Astronomy

Geological activity on Saturn's moons
By: Stephen Withers

Data from the Cassini mission suggests another two of Saturn's moons may be geologically active.

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Arecibo Observatory may be nixed
By: William Atkins

A National Science Foundation panel has concluded that the Arecibo Observatory will be reduced in operations and may even need to be shut down due to budgetary constraints.
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NASA’s FUSE finds two stars merging into one SuperStar
By: William Atkins

NASA scientists have found a binary star system where its two stars will eventually merge to create one star that could be over 80 times the size of our Sun, which would make it one of the largest stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
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Another 28 exoplanets found
By: Stephen Withers

The California and Carnegie Planet Search team and the Anglo-Australian Planet Search team have jointly announced the discovery of another 28 planets outside the solar system, adding more than one-eighth to the previous tally.

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Visits to NASA Webb telescope possible with new docking ring
By: William Atkins

Imagine docking with Hubble, which is about 590 kilometers (365 miles) miles away. Now, imagine the thrill of docking with the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be positioned about 1.5 million kilometers (900,000 miles) from the Earth.
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NASA nicknames SOFIA observatory for Charles Lindbergh
By: William Atkins

On the 80th anniversary of the historic transatlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh, NASA announced that its new SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) astronomical observatory would be named "Clipper Lindbergh".

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Black holes get new way to be weighed
By: William Atkins

Astrophysicists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland) have found a new and reliable way to determine the mass of black holes.
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Hot-ice planet around red dwarf star GJ 436 contains exotic ice
By: William Atkins

European astronomers discover exoplanet GJ 436b made primarily of surface steam and subsurface exotic solid water (Ice VII and Ice X) that is extremely dense.

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Hot "ice" may cover recently discovered planet
By: Posted by Peter Dinham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An odd planet the size of Neptune, made mostly of hot, solid water, has been discovered orbiting a nearby star and offers evidence that other planets may be covered with oceans, European astronomers reported on Wednesday.

X-ray observations point to mid-sized black hole
By: Stephen Withers

NASA astronomers have used observations from the ESA's XMM-Newton orbiting X-ray observatory to identify what appears to be intermediate mass black hole.

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Hubble finds first for dark matter: Separate ring around galaxy cluster
By: William Atkins

The Hubble Space Telescope finds a ring of “dark matter” expanding from a large collision between two galaxy clusters—completely away from ordinary matter, which is a first for the detection of dark matter.
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Can we find proof of other universes?
By: William Atkins

A scientist from the University of California (Santa Cruz) says YES. He thinks we can find proof of the existence of other universes.

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Astronomers discover HE 1523 star: Almost as old as universe
By: William Atkins

HE 1523-0901 is a star within our Milky Way galaxy that astronomers estimate to be about 13.3 billion years old. It is the oldest object yet discovered in our galaxy. HE 1523 is only about 400 million years younger than the age of the universe itself (estimated at 13.7 billion years).

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Hubble telescope successor on target
By: Posted by Peter Dinham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The James Webb Space Telescope, intended to peer deep into the cosmos from beyond the moon, is progressing well in development and is on track for a planned June 2013 launch, officials said on Thursday.

Huge star explodes in brightest supernova yet seen
By: Posted by Peter Dinham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A gargantuan explosion ripped apart a star perhaps 150 times more massive than our sun in a relatively nearby galaxy in the most powerful and brightest supernova ever observed, astronomers said on Monday.

SN 2006gy: brightest supernova ever seen
By: Stephen Withers

Supernova SN 2006gy, the brightest ever recorded, appears to be a previously undetected type, astronomers say.

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COROT spots new exoplanet
By: Stephen Withers

The COROT satellite has detected a gas giant orbiting a distant Sun-like star.

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Hubble observations challenge conventional theories
By: Stephen Withers

The discovery of three generations of stars in globular cluster by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope has brought conventional theories of star formation into question.

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