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| Astronomy articles |
Moon's escaping gasses expose fresh surface
A fresh look at Apollo-era images combined with recent spectral data leads researchers to re-examine conventional wisdom about the Earth's moon. Several lines of evidence suggest that the moon may have seen eruptions of interior gasses as recently as 1 million years ago, rather than 3 billion years ago – the date that had been most widely accepted.
The milky way shaped life on Earth
Frenzied star-making in the Milky Way Galaxy starting about 2400 million years ago had extraordinary effects on life on Earth. Harvests of bacteria in the sea soared and crashed in a succession of booms and busts, with an instability not seen before or since.
Supercomputer study show milky way's halo of dark matter in unprecedented detail
Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have used NASA's most powerful supercomputer to run the largest simulation to date of the formation and evolution of the dark matter halo that envelopes the Milky Way galaxy.
Dark matter hides, physicists seek
Scientists don't know what dark matter is, but they know it's all over the universe. Everything humans observe in the heavens—galaxies, stars, planets and the rest—makes up only 4 percent of the universe, scientists say. The remaining 96 percent is composed of dark matter and its even more mysterious sibling, dark energy.
Astronomers find first ever gamma ray clock
Astronomers using the H.E.S.S. telescopes have discovered the first ever modulated signal from space in Very High Energy Gamma Rays - the most energetic such signal ever observed. Regular signals from space have been known since the 1960s, when the first radio pulsar (nicknamed Little Green Men-1 for its regular nature) was discovered. This is the first time a signal has been seen at such high energies - 100,000 times higher than previously known - and is reported in the Journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Negative vibes from space
Astronomers have discovered the first negatively charged molecule in space, identifying it from radio signals that were a mystery until now. While about 130 neutral and 14 positively charged molecules are known to exist in interstellar space, this is the first negative molecule, or anion, to be found.
No matter their size black holes feed in the same way
Research by UK astronomers, published in Nature (7th December 2006) reveals that the processes at work in black holes of all sizes are the same and that supermassive black holes are simply scaled up versions of small Galactic black holes.
A giant planet embedded in the magnetosphere of its star
Using the ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter installed on the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope (Mauna Kea, Hawaii), an international team of researchers, led by two French astronomers (C. Catala, LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, and J.F. Donati, LATT, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées), has just discovered a magnetic field on tau Bootis, a star orbited by a giant planet on a close-in orbit: the first ever detection of this kind.
Very high frequency radiation makes dark matter visible
The stars and gas which are seen in galaxies account for only a few percent of the gravitating material in the Universe. Most of the rest has remained stubbornly invisible and is now thought to be made of a new form of matter never yet seen on Earth. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics have discovered, however, that a sufficiently big radio telescope could make a picture of everything that gravitates, rivalling the images made by optical telescopes of everything that shines.
Using computer simulations, astronomers describe predicted present day distribution of elusive first stars
With the help of enormous computer simulations, astronomers have now shown that the first generation of stars – which have never been observed by scientists – should be distributed evenly throughout our galaxy, deepening the long-standing mystery about these missing stellar ancestors. The results are published in the Astrophysical Journal.
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New instrument to probe mars surface for signals of life with unprecedented precision
Future missions to Mars will carry instruments designed to detect biological signals with unprecedented sophistication and the potential to determine once and for all whether life exists or has existed on the Red Planet.
How do multiple-star systems form?
Astronomers have used the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope to image a young, multiple-star system with unprecedented detail, yielding important clues about how such systems are formed.
Universe's oldest objects emerge from the background
The deepest reaches of space are permeated by a cloak of infrared radiation, an uneven energy swath generated by long-dead objects from the early universe.
Comet particles tell a new story about the birth of the solar system
Particulate materials captured from the comet Wild 2 have revealed new clues about the birth of our solar system. The findings counter some basic theories about how the solar nebular is gently collapsing inward to form the sun and the planets.
What causes the plume on enceladus?
Last year, when the Cassini spacecraft discovered an enormous plume erupting on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, scientists speculated that liquid water lay at shallow depths beneath the icy surface. Now, Susan Kieffer, a geology professor and planetary scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Alexandra Navrotsky, interdisciplinary professor at UC Davis, and colleagues have proposed an alternate model to account for this spectacular plume.
Rethinking last century's closest, brightest supernova
Twenty years ago next month, the closest and brightest supernova in four centuries lit up the southern sky, wowing astronomers and the public alike.
Earth's strongest winds wouldn't even be a breeze on these planets
Earth's inhabitants are used to temperatures that vary, sometimes greatly, between day and night. New measurements for three planets outside our solar system indicate their temperatures remain fairly constant -- and blazing hot -- from day to night, even though it is likely one side of each planet always faces its sun and the other is in permanent darkness.
Ornl team discovers new way to spin up pulsars
A team of scientists using Oak Ridge National Laboratory supercomputers has discovered the first plausible explanation for a pulsar's spin that fits the observations made by astronomers.
Superbubble of supernova remnants caught in act of forming
A superbubble in space, caught in the act of forming, can help scientists better understand the life and death of massive stars, say researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Interactive binary stars show signs of induced hyperactivity
Astronomers studying highly energetic binary stars called polars have obtained the first observational evidence that the intense magnetic fields produced by the white dwarf half of the interacting pair can induce flares, sunspots and other explosive activity in its otherwise low-wattage, low-mass partner.
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| Quotes | By convention!
cussed Tom airily.
Cmon Scully... Itll be a nice trip through the woods-Fox Mulder
But what ... is it good for?
Engineer at IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
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