Astronomy News and Research - January 2009 Archives

Astronauts on International Space Station lose alarming amounts of hipbone strength (1/31/2009)

UCI study reveals greater rate of bone deterioration than previously thought ...> Full Article

Astronomers get a sizzling weather report from a distant planet (1/30/2009)

Measurements allow UCSC team to create realistic images of an extrasolar planet ...> Full Article

Professor conducts cosmic ray acceleration research (1/29/2009)

Ming Zhang, Ph.D., Florida Institute of Technology professor of physics and space sciences, has received a three-year, $434,000 NASA grant to study the outer heliosphere. The heliosphere is a "bubble" in the interstellar medium filled with magnetized plasma primarily emanating from the sun. ...> Full Article

Helium rains inside jovian planets (1/28/2009)

Models of how Saturn and Jupiter formed may soon take on a different look. By determining the properties of hydrogen-helium mixtures at the millions of atmospheres of pressure present in the interior of Saturn and Jupiter, physicists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have determined the temperature at a given pressure when helium becomes insoluble in dense metallic hydrogen. ...> Full Article

New understanding of the origin of galaxies advanced (1/26/2009)

A new theory as to how galaxies were formed in the Universe billions of years ago has been formulated by Hebrew University of Jerusalem cosmologists. The theory takes issue with the prevailing view on how the galaxies came to exist. ...> Full Article

C1XS catches first glimpse of X-ray from the moon (1/26/2009)

The C1XS X-ray camera, jointly developed by the UK's STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the Indian Space Research Organization, has successfully detected its first X-ray signature from the moon. This is the first step in its mission to reveal the origin and evolution of our moon by mapping its surface composition. ...> Full Article

Transit search finds Super-Neptune (1/25/2009)

Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have discovered a planet somewhat larger and more massive than Neptune orbiting a star 120 light-years from Earth. While Neptune has a diameter 3.8 times that of Earth and a mass 17 times Earth's, the new world (named HAT-P-11b) is 4.7 times the size of Earth and has 25 Earth masses. ...> Full Article

Severe Space Weather - Social and Economic Impacts (1/25/2009)

Did you know a solar flare can make your toilet stop working? ...> Full Article

Scientists glean new insights into convection in planets and stars (1/25/2009)

Researchers built novel device to chart heat transfer in rotational systems ...> Full Article

Frantic activity revealed in dusty stellar factories (1/24/2009)

Thanks to the Very Large Telescope's acute and powerful near-infrared eye, astronomers have uncovered a host of new young, massive and dusty stellar nurseries in nearby galaxy NGC 253. The centre of this galaxy appears to harbor a twin of our own Milky Way's supermassive black hole. ...> Full Article

Supermassive black holes not guilty of shutting down star formation (1/24/2009)

A team of Yale University astronomers has discovered that galaxies stop forming stars long before their central supermassive black holes reach their most powerful stage, meaning the black holes can't be responsible for shutting down star formation. ...> Full Article

Team detects dust around a primitive star, shedding new light on universe's origins (1/23/2009)

A Cornell-led team of astronomers has observed dust forming around a dying star in a nearby galaxy, giving a glimpse into the early universe and enlivening a debate about the origins of all cosmic dust. ...> Full Article

IBEX collecting science data, building first all-sky map of the edge of the solar system (1/22/2009)

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Scientists solve longstanding astronomy mystery (1/21/2009)

New research by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of California, Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley has shown how a massive star can grow despite outward-flowing radiation pressure that exceeds the gravitational force pulling material inward. The study appears in the Jan. 15 online edition of Science Express. ...> Full Article

New study resolves mystery of how massive stars form (1/21/2009)

Theorists have long wondered how massive stars -- up to 120 times the mass of the sun -- can form without blowing away the clouds of gas and dust that feed their growth. But the problem turns out to be less mysterious than it once seemed. A study published this week by Science shows how the growth of a massive star can proceed despite outward-flowing radiation pressure that exceeds the gravitational force pulling material inward. ...> Full Article

Astronomers find dust around a primitive star (1/20/2009)

Astronomers have found evidence to suggest that during the early stages of the Universe, cosmic dust -- the building block for the formation of planets and life throughout the cosmos -- was partially created by the gradual death of carbon stars, dispelling theories that it comes solely from stars that have exploded. They observed dust forming around a dying star in a nearby galaxy, similar to the primitive galaxies that formed soon after the big bang, giving them a fascinating glimpse back in time. ...> Full Article

Discovery of methane reveals Mars is not a dead planet (1/19/2009)

A team of NASA and university scientists has achieved the first definitive detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars. This discovery indicates the planet is either biologically or geologically active. ...> Full Article

Exoplanet atmospheres detected from earth (1/18/2009)

Two independent groups have simultaneously made the first-ever ground-based detection of extrasolar planets thermal emissions. Until now, virtually everything known about atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars in the Milky Way has come from space-based observations. These new results open a new frontier to studying these alien worlds and are especially critical because the major space-based workhorse to these studies, the Spitzer telescope, will soon run out of cryogens, highly limiting its capabilities. ...> Full Article

XMM-Newton measures speedy spin of rare celestial object (1/17/2009)

XMM-Newton has caught the fading glow of a tiny celestial object, revealing its rotation rate for the first time. The new information confirms this particular object as one of an extremely rare class of stellar zombie - each one the dead heart of a star that refuses to die. ...> Full Article

'Stellar cannibalism' is key to formation of overweight stars (1/16/2009)

Researchers have discovered that the mysterious overweight stars known as blue stragglers are the result of "stellar cannibalism" where plasma is gradually pulled from one star to another to form a massive, unusually hot star that appears younger than it is. ...> Full Article

Astronomers help exploded star come alive across time and space (1/15/2009)

University of Minnesota astronomers led an international team of researchers who have developed a new three-dimensional visualization of the famous Cassiopeia A supernova remnant that gives astrophysicists new clues about how exploding stars form new stars and solar systems. ...> Full Article

Proposals selected for NASA moon initiative (1/14/2009)

The University of Colorado at Boulder was awarded two grants totaling $11 million today from NASA's Lunar Science Institute to probe the cosmos from observatories on the moon and to conduct science and safety investigations on the dusty lunar surface and its atmosphere. ...> Full Article

Astronomers discover new radio signal using large balloon (1/14/2009)

A team of NASA-funded scientists, including two from UC Santa Barbara, have discovered cosmic radio noise that they find completely unexpected and exciting. ...> Full Article

Martian rock arrangement not alien handiwork (1/13/2009)

A new study published in the journal Geology explains how pebble-sized rocks organize themselves in evenly spaced patterns in sand. ...> Full Article

NASA's Swift shows active galaxies are different near and far (1/13/2009)

An ongoing X-ray survey undertaken by NASA's Swift spacecraft is revealing differences between nearby active galaxies and those located about halfway across the universe. Understanding these differences will help clarify the relationship between a galaxy and its central black hole. ...> Full Article

How Martian winds make rocks walk (1/12/2009)

Rocks on Mars are on the move, rolling into the wind and forming organized patterns, according to new research. Small rocks seen in images from the Spirit Rover end up evenly spaced across the landscape because of wind-caused erosion and deposition. This counters the previous idea that extremely high winds carried or pushed the rocks. ...> Full Article

Black holes lead galaxy growth, new research shows (1/12/2009)

Peering deep into the early universe, astronomers may have solved a longstanding cosmic chicken-and-egg problem -- which forms first -- galaxies or the black holes at their cores? ...> Full Article

Gamma-ray burst offers first peek at a young galaxy's star factory (1/11/2009)

Astronomers combining data from NASA's Swift satellite, the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, and other facilities have, for the first time, identified gas molecules in the host galaxy of a gamma-ray burst. ...> Full Article

Astronomers use gamma-ray burst to probe star formation in the early universe (1/11/2009)

The brilliant afterglow of a powerful gamma-ray burst (GRB) has enabled astronomers to probe the star-forming environment of a distant galaxy, resulting in the first detection of molecular gas in a GRB host galaxy. By analyzing the spectrum of light emitted in the GRB afterglow, the researchers are gleaning insights into an active stellar nursery in a galaxy so far away it appears as it was 10 billion years ago. ...> Full Article

Scientists publish first ever evidence of asteroids with earth-like crust (1/10/2009)

Findings are latest discovery from Maryland's Geo-Detectives ...> Full Article

Stars forming just beyond black hole's grasp at galactic center (1/10/2009)

The center of the Milky Way presents astronomers with a paradox: It holds young stars, but no one is sure how those stars got there. The galactic center is wracked with powerful gravitational tides stirred by a 4 million solar-mass black hole. Those tides should rip apart molecular clouds that act as stellar nurseries, preventing stars from forming in place. Yet the alternative -- stars falling inward after forming elsewhere -- should be a rare occurrence. ...> Full Article

NASA's Fermi telescope unveils a dozen new pulsars (1/9/2009)

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has discovered 12 new gamma-ray-only pulsars and has detected gamma-ray pulses from 18 others. The finds are transforming our understanding of how these stellar cinders work. ...> Full Article

Baby Jupiters must gain weight fast (1/9/2009)

The planet Jupiter gained weight in a hurry during its infancy. It had to, since the material from which it formed probably disappeared in just a few million years, according to a new study of planet formation around young stars. ...> Full Article

Astrophysicist helps map the Milky Way's 4 spiral arms (1/9/2009)

Martin Pohl, an Iowa State University associate professor of physics and astronomy, is part of a research team that developed the first complete map of the Milky Way galaxy's spiral arms. The map shows two prominent, symmetric spiral arms in the inner part of the galaxy. The arms extend into the outer galaxy where they branch into four spiral arms. ...> Full Article

Jupiter-like planets could form around twin suns (1/8/2009)

Carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide found in gas cloud orbiting V4046 Sgr ...> Full Article

Milky Way a swifter spinner, more massive, new measurements show (1/7/2009)

Our home galaxy is rotating faster, has more mass than previously thought ...> Full Article

Zeroing in on Hubble's constant (1/6/2009)

The rate at which the universe is expanding, a value known as the Hubble constant, has been hotly debated for the last 80 years. Now the director of the Carnegie Observatories, Wendy Freedman, will lead a team who will slash the uncertainty of this value to just three percent via the new Carnegie Hubble Program using NASA's space-based Spitzer telescope. ...> Full Article

New visualization techniques yield star formation insights (1/1/2009)

Gravity plays larger role than thought ...> Full Article