Astronomy News and Research - October 2009 Archives

Blast from the past gives clues about early universe (10/31/2009)

Astronomers studied the most distant object yet seen in the Universe, a giant stellar blast from more than 13 billion years ago, and learned tantalizing facts about the blast itself and the environment of the star that exploded in the early Universe. ...> Full Article

Fermi telescope caps its first year with a glimpse of space-time (10/30/2009)

During its first year of operations, NASA's Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope mapped the extreme sky with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity. It captured more than one thousand discrete sources of gamma rays -- the highest-energy form of light. Capping these achievements was a measurement that provided rare experimental evidence about the very structure of space and time, unified as space-time in Einstein's theories. ...> Full Article

Asteroid Impactor Reported over Indonesia (10/29/2009)

On October 8, 2009 about 03:00 Greenwich time, an atmospheric fireball blast was observed and recorded over an island region of Indonesia. ...> Full Article

Scientists use world's fastest supercomputer to model origins of the unseen universe (10/27/2009)

The model is one of the largest simulations of the distribution of matter in the universe, and aims to look at galaxy-scale mass concentrations above and beyond quantities seen in state-of-the-art sky surveys. ...> Full Article

A long night falls over Saturn's rings (10/24/2009)

As Saturn's rings orbit the planet, a section is typically in the planet's shadow, experiencing a brief night lasting from 6 to 14 hours. However, once approximately every 15 years, night falls over the entire visible ring system for about four days. ...> Full Article

Galaxy cluster smashes distance record (10/23/2009)

The most distant galaxy cluster yet has been discovered by combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical and infrared telescopes. The cluster is located about 10.2 billion light years away, and is observed as it was when the universe was only about a quarter of its present age. ...> Full Article

Last visit home for ESA's comet chaser Rosetta (10/22/2009)

ESA's Rosetta comet chaser will swing by Earth on Nov. 13 to pick up orbital energy and begin the final leg of its 10-year journey to the outer Solar System. Several observations of the Earth-moon system are planned before the spacecraft heads out to study comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ...> Full Article

32 new exoplanets found (10/21/2009)

Today, the team who built HARPS, the spectrograph for ESO's 3.6-meter telescope, reports on the incredible discovery of some 32 new exoplanets, cementing HARPS's position as the world's foremost exoplanet hunter. This result also increases the number of known low-mass planets by an impressive 30 percent. Over the past five years HARPS has spotted more than 75 of the roughly 400 or so exoplanets now known. ...> Full Article

Meteorite from Sept. 25 fireball event recovered and presented (10/20/2009)

A meteorite the size of a golf ball, from a Sept. 25 fireball event has been recovered after a Grimsby, Ontario, family discovered what they thought was a vandal's rock on their car hood. The University of Western Ontario has been searching for meteorites since the event lit up the skies and was captured by a series of "all-sky" cameras of the university's Southern Ontario Meteor Network. The meteorite is estimated to be 4.6 billion years old. ...> Full Article

New concept may enhance Earth-Mars communication (10/19/2009)

Direct communication between Earth and Mars can be strongly disturbed and even blocked by the Sun for weeks at a time, cutting off any future human mission to the Red Planet. An ESA engineer working with engineers in the UK may have found a solution using a new type of orbit combined with continuous-thrust ion propulsion. ...> Full Article

First IBEX maps reveal fascinating interactions occurring at the edge of the solar system (10/18/2009)

The first all-sky maps developed by NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft, the first mission to examine the global interactions occurring at the edge of the solar system, reveal surprising and intense interactions between our home in the galaxy and interstellar space. ...> Full Article

How the Moon produces its own water (10/17/2009)

The Moon is a big sponge that absorbs electrically charged particles given out by the Sun. These particles interact with the oxygen present in some dust grains on the lunar surface, producing water. This discovery, made by the ESA-ISRO instrument SARA onboard the Indian Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter, confirms how water is likely being created on the lunar surface. ...> Full Article

The Milky Way's tiny but tough galactic neighbor (10/16/2009)

ESO announces the release of a stunning new image of one of our nearest galactic neighbors, Barnard's Galaxy, also known as NGC 6822. The galaxy contains regions of rich star formation and curious nebulae, such as the bubble clearly visible in the upper left of this remarkable vista. The strange shapes of these cosmic misfits help researchers understand how galaxies interact, evolve and occasionally "cannibalize" each other, leaving behind radiant, star-filled scraps. ...> Full Article

Space scientists help catch the interstellar wind (10/16/2009)

On Thursday, October 15, scientists and engineers from the University of New Hampshire's Space Science Center will celebrate the announcement of the first major results from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Interstellar Boundary Explorer mission, which will be published online Thursday in the journal Science in conjunction with a 2 p.m. press conference held at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. ...> Full Article

Study of first high-resolution images of Pallas confirms asteroid is actually a protoplanet (10/15/2009)

Pallas is in the gray area between a small asteroid and a planet, researchers report in Science. ...> Full Article

Sky merger yields sparkling dividends (10/14/2009)

A recent NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image captures what appears to be one very bright and bizarre galaxy, but is actually the result of a pair of spiral galaxies that resemble our own Milky Way smashing together at breakneck speeds. The product of this dramatic collision, called NGC 2623, or Arp 243, is about 250 million light-years away in the constellation of Cancer. ...> Full Article

Western astronomers capture spectacular meteor footage and images (10/11/2009)

Astronomers from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, have released footage of a meteor that was approximately 100 times brighter than a full moon. The meteor lit up the skies of southern Ontario two weeks ago and Western astronomers are now hoping to enlist the help of local residents in recovering one or more possible meteorites that may have crashed in the area of Grimsby, Ontario. ...> Full Article

A woman in space (10/10/2009)

In the early years of the "space race" (1957-1975) two men sought to test a scientifically simple yet culturally complicated theory: that women might be innately better suited for space travel than men. In 1960 the thought of a woman in space was a radical one, and justifiably so. On the ground 75 percent of American women did not work outside the home, and females were banned from military flight service altogether. ...> Full Article

Dirty stars make good solar system hosts (10/9/2009)

New research based on 3-D simulations explains why dirty stars -- those with a high abundance of heavy elements, or high metallicity -- tend to have accompanying solar systems. ...> Full Article

Herschel views deep-space pearls on a cosmic string (10/8/2009)

Herschel has delivered spectacular vistas of cold gas clouds lying near the plane of the Milky Way, revealing intense, unexpected activity. The dark, cool region is dotted with stellar factories, like pearls on a cosmic string. ...> Full Article

ORMatE returns to NRL after nearly 2 years in Earth orbit (10/7/2009)

Optical Reflector Material Experiment returns to NRL's Electronics Science and Technology Division after 18-month mission on-orbit the International Space Station. ...> Full Article

Laser technique has implications for detecting microbial life forms in Martian ice (10/6/2009)

An innovative technique called L.I.F.E. imaging used successfully to detect bacteria in frozen Antarctic lakes could have exciting implications for demonstrating signs of life in the polar regions of Mars, according to an article published in the current issue of Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert Inc. ...> Full Article

Heart of a galaxy emits gamma rays (10/6/2009)

The H.E.S.S. telescope system detects high-energy rays from the starburst region of a galactic system outside the Milky Way. ...> Full Article

Femtoseconds lasers help formation flying in space (10/5/2009)

The National Physical Laboratory has helped to establish that femtosecond comb lasers can provide accurate measurement of absolute distance in formation flying space missions. ...> Full Article

Cloudy with a chance of pebble showers (10/5/2009)

Tidally locked with its star and orbiting very close to it, the exoplanet Corot-7b is hot enough to melt rock on its star-facing side. Its atmosphere consists of the components of silicate rocks in gaseous form and, simulation suggests, periodically rains pebbles or grains of sand onto the molten surface below. ...> Full Article

First light for BOSS -- a new kind of search for dark energy (10/4/2009)

BOSS, the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, is the most ambitious attempt yet to map the expansion history of the Universe using the technique known as baryon acoustic oscillation. Part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III, BOSS achieved "first light" on the night of Sept. 14-15, when it acquired data with its upgraded spectrographic system across the entire focal plane of the Sloan Foundation telescope at Apache Point Observatory. ...> Full Article

World's most sensitive astronomical camera developed in Canada (10/3/2009)

A team of Universite de Montreal researchers, led by physics Ph.D. student Olivier Daigle, has developed the world's most sensitive astronomical camera. Marketed by Photon etc., a young Quebec firm, the camera will be used by the Mont-Megantic Observatory and NASA, which purchased the first unit. ...> Full Article

Stripped down: Hubble highlights 2 galaxies that are losing it (10/2/2009)

A newly released set of images, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope before the recent Servicing Mission, highlight the ongoing drama in two galaxies in the Virgo Cluster affected by a process known as "ram pressure stripping", which can result in peculiar-looking galaxies. An extremely hot X-ray emitting gas known as the intra-cluster medium lurks between galaxies within clusters. As galaxies move through this intra-cluster medium, strong winds rip through galaxies distorting their shape and even halting star formation. ...> Full Article

Space scientists set for final spacecraft flyby of Mercury (10/2/2009)

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, which is toting an $8.7 million University of Colorado at Boulder instrument, will make its third and final flyby of Mercury on Sept. 29 -- a clever gravity-assist maneuver that will steer it into orbit around the rocky planet beginning in March 2011. ...> Full Article

Cosmic rays hit space age high (10/1/2009)

Planning a trip to Mars? Take plenty of shielding. According to sensors on NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft, galactic cosmic rays have just hit a Space Age high. ...> Full Article