Listening to dark matter
A team of researchers in Canada have made a bold stride in the struggle to detect dark matter. The PICASSO collaboration has documented the discovery of a significant difference between the acoustic signals induced by neutrons and alpha particles in a detector based on superheated liquids. view more (2008-10-16)
Music of the black holes: they all play the same tune
Astronomers at the University of Southampton have uncovered a remarkable connection between the monstrous black holes residing at the hearts of distant galaxies and their comparatively tiny cousins which inhabit star systems in our own Milky Way: they are playing the same tunes. Dr Phil Uttley presents these findings in a talk called `The music of... view more... (2002-04-04)
Music of the black holes: they all play the same tune
Astronomers at the University of Southampton have uncovered a remarkable connection between the monstrous black holes residing at the hearts of distant galaxies and their comparatively tiny cousins which inhabit star systems in our own Milky Way: they are playing the same tunes. Dr Phil Uttley presents these findings in a talk called `The music of... view more... (2002-04-04)
A Glimpse of the Young Milky Way
VLT UVES Observes Most Metal-Deficient Star Known [1] A faint star in the southern Milky Way, designated HE 0107-5240, has been found to consist virtually only of hydrogen and helium. It has the lowest abundance of heavier elements ever observed, only 1/200,000 of that of the Sun - 20 times less than the previous record-holding star.... view more... (2002-10-28)
Frantic activity revealed in dusty stellar factories
Thanks to the Very Large Telescope's acute and powerful near-infrared eye, astronomers have uncovered a host of new young, massive and dusty stellar nurseries in nearby galaxy NGC 253. The centre of this galaxy appears to harbour a twin of our own Milky Way's supermassive black hole. view more (2009-01-21)
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)
First Image and Spectrum of a Dark Matter Object
Astronomers have observed a Dark Matter object directly for the first time. Images and spectra of a MACHO microlens - a nearby dwarf star that gravitationally focuses light from a star in another galaxy - were taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The Riddle of Dark Matter The... view more... (2001-12-05)
Sophisticated telescope camera debuts with peek at nest of black holes
Less than two months after they inaugurated the world's largest telescope, University of Florida astronomers have used one of the world's most advanced telescopic instruments to gather images of the heavens. view more (2009-09-16)
Heavy Metal Stars: La Silla Telescope Detects Lots of Lead in Three Distant Binaries
Very high abundances of the heavy element Lead have been discovered in three distant stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. This finding strongly supports the long-held view that roughly half of the stable elements heavier than Iron are produced in common stars during a phase towards the end of their life when they burn their Helium - the other half... view more... (2001-08-21)
Starburst galaxy sheds light on longstanding cosmic mystery
An international collaboration that includes scientists from the University of Delaware's Bartol Research Institute in the Department of Physics and Astronomy has discovered very-high-energy gamma rays in the Cigar Galaxy (M82), a bright galaxy filled with exploding stars 12 million light years from Earth. view more (2009-11-03)
Opening up a colorful cosmic jewel box
Star clusters are among the most visually alluring and astrophysically fascinating objects in the sky. One of the most spectacular nestles deep in the southern skies near the Southern Cross in the constellation of Crux. view more (2009-10-29)
First detection of magnetic field in distant galaxy produces a surprise
Using a powerful radio telescope to peer into the early universe, a team of California astronomers has obtained the first direct measurement of a nascent galaxy's magnetic field as it appeared 6.5 billion years ago. view more (2008-10-02)
Astronomers detect matter torn apart by black hole
Astronomers have used two different telescopes simultaneously to study the violent flares from the supermassive black hole in the centre of the Milky Way. They have detected outbursts from this region, known as Sagittarius A*, which reveal material being stretched out as it orbits in the intense gravity close to the central black hole. view more (2008-11-19)
When galaxies collide: Supercomputers reproduce fluid motions of cosmic duet
A wispy collection of atoms and molecules fuels the vast cosmic maelstroms produced by colliding galaxies and merging supermassive black holes, according to some of the most advanced supercomputer simulations ever conducted on this topic. view more (2006-06-01)
Galaxies gone wild!
Interacting galaxies are found throughout the Universe, sometimes as dramatic collisions that trigger bursts of star formation, on other occasions as stealthy mergers that result in new galaxies. view more (2008-04-24)
Faintest Methane Brown Dwarf Discovered with the NTT and VLT
Brown Dwarfs are star-like objects which are heavier than planets but not massive enough to trigger the nuclear burning of hydrogen and other elements which powers normal stars. They are, nevertheless, heated during their formation by gravitational contraction but then continuously cool as this energy is radiated away. The so-called Methane Brown... view more... (1999-08-18)
First Image and Spectrum of a Dark Matter Object
HST and VLT Identify MACHO as a Small and Cool Star An international team of astronomers has observed a Dark Matter object directly for the first time. Images and spectra of a MACHO microlens - a nearby dwarf star that gravitationally focuses light from a star in another galaxy - were taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the... view more... (2001-12-05)
Discovering teenage galaxies
Staring for the equivalent of every night for two weeks at the same little patch of sky with ESO's Very Large Telescope, an international team of astronomers has found the extremely faint light from teenage galaxies billions of light years away. view more (2007-11-28)
Old Galaxies in the Young Universe
Very Large Telescope Unravels New Population of Very Old Massive Galaxies [1] Current theories of the formation of galaxies are based on the hierarchical merging of smaller entities into larger and larger structures, starting from about the size of a stellar globular cluster and ending with clusters of galaxies. According to this scenario, it is... view more... (2004-07-06)
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)
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