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Updated: 1 year 44 weeks ago
Old Idea Spawns New Way To Study Dark Matter
Astronomers have examined dark matter in the outer reaches of our galaxy in a new way. For the first time, they were able to employ triangulation -- a method rooted in ancient Greek geometry -- to estimate the location of dark matter and calculate its mass.
Black Holes On The Loose
Two merging black holes can generate gravitational waves so powerful that the merged hole shoots out of its host galaxy at a speed of up to 2,500 miles per second, according to a new simulation.
Screaming Coronal Mass Ejections Warn Of Radiation Storms
Some coronal mass ejections (CMEs) produce violent radiation storms, and some do not. The trick is to identify the ones that can produce dangerous radiation, so that astronauts and satellite operators can be warned ahead of time. Now researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center may have found a way to do just that.
How To Spot The Speediest Black Holes
Astronomers are hunting an elusive target: rogue black holes that have been ejected from the centers of their home galaxies. Some doubted that the quarry could be spotted, since a black hole must be gobbling matter from an accretion disk in order for that matter to shine. And if a black hole is ripped from the core of its home galaxy and sent hurling into the outskirts, the thinking goes, then its accretion disk might be left behind.
'Olympian Galaxy' Near Andromeda Gives Clues To How Galaxies Form
A newly discovered dwarf galaxy in the Local Group has been found to have formed in a region of space far from our own and is falling into our system for the first time in its history, according to new data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory. Astronomers report that the dwarf galaxy, Andromeda XII, marks the best piece of evidence for small galaxies which are just now arriving in our Local Group. The finding provides an important test for simulations of galaxy formation.
Hubble Photographs Grand Design Spiral Galaxy M81
The sharpest image ever taken of the large "grand design" spiral galaxy M81 has just been released. This beautiful galaxy is tilted at an oblique angle on to our line of sight, giving a "birds-eye view" of the spiral structure. The galaxy is similar to our Milky Way, but our favorable view provides a better picture of the typical architecture of spiral galaxies. Though the galaxy is 11.6 million light-years away, NASA Hubble Space Telescope's view is so sharp that it can resolve individual stars, along with open star clusters, globular star clusters, and even glowing regions of fluorescent gas.
Magnetic Field Uses Sound Waves To Ignite Sun's Ring Of Fire
Sound waves escaping the sun's interior create fountains of hot gas that shape and power a thin region of the sun's atmosphere which appears as a ruby red "ring of fire" around the moon during a total solar eclipse, according to new research.
When Galaxies Collide, Our Solar System Will Go For A Ride
For decades, astronomers have known that the Milky Way galaxy is on a collision course with the neighboring Andromeda spiral galaxy. What was unknown until now: the fate of the Sun and our solar system in that melee. New calculations show that the Sun and its planets will be exiled to the outer reaches of the merged galaxy. Moreover, the collision will take place within the Sun's lifetime, before it becomes a burned-out white dwarf star.
Astronomers Discover 28 New Exoplanets And Four Multi-Planet Systems
Astronomers have announced the discovery of 28 new planets outside our solar system, increasing to 236 the total number of known exoplanets. The planets are among 37 new objects -- each orbiting a star, but smaller than a star -- discovered by the teams within the past year. Seven of the 37 are confirmed brown dwarfs, which are failed stars that nevertheless are much more massive than the largest, Jupiter-sized planets. Two others are borderline and could be either large, gas giant planets or small brown dwarfs.
NASA's FUSE Satellite Catches Collision Of Titans
Using NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer satellite and ground-based telescopes, astronomers have determined, for the first time, the properties of a rare, extremely massive, and young binary star system.
Spitzer Nets Thousands Of Galaxies In A Giant Cluster
In just a short amount of time, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has bagged more than a thousand previously unknown dwarf galaxies in a giant cluster of galaxies. Despite their diminutive sizes, dwarf galaxies play a crucial role in cosmic evolution. Astronomers think they were the first galaxies to form, and they provided the building blocks for larger galaxies.
Rocket Motor Test Helps NASA's Shuttle And Ares I
NASA's Space Shuttle Program successfully fired a reusable solid rocket motor Thursday, May 24, at a Utah test facility. The two-minute test provided important information for continued shuttle launches and for development of the rocket that will carry the next human spacecraft to the moon.
Astronomers View First Mutual Event For Uranus: One Satellite Passes In Front Of Another
Astronomers have made the first ever observation of one of the satellites of the planet Uranus passing in front of another. The observation was made on the night of 4th May using the robotic Faulkes Telescope South at Siding Spring Observatory, Australia.
Model Methanogens Provide Clues To Possible Mars Life
Researchers have tested the methane production of three different types of microorganisms in different soil types that resemble those found on Mars to test the possibility of these soils harboring life. Methanogens, such as these, seem to be a potential candidate for what life on Mars might look like -- they produce methane and live in harsh, anaerobic environments, such as the guts of animals, in deep parts of the ocean or in the Earth's crust.
A Gloomy Mars Warms Up
For the past 30 years, NASA scientists have been using high-tech satellite equipment to study features on the face of Mars. It appears a slight change in the planet's surface luster has caused its temperature to rise. To determine the extent of surface changes on Mars, scientists took images from previous satellite missions and mapped them into a climate model. They discovered that a wind-whipped, dusty surface has a measurable effect on the amount of sunlight that is reflected by the planet.
Shine On, Shine On, Climate Monitoring Station: Moon-based Observatories Proposed
Global climate change is driven by an imbalance between incoming energy from the sun and outgoing energy from Earth. Without understanding the climate system's inputs and outputs---its so-called energy budget---it is impossible to tease out the relative contributions of natural and human-induced influences and to predict future climate, according to one at least one geophysicist. He proposes setting up a network of observatories on the moon dedicated to studying climate change on Earth.
Peruvian Citadel Is Site Of Earliest Ancient Solar Observatory In The Americas
Archeologists from Yale and the University of Leicester have identified an ancient solar observatory at Chankillo, Peru, as the oldest in the Americas with alignments covering the entire solar year, according to an article in the March 2 issue of Science.
Cassini Returns Never-before-seen Views Of The Ringed Planet
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured never-before-seen views of Saturn from perspectives high above and below the planet's rings. Over the last several months, the spacecraft has climbed to higher and higher inclinations, providing its cameras with glimpses of the planet and rings that have scientists gushing.
Scientists Rehearse For Foton Mission
Over 60 scientists and technicians have taken up temporary residence in European Space Agency's brand new microgravity science laboratory, where, for the coming days, they will rehearse procedures to prepare experiments for the Foton M3 mission later this year.
NASA Spacecraft Gets Boost From Jupiter For Pluto Encounter
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft successfully completed a flyby of Jupiter early this morning (Feb. 28), using the massive planet's gravity to pick up speed for its 3-billion mile voyage to Pluto and the unexplored Kuiper Belt region beyond.
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
