Astronomy

  1. Astronomy

    Deep Impact

    Data from the Deep Impact mission reveal that the bullet that slammed into Comet Tempel 1 on July 4 excavated material that likely hadn't seen the light of day since the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.

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  2. Astronomy

    Recipe for a Heavyweight: Making a massive star

    New findings strongly support the notion that at least some massive stars form much as their lighter-weight siblings do, by packing on material from a surrounding disk of gas and dust.

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  3. Astronomy

    Hidden black holes

    A new study has added to existing evidence that most of the monster black holes at the cores of galaxies are shrouded by dust.

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  4. Astronomy

    First Supper: X rays may mark eating habits of baby black holes

    Astronomers have evidence that just minutes after their tumultuous birth, baby black holes emit powerful burps of X rays that may be fueled by material left over from their first meal.

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  5. Astronomy

    Big sky

    The biggest survey of the heavens just got bigger when the Sloan Digital Sky Survey received a 3-year extension.

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  6. Astronomy

    Three’s Company: Asteroid 87 Sylvia and her two moons

    Astronomers have for the first time discovered an asteroid with two moons, an indication that the rock is highly porous.

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  7. Astronomy

    Cosmic soot

    Astronomers have found a group of complex organic compounds, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, from a time when the universe was less than one-third its current age.

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  8. Astronomy

    Cosmic Computing

    The largest computer simulation of the universe ever compiled uses dark matter to shed light on the formation of galaxies and on the visible structure of the universe.

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  9. Astronomy

    Planet potential

    Observations with the Submillimeter Array on Hawaii's Mauna Kea reveal that, despite their bombardment by a stellar bully, the disks in Orion have enough material to form planets.

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  10. Astronomy

    A new X-ray eye on the cosmos

    To study some of the hottest regions in the universe, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency has launched the coldest instrument ever flown.

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  11. Astronomy

    Crater Shake: Tremors erased asteroid’s topography

    Seismic shock waves from a large meteor impact on the asteroid Eros might have rearranged surface rubble, destroying crater structures over much of the asteroid.

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  12. Astronomy

    Grand illusion

    Astronomers have detected the most distant cosmic mirage ever recorded.

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