind at Mercury’s poles are the primary components of the planet’s wispy atmosphere, according to data from NASA’s Messenger spacecraft. (more…)
Science & Technology - Oct 3, 2011 9:54 - 0 Comments
Mercury flooded by volcanic gush
BROWN (US) — Vast plains around Mercury’s north pole were created more than 3.5 billion years ago by lava flows that covered 6 percent of the planet’s surface—an area that would cover nearly 60 percent of the continental U.S. (more…)
Science & Technology - Sep 19, 2011 12:09 - 0 Comments
How the Milky Way got its spiral
U. PITTSBURGH (US) — The Milky Way’s spiral arms began forming after an epic collision with the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy, according to supercomputer simulations. (more…)
Science & Technology - Sep 14, 2011 12:07 - 0 Comments
Semiconductors sniff out nuclear weapons
NORTHWESTERN (US) — New materials that can detect hard radiation could lead to a handheld device for spotting nuclear weapons and materials, like those that could be used in a “nuclear bomb in a suitcase.” (more…)
Science & Technology - Sep 12, 2011 11:44 - 0 Comments
Solar flares keep going and going
U. COLORADO-BOULDER (US) — Energy from solar flares is stronger and can last up to five hours longer than previously thought, according to data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. (more…)
Science & Technology - Aug 23, 2011 17:46 - 0 Comments
Snow White’s an icy dwarf (planet)
CALTECH (US) — The red-tinged dwarf planet Snow White, once an environment awash in watery volcanoes, is now an icy world that astronomers believe may be covered by a thin layer of methane. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jul 25, 2011 16:12 - 0 Comments
Gargantuan, farthest water mass found
CALTECH/U. COLORADO (US) — A mass of water vapor in a quasar that is 30 billion trillion miles away is at least 140 trillion times that of all the water in the world’s oceans combined, and 100,000 times more massive than the sun. (more…)
