Recent Comments

    Category Astronomy/Space

    Andromeda Galaxy Scanned with High-energy X-ray Vision

    January 6, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    NASA's Nuclear Spectroscope Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has imaged a swath of the Andromeda galaxy -- the nearest large galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC

    NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscope Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has imaged a swath of the Andromeda galaxy — the nearest large galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC

    NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has captured the best high-energy X-ray view yet of a portion of our nearest large, neighboring galaxy, Andromeda. The space mission has observed 40 “X-ray binaries” – intense sources of X-rays composed of a black hole or neutron star that feeds off a stellar companion.

    The results will ultimately help researchers better understand the role of X-ray binaries in the evolution of our universe. According to astronomers, these energetic objects may play a critical role in heating the intergalactic bath of gas in which the very first galaxies formed...

    Read More

    Curiosity Rover rounds Martian Dune to get to the other side

    January 6, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This Dec. 18, 2015, view of the downwind face of "Namib Dune" on Mars covers 360 degrees, including a portion of Mount Sharp on the horizon. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

    This Dec. 18, 2015, view of the downwind face of “Namib Dune” on Mars covers 360 degrees, including a portion of Mount Sharp on the horizon. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

    Dramatic closeup views of a dune’s steep face, where cascading sand has sculpted very different textures than the wavy ripples visible on the dune’s windward slope. Researchers are using Curiosity to examine examples of the Bagnold Dunes, a band of dark sand dunes lining the northwestern flank of Mt. Sharp, the layered mountain the rover is climbing.

    A characteristic that sets true dunes apart from other wind-shaped bodies of sand, such as drifts and ripples previously visited by Mars rovers, is a steep, downwind slope known as the slip face...

    Read More

    Strong Magnetic fields discovered in Majority of Stars

    January 5, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Stars like the Sun puff up and become red giants towards the end of their lives. The red giants ('old' Suns) of the same mass as the Sun do not show strong magnetic fields in their interior, but for stars slightly more massive, up to 60 percent host strong magnetic fields. Credit: University of Sydney

    Stars like the Sun puff up and become red giants towards the end of their lives. The red giants (‘old’ Suns) of the same mass as the Sun do not show strong magnetic fields in their interior, but for stars slightly more massive, up to 60 percent host strong magnetic fields. Credit: University of Sydney

    Finding to impact understanding of stellar evolution and potentially lead to a better understanding of the sun’s 22-year magnetic cycle – known to affect communication systems and cloud cover on Earth. Using data from NASA’s Kepler mission, the team found that stars only slightly more massive than the Sun have internal magnetic fields up to 10 million times that of Earth, with important implications for evolution and the ultimate fate of stars.

    “This is tremendously exciting, and totally unex...

    Read More

    Rotational Clock for Stars needs Recalibration

    January 5, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    New work may have implications for our own Solar System, as they indicate that our own sun might be on the cusp of a transition in its magnetic field. Credit: © kevron2001 / Fotolia

    New work may have implications for our own Solar System, as they indicate that our own sun might be on the cusp of a transition in its magnetic field. Credit: © kevron2001 / Fotolia

    A recently developed method for determining a star’s age needs to be recalibrated for stars older than our sun. This is due to new information about the way older stars spin, as spin rate is one of the few windows into stellar ages Findings indicate sun might be on cusp of a transition in its magnetic field.

    Just like planets, stars rotate around an axis. As stars age, this spin slows down due to the star’s magnetic field acting on its stellar wind, ie flow of gas moving away from the star...

    Read More