Space In The News: October 2014

Friday, October 31, 2014

ScienceDaily: Galaxies News

Hubble sees 'ghost light' from dead galaxies
When did galaxies settle down?
Planck 2013 results: Special feature describes data gathered over 15 months of observations

Hubble sees 'ghost light' from dead galaxies

Posted: 30 Oct 2014 10:29 AM PDT

The universe is an infinite sea of galaxies, which are majestic star-cities. When galaxies group together in massive clusters, some of them can be ripped apart by the gravitational tug of other galaxies. Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope to probe the massive galaxy cluster Abell 2744 — nicknamed Pandora's Cluster — have found forensic evidence of galaxies torn apart long ago. It's in the form of a phantom-like faint glow filling the space between the galaxies. This glow comes from stars scattered into intergalactic space as a result of a galaxy's disintegration.

When did galaxies settle down?

Posted: 30 Oct 2014 07:12 AM PDT

Astronomers have long sought to understand exactly how the universe evolved from its earliest history to the cosmos we see around us in the present day. In particular, the way that galaxies form and develop is still a matter for debate. Now a group of researchers have used the collective efforts of the hundreds of thousands of people that volunteer for the Galaxy Zoo project to shed some light on this problem. They find that galaxies may have settled into their current form some two billion years earlier than previously thought.

Planck 2013 results: Special feature describes data gathered over 15 months of observations

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 06:54 AM PDT

Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing a special feature of 31 articles describing the data gathered by Planck over 15 months of observations and released by ESA and the Planck Collaboration in March 2013. This series of papers presents the initial scientific results extracted from this first Planck dataset.

ScienceDaily: Extrasolar Planets News

Planet-forming lifeline discovered in a binary star system

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 11:12 AM PDT

Scientists have detected a streamer of dust and gas flowing from a massive outer disk toward the inner reaches of a binary star system. This never-before-seen feature may be responsible for sustaining a second, smaller disk of planet-forming material that otherwise would have disappeared long ago.

ScienceDaily: Stars News

Planet-forming lifeline discovered in a binary star system

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 11:12 AM PDT

ScienceDaily: Cosmic Rays News

Planck 2013 results: Special feature describes data gathered over 15 months of observations

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 06:54 AM PDT

Thursday, October 30, 2014

ScienceDaily: Cosmic Rays News

Laser experiments mimic cosmic explosions and planetary cores

Posted: 28 Oct 2014 09:26 AM PDT

Researchers are finding ways to understand some of the mysteries of space without leaving earth. Using high-intensity lasers focused on targets smaller than a pencil's eraser, they conducted experiments to create colliding jets of plasma knotted by plasma filaments and self-generated magnetic fields, reaching pressures a billion times higher than seen on earth.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

ScienceDaily: Cosmic Rays News

Tremendously bright pulsar may be one of many

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 07:04 AM PDT

A newly found pulsar, the brightest ever seen, raises questions about a mysterious category of cosmic objects called ultraluminous X-ray sources. A member of the team that announced the discovery now discusses the likelihood of additional ultra-bright pulsars and considers how astrophysicists will align this new find with their understanding of how pulsars work.

ScienceDaily: Stars News

Tremendously bright pulsar may be one of many

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 07:04 AM PDT

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

ScienceDaily: Stars News

Astronomers image the exploding fireball stage of a nova

Posted: 26 Oct 2014 04:50 PM PDT

Astronomers have observed the expanding thermonuclear fireball from a nova that erupted last year in the constellation Delphinus with unprecedented clarity.

Monday, October 27, 2014

ScienceDaily: Cosmic Rays News

Hinode satellite captures X-ray footage of solar eclipse

Posted: 25 Oct 2014 12:27 PM PDT

The moon passed between the Earth and the sun on Thursday, Oct. 23. While avid stargazers in North America looked up to watch the spectacle, the best vantage point was several hundred miles above the North Pole. The Hinode spacecraft was in the right place at the right time to catch the solar eclipse. What's more, because of its vantage point Hinode witnessed a 'ring of fire' or annular eclipse.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

ScienceDaily: Galaxies News

Galactic wheel of life shines in infrared

Posted: 24 Oct 2014 04:51 PM PDT

It might look like a spoked wheel or even a "Chakram" weapon wielded by warriors like "Xena," from the fictional TV show, but this ringed galaxy is actually a vast place of stellar life. A newly released image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the galaxy NGC 1291. Though the galaxy is quite old, roughly 12 billion years, it is marked by an unusual ring where newborn stars are igniting.

ScienceDaily: Stars News

NASA's Fermi satellite finds hints of starquakes in magnetar 'storm'

Posted: 24 Oct 2014 05:02 PM PDT

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a rapid-fire "storm" of high-energy blasts from a highly magnetized neutron star, also called a magnetar, on Jan. 22, 2009. Now astronomers analyzing this data have discovered underlying signals related to seismic waves rippling throughout the magnetar.

Galactic wheel of life shines in infrared

Posted: 24 Oct 2014 04:51 PM PDT

ScienceDaily: Cosmic Rays News

NASA's Fermi satellite finds hints of starquakes in magnetar 'storm'

Posted: 24 Oct 2014 05:02 PM PDT

Illusions in the cosmic clouds: New image of spinning neutron star

Posted: 24 Oct 2014 04:59 PM PDT

Pareidolia is the psychological phenomenon where people see recognizable shapes in clouds, rock formations, or otherwise unrelated objects or data. There are many examples of this phenomenon on Earth and in space.

ScienceDaily: Nebulae News

Illusions in the cosmic clouds: New image of spinning neutron star

Posted: 24 Oct 2014 04:59 PM PDT

Saturday, October 25, 2014

ScienceDaily: Cosmic Rays News

Understanding and predicting solar flares

Posted: 23 Oct 2014 10:16 AM PDT

Scientists have identified a key phenomenon in the triggering of solar flares. Using satellite data and models, the scientists were able to monitor the evolution of the solar magnetic field in a region with eruptive behavior. Their calculations reveal the formation of a magnetic rope1 that emerges from the interior of the Sun and is associated with the appearance of a sunspot. They show that this structure plays an important role in triggering the flare.

Friday, October 24, 2014

ScienceDaily: Stars News

Lucky star escapes black hole with minor damage: Closest near-miss event to be spotted near the Milky Way

Posted: 23 Oct 2014 08:08 AM PDT

Astronomers have gotten the closest look yet at what happens when a black hole takes a bite out of a star—and the star lives to tell the tale.

ScienceDaily: Galaxies News

Lucky star escapes black hole with minor damage: Closest near-miss event to be spotted near the Milky Way

Posted: 23 Oct 2014 08:08 AM PDT

Astronomers have gotten the closest look yet at what happens when a black hole takes a bite out of a star—and the star lives to tell the tale.

ScienceDaily: Black Holes News

Lucky star escapes black hole with minor damage: Closest near-miss event to be spotted near the Milky Way

Posted: 23 Oct 2014 08:08 AM PDT

Astronomers have gotten the closest look yet at what happens when a black hole takes a bite out of a star—and the star lives to tell the tale.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

ScienceDaily: Stars News

Two families of comets found around nearby star: Biggest census ever of exocomets around beta pictoris

Posted: 22 Oct 2014 10:06 AM PDT

The HARPS instrument at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile has been used to make the most complete census of comets around another star ever created. Astronomers have studied nearly 500 individual comets orbiting the star Beta Pictoris and has discovered that they belong to two distinct families of exocomets: old exocomets that have made multiple passages near the star, and younger exocomets that probably came from the recent breakup of one or more larger objects.

ScienceDaily: Extrasolar Planets News

Two families of comets found around nearby star: Biggest census ever of exocomets around beta pictoris

Posted: 22 Oct 2014 10:06 AM PDT

ScienceDaily: Galaxies News

New window on the early Universe

Posted: 22 Oct 2014 05:43 AM PDT

Scientists see good times approaching for astrophysicists after hatching a new observational strategy to distill detailed information from galaxies at the edge of the Universe. Using two world-class supercomputers, the researchers were able to demonstrate the effectiveness of their approach by simulating the formation of a massive galaxy at the dawn of cosmic time. The ALMA radio telescope – which stands at an elevation of 5,000 meters in the Atacama Desert of Chile, one of the driest places on earth – was then used to forge observations of the galaxy, showing how their method improves upon previous efforts.

ScienceDaily: Cosmic Rays News

New window on the early Universe

Posted: 22 Oct 2014 05:43 AM PDT

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

ScienceDaily: Galaxies News

Big black holes can block new stars

Posted: 21 Oct 2014 08:07 AM PDT

Massive black holes spewing out radio-frequency-emitting particles at near-light speed can block formation of new stars in aging galaxies, a study has found.

ScienceDaily: Stars News

Big black holes can block new stars

Posted: 21 Oct 2014 08:07 AM PDT

Massive black holes spewing out radio-frequency-emitting particles at near-light speed can block formation of new stars in aging galaxies, a study has found.