Science & Technology - Dec 6, 2010 14:05 - 2 Comments

Red dwarfs increase star total threefold

YALE (US) — Small, dim stars known as red dwarfs are much more prolific than previously thought—so much so that the total number of stars in the universe is likely three times bigger than realized. (more…)

Science & Technology - Nov 3, 2010 16:20 - 1 Comment

Dead quasar ‘illuminates’ black holes

YALE (US) — An object discovered two years ago by an amateur astronomer is revealing surprising clues about the life cycle of black holes. (more…)

Science & Technology - Nov 3, 2010 11:33 - 0 Comments

Galaxy clusters emerge from shadows

RUTGERS (US) — Astrophysicists have discovered 10 new massive galaxy clusters from a large, uniform survey of the southern sky. (more…)

Science & Technology - Sep 17, 2010 10:47 - 0 Comments

Simulations show supernova explode in 3-D

PRINCETON (US)— New simulations created with supercomputers reveal supernovae exploding in 3-D. (more…)

Science & Technology - Sep 9, 2010 16:46 - 0 Comments

Supernova shrapnel found in meteorite

U. CHICAGO (US)—Scientists have identified the microscopic shrapnel of a nearby star that exploded just before or during the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. (more…)

Science & Technology - Aug 12, 2010 15:15 - 5 Comments

Dark-matter search plunges to new depths

U. CHICAGO (US)—Researchers are expecting a bubble chamber more than a mile underground will reveal dark matter’s secret identity. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jul 23, 2010 10:35 - 1 Comment

Intensity mapping shines light on dark energy

CARNEGIE-MELLON (US)—A new tool for tracking large cosmic structures—called intensity mapping—is expected to provide valuable clues about the nature of the “dark energy” believed to constitute nearly three-fourths of the mass and energy of the universe. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jul 22, 2010 10:44 - 1 Comment

Supermassive stars found in nearby galaxy

U. SHEFFIELD (UK)—Astronomers have identified two young star clusters that weigh up to 300 times the mass of the Sun—a figure that doubles the previously accepted limit of solar mass. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jul 13, 2010 13:25 - 0 Comments

Why track Saturn’s ‘propeller moons’?

CORNELL (US)—Researchers have been tracking what are likely dozens of small moons orbiting within the outer edge of Saturn’s A ring—the outermost of the planet’s large, dense rings—searching for new clues about how planets form and grow around stars in young solar systems. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jun 23, 2010 11:47 - 0 Comments

Physicists record Sun’s good vibrations

U. SHEFFIELD (UK)—Solar physicists have recorded the musical sounds created by longitudinal vibrations within the Sun’s atmosphere—and revealed that the sounds are caused by the movement of giant magnetic loops in the solar corona. (more…)

Science & Technology - Mar 16, 2010 11:36 - 6 Comments

Universe’s age: 13.75 billion years

STANFORD (US)—Using entire galaxies as lenses to look at other galaxies, researchers have a newly precise way to measure the size and age of the universe and how rapidly it is expanding, on a par with other techniques. (more…)

Science & Technology - Mar 8, 2010 13:18 - 0 Comments

Mega-tsunamis stoke up solar atmosphere

U. SHEFFIELD (UK)—Physicists from the University of Sheffield are scheduled to reveal their recent discovery of transition region quakes on the Sun. The finding could shed light on solar mega-tsunamis. (more…)

Science & Technology - Mar 5, 2010 12:31 - 1 Comment

Dark matter ‘bump’ detected deep underground

MINNESOTA (US)—Physicists have recorded two interactions of subatomic particles whose signals look like those expected from the dark matter that gives shape to galaxies and forms the bulk of the Universe. (more…)

Science & Technology - Feb 8, 2010 15:05 - 2 Comments

NASA launching tools to forecast solar activity

U. COLORADO (US)—An instrument package set for launch by NASA on Feb. 10 is expected to give scientists a better understanding of the sun’s impact on space weather. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jan 27, 2010 12:23 - 0 Comments

Massive black hole found devouring star

U. SHEFFIELD (UK)—Researchers have detected a stellar-mass black hole much farther away than any other previously known. With a mass of about 20 times that of the Sun, it is the second most massive stellar-mass black hole ever found and is entwined with a star that will soon become a black hole itself. (more…)

Science & Technology - Dec 30, 2009 13:26 - 4 Comments

Putting a lander on Earth’s ‘evil twin’

U. COLORADO (US)—What would it take to land a spacecraft on Venus? NASA has asked a research team at the University of Colorado at Boulder to help answer that question with a detailed, one-year concept study to examine the planet’s surface, climate, and atmosphere—and to predict its ultimate fate in the solar system. (more…)

Science & Technology - Dec 21, 2009 17:14 - 0 Comments

Brown dwarf pair mystifies astronomers

PENN STATE (US)—Two brown dwarf-sized objects orbiting a giant old star show that planets may assemble around stars more quickly and efficiently than anyone thought possible, according to an international team of astronomers. (more…)

Science & Technology - Nov 24, 2009 17:29 - 4 Comments

Massive cocoons cradled earliest black holes

COLORADO (US)—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 being blown away. (more…)

Posts Tagged ‘astrophysics’