http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/astrophysics/ Astrophysics and space science. From microquasars to dark matter, read all the latest astrophysics news and research here. Full text with images, updated daily, free. en-us Tue, 13 May 2008 01:05:01 EDT Tue, 13 May 2008 01:05:01 EDT 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/astrophysics/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512191135.htm For the first time, astronomers have detected in the ultraviolet the carbon monoxide molecule in a galaxy located almost 11 billion light-years away, a feat that had remained elusive for 25 years. This detection allows them to obtain the most precise measurement of the cosmic temperature at such a remote epoch. Tue, 13 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512191135.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509101622.htm New research on the Antennae Galaxies shows that this benchmark pair of interacting galaxies is in fact much closer than previously thought -- 45 million light-years instead of 65 million light-years. Fri, 09 May 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509101622.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080506194033.htm ESA's orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has been used by a team of international astronomers to uncover part of the missing matter in the universe. Ten years ago, scientists predicted that about half of the missing 'ordinary' or normal matter made of atoms exists in the form of low-density gas, filling vast spaces between galaxies. But the low density of the gas hampered many attempts to detect it in the past. With XMM-Newton's high sensitivity, astronomers have discovered its hottest parts. Wed, 07 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080506194033.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501091356.htm A new space mission, due to launch this month, is going to shed light on some of the most extreme astrophysical processes in nature -- including pulsars, remnants of supernovae, and supermassive black holes. It could even help us comprehend the origin and distribution of dark matter. Sun, 04 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501091356.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080502133106.htm A team of scientists will expend 22 million computational hours during the next year on one of the world's most powerful supercomputers, simulating an event that takes less than five seconds. This astrophysics work explores how the laws of nature unfold in natural phenomena at unimaginably extreme temperatures and pressures. The Blue Gene/P supercomputer will serve as one of their primary tools for studying exploding stars. Sat, 03 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080502133106.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080502112754.htm Astrophysicists now say the fate of stars that venture too close to massive black holes could be even more violent than previously believed. Not only are they crushed by the black hole's huge gravity, but the process can also trigger a nuclear explosion that tears the star apart from within. In addition, shock waves in the pancake star carry a brief and very high peak of temperature outwards, that could give rise to a new type of X-ray or gamma-ray bursts. Fri, 02 May 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080502112754.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501112209.htm Astronomers have predicted and confirmed the existence of a new type of variable star, with the help of the 2.1-meter Otto Struve Telescope at McDonald Observatory. Called a "pulsating carbon white dwarf," this is the first new class of variable white dwarf star discovered in more than 25 years. Because the overwhelming majority of stars in the universe--including the sun--will end their lives as white dwarfs, studying the pulsations (i.e., variations in light output) of these newly discovered examples gives astronomers a window on an important end point in the lives of most stars. Thu, 01 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501112209.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080430112525.htm Astronomers have discovered a timing mechanism that allows them to predict exactly when a superdense star will unleash incredibly powerful explosions. The explosions occur on a neutron star, which is a city-sized remnant of a giant star that exploded in a supernova. But despite the neutron star’s small size, it contains more material than our sun. Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080430112525.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080429095054.htm Astronomers looking at the universe's distant past found nine young, unusually compact galaxies, each weighing in at 200 billion times the mass of the Sun. These young galaxies are the equivalent of a human baby that is 20 inches long, yet weighs 180 pounds. Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080429095054.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428140351.htm Some of the oldest objects in the Universe may still have a long way to go, according to a new study using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. These new results indicate that globular clusters might be surprisingly less mature in their development than previously thought. Globular clusters are incredibly dense bunches of up to millions of stars that are found in the outskirts of galaxies, including the Milky Way. They are among the oldest known objects in the Universe, with most estimates of their ages ranging from 9 to 13 billions of years old. Understanding the nature of globular clusters is very important as they are thought to contain some of the first stars to form in a galaxy. Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428140351.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424092756.htm Interacting galaxies are found throughout the Universe, sometimes as dramatic collisions that trigger bursts of star formation, on other occasions as stealthy mergers that result in new galaxies. Galaxy mergers, which were more common in the early Universe than they are today, are thought to be one of the main driving forces for cosmic evolution, turning on quasars, sparking frenetic star births and explosive stellar deaths. Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424092756.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423131621.htm At the cores of many galaxies, supermassive black holes expel powerful jets of particles at nearly the speed of light. Just how they perform this feat has long been one of the mysteries of astrophysics. Now, astronomers have watched material winding a corkscrew outward path and behaving exactly as predicted by a leading theory. Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423131621.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080420122601.htm Could microbial life exist inside Enceladus, where no sunlight reaches, photosynthesis is impossible and no oxygen is available? To answer that question, we need look no farther than our own planet to find examples of the types of exotic ecosystems that could make life possible on Saturn's geyser moon. The answer appears to be, yes, it could be possible. It is this tantalizing potential that brings us back to Enceladus for further study. Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080420122601.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416141356.htm A new image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows baby stars sprouting in the backwoods of a galaxy -- a relatively desolate region of space more than 100,000 light-years from the galaxy's bustling center. The striking image shows the Southern Pinwheel galaxy, also known simply as M83. Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416141356.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415143816.htm Gravitational radiation -- widely expected to provide "smoking gun" proof for a theory of the early universe known as "inflation" -- can be produced by another mechanism, according to physics researchers. Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415143816.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080417102517.htm A 4.1-meter diameter primary mirror, a vital part of the world's newest and fastest survey telescope, VISTA has been delivered to its new mountaintop home at Cerro Paranal, Chile. Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080417102517.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415160358.htm Astronomers have identified huge star streams in the outskirts of two nearby spiral galaxies. For the first time, they have obtained a panoramic overview of an example of galactic cannibalism similar to that involving the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy in the vicinity of the Milky Way. The detection of these immense stellar fossils confirms the predictions of the cold dark matter model of cosmology, which proposes that present-day grand design spiral galaxies were formed from the merging of less massive stellar systems. Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415160358.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415111724.htm Astronomers have discovered that our galaxy's central black hole let loose a powerful flare three centuries ago. The finding helps resolve a long-standing mystery: why is the Milky Way's black hole so quiescent? The black hole, known as Sagittarius A* (pronounced "A-star"), is a certified monster, containing about 4 million times the mass of our Sun. Yet the energy radiated from its surroundings is billions of times weaker than the radiation emitted from central black holes in other galaxies. Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415111724.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410200302.htm NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed the fading optical counterpart of a powerful gamma ray burst that holds the record for being the intrinsically brightest naked-eye object ever seen from Earth. For nearly a minute on March 19, this single "star" was as bright as 10 million galaxies. Hubble Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) images of GRB 080319B, taken on Monday, April 7, show the fading optical counterpart of the titanic blast. Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410200302.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080414145656.htm The Delta II 7920-H, or "Heavy," rocket that will launch NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope satellite is in the process of being assembled on Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080414145656.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408132137.htm The same team of astrophysicists that cracked the computer code simulating two black holes crashing and merging together has now, for the first time, caused a three-black-hole collision. Scientists have simulated triplet black holes to test their breakthrough method that, in 2005, merged two of these large mass objects on a supercomputer following Einstein's theory of general relativity. Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408132137.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080411091744.htm Millions of clustered stars glisten like an iridescent opal in a new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Called Omega Centauri, this sparkling orb of stars is like a miniature galaxy. It is the biggest and brightest of the more than 150 similar objects, called globular clusters, that orbit around the outside of our Milky Way galaxy. Stargazers at southern latitudes can spot the stellar gem with the naked eye in the constellation Centaurus. Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080411091744.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410101146.htm An international team of astronomers has discovered the coldest brown dwarf star ever observed. This finding, to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, is a new step toward filling the gap between stars and planets. Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410101146.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080409231029.htm A new stereo view of Phobos, the larger and inner of Mars' two tiny moons, has been captured by a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took two images of Phobos 10 minutes apart on March 23. Scientists combined the images for a stereo view. Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080409231029.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080404200325.htm An ambitious study of active and inactive galaxies has given new insights into the complex interaction between super-massive black holes at the heart of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and star formation in the surrounding galaxy. Astronomers studied the properties of light from 360,000 galaxies in the local Universe to understand the relationship between accreting black holes, the birth of stars in galaxy centres and the evolution of the galaxies as a whole. Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080404200325.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080407091757.htm XMM-Newton has been surprised by a rare type of galaxy, from which it has detected a higher number of X-rays than thought possible. The observation gives new insight into the powerful processes shaping galaxies during their formation and evolution. Scientists working with XMM-Newton were looking into the furthest reaches of the universe, at celestial objects called quasars. These are vast cosmic engines that pump energy into their surroundings. It is thought an enormous black hole drives each quasar. Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080407091757.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402202332.htm A detailed analysis of eight dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way indicates that their orbital behavior can be explained more accurately with Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) than by the rival, but more widely accepted, theory of dark matter. Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402202332.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080406114742.htm Desert heat, a little water, and meteorite impacts may have been enough to cook up one of the first prerequisites for life: The dominance of "left-handed" amino acids, the building blocks of life on this planet. Our amino acid signature may well have come from outer space. Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080406114742.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402200155.htm Astronomers have discovered that solar flares - explosions in the atmosphere of the sun - get much hotter when they stay "focused". Solar flares are caused by the sudden release of magnetic energy. The largest can release as much energy as a billion one-megaton nuclear bombs. Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402200155.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402160844.htm A surprising analysis of material churned up from the depths of massive stars shows that the mixing processes in these hot, bright stars are much more complicated than thought. The study used the FLAMES instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to decipher the spectra of light emitted by over 800 stars and estimate the chemical composition of the stars' surfaces. This is the most extensive survey of massive stars ever undertaken. Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402160844.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080404201105.htm UK astronomers have produced the most sensitive infrared map of the distant Universe ever undertaken. Combining data over a period of three years, they have produced an image containing over 100,000 galaxies over an area four times the size of the full Moon. Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080404201105.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401160020.htm Using the most sensitive images ever obtained with the United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope, astronomers have found convincing evidence that galaxies which look old early in the history of the Universe reside in enormous clouds of invisible dark matter and will eventually evolve into the most massive galaxies that exist in the present day. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401160020.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401153910.htm Astronomers have found a clutch of jets from newborn brown dwarfs, bringing the total of these intriguing objects found to 4. New stars form in cold clouds of gas and dust. These so-called stellar nurseries are not only home to forming stars (protostars) but also harbour forming brown dwarfs. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401153910.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402093419.htm Omega Centauri has been known as an unusual globular cluster for a long time. It turns out that the explanation behind Omega Centauri's peculiarities may be an elusive intermediate-mass black hole hidden in its center. Intermediate-mass black holes could turn out to be "baby" supermassive black holes. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402093419.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403140918.htm Researchers have used graphene to measure an important and mysterious fundamental constant -- and glimpse the foundations of the universe. The universe and life on this planet are intimately controlled by several exact numbers; so-called fundamental or universal constants such as the speed of light and the electric charge of an electron. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403140918.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331190612.htm Something is pulling the universe apart. What is it, and where will it take us from here? Scientists are seeking answers to those questions with the newly-commissioned South Pole Telescope. Frigid and bone-dry, with six straight months of night each year, the South Pole is a forbidding place to live or work. But for largely the same reasons, it's one of the best spots on the planet for surveying the faint cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation left over from the Big Bang. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331190612.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331112033.htm The latest image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals a sharp view of the spiral galaxy NGC 2397. This image also shows a rare Hubble view of the early stages of a supernova -- SN 2006bc, discovered in March 2006. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331112033.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331122534.htm Deep in the bowels of the earth -- 100 meters below ground in Geneva, Switzerland -- lies a supermachine of 27 kilometers circumference that has been built to unlock the mysteries of the universe. 2,500 scientists from 37 countries were recruited to help design, test the supermachine that will provide a new perspective into what occurred at the time of the Big Bang. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331122534.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401141549.htm Using a new technique, NASA scientists have identified the lightest known black hole. With a mass only about 3.8 times greater than our Sun and a diameter of only 15 miles, the black hole lies very close to the minimum size predicted for black holes that originate from dying stars. Despite the diminutive size of this new record holder, future space travelers had better beware. Smaller black holes like the one in J1650 exert stronger tidal forces than the much larger black holes found in the centers of galaxies, which make the little guys more dangerous to approach. "If you ventured too close to J1650's black hole, its gravity would tidally stretch your body into a strand of spaghetti," says one of the astronomers. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401141549.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401152953.htm New measurements from some of the most distant galaxies bolster the evidence that the strongest burst of star formation in the history of the Universe occurred about two billion years after the Big Bang. Astronomers have found evidence for a dramatic surge in star birth in a newly discovered population of massive galaxies in the early Universe. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401152953.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401155107.htm Two "supernova factories", rare clusters of Red Supergiant (RSG) stars, have been located in the Galactic Bar of the Milky Way. "RSGs represent the final brief stage in a massive star's lifecycle before it goes supernova. They are very rare objects, so to find this many in the same place is remarkable. Together they contain 40 RSGs, which is nearly 20% of all the known RSGs in the Milky Way. These stars are all at the brink of going supernova," said one of the astronomers. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401155107.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331122543.htm Astronomers have discovered a cluster of galaxies in a very early stage of formation that is 11.4 billion light years from Earth -- the farthest of its kind ever to be detected. These galaxies are so distant that the universe was in its infancy when their light was emitted. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331122543.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331191002.htm The Pleiades star cluster will have a beautiful encounter with the slender moon in the western sky after sunset on April 8. Usually the moon's brightness overpowers nearby stars, but not when it's such a thin crescent. Binoculars will reveal the spectacle as the moon passes just below the famous Seven Sisters. The Pleiades are lovely by themselves, and on a clear night they can be seen with the unaided eye in the constellation Taurus the Bull. Known prehistorically, the cluster is identified as a group of women in many cultures around the world, from Australian Aborigine to Native American. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331191002.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331135542.htm Astronomers have spied a faraway star system that is so unusual, it was one of a kind -- until its discovery helped them pinpoint a second one that was much closer to home. Astronomers believe that these star systems are the progenitors of a rare type of supernova. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331135542.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080330220036.htm Physicists have, for the first time ever, successfully compressed an unstable nucleus, Nickel 56. This nucleus is not found on Earth but is present when a star explodes at the end of its life (supernova). This breakthrough opens up the possibility of compressing several hundred exotic nuclei, which have, until now, been inaccessible because of their instability. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080330220036.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401112356.htm Preparations for launching NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope satellite are underway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The twin solar panels have been attached. The panels will provide electrical power for GLAST after its launch into earth orbit. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401112356.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080328094140.htm A new physics discovery explores why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe. The paper reveals that investigation into the process of B-meson decays has given insight into why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe. Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080328094140.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080311110638.htm One of the great ongoing challenges of astrophysics, to find out how stars evolve and die, is to be tackled in an ambitious European research program. This will involve studying in the laboratory over 25 critical nuclear reactions using low-energy stable beams of ions, in order to understand stellar evolution. Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080311110638.htm