Astronomy
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Astronomy
X-Ray Universe: Quasar’s jet goes the distance
Collisions with photons left over from the birth of the universe appear to have generated the longest X ray-emitting jet ever found in a distant galaxy.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
UV telescopes: One dead, one revived
One ultraviolet observatory burned up in Earth's atmosphere late last month while another has gotten a new lease on life.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Supernova dealt deaths on Earth? Stellar blasts may have killed ancient marine life
The explosion of nearby supernova may have caused the widespread extinction of marine life on Earth 2 million years ago.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Some new stars in the neighborhood
As part of an ongoing survey of faint stars in the southern skies, astronomers have discovered 12 previously unknown stars that lie within a mere 33 light-years of Earth.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Seeing green: Color of the cosmos
We live in a pale-green universe, according to astronomers who analyzed the colors of some 200,000 galaxies as part of the largest galaxy survey completed to date.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Are pictures of extrasolar planets in the offing?
The first image of a planet orbiting a star other than the sun may be only a year away.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Some gamma-ray bursts may occur nearby
A sizable minority of gamma-ray bursts may originate relatively nearby, in galaxies within 325 million light-years of our own.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Planet Quest
Need help in tracking discoveries of planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system? NASA’s new Planet Quest Web site offers one-stop shopping for planet discovery news. Check out the latest findings, search an atlas of extrasolar planets, and learn about NASA’s proposed missions to search for new worlds, particularly those that might harbor life. Interactive […]
By Science News -
Astronomy
Milky Way galaxy: Cloaked in a hot shroud?
Spacecraft observations indicate that a vast, unseen halo of hot gas envelopes our home galaxy, the Milky Way, and could literally be brushing up against its nearest neighbors.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Sampling the sun
A spacecraft has begun a 30-month mission in which it will collect samples of the solar wind and bring them back to Earth.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Watching a dying star transform
Astronomers have for the first time caught a dying star at the very beginning of a brief, shining period, when it's known as a planetary nebula.
By Ron Cowen