Astronomy | SpaceRef

Astronomy TOP STORY

Predicting Signs of Black Holes Swallowing Stars

Simulation of Black Holes Swallowing Stars

Somewhere out in the cosmos an ordinary galaxy spins, seemingly at slumber. Then all of a sudden, WHAM! A flash of light explodes from the galaxy's center.

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Astronomy TOP STORIES

Pulsar's Smallest Speed Jump Caused by Billions of Superfluid Vortices

Pulsar IGR J11014-6103

A team of astronomers, including Danai Antonopoulou and Anna Watts from the University of Amsterdam, has discovered that sudden speed jumps in the rotational velocity of pulsars have a minimum size, and that they are caused not by the unpinning and displacement of just one sub-surface superfluid vortex, but by billions.

Hubble Extends Stellar Tape Measure 10 Times Farther Into Space

Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers now can precisely measure the distance of stars up to 10,000 light-years away -- 10 times farther than previously possible.

Abell 33: Chance Meeting Creates Celestial Diamond Ring

Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile have captured this eye-catching image of planetary nebula PN A66 33 -- usually known as Abell 33.

Hubble Team Finds Monster "El Gordo" Galaxy Cluster Bigger Than Thought

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has weighed the largest known galaxy cluster in the distant universe, catalogued as ACT-CL J0102-4915, and found it definitely lives up to its nickname -- El Gordo (Spanish for "the fat one").

Fermi Data Tantalize with New Clues to Dark Matter

A new study of gamma-ray light from the center of our galaxy makes the strongest case to date that some of this emission may arise from dark matter, an unknown substance making up most of the material universe.

New Solar System Dwarf Planet Discovered and Solar System's Edge Redefined

The Solar System has a new most-distant member, bringing its outer frontier into focus. New work from Carnegie's Scott Sheppard and Chadwick Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory reports the discovery of a distant dwarf planet, called 2012 VP113, which was found beyond the known edge of the Solar System.

Hubble Peers at the Heart of NGC 5793

This new Hubble image is centered on NGC 5793, a spiral galaxy over 150 million light-years away in the constellation of Libra.

A Hardy Star Survives Supernova Blast

When a massive star runs out fuel, it collapses and explodes as a supernova. Although these explosions are extremely powerful, it is possible for a companion star to endure the blast.

Spitzer Telescope's 360-Degree View of Our Galaxy

Touring the Milky Way now is as easy as clicking a button with NASA's new zoomable, 360-degree mosaic presented Thursday at the TEDActive 2014 Conference in Vancouver, Canada.

NIST Chips Help BICEP2 Telescope

The view back in time--way back to the origins of the universe--just got clearer. Much clearer.

New View of Supernova Death Throes

A powerful, new three-dimensional model provides fresh insight into the turbulent death throes of supernovas, whose final explosions outshine entire galaxies and populate the universe with elements that make life on Earth possible.

Herschel Completes Survey of Cosmic Dust in Local Universe

The largest census of dust in local galaxies has been completed using data from ESA's Herschel space observatory, providing a huge legacy to the scientific community.

First Direct Evidence of Cosmic Inflation

Almost 14 billion years ago, the universe we inhabit burst into existence in an extraordinary event that initiated the Big Bang. In the first fleeting fraction of a second, the universe expanded exponentially, stretching far beyond the view of our best telescopes. All this, of course, was just theory.

Hubble Provides Infrared Look at a Nearby Star Factory NGC 2174

In celebration of the 24th anniversary of the launch of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope [which took place on 24 April 1990, with deployment the following day], astronomers have captured infrared-light images of a churning region of star birth 6,400 light-years away.

The Dusty Heart of an Active Galaxy

An international research team has obtained the most detailed view so far of the warm dust in the environment of a supermassive black hole in an active galaxy.

The Milky Way Galaxy Sits Among a Council of Giants

We live in a galaxy known as the Milky Way -- a vast conglomeration of 300 billion stars, planets whizzing around them, and clouds of gas and dust floating in between.