Category Astronomy/Space

This artist’s conception symbolically represents complex organic molecules, known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, seen in the early universe. These large molecules, comprised of carbon and hydrogen, are among the building blocks of life. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope is the first telescope to see polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons so early–10 billion years further back in time than seen previously. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

DIBs  (diffuse interstellar bands) are a collection of about 400 absorption bands that show up in spectra of light that reaches the earth after traversing interstellar medium. Indications exist they may arise from the presence of large hydrocarbon molecules. Recent experiments lend novel credibility to this hypothesis.

Among the hydrocarbons that are p...

Images of Saturn’s Main Rings, the F Ring, and its Shepherd Satellites Obtained by Cassini /The narrow F ring located just outside of the outer edge of the main rings. Two satellites sandwiching the F ring slightly above and to the left of the center of the image are the shepherd satellites Prometheus (inner orbit) and Pandora (outer orbit) (NASA/PIA12717) Credit: Image courtesy of Kobe University

Saturn’s F ring and its shepherd satellites are natural outcome of the final stage of formation of Saturn’s satellite system. Saturn, which is the 2nd largest planet in our solar system, is known to have multiple rings and satellites. In 1979, Pioneer 11 discovered the F ring located just outside the main ring system that extends tens of thousands of kilometers...

A newly discovered dwarf galaxy orbiting our own Milky Way has offered up a surprise — it appears to be radiating gamma rays, according to an analysis by physicists at Carnegie Mellon, Brown, and Cambridge universities. The exact source of this high-energy light is uncertain at this point, but it just might be a signal of dark matter lurking at the galaxy’s center. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi-LAT Collaboration/Geringer-Sameth & Walker/Carnegie Mellon University/Koushiappas/Brown University

A newly discovered dwarf galaxy orbiting our own Milky Way has offered up a surprise – it appears to be radiating gamma rays, according to an analysis by physicists...

Numerous recent blogs and web postings are erroneously claiming that an asteroid will impact Earth. However, NASA experts say that there is no scientific basis that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates.

That’s the rumor that has gone viral – now here are the facts.
“There is no scientific basis – not one shred of evidence — that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates,” said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object office at the Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, California.
In fact, NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations Program says there have been no asteroids or comets observed that would impact Earth anytime in the foreseeable future. All known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids have l<0...