updated Fri. September 20, 2024
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Phys.Org
April 27, 2018
As astronomers search for potentially habitable planets around other stars, the EU-funded SPECULOOS project's focus on the smallest and dimmest neighbouring stars has a purpose. The size and faintness of these ultra-cool dwarf stars make them ideal for studying their orbiting planets with theÃâà...
Space Daily
April 27, 2018
Artificial intelligence is giving scientists new hope for studying the habitability of planets, in a study from astronomers Chris Lam and David Kipping. Their work looks at so-called 'Tatooines,' and uses machine learning techniques to calculate how likely such planets are to survive into stable orbits. The studyÃâà...
Universe Today
April 27, 2018
One reason we may never have witnessed a meteor impact on Jupiter is, astronomers (both professional and amateur) never thought to look for them. The big wake-up call was the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in July 1994, an event witnessed by the newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope asÃâà...
Mother Nature Network (blog)
April 27, 2018
Billions of years ago, well before our own solar system was born, 14 star-dense galaxies collided dramatically to form what astronomers now believe is likely "one of the most massive structures in the modern universe." Located some 12.4 billion light-years away, the so-called "birth of a protocluster core"Ãâà...
CNET
April 27, 2018
The European Space Agency's Gaia satellite has been helping map the billions of stars in the Milky Way, and a group of astronomers is using the spacecraft's stunning new star catalog to search for signs of highly advanced alien civilizations. A team of scientists from Sweden's Uppsala University and theÃâà...
Naples Daily News
April 26, 2018
I am often asked this question. The answer is relatively simple, and involves different techniques based on the distance to the star. Today we will discuss the first technique used by astronomers to measure the distance to nearby stars. Lets use the four bright stars in a line in the picture to get us going alongÃâà...
Geek
April 26, 2018
Facial recognition isn't just for, well, faces: The machine learning method has shown promise in helping astronomers analyze images of galaxies. Using mock Hubble Space Telescope snapshots, researchers trained a deep learning system to recognize key phases of galaxy evolution. When shown a largeÃâà...
TechRadar
April 26, 2018
Using those the exact positions, colors, motions, and brightness of stars, astronomers at ESA have been able to create a 3D map of the Milky Way that accurately shows how far stars are form us, but also a lot about their nature, and how they're moving around our galaxy. Gaia also mapped the properÃâà...
Tech Times
April 25, 2018
Astronomers are able to reconcile a longstanding debate that Uranus's atmosphere is composed of hydrogen sulfide, the gas that gives rotten eggs a foul odor. Scientists previously hypothesized that the clouds surrounding Uranus's atmosphere may be composed of either of hydrogen sulfide or ammonia.
Mashable
April 18, 2018
The sun has siblings out there, and astronomers are looking for them. Astronomers have surveyed and collected the "DNA" of more than 340,000 stars in the Milky Way, which will help them understand how galaxies formed and evolved over time. SEE ALSO: Software used to study stars is helping protectÃâà...
WIRED
April 12, 2018
But as the team started to dig into the data, Burke's conviction started to wobble. “Unfortunately," says Burke, "I had to come to the realization that he was probably more right than I was." Astronomers have been searching the cosmos for a (probably funhouse!) mirror image of Earth, but this new result couldÃâà...
Outer Places
April 11, 2018
For example, there are times when a neutron star will suddenly change its rate of rotation, often speeding up, a phenomenon called "glitching". The reasons behind the glitching are thought to involve the neutron star's shaky and powerful magnetic fields, but astronomers have never completely pinned downÃâà...
The Independent
April 11, 2018
Astronomers first noticed an enigmatic object, dubbed “Sagittarius A*”, at the very heart of our Milky Way galaxy in the 1960s – the earliest days of radio and infrared astronomy. But just how extraordinary this source was only became clear three decades later, when it was identified as a supermassive blackÃâà...
Sci-News.com
April 5, 2018
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have for the first time precisely measured the distance to one of the oldest objects in the Universe — a globular cluster called NGC 6397, one of the closest such clusters to Earth. The new measurement sets NGC 6397's distance at 7,800Ãâà...
Iowa State University News Service
April 4, 2018
Astronomers call the dips transits. Once transits are detected by TESS, follow-up observations from ground and space telescopes will confirm planet discoveries and reveal more details about the planets. For example, are they rocky like Earth? What kinds of atmospheres do they have? Could any supportÃâà...
Space.com
April 4, 2018
Seventy-two unusual cosmic events have astronomers scratching their heads. Scientists conducting a survey for supernovas — the dramatic explosions that end the lives of massive stars — noticed 72 powerful flashes of light. The mysterious emissions were similar in brightness to supernovas, but theyÃâà...
UCLA Newsroom
April 3, 2018
Through a quirk of nature that tremendously amplifies the star's feeble glow, however, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope were able to pinpoint this faraway star. They also used Icarus to test a theory of dark matter, and to probe the makeup of a foreground galaxy cluster. The star, harboredÃâà...
Hawaii News Now
March 28, 2018
For the research, astronomers gathered data using the Gemini North and WM Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea along with other telescopes around the world. The team's calculations show that all of the mass in the galaxy they observed could be attributed to stars, which means there is almost no darkÃâà...
Sci-News.com
March 28, 2018
An international team of astronomers has discovered a planetary system containing at least three massive planets, orbiting the bright late-G/early-K-type dwarf star K2-229. What's the most intriguing is that one of these extrasolar planets is a super-Earth class object with a Mercury-like composition.
Daily Telegraph
March 28, 2018
Astronomers have found a distant galaxy where there is no dark matter. Dark matter is called “dark” because it can't be seen. It is the mysterious and invisible skeleton of the universe that scientists figure makes up about 27 per cent of the cosmos. Scientists only know dark matter exists because they canÃâà...
News Chief
March 28, 2018
WASHINGTON — It's a double cosmic conundrum: Lots of stuff that was already invisible has gone missing. Astronomers have found a distant galaxy where there is no dark matter. Dark matter is called “dark” because it can't be seen. It is the mysterious and invisible skeleton of the universe that scientistsÃâà...
EarthSky
March 28, 2018
Astronomers at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, said on March 27, 2018. that they've discovered a rare runaway star in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. The star is speeding across its little galaxy at 300,000 miles per hour (500,000 km/hour). At that speed, itÃâà...
The Adirondack Daily Enterprise
March 27, 2018
As astronomers observed the spectra of stars, they noticed differences. Fr. Angelo Secchi, S.J. (1818 to 1878) was the director of the Observatory of the Roman College, an earlier incarnation of today's Vatican Observatory. He started collecting stellar spectra in 1863 and classified them into five types, fourÃâà...
ScienceAlert
March 26, 2018
"We've discovered yet another way that stars die and distribute material back into space," said researcher Brad Tucker of the Australian National University. Events like these have been captured before. They're called fast-evolving luminous transients, or FELTs, and they have baffled astronomers becauseÃâà...
Business Insider
March 16, 2018
Amateur sky-watchers in Canada, in conjunction with NASA scientists, have made a startling discovery after years of looking up at the stars: a new type of aurora. They named it STEVE, an acronym for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement. While the new aurora may appear similar to the famous northern lights (orÃâà...
Science News
March 16, 2018
The existence of supermassive black holes in the early universe has never made much sense to astronomers. Sightings since 2006 have shown that gargantuan monsters with masses of at least a billion suns were already in place when the universe was less than a billion years old – far too early for themÃâà...
Popular Mechanics
March 15, 2018
"He dove into the chasm between quantum theory and general relativity and came back with a pearl." By Jay Bennett. Mar 14, 2018. NASA. "It is a sad day for the world of physics and humanity." So says Avi Loeb, theoretical physicist, astronomer, cosmologist, and chair of the Department of Astronomy at Harvard, of theÃâà...
The Planetary Society
March 15, 2018
Seven astronomers have been selected to receive Shoemaker NEO (Near Earth Object) grants from the Planetary Society. They and their observatories span the planet. We'll meet an American and an Australian. Society Chief Scientist Bruce Betts provides an overview of the grant program and later returnsÃâà...
Science Daily
March 14, 2018
By observing this light, astronomers can see an image of how the Universe looked when that light was emitted. Even when observing the distant (early) Universe, protoclusters are rare and difficult to discover. Only about 20 were previously known. Because distant protoclusters are difficult to observeÃâà...
Phys.Org
March 14, 2018
European astronomers have detected eight new "hot Jupiter" exoplanets as part of the WASP-South transit survey. The newly discovered gas giants have short orbital periods and masses ranging from 0.42 to 5.2 Jupiter masses. The finding is detailed in a paper published March 6 on arXiv.org.
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
March 9, 2018
East Asian Observatory Deputy Director Jessica Dempsey says she is confident Hawaii has the highest concentration of women working as astronomers anywhere in the world. But even with 73 women astronomers, by her count, employed across research institutions, that number still probably doesn'tÃâà...
The Wire
March 8, 2018
On the occasion of International Women's Day: the latest figures from International Astronomical Union (IAU) shows that the ratio of female to male professional astronomers in India is 9%. This is much lower than most other scientifically advanced countries in the world as well as less the overall globalÃâà...
Phys.Org
March 7, 2018
Continuum emission above 4σ in color scale and specific values of 7 and 15σ in white contours. The synthesised beam is represented by the black filled ellipse. The grey solid and dashed arrows cross at the geometric centre and they …more. An international team of astronomers has discovered aÃâà...
Texas Standard
March 7, 2018
Astronomers call the super-massive black hole at the center of our galaxy Sagittarius A*. It is relatively close to Earth in astronomical terms – close enough for scientists to be able to get a look at the stuff moving around it. To map the magnetic field lines present within gas and dust swirling around SagittariusÃâà...
HowStuffWorks
March 7, 2018
Astronomers have uncovered a cosmic relic from the beginning of time that reveals when the first stars sparked to life. In doing so, they may have revealed a tantalizing clue as to how dark matter influenced our early universe. Before we dive into what this relic is, we need to journey back to a time just afterÃâà...
Phys.Org
March 6, 2018
Using data from NASA's prolonged Kepler mission, known as K2, astronomers have found a new "warm Saturn" exoplanet. The newly discovered alien world, named EPIC 247098361 b, is similar in mass to Saturn, but much hotter. The finding is reported February 24 in a paper published on arXiv.org.
Smithsonian
March 1, 2018
The aftermath of the Big Bang—the moment our universe exploded into existence about 13.8 billion years ago—was a little anticlimactic. After all the hullabaloo, the universe was cold and dark for quite some time, full of radiation and clouds of hydrogen gas. Stars didn't appear until millions of years later,Ãâà...
New York Times
February 19, 2018
The proposed cancellation drew an outcry from astronomers, who warned that stepping back from the mission would be stepping back from the kind of science that made America great and would endanger future projects that, like this one, require international help. It drew comparisons to the cancellation ofÃâà...
Space.com
February 15, 2018
Astronomers Will Fight to Save WFIRST Space Telescope from Being Axed. By Calla Cofield ... Compiling the report is a multiyear process that captures input from astronomers in various subfields as well as from funding agencies such as NASA and the National Science Foundation. "These efforts toÃâà...
EarthSky
December 31, 1999
Now, by scrutinizing the chemical makeup of the gas, astronomers say they're confident one branch of the cloud, sometimes called the Leading Arm, is coming from the Small Magellanic Cloud. The gravity of the Large Magellanic Cloud has apparently tugged the gas stream from its smaller companion.
Quartz
December 31, 1999
Antarctica. The name evokes images of bitter extremes, an environment unkind to humans. Stories of polar explorers battling with the weather and perishing on their way back to safety. Why would astronomers choose to go there? To get the best views of space, space itself is the best place to be. Here onÃâà...
Voice of America
December 31, 1999
Astronomers have observed what they believe is the formation of the universe 13.6 billion years ago, when the earliest stars were just starting to shine. The astronomers say their observations may also have measured mysterious dark matter from that time. The observations however were not in visible lightÃâà...
JNS.org
December 31, 1999
(February 28, 2018 / JNS) A team of American and Israeli astronomers may have uncovered the first-ever proof of the existence of the mysterious “dark matter,” one of the building blocks of the universe, while attempting to detect the earliest stars in the universe through radio wave signals. The discovery by the team, led byÃâà...
Butler Eagle
December 31, 1999
Now, for the first time, astronomers have glimpsed that dawn of the universe 13.6 billion years ago when the earliest stars were turning on the light in the cosmic darkness. And if that's not enough, they may have detected mysterious dark matter at work, too. The glimpse consisted of a faint radio signal fromÃâà...
