SDSS-(ENEWSPF)- Scientists working with data from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys’ Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) have discovered a “fossil galaxy” hidden in the depths of our own Milky Way. This result, published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, may shake up our understanding of[Read More…]
Astrophysics
Hubble Catches Possible ‘shadow Play’ of the Disk Around a Black Hole
Baltimore, MD-(ENEWSPF)- Some of the most stunning views of our sky occur at sunset, when sunlight pierces the clouds, creating a mixture of bright and dark rays formed by the clouds’ shadows and the beams of light scattered by the atmosphere. Astronomers studying nearby galaxy IC 5063 are tantalized by[Read More…]
Solar Orbiter Launch Takes Solar Science to New Heights
Washington, D.C.-(ENEWSPF)- Solar Orbiter, a new collaborative mission between ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA to study the Sun, launched at 11:03 p.m. EST Sunday on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. At 12:24 a.m. Monday, mission[Read More…]
Oxygen Line Opens New Perspective on the Far Universe
The Netherlands-(ENEWSPF)- A team of astronomers of Leiden University (the Netherlands) and the University of Texas (Austin, United States) has discovered a new way to map distant galaxies. They used an atomic oxygen spectral line for this. Normally, this spectral line cannot be captured with terrestrial telescopes. But because the[Read More…]
STScI Astronomers Kathryn Flanagan and Colin Norman Elected AAAS Fellows
Baltimore, MD-(ENEWSPF)- The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Council has elected Kathryn Flanagan of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and Colin Norman of STScI and Johns Hopkins University, and 441 other AAAS members as Fellows of the AAAS. Election as an AAAS Fellow is an honor[Read More…]
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Has Been Assembled for the First Time
By Thaddeus CesariNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Goddard Space Science Center-(ENEWSPF)-Reaching a major milestone, engineers have successfully connected the two halves of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope for the first time at Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Redondo Beach, California. Once it reaches space, NASA’s most powerful and complex space telescope will explore the cosmos[Read More…]
Star-quake Vibrations lead to New Estimate for Age of Milky Way
Data gathered by NASA’s now-defunct Kepler telescope provides a solution to an astronomical mystery. Royal Astronomical Society-(ENEWSPF)- Star-quakes recorded by NASA’s Kepler space telescope have helped answer a long-standing question about the age of the “thick disc” of the Milky Way. In a paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of[Read More…]
Northwestern U: ‘Are We Alone?’ Study Refines Which Exoplanets Are Potentially Habitable
Evanston, IL-(ENEWSPF)- In order to search for life in outer space, astronomers first need to know where to look. A new Northwestern University study will help astronomers narrow down the search. Which exoplanets are truly habitable? The research team is the first to combine 3D climate modeling with atmospheric chemistry[Read More…]
Sun Explorer Solar Orbiter Spacecraft Leaves for Launch Site
The UK-built Solar Orbiter is preparing to leave Germany, where it has been undergoing final testing, for its launch site at Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA. From:UK Space Agency and Chris Skidmore MP United Kingdom-(ENEWSPF)- Due to launch in February 2020, Solar Orbiter will perform unprecedented close-up observations of the Sun. It[Read More…]
New Hubble Constant Measurement Adds to Mystery of Universe’s Expansion Rate
Red Giant Stars Used as Milepost Markers Baltimore, MD-(ENEWSPF)- Astronomers have made a new measurement of how fast the universe is expanding, the Hubble Constant, using an entirely different kind of star than previous endeavors. The revised measurement, which comes from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, falls in the center of[Read More…]
