A study of supernova remnants – material blown out into space during death throes of giant stars – has shown that a bubble of gas enveloping our Solar System is being shoved backwards by the debris of another, more recent, supernova.

Over the last few million years, several stars have exploded within the Milky Way and they have left behind bubbles of expanding, hot gas that radiate low-energy X-rays. The Solar System sits within one of these shells, known as the “Local Hot Bubble

Astronomers at Liverpool John Moores University may have solved the mystery of how spiral galaxies in clusters are transformed over time into smooth disks. Results from a study of galaxy clusters confirms that the slow-motion conditions needed for the transformation are occurring among populations of galaxies falling towards the cluster centre.

Over the past several billion years the predominant shape of disc galaxies in clusters has changed from a spiral to a smooth disk. Theor

First results from the Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey (AGES) suggest the discovery of a new dark galaxy. The AGES survey, which started in January 2006, is the most sensitive, large-scale survey of neutral hydrogen to date. Neutral hydrogen is found in most galaxies and it is a key tool in the search for dark galaxies as it can be detected even when there are no stars or other radiation sources to “shine a light” on matter.

The new candidate dark galaxy is located near NGC1156, an appar

A study of the Universe’s most massive galaxy clusters has shown that mergers play a vital role in their evolution.

Astronomers at Oxford University and the Gemini Observatory used a combination of data from the twin Gemini Telescopes, located in Hawaii and Chile, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to study populations of stars in the Universe’s most massive galaxy clusters over a range of epochs – the earliest being half the age of the Universe. The HST images were used to map

A team of researchers from EPFL, (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), the University of Lausanne, Northwestern University and Tel Aviv University bring biology and statistical physics together to answer the question of how molecular chaperones fold, unfold and pull proteins around in the cell. Their results appear the week of April 3 in the advance online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A series of discussions in a campus café in Lausanne has blossomed

The offered invention comprises a novel method, termed “Drug Rescue”, which permits the generation of biologically active compounds enabled through a patented…

The rings around all the giant planets in our Solar System are thought to be stabilised by small ‘shepherd moons’ that orbit in or near the rings and stabilize them by gravitational influences.

The narrow F ring of Saturn – which lies just outside the spectacular main rings – is tended by two small shepherds. Prometheus (100 km in diameter) orbits just inside the F ring, while Pandora (85 km in diameter) moves around Saturn just outside the F ring.

Images from Saturn

Over the weekend of 9-10 July 2005 a team of UK and US scientists, led by Dr. Dick Willingale of the University of Leicester, used NASA’s Swift satellite to observe the collision of NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft with comet Tempel 1.

Reporting today (Tuesday) at the UK 2006 National Astronomy Meeting in Leicester, Dr. Willingale revealed that the Swift observations show that the comet grew brighter and brighter in X-ray light after the impact, with the X-ray outburst lasting a total o

Astronomers based at Jodrell Bank Observatory have discovered a giant bridge of methyl alcohol, spanning approximately 288 billion miles, wrapped around a stellar nursery. The gas cloud could help our understanding of how the most massive stars in our galaxy are formed.

The new observations were taken with the UK’s MERLIN radio telescopes, which have recently been upgraded. The team studied an area called W3(OH), a region in our galaxy where stars are being formed by the gravitat

Studies of Jupiter’s auroras by scientists from the University of Leicester have challenged current theories about the processes controlling the biggest light-shows in the Solar System.

The scientists compared a series of ultraviolet images of Jupiter’s auroras taken by the Hubble Space Telescope with simultaneous measurements taken by Cassini showing conditions in the solar wind as the spacecraft flew past the giant planet in December 2000 – January 2001. They found that the

The European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory has already been a spectacular success in many areas of astronomy – detecting distant clusters of galaxies, the faint afterglow of enigmatic gamma ray bursts and the effects of the collision of the Deep Impact probe with comet Tempel-1.

Now an innovative new approach analyses X-rays detected during the times that the satellite manoeuvres between targets – originally considered to be unusable periods – to reveal some 4,000 i

If a large asteroid such as the recently identified 2004 VD17 – about 500 m in diameter with a mass of nearly 1000 million tonnes – collides with the Earth it could spell disaster for much of our planet. As part of ESA’s Near-Earth Object deflecting mission Don Quijote, three teams of European industries are now carrying out studies on how to prevent this.

ESA has been addressing the problem of how to prevent large Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) from colliding with the Earth for some

UK astronomers have been at the forefront of designing a revolutionary new X-ray telescope that is based on the eyes of a lobster. By replicating the crustacean’s ability to observe objects all around it without turning its head, scientists are confident that the Lobster instrument will enable a major breakthrough in X-ray astronomy.

The sky viewed at X-ray wavelengths is a violent and unpredictable place. Many sources brighten without warning, then vanish just as suddenly. Oth

Astronomers from the University of Nottingham, UK, and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (Spain), have found the first observational evidence that galaxies are not randomly oriented.

Instead, they are aligned following a characteristic pattern dictated by the large-scale structure of the invisible dark matter that surrounds them.

This discovery confirms one of the fundamental aspects of galaxy formation theory and implies a direct link between the global proper

The invention regards an accelerated and simplified method for determining the presence of bacteria in blood samples, and in consequence a ruling out of other…

The aim of the portrayed invention is to develop and make new drugs for the primary- and secondary prophylaxis of thrombosis complications as well as the…