Hubble Finds Distant Galaxy, Sparks New Mystery
	There's a reason why the Hubble telescope was placed in orbit around Earth, and it's a pretty good one too. The lack of any interference from the planet's atmosphere allows it to see objects that modern ground-based telescopes probably never will – such as a newly discovered galaxy that seems to be filled with star clusters, some of the oldest structures in the visible universe. No sooner was the discovery made than astronom ... [read more >>]
	09 July 2008, 02:54GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Antennae Galaxies Draw Closer to Us
	The Antennae Galaxy is one of the closest and most studied galaxy mergers in the universe. It consists of two gravitationally interacting galaxies dubbed NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 that collided with one another a couple of hundred million years into the past. New observations made by researchers from the European Southern Observatory with the Hubble Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 revealed that in fact the pas ... [read more >>]
	09 May 2008, 11:03GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Prime Time For Star Gazers Tonight
	Unless you haven't noticed yet, the Moon is in a waxing crescent phase since Sunday. On the night of 6 April, the Moon revealed itself in the sky as a 2 percent crescent into the western regions above the horizon. Last night the Moon appeared in a 6 percent crescent phase while rising into a slightly higher position on the night sky. However, tonight the spectacle of light is guaranteed by the Moon's 12 percent crescent ... [read more >>]
	08 April 2008, 04:20GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Mysterious Westerlund 2 Star Cluster Photographed by Chandra
	Westerlund 2 is believed to be the youngest star cluster in the Milky Way, with an estimated age of about one to two million years. Is is located about 20,000 light years away from Earth in the general direction of the Carina constellation. However, not much is known about this cluster due to the fact that it is surrounded by a massive thick dust and gas cloud that prevents optical observations. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observat ... [read more >>]
	24 January 2008, 03:41GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Hubble Observes Mysterious Blue Star Clusters
	Located at about 12 million light years away in the so-called Arp's Loop, the strange stellar structures are wondering alone through intergalactic space, while most stellar clusters are usually included into galaxies or orbit in their vicinity. It seems that these particular clusters have originated from a galactic collision between three known galaxies, more than 200 million years ago, and have masses equivalent to at least ... [read more >>]
	09 January 2008, 03:20GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

White Dwarfs Get Kicked When They Are Born
	New images captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show how white dwarfs are kicked from the place of the original star, when they form. While observing the NGC 6397 globular star cluster, which consists of a dense accumulation of stars, Hubble has spotted a white dwarf traveling at relatively high speed. Most of the time, the stars that gather inside similar star cluster are thought to be massive and to end their lives as white dwa ... [read more >>]
	04 December 2007, 11:24GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Fast Moving Stars Pose a Dilemma
	Observations made on a star cluster, situated only 100 light years from the core of the Milky Way, suggest that this group of stars is rushing towards the center of the galaxy at phenomenal speeds, deepening the mystery related to the most massive body within our galaxy, the supermassive black hole situated at its center. The stellar cluster, also known as the Arches, represents a group of very young stars, which is movin ... [read more >>]
	28 November 2007, 03:00GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Solar Systems Don't Need Stars
	New models regarding the solar system formation argue that certain solar systems might exist without a central star, or might have incredibly small, faint stars. The evidence was found while studying models of miniature versions of the solar system, results suggesting the other existing solar systems would not necessarily need to look like our own. Astronomers discovered the stars are not essential for a solar system to form, ... [read more >>]
	22 November 2007, 07:13GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

New Earths are Forming Elsewhere
	Rocky planets similar to our own could be forming in the Pleiades cluster, astronomers reported on Wednesday. HD 23514, a star within the cluster is surrounded by a number of hot dust particles that could form the building block necessary to build planets. The discovery of the dust cloud, is the first evidence that rocky planets might be forming in the cluster, and solar systems similar to our own might be as common as the stars themselves ... [read more >>]
	15 November 2007, 04:26GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Sun Might Have Formed in a Small Star Cluster
	Stars evolve in the universe in large groups, which astronomers call clusters, from clouds of gas. At the beginning of the universe a few seconds after the Big Bang, molecular hydrogen and helium formed the only known matter to exist. As different temperature variations and 'defects' in the structure of the huge cloud of gas that composed the universe started taking place, large parts of the gas cloud started spinning and collaps ... [read more >>]
	30 October 2007, 05:13GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia