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A study by astrophysicists at the University of Toronto suggests that exoplanets are more likely to have liquid water and be more habitable than we thought.
Jan 15th, 2015
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The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) telescope at the Paranal Observatory, operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, has achieved 'first light'.
Jan 15th, 2015
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New study finds meteorites were byproducts of planetary formation, not building blocks.
Jan 14th, 2015
Read moreUniversity of Warwick scientists have begun searching for planets after the unveiling of twelve robotically controlled telescopes.
Jan 14th, 2015
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If you sweep a laser pointer across the Moon fast enough, you can create spots that actually move faster than light. Anyone can do it.
Jan 9th, 2015
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By analyzing the light of hundreds of thousands of celestial objects, astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have created a unique map of enigmatic molecules in our galaxy that are responsible for puzzling features in the light from stars.
Jan 9th, 2015
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In an interstellar race against time, astronomers have measured the space-time warp in the gravity of a binary star and determined the mass of a neutron star - just before it vanished from view.
Jan 8th, 2015
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An international consortium has published in a single article a compendium of data obtained after the simultaneous research of three supernovas and of their corresponding Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB). The research enabled contrasting statistically that the supernovas associated with GRB emit greater quantities of nickel compared to those not linked to GRB.
Jan 8th, 2015
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While many astronomical collaborations use powerful telescopes to target individual objects in the distant universe, a new project at is doing something radically different: using small telescopes to study a growing portion of the nearby universe all at once.
Jan 8th, 2015
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A NASA-sponsored website designed to crowdsource analysis of data from the agency's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission has reached an impressive milestone. In less than a year, citizen scientists using DiskDetective.org have logged 1 million classifications of potential debris disks and disks surrounding young stellar objects (YSO). This data will help provide a crucial set of targets for future planet-hunting missions.
Jan 7th, 2015
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Working at temperatures matching the interior of the sun, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories' Z machine have been able to determine experimentally, for the first time, iron's role in inhibiting energy transmission from the center of the sun to near the edge of its radiative band - the section of the solar interior between the sun's core and outer convection zone.
Jan 6th, 2015
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At a time when our earliest human ancestors had recently mastered walking upright, the heart of our Milky Way galaxy underwent a titanic eruption, driving gases and other material outward at 2 million miles per hour. Now, at least 2 million years later, astronomers are witnessing the aftermath of the explosion: billowing clouds of gas towering about 30,000 light-years above and below the plane of our galaxy.
Jan 6th, 2015
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New research reveals a spatial association between the presence of sulfur and hydrogen found in martian soil. The work may in turn identify hydrous iron sulfates as key carriers of H2O in bulk martian soil.
Jan 5th, 2015
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For life as we know it to develop on other planets, those planets would need liquid water, or oceans. Geologic evidence suggests that Earth's oceans have existed for nearly the entire history of our world. But would that be true of other planets, particularly super-Earths? New research suggests the answer is yes and that oceans on super-Earths, once established, can last for billions of years.
Jan 5th, 2015
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When you're a kid every birthday is cause for celebration, but as you get older they become a little less exciting. You might not want to admit just how old you are. And you might notice yourself slowing down over the years. You're not alone - the same is true of stars. They slow down as they age, and their ages are well-kept secrets. Astronomers are taking advantage of the first fact to tackle the second and tease out stellar ages.
Jan 5th, 2015
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How do you make an Earth-like planet? The 'test kitchen' of Earth has given us a detailed recipe, but it wasn't clear whether other planetary systems would follow the same formula. Now, astronomers have found evidence that the recipe for Earth also applies to terrestrial exoplanets orbiting distant stars.
Jan 5th, 2015
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Planetary scientists have calculated that there are hundreds of billions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy which might support life, by applying a 200 year old idea to the thousands of exo-planets discovered by the Kepler space telescope.
Jan 4th, 2015
Read moreAn international team of astronomers developed a simulation of the universe in which realistic galaxies are created; their mass, size and age are similar to those of observed galaxies. Their similarity is caused by the simulation of strong galactic winds - gas winds that are blown from galaxies.
Dec 30th, 2014
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