Space

NGC 253: From Starburst To Star Bust

A new study by astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope have discovered columns of cold, dense gas exiting the disk of nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253, also known as the Silver Dollar Galaxy. NGC 253 is located 1 ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 25 2013 - 12:10pm

Can Human Explorers Keep Mars Clean, For Science?

It would be great to study Mars "on location". You could do as much in a day or two, as our rovers could do in years. But there's a conundrum to face. Humans are host to hundreds of trillions of micro-organisms, and we can't be sterili ...

Blog Post - Robert Walker - Jan 19 2014 - 11:09am

10 Quasars: The Brightest Objects In The Universe Get A Chance To Shine

A team of astrophysicists using results based upon observations of 10 quasars say they have discovered the extent to which quasars and their black holes can influence their galaxies.  ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 25 2013 - 7:30am

How Many Stars Can Form In A Galaxy?

Astronomers have long assumed a kind of cosmic equilibrium: when a galaxy produces too many stars too quickly, it greatly reduces its capacity for producing stars in the future. A group of astronomers were able to obtain the first detailed images of this ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 25 2013 - 12:36pm

HD 52265: Pulsating Star Sheds Light On Exoplanet

Researchers have devised a way to measure the internal properties of stars, a method that offers more accurate assessments of their orbiting planets.  The astronomers examined HD 52265, a star  nearly 20 percent more massive than our Sun  that is approxim ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 31 2013 - 7:24am

HD 189733: An Eclipsing Exoplanet Seen In X-rays For First Time

Exoplanets- planets around stars other than the sun- were discovered almost 20 years ago,but for the first time, X-ray observations have detected an exoplanet passing in front of its parent star. An advantageous alignment of a planet and its parent star i ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 29 2013 - 7:05pm

Capturing Black Hole Spin In NLS1 PG1244+026

Astronomers have found a new way of measuring the spin in supermassive black holes. By viewing optical, ultra-violet and soft x-rays generated by heat as the black hole fed, they were able to measure how far the disc was from the black hole.  ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 31 2013 - 7:26am

The 'Runaway Greenhouse' Overheating Stage- Earth In 1.5 Billion Years

A computer model estimate says it might be easier than previously thought for a planet to overheat into the scorchingly uninhabitable "runaway greenhouse" stage. That may mean some planets thought to be habitable right now actually are not. ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 30 2013 - 8:08pm

How Do Quenched Galaxies Continue To Grow?

When some galaxies stop forming new stars, they become "quenched". Quenched galaxies in the distant past appear to be much smaller than the quenched galaxies in the Universe today, which is something of a science mystery; how can these galaxies ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 1 2013 - 11:03am

Your Weekend Dose Of Awesome: An Elliptical Crater On Mercury

A color image, taken on May 1st, 2013 by the Wide Angle Camera (WAC) instrument aboard NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft orbiting Mercury, features the Hovnatanian crater, named for Armenian painter Hakop Hovnatanian. The crater's elliptical shape and ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 3 2013 - 8:30am