Space

Beta Pictoris Finally Gets Imaged

Beta Pictoris is one of the best-known examples of stars surrounded by a dusty 'debris' disc.  Only 12 million years old, the 'baby star' Beta Pictoris is located about 70 light-years away towards the constellation Pictor (the Painter) ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 21 2008 - 11:45am

Sweet Alien! Sugar Molecule Discovered In Region G31.41+0.31

Scientists have detected an organic sugar molecule that is directly linked to the origin of life, in a region of our galaxy where habitable planets could exist.  The international team of researchers, including a researcher at University College London (UC ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 25 2008 - 11:59am

WR 25 And Tr16-244: Previously Unseen Mammoth Stars Get The Hubble Treatment

Two of our galaxy's most massive stars, until recently shrouded in mystery, have been viewed by the Hubble Space Telescope, unveiling greater detail than ever before.   The image shows a pair of colossal stars, WR 25 and Tr16-244, located within the o ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 12 2011 - 2:08am

Brown Dwarfs Form Like Stars, Says Research

Astronomers have uncovered strong evidence that brown dwarfs form like stars. Using the Smithsonian's Submillimeter Array (SMA), they detected molecules of carbon monoxide shooting outward from the object known as ISO-Oph 102. Such molecular outflows ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 8 2010 - 6:49pm

Mystery Chemical On Venus Gets A Better Look

New images taken by instruments on board ESA's Venus Express provide a unique insight into the windy atmosphere of our neighbouring planet and reveal that global patterns at the Venus cloud tops are the result of variable temperatures and cloud height ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 6 2008 - 11:26am

Predicted Planet Gets Imaged- For Only The Second Time Ever (The First Was Neptune)

In 2006, astronomer Alice Quillen of the University of Rochester predicted that a planet of a particular size and orbit must lie within the dust of a nearby star. That planet has now been photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope, making it only the secon ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 9 2008 - 3:17pm

Sagittarius A* Black Hole In Our Galaxy Gets Triangulated, Except Using 28 Stars

By watching the motions of 28 stars orbiting the Milky Way's most central region with admirable patience and amazing precision, astronomers have been able to study the supermassive black hole lurking there. It is known as Sagittarius A* (pronounced &q ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 9 2008 - 7:00pm

Wobbly Planets, Velocity And Finding Earth-Like Moons

Moons outside our Solar System with the potential to support life have just become much easier to detect, thanks to research by an astronomer at University College London (UCL). David Kipping has found that such moons can be revealed by looking at wobbles ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 11 2008 - 10:44am

Maine Solar System model: new roadside attraction

The people of Aroostook County, Maine, win my award for most awesome community today. When you construct what is billed as the largest complete three-dimensional scale model of the solar system in the world, the choice is a no-brainer. Doug Bachler, the c ...

Blog Post - Becky Jungbauer - Dec 11 2008 - 12:37pm

Into The Heart Of The Tarantula Nebula

Found in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud, 30 Doradus is one of the largest massive star forming regions close to the Milky Way. Enormous stars in 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula, are producing intense radiation and searing winds of multimi ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 11 2008 - 1:23pm