Astrophysics News
- E.T. For Real: Cells From Red Rain Can Reproduce, May Be From "Out There" Wednesday, September 1, 2010 @ 3:21PMIn 2001 red-stained rain fell over India. It was mysterious. Scientists found oddly non-Earth-like cells in it. Controversy ensued. Now it's been revealed the cells can reproduce. Is E.T. already here? For two months in 2001, on and off, red-colored rain fell over Kerala, southern India. One of the many people who observed the phenomenon was physicist Godfrey Louis--he collected a sample to work ...
- The Race to Stellar Formation Wednesday, September 1, 2010 @ 3:10PMRacing is rarely the term that comes to mind when one considers astronomy. However, many events are a race to reach stability before a system flies apart or implodes. The formation of stars from gigantic interstellar clouds is just such a race in which stars struggle to form before the cloud is dispersed. Although a [...]
- Space telescope's new survey of outer galaxy helps Iowa State astronomers study stars Wednesday, September 1, 2010 @ 1:26PMTelescope is now taking aim at the outer reaches of the Milky Way and helping two Iowa State University astronomers advance their star studies.
- With new technique, UF astronomers find potassium in giant planet's atmosphere Wednesday, September 1, 2010 @ 1:25PMWith new technique, UF astronomers find potassium in giant planet's atmosphere
- 5 big-budget sci-fi films that actually got their science right Wednesday, September 1, 2010 @ 1:16PMPhil Plait is an astronomer and major sci-fi geek. He writes the Bad Astronomy Blog for Discover Magazine and is also the host of the Discovery Channel's science show "Phil Plait's Bad Universe." You can follow him on Twitter at @BadAstronomer . My old friends know better than to go see movies with me. Sure, I always yell at the screen when a movie spaceship make a "whooshing" noise when it ...
- Still No Earths, But Getting Closer Wednesday, September 1, 2010 @ 9:59AMTwo newly discovered planetary systems shed light on odds of forming terrestrial planets.
- Blog - The Extraordinary Tale of Red Rain, Comets and Extraterrestrials Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 11:24PMFor years, claims have circulated that red rain which fell in India in 2001, contained cells unlike any found on Earth. Now new evidence that these cells can reproduce is about to set the debate alive Panspermia is the idea that life exists throughout the universe in comets, asteroids and interstellar dust clouds and that life of Earth was seeded from one or more of these sources. Panspermia ...
- Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology to Upgrade Its Cray XT6m System to a Cray XE6 Supercomputer Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 3:06AMSEATTLE, WA and STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN--(Marketwire - August 31, 2010) - Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. ( NASDAQ : CRAY ) today announced that Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology (KTH: Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan) has signed a contract to upgrade its recently acquired Cray XT6m system to a new Cray XE6 supercomputer. KTH's PDC Center for High Performance Computing will use the more than 300 ...
- Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology to Upgrade Its Cray XT6m System to a Cray XE6 Supercomputer Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 3:05AMSEATTLE, WA and STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN--(Marketwire - 08/31/10) - Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY - News ) today announced that Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology (KTH: Kungliga Tekniska Hgskolan) has signed a contract to upgrade its recently acquired Cray XT6m system to a new Cray XE6 supercomputer. KTH's PDC Center for High Performance Computing will use the more than 300 ...
- The Sounds of Stars: Ringing Like a Bell Tuesday, August 31, 2010 @ 2:22AMQuestion: what is the sound of one star magnetically cycling? If it's the star affectionately known as HD 49933, it sounds for all the world like a bell ringing.
- Space Telescope's New Survey Of Outer Galaxy Helps Astronomers Study Stars Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 7:53PMby Staff Writers Ames IA (SPX) Aug 31, 2010 The Spitzer Space Telescope is now taking aim at the outer reaches of the Milky Way and helping two Iowa State University astronomers advance their star studies.
- TEACHER SPOTLIGHT Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 9:35AMHometown: Born and raised in Stevens Point, Wis.; Currently live in Big Lake. Degree(s) Earned: Masters of Science in Science Education, Montana State University, Bozeman, Mont.; Bachelor’s of Science in Science Education, UW-La Crosse.
- Life impossible without system of values: Taliaferro Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 8:39AMTEHRAN, Aug. 30 (MNA) – A professor of philosophy says “much of life would not be possible (markets, religions, families) without a system of values and a shared understanding of the meaning of our actions.”
- Distant Star's Sound Waves Reveal Cycle Similar to Sun Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 8:02AMStar known as HD49933 is located 100 light years away from Earth
- Space Telescope's New Survey of Outer Galaxy Helps Astronomers Study Stars Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 7:41AMIowa State University astronomers Massimo Marengo and Charles Kerton are now using the Spitzer Space Telescope to study stars in the outer regions of our Milky Way galaxy. Marengo studies big, cool-temperature stars and the dusty disks that form around them. Kerton is using Spitzer data to study star-forming regions of the galaxy.
- Space telescope's new survey of outer galaxy helps astronomers study stars Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 3:38AMThe Spitzer Space Telescope is now taking aim at the outer reaches of the Milky Way and helping two Iowa State University astronomers advance their star studies.
- Letters to the Editor Sunday, August 29, 2010 @ 10:47PMGlenn Beck, WTC mosque, Auburn dam
- Distant Star's Sound Waves Reveal Cycle Similar To Sun Sunday, August 29, 2010 @ 8:22PMby Staff Writers Washington DC (SPX) Aug 30, 2010 In a bid to unlock long-standing mysteries of the sun, including the impacts on Earth of its 11-year cycle, an international team of scientists has successfully probed a distant star.
- Murals Commemorate Space Shuttle Legacy Saturday, August 28, 2010 @ 2:25PMHuge murals of artwork commemorating three decades of historic explorations and scientific achievements by all five of America's Space Shuttle Orbiters now grace the Shuttle Firing Room inside the Launch Control Center at NASA KSC.
- Norman to head Supercomputer Center Saturday, August 28, 2010 @ 1:35PMMichael L. Norman has been named director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UCSD. A distinguished professor of physics at UCSD and a globally recognized computational astrophysicist, he had been SDSC's interim director since July 2009 and chief scientific officer of the supercomputer center since June 2008. Norman, a pioneer in using advanced computational methods to explore the ...
- What This Genius Can Teach You About Investing Saturday, August 28, 2010 @ 8:16AMFinding the Big Short.
- Lap dancers give and find satisfaction Saturday, August 28, 2010 @ 4:19AMLondon - The first academic research project on lap dancing has found that, rather than being uneducated women who have been forced to do it, one in four dancers has a degree and was attracted by the money.
- Money motive for educated lap-dancing women Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 5:16PMLONDON, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- English lap-dancing women are motivated by money and career choices and 25 percent have a degree, a study indicates. Lap dance - People - Women - Arts and Entertainment - Research
- Kepler find: scorching 'super Earth' could be smallest known exoplanet Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 2:13PMScientists said Thursday that they were confident the Kepler telescope had found a 'super Earth' exoplanet that orbits its star every 1.6 Earth days and is 1.5 times the size of Earth.
- Sizes for potentially dangerous asteroids Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 1:38PMNear Earth Objects (NEOs) are asteroids or comets whose orbits sometimes take them close to the earth's orbit. An NEO could therefore someday collide with the earth -- and there are almost 7000 of them known, with several times that many predicted to exist.
- Distant star's sound waves reveal cycle similar to the sun's Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 1:15PMIn a bid to unlock longstanding mysteries of the sun, including the impacts on Earth of its 11-year cycle, an international team of scientists has successfully probed a distant star. By monitoring the star's sound waves, the team has observed a magnetic cycle analogous to the sun's solar cycle.
- Water-Ice Super-Earths Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 12:38PMA "super-Earth" is a planet around another star (an "exoplanet") whose mass is less than about ten times that of the Earth. Of the 480 or so extrasolar planets now known, most have masses larger than the mass of Jupiter, which is 318 times more massive than the Earth. About two dozen, though, appear to have masses that put them into the super-Earth category. About 70 exoplanets have orbits that ...
- New solar system looks much like home Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 12:30PMThe newly discovered solar system may contain the largest number of planets ever found orbiting another star Astronomers have discovered a new solar system 127 light years away that is tantalisingly similar to our own. The team used observations from the European Southern Observatory (Eso) in Chile to find five Neptune-like planets orbiting a Sun-like star called HD 10180 . The planets are ...
- Noted astronomer steers starry-eyed crowd to skies Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 12:01PMThe goal is to make the invisible visible. “That’s what astronomers love, to see the rings of Saturn, or the highlands of the moon, or thousands of stars invisible to the unaided eye,” said Kevin Manning, astrophysicist and former NASA consultant.
- Tonight's the Night Mars Will Not Look as Big as the Full Moon Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 11:40AMI wasn't going to write an article about the Mars-Moon Hoax this year because I thought it was too passé, but I just looked at some stats and saw that our article on the topic from 2007, "Will Mars Look as Big as the Full Moon On August 27? Nope" has gotten over 50,000 hits [...]
- NASA scientists discover two giant planets Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 11:14AMNASA's Kepler spacecraft, whose powerful telescope is scanning the stars in the Milky Way, has discovered two giant planets with abruptly changing orbits around their star that could offer insights into the birth and history of solar systems everywhere in the... NASA - Milky Way - Solar System - Kepler Mission - Orbit
- Kepler telescope finds two planets – and a possible new use Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 4:44PMKepler, the NASA telescope launched in March 2009, used the 'transiting' method to find two Saturn-size planets orbiting a star in the constellation Lyra.
- Kepler space telescope finds pair of distant planets, NASA says Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 4:25PMTwo planets slightly smaller than Saturn have been discovered orbiting a distant star, a first for NASA's Kepler space telescope, whose mission is to look for signs of planets passing in front of stars, the space agency said Thursday.
- Cosmic Log: Planets spotted in changing orbits Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 3:26PMScience editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: The Kepler planet-hunting probe has spotted a system where two giant planets are locked in constantly changing orbits — with a super-Earth potentially pinned down in the crossfire.
- Astrophysics experiment touches down in Florida Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 3:20PMAn international particle physics experiment flew into the Kennedy Space Center on a U.S. Air Force cargo plane Thursday, reaching the mission's last stop on Earth before launching in February on a hunt for an anti-universe and dark matter.
- Particle detector heads for launch Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 3:18PMThe $1.5bn Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer arrives in Florida to make it ready for launch to the space station.
- NASA's Kepler mission discovers 2 planets transiting same star Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 3:01PM( Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics ) NASA's Kepler Mission has discovered the first confirmed planetary system with more than one planet transiting the same star.
- Kepler Spacecraft Finds New Planetary System Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 2:56PMNASA reported on Thursday that its Kepler spacecraft discovered a planetary system with two planets crossing in front of the same star. This is the first planetary system discovered with more than one planet transiting in front of the same star. The two planets were named Kepler-9b and 9c. The findings were published in Thursday's issue of the journal Science. Kepler's camera measures tiny ...
- NASA’s Kepler Telescope Finds What May Be an Earth-Size Planet Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 2:54PMNASA scientists said the body, 1.5 times the diameter of Earth, orbits a Sun-like star 2,000 light-years away.
- Kepler mission discovers two planets transiting same star Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 2:53PM(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Kepler spacecraft has discovered the first confirmed planetary system with more than one planet crossing in front of, or transiting, the same star.
- Planet Hunters Bag Systems With Super-Earths and Double Saturns Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 2:33PMThe planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft has discovered two Saturn-like planets orbiting a single star, astronomers announced Thursday. The new planetary system, which is the first in which both planets can be seen crossing in front of their star, may also contain an Earth-sized companion. The announcement came on the heels of another explosive exoplanet discovery: a system that contains up to seven ...
- When Galaxies Collide: How the First Super-Massive Black Holes Were Born Wednesday, August 25, 2010 @ 1:56PMAstronomers believe they have discovered the origin of our universe's first super-massive black holes, which formed some 13 billion years ago.
- NASA sponsors contest to pick astronauts' wake=up music Wednesday, August 25, 2010 @ 1:51PMCAPE CANAVERAL -- Now is your chance to help pick astronauts' wake-up music.NASA is holding a first-of-its-kind contest to select some songs that will rouse the crews of the final two shuttle flights. Normally, astronauts' family and friends choose the tunes.The space agency's Top 40 list is posted online. The two top vote-getters serve as wake-up calls during Discovery's November flight, which ...
- Supercomputer clue to black holes Wednesday, August 25, 2010 @ 1:33PMThe colossal black holes that reside in galaxies were probably formed shortly after the Big Bang, new research suggests.
- PMI Project of the Year Finalists to Share Insights, Best Practices at PMI® Global Congress 2010 - North America Wednesday, August 25, 2010 @ 9:00AMNEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Project management practitioners who are attending the PMI® Global Congress 2010 — North America, will have the opportunity to learn from some of the year's most successful projects at a panel discussion on Sunday, 10 October at 9:00 a.m. The panel, which will offer insights and best practices that attendees can implement within their own ...
- Astronomers spot Earth-sized planet outside solar system Wednesday, August 25, 2010 @ 8:44AMDiscovery part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that the universe is full of planets, many of which could be similar to our own
- Measuring the universe Wednesday, August 25, 2010 @ 8:23AMA unique antenna which could help unveil a new window on the universe by observing thousands of gravitational waves should be one of NASA's next space missions according to a group of leading US experts.
- Earth-sized planet found near sun-like star Wednesday, August 25, 2010 @ 7:57AMScientists say they've identified a sun-like star with as many as seven different planets, including one that might be the smallest ever found outside the solar system.
- Armed with their A-level results, our students are moving on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 @ 2:08AMA- and AS-results day was an anxious time for our students, but now they are ready to face the next challenge On A-level results day, I phone Rachael Spowage, one of the quartet of sixth-form students who agreed to let Guardian Education into their lives for a year. I'm greeted with a cross between a squeal and an excited-sounding "hello". I take it she has had good news – and she has. Rachael ...
- Cosmic Log: Smashing news about planets Tuesday, August 24, 2010 @ 8:50PMScience editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: The pace of planet discoveries beyond our own solar system is accelerating — but some of those discoveries just raise new puzzles.