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Messier 101, also known as the Pinwheel galaxy, is a spiral galaxy located about 27 million light-years in the constellation Ursa Major, having a diameter about twice that of the Milky Way and containing vast amounts of high-density hydrogen gas, which gives it a fluffy-looking appearance. According to some estimatio... |
22 July 2008
03:01 GMT |
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Eta Carinae is still viewed by most astronomers as the galaxy's brightest known star, albeit lately a new contender for that title was discovered in the Peony nebula, towards the Milky Way's center. Now, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope pierced through one of the dustiest regions of the galaxy to show ex... |
16 July 2008
02:58 GMT |
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There is no reason why other rocky planets in the universe should not be able to support life, but a considerable amount of time will pass before a planet such as our own is found in the galaxy, mostly because of its relatively small size. So far, a couple of hundred of planets have been discovered by astronomers, or... |
12 July 2008
03:56 GMT |
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Currently, our Milky Way galaxy is thought to produce about 10 new stars every year, close to nothing compared to a newly found distant galaxy that appears to generate approximately 4,000 new stars each year. A small calculation reveals that such a galaxy would require as little as 50 million years to evolve into one... |
11 July 2008
03:33 GMT |
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Although it was theoretically predicted that some of the most massive stars in the universe emit a bright signal in the ultraviolet spectrum just before going 'nova', this is the first time when such a flash of light is observed. Most of the supernova events occurring in the visible universe are usually see... |
13 June 2008
02:52 GMT |
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When it was first discovered in the 1980s the deceptive shape of the object known as G350.1-0.3 indicated that it was most likely a background galaxy. Since nobody ever bothered to study it more closely, the object remained forgotten until recently when observations with ESA XMM-Newton X-ray Space Observatory reveale... |
11 June 2008
05:55 GMT |
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Brown dwarf stars are the coldest class of failed stars in the universe, some of which weighing as little as 3 percent of the mass of the Sun, insufficient to start nuclear fusion reactions in their core, thus being unable to generate their own internal energy. Just like with gas giants, observations regarding the ma... |
3 June 2008
04:18 GMT |
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It is widely believed that every galaxy in the universe hosts a supermassive black hole at its core, with a mass ranging between ten thousand and a few billion times that of the Sun. Marc Sigar from the University of Arkansas claims that with the help of images provided by the Hubble Space Telescope, he and his team ... |
3 June 2008
03:00 GMT |
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If you're still wondering whether or not the 'giant ball of fire' in the sky has special characteristics that enabled the appearance and evolution of life on Earth, you should probably know that the Sun is about as special as several billion other stars in the visible universe. At least that's wh... |
22 May 2008
07:41 GMT |
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On January 9, researchers from Princeton University pointed NASA's Swift satellite in the direction of the NGC 2770 galaxy, hopping to the see afterglow of a supernova explosion known as SN 2007uy, which had occurred only one month before. Instead, the team got a struck of luck and captured a five minute X-ray b... |
22 May 2008
03:38 GMT |
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The universe contains several billions of billions of galaxies, although less than half of the normal matter in the universe makes up for these structures - which leaves us with half of the mass of normal matter missing. University of Colorado researchers reveal that they have found about half of the missing normal m... |
21 May 2008
03:15 GMT |
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Case Western Reserve University researchers using new charge coupled device instrumentation are now able to view deeper and wider in the night sky than previously thought possible. CCDs are highly sensitive light sensors similar to those used by today's digital cameras. The new device was designed and installed ... |
20 May 2008
10:47 GMT |
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Interstellar dust and gas permeates the whole interstellar and intergalactic space, blocking significant amounts of light along the way. But until now, it was unknown exactly how much light was shielded by dust and gas, mostly because most astronomers believe that the effect is irrelevant. New calculations reveal tha... |
16 May 2008
02:40 GMT |
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Only a few decades ago, astronomers weren't even sure if other solar systems aside ours exist in the universe. Since then, a couple of hundreds of solar systems have been discovered, mostly composed of gas giants. When trying to learn about other solar systems, astronomers often make analogies to our own. If our... |
10 May 2008
07:02 GMT |
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How does the ESA prepare for the launch of a new probe? Well, apparently, by taking several pictures of its partner's spacecraft. ESO's La Silla 2.2 meter telescope was recently used by three researchers to photograph NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, orbiting Earth from a distance of 1.5 mi... |
9 May 2008
09:15 GMT |
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While observing galaxies in the early life of the universe, Yale University researchers discovered nine young galaxies presenting unusual high densities of stars. Although measuring only 5,000 light years in diameter, as opposed to the Milky Way which is more than 100,000 light years across, these galaxies contain am... |
29 April 2008
10:09 GMT |
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A comparison between supernova explosions taking place today and those that occurred early in the life of the universe reveals that the latter appear to age slower, as if time was warped somehow. It may look as counterintuitive or even impossible to some of us, but in fact, this is confirmed by the inflation theory, ... |
29 April 2008
02:51 GMT |
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It may seem strange to some of us but, in fact, it is easier to identify a planet as having the characteristics of our own than actually finding a planet with a size comparable to Earth. For example, there are currently about 270 known exo-planets, of which only a handful have rocky surfaces. By studying light scatte... |
26 April 2008
04:25 GMT |
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Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation of Botes and the third brightest star on the night sky after Sirius and Canopus, bearing a visible magnitude of -0.05. It is often regarded as the sixth brightest star, behind Alpha Centauri, Vega and Capella, however it has been shown that Alpha Centauri is a binary ... |
25 April 2008
09:41 GMT |
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Although it is one of the brightest planets in the solar system, Mercury is often referred to as the most difficult planet to spot, mostly because it orbits the Sun so closely. However, the truth is that Mercury is not that hard to locate in the night sky. People living in the northern hemisphere of the planet will h... |
19 April 2008
06:44 GMT |
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Three weeks ago, the Swift satellite detected the brightest gamma-ray burst in the visible universe in a galaxy located more than 7 billion light years away from Earth. It is though that the supernova explosion could have been the result of the collapse of a massive star into a black hole, and that, during the explos... |
12 April 2008
03:47 GMT |
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Brown dwarfs, or failed stars, are stellar bodies with masses 10 to 70 times higher than Jupiter's. Although, like all stars, they have the capability of initiating thermonuclear fusion reactions in their cores, their masses do not permit them to sustain these reactions for a very long time, unlike typical stars... |
11 April 2008
02:53 GMT |
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Previous stellar models showed very clearly that all stars must go through a supernova stage at the end of their lives; however, a new study reveals that supermassive stars may not be able to generate supernova explosions, but they would rather suffer a sudden gravitational collapse to turn into a black hole. But if ... |
7 April 2008
08:57 GMT |
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Previously it was believed that the material inside stars is mixed in a homogeneous and predictable way, bringing matter from deep inside the core to the surface and vice versa. However, predictions don't always turn out the way scientists want to. It now seems that increasing the spin rotation of a star renders... |
5 April 2008
03:39 GMT |
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The technique, named by astronomers astro-comb, uses a detection method relying on measurements related to the radial velocity of the parent star, or wobble, by making observations on the wavelength shifts determined by the gravitational pull of the planet. By doing so, astronomers will be able to detect planets rela... |
3 April 2008
10:38 GMT |
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The Wide Area Search for Planets international collaboration announced that it had found 10 new extra solar planets, by using of robotic camera systems, which survey solar systems other than our own, in the hope of understanding how planets are formed around stars. Astronomers are expected to detail their findings to... |
2 April 2008
04:22 GMT |
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Because light does not travel instantaneously through space, when we look towards distant objects in the universe we actually see them as they appeared in their past. By using this property, astronomers are able to observe how galaxies looked, back in the early days of the universe. Just recently, they discovered wha... |
2 April 2008
02:44 GMT |
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According to new computer simulations, not only rocky moons and planets may have distinctive topographic features such as mountains, but neutron stars may have them as well. The rotational spin around their axis could produce so powerful distortions in the fabric of space-time that they could actually lead to gravita... |
1 April 2008
04:54 GMT |
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NGC 2397 is just another spiral galaxy presenting prominent dust lanes along its arms; older stars in its central regions and newly forming stars in the spiral arms are shown blue in this image. The galaxy is located about 60 million light-years away from Earth, however the Hubble Space Telescope is still able to pro... |
1 April 2008
04:06 GMT |
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Astronomers from the Ohio State University reveal that they have discovered two new star systems which present particularities that associate them to a rare type of supernova. While studying a unique star system 13 million years away from Earth, hidden inside Holmberg IX, a small galaxy orbiting the M81 galaxy, resea... |
1 April 2008
02:48 GMT |
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The star system we talk about is located around a well-studied star known as AB Aurigae. The star is relatively young and surrounded by a disk of material created from a gas and dust cloud that seems to be forming some kind of object inside it, like the gas giant of a brown dwarf star. Co-author of the study, Ben R. ... |
27 March 2008
05:06 GMT |
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Orbiting its parent star from a distance of only 5.6 million kilometers, the HAT-P-7b is only the latest exo-planet discovered in our galaxy and, at the same time, the hottest planet ever found. HAT-P-7b was detected by an array of small telescopes owned by the HATNet project and is located about a thousand light ye... |
24 March 2008
07:36 GMT |
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Stars spend most of their lives burning hydrogen through nuclear fusion reactions to produce the energy required to remain stable as long as possible. By doing so, two hydrogen atoms are fused together to create a single helium atom and a fair amount of energy. However, at some point in time, the star will begin proc... |
21 March 2008
06:47 GMT |
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The most powerful gamma-ray emission ever seen in the universe was detected yesterday by the Swift satellite, and originated from an area of space more than seven thousand times further away than the distance to the Andromeda galaxy. It was probably created by a massive star in the final stages of life that collapsed... |
20 March 2008
11:30 GMT |
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As you have probably noticed in the last few days, planetary formation and new solar system study is getting a lot of attention lately. Especially when talking about organic molecules, water and habitable zones, all of these being considered important factors in the apparition of life. Researchers announce that water... |
19 March 2008
04:59 GMT |
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The Large Magellanic Cloud is a small galaxy in the Local Group only 160,000 light years away from Earth. Recently, NASA's Chandra X-ray Space Observatory discovered a large supernova remnant that contains large amounts of oxygen. The N132D supernova remnant is part of an oxygen-rich remnant and the brightest fe... |
18 March 2008
04:31 GMT |
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How Earth-like planets form around other planets is not quite known yet, albeit astronomers discover with each passing day that planets are forming in other distant star systems. According to a study presented last week, such a planet forming solar system seems to be forming around a series of stars located about 2,4... |
13 March 2008
09:39 GMT |
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It is the closest star system to Earth, located only 4.4 light years away, and best of all, it may also have rocky planets like Earth orbiting around it. Alpha Centauri represents a triple system, composed of two average stars relatively similar to the Sun, and a red dwarf. It is argued whether we will be able to go ... |
13 March 2008
08:06 GMT |
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We know much about stars, but even more to learn about them, otherwise we wouldn't try to replicate them here on Earth, would we? Stellar life, evolution and death are now becoming the points of interest for the European research program, which plans to study about 25 nuclear reactions that take place inside sta... |
13 March 2008
06:00 GMT |
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Planetary nebulae have been first discovered some three centuries ago, but the astronomers of the time, being unable to clearly identify them, named nebulae by attributing them the name of "planetary", mostly because they seemed to have some resemblance to the planet Uranus. In the middle of the 19th century astronom... |
11 March 2008
04:52 GMT |
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In anticipation of the launch of the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, or VISTA, expected to become operational by the middle of the current year, astronomers from the European Organization for Astronomical Research have mapped the content of a dark filament of molecular cloud named Corona Australi... |
7 March 2008
08:54 GMT |
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It would certainly appear so, and considering that our galaxy is filled with at least 200 billion stars, it would be no surprise if one of these rays of death would decide to hit our planet some day. However, the subject of discussion here is a star dubbed WR104, located about 8,000 light years from Earth in the Sagi... |
6 March 2008
03:48 GMT |
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X-ray images of the Kes75 supernova remnant shows it to house what seems to be a rapidly spinning neutron star, commonly known as a pulsar, which could have been created in the outcome of the supernova explosion. Lying at a distance of about 20,000 light years away from Earth, Kes75's pulsar located close to the... |
1 March 2008
04:31 GMT |
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According to new observations conducted with the Chandra X-ray Space Observatory, stars are no longer restricted to form inside the accretion disk of matter of a particular galaxy, but could easily start a star formation process far away if provided with the required amount of material. Such a process is currently ta... |
29 February 2008
09:42 GMT |
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It's no secret now. Planets, stars may vary their magnetic fields so severely that could eventually reverse poles. Magnetic north becomes south and vice versa. Geologic evidences strongly suggest that even our planet could have reversed its poles a number of times in the past. The Sun's magnetic field orien... |
27 February 2008
03:34 GMT |
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Forget about global warming, the ice ages, asteroids or any other impending disaster waiting to happen. Earth will burn! Literally! Astronomers approximate the age of the Sun to a rough 5 billion years and is mostly believed that it will continue to burn hydrogen at least as much time before becoming too unstable to ... |
27 February 2008
02:37 GMT |
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ESA's Very Large Telescope surprised what seems to be a group of three large galaxies engaged into gravitational interactions with each other. The system lies 106 million light years away, in the direction of the Piscis Austrinus constellation, and is formed of NGC 7173, NGC 7174 and NGC 7176. Two of the galaxie... |
14 February 2008
10:42 GMT |
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Similarly to most gas clouds in the universe, Rho Oph is mainly composed of molecular hydrogen gas, in which new stars may form. Rho Ophiuchi is one of the closest star-forming nebula to our solar system, lying only 407 light years away, in a region of space located between the Scorpius and Ophiuchus constellations. ... |
12 February 2008
05:06 GMT |
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Astronomers reveal the mystery behind the BP Piscium star located in the Pisces constellation, an old star that appears to have recently spawned a new star formation process. A new study reveals that the accretion disk of matter spinning around it formed during a stellar collision and merging of two stars. Usually, ... |
9 February 2008
03:50 GMT |
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What do you see when you look upwards on a clear sky night? A few thousands stars maybe, some of the planets in the solar system, and the Moon... Looks kind of empty, doesn't it? The fact is that our galaxy is mostly cold empty space, as much as the universe. Nonetheless, astronomers from the Paul Scherrer Insti... |
8 February 2008
03:10 GMT |
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