Space and astronomy news
Image credit: ESO The European Southern Observatory has released new images of a relatively nearby star, Eta Carina, which could be in the final stages of its life and could explode as a supernova in the near future (astronomically-speaking) – within the next 10-20,000 years or so. The star is 7,500 light years away, 100 …
Image credit: NASA/JPL NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft has revealed new features on Mars that look like ancient river deltas. This discovery might help answer the mystery of how long water flowed on the surface of the Red Planet. The shape of this formation suggests that a river flowed into a body of water for …
Image credit: NASA Until recently, astronomers thought that nearly two-thirds of gamma ray bursts – the most powerful known explosions in the Universe – don’t seem to leave an afterglow. It turns out, they just weren’t looking quickly enough. Gamma-ray bursts explode suddenly, last for only a few fractions of a second and then disappear. …
Continue reading “You’ve Got to Be Fast to Spot Burst Afterglows”
Image credit: RSA An unmanned Progress 12 supply ship launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to deliver a new cargo of 2.7 tonnes of food, fuel and water to the International Space Station. The Progress lifted off at 0148 GMT Friday (9:48 pm EDT Thursday) and reached orbit 10 minutes later. The station’s previous …
Continue reading “Progress Supply Ship Launches for the Station”
Image credit: Hubble A new article published in the journal Nature helps settle a long-time mystery about some of the earliest solid particles in the Universe. By measuring supernova remnant Cassiopeia A with the very precise SCUBA telescope, astronomers were able to detect enormous quantities of cosmic dust below -257 degrees Celsius. Hot dust had …
Continue reading “Supernovae Produce Dust More Efficiently Than Previously Thought”
Image credit: Hubble The Hubble Space Telescope was recently used to identify the oldest extrasolar planet ever discovered. The 2.5 Jupiter mass planet was originally discovered around a pulsar in the globular cluster M4 way back in 1988; astronomers detected a regular dimming of the pulsar’s radio wave emissions. By using Hubble, astronomers were better …
Continue reading “Hubble Identifies the Oldest Known Planet”
Image credit: Energia An unmanned Russian Progress 11 cargo ship lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sunday, carrying more than two tonnes of food, fuel, water, supplies, and scientific equipment for the International Space Station. The Progress launched at 1043 GMT (6:34am EDT) and then reached orbit nine minutes later. It’s expected to reach …
Continue reading “Progress Launches to Resupply Space Station”
Image credit: NASA The Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from Cape Canaveral yesterday, carrying the first Israeli astronaut and six crewmates on a scientific mission. Columbia blasted off at 1539 GMT (10:39 am EST) and reached orbit 9 minutes later. The astronauts have a total of 80 experiments to perform over the next 16 days. …
Image credit: ESO A team of astronomers have spotted an otherwise normal star make a close pass with the supermassive black hole that lurks at the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy. At its closest approach, the star was only 17 light-hours away from the black hole (three times the distance of the Sun to …
Image credit: NASA With the weather finally on side for NASA, the space shuttle Endeavour blasted off Wednesday afternoon from Florida’s Cape Canaveral. The shuttle launched at 2122 GMT (5:22 EDT) carrying the crew of Expedition 5 into orbit, bound for the International Space Station. Endeavour will dock with the station on Friday and relieve …