Wednesday, February 26, 2014

ScienceDaily: Astronomy News

ScienceDaily: Astronomy News

Bullying black holes force galaxies to stay red and dead

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 10:43 AM PST

Astronomers have discovered massive elliptical galaxies in the nearby Universe containing plenty of cold gas, even though the galaxies fail to produce new stars. Comparison with other data suggests that, while hot gas cools down in these galaxies, stars do not form because jets from the central supermassive black hole heat or stir up the gas and prevent it from turning into stars. Giant elliptical galaxies are the most puzzling type of galaxy in the Universe.

Water detected in a planet outside our solar system

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:17 AM PST

Water has been detected in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system with a new technique that could help researchers to learn how many planets with water, like Earth, exist throughout the universe. The team of scientists that made the discovery detected the water in the atmosphere of a planet as massive as Jupiter that is orbiting the nearby star tau Boötis.

Rare form of nitrogen detected in comet ISON

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:11 AM PST

Astronomers observed the Comet ISON during its bright outburst in the middle of November 2013. Subaru Telescope's High Dispersion Spectrograph has detected two rare forms of nitrogen in the comet ISON. Their results support the hypothesis that there were two distinct reservoirs of nitrogen the massive, dense cloud ("solar nebula") from which our Solar System may have formed and evolved.

Astronomers spot record-breaking lunar impact

Posted: 24 Feb 2014 05:10 AM PST

A meteorite with the mass of a small car crashed into the Moon last September, according to Spanish astronomers. The impact, the biggest seen to date, produced a bright flash and would have been easy to spot from Earth.

Smart SPHERES are about to get a whole lot smarter

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:35 PM PST

Smart devices -- such as tablets and phones -- increasingly are an essential part of everyday life on Earth. The same can be said for life off-planet aboard the International Space Station. Our reliance on these mobile and social technologies means equipment and software upgrades are an everyday occurrence -- like buying a new pair of shoes to replace a pair of well-worn ones. That's why the Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. is working to upgrade the smartphones currently equipped on a trio of volleyball-sized free-flying satellites on the space station called Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES).
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