Rapid Star Formation In Infant Galaxies Nov 11, 2009
Rapid Star Formation Spotted In 'Stellar Nurseries' Of Infant Galaxies ... Rapid Star Formation Spotted In 'Stellar Nurseries' Of Infant Galaxies ... 10, 2009) The Universe's infant galaxies enjoyed rapid growth spurts forming stars like our sun at a rate of up to 50 stars a year, according to scientists at Durham University. (Science Daily)
'Dropouts' Pinpoint Earliest Galaxies Nov 10, 2009
Dropouts' Pinpoint Earliest Galaxies ... Dropouts' Pinpoint Earliest Galaxies ... 9, 2009) Astronomers, conducting the broadest survey to date of galaxies from about 800 million years after the Big Bang, have found 22 early galaxies and confirmed the age of one by its characteristic hydrogen signature at 787 million years post Big Bang. (Science Daily)
Star Birth In The Southern Pinwheel Nov 8, 2009
Hubble Image Showcases Star Birth In M83, The Southern Pinwheel. Hubble Image Showcases Star Birth In M83, The Southern Pinwheel. (Science Daily)
Stripping down to the cosmic skeleton Nov 7, 2009
A previously unknown assembly of galaxies has been detected 6 ... In our cosmic vicinity, stars form in galaxies and galaxies usually form groups and clusters of galaxies ... The most widely accepted cosmological theories predict that matter also clumps on a larger scale in the so-called cosmic web , in which galaxies, embedded in filaments stretching between voids, create a gigantic wispy structure. (Astronomy Now Online)
Space Tourism a Reality by 2012 Nov 7, 2009
Some technologies, still in the concept stage, are even more mind-blowing, including spacecraft powered by "solar sails," which harness solar winds to travel between galaxies a thousand light-years apart. Thousand-year-long flights may seem absurd, but rocket scientists have a solution for that, too. (Fox News)
Frontiers of the future: Is there anybody out there? Nov 7, 2009
There are probably more than 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe. Dwarf galaxies may have ten million stars (like our Sun) while giant galaxies have up to one trillion stars. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
New survey finds 22 of the earliest galaxies Nov 7, 2009
comThis is a composite of false color images of the galaxies found at the early epoch around 800 million years after the Big Bang ... These galaxies are in the Subaru Deep Field ... A new survey has found 22 of the earliest galaxies to form in the universe, confirming the age of one at just 787 million years after the theoretical Big Bang. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Frontiers of the future Nov 7, 2009
What could be common to studying exploding galaxies that are 6 billion light-years away, and trying to manipulate a few atoms into a hole of condensed matter ... This is especially so in research on genetics (each human cell has a DNA strand with three billion base pairs) or cosmology (there are an estimated 80 billion galaxies like our Milky Way in the universe). (India Times, India)
Alien worlds spotted outside Milky Way Nov 6, 2009
Erin Mentuch from the University of Toronto, who analysed 88 remote galaxies using their light output data from the Gemini Deep Deep Survey, discovered alien worlds beyond our own galaxy for the first time. While analysing the data, Mentuch found that the light was emitted from the galaxies when the Universe was between a third and a half its current age - some seven to 10 billion years ago ... According to the research which will be published in The Astrophysics Journal, the galaxies were far... (India Times, India)
Tweak Gravity: What If There Is No Dark Matter? Nov 6, 2009
For instance, galaxies and galactic clusters behave as if they were far more massive than would be expected if they comprised only atoms and molecules, spinning faster than their observable mass would explain ... If the mass of the universe were confined to atoms, the clumping of matter that allowed galaxies to take shape would never have transpired ... By cross-correlating large-scale surveys of galaxies and observations of how galaxies distort background light in a relativistic process known... (Scientific American)
New theory tries to explain missing matter Nov 6, 2009
Catch a blast from the sun, a clash between galaxies and other outer-space highlights from October ... When applied to just galaxies, MOND can predict very well the behavior that astronomers observe ... "If you work only on galaxies then MOND doesn't need any help," he told Space. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Rapid Supernova: New Class Of Exploding Star? Nov 6, 2009
"The Palomar survey will be able to find many rare objects, like SN 2002bj, by scanning huge parts of the sky and not limit itself to the big, bright and nearby galaxies," Poznanski said. Coauthors with Poznanski, Filippenko, Nugent, Ganeshalingam, Leonard, Chornock and Bloom are Rollin C. Thomas, a member of the Computational Cosmology Center, and Weidong Li of UC Berkeley's Department of Astronomy. (Science Daily)
Saturday stargazing at Lawrence Hall of Science Nov 5, 2009
"There is usually at least one planet that is very exciting to see - currently it's Jupiter - along with any number of deep-sky objects such as galaxies, nebulae and some of the more interesting stars.". November offers not only good viewing of Jupiter and the four moons that Galileo discovered - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto - but it's also likely that you'll get to see some spectacular favorites like the Ring Nebula, the Orion Nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy, in addition to star clusters... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Science)
This Week's Sky at a Glance Nov 4, 2009
Both atlases include many hundreds of deep-sky targets galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae to hunt among the stars. Once you get a telescope, to put it to good use you'll need a detailed, large-scale sky atlas (set of charts; the standards are or the smaller ) and good deep-sky guidebooks (such as by Strong and Sinnott, the more detailed and descriptive Night Sky Observer's Guide by Kepple and Sanner, or the classic Burnham's Celestial Handbook). (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Dark Matter And Dark Energy Make Up 95 Percent Of Universe, Detailed Measurements Reveal Nov 4, 2009
Astronomers removed light from closer and better known galaxies and stars from pictures taken with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The remaining images. (Science Daily)
Huge galaxy cluster hints at universe's skeleton Nov 4, 2009
New info may reveal how far-away galaxies were effected by environment. This 3D illustration shows the position of the newfound cluster of galaxies and reveals the extent of this gigantic filament structure ... The galaxies located in the newly discovered structure are shown in red. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Astronomers see 'skeleton' of the universe Nov 4, 2009
SANTIAGO: Astronomers in Chile and Japan have for the first time seen part of the "cosmic web" of galaxies that permeates the known universe in a gigantic assembly some seven billion light-years from Earth ... The assembly of galaxies form filaments "millions of light years long and constitute the skeleton of the universe," it said ... "Galaxies gather around them, and immense galaxy clusters form at their intersections, lurking like giant spiders waiting for more matter to digest," it added. (India Times, India)
Shedding light on the cosmic skeleton Nov 3, 2009
Astronomers have tracked down a gigantic, previously unknown assembly of galaxies located almost seven billion light-years away from us ... "In our cosmic vicinity, stars form in galaxies and galaxies usually form groups and clusters of galaxies. The most widely accepted cosmological theories predict that matter also clumps on a larger scale in the so-called 'cosmic web', in which galaxies, embedded in filaments stretching between voids, create a gigantic wispy structure." ... These filaments... (EurekAlert!)
Origin Of Cosmic Rays: VERITAS Telescopes Help Solve 100-year-old Mystery Nov 3, 2009
Galaxies with high levels of star formation like M82, also known as "starburst" galaxies, have large numbers of supernovae and massive stars. If the theory holds, then starburst galaxies should contain more cosmic rays than normal galaxies ... 2, 2009) Nearby galaxies undergoing a furious pace of star formation also emit lots of gamma rays, say astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. (Science Daily)
NASA's Fermi Telescope Detects Gamma Rays From 'Star Factories' In Other Galaxies Nov 3, 2009
2, 2009) Nearby galaxies undergoing a furious pace of star formation also emit lots of gamma rays, say astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Two so-called "starburst" galaxies, plus a satellite of our own Milky Way galaxy, represent a new category of gamma-ray-emitting objects detected both by Fermi and ground-based observatories ... "Starburst galaxies have not been accessible in gamma rays before," said Fermi team member Seth Digel, a physicist at SLAC National Accelerator... (Science Daily)
GALAXY PICTURE: Cosmic Ray Mystery Solved? Nov 3, 2009
Until now this idea has been hard to test, since we can't trace the Milky Way's cosmic rays and we can't see the cosmic rays trapped inside other galaxies ... So-called starburst galaxies should have more cosmic rays than "normal" galaxies like our Milky Way, according to the theory ... That's because such galaxies have regions of rapid star formation, which give rise to more of the supermassive stars that end their lives in explosions. (National Geographic)
E-Infrastructures Give Real Boost To Virtual Observatories Nov 2, 2009
In the four-day programme, participants applied VO techniques to their own scientific projects, one of which established an efficient workflow for identifying Ultra Luminous X-ray sources and X-ray binary stars in nearby galaxies. There is no doubt that VOs enormously boost the potential for research. (Science Daily)
Aliens invade, disguised as Larry David! Nov 1, 2009
They're from planets in galaxies far, far away, for one thing. Most of us don't even like people from Nevada. (Salon)
Disclosure And First Contanct Oct 31, 2009
There are billions of galaxies, each with billions of star, some of which have planets and moons (and all teeming with intelligent life). So as you can see, the universe is infinitely extensive. (Ghana Web, Ghana)
Fermi caps first year with glimpse at space-time Oct 31, 2009
Amongst the bounty are numerous blazars, distant galaxies whose black holes are directing jets of matter towards us. Fermi has brought the blazar count to over 500. (Astronomy Now Online)
3,000 images combine for Milky Way portrait Oct 31, 2009
"This shows stars 1,000 times fainter than the human eye can see, as well as hundreds of galaxies, star clusters and nebulae," Mellinger said ... Catch a blast from the sun, a clash between galaxies and other outer-space highlights from October. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Balancing use of the radio spectrum Oct 31, 2009
Scientists monitor passive radio-wave emissions from diverse objects such as hurricanes and distant galaxies to study Earth's environment and climate and learn more about the universe. However, the radio spectrum is also used by radiating or "active" services -- ranging from aircraft radars to consumer products such as cellular telephones and wireless Internet -- which can interfere with or drown out the weak signals from these passive natural transmissions used for scientific research. (EurekAlert!)
Distant GRB blueprint of early Universe Oct 31, 2009
The primal cosmic darkness was being pierced by the light of the first stars and the first galaxies were beginning to form. The star that exploded in this event was a member of one of these earliest generations of stars. (Astronomy Now Online)
Scientists See Blast From 13 Billion Years Ago Oct 30, 2009
In this case, the star's death long ago was bright enough to outshine even galaxies and will help scientists understand what happened in the early days of the universe. 2009 Reuters. (Newsmax)
Physicist Makes New High-resolution Panorama Of Milky Way Oct 30, 2009
"This panorama image shows stars 1000 times fainter than the human eye can see, as well as hundreds of galaxies, star clusters and nebulae," Mellinger said. Its high resolution makes the panorama useful for both educational and scientific purposes, he says. (Science Daily)
Dark matter sleuths to design world's largest WIMP catcher Oct 30, 2009
Scientists believe that WIMPs could have been born of the Big Bang, stream through us by the billion every second and provide the mass needed to keep galaxies, including our Milky Way, from flying apart ... That theory was bolstered by NASA's observations of two distant galaxies colliding in 2006 ... Detecting a WIMP would go a long way toward understanding how the universe works and confirm the dark matter theory that unseen matter must exist or galaxies would lack the mass to form, cluster and... (EurekAlert! -- Business News)
Astronomical Artifact: Most Distant Object Yet Detected Carries Clues from Early Universe Oct 29, 2009
"We have very little idea of what galaxies were like at that time. We have only very sketchy ideas.". . (Scientific American)
Blast From Past: Clues About Early Universe Oct 29, 2009
"This explosion provides an unprecedented look at an era when the Universe was very young and also was undergoing drastic changes. The primal cosmic darkness was being pierced by the light of the first stars and the first galaxies were beginning to form. The star that exploded in this event was a member of one of these earliest generations of stars," said Dale Frail of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory ... 25, 2009) Astronomers have discovered more than a hundred dusty galaxies in the... (Science Daily)
An intergalactic race in space and time Oct 29, 2009
General explains gravity and the motion of large objects such as planets, stars and galaxies, whereas quantum-mechanics explains the behaviour of very small things such as atoms. Both theories do well at explaining their respective worlds, but they don t fit together mathematically. (Scientific American)
The strangest moments in space launch history Oct 28, 2009
Catch a blast from the sun, a clash between galaxies and other outer-space highlights from October. more photos. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Dark energy rips cosmos and agencies Oct 28, 2009
The effect was announced in 1998 after astronomers precisely measured the distances to supernovae in other galaxies. But the cause remains baffling. (Scientific American)
How To See a Black Hole Oct 27, 2009
Avery Broderick This is true even for the largest black holes we know the ones that reside at the centers of galaxies. The nearest of these lies some 30,000 light-years away, in the core of the Milky Way. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Night Sky Viewing for November 2009 Oct 27, 2009
Astronomers now know that the two galaxies, the Andromeda and the Milky Way, are drawing together and will eventually collide in about 5 billion years. The copyright of the article Night Sky Viewing for November 2009 in is owned by. (Suite101.com)
Scientists use world's fastest supercomputer to model origins of the unseen universe Oct 27, 2009
The model's basic unit is a particle with a mass of approximately one billion suns (in order to sample galaxies with masses of about a trillion suns), and it includes 64 billion and more of those particles. The model is one of the largest simulations of the distribution of matter in the universe, and aims to look at galaxy-scale mass concentrations above and beyond quantities seen in state-of-the-art sky surveys. (EurekAlert!)
Unknown Force Acting On Dark Matter? Oct 23, 2009
23, 2009) An international team of astronomers have found an unexpected link between mysterious 'dark matter' and the visible stars and gas in galaxies that could revolutionise our current understanding of gravity ... Stars and gas in galaxies move so fast that astronomers have speculated that the gravity from a hypothetical invisible halo of dark matter is needed to keep galaxies together ... Now the team believes that the interactions between dark and ordinary matter could be more important... (Science Daily)
Towards Other Earths: 32 New Exoplanets Found Oct 20, 2009
19, 2009) Today, at an international ESO/CAUP exoplanet conference in Porto, the team who built the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, better known as HARPS, the spectrograph for ESO's 3. 6-metre telescope, reports on the incredible discovery of some 32 new exoplanets, cementing HARPS's position as the world s foremost exoplanet hunter. (Science Daily)
Obituaries in the news Oct 16, 2009
Astronomers call it the Dark Ages, and now they're building huge new radio telescopes with thousands of detectors that they hope will let them peer back into the period, when the first stars and galaxies began turning on their lights. Telescopes, Galileo texts on view at Vatican. (Fresno Bee -- Nation)
Milky Way's Tiny But Tough Galactic Neighbor Oct 15, 2009
The strange shapes of these cosmic misfits help researchers understand how galaxies interact, evolve and occasionally "cannibalize" each other, leaving behind radiant, star-filled scraps ... 6 million light-years, Barnard's Galaxy is a member of the Local Group, the archipelago of galaxies that includes our home, the Milky Way ... Even though Barnard's Galaxy lacks the majestic spiral arms and glowing, central bulge that grace its big galactic neighbours, the Milky Way, the Andromeda and the... (Science Daily)
Strange shapes seen in Milky Ways neighbor Oct 15, 2009
6 million light-years, is a member of the Local Group, an archipelago of galaxies that includes our home, the ... Irregular dwarf galaxies like Barnard's Galaxy get their random, blob-like forms from close encounters with or "digestion" by other galaxies ... When , their gravitational interaction can warp the shapes of the galaxies. (MSNBC -- Technology)
* A looming data glut threatens computer science Oct 14, 2009
For example, Andrew Connolly, an associate professor at the University of Washington, has turned to the high-powered computers to aid his work on the evolution of galaxies. Connolly works with data gathered by large telescopes that inch their way across the sky taking pictures of various objects. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
The Milky Way's tiny but tough galactic neighbor Oct 14, 2009
6 million light-years, Barnard's Galaxy is a member of the Local Group (), the archipelago of galaxies that includes our home, the Milky Way ... Even though Barnard's Galaxy lacks the majestic spiral arms and glowing, central bulge that grace its big galactic neighbours, the Milky Way, the Andromeda and the Triangulum galaxies, this dwarf galaxy has no shortage of stellar splendour and pyrotechnics ... In the Local Group, as elsewhere in the Universe, however, dwarf galaxies outnumber their... (EurekAlert!)
SPACE PHOTOS THIS WEEK: Moon Crash, Galaxy Merger, More Oct 14, 2009
October 13, 2009--If our home galaxy, the Milky Way, got into a tussle with its twin, the result might look like NGC 2623, a pair of colliding galaxies about 250 million light-years away ... The composite image reveals that the galaxies have merged at their cores, but huge clusters of young stars continue to form in the tails of gas and dust that trail what's left of each galaxy. (National Geographic)
Bizarre Galaxy Result Of Cosmic Collision Oct 14, 2009
Bizarre Galaxy Is Result Of Pair Of Spiral Galaxies Smashing Together ... Bizarre Galaxy Is Result Of Pair Of Spiral Galaxies Smashing Together ... 14, 2009) A recent NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image captures what appears to be one very bright and bizarre galaxy, but is actually the result of a pair of spiral galaxies that resemble our own Milky Way smashing together at breakneck speeds. (Science Daily)
> read more Oct 14, 2009
After I'd spent more than an hour straining to see the 14th-magnitude galaxies described in the November Deep-Sky Wonders, I got to unwind with a lovely succession of relatvely easy double stars, the magnificent carbon star TX Piscium (which I often view), and a charming asterism that I never would have stumbled on if Sue hadn't mentioned it. But don't take my word for it. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Einstein's theory of General Relativity may have been flawed Oct 13, 2009
Far-off galaxies are tugging each other more tightly than Einstein's gravity theory predicts, suggests an analysis of light from distant stars. Now available in an online physics paper archive, the by Cornell cosmologist Rachel Bean looks at how galaxies attract one another roughly one billion light-years away ... Light bending less than galaxies under gravity's pull would offer a first real hint about the mysterious "dark energy" pulling galaxies apart at an accelerating rate, say both Bean and... (USA Today -- Tech)
Gravity-mapping satellite to help predict climate Oct 13, 2009
Oct. 13: Dr. J explains the scientific wonders behind two crashing galaxies known as NGC 2623 in a "Hubblecast" from the European Space Agency. Most popular. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Iridium flares light up evening sky Oct 9, 2009
Tonight, the BCC planetarium is proud to present a free lecture on What Lies in the Heart of Galaxies by Dr. Eric Perlman of the Physics and Space Sciences Department, Florida Institute of Technology. October is the premiere of Two Small Pieces of Glass at the BCC planetarium. (Florida Today)
All Eyes on Nobel Physics Prize Oct 6, 2009
- 2006: Americans John C. Mather and George F. Smoot for work examining the infancy of the universe, aiding the understanding of galaxies and stars and increasing support for the Big Bang theory of the beginning of the universe. - 2005: Americans John L. Hall and Roy J. Glauber and German Theodor W. Haensch, for research explaining the behavior of light particles and determining the frequency of light with great precision. (CBS News)
Vampires, Vulcans and Villains Descend Upon the Greek Theatre for Spike TV's 4th Annual 'SCREAM' Oct 6, 2009
NEW YORK, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- As twilight descends upon The Greek Theatre, Spike TV presents "SCREAM 2009," an evening where galaxies collide and genres unite for the ultimate celebration of all things sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comic book. The 4(th) annual "SCREAM" is the first and only global event of its kind to honor and celebrate the hottest films, TV shows, comics, actors, creators, icons and pioneers who have influenced and shaped these genres. (Yahoo! Wire -- Entertainment News)
Balloon probe seeks clues to universes start Oct 6, 2009
If even a single particle of antihelium was discovered, it raises the prospect that entire galaxies of antimatter exist as well. BESS was one of nine suborbital astrophysical research projects selected from 25 proposals for funding. (MSNBC -- Technology)
SARS spurs China to act on AIDS Oct 5, 2009
More than two dozen galaxies of all shapes and sizes show the same ratio of dark matter to normal matter in their central regions current theories can't explain why. Most read. (Yahoo News -- SARS)
On moonless nights, look for the not-so-bright sights among stars Oct 3, 2009
The growth of Los Angeles put an end to Mount Wilson s glory days of determining the distances of galaxies and the expansion rate of the universe. However, its 100-inch telescope, a near-antique from 1917, has been outfitted with a 21st-century imaging system that enables it to see fine detail through Earth s rippling atmosphere, almost as if the atmosphere weren t there. (Boston Globe)
Heart of a galaxy emits gamma rays Oct 3, 2009
Quite a few distant galaxies turn out to be cosmic delivery rooms. Large numbers of massive stars are born in the hearts of these starburst galaxies, and later explode as supernovae ... At a distance of some twelve million light years away, NGC 253 is one our closest spiral galaxies outside the so-called local group of our Milky Way and its companions. (EurekAlert!)
New Kind Of Search For Dark Energy: First Light For BOSS Oct 3, 2009
BOSS's first exposure was made after many nights of clouds and rain in the Sacramento Mountains when spectroscopy was obtained of some 800 galaxies and 200 quasars in the constellation Aquarius ... The same density variations left their mark as the Universe evolved, in the periodic clustering of visible matter in galaxies, quasars, and intergalactic gas, as well as in the clumping of invisible dark matter ... 4 million luminous red galaxies at redshifts up to 0. (Science Daily)
Facebook: 54 Oct 2, 2009
Space is probably infinite, but we can see only the part that contains stars or galaxies whose light has been able to reach us, says Francis Halzen, a professor of physics. AmazingSeptember 4 at 5:05am. (Why Files)
Its fall and a young mans fancy turns to ... Stonehenge? Oct 2, 2009
Paul W. Mailloux is a retired teacher in charge of the Dunn Planetarium at Danvers High School, where the public is invited to learn more about the galaxies on Friday nights at 7 p.m. Tickets are $2. 50. (Danvers Herald, MA)
Seeing stars Oct 2, 2009
5m diameter mirror is the largest ever flown in space Herschel can probe clouds of gas and dust to see stars being born It will investigate how galaxies have evolved through time The mission will end when its helium refrigerant boils off. The telescope was looking towards the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, in the direction of the Southern Cross constellation. (BBC News -- Europe)
James Webb Space Telescope Begins To Take Shape At Goddard Oct 1, 2009
The MIRI instrument will provide information on the formation and evolution of galaxies, the physical processes of star and planet formation, and the sources of life-supporting elements in other solar systems. The NIRCam will detect the first galaxies to form in the early universe, map the morphology and colors of galaxies; detect distant supernovae; map dark matter and study stellar populations in nearby galaxies ... NIRSpec's microshutter cells can be opened or closed to view or block a... (Science Daily)
Galaxies far, far, far away Oct 1, 2009
These new images of distant galaxies come from the newly installed Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope. Clockwise from top left: NGC 6302, a butterfly-shaped nebula surrounding a dying star; a group of galaxies called Stephan's Quintet; a star-forming region in the Carina Nebula; a group of 100,000 stars residing in the crowded core of Omega Centauri, a giant globular cluster ... New pictures taken by a telescope in space show ancient galaxies that blow those numbers away. (Science News for Kids)
Speeding galaxies warped by space winds Oct 1, 2009
Hubble shows how galaxies get bent when they zoom at 6 million mph ... A new set of images from the Hubble Space Telescope, taken before its recent overhaul by astronauts, has revealed strong winds ripping through a pair of galaxies, distorting their shape and halting star formation ... The galaxies, members of the Virgo Cluster, are being affected by a process called "ram pressure stripping." As galaxies in the cluster move through hot gas lurking in the gaps between them, winds caused by their... (MSNBC -- Technology)
