Science Daily News - Astronomy

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Title: Astronomy

Probing exoplanets from the ground: A little telescope goes a long way

NASA astronomers have successfully demonstrated that a David of a telescope can tackle Goliath-size questions in the quest to study Earth-like planets around other stars. Their work provides a new tool for ground-based observatories, promising to accelerate by years the search for prebiotic, or life-related, molecules on planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system.

The Stars behind the Curtain

Astronomers have obtained a new image of the giant stellar nursery surrounding NGC 3603, in which stars are continuously being born. Embedded in this scenic nebula is one of the most luminous and most compact clusters of young, massive stars in our Milky Way, which therefore serves as an excellent “local” analogue of very active star-forming regions in other galaxies. The cluster also hosts the most massive star to be “weighed” so far.

NASA, GM take giant leap in robotic technology

Engineers and scientists from NASA and GM are working together to build a new humanoid robot capable of working side by side with people. Using leading edge control, sensor and vision technologies, future robots could assist astronauts during hazardous space missions and help GM build safer cars and plants.

Instruments to study space weather set for NASA launch

A $32 million instrument package set for launch Feb. 9 by NASA should help scientists better understand the violent effects of the sun on near-Earth space weather that can affect satellites, power grids, ground communications systems and even astronauts and aircraft crews.

Where did today's spiral galaxies come from?

Using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have created a demographic census of galaxy types and shapes from a time before the Earth and the sun existed, to the present day. The results show that more than half of the present-day spiral galaxies had peculiar shapes only six billion years ago, which, if confirmed, highlights the importance of collisions and mergers in the recent past of many galaxies. It also provides clues for the unique status of our own galaxy.

Madly mapping the universe

It takes special software to map the universe from noisy data. Scientists have developed a code called MADmap to do just that for the cosmic microwave background, then posted it on the web for other interested sky mappers. Scientists probing the sky with the PACS instrument aboard the Herschel satellite have adapted MADmap to make spectacular images of the infrared universe.

New Hubble maps of Pluto show surface changes

NASA has released the most detailed set of images ever taken of the distant dwarf planet Pluto. The images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show an icy and dark molasses-colored, mottled world that is undergoing seasonal changes in its surface color and brightness.

Merging galaxies create a binary quasar

Astronomers have found the first clear evidence of a binary quasar within a pair of actively merging galaxies. Binary quasars, like other quasars, are thought to be the product of galaxy mergers. Until now, however, binary quasars have not been seen in galaxies unambiguously in the act of merging. But images the Magellan telescope in Chile show two distinct galaxies with "tails" produced by their mutual gravitational attraction.

Astronomers find rare beast by new means

Astronomers have found an example of the rare type of supernova thought to produce Gamma Ray Bursts, but through radio, not gamma-ray, observations. The breakthrough, they say, will lead to discovering many more of these objects.

Reaching for the stars to create music of the universe

While a supernova can be seen, it can't be heard, as sound waves cannot travel through space. But what if the light waves emitted by the exploding star and other cosmological phenomena could be translated into sound? That's the idea behind a "Rhythms of the Universe," a musical project to "sonify" the universe by Grateful Dead percussionist and Grammy award-winning artist Mickey Hart that caught the attention of Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist George Smoot of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Hubble catches end of star-making party in nearby dwarf galaxy

Galaxies throughout the universe are ablaze with star birth. But for a nearby, small spiral galaxy, the star-making party is almost over. Astronomers were surprised to find that star-formation activities in the outer regions of NGC 2976 have been virtually asleep because they shut down millions of years ago. The celebration is confined to a few die-hard partygoers huddled in the galaxy's inner region.

Suspected asteroid collision leaves odd X-pattern of trailing debris

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has observed a mysterious X-shaped debris pattern and trailing streamers of dust that suggest a head-on collision between two asteroids. Astronomers have long thought the asteroid belt is being ground down through collisions, but such a smashup has never been seen before.

Astronomers discover coolest sub-stellar body outside our solar system

Astronomers have discovered what may be the coolest sub-stellar body ever found outside our own solar system.

Plasma experiments aboard International Space Station yielding better picture of liquids and solids

A series of experiments studying complex plasmas is taking place on board the international space station ISS. Physicists from Germany will use these experiments to study fundamental structure forming processes to better understand what happens in liquids and solids.

Levitating magnet may yield new approach to clean energy

A new experiment that reproduces the magnetic fields of the Earth and other planets has yielded its first significant results. The findings confirm that its unique approach has some potential to be developed as a new way of creating a power-producing plant based on nuclear fusion -- the process that generates the sun's prodigious output of energy.

NASA's Mars Rover Spirit Starts a New Chapter

After six years of unprecedented exploration of the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit no longer will be a fully mobile robot. NASA has designated the once-roving scientific explorer a stationary science platform after efforts during the past several months to free it from a sand trap have been unsuccessful.

Black hole hunters set new distance record

Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have detected, in another galaxy, a stellar-mass black hole much farther away than any other previously known. With a mass above fifteen times that of the Sun, this is also the second most massive stellar-mass black hole ever found. It is entwined with a star that will soon become a black hole itself.

Route 66: Cassini's next look at Saturn's moon Titan

Sixteen days after last visiting Saturn's largest moon, NASA's Cassini spacecraft returns for another look-see of the cloud-shrouded moon -- this time from on high. The flyby on Thursday, Jan. 28, referred to as "T-66" in the hollowed halls of Cassini operations, places the spacecraft within 7,490 kilometers (4,654 miles) above the surface during time of closest approach.

Auspicious orbit marks run-up to Phobos flyby

On 26 January, Mars Express completed its 7777th orbit around the Red Planet, an auspicious milestone as the satellite is readied for the closest-ever flyby of Phobos, scheduled for just a few weeks from now.

Student-built Rubik's Cube size satellite selected for flight by NASA

A tiny communications satellite designed and built by undergraduates has been selected to be launched into orbit in November as part of a NASA space education initiative.