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Ultrabright
Supernovae
The usual type Ia and type II supernovae are superceded
by those found by the Palomar Transient Factory. They are six in number.
Every
Star Has a Planet
A study with gravitational lensing finds "billions
and billions" of planets are possible.
Can
a Lunar Orbiter Find Evidence of Aliens?
It has been suggested that the Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter's photographs be studied to find leftovers from alien lunar occupation.
Absent
Dark Matter
No dark matter found in Sun's region.
Largest
Ring of the Solar System
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered this enormous ring in the fall
of 2009. It is tilted away from the main rings. Ordinary telescopes can
not reveal such a diffuse ring.
Most
Distant Galaxy
At 13 billion
light-years, UDFy-3813559, has a redshift of 8.6 that was recorded over
16 hours and analyzed for 2 months.
Enough
Water on the Moon
Oases of water for astronauts could
be on the Moon. From no water possible to 5.6% water-ice perhaps in a
10 km region is a vast change.
LCROSS
Crashed Moon - Water Plume Resulted
NASA's LCROSS spacecraft deliberately hit the moon in its Cabeus crater.
About 25 gallons of water were tossed up
HM
Cancri's Components Orbit Each Other in 5.4 Minutes
Two white dwarfs are so close as they revolve so fast that they say be
generating more gravity than electromagnetic waves.
Largest
Photo Map of the Moon
Eleven British amateur astronomers stitched together their photos of a
9 day Moon. There are 288 panes and they have detail at 0.6 miles wide.
Strange
Hyperactive Galaxies of Long Ago
These are small galaxies but with stars moving very fast. So they are
massive galazies. They don't fit well with astronomical generalizations
about the early universe. Such galaxies aren't seen in our more recent
and local universe.
Comet
or Asteroid Hits Jupiter
Australian Anthony Wesley discovered an impact site on Jupiter. He found
it on the anniversary of the Shoemaker-Levy comet smash.
Bright
Spot on Venus
Amateur astronomer, Frank Melillo of Holtsville, NY, first found the spot.
The spot may have come from extremely powerful eruptions. It may, instead,
be from solar particles interacting with the Venusian atmosphere. Then,
too, it could be bright concentrations of turbulence
Methane
From Mars
Is it from Martian bacteria, dead or alive? Is it from volcanoes? In any
case it came from Terra Sabae, Nili Fossae, and Syrtis Major.
New
Cosmic Background Radiation
This background is a radio hiss. It is a relatively
loud hiss.
Milky
Way Galaxy : Has 4 Arms, More Mass, and Spins Faster
New observations give the Milky Way more arms. The mass and the spin have
also increased. It is now thought to be more massive than the well known
galaxy in Andromeda though the latter has more stars.
Fermi
Spacecraft : More Gamma Ray Pulsars
Ordinary pulsars are detected by means of their narrow beam radio signals
or x-ray emissions. Some pulsars have remained hidden because they are
oriented such that the beams miss Earth. They do, however, emit more broadly
in gamma rays. Fermi finds these.
SELENE
Mission Mapped New Details of Moon
The high-definition maps from Japan's SELENE got topographic and mineral
information. It found areas of uranium, thorium and potassium that are
of special interest.
Amateur
Finds Fastest Spinning Asteroid
Richard Miles, via an Internet hookup to an 80 inch telescope
in Australia, found the spin from photometric measurements. 2008HJ spins
so fast that it has tossed away anything not securely fastened to its
surface.
A
MOND and Eight Dwarfs
Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) can accurately account for orbits of
eight dwarf galaxies around our Galaxy. The accuracy is greater than what
the use of dark matter can produce. A new constant of Nature is required
by MOND.
An
Organic Molecule Discovered on an Exoplanet
The Hubble telescope has been used to find methane and water on
a distant planet the size of Jupiter.
Help
Needed to Identify the Objects in the Galaxy Zoo
One million images of galaxies need to be classified.
The Galaxy Zoo Project asks the public to visit its website and ID the
Galaxies. You can do better than a computer at the pattern recognition
required.
Jovian
Van Allen Belts
It could be that the magnetospheres of Earth and Jupiter are much alike
- more so than previously thought.
U
of WA Undergrads Find 1,300 Asteroids
At first the undergraduates were looking for supernovas. Then Amy Rose,
Amber Almy, Amanjot Singh, Kenza Sigrid Arraki, and Kathyrn Smith discovered
that asteroids kept getting in the way.
Comet
Holmes Has Been A Stunning Sight
The comet brightened by a factor of one million. Suddenly it went from
mag 17 to mag 2.5. Naked eye observations or binoculars gave fascinating
views. It had erupted before in November 1892.
Altair
Revealed
The close star, Altair, has had its surface seen. Four linked telescopes
(CHARA) on Mt. Wilson,CA, use image correction to gain 25X resolution
of the Hubble Space Telescope. They see a flattened Altair due to a rotation
in under 10 hours.
Amateurs
and Pros Team to Find Planet XO-3b
An international team of planet hunters has found an extrasolar planet
that is 13X of Jupiter and orbits its star in less than 4 days. This planet
occupies "the brown dwarf desert".
First
Discovery of a Comet Via Digital Camera
Terry Lovejoy found Comet C/2007 E2 with his trusty Canons. He shared
this year's Edgar Wilson Award for amateur comet finding with John Broughton
and David H. Levy.
A
Massive Star Duo
One star is 37X the mass of the Sun.The other is 62X the mass of the Sun.
They are close and orbit each other in slightly over two days.
WMAP Haze:
A Supposition Involving Dark Matter
The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation is supposedly uniformly distributed
in the cosmos. But too many microwaves are near the center of our galaxy.
Dark matter destruction could be the source of the detected increase in
the cosmic microwaves.
Superfast
Spinning Supermassive Black Hole
The first quantative measurements of spin rate for
a supermassive black hole finds it zipping at 98.7% of the maximum possible
rate according to Relativity.
Utah
Has First International Dark-Sky Site
Natural Bridges National Monument is the first international dark sky
site as designated by the International Dark-Sky Association.
Brightest,
Most Powerful Stellar Explosion
It was 100X a typical sypernova.
Water
and A Faraway Planet
One research group did not find water. Now another group has found water
in the atmosphere of the extrasolar planet. It is close enough to its
star that the water is boiling away.
A
Star Nearly As Old As The Universe
The star, HE1523-0901, is 13.2 billion years old.
It is in our Galaxy.
South
Pole of Mars Has a Great Amount of Water
Polar region
has enough water to cover all of Mars to 36 feet deep
Comet
McNaught
A great comet it was, visible in the daytime, with a majestic sweeping
tail.
Comet
Encke Shows Trail
Holloway Comet Observatory finds Encke's trail with a 5 inch refractor
and CCD
Sub-Surface
Craters on Mars
Radar reveals craters under the Martian surface.
On
Earth, Comet Dust Analyzed
Samples from Comet Wild 2 brought to Earth show
the early Solar System was violent. The comet has high and low temperature
materials stored in it for billions of years.
Hydrogen
Peroxide Snow on Mars?
Static electrictiy from dust clouds could produce oxidation.
The
Impossible Supernova
Too bright? Too massive? A new kind of Type Ia supernovae?
Some
Galaxies Don't Show Enough Big Bang Afterglow
Massive clusters of galaxies should have more of
a "shadow" from blocked cosmic microwave backgound emission.
Shadow
Transit on Uranus
The Hubble Space Telescope shows, for first time, the shadow of one of
Uranus's moons, Ariel, against the clouds of Uranus.
Direct
Evidence for Dark Matter
A collision between two clusters of galaxies shows visible matter apart
from the majority of the mass (dark matter).
Ice
Geysers on Mars
They toss sand and dust hundreds of feet into the
Martian air. They are at the South Pole of Mars.
The
Faintest Stars
The Hubble scope took in the light of cluster NGC 6397 for 5 days. The
dimmest must be 8.3% of the Sun's mass.
Jupiter's
Red Spot Jr.
For the first time in history, a new red spot on
Jupiter.
Largest
Structure of the Universe
Linked galaxies across 200 million light-years.
Lucky
Imaging is LowCost, Sharp as Hubble
Ground-based scope takes millions of images very quickly. Software sorts
the ones without atmospheric blur.
The
Auroras of Mars
They arise from magnetic fields of the crust and are ultraviolet flashes.
Ancient
Supernovae From Echoes of Their Light
It is like an archeology of the supernovae.
NASA
Recorded A Lunar Hit
NASA video shows the hit. Most probably the impact was from a taurid.
It landed near the edge of Mare Imbrium.
Mystery
of Galactic X-ray Glow is Solved
White dwarfs and coronae of other more ordinary stars give the glow.
No,
Most Stars in Our Galaxy are Solo
Most galactic stars are red dwarfs. Most of them are not binaries.
Haystack
Observatory : Radio Detection of Deuterium
Amount of deuterium can be related to the amount of dark matter.
Fastest
Spin in the Solar System
In the Kuiper Belt, 2003 EL61 rotates every 3.9 hours.
Giant
Galaxies in the Very Early Universe
It was thought galaxies would be small early on.
Melting
Lunar Dust
Lunar soil melts (sinters) fast in a microwave. Put the microwave on wheels
and go to the moon?
Comet
Particles and Interstellar Dust Brought to Earth
Capsule from space lands in Utah.
Asteroid
Dust Could Affect Local Weather
Warm and high clouds of asteroid remains can be of 1,000 metric tons appearing
in a few seconds.
Mystery
of Gamma Ray Bursts is Solved
The theory of a collision between two neutron stars or a black hole and
a neutron star is confirmed.
First
Planet With Three Suns
Planet has a year of only three and a half days.
Does
the Moon Cause Earthquakes?
Could the few centimeters of tide raised by the Moon in the earth's crust
trigger some earthquakes?
The Smallest
Star
A star, OGLE-TR-122B, is only 16% larger than Jupiter.
Mars
Could Have Life
The Mars Express finds possible evidence for life on Mars from measures
of methane. Also, geologically recent volcanism and glacial activity have
been proposed.
An Explosive
Success
The Deep Impact Probe slams into Comet Tempel 1.
Distant
Quasar in Nearby Galaxy?
A high red-shift object lies within NCG 7319.
Strongest
Radiation Ever Was Recorded by the Tidbinbilla Radio
Telescope
A pulsar blasted space to such an extent that all known material there
would have been vaporized.
The
Sun Was Not Alone
It could be that the Sun came from a crowd of stars. It then wandered
to its present lonely position.
Amateur
Astronomer Photographs Surface of Venus
Christophe Pellier of Bruz, France, used a 14 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain
scope.
Comet
Wild 2 is Astoundingly Irregular
The comet's nucleus has tall projections, steep craters, and dozens of
jets from inside.
Sedna
is Most Distant Object in the Solar System
From Sedna, a pin held up in front of the Sun would cover the Sun. Sedna
is red, reflective, and takes 10,500 years to orbit the Sun.
Eternal
Light on the Moon
A lunar mountain is never dark.
Diamond
Star, 10 Billion Trillion Trillion Carats
It is 50 light years away in the constellation Centaurus.
Craft
Gets Pics and Particles of A Comet
A spacecraft takes close pictures of a comet's nucleus. The craft also
trapped part of the comet's tail. The particles are to be returned to
Earth.
Lunar
Prospecting By Means of X-rays
The Chandra X-Ray Observatory detects chemical elements of the lunar surface
from fluorescence caused by solar x-rays.
Flying
Pulsar Makes X-ray Bow Shock Wave
The 12 mile across pulsar called Geminga moves at 20X the speed of sound.
Planets
Could Form in Only 3 Million Years
Planets could exist after 3 million years and not the 10 to 12 million
years most think is needed to get a planet up and running.
A
Backward Satellite for Our Galaxy
Complex H, once thought to be a gas cloud, is now seen as a satellite
galaxy of our galaxy.
Galaxy
Size Limited by Black Hole Activity
Black hole
jets make galactic gas too energetic for black hole to control.
Gas
Telescope for Focus of Black Holes, Quasars
Earth-Orbit Synthesis is Put to Use to Make Scintillations from Radio
Sources
Not
All Galaxies Have Dark Matter
Three elliptical galaxies lack dark matter.
No
Quantum Cosmological Blur
No support for quantum time, space, and gravity.
Flat
Lens Could Enhance Resolution
The new physics of metamaterials confers optical advantages.
A
Diverse Big Bang Echo?
Cosmic microwave background radiation has an unexplained structure, not
the same in all directions.
An
Evaporating Planet
A hot Jupiter-like planet, too close to its star, is being scorched.
Universe
To Do An Increasingly Faster Expansion
Dark energy has a role
to play in accelerating a universal expansion that will not stop.
Gamma
Ray Bursts: Those Less Than 2 Seconds; More Than 2 Seconds
2,000 bursts have been checked. Fantastic explosions may account for the
longer bursts.
Huge
Ring of Stars Around Our Galaxy
A newly discovered
gigantic feature of our galaxy has been found. Several hundred million
stars surround our galaxy
Titan's
Storm Clouds Roam Over Lakes of Ethane and Methane
This giant moon of Saturn is veiled by an orange haze. Radar observations
tell us more about this satellite.
Polarization
of Cosmic Microwave Radiation
Astronomers operating
a telescope in Antarctica collected photons of light for 200 nights to
record the polarization and further confirm the Big Bang to now lead to
direct measurement of gravity waves.
No
Standard for Quasar Velocity
A recent survey of 200,000 galaxies and 25,000 quasars doesn't support
the notion of quasars near some galaxies close to us as all being at 59%
the velocity of light.
Amateurs
Find Asteroids and Other Things
The 3 telescopes of Roy Tucker
in a Tucson backyard are so arranged that they provide images in triplicate
- to detect celestial movement.
Amateurs
Find Supernovas
A large American telescope built in 9 years from
scrap by Tim Puckett is used by Puckett and volunteers to discover 54
supernovas. They searched through 500,000 photos made with the telescope
that is located in Georgia.
Vast
Amounts of Water on Mars
Water-ice on Mars is immediately below surface. Melt it all and you
have an ocean covering the planet. NASA and people to Mars, finally?
A Planetary
System Like Ours
In orbit about 55 Cancri is a planet - one of the 100 found
in systems beyond the Solar.
A
Planet and An Old Star
A giant star, Iota Draconis, has a planet in orbit about it. This is the
first time such a star has been found.
Sunlight
Produces Deadly Asteroids?
The Sun's radiative force via The Yarkovsky Effect could push asteroids
out of stable orbits.
A
First : Exoplanet's Atmosphere Revealed
HD209458, a star in Pegasus, has a planet that, as seen from the Earth,
passes in front of it.
The Greatest Comet
Hunter
It isn't a who, it is a what. NASA's SOHO has found 365 comets in 6 years.
Recent photos taken by SOHO show a comet on the way to collision with
the Sun.
The
Mystery of the Milky Way's X-ray Glow is Solved
The source for this glow is diffuse gas, not discrete objects.
Data Two Decades
Old Points to Life on Mars
Mars Landers' data show rhythmic metabolic activity for 9 weeks. No programmers
are now alive who could process the tapes, but printouts have been found.
Another
Asteroid Belt
There has been one asteroid belt in all the Universe - until now.
OH
Megamasers from Colliding Galaxies
Arecibo records radio signals from collisions that compress galactic gas.
The resulting megamasers show the frequency of these galactic collisions.
A Drop in Cosmic
Rays Correlates With an Increase in Sunspots
There is a delay of a year in a drop of cosmic ray intensity vs. a rise
in sunspot numbers for alternate sun cycles.
Milankovitch
Cycles Cooled Earth
Millions of years ago an unusual association of low values for Earth's
orbital eccentricity and the tilt of the Earth's axis led to a huge expansion
of Antarctica's ice.
Reducing
Moonlight Glare with Polarizing Filters
Scattered moonlight blots out optical astronomy work for many nights of
the month.
Now
Two Black Holes in Our Galaxy
A smaller one has been found in our halo.
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