New Celestial Map Gives Directions for GPS
Many of us have been rescued from unfamiliar territory by directions from a Global Positioning System (GPS) navigator. GPS satellites send signals to a receiver in your GPS navigator, which calculates your position based on the location of the satellites and your distance from them. view more (2009-10-30)
New evidence for dark energy in the universe
An international team of astronomers, led by scientists at the University of Manchester have produced new evidence that most of the energy in the Universe is in the form of the mysterious "Dark Energy". The new evidence comes from a 10-year census of the sky for examples of gravitational lenses, which are seen when a galaxy bends the light from a... view more... (2002-11-09)
The Invisible Galaxies That Could Not Hide
Astronomers, using the unique capabilities offered by the high-resolution spectrograph UVES on ESO's Very Large Telescope, have found a metal-rich hydrogen cloud in the distant universe. The result may help to solve the missing metal problem and provides insight on how galaxies form. view more (2006-02-16)
Colors of Quasars Reveal a Dusty Universe
The vast expanses of intergalactic space appear to be filled with a haze of tiny, smoke-like "dust" particles that dim the light from distant objects and subtly change their colors, according to a team of astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-II). view more (2009-02-26)
Scientists find the reason behind black holes' light shows
A team of astronomers led by the University of Michigan may know how black holes are lighting up the Universe. view more (2006-06-22)
A Hungry Quasar Caught in the Act
The VLT Secures Spectacular Image of Distant Gravitational Interaction A new image of a distant quasar (the luminous core of an "active" galaxy) shows that it is engaged in a gravitational battle with its neighbouring galaxies. It also provides information on how supermassive black holes present in the center of quasars are fed. Using the FORS2... view more... (2001-05-31)
Precise Radio-Telescope Measurements Advance Frontier Gravitational Physics
Scientists using a continent-wide array of radio telescopes have made an extremely precise measurement of the curvature of space caused by the Sun's gravity, and their technique promises a major contribution to a frontier area of basic physics. view more (2009-09-02)
Astronomers report unprecedented double helix nebula near center of the Milky Way
Astronomers report an unprecedented elongated double helix nebula near the center of our Milky Way galaxy, using observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. view more (2006-03-16)
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)
New Quasar Studies Keep Fundamental Physical Constant Constant
Very Large Telescope sets stringent limit on possible variation of the fine-structure constant over cosmological time Detecting or constraining the possible time variations of fundamental physical constants is an important step toward a complete understanding of basic physics and hence the world in which we live. A step in which astrophysics... view more... (2004-03-31)
BOSS: the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) uses a 2.5-meter telescope with a wider field of view than any other large telescope, located on a mountaintop in New Mexico called Apache Point and devoted solely to mapping the universe. view more (2008-09-22)
RIT Study Confirms Supermassive Black Holes Produce Powerful Galaxy-Shaping Winds
Supermassive black holes can produce powerful winds that shape a galaxy and determine their own growth, confirms a group of scientists from Rochester Institute of Technology. view more (2007-11-01)
Universe's oldest objects emerge from the background
The deepest reaches of space are permeated by a cloak of infrared radiation, an uneven energy swath generated by long-dead objects from the early universe. view more (2006-12-20)
ESA Looks Further Back In Time
Europe's X- ray Multi Mirror (XMM) space telescope goes on show for the first time on Tuesday 10 February 1998. When it is launched in 1999 into an orbit 70,000 miles above the earth, XMM will search for cosmic x-rays from the intensely hot areas of our galaxy and beyond. Sources of these x-rays include black holes, the nucleii of quasars, vampire... view more... (1998-02-09)
New Insight into the Cosmic Renaissance Epoch
VLT Discovers a Group of Early Inhabitants and Find Signs of Many More [1] Using the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), two astronomers from Germany and the UK [2] have discovered some of the most distant galaxies ever seen. They are located about 12,600 million light-years away. It has taken the light now recorded by the VLT about nine-tenths of the... view more... (2003-08-21)
The Lovell Telescope presents a new face to the universe
After many months of unseen work, the University of Manchester`s giant Lovell Telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire is again scanning the skies with a brand new, pristine white, surface. After two summers of work, the installation and painting of the new galvanised steel surface has been completed so that the telescope now presents... view more... (2002-11-04)
Scientists piece together the most distant cosmic explosion
In this week's issue of Nature, scientists at Penn State University and their U.S. and European colleagues discuss how this explosion, detected on 4 September 2005, was the result of a massive star collapsing into a black hole. view more (2006-03-09)
Astronomers discover link between supermassive black holes and galaxy formation
A pair of astronomers from Texas and Germany have used a telescope at The University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory together with Hubble Space Telescope and many other telescopes around the world to uncover new evidence that the largest, most massive galaxies in the universe and the supermassive black holes at their hearts grew together... view more... (2009-02-03)
UVES Investigates the Environment of a Very Remote Galaxy
Surplus of Intergalactic Material May Be Young Supercluster view more (2002-03-11)
UK Astronomers look forward to looking back
When NASA launches its Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) - the agency's fourth 'Great Observatory' - later this week, astronomers around the world will be looking forward to using one of the most powerful time machines ever built. Among those anticipating the opportunity to look back billions of years to an era when the universe was in its... view more... (2003-08-19)
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