When a galaxy known as M82 had a near-miss with its neighbour, it set off an explosive burst of star formation that sent plumes of hot gas tens of thousands of light years into space. Now a team of UK and American astronomers has discovered that these gas clouds are like the jets from a high pressure shower head.
M82 – which astronomers call a “starburst galaxy” – is located at a distance of a bit more than 10 million light years from our own Milky Way. Dr. Linda Smith, from the Department
Astronomers have detected and probed dark energy by applying a powerful, new method that uses images of galaxy clusters made by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The results trace the transition of the expansion of the Universe from a decelerating to an accelerating phase several billion years ago, and give intriguing clues about the nature of dark energy and the fate of the Universe.
“Dark energy is perhaps the biggest mystery in physics,” said Steve Allen of the Institute of Astronomy (Io
While the Cassini spacecraft has been flying toward Saturn, chemists on Earth have been making plastic pollution like that raining through the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon, Titan.
Scientists suspect that organic solids have been falling from Titan’s sky for billions of years and might be compounds that set the stage for the next chemical step toward life. They collaborate in University of Arizona laboratory experiments that will help Cassini scientists interpret Titan data and plan a futur
How dolphins evolved to fly like birds under water
Physicists in Japan have discovered how the surface of a dolphin’s skin reduces drag and helps them glide smoothly and quickly through water. These findings could help scientists design faster, energy-efficient boats, ocean liners, and submarines. This research is published in the Institute of Physics journal, Journal of Turbulence.
Scientists have known for some time that dolphins have evolved streamlined bodies which
Some nuclear fusion reactions inside stars occur more slowly than we thought and, as a consequence, stars themselves, as well as galaxies and the entire universe are a bit older than expected. This is what comes out from the last results of Luna experiment (Laboratory for Underground Nuclear astrophysics), settled by National Laboratories of Gran Sasso and realized in cooperation by Infn and Ruhr University in Bochum (Germany). The study, that will be published on the review Physics Letters B next Ju
Massive Star Observed that Forms through a Rotating Accretion Disc
Based on a large observational effort with different telescopes and instruments, mostly from the European Southern Observatory (ESO), a team of European astronomers has shown that in the M 17 nebula a high mass star forms via accretion through a circumstellar disc, i.e. through the same channel as low-mass stars.
To reach this conclusion, the astronomers used very sensitive infrared instruments to penetrate th
U of T physicists have developed a way to entangle photons which could ultimately lead to an extremely precise new measurement system.
Their study appears in the May 13 issue of the journal Nature. The findings could ultimately prove useful in developing ways to measure gravitational waves or the energy structure of atoms, and could also help in the development of “quantum computers.” (Quantum computers work according to the principles of quantum mechanics, which describes atoms, pho
Scientists studying the Big Bang say that it is possible that string theory may one day be tested experimentally via measurements of the Big Bang’s afterglow.
Richard Easther, assistant professor of physics at Yale University will discuss the possibility at a meeting at Stanford University Wednesday, May 12, titled “Beyond Einstein: From the Big Bang to Black Holes.” Easther’s colleagues are Brian Greene of Columbia University, William Kinney of the University at Buffalo, SUNY, Hiranya Peir
Astronomers may not have observed the fabled “Stairway to Heaven”, but they have photographed something almost as intriguing: ladder-like structures surrounding a dying star.
This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, reveals startling new details of one of the most unusual nebulae known in our Galaxy. Catalogued as HD 44179, this nebula is more commonly called the “Red Rectangle” because of its unique shape and colour as seen with ground-based telescopes.
H
Long-exposure images of the giant elliptical galaxy M87 by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, together with radio observations, have provided spectacular evidence of repetitive outbursts from the vicinity of the galaxy’s supermassive black hole. Magnetized rings, bubbles, plumes and jets ranging in size from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand light years point to ongoing violent activity for hundreds of millions of years.
“The hot X-ray emitting gas extending for hundreds of
For years, astronomers have wondered whether stars similar to the Sun go through periodic cycles of enhanced X-ray activity, like those often causing troubles to telephone and power lines here on Earth.
ESA’s X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has now revealed for the first time a cyclic behaviour in the X-ray radiation emitted by a star similar to the Sun. This discovery may help scientists to understand how stars affect the development of life on their planets.
Since the time Galil
These images were taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express of the Acheron Fossae region, an area of intensive tectonic (continental ‘plate’) activity in the past.
The images show traces of enormous stress and corresponding strain in the crust of the Red Planet. The HRSC was pointed twice at this interesting geological feature in the Acheron Fossae mountain range, during orbits 37 and 143.
The feature is situated at approximately 35º-40º North a
VLT Measures Properties of New Jupiter-Size Objects in Very Close Orbits
Discovering other Worlds
During the past decade, astronomers have learned that our Solar System is not unique, as more than 120 giant planets orbiting other stars were discovered by radial-velocity surveys (cf. ESO PR 13/00, ESO PR 07/01, and ESO PR 03/03).
However, the radial-velocity technique is not the only tool for the detection of exoplanets. When a planet happens to pass in front o
Dutch researcher Steve van Straaten set a record during his doctoral research. The researcher registered the fastest ever change in the X-ray emission originating from a binary star. The record-breaking binary star consists of a neutron star and a lighter companion star.
Astronomer Steve van Straaten studied the time variations in the X-ray emission from various binary stars. He found that one of the binary stars had a vibrational frequency of 1330 Hz. This means that the intensity of the X-
Trailblazing VLT Interferometer Studies of the Central Region in Active Galaxy NGC 1068
Fulfilling an old dream of astronomers, observations with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at the ESO Paranal Observatory (Chile) have now made it possible to obtain a clear picture of the immediate surroundings of the black hole at the centre of an active galaxy. The new results concern the spiral galaxy NGC 1068, located at a distance of about 50 million light-years.
They
Since November, a physics experiment called the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) has been looking for components of dark matter, the primary “stuff” of which the universe is made. Conducted from the Soudan Underground Mine in northern Minnesota, the search is for postulated dark matter particles called WIMPS–weakly interacting massive particles. So far, the experiment has found no WIMPs, but neither has it found contamination from stray neutrons. CDMS II member Priscilla Cushman, a physics pro
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