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Updated: 1 year 44 weeks ago
Star Count Goes Global
Schoolchildren, families and citizen scientists around the world will gaze skyward after dark from Oct. 20 to Nov. 3, 2008, looking for specific constellations and then sharing their observations through the Internet.
Ghostly Glow Reveals Galaxy Clusters In Collision
Astronomers have detected long wavelength radio emission from a colliding, massive galaxy cluster which, surprisingly, is not detected at the shorter wavelengths typically seen in these objects.
First Gamma-ray-only Pulsar Observation Opens New Window On Stellar Evolution
About three times a second, a 10,000-year-old stellar corpse sweeps a beam of gamma-rays toward Earth. This object, known as a pulsar, is the first one known to "blink" only in gamma rays, and was discovered by the Large Area Telescope onboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
Colossal Black Holes Common In Early Universe, Spectacular Galactic Collision Suggests
Astronomers think that many -- perhaps all -- galaxies in the universe contain massive black holes at their centers. New observations with the Submillimeter Array now suggest that such colossal black holes were common even 12 billion years ago, when the universe was only 1.7 billion years old and galaxies were just beginning to form. The new conclusion comes from the discovery of two distant galaxies, both with black holes at their heart, which are involved in a spectacular collision.
HiRISE Camera Reveals Rare Polar Martian Impact Craters
An odd, solitary hill rising part-way down an eroding slope in Mars' north polar layered terrain may be the remnant of a buried impact crater, suggest scientists who studied the feature in a new, detailed image from the HiRISE camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Earth-like Planets May Be Easier To Find Than Previously Thought: Young Planets Stay Hotter Longer
Hot, young planets may be easier to spot because they stay that way longer than astronomers have thought. A new study shows that newborn Earth-like planets could be easier to find than previously thought.
Quantum Mechanical 'Hurricanes' Form Spontaneously In Super-Cold Gas
Scientists have discovered experimentally that when super-cold gas becomes a Bose-Einstein condensate, it can spontaneously spin up what might be described as quantum mechanical twisters or hurricanes.
Magellanic Group And Its Seven Dwarf Galaxies
Astronomers have proposed a new theory for the formation of dwarf galaxies. Researchers solve several outstanding problems by comparing observed dwarfs to supercomputer simulations of their formation.
Violently Variable Black Holes Probed
Unique observations of the flickering light from the surroundings of two black holes provide new insights into the colossal energy that flows at their hearts. By mapping out how well the variations in visible light match those in X-rays on very short timescales, astronomers have shown that magnetic fields must play a crucial role in the way black holes swallow matter.
NASA's Phoenix Lander Weathers Martian Dust Storm
The Phoenix Lander over the weekend successfully weathered a regional dust storm that temporarily lowered its solar power, and the team is back investigating the Red Planet's northern plains.
New Comet Discovered By Canadian Astronomer
Rob Cardinal was looking for an asteroid, but ended up finding a comet. There is not much known yet about the Cardinal comet. Scientists are trying to determine more information about its orbit, whether its passing by Earth is periodic or whether it will only come by the sun once, which would mean its orbit is parabolic.
Australians To Help Provide 'Live' Video Of Mars Mission
When the Americans eventually send a manned mission to Mars, the whole world will be able to watch "live" television coverage of the event courtesy of Australian know-how.
Targeting Space Debris Using Networks
How to deal with the ever-increasing problem of space debris, poses a major challenge for space agencies, industry and academia around the globe. Now, research suggests a new technique for identifying key pieces of debris that should be targeted for removal from orbit.
Lunar Prospecting Robot To Be Field Tested On Hawaii's Mauna Kea
The cool, rocky slopes of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano that is Hawaii's highest mountain, will serve as a stand-in for the moon as researchers test a robot designed for lunar prospecting.
NASA's Mars Odyssey Shifting Orbit For Extended Mission
The longest-serving of six spacecraft now studying Mars is up to new tricks for a third two-year extension of its mission to examine the most Earthlike of known foreign planets. NASA's Mars Odyssey is altering its orbit to gain even better sensitivity for its infrared mapping of Martian minerals. During the mission extension through September 2010, it will also point its camera with more flexibility than it has ever used before. Odyssey reached Mars in 2001.
Hidden Boundaries Of Sunspots Pump Out Plasma Into Interplanetary Space
Complicated networks of magnetic fields power the sun's atmosphere and create both the beautiful structures and violent explosions that scientists study. Active regions, anchored in sunspots, are areas of the sun where the concentrated magnetic fields that give rise to these phenomena are extremely strong. Measured in ultraviolet or X-ray wavelengths these regions appear bright against the cooler surface.
Giant Cyclones At Saturn's Poles Create A Swirl Of Mystery
New images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal a giant cyclone at Saturn's north pole, and show that a similarly monstrous cyclone churning at Saturn's south pole is powered by Earth-like storm patterns.
New Robotic Repair System Will Fix Ailing Satellites
Researchers are developing a new robotic system to service more than 8,000 satellites now orbiting the Earth, beyond the flight range of ground-based repair operations. Currently, when the high-flying celestial objects malfunction -- or simply run out of fuel -- they become "space junk" cluttering the cosmos.
Space Fly-by Reveals New Insights Into Titan's Life
Cracking the secrets of the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's mysterious moon, and how planetary atmospheres evolve, have come a step closer after evaluation of data from a successful fly-by of its surface by the Cassini spacecraft.
How Dust Rings Point To Exo-Earths With Supercomputer's Help
Supercomputer simulations of dusty disks around sunlike stars show that planets nearly as small as Mars can create patterns that future telescopes may be able to detect. The research points to a new avenue in the search for habitable planets.
About this image
Courtesy of SOHO/EIT consortium. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA. Image has been modified.
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is designed to study the internal structure of the Sun, its extensive outer atmosphere and the origin of the solar wind, the stream of highly ionized gas that blows continuously outward through the Solar System. An uninterrupted view of the Sun is achieved by operating SOHO from a permanent vantage point 1.5 million kilometers sunward of the Earth. SOHO was designed to observe the Sun continuously for at least two years.
- New quasar is the oldest yet
- Closing in on the gamma-ray sky
- Milky Way Black Hole May Be A Colossal 'Particle Accelerator'
- Cosmic Lighthouses: Astrophysicists Explain Differences In Brightness Of Supernova Explosions
- Universe Offers 'Eternal Feast,' Cosmologist Says
- Origin Of Darkest Galaxies In The Universe Elucidated
- Scientists Find High Energy Systems Hidden In 'Gas Cocoon'
- Astronomer Finds Closest Gravitational Lensing Galaxy
- First negatively charged molecule found in space
- Binary star pulsates with high-energy gamma rays
- Active galactic nuclei
- Gamma ray 'clock' found creating antimatter
- Astronomers Find First Ever Gamma Ray Clock
