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NASA Discovers First Earth-Size Planets Beyond Our Solar System

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2011Scienceastrophysical phenomena, blender, computer program, constellation lyra, cygnus, earth size planets, exoplanets, francois fressin, g type, Galaxy, habitable zone, harvard smithsonian center, jack lissauer, kepler 20e, kepler 20f, kepler mission, kepler science team, kepler space telescope, light years, liquid water, NASA, natalie batalha, neptune, planet mercury, planet system, planets like earth, san jose state university, solar system, spitzer space telescope, sun, venus

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun.

The discovery marks the next important milestone in the ultimate search for planets like Earth. The new planets are thought to be rocky. Kepler-20e is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring 0.87 times the radius of Earth. Kepler-20f is slightly larger than Earth, measuring 1.03 times its radius. Both planets reside in a five-planet system called Kepler-20, approximately 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Lyra. (more…)

In Glowing, Swirling Dust, New Stars are Born

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2011Scienceadam block, astronomy picture of the day, astrophotographer, block, cosmic dust, daniel stolte, light years, mount lemmon skycenter, NASA, phil plait, schulman telescope, sh2 239, stellar nebula sh2 239, stellar nursery, university of arizona, visible light

An image taken by UA astrophotographer Adam Block, chosen by NASA as Astronomy Picture of the Day, brings us the best yet glimpse into a stellar nursery about 450 light years away from Earth.

An image of a stellar nursery about 450 light years away featured as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day on Dec. 8 reveals the beauty and violent story of Sh2-239, a region where stars are being born and ignite the cosmic dust with their new-found energy.

According to University of Arizona astrophotographer Adam Block, who captured the image, it is one of the most detailed and visually appealing pictures obtained of the object, which astronomers have observed and studied for decades. (more…)

In The Dragonfish’s Mouth: The Next Generation of Superstars to Stir Up Our Galaxy

By Guest PostDecember 5, 2011Scienceastronomers, astronomical terms, celestial gas shell, Chile, christopher matzner, dae sik moon, deep sea creature, dragonfish, european southern observatory, Galaxy, gravity, infrared, light years, mouth, mubdi rahman, new technology telescope, peter shearer, radio waves, spitzer satellite, sun, supermassive stars, telescopes, ultraviolet, university of toronto, visible light, wmap satellite

TORONTO, ON – Three astronomers at the University of Toronto have found the most numerous batch of young, supermassive stars yet observed in our galaxy: hundreds of thousands of stars, including several hundreds of the most massive kind –blue stars dozens of times heavier than our Sun. The light these newborn stars emit is so intense it has pushed out and heated the gas that gave them birth, carving out a glowing hollow shell about a hundred light-years across.

These findings will be published in the December 20 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters. For the researchers, the next step is already clear: “By studying these supermassive stars and the shell surrounding them, we hope to learn more about how energy is transmitted in such extreme environments,” says Mubdi Rahman, a PhD candidate in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, who led the work with his supervisors, Professors Dae-Sik Moon and Christopher Matzner. (more…)

Newly Found Dwarf Galaxies Could Help Reveal the Nature of Dark Matter

By Guest PostNovember 12, 2011Scienceandromeda, andromeda xxviii and xxix, astronomers, colin slater, dwarf galaxies, dwarf galaxies around andromeda, dwarf spheroidal galaxy 200 kpc from andromeda, earth, eric bell, gemini north telescope, gravitational effects, gravity, hawaii, how matter relates to dark matter, hypothesis, invisible substance, light years, night sky, predictions, satellites of andromeda, sloan digital sky survey, spiral galaxy, star counting technique, telescopes, understanding of dark matter, universe mass, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— In work that could help advance astronomers’ understanding of dark matter, University of Michigan researchers have discovered two additional dwarf galaxies that appear to be satellites of Andromeda, the closest spiral galaxy to Earth.

Eric Bell, an associate professor in astronomy, and Colin Slater, an astronomy Ph.D. student, found Andromeda XXVIII and XXIX—that’s 28 and 29. They did it by using a tested star-counting technique on the newest data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which has mapped more than a third of the night sky. They also used follow-up data from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii. (more…)

Spitzer Captures Infrared Rays From a Sunflower

By Guest PostMarch 5, 2011Sciencedistant galaxy, dust lanes, infrared light, light years, messier 63, microns, NASA, spiral arm, spiral galaxies, spitzer space telescope, stars, sunflower galaxy, wavelengths, whirlpool galaxy

The various spiral arm segments of the Sunflower galaxy, also known as Messier 63, show up vividly in this image taken in infrared light by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared light is sensitive to the dust lanes in spiral galaxies, which appear dark in visible-light images. Spitzer’s view reveals complex structures that trace the galaxy’s spiral arm pattern.

Messier 63 lies 37 million-light years away — not far from the well-known Whirlpool galaxy and the associated Messier 51 group of galaxies. (more…)

New View of Family Life in the North American Nebula

By Guest PostFebruary 10, 2011Sciencecontamination, cosmic community, earth, gulf of mexico, infrared view, light years, luisa rebull, micron, NASA, north american nebula, spitzer image, spitzer space telescope, stars, toddler stars, wavelength, young stars, zodiacal dust

Pasadena, Calif. — Stars at all stages of development, from dusty little tots to young adults, are on display in a new image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

This cosmic community is called the North American nebula. In visible light, the region resembles the North American continent, with the most striking resemblance being the Gulf of Mexico. But in Spitzer’s infrared view, the continent disappears. Instead, a swirling landscape of dust and young stars comes into view.

“One of the things that makes me so excited about this image is how different it is from the visible image, and how much more we can see in the infrared than in the visible,” said Luisa Rebull of NASA’s Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. Rebull is lead author of a paper about the observations, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. “The Spitzer image reveals a wealth of detail about the dust and the young stars here.” (more…)

Giant Star Goes Supernova — and is Smothered by Its Own Dust

By Guest PostOctober 16, 20105 commentsScience10-meter keck telescope, active galactic nuclei, agn, astronomers, christopher kochanek, deep wide field survey, eta carinae, Galaxy, giant star, hawaii, homunculus nebula, hypernova, krzysztof stanek, light years, Milky Way, milky way galaxy, NASA, ohio state university, spitzer space telescope, star system, super-massive black holes, supernovae, szymon kozlowski, wide field infrared explorer, wise

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A giant star in a faraway galaxy recently ended its life with a dust-shrouded whimper instead of the more typical bang.

Ohio State University researchers suspect that this odd event — the first one of its kind ever viewed by astronomers – was more common early in the universe. (more…)

The crowded universe

By ShamsJune 18, 2008ScienceChile, La Silla Observatory, light years, Mars Phoenix Lander, NASA, planets, universe

That’s how it starts. Astronomers found planets that though very hot to have life on, but beliefs that we are not alone may come true someday while spotting some pretty cute creatures walking light-years away. 🙂

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