Saturday, February 22, 2014

ScienceDaily: Astronomy News

ScienceDaily: Astronomy News


Planet-sized space weather explosions at Venus

Posted: 20 Feb 2014 04:40 PM PST

Researchers recently discovered that a common space weather phenomenon on the outskirts of Earth's magnetic bubble, the magnetosphere, has much larger repercussions for Venus. The giant explosions, called hot flow anomalies, can be so large at Venus that they're bigger than the entire planet and they can happen multiple times a day.

Dark matter search: New calibration confirms LUX dark matter results

Posted: 20 Feb 2014 10:24 AM PST

A new calibration of the Large Underground Xenon dark matter detector brought a 10-fold increase in calibration accuracy, confirming findings announced last October from the instrument's first 90-day run. If low-mass 'WIMP' particles had passed through the detector, Large Underground Xenon would have found them. Dark matter is thought to account for about 80 percent of the mass of the universe. Though it has not yet been detected directly, its existence is a near certainty among physicists.

Astronomers find solar storms behave like supernovae

Posted: 20 Feb 2014 07:29 AM PST

Researchers have studied the behavior of the Sun's coronal mass ejections, explaining for the first time the details of how these huge eruptions behave as they fall back onto the Sun's surface. In the process, they have discovered that coronal mass ejections have a surprising twin in the depths of space: the tendrils of gas in the Crab Nebula, which lie 6500 light-years away and are millions of times larger.

Remote Antarctic telescope reveals gas cloud where stars are born

Posted: 20 Feb 2014 06:50 AM PST

Using a telescope installed at the driest place on earth -- Ridge A in Antarctica -- astronomers have identified a giant gas cloud in our galaxy which appears to be in an early stage of formation. Giant clouds of molecular gas are the birthplaces of stars. The newly discovered gas cloud is about 200 light years in extent and ten light years across, with a mass about 50,000 times that of our sun.

Rocks around the clock: Asteroids pound tiny star

Posted: 20 Feb 2014 06:50 AM PST

Scientists have found evidence that a tiny star called PSR J0738-4042 is being pounded by asteroids -- large lumps of rock from space. The environment around this star is especially harsh, full of radiation and violent winds of particles.

Space eye with 34 telescopes will investigate one million stars

Posted: 20 Feb 2014 05:32 AM PST

The exploration of planets around stars other than the Sun, known as extrasolar planets or 'exoplanets', is one of the most exciting topics of 21st century science. One of the key goals of this research is to discover and learn the properties of Earth-like worlds in the Sun's neighbourhood. The European Space Agency will do this in preparing a new space mission named PLATO.

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