Astronomy

  1. Astronomy

    A meteorite’s pristine origins

    A rare, carbon-rich meteorite that fell into a frozen Canadian lake last year ranks as the most pristine of such specimens ever found.

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  2. Astronomy

    Gravity’s lens: Finding a sextet of images

    Astronomers have for the first time found a gravitational lens in which the image of a distant galaxy has been split into six distinct images.

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  3. Astronomy

    Gravity’s lens: Finding a dim cluster

    Relying solely on a gravitational mirage rather than visible images, astronomers have discovered a previously unknown cluster of galaxies and measured its distance from Earth.

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  4. Astronomy

    When Branes Collide

    A controversial new theory proposes that our universe existed as a cold, featureless void for eons, until a parallel universe floating through a hidden fifth dimension crashed into it, igniting the Big Bang.

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  5. Astronomy

    X rays trace fierce stellar winds

    A high-resolution X-ray view of the Rosette nebula, a nearby star-forming region, has revealed for the first time that the stellar winds from massive stars heat surrounding gas to a scorching 6 million kelvins.

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  6. Astronomy

    Galaxy’s Black Hole: X Rays Mark Spot

    An X-ray outburst from the center of our galaxy is providing compelling new evidence that a monster black hole lurks at the Milky Way's core.

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  7. Astronomy

    Shocks jolt jet set galaxy, X rays reveal

    A new image of the nearby galaxy Centaurus A reveals the first details of a phenomenon associated with the core of many galaxies: a huge jet of high-energy particles shooting out from a supermassive black hole.

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  8. Astronomy

    Astronomers spy familiar planetary system

    Studying a star in the Big Dipper, astronomers have for the first time found a planetary system that reminds them of home.

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  9. Astronomy

    Eros: The movie

    Close-up views of the asteroid 433 Eros, showing jagged rocks, fields of boulders, and debris-filled craters, are featured in a minute-long movie.

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  10. Astronomy

    Senior star may have comets

    Astronomers have found what could be the first evidence of water-bearing objects that orbit a star other than the sun.

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  11. Astronomy

    Light’s Debut: Good Morning, Starshine!

    Astronomers have at last detected signs of one of the earliest and least-understood eras in the universe: the murky time just before the first stars and quasars flooded the cosmos with light.

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  12. Astronomy

    Anybody Out There?

    This elaborate Web site brings together a wide variety of resources devoted to the question of life in the universe. Mounted by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and other European agencies, the site serves as home base for a competition aimed at eliciting responses from European students to the possibility of extraterrestrial life. […]

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