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Updated: 1 year 44 weeks ago
South Pole Telescope To Help Scientists Learn What The Universe Is Made Of And How It Got Here
Just days before nations around the world were set to begin a coordinated global research campaign called the International Polar Year (IPY), scientists at the South Pole aimed a massive new telescope at Jupiter and successfully collected the instrument's first test observations.
Charting Our Health By The Stars?
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grantee Peter Austin and three other researchers have just completed a survey of hospital visits in Ontario, Canada, showing that, compared to people born under other astrological signs, Virgos have an increased risk of vomiting during pregnancy, Pisces have an increased risk of heart failure, and Libras have an increased risk of fracturing their pelvises. In fact, each of the 12 astrological signs had at least two associated medical disorders. The study, which used data from 10,000,000 Ontario residents in 2000, was conducted with tongue firmly in cheek.
Milky Way Black Hole May Be A Colossal 'Particle Accelerator'
The black hole at the center of our Milky Way could be working like a cosmic particle accelerator, revving up protons that smash at incredible speeds into lower energy protons and creating high-energy gamma rays, University of Arizona astrophysicists say.
Categories: News
Celestial Whirligig: Unique Observations Of Comet McNaught Reveal Sprinkling Nucleus
Comet McNaught, the Great Comet of 2007, has been delighting those who have seen it with the unaided eye as a spectacular display in the evening sky. Pushing ESO's New Technology Telescope to its limits, a team of European astronomers have obtained the first, and possibly unique, detailed observations of this object. Their images show spectacular jets of gas from the comet spiralling several thousands of kilometres into space, while the spectra reveal the presence of sodium in its atmosphere, something seen very rarely.
Fresh View Of Nearest Detected Supernova Shows Object Keeps Brightening
Twenty years after the first detection of SN 1987A, the nearest supernova ever detected since the invention of the telescope, XMM-Newton provides a fresh-new view of this object. The source keeps brightening, the X-ray space observatory confirms.
New Engine Helps Satellites Blast Off With Less Fuel
Georgia Tech researchers have a created a new satellite technology that allows satellites to blast off with less fuel, opening the door for deep space missions, lower launch costs and more hardware on board.
Scientist Discovers New Explanation For Pulsar's Spin
A researcher at North Carolina State University has developed a three-dimensional computer model that shows how pulsars obtain their spin, which could lead to a greater understanding of the processes that occur when stars die.
Scientists Make Explosive Discovery About Nature Of Supernovae
North Carolina State University astrophysicists have answered a long-standing question about the nature of one of our galaxy's most famous supernova explosions, discovering a new class of supernova in the process.
X-ray Observatory Reveals A Magnetic Surprise
ESA's X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has revealed evidence for a magnetic field in space where astronomers never expected to find one. The magnetic field surrounds a young star called AB Aurigae and provides a possible solution to a twenty-year-old puzzle.
Coldest Lab In Chicago To Simulate Hot Physics Of Early Universe, Explore Futuristic World Of ...
Cheng Chin will make a vacuum chamber in his laboratory the coldest place in Chicago in order to simulate the impossibly hot conditions that followed the big bang during the earliest moments of the universe. "It turns out that matter at ultralow and ultrahigh temperatures might have something in common," said Chin, an Assistant Professor in Physics at the University of Chicago. Chin's strategy for probing the formative moments of the early universe may also help boost the capability of quantum computers.
Walking Tall: Student Working On Space Suit Redesign For NASA
Space suits for astronauts may get a new and better design following a University of Houston doctoral student's locomotion stability research. Melissa Scott-Pandorf is a fellow of the Texas Space Grant Consortium. Using a weight suspension system and info from hours of lunar moon walk video, she's researching how the space suit can be made more stable for easier movement.
Many Moons: Space Scientists Ponder Which Jupiter Moon Will Reveal The Most
According to William B. McKinnon, professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, the community suffers from an embarrassment of riches, because each of the moons of Jupiter differs in the way that they can reveal more about planets and how they behave. But he thinks it is Europa that clearly commands the most attention.
Cosmic Lighthouses: Astrophysicists Explain Differences In Brightness Of Supernova Explosions
Supernovae stand out in the sky like cosmic lighthouses. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and at the National Astronomical Institute of Italy have now found a way to use these cosmic beacons to measure distances in space more accurately. The researchers have been able to show that all supernovae of a certain type explode with the same mass and the same energy - the brightness depends only on how much nickel the supernova contains. This knowledge has allowed the researchers to calibrate the brightness of supernovae with greater precision.
Categories: News
Spitzer Seeks Out Milky Way Dark Matter
Our Milky Way galaxy is heavier than it looks, and it's not too much ice cream, or cookies, that is responsible for the extra weight -- it's "dark matter." Dark matter is one of the greatest mysteries in modern astronomy. Scientists use the term as an umbrella definition for all the invisible "heavy stuff" in the universe. Now, research is showing that NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope may be able to play an important role in identifying the "invisible" celestial bodies that are weighing our galaxy down.
Jupiter's Moon Europa Should Be NASA's Next Target, Says Researcher
As NASA develops its next "flagship" mission to the outer solar system, Jupiter's enigmatic moon Europa should be the target, says Arizona State University professor Ronald Greeley. Although Europa lies five times farther from the Sun than Earth, he notes it may offer a home for life. He is presenting the Europa proposal today (February 18) at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco.
Universe Offers 'Eternal Feast,' Cosmologist Says
There is no such thing as a free lunch, some say, but they would be wrong. In fact, the entirety of the universe defies them. According to Stanford physics Professor Andrei Linde, one of the architects of the inflationary theory, our universe (and all the matter in it) was born out of a vacuum.
Categories: News
NASA's Spitzer First To Crack Open Light Of Faraway Worlds
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has captured for the first time enough light from planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets, to identify signatures of molecules in their atmospheres. The landmark achievement is a significant step toward being able to detect possible life on rocky exoplanets and comes years before astronomers had anticipated.
NARVAL: First Observatory Dedicated To Stellar Magnetism
CNRS-Insu France in collaboration with the Research Council of Canada and the University of Hawaii have recently installed a stellar spectropolarimeter on the Bernard Lyot Telescope In France.
Here's Comes The Sun: International Heliophysical Year To Examine Sun-Earth Relationship
The International Heliophysical Year has officially begun (Feb. 19, 2007) -- two years dedicated to a better understanding of the how the Sun affects the Earth and the other planets in the Solar system. The Sun produces the solar wind -- a stream of charged particles that blows across the planets of the solar system, including the Earth. While the Earth's magnetic field protects us from most of the effects of the solar wind, we still experience the consequences of massive events on the Sun, both as a threat to satellites and power systems and as the beautiful aurora seen at the poles.
The Sky Through Three Giant Eyes: AMBER Instrument On VLT Delivers A Wealth Of Results
The ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer, which allows astronomers to scrutinise objects with a precision equivalent to that of a 130-m telescope, is proving itself an unequalled success every day. One of the latest instruments installed, AMBER, has led to a flurry of scientific results, an anthology of which is being published this week as special features in the research journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
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
