The supermassive black holes thought to be lurking at the heart of most galaxies could create such a hostile environment around them that they prevent the formation of new stars. This is according to new research assisted by NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). The space-based telescope observed more than 800 galaxies, and found that the larger galaxies had fewer young stars. Astronomers believe that jets blasting out of supermassive black holes could clear out gas and dust; potential star forming material.
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Sea Launch Lofts Koreasat 5
A Zenit-3SL vehicle blasted off Tuesday morning from the Sea Launch facility, carrying a Koreasat 5 telecommunications satellite into orbit. The launch occurred at 0327 GMT (11:27pm EDT, Aug 21), and the spacecraft was placed successfully into a geosynchronous transfer orbit about an hour later. The satellite will operate at 113 degrees east, and provide both commercial and military communications services.
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Star Formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud
This photograph is of an active star formation region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. This region is referred to as N 180B, and contains some of the brightest star clusters ever discovered. Some of the hottest stars here can be a million times brighter than our own Sun. These stars vent out powerful stellar winds that clear out nearby material and cause interstellar gas to ionize and glow.
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New Crew Exploration Vehicle Named Orion
NASA officially announced today that the crew exploration vehicle will be named Orion. This is the new capsule that will first take astronauts to the International Space Station by 2014, and fly to the Moon by 2020. The agency also recently renamed the crew launch rocket Ares, and the larger cargo rocket Ares V. Orion will be capable of carrying 6 astronauts to the space station, or 4 astronauts to the Moon.
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Book Review: Simple Stargazing
Learning the night sky is pretty intimidating. With enough desire and perseverance it’s achievable, even though thousands of individual stars glitter away. Trying to install that desire and knowledge into the younger crowd is even tougher. Anton Vamplew with his book Simple Stargazing provides a significant aid for just this. With a knack for detail and minimal complications, he cuts the intimidation and adds lots of fun to boot.
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What’s Up this Week: August 21 – August 27, 2006
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! The night is alive this week with everything from bright planets to the first sliver of the returning Moon. This is a great time to explore with binoculars or get out your telescope to pick up some challenging studies. So turn your eyes to the skies, because…
Here’s what’s up!
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NASA Invests in SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler
NASA has announced a $500 million investment in two aerospace companies: SpaceX and Rocketplane-Kistler to help develop vehicles capable of resupplying the International Space Station after the Space Shuttle is retired. The funding is split between the two companies, and requires them to meet a series of milestones as they develop their vehicles between now and the end of the decade. 20 companies originally submitted proposals to win the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program contact.
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Galaxy Collision Separates Out the Dark Matter
There’s more dark matter than regular matter in the Universe, and they’re normally all mixed up together in galaxies. But astronomers using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have found a situation where dark matter and normal matter can be wrenched apart. In a collision between giant galaxy clusters, hot gas clouds in the clusters encounter friction as they pass through one another, separating them from the stars. The dark matter isn’t affected by this friction either, so astronomers were able to calculate the effect of its gravity on regular matter.
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Linking the Formation of the Earth and Moon
Did the Earth capture the Moon with its gravity, did they form together in the early Solar System, or did the Moon form when a Mars-sized object smashed into the Earth. New data from ESA’s SMART-1 spacecraft has turned up deposits of calcium on the lunar surface. By measuring these minerals, as well as aluminium, magnesium and silicon, scientists can better map out the composition of the Moon, and predict what kind of impact might have happened.
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Hidden Stores of Deuterium Discovered in the Milky Way
A six year study by NASA’s Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, or FUSE, satellite has turned up previously hidden quantities of deuterium – a heavier isotope of hydrogen. Astronomers have wondered for years why the levels of deuterium in the Milky Way vary across the galaxy. FUSE has found that deuterium tends to bind to interstellar grains of dust, hiding it from view. Extreme events, like supernovae shockwaves, can vapourize the grains of dust, freeing the deuterium, and making it visible.
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