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Watching a cannibal galaxy dine
A new technique using near-infrared images, obtained with ESO's 3.58-metre New Technology Telescope (NTT), allows astronomers to see through the opaque dust lanes of the giant cannibal galaxy Centaurus A, unveiling its "last meal" in unprecedented detail -- a smaller spiral galaxy, currently twisted and warped. This amazing image also shows thousands of star clusters, strewn like glittering gems, churning inside Centaurus A.
[Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST]
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Large Hadron Collider: Beams are back on at world's most powerful particle accelerator
Particle beams are once again zooming around the world's most powerful particle accelerator -- the Large Hadron Collider -- located at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. After more than one year of repairs, the LHC is now back on track to create high-energy particle collisions that may yield extraordinary insights into the nature of the physical universe.
[Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST]
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Spiral Galaxies: Exploring the baffling boxy bulge
Just as many people are surprised to find themselves packing on unexplained weight around the middle, astronomers find the evolution of bulges in the centers of spiral galaxies puzzling. A recent NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 4710 is part of a survey that astronomers have conducted to learn more about the formation of bulges, which are a substantial component of most spiral galaxies.
[Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST]
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'Vampire star': Ticking stellar time bomb identified
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope and its ability to obtain images as sharp as if taken from space, astronomers have made the first time-lapse movie of a rather unusual shell ejected by a "vampire star." This enabled astronomers to determine the distance and intrinsic brightness of the outbursting object. It appears that this double star system is a prime candidate to be one of the long-sought progenitors of the exploding stars known as Type Ia supernovae, critical for studies of dark energy.
[Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST]
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Close-up movie shows hidden details in the birth of super-suns
A new high-resolution time-lapse movie reveals the process of massive star formation with radio images a thousand times sharper and more detailed than any previously obtained. The movie shows that massive stars form like their smaller siblings, with disk accretion and magnetic fields playing crucial roles.
[Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST]
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Lightning strike in Africa helps take pulse of Sun
Scientists have developed a more definitive and reliable tool for measuring the Sun's rotation when sunspots aren't visible ---- and even when they are -- based on observations of common lightning strikes on Earth.
[Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST]
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'Doomsday' 2012 prediction explained: Mayan calendar was cyclical
Contrary to what the latest Hollywood blockbuster movie would suggest, the world will NOT end on Dec. 21, 2012, according to astronomers. The Mayan calendar was designed to be cyclical, so the fact that the long count comes to an end in December 2012 is really of no consequence. Simply, it is the end of great calendar cycle in Mayan society, much like our modern society celebrated the new Millennium.
[Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST]
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Bubbling ball of gas: SUNRISE telescope delivers spectacular pictures of Sun's surface
The Sun is a bubbling mass. Packages of gas rise and sink, lending the sun its grainy surface structure, its granulation. Dark spots appear and disappear, clouds of matter dart up -- and behind the whole thing are the magnetic fields, the engines of it all. The SUNRISE balloon-borne telescope has now delivered images that show the complex interplay on the solar surface to a level of detail never before achieved.
[Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:00:00 EST]
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Rosetta bound for outer solar system after final Earth swingby
This morning, mission controllers confirmed that ESA's comet chaser Rosetta had swung by Earth at 8:45 CET as planned, skimming past our planet to pick up a gravitational boost for an epic journey to rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014.
[Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST]
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New experiment could reveal make-up of the universe
Scientists in England are constructing highly sensitive detectors as part of an international project to understand the elements that make up the universe.
[Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST]
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LCROSS impact analysis indicates water on Moon
The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water. Preliminary data from the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, indicates that the mission successfully uncovered water during the Oct. 9, 2009 impacts into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus cater near the moon's south pole.
[Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST]
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Nanotech in space: New experiment to weather the trials of orbit
Novel nanomaterials are scheduled to blast off into orbit on November 16 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. The project seeks to test the performance of the new nanocomposites in orbit. The materials will be mounted to the International Space Station's outer hull and exposed to the rigors of space.
[Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST]
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Two Earth-sized bodies with oxygen-rich atmospheres found, but they're stars not planets
Astrophysicists have discovered two earth sized bodies with oxygen rich atmospheres; however, there is a bit of a disappointing snag for anyone looking for a potential home for alien life, or even a future home for ourselves, as they are not planets but are actually two unusual white dwarf stars.
[Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST]
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Professor to predict weather on Mars
Is there such a thing as "weather" on Mars? There are some doubts, considering the planet's atmosphere is only 1 percent as dense as that of the Earth. Mars, however, definitely has clouds, drastically low temperatures and out-of-this-world dust storms. A professor of atmospheric sciences now hopes to analyze and forecast Martian weather.
[Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST]
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ESA spacecraft may help unravel cosmic mystery
When Europe's comet chaser Rosetta swings by Earth on Nov. 13 for a critical gravity assist, tracking data will be collected to precisely measure the satellite's change in orbital energy. The results could help unravel a cosmic mystery that has stumped scientists for two decades.
[Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:00:00 EST]
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Rapid star formation spotted in 'stellar nurseries' of infant galaxies
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.
[Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST]
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Butterfly payload to launch Nov. 16 on space shuttle
When NASA's space shuttle Atlantis launches for the International Space Station on Nov. 16 it will carry a butterfly experiment that will be monitored by thousands of K-12 students across the nation.
[Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST]
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Exoplanets Clue To Sun's Curious Chemistry
A ground-breaking census of 500 stars, 70 of which are known to host planets, has successfully linked the long-standing "lithium mystery" observed in the Sun to the presence of planetary systems. Using ESO's successful HARPS spectrograph, a team of astronomers has found that sun-like stars that host planets have destroyed their lithium much more efficiently than "planet-free" stars.
[Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST]
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Small Asteroid 2009 VA Whizzes By Earth
A newly discovered asteroid designated 2009 VA, which is only about 7 meters in size, passed about 2 Earth radii (14,000 km) from Earth's surface Nov. 6 at around 16:30 EST. This is the third-closest known (non-impacting) Earth approach on record for a cataloged asteroid.
[Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST]
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Are Earth's Oceans Made Of Extraterrestrial Material?
Contrary to preconceived notions, the atmosphere and the oceans were perhaps not formed from vapors emitted during intense volcanism at the dawning of our planet. Scientists now suggest that water was not part of the Earth's initial inventory but stems from the turbulence caused in the outer solar system by giant planets. Ice-covered asteroids thus reached the Earth around one hundred million years after the birth of the planets.
[Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST]
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Laser-plasma Accelerators Ride On Einstein's Shoulders
Using Einstein's theory of special relativity to speedup computer simulations, scientists have designed laser-plasma accelerators with energies of 10 billion electron volts (GeV) and beyond. These systems, which have not been simulated in detail until now, could in the future serve as a compact new technology for particle colliders and energetic light sources.
[Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST]
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Seeing Stars, Proba-2 Platform Passes Its First Health Check
Into its second week in orbit, Proba-2's spacecraft platform has proven to be in excellent health. This leaves the way clear for commissioning the many new technology payloads aboard the mini-satellite, among the smallest ever flown by ESA.
[Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST]
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Middleweight Black Hole: Swift, XMM-Newton Satellites Tune Into X-ray Source
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 find that an X-ray source in galaxy NGC 5408 represents one of the best cases for a middleweight black hole to date.
[Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST]
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Sees Channels From Hale Crater
A new image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows channels to the southeast of Hale crater on southern Mars. Taken by the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, this view covers an area about 3 kilometers (2 miles) wide.
[Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST]
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MESSENGER Spacecraft Reveals More Hidden Territory On Mercury
A NASA spacecraft gliding over the battered surface of Mercury for the second time this year has revealed more previously unseen real estate on the innermost planet. The probe also has produced several science firsts and is returning hundreds of new photos and measurements of the planet's surface, atmosphere and magnetic field.
[Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST]
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Cassini Makes Successful Flight Through Plume Of Saturn's Moon Enceladus
The Cassini spacecraft has weathered the Monday, Nov. 2, flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus in good health and has been sending images and data of the encounter back to Earth. Cassini had approached Enceladus more closely before, but this passage took the spacecraft on its deepest plunge yet through the heart of the plume shooting out from the south polar region. Scientists are eagerly sifting through the results.
[Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:00:00 EST]
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Climate Studies To Benefit From 12 Years Of Satellite Aerosol Data
Aerosols, very small particles suspended in the air, play an important role in the global climate balance and in regulating climate change. They are one of the greatest sources of uncertainty in climate change models. ESA's GlobAerosol project has been making the most of European satellite capabilities to monitor them.
[Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST]
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Frost-Covered Phoenix Lander Seen In Winter Images From Mars
Winter images of NASA's Phoenix Lander showing the lander shrouded in dry-ice frost on Mars have been captured with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE camera, aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
[Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST]
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'Dropouts' Pinpoint Earliest Galaxies
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 at 787 million years post Big Bang. The finding is the first age-confirmation of a so-called dropout galaxy at that distant time and pinpoints when an era called the reionization epoch likely began.
[Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST]
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Unsettled Youth: Spitzer Observes A Chaotic Planetary System
Before our planets found their way to the stable orbits they circle in today, they wiggled and jostled about like unsettled children. Now, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found a young star with evidence for the same kind of orbital hyperactivity. Young planets circling the star are thought to be disturbing smaller comet-like bodies, causing them to collide and kick up a huge halo of dust.
[Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST]
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Hubble Image Showcases Star Birth In M83, The Southern Pinwheel
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 the nearby spiral galaxy M83. Nicknamed the Southern Pinwheel, M83 is undergoing more rapid star formation than our own Milky Way galaxy, especially in its nucleus.
[Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST]
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Rapid Supernova Could Be New Class Of Exploding Star
Astronomers were looking through seven-year-old data when they chanced upon a very strange supernova that flashed and was gone in less than a month, when 3-4 months is typical. The unusually rapid supernova appears to match the predicted behavior of a thermonuclear explosion on a white dwarf that is drawing helium from its binary companion. This mechanism is quite different from the two standard types of supernovae.
[Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST]
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The CoRoT Satellite : 3 More Years To Hunt For Planets And To Listen To The Music Of Stars
The operations of the CoRoT mission has been extended for three additional years, until 31 March 2013.
[Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST]
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Carbon Atmosphere Discovered On Neutron Star
Evidence for a thin veil of carbon has been found on the neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. This discovery resolves a ten-year mystery surrounding this object. In Earth's time frame, the estimated age of the neutron star in Cas A is only several hundred years, making it about ten times younger than other neutron stars with detected surface emission. Therefore, the Cas A neutron star gives a unique window into the early life of a cooling neutron star.
[Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST]
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Shedding Light On The Cosmic Skeleton
Astronomers have tracked down a gigantic, previously unknown assembly of galaxies located almost seven billion light-years away from us. The discovery, made possible by combining two of the most powerful ground-based telescopes in the world, is the first observation of such a prominent galaxy structure in the distant Universe, providing further insight into the cosmic web and how it formed.
[Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST]
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Dark Matter And Dark Energy Make Up 95 Percent Of Universe, Detailed Measurements Reveal
A detailed picture of the seeds of structures in the universe has been unveiled. These measurements put limits on proposed alternatives to the standard model of cosmology and provide further support for the standard cosmological model, confirming that dark matter and dark energy make up 95 percent of everything in existence.
[Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST]
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Adapting Space-industry Technology To Treat Breast Cancer
Researchers are collaborating on a study to determine if an imaging technique used by NASA to inspect the space shuttle can be used to predict tissue damage often experienced by breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. The study is examining the utility of three-dimensional thermal tomography in radiation oncology.
[Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST]
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Origin Of Cosmic Rays: VERITAS Telescopes Help Solve 100-year-old Mystery
Nearly 100 years ago, scientists detected the first signs of cosmic rays -- subatomic particles that zip through space at nearly the speed of light. The most energetic cosmic rays hit with the punch of a 98-mph fastball, even though they are smaller than an atom. Astronomers questioned what force could accelerate particles to such a speed. New evidence from the VERITAS telescopes shows that cosmic rays likely are powered by exploding stars and stellar "winds."
[Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:00:00 EST]
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Navy Sensor Provides Critical Space Weather Observations
Launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., aboard an United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle, Oct. 18, 2009, the Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb Imager (SSULI) developed by the Naval Research Laboratory offers a first of its kind technique for remote sensing of the ionosphere and thermosphere from space.
[Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST]
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'Ultra-primitive' Particles Found In Comet Dust
Dust samples collected from the stratosphere have yielded an unexpectedly rich trove of relics from the ancient cosmos, scientists report. The dust includes presolar grains and material from interstellar molecular clouds. This "ultra-primitive" material likely wafted into the atmosphere after the Earth passed through the trail of an Earth-crossing comet in 2003, giving scientists a rare opportunity to study cometary dust in the laboratory.
[Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST]
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NASA's Fermi Telescope Detects Gamma Rays From 'Star Factories' In Other Galaxies
Nearby galaxies undergoing a furious pace of star formation also emit lots of gamma rays, say astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Two so-called "starburst" galaxies, plus a satellite of our own Milky Way galaxy, represent a new category of gamma-ray-emitting objects detected both by Fermi and ground-based observatories.
[Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST]
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Amnesia-Like Behavior Returns On Mars Rover Spirit
Until Oct. 24, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover had gone more than six months without an episode of amnesia-like symptoms like those that appeared on four occasions earlier this year. In these amnesia events, Spirit fails to record data from the day's activities onto the type of computer memory -- non-volatile "flash" memory -- that can retain the data when the rover powers down for its energy-conserving periods of "sleep."
[Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST]
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Solar Winds Triggered By Magnetic Fields
Solar wind generated by the sun is probably driven by a process involving powerful magnetic fields, according to a new study led by researchers based on the latest observations from the Hinode satellite.
[Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST]
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E-Infrastructures Give Real Boost To Virtual Observatories
New tools and systems developed by European researchers are helping astronomers access data centres from anywhere in the world. From charting new stars to finding new meaning in old stellar objects, the result will be virtual observatories with very real impact.
[Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:00:00 EST]
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Opening Up A Colorful Cosmic Jewel Box
The combination of images taken by three exceptional telescopes, the ESO Very Large Telescope on Cerro Paranal, the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at ESO's La Silla observatory and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, has allowed the stunning Jewel Box star cluster to be seen in a whole new light.
[Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:00:00 EDT]
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Exploring The Final Frontier: Disease Proposed As Major Barrier To Mars And Beyond
Scientists argue that human missions to Mars, as well as all other long-term space flights might be compromised by microbial hitchhikers, such as bacteria. That's because long-term space travel packs a one-two punch to astronauts: first it appears to weaken their immune systems; and second, it increases the virulence and growth of microbes.
[Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EDT]
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New Celestial Map Gives Directions For GPS
Many of us have been rescued from unfamiliar territory by directions from a Global Positioning System navigator. GPS satellites send signals to a receiver in your GPS navigator, which calculates your position based on the location of the satellites and your distance from them. The distance is determined by how long it took the signals from various satellites to reach your receiver.
[Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EDT]
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Soil Moisture And Ocean Salinity Satellite Ready For Launch
A new European Earth observation satellite will be launched in the early hours of Monday November 2 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. The European Space Agency Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite will measure moisture levels in the Earth's soils and the saltiness of the world's oceans from space for the very first time.
[Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EDT]
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