CMU professor investigates black holes Aug 31, 2009
She is now a leading light at the school's new McWilliams Center for Cosmology, established with a grant from alumnus Bruce McWilliams, CEO of Tessera Technologies, an electronics miniaturization firm. As she sits here on a planet orbiting one of a million stars in the Milky Way, she knows that the dark energy force that is pushing the galaxies apart eventually may cause the universe to disintegrate in a "big rip, so everything will be ripped apart.". (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Listening for Gravity Waves, Silence Becomes Meaningful Aug 27, 2009
"This is the first time that this type of experiment, directly searching for gravitational waves, has reached the sensitivity that is sufficient to start probing cosmology and early-universe models," Mandic says. LIGO comprises two observatory sites, in Washington State and Louisiana, each of which hosts an L-shaped laser interferometer with four-kilometer-long arms. (Scientific American)
Variability in type Ia supernova Aug 21, 2009
"As we begin the next generation of cosmology experiments, we will want to use type 1a supernovae as very sensitive measures of distance," says lead author Daniel Kasen, a Hubble postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "We know they are not all the same brightness, and we have ways of correcting for that, but we need to know if there are systematic differences that would bias the distance measurements.". (Astronomy Now Online)
Dark Energy From The Ground Up: Make Way For BigBOSS Aug 21, 2009
Beginning in the 1980s, methods for finding Type Ia supernovae on demand were developed by the international Supernova Cosmology Project (SCP), based at Berkeley Lab and headed by Perlmutter, and adopted in 1994 by a rival team, the High-Z Supernova Search Team ... Baryon is cosmology-speak for ordinary matter, and acoustic oscillation is a fancy name for the way galaxies tend to bunch up at roughly 500 million light-year intervals ... One of the most interesting questions in cosmology is the... (Science Daily)
Variability Of Type 1a Supernovae Has Implications For Dark Energy Studies Aug 20, 2009
"As we begin the next generation of cosmology experiments, we will want to use type 1a supernovae as very sensitive measures of distance," said lead author Daniel Kasen, a Hubble postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "We know they are not all the same brightness, and we have ways of correcting for that, but we need to know if there are systematic differences that would bias the distance measurements. So this study explored what causes those differences in brightness.". (Science Daily)
Lack of gravity waves limits cosmology theories Aug 20, 2009
"It's starting to limit some of the exotic models of cosmology.". For example, some models predict the existence of cosmic strings, which are loops in space-time that may have formed in the early universe and gotten stretched to large scales along with the expansion of the universe. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Dark Energy's Demise? New Theory Doesn't Use the Force Aug 19, 2009
Other experts call the attempt to excise dark energy from models of the universe "commendable." But the same scientists note that the new theory could violate a cornerstone of modern cosmology, which would make dark energy's demise very hard for astronomers to accept. Dark Energy Alternative. (National Geographic)
As important as Darwin Aug 17, 2009
He saw sunspots, demonstrating that the sun itself was not the perfect orb demanded by the Greek cosmology that had been adopted by the church ... It is harder, though, to argue that the modern version of cosmology, let alone any hypothetical one which is multiversal rather than universal, has come about for mankind s convenience. (The Economist)
Study Finds Earliest Black Holes Born Starving Aug 16, 2009
"It has been speculated that these first black holes were seeds and accreted huge amounts of matter," said the study's leader Marcelo Alvarez, an astrophysicist at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology in California. "We're just finding out that it could be much more complex than that.". (Fox News)
What Came Before the Big Bang? Aug 14, 2009
It's a theory within a very speculative field of science, cosmology, which is about as speculative as it gets. I'm not saying the Big Bang theory isn't true, but it's a work in progress. (Time.com)
First Black Holes Born Starving Aug 12, 2009
The simulations were carried out by astrophysicists Marcelo Alvarez and Tom Abel of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, jointly located at the Department of Energy s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University, and John Wise, formerly of KIPAC and now of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Several popular theories posit that the first black holes gorged themselves on gas clouds and dust in the early universe, growing into the supersized black holes that... (Science Daily)
First black holes kept to a strict diet, study shows Aug 11, 2009
"During the 200 million years of our simulation, a 100 solar-mass black hole grew by less than one percent of its mass," said Marcelo Alvarez, the study's lead author, at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, located at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, Calif. This simulation, which was performed on a supercomputer at SLAC, is the most detailed to date. (EurekAlert!)
Climate change consensus Aug 9, 2009
Our forefathers firmly believed in "scientific" proof of geocentric cosmology, developed by ancient philosophers Claudius Ptolemeus and Aristotle, maintaining the Earth was the center of the solar system ... He published perhaps the earliest contradiction to geocentric cosmology in 1517 ... Geocentric cosmology continued to languish until the end of the 17th century, when it was snuffed out by an English heretic, Sir Isaac Newton. (Athens Banner-Herald)
Particle collider: World's largest machine Aug 8, 2009
We're exploring the very forefront of physics and cosmology with the Large Hadron Collider because we want to have a window on creation, we want to recreate a tiny piece of Genesis to unlock some of the greatest secrets of the universe. . (India Times)
Using the Moon as a Giant Particle Accelerator Aug 6, 2009
Congratulations, you've just overturned everything we we know about cosmology and physics. And you didn't even need no book lernin to do it. (Newsmax)
Study offers ideas on why tiny galaxies lost stars Aug 5, 2009
"These systems are 'elves' of the early universe, and understanding how they formed is a principal goal of modern cosmology," said study author Elena D'Onghia of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). Previous theories have required that dwarf spheroidals orbit near large galaxies like but this doesn't explain how the dwarfs that have been observed in the outskirts of the "Local Group" of galaxies (which includes the Milky Way) could have formed. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Dancing helps galaxies lose weight! Jul 30, 2009
"These systems are 'elves' of the early universe, and understanding how they formed is a principal goal of modern cosmology," said lead author Elena D'Onghia of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). D'Onghia and her colleagues used computer simulations to examine two scenarios for the formation of dwarf spheroidals. (India Times)
Telescope an astronomical prize Jul 23, 2009
" This is the International Year of Astronomy and 400th anniversary of the invention of the telescope, "which was a milestone for mankind," Kudritzki noted. "Now it's another milestone for astronomy, the largest telescope ever in the history of astronomy with breathtaking science," he said. The TMT began in 2004 led by Caltech and Associated Canadian Universities. Although it was his goal when he became IFA director to bring big telescopes to Hawaii, Kudritzki said the TMT "was a total team... (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
"Kiss-in" Protest Held near Mormon Temple Jul 15, 2009
Mormonism includes a distinctive Mormon cosmology, a unique Plan of Salvation that includes three heavens, and a doctrine of Exaltation which includes the ability of humans to become gods and goddesses in the afterlife ... To really see what Mormonism is all about and to see how it is actually a cult with very little resemblance to Christianity, look up "Mormon cosmology" in wikipedia ... cs4466 July 14, 2009 2:13 PM EDT To really see what Mormonism is all about and to see how it is actually a... (CBS News)
Simulations Illuminate Universe's First Twin Stars Jul 10, 2009
By creating robust simulations of the early universe, astrophysicists Matthew Turk and Tom Abel of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, located at the Department of Energy s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and Brian O'Shea of Michigan State University have gained the most detailed understanding to date of the formation of the first stars. See also. (Science Daily)
Giant Supernovae Farthest Ever Detected Jul 9, 2009
Cooke and other scientists with UCI's Center for Cosmology last year discovered a cluster of galaxies in a very early stage of formation that occurred 11 ... The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and generous donations from Gary McCue to the Center for Cosmology. (Science Daily)
U.S. scientists detect giant supernovae farthest ever Jul 9, 2009
Last year, Cooke and other scientists with UCI's Center for Cosmology discovered a cluster of galaxies that occurred 11. 4 billion years ago, the farthest of its kind ever detected. (Xinhuanet, China)
Potential New Drugs: 970 Million And Still Counting Jul 7, 2009
16, 2007) Researchers at the University of Copenhagen's Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute have brought us one step closer to understanding what the universe is made of. The new data shows that. (Science Daily)
Intense Heat Killed 'Unborn' Galaxies Jul 1, 2009
Our Milky Way galaxy only survived because it was already immersed in a large clump of dark matter which trapped gases inside it, scientists led by Durham University's Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC) found ... The findings will be presented to The Unity of the Universe conference to be held at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, at the University of Portsmouth on Wednesday, July 1 ... Joint lead investigator Professor Carlos Frenk, Director of the Institute for Computational... (Science Daily)
MSNBC Publishes Free Online Abridgment of 'Biocentrism' Jun 17, 2009
Link to exclusive online abridgement 'Biocentrism': How life creates the universe: Authors say cosmology misses the big picture unless it includes biology. About Advanced Cell Technology, Inc.. (PR Newswire)
John Rennie Recollects the Moon Landing Jun 16, 2009
It was both intimidating and exciting to be working at the source of such classic, inspirational articles as Harry J. Jeri-son s 1976 piece on comparative brain size and , Alan H. Guth and Paul J. Steinhardt s 1984 essay on the inflationary theory of cosmology and R. W. Sperry s 1964 description of split-brain studies. After nearly 15 years as editor in chief, I still find it intimidating and exciting. (Scientific American)
Nurturing nonbelief: Parents gather to talk about raising kids without religion May 28, 2009
"No, some matters may turn out to be beyond our abilities due to constraints imposed by nature: consider physics at the Planck length and cosmology before the Big Bang. String (now M) theories are an attempt at getting around this, but we can't build accelerators big enough to really get a handle on what's really true. We hope to get lucky, that's all.Science will say: "I don't really know" when it doesn't know; religion pretends it knows, without any experiments and without really examining the... (Winona Daily News, MN)
Cosmology's Best Standard Candles Get Even Better May 23, 2009
SNfactory member Yannick Copin of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of Lyon (IPNL), who is visiting the Physics Division on an American Astronomical Society Chr;tien Research Grant and who specializes in integral field spectrometry, says, These are the first general cosmology results from the large, full-spectrum sample obtained by SNIFS, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. It shows we can do much more in cosmology with spectral time series than we could ever do before ... Says Aldering,... (Science Daily)
Sci-fi 'Demons' are in the details of antimatter May 21, 2009
Matter and antimatter annihilate each other, so why matter the stuff of stars, planets and people dominates the universe is one of the mysteries of cosmology. In real life, antimatter is found only in lab experiments and when cosmic rays smack into the atmosphere, spitting out brief-lived physics exotica every once in a rare while. (USA Today -- Tech)
NRL part of multi-national team that launches Herschel Space Observatory May 15, 2009
Herschel is the second observatory to be located at L2, after NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) cosmology mission ... Herschel shared the launch with the cosmology mission, Planck, aboard an Ariane 5 ECA rocket. (EurekAlert! -- Business News)
Europe is about to take an astronomical lead over U.S. May 7, 2009
As a result, Europe will hold a scientific and technological lead over the United States in some key areas of cosmology, at least for a while. On Monday, NASA will send a crew of astronauts to install greatly improved instruments on the 18-year-old Hubble Space Telescope. (Fresno Bee -- Local)
Our Universe Could be One of Many May 5, 2009
But it is nonetheless a successful theory that is said to be one of the best ideas in cosmology to come for a long time. How Will Cosmologists Find Signs of a Universe Crash. (Suite101.com)
First Trillionth Of A Second After Big Bang May 4, 2009
31, 2007) In the standard model of cosmology, the early universe underwent a period of fantastic growth. This inflationary phase, after only a trillionth of a second, concluded with a violent conversion of. (Science Daily)
Best-Ever Southern-Sky Galaxy Survey Apr 10, 2009
There is darkness in big bang cosmology. The big bang cosmology features the universe evolving through the Cosmic Dark Ages, dark matter to make the first stars and galaxies, and dark energy accelerating the rate of expansion of the universe ... I wonder if many readers here knew about the Crisis in Cosmology 2: Challenges to Consensus Cosmology and the Quest for a New Picture of the Universe during 7-11 September 2008. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Sorry, But The Science Is Never 'Settled' Apr 9, 2009
An Earth-centered cosmology was first proposed by the Greek philosopher Eudoxus in the fourth century B.C.. Impious Aristarchus. (Investors Business Daily)
Computer Derives Natural Laws From Raw Data Apr 3, 2009
They have tested their method, or algorithm, on simple mechanical systems and believe it could be applied to more complex systems ranging from biology to cosmology and be useful in analyzing the mountains of data generated by modern experiments that use electronic data collection. The research is published in the journal Science (April 3, 2009) by Hod Lipson, Cornell associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and graduate student Michael Schmidt, a specialist in computational... (Science Daily)
Watching the stars with the eye of Galileo Mar 28, 2009
By turning spyglasses like this to the sky 400 years ago and seeing mountains on the moon and satellites whirling around Jupiter in contravention of the Earth-centered cosmology of Aristotle and Ptolemy that had reigned for a thousand years, Galileo overturned the world. Today in Americas. (International Herald Tribune -- Health)
Discovery Explores Universe Mar 27, 2009
This ambitious series explores some of the most fascinating aspects of cosmology and I am pleased to bring these theories to a new audience, Mr. Hawking said in a statement. I hope these visions of the universe will evoke a sense of wonder for everyone, and maybe inspire a new generation of cosmologists. (TVweek.com)
Two Dying Red Supergiants Make A Supernovae Mar 20, 2009
Astronomers have long believed they were exploding stars, but by analysing a series of images, researchers from the Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen and from Queens University, Belfast have proven that two dying red supergiant stars produced supernovae ... Using images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini Observatory, Justyn R. Maund, astrophysicist at the Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen and astrophysicist... (Science Daily)
If galaxies are all moving apart, how can they collide? Mar 19, 2009
Cosmologist Tamara Davis, an associate of the Dark Cosmology Center in Denmark, pulls together an answer ... Cosmologist Tamara Davis, a research fellow at the University of Queensland in Australia and an associate of the Dark Cosmology Center in Denmark, brings together an answer. (Scientific American)
World economic recession won't jeopardize the Square Kilometer Array Feb 27, 2009
"On the science side, the SKA represents an enormous leap in radio astronomy into an area that we have not investigated before," said Professor Malcolm Longair, eminent cosmologist from Cambridge University in the UK. "It will open up a new era in astrophysics and cosmology for all astronomers and has huge potential for new discoveries." Professor Longair went on to say that these great discoveries will be made by young people, because they don't know how difficult these problems are. "They... (EurekAlert! -- Business News)
40-year Mystery Revisited: Newtonian System Mimics 'Baldness' Of Rotating Black Holes Feb 26, 2009
" This will have implications for gravitational-wave astronomy, he says, because the signal from such events may be detectable by the advanced LIGO-VIRGO-GEO network of ground-based laser interferometric detectors or by the proposed space-based LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna). Will, who is also a visiting associate at the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris, is a theoretical physicist whose research interests encompass the observational and astrophysical implications of Einstein's... (Science Daily)
New search mounted for cosmic inflation Feb 25, 2009
A telescope at the South Pole is being fine tuned to search for gravity waves, hypothetical distortions of space-time that, if confirmed to exist, could further validate Einstein and reveal convincing evidence for a big cosmology theory ... At the AAAS meeting, Arizona State University's Lawrence Krauss said he was pessimistic about the potential for cosmology to make new discoveries, based on the expansion of the universe. (MSNBC -- Technology)
After 400 years, Earth still in orbit around sun Feb 24, 2009
"Many countries have drawn their 10-year roadmaps for specific programs. For the last 10 years or so the driving force behind international astronomy has been cosmology, dark matter and dark energy, yet Turkey has made little effort to catch up with the rest of the world.". Funding for astronomical and space science related projects, as well as the new telescopes, remains another obstacle in promoting astronomy in Turkey. (H?rriyet)
Cosmological Simulations Key To Understanding The Universe Feb 23, 2009
Working with machines at Carnegie Mellon's Bruce and Astrid McWilliams Center for Cosmology and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Di Matteo crafts computer simulations to better understand the physics of black holes and the role they play in galaxy formation. The superior computing power available using computers like the Cray XT3 system allow Di Matteo to input the extensive calculations necessary to incorporate black hole physics into such simulations. (Science Daily)
Researchers unveil new model of early universe Feb 18, 2009
Credit: Alvaro Orsi, Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University ... "We are effectively looking back in time and by doing so we hope to learn how galaxies like our own were made and to understand more about dark matter," said lead study author Alvaro Orsi of Durham University's Institute for Computational Cosmology. (MSNBC -- Technology)
You are here: Your microspot in the universe Feb 16, 2009
Just a decade before Galileo aimed his telescope skyward, his countryman, the philosopher Giordano Bruno, had been burned at the stake, at least in part for his heretical views on cosmology. Galileo, too, faced the Inquisition. (Toronto Star)
Simulation targets early cosmos Feb 13, 2009
The simulation has been produced by scientists at Durham University's Institute of Computational Cosmology. "The calculation we've done has predictions for what we should see in a few years' time when the massive telescopes in the Southern Hemisphere are fitted with new instrumentation - cameras and detectors - to observe early epochs, stretching right back to when the Universe was less than a tenth of its present age," said Durham researcher Dr Carlton Baugh. (BBC News -- Science)
Astronomers Unveiling Life's Cosmic Origins Feb 13, 2009
(June 1, 1999) By taking a closer look at two of the lightest elements in the universe, a University of Illinois scientist is helping to solve a mystery that lies at the intersection of cosmology, cosmic rays and. (June 24, 2004) A team of scientists using the National Science Foundation's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) has discovered two new molecules in an interstellar cloud near the center of the Milky Way. (Science Daily)
Why Darwin still matters Feb 13, 2009
Lord Martin Rees is a Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge. He asks if Darwinian evolution is unique to our planet - or if it may have led to other wonderful biospheres across the Universe. (BBC News -- Science)
Long Journeys Feel Shorter for Auto Professional Thanks to TextAloud Text to Speech Feb 12, 2009
Walker discovered TextAloud while searching for something to render some of his books on Astronomy and Cosmology into a voice similar to the computer-simulated voice of Steven Hawking. He found this option with TextAloud -- as well as a wide variety of non-robotic-sounding options that made spoken speech as natural to listen to as a live reading. (Yahoo News -- Press Releases)
Cosmologists 'See' The Cosmic Dawn Feb 12, 2009
11, 2009) The images, produced by scientists at Durham University's Institute for Computational Cosmology, show the "Cosmic Dawn" - the formation of the first big galaxies in the Universe ... Lead author, Alvaro Orsi, a research postgraduate in Durham University's Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC), said: "We are effectively looking back in time and by doing so we hope to learn how galaxies like our own were made and to understand more about dark matter. "The presence of dark matter is... (Science Daily)
Cosmology Researcher to Speak on "Dark" Universe Feb 9, 2009
Habib, who leads the Astrophysics and Cosmology Center at Los Alamos, will speak Tuesday, Feb. 10, on the "twin mysteries" and recent developments in the field of cosmology. The talk, entitled "The Dark Universe Challenge," will take place at 2 p.m. in the Reid Conference Center at NASA Langley. (NASA Watch)
The First Stars in the Universe Feb 7, 2009
According to our current understanding of cosmology, however, the universe was featureless and dark for a long stretch of its early history. The first stars did not appear until perhaps 100 million years after , and nearly a billion years passed before galaxies proliferated across the cosmos. (Scientific American)
