http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/stars/ News about Stars. Read science articles and see images on the birth of monstrous stars, brown dwarfs and red giants. Consider stellar evolution and more. en-us Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:05:02 EST Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:05:02 EST 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/stars/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215142819.htm Astronomers are watching a delayed broadcast of a spectacular outburst from the unstable, behemoth double-star system Eta Carinae, an event initially seen on Earth nearly 170 years ago. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:28:28 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215142819.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215123945.htm Astronomers have found a cluster of young, blue stars encircling the first intermediate-mass black hole ever discovered. The presence of the star cluster suggests that the black hole was once at the core of a now-disintegrated dwarf galaxy. The discovery of the black hole and the star cluster has important implications for understanding the evolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:39:39 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215123945.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215123838.htm Astronomers have found a cluster of young blue stars surrounding a mid-sized black hole called HLX-1. The discovery suggests that the black hole formed in the core of a now-disintegrated dwarf galaxy. The findings have important implications for understanding the evolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:38:38 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215123838.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215083021.htm A new image from the APEX telescope in Chile shows a sinuous filament of cosmic dust more than ten light-years long. In it, newborn stars are hidden, and dense clouds of gas are on the verge of collapsing to form yet more stars. The cosmic dust grains are so cold that observations at wavelengths of around one millimeter are needed to detect their glow. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:30:30 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215083021.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120214100815.htm Our Milky Way galaxy is surrounded by some 200 compact groups of stars, containing up to a million stars each. At 13 billion years of age, these globular clusters are almost as old as the universe itself and were born when the first generations of stars and galaxies formed. Now astronomers have conducted a novel type of computer simulation that looked at how they were born -- and they find that these giant clusters of stars are the only survivors of a 13-billion-year-old massacre that destroyed many of their smaller siblings. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:08:08 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120214100815.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100646.htm NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, or Galex, was placed in standby mode Feb. 7, 2012 as engineers prepare to end mission operations, nearly nine years after the telescope's launch. The spacecraft is scheduled to be decommissioned -- taken out of service -- later this year. The mission extensively mapped large portions of the sky with sharp ultraviolet vision, cataloguing millions of galaxies spanning 10 billion years of cosmic time. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100646.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208133041.htm New images of a nearby dwarf galaxy have revealed a dense stream of stars in its outer regions, the remains of an even smaller companion galaxy in the process of merging with its host. The host galaxy, known as NGC 4449, is the smallest primary galaxy in which a stellar stream from an ongoing merger has been identified and studied in detail. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:30:30 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208133041.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208132559.htm Astronomers have obtained the most detailed – and dramatic - infrared image of the Carina Nebula stellar nursery taken so far. Many previously hidden features have emerged. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:25:25 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208132559.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208082428.htm ESO's Very Large Telescope has delivered the most detailed infrared image of the Carina Nebula stellar nursery taken so far. Many previously hidden features, scattered across a spectacular celestial landscape of gas, dust and young stars, have emerged. This is one of the most dramatic images ever created by the VLT. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:24:24 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208082428.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203092421.htm The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1073, which is found in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is a similar barred spiral, and the study of galaxies such as NGC 1073 helps astronomers learn more about our celestial home. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:24:24 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203092421.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202151436.htm Pulsars are among the most exotic celestial bodies known. They have diameters of about 20 kilometers, but at the same time roughly the mass of our sun. A sugar-cube sized piece of its ultra-compact matter on Earth would weigh hundreds of millions of tons. A sub-class of them, known as millisecond pulsars, spin up to several hundred times per second around their own axes. Previous studies reached the paradoxical conclusion that some millisecond pulsars are older than the universe itself. Now this paradox may be solved by computer simulations, new research shows. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:14:14 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202151436.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202151434.htm Sientists have discovered a potentially habitable super-Earth orbiting a nearby star. The star is a member of a triple star system and has a different makeup than our Sun, being relatively lacking in metallic elements. This discovery demonstrates that habitable planets could form in a greater variety of environments than previously believed. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:14:14 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202151434.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202150821.htm Astronomers aimed Hubble at one of the most striking examples of gravitational lensing, a nearly 90-degree arc of light in the galaxy cluster RCS2 032727-132623. Hubble's view of the distant background galaxy, which lies nearly 10 billion light-years away, is significantly more detailed than could ever be achieved without the help of the gravitational lens. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:08:08 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202150821.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202094328.htm The center of just about every galaxy is thought to host a black hole, some with masses of thousands of millions of Suns and consequently strong gravitational pulls that disrupt material around them. They had been thought to hinder the birth of stars, but now astronomers studying the nearby galaxy Centaurus A have found quite the opposite: a black hole that seems to be helping stars to form. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:43:43 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202094328.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201094326.htm A new view shows a stellar nursery called NGC 3324. It was taken using the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. The intense ultraviolet radiation from several of NGC 3324's hot young stars causes the gas cloud to glow with rich colors and has carved out a cavity in the surrounding gas and dust. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:43:43 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201094326.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120126155915.htm NASA's Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified Kepler planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star. Such systems will help astronomers better understand how planets form. Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:59:59 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120126155915.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125091155.htm Astronomers have found the strongest link so far between the most powerful bursts of star formation in the early Universe, and the most massive galaxies found today. The galaxies, flowering with dramatic starbursts in the early Universe, saw the birth of new stars abruptly cut short, leaving them as massive — but passive — galaxies of aging stars in the present day. The astronomers also have a likely culprit for the sudden end to the starbursts: the emergence of supermassive black holes. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:11:11 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125091155.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120119101553.htm Astronomers have captured a striking new image of the Helix Nebula. A new picture, taken in infrared light, reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are invisible in images taken in visible light, as well as bringing to light a rich background of stars and galaxies. The Helix Nebula is one of the closest and most remarkable examples of a planetary nebula. Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:15:15 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120119101553.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111154045.htm Astronomers have discovered the three smallest confirmed planets ever detected outside our solar system. The three planets, which all orbit a single star, are smaller than Earth and appear to be rocky. Their existence suggests that the galaxy could be teeming with similarly rocky planets—and that there's a good chance that many are in the so-called habitable zone, where liquid water and possibly life could exist. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:40:40 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111154045.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111154039.htm The smallest exoplanets yet discovered orbit a dwarf star almost identical to Barnard's star, one of the sun's nearest neighbors. The similarity helped the astronomers calculate the size of the distant planets. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:40:40 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111154039.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111154035.htm Astronomers have discovered two new circumbinary planet systems -- planets that orbit two stars, like Tatooine in the movie Star Wars. Their find, which brings the number of known circumbinary planets to three, shows that planets with two suns must be common, with many millions existing in our galaxy. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:40:40 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111154035.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111134058.htm Astronomers using the partially completed ALMA observatory have found compelling evidence for how star-forming galaxies evolve into 'red and dead' elliptical galaxies, catching a large group of galaxies right in the middle of this change. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:40:40 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111134058.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133952.htm A new Hubble Space Telescope image centers on the 100-million-solar-mass black hole at the hub of the neighboring spiral galaxy M31, or the Andromeda galaxy, the only galaxy outside the Milky Way visible to the naked eye and the only other giant galaxy in the local group. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:39:39 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133952.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133946.htm Astronomers have discovered two new planets orbiting double star systems, something that had never been seen until last September. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:39:39 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133946.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133943.htm Six years of observations of millions of stars now show how common it is for stars to have planets in orbits around them. Using a method that is sensitive to planets that lie in a habitable zone around the host stars, astronomers have discovered that most of the Milky Way's 100 billion stars have planets that are very similar to the Earth-like planets in our own solar system. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:39:39 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133943.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133530.htm Astronomers have used the technique of gravitational microlensing to measure how common planets are in the Milky Way. After a six-year search that surveyed millions of stars, the team concludes that planets around stars are the rule rather than the exception. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:35:35 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133530.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133528.htm Astronomers recently discovered the solution to a long-standing fundamental problem of astrophysics: what produces thermonuclear, or Type Ia, supernovae, which are tremendous explosions where the light is often brighter than a whole galaxy? Astronomers have now demonstrated that these supernova are caused by a pair of white dwarf stars. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:35:35 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133528.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133329.htm Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have solved a longstanding mystery of the type of star, or so-called progenitor, that caused a supernova in a nearby galaxy. The finding yields new observational data for pinpointing one of several scenarios that trigger such outbursts. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:33:33 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133329.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111113727.htm Peering deep inside the hub of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a large, rare population of hot, bright stars. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:37:37 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111113727.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110163446.htm The stars we see today weren't always as serene as they appear, floating alone in the dark of night. Most stars, likely including our sun, grew up in cosmic turmoil -- as illustrated in a new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The image shows one of the most active and turbulent regions of star birth in our galaxy, a region called Cygnus X. Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:34:34 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110163446.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109115830.htm A team of astrophysicists has discovered a ring system in the constellation Centaurus that invites comparisons to Saturn. This is the first system of discrete, thin, dust rings detected around a very low-mass object outside of our solar system. Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:58:58 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109115830.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120104111908.htm "Humanity's adventurous, stubborn, mad and glorious aspiration to reach the stars," is the subject of a new article. Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:19:19 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120104111908.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120104111900.htm A new image of the Omega Nebula, captured by ESO's Very Large Telescope, is one of the sharpest of this object ever taken from the ground. It shows the dusty, rose-colored central parts of this famous stellar nursery and reveals extraordinary detail in the cosmic landscape of gas clouds, dust and newborn stars. Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:19:19 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120104111900.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111228084228.htm Given the incredible amounts of energy in a supernova explosion -- as much as the sun creates during its entire lifetime -- another erroneous doomsday theory is that such an explosion could happen in 2012 and harm life on Earth. However, given the vastness of space and the long times between supernovae, astronomers can say with certainty that there is no threatening star close enough to hurt Earth. Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:42:42 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111228084228.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111223105312.htm Just in time for the holidays, astronomers have come across a new image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, that some say resembles a wreath. You might even think of the red dust cloud as a cheery red bow, and the bluish-white stars as silver bells. This star-forming nebula is named Barnard 3. Baby stars are being born throughout the dusty region, while the "silver bell" stars are located both in front of, and behind, the nebula. Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:53:53 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111223105312.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221211227.htm Astronomers have discovered that one of the most distant galaxies known is churning out stars at a shockingly high rate. The blob-shaped galaxy, called GN-108036, is the brightest galaxy found to date at such great distances and is 12.9 billion light-years away. Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:12:12 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221211227.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221140637.htm New research concludes that the stars of Upper Scorpius are twice as old as previously thought. Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221140637.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221140631.htm Astronomers have discovered two Earth-sized planets that survived their star's red-giant expansion. Researchers say that this is a snapshot of what our solar system might look like in several billion years. Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221140631.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221140357.htm Researchers have detected two planets of sizes comparable to Earth orbiting around an old star that has just passed the red giant stage. This planetary system is located near Lyra and Cygnus constellations at a distance of 3900 light years. This discovery may shed new light on the destiny of stellar and planetary systems. Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:03:03 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221140357.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221140343.htm Two Earth-sized planets have been discovered around a dying star that has passed the red giant stage. The discovery marks the first known case of planets surviving being engulfed by their parent star and may shed new light on the destiny of stellar and planetary systems, including our solar system. Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:03:03 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221140343.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111220134044.htm NASA's Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun. The discovery marks the next important milestone in the ultimate search for planets like Earth. The new planets are thought to be rocky. Kepler-20e is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring 0.87 times the radius of Earth. Kepler-20f is slightly larger than Earth, measuring 1.03 times its radius. Both planets reside in a five-planet system called Kepler-20, approximately 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Lyra. Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:40:40 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111220134044.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111220133711.htm Astronomers have detected two Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant star. This discovery marks a milestone in the hunt for alien worlds, since it brings scientists one step closer to their ultimate goal of finding a twin Earth. Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:37:37 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111220133711.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111219102052.htm A new statistical study sheds light on the so-called 'ultra-compact dwarf galaxies' (UCDs). A team of astronomers has investigated how many of these UCDs exist in nearby galaxy clusters and groups. They show that the properties of UCDs match those of bright star clusters. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:20:20 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111219102052.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215095237.htm Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 has captured this image of a giant cloud of hydrogen gas illuminated by a bright young star. The image shows how violent the end stages of the star-formation process can be, with the young object shaking up its stellar nursery. Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:52:52 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215095237.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215094817.htm Even the most powerful high-tech telescopes are barely able to record remote low-mass and thus faint stars. Astrophysicists have now detected a low-mass star in globular cluster M22 for the first time through microlensing. The result indicates that the overall mass of globular clusters might well be explained without enigmatic dark matter. Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:48:48 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215094817.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215094801.htm The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) has captured the beauty of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 253. The new portrait is probably the most detailed wide-field view of this object and its surroundings ever taken. Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:48:48 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215094801.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214135750.htm Astrophysicists have discovered that a supernova that exploded in August -- dubbed the supernova of a generation -- was a "white dwarf" star, and that its companion star could not have been a "red giant," as previously suspected. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:57:57 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214135750.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214135748.htm It was the brightest and closest stellar explosion seen from Earth in 25 years, dazzling professional and backyard astronomers alike. Now, thanks to this rare discovery -- which some have called the "supernova of a generation" -- astronomers have the most detailed picture yet of how this kind of explosion happens. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:57:57 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214135748.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214135741.htm A team of scientists has observed the early stages of a Type Ia supernova that is only 21 million light years away from Earth -- the closest of its kind discovered in 25 years. The team's detection of a supernova less than half a day after it exploded will refine and challenge our understanding of these stellar phenomena. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:57:57 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214135741.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214135736.htm The earliest detection ever of a Type Ia supernova has led to unparalleled observations of the initial stages of the supernova and characterization of the stars that formed it. Early detection and close proximity of the stars set the stage for unprecedented observation of the initial stages of a Type Ia supernova. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:57:57 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214135736.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214135734.htm Even as the "supernova of a generation" came into view in backyards across the northern hemisphere last August, physicists and astronomers who had caught its earliest moments were developing a surprising and much clearer picture of what happens during a titanic Type Ia explosion. Now they have announced the closest, most detailed look ever at one of the universe's brightest "standard candles," the celestial mileposts that led to the discovery of dark energy. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:57:57 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214135734.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214135649.htm Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have discovered a gas cloud with several times the mass of Earth accelerating fast towards the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. This is the first time ever that the approach of such a doomed cloud to a supermassive black hole has been observed. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:56:56 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214135649.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111212100227.htm About 3,700 years ago, people on Earth would have seen a brand-new bright star in the sky. It slowly dimmed out of sight and was eventually forgotten, until modern astronomers later found its remains, called Puppis A. In this new image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), Puppis A looks less like the remains of a supernova explosion and more like a red rose. Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:02:02 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111212100227.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111207105419.htm Astronomers have obtained the best images ever of a star that has lost most of its material to a vampire companion. By combining the light captured by telescopes at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory they created a virtual telescope 130 meters across with vision 50 times sharper than the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Surprisingly, the new results show that the transfer of mass from one star to the other in this double system is gentler than expected. Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:54:54 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111207105419.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111206082759.htm An international group of astronomers has discovered extraordinary long one-sided gaseous tails in two groups of galaxies that are amongst the longest structures ever observed in such environments. The tails emanate from CGCG 097-026 and FGC1287, two spiral galaxies in small groups in the outskirts of the galaxy cluster known as Abell 1367 in the constellation of Leo, at a distance of 300 million light years. The new work could lead to a major shift in our understanding of galaxy evolution. Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:27:27 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111206082759.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205170055.htm An international team of scientists has found the fastest-rotating massive star ever recorded. The star spins around its axis at the speed of 600 kilometers per second at the equator, a rotational velocity so high that the star is nearly tearing apart due to centrifugal forces. Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205170055.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205141054.htm NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the "habitable zone," the region around a star where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets. Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:10:10 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205141054.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205140609.htm Astronomers using the Keck, Gemini and MacDonald observatories have discovered the largest black holes to date: Two monsters with masses equivalent to 10 billion suns that are threatening to consume anything, even light, within a region five times the size of our solar system. These monsters may be the remains of quasars that brightened the early universe. Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205140609.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205140525.htm NASA's Kepler Mission has discovered the first super-Earth orbiting in the habitable zone of a star similar to the Sun. A team of researchers, including Carnegie's Alan Boss, has discovered what could be a large, rocky planet with a surface temperature of about 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit), comparable to a comfortable spring day on Earth. Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:05:05 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205140525.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205102424.htm The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope has picked up the fastest rotating star found so far. This massive bright young star lies in our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 160,000 light-years from Earth. Astronomers think that it may have had a violent past and has been ejected from a double star system by its exploding companion. Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:24:24 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205102424.htm