Sunday, April 13, 2014

ScienceDaily: Astronomy News

ScienceDaily: Astronomy News


Faraway moon or faint star? Possible exomoon found

Posted: 12 Apr 2014 06:41 AM PDT

Titan, Europa, Io and Phobos are just a few members of our solar system's pantheon of moons. Are there are other moons out there, orbiting planets beyond our sun? Researchers have spotted the first signs of an "exomoon," and though they say it's impossible to confirm its presence, the finding is a tantalizing first step toward locating others. The discovery was made by watching a chance encounter of objects in our galaxy, which can be witnessed only once.

NASA's Hubble extends stellar tape measure 10 times farther into space

Posted: 11 Apr 2014 06:19 AM PDT

Astronomers now can precisely measure the distance of stars up to 10,000 light-years away -- 10 times farther than previously possible. Astronomers have developed yet another novel way to use the 24-year-old space telescope by employing a technique called spatial scanning, which dramatically improves Hubble's accuracy for making angular measurements. The technique, when applied to the age-old method for gauging distances called astronomical parallax, extends Hubble's tape measure 10 times farther into space.

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