news 2012
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Astronomy / Space Science - Administration - 20.12.2012 
New tool is probing the structure of the Milky Way's heart
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The discovery that hundreds of stars are rapidly moving together in long, looping orbits around the center of our galaxy has been announced by a team of scientists including a Penn State University astronomer and others collaborating in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III).
Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 20.12.2012 
Los Alamos National Laboratory top science news of 2012
Top science stories for the year traveled from the canyons of Mars to the high desert forests of New Mexico, from cosmic particles to the structure of proteins and enzymes. Computer models of wildfires, and nuclear magnetic resonance signatures of plutonium, it all was fascinating for those following Los Alamos' science news.
Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 18.12.2012
Astronomy / Space Science - 14.12.2012
Astronomy / Space Science - Chemistry - 12.12.2012
Astronomy / Space Science - 12.12.2012
Astronomy / Space Science - 11.12.2012
Astronomy / Space Science - 05.12.2012 
Sussex space scientists help to reveal brilliant world of starburst galaxies
University of Sussex astronomers and space scientists in Hawaii have helped to reveal hundreds of previously unseen starburst galaxies - the birthplace of the stars that populate our Universe. The number of starburst galaxies observed by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel space observatory and the ground-based Keck telescopes in Hawaii reveals the extraordinarily high star-formation rates across the history of the Universe.
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 05.12.2012
Astronomy / Space Science - 04.12.2012 
Herschel and Keck take census of the invisible Universe
By combining the observing powers of ESA's Herschel space observatory and the ground-based Keck telescopes, astronomers have characterised hundreds of previously unseen starburst galaxies, revealing extraordinary high star-formation rates across the history of the Universe. Starburst galaxies give birth to hundreds of solar masses' worth of stars each year in short-lived but intense events.
Astronomy / Space Science - 30.11.2012 
Clearest evidence yet of polar ice losses
After two decades of satellite observations, an international team of experts brought together by ESA and NASA has produced the most accurate assessment of ice losses from Antarctica and Greenland to date. This study finds that the combined rate of ice sheet melting is increasing. The new research shows that melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has added 11.1 mm to global sea levels since 1992.
Astronomy / Space Science - 29.11.2012
Environment - Astronomy / Space Science - 29.11.2012 
International study provides more solid measure of shrinking in polar ice sheets
The planet's two largest ice sheets have been losing ice faster during the past decade, causing widespread confusion and concern. A new international study provides a firmer read on the state of continental ice sheets and how much they are contributing to sea-level rise. Dozens of climate scientists have reconciled their measurements of ice sheet changes in Antarctica and Greenland during the past two decades.
Astronomy / Space Science - Chemistry - 29.11.2012 
Evidence for water ice deposits and organic material on Mercury
Using data collected by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, a team from UCLA crafted the first accurate thermal model of the solar system's innermost planet, successfully pinpointing the extremely cold regions where ice has been found on or below the surface. The researchers say the newly discovered black deposits are a thin crust of residual organic material brought to the planet over the past several million years through impacts by water-rich asteroids and comets.
Astronomy / Space Science - Administration - 29.11.2012
Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 29.11.2012 
Paradigm shift offers a new look at the beginning of time
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. A new paradigm for understanding the earliest eras in the history of the universe has been developed by scientists at Penn State University. Using techniques from an area of modern physics called loop quantum cosmology, developed at Penn State, the scientists now have extended analyses that include quantum physics farther back in time than ever before - all the way to the beginning.
Astronomy / Space Science - 28.11.2012 
Texas Astronomers Measure Most Massive, Most Unusual Black Hole Using Hobby-Eberly Telescope
FORT DAVIS, Texas — Astronomers have used the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at The University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory to measure the mass of what may be the most massive black hole yet - 17 billion times our sun's mass - in galaxy NGC 1277. The unusual black hole makes up 14 percent of its galaxy's mass, rather than the usual 0.1 percent.
Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 28.11.2012
Astronomy / Space Science - 26.11.2012 
Revisiting an old friend
Comet Halley, the originator of the Orionids meteor shower that lit up our skies last month - as they do every October - is seen here up close by ESA's Giotto probe as it flew past the famous comet on 13-14 March 1986. Giotto was ESA's first deep-space mission. It swept within 600 km of Halley, obtaining the first close-up images of a comet.
Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 26.11.2012 
Researchers test novel power system for space travel
The research team recently demonstrated the first use of a heat pipe to cool a small nuclear reactor and power a Stirling engine. "Perhaps one of the more important aspects of this experiment is that it was taken from concept to completion in 6 months for less than a million dollars," said Los Alamos engineer David Dixon.
Astronomy/Space Science
Results 1 - 20 of 51.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The discovery that hundreds of stars are rapidly moving together in long, looping orbits around the center of our galaxy has been announced by a team of scientists including a Penn State University astronomer and others collaborating in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III).
Top science stories for the year traveled from the canyons of Mars to the high desert forests of New Mexico, from cosmic particles to the structure of proteins and enzymes. Computer models of wildfires, and nuclear magnetic resonance signatures of plutonium, it all was fascinating for those following Los Alamos' science news.
The solar wind is swirly
Using ESA's Cluster quartet of satellites as a space plasma microscope, scientists have zoomed in on the solar wind to reveal the finest detail yet, finding tiny turbulent swirls that could play a big role in heating it. Turbulence is highly complex and all around us, evident in water flowing from a tap, around an aircraft wing, in experimental fusion reactors on Earth, and also in space.
Using ESA's Cluster quartet of satellites as a space plasma microscope, scientists have zoomed in on the solar wind to reveal the finest detail yet, finding tiny turbulent swirls that could play a big role in heating it. Turbulence is highly complex and all around us, evident in water flowing from a tap, around an aircraft wing, in experimental fusion reactors on Earth, and also in space.
Exploding star missing from formation of solar system
A new study published by University of Chicago researchers challenges the notion that the force of an exploding star prompted the formation of the solar system. In this study, published online last month in Earth and Planetary Science Letters , authors Haolan Tang and Nicolas Dauphas found the radioactive isotope iron 60 — the telltale sign of an exploding star—low in abundance and well mixed in solar system material.
A new study published by University of Chicago researchers challenges the notion that the force of an exploding star prompted the formation of the solar system. In this study, published online last month in Earth and Planetary Science Letters , authors Haolan Tang and Nicolas Dauphas found the radioactive isotope iron 60 — the telltale sign of an exploding star—low in abundance and well mixed in solar system material.
Galaxies Near Cosmic Dawn
The colored squares in the main image outline the locations of the newly discovered galaxies. Enlarged views of each galaxy are shown in the black-and-white images. Each galaxy is labeled with the redshift (z), which measures how much a galaxy's light has been stretched by the universe's expansion. The galaxy observed at a redshift of 11.9 may be the distance-record breaker, seen as it appeared 380 million years after the Big Bang.
The colored squares in the main image outline the locations of the newly discovered galaxies. Enlarged views of each galaxy are shown in the black-and-white images. Each galaxy is labeled with the redshift (z), which measures how much a galaxy's light has been stretched by the universe's expansion. The galaxy observed at a redshift of 11.9 may be the distance-record breaker, seen as it appeared 380 million years after the Big Bang.
“missing link” of black holes
The discovery of a bingeing black hole that is expelling powerful beams of material has shed new light on some of the brightest X-ray sources seen in other galaxies, according to new research led by Durham University. Using Earth-orbiting X-ray telescopes, including NASA's Swift and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton satellites, a large international team of astronomers watched as the X-ray emission from the black hole in our nearest neighbouring galaxy, Andromeda - found more than 2 million light years away - brightened and faded over the course of six months.
The discovery of a bingeing black hole that is expelling powerful beams of material has shed new light on some of the brightest X-ray sources seen in other galaxies, according to new research led by Durham University. Using Earth-orbiting X-ray telescopes, including NASA's Swift and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton satellites, a large international team of astronomers watched as the X-ray emission from the black hole in our nearest neighbouring galaxy, Andromeda - found more than 2 million light years away - brightened and faded over the course of six months.
An older Vega: New insights about the star all others are measured by
ANN ARBOR-Vega, a star astronomers have used as a touchstone to measure other stars' brightness for thousands of years, may be more than 200 million years older than previously thought. That's according to new findings from the University of Michigan. The researchers estimated Vega's age by precisely measuring its spin speed with a tool called the Michigan Infrared Combiner, developed by John Monnier, associate professor of astronomy in U-M's College of Literature.
ANN ARBOR-Vega, a star astronomers have used as a touchstone to measure other stars' brightness for thousands of years, may be more than 200 million years older than previously thought. That's according to new findings from the University of Michigan. The researchers estimated Vega's age by precisely measuring its spin speed with a tool called the Michigan Infrared Combiner, developed by John Monnier, associate professor of astronomy in U-M's College of Literature.
University of Sussex astronomers and space scientists in Hawaii have helped to reveal hundreds of previously unseen starburst galaxies - the birthplace of the stars that populate our Universe. The number of starburst galaxies observed by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel space observatory and the ground-based Keck telescopes in Hawaii reveals the extraordinarily high star-formation rates across the history of the Universe.
GRAIL reveals a battered lunar history
Twin spacecraft create a highly detailed gravity map of the moon, finding an interior pulverized by early impacts. Beneath its heavily pockmarked surface, the moon's interior bears remnants of the very early solar system. Unlike Earth, where plate tectonics has essentially erased any trace of the planet's earliest composition, the moon's interior has remained relatively undisturbed over billions of years, preserving a record in its rocks of processes that occurred in the solar system's earliest days.
Twin spacecraft create a highly detailed gravity map of the moon, finding an interior pulverized by early impacts. Beneath its heavily pockmarked surface, the moon's interior bears remnants of the very early solar system. Unlike Earth, where plate tectonics has essentially erased any trace of the planet's earliest composition, the moon's interior has remained relatively undisturbed over billions of years, preserving a record in its rocks of processes that occurred in the solar system's earliest days.
By combining the observing powers of ESA's Herschel space observatory and the ground-based Keck telescopes, astronomers have characterised hundreds of previously unseen starburst galaxies, revealing extraordinary high star-formation rates across the history of the Universe. Starburst galaxies give birth to hundreds of solar masses' worth of stars each year in short-lived but intense events.
After two decades of satellite observations, an international team of experts brought together by ESA and NASA has produced the most accurate assessment of ice losses from Antarctica and Greenland to date. This study finds that the combined rate of ice sheet melting is increasing. The new research shows that melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has added 11.1 mm to global sea levels since 1992.
Clearest evidence yet of polar ice losses
An international team of satellite experts has produced the most accurate assessment of ice losses from Antarctica and Greenland to date, ending 20 years of uncertainty. In a landmark study the researchers show that melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has contributed 11.1 millimetres to global sea levels since 1992.
An international team of satellite experts has produced the most accurate assessment of ice losses from Antarctica and Greenland to date, ending 20 years of uncertainty. In a landmark study the researchers show that melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has contributed 11.1 millimetres to global sea levels since 1992.
The planet's two largest ice sheets have been losing ice faster during the past decade, causing widespread confusion and concern. A new international study provides a firmer read on the state of continental ice sheets and how much they are contributing to sea-level rise. Dozens of climate scientists have reconciled their measurements of ice sheet changes in Antarctica and Greenland during the past two decades.
Using data collected by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, a team from UCLA crafted the first accurate thermal model of the solar system's innermost planet, successfully pinpointing the extremely cold regions where ice has been found on or below the surface. The researchers say the newly discovered black deposits are a thin crust of residual organic material brought to the planet over the past several million years through impacts by water-rich asteroids and comets.
Clearest evidence yet of polar ice losses
An international team involving Durham University experts has produced the most accurate assessment of ice losses from Antarctica and Greenland to date, ending 20 years of uncertainty. In a landmark study the researchers show that melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has contributed 11.1 millimetres to global sea levels since 1992.
An international team involving Durham University experts has produced the most accurate assessment of ice losses from Antarctica and Greenland to date, ending 20 years of uncertainty. In a landmark study the researchers show that melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has contributed 11.1 millimetres to global sea levels since 1992.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. A new paradigm for understanding the earliest eras in the history of the universe has been developed by scientists at Penn State University. Using techniques from an area of modern physics called loop quantum cosmology, developed at Penn State, the scientists now have extended analyses that include quantum physics farther back in time than ever before - all the way to the beginning.
FORT DAVIS, Texas — Astronomers have used the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at The University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory to measure the mass of what may be the most massive black hole yet - 17 billion times our sun's mass - in galaxy NGC 1277. The unusual black hole makes up 14 percent of its galaxy's mass, rather than the usual 0.1 percent.
Graphite experiment shines new light on giant planets, white dwarfs & laser-driven fusion
An international team led by researchers from the University of Warwick and Oxford University is now dealing with unexpected results of an experiment with strongly heated graphite (up to 17,000 degrees Kelvin). The findings may pose a new problem for physicists working in laser-driven nuclear fusion and may also lead astrophysicists to revise our understanding of the life cycle of giant planets and stars.
An international team led by researchers from the University of Warwick and Oxford University is now dealing with unexpected results of an experiment with strongly heated graphite (up to 17,000 degrees Kelvin). The findings may pose a new problem for physicists working in laser-driven nuclear fusion and may also lead astrophysicists to revise our understanding of the life cycle of giant planets and stars.
Comet Halley, the originator of the Orionids meteor shower that lit up our skies last month - as they do every October - is seen here up close by ESA's Giotto probe as it flew past the famous comet on 13-14 March 1986. Giotto was ESA's first deep-space mission. It swept within 600 km of Halley, obtaining the first close-up images of a comet.
The research team recently demonstrated the first use of a heat pipe to cool a small nuclear reactor and power a Stirling engine. "Perhaps one of the more important aspects of this experiment is that it was taken from concept to completion in 6 months for less than a million dollars," said Los Alamos engineer David Dixon.
