Featured Posts
Tom's Astronomy Blog
28 Jun 2017, 04:17 UTC
I love the title from NASA – “Chandra Samples Galactic Goulash” and it all makes sense: NASA/Chandra — What would happen if you took two galaxies and mixed them together over millions of years? A new image including data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals the cosmic culinary outcome. Arp 299 is a system located about 140 million light years from Earth. It contains two galaxies that are merging, creating a partially blended mix of stars from each galaxy in the process. However, this stellar mix is not the only ingredient. New data from Chandra reveals 25 bright X-ray sources sprinkled throughout the Arp 299 concoction. Fourteen of these sources are such strong emitters of X-rays that astronomers categorize them as “ultra-luminous X-ray sources,” or ULXs. These ULXs are found embedded in regions where stars are currently forming at a rapid rate. Most likely, the ULXs are binary systems where a neutron star or black hole is pulling matter away from a companion star that is much more massive than the Sun. These double star systems are called high-mass X-ray binaries. Such a loaded buffet of high-mass X-ray binaries is rare, but Arp 299 is one of the most powerful ...
Galactic Goulash
28 Jun 2017, 04:17 UTC
I love the title from NASA – “Chandra Samples Galactic Goulash” and it all makes sense: NASA/Chandra — What would happen if you took two galaxies and mixed them together over millions of years? A new image including data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals the cosmic culinary outcome. Arp 299 is a system located about 140 million light years from Earth. It contains two galaxies that are merging, creating a partially blended mix of stars from each galaxy in the process. However, this stellar mix is not the only ingredient. New data from Chandra reveals 25 bright X-ray sources sprinkled throughout the Arp 299 concoction. Fourteen of these sources are such strong emitters of X-rays that astronomers categorize them as “ultra-luminous X-ray sources,” or ULXs. These ULXs are found embedded in regions where stars are currently forming at a rapid rate. Most likely, the ULXs are binary systems where a neutron star or black hole is pulling matter away from a companion star that is much more massive than the Sun. These double star systems are called high-mass X-ray binaries. Such a loaded buffet of high-mass X-ray binaries is rare, but Arp 299 is one of the most powerful ...
ABC
28 Jun 2017, 02:22 UTC
In what is being hailed as a "groundbreaking discovery", astronomers have for the first time observed two supermassive black holes orbiting around each other in a distant galaxy, according to new research.
'Nobody had ever seen it until now': Astronomers find orbiting supermassive black holes
28 Jun 2017, 02:22 UTC
In what is being hailed as a "groundbreaking discovery", astronomers have for the first time observed two supermassive black holes orbiting around each other in a distant galaxy, according to new research.
Astronomy Now
27 Jun 2017, 20:53 UTC
With the help of software that mimics a human brain, ESA’s Gaia satellite spotted six stars zipping at high speed from the centre of our galaxy to its outskirts. This could provide key information about some of the most obscure regions of the Milky Way.
Artificial brain helps Gaia catch speeding stars
27 Jun 2017, 20:53 UTC
With the help of software that mimics a human brain, ESA’s Gaia satellite spotted six stars zipping at high speed from the centre of our galaxy to its outskirts. This could provide key information about some of the most obscure regions of the Milky Way.
NASA Space Station Blog
27 Jun 2017, 19:45 UTC
Expedition 52 explored the aging process in space today and measured the lighting conditions on the International Space Station. The crew is also getting spacesuits ready for an upcoming Russian spacewalk.
Aging and Heart Research Lead Station Science Today
27 Jun 2017, 19:45 UTC
Expedition 52 explored the aging process in space today and measured the lighting conditions on the International Space Station. The crew is also getting spacesuits ready for an upcoming Russian spacewalk.
Sky and Telescope
27 Jun 2017, 17:00 UTC
Our brains are wired to seek patterns. We see castles in the clouds, butterflies in inkblots, and faces or even rabbits on the Moon. Amateur astronomers experience this pareidolia when gazing at the vast dot-to-dot tableau of the night sky. We imaginatively sketch figures among the stars, spawning a wealth of cosmic doodles that we call asterisms.
Asterisms: Doodles in the Sky
27 Jun 2017, 17:00 UTC
Our brains are wired to seek patterns. We see castles in the clouds, butterflies in inkblots, and faces or even rabbits on the Moon. Amateur astronomers experience this pareidolia when gazing at the vast dot-to-dot tableau of the night sky. We imaginatively sketch figures among the stars, spawning a wealth of cosmic doodles that we call asterisms.
Universe Today
27 Jun 2017, 14:44 UTC
Just. Wow. An angry monster lurks in the shoulder of the Hunter. We’re talking about the red giant star Betelgeuse, also known as Alpha Orionis in the constellation Orion. Recently, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) gave us an amazing view of Betelgeuse, one of the very few stars that is large enough to be resolved as anything more than a point of light.
Amazing New Views of Betelgeuse Courtesy of ALMA
27 Jun 2017, 14:44 UTC
Just. Wow. An angry monster lurks in the shoulder of the Hunter. We’re talking about the red giant star Betelgeuse, also known as Alpha Orionis in the constellation Orion. Recently, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) gave us an amazing view of Betelgeuse, one of the very few stars that is large enough to be resolved as anything more than a point of light.
Astrobiology Magazine
27 Jun 2017, 14:17 UTC
NASA's Journey to Mars requires cutting-edge technologies to solve the problems explorers will face on the Red Planet. Scientists at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are developing some of the needed solutions.
Kennedy Scientists Developing Technology to Remove Martian Dust
27 Jun 2017, 14:17 UTC
NASA's Journey to Mars requires cutting-edge technologies to solve the problems explorers will face on the Red Planet. Scientists at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are developing some of the needed solutions.
Astronaut.com
27 Jun 2017, 12:42 UTC
In a new video, the hacker group known as Anonymous claims that NASA has discovered alien life. But before you freak out, let’s talk. For the record, most of us here at Popular Science would probably be thrilled if NASA found alien life. Sure, it would be a little frightening, but think of the new frontiers in science such a discovery would represent. It would teach us so much about the origins of life, evolution, and our place in the universe. Think of all the exciting headlines we could write, and the traffic it would bring to our website. We want this as much as you do, promise. Sadly, the group of activists and hacktivists doesn’t seem to have found any new evidence to support their extraordinary claim. The video is mainly based on NASA quotes taken out of context, and what appear to be videos and information from conspiracy theory websites. The crux of the argument is based on something Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, said during a hearing in April. These sorts of hearings are organized to educate the House Science Committee on the latest research in a particular field of study. During ...
Sorry, but Anonymous has no evidence that NASA has found alien life
27 Jun 2017, 12:42 UTC
In a new video, the hacker group known as Anonymous claims that NASA has discovered alien life. But before you freak out, let’s talk. For the record, most of us here at Popular Science would probably be thrilled if NASA found alien life. Sure, it would be a little frightening, but think of the new frontiers in science such a discovery would represent. It would teach us so much about the origins of life, evolution, and our place in the universe. Think of all the exciting headlines we could write, and the traffic it would bring to our website. We want this as much as you do, promise. Sadly, the group of activists and hacktivists doesn’t seem to have found any new evidence to support their extraordinary claim. The video is mainly based on NASA quotes taken out of context, and what appear to be videos and information from conspiracy theory websites. The crux of the argument is based on something Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, said during a hearing in April. These sorts of hearings are organized to educate the House Science Committee on the latest research in a particular field of study. During ...
Astro Bob
26 Jun 2017, 20:52 UTC
Just like that we have 219 new exoplanet candidates of which 10 are near-Earth size and orbiting in the habitable zone of their host suns. That’s the latest haul from the Kepler space telescope team. But it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to Kepler’s total planet haul after four years of peering at 156,000 stars in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra — 4,034 candidates of which 2,335 planets have been verified.
