Killer electrons in space are now less mysterious
A rare, timely conjunction of ground-based instrumentation and a dozen satellites has helped scientists better understand how electrons in space can turn into 'killers'. ESA's Cluster constellation has contributed crucially to the finding. view more (2007-07-27)
Galaxy may hold hundreds of rogue black holes
If the latest simulation of what happens when black holes merge is correct, there could be hundreds of rogue black holes, each weighing several thousand times the mass of the sun, roaming around the Milky Way galaxy. view more (2008-01-10)
The Drifting Star
By studying in great detail the 'ringing' of a planet-harbouring star, a team of astronomers using ESO's 3.6-m telescope have shown that it must have drifted away from the metal-rich Hyades cluster. This discovery has implications for theories of star and planet formation, and for the dynamics of our Milky Way. view more (2008-04-16)
Massive Black Hole Smashes Record
Using two NASA satellites, astronomers have discovered the heftiest known black hole to orbit a star. The new black hole, with a mass 24 to 33 times that of our Sun, is more massive than scientists expected for a black hole that formed from a dying star. view more (2007-10-31)
Cluster opens a new window on 'magnetic reconnection' in the near-Earth space
Plasma physicists have made an unprecedented measurement in their study of the Earth's magnetic field. Thanks to ESA's Cluster satellites they detected an electric field thought to be a key element in the process of 'magnetic reconnection'. view more (2007-03-13)
Radio telescopes extend astronomy's best 'yardstick'
Radio astronomers have directly measured the distance to a faraway galaxy, providing a valuable "yardstick" for calibrating large astronomical distances and demonstrating a vital method that could help determine the elusive nature of the mysterious Dark Energy that pervades the Universe. view more (2009-06-09)
A New 3-D Animated Map Of Our Cosmic Hometown
For the first time, we now have a three-dimensional map of our closest cosmic neighbourhood which shows not only how our nearest neighbour stars are distributed today - it also shows precisely how fast each of them moves, and in which direction. Astronomers have measured the velocities of many thousands of stars and computed both where they were... view more... (2004-04-06)
Scientists elucidate the origin of the darkest galaxies in the universe
Ghostly galaxies composed almost entirely of dark matter speckle the universe. Unlike normal galaxies, these extreme systems contain very few stars and are almost devoid of gas. view more (2007-02-15)
Scientists Find Giant Ring Encircling Exotic Dead Star
One of the most powerful eruptions in the universe might have spun an infrared ring around a rare and exotic star known as a magnetar, a highly magnetized neutron star and the remnant of a brilliant supernova explosion signaling the death throes of a massive star. view more (2008-05-29)
Researchers develop flood-tolerant California rice
Rice grown anywhere in the world soon could be made completely flood-tolerant because of new research by UC Riverside geneticists, done in collaboration with scientists at UC Davis and the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. view more (2006-08-23)
Mapping the Milky Way
A new map of the centre of our own galaxy, The Milky Way, is the biggest, most detailed, and most sensitive yet made. The map shows giant streamers and huge clouds of interstellar gas where stars are being born 26,000 light years from Earth - shedding new light on the exotic structures in this unusual region of our own galaxy. An international... view more... (2000-12-19)
Gamma-ray bursts: are we safe?
For a few seconds every day, Earth is bombarded by gamma rays created by cataclysmic explosions in distant galaxies. Such explosions, similar to supernovae, are known as 'gamma-ray bursts' or GRBs. Astronomers using ESA's X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton, are trying to understand the cause of these extraordinary explosions from the X-rays given out... view more... (2003-09-17)
WHO 2003-2008: A Programme Of Quiet Thunder Takes Shape (p 179)
This week's editorial looks ahead to the future of WHO as Dr J W Lee is poised to take over as leader of the only global health agency from Gro Harlem Brundtland on July 21. Lee's priorities are discussed: 'The priority among priorities is HIV/AIDS. The phrase "3-by-5" peppers the language of Lee loyalists. His goal is to get 3 million... view more... (2003-07-16)
Researchers probe a DNA repair enzyme
U. of I. researchers have taken the first steps toward understanding how an enzyme repairs DNA. Enzymes called helicases play a key role in human health, according to Maria Spies, a University of Illinois biochemistry professor. view more (2008-02-19)
ESA finds a black-hole flywheel in the Milky Way
Far away among the stars, in the Ara constellation of the southern sky, a small black hole is whirling space around it. If you tried to stay still in its vicinity, you couldn`t. You`d be dragged around at high speed as if you were riding on a giant flywheel. In reality, gas falling into the black hole is whirled in that way. It radiates energy,... view more... (2002-04-26)
Violent galaxy seen in 3-D
Astronomers at the Gemini telescope in Hawaii have obtained a complete, multi-dimensional picture, of the dynamic flow of gas and stars at the core of an active galaxy [NGC 1068] located 70 million light years away. The image was achieved in a single snapshot and is the first time such a picture has been obtained by one of the new generation of... view more... (2002-03-21)
Herschel Space Telescope's SPIRE instrument package makes first-light observations
A scientific instrument package developed in part by the University of Colorado at Boulder for the $2.2 billion orbiting Herschel Space Observatory that was launched in May by the European Space Agency has made its first successful observations, targeting two star-forming galaxies near the Milky Way. view more (2009-07-13)
Heavy Stars Thrive among Heavy Elements
VLT Observes Wolf-Rayet Stars in Virgo Cluster Galaxies [1] Do very massive stars form in metal-rich regions of the Universe and in the nuclei of galaxies ? Or does "heavy element poisoning" stop stellar growth at an early stage, before young stars reach the "heavyweight class"? What may at the first glance appear as a question for specialists... view more... (2002-08-23)
The universe just became a little simpler
Using images from the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have concluded that two of the most common types of galaxies in the universe are in reality different versions of the same thing. In spite of their similar-sounding names, astronomers had long considered "dwarf elliptical" and "giant elliptical" galaxies... view more... (2003-06-18)
Astronomers find triple interactions of supermassive black holes to be common in early universe
New cosmological computer simulations produced by a team of astronomers from Northwestern University, Harvard University and the University of Michigan show for the first time that supermassive black holes (SMBHs), which exist at the centers of nearly all galaxies, often come together during triple galaxy interactions. view more (2007-01-09)
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