At a cosmologically crisp one degree Kelvin (minus 458 degrees Fahrenheit), the Boomerang Nebula is the coldest known object in the Universe - colder than the faint afterglow of the Big Bang, which is the natural background temperature of space. Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope have taken a new look at this intriguing object to learn more about its frigid properties and to determine its true shape, which has an eerily ghost-like appearance.
Oct 24th, 2013
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In an ambitious collaborative program, called The Frontier Fields, NASA's Great Observatories are teaming up to look deeper into the universe than ever before. With a boost from natural 'zoom lenses' found in space, they should be able to uncover galaxies that are as much as 100 times fainter than what the Hubble, Spitzer, and Chandra space telescopes can typically see.
Oct 24th, 2013
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Just 13 days in space may be enough to cause profound changes in eye structure and gene expression, report researchers. Their study is the first to examine eye-related gene expression and cell behavior after spaceflight.
Oct 24th, 2013
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Planets are formed in disks of gas and dust around nascent stars. Now, observations have produced a rare view of a planetary construction site in an intermediate state of evolution: Contrary to expectations, the disk around the star HD 21997 appears to contain both primordial gas left over from the formation of the star itself and dust that appears to have been produced in collisions between planetesimals.
Oct 24th, 2013
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Astronomers have detected the most distant spectroscopically confirmed galaxy ever found - one created within 700 million years after the Big Bang.
Oct 23rd, 2013
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3D printing is getting ready to revolutionise space travel. ESA is paving the way for 3D-printed metals to build high-quality, intricate shapes with massive cost savings.
Oct 23rd, 2013
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Perimeter Institute Associate Faculty member Avery Broderick will explore how astronomers are now imaging the horizons of black holes and attaining new insights about these enigmatic monsters in the dark.
Oct 23rd, 2013
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The early Martian atmosphere lost much of its carbon dioxide through a reaction with rock - a reaction that could slow global warming on Earth.
Oct 23rd, 2013
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Japanese scientists readying to blast a crater in an asteroid to find out what it is made of said Wednesday they have successfully tested their new space cannon.
Oct 23rd, 2013
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NASA's Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) has made history using a pulsed laser beam to transmit data over the 239,000 miles between the moon and Earth at a record-breaking download rate of 622 megabits per second (Mbps).
Oct 23rd, 2013
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Wildfire detection today is much like it was 200 years ago, relying primarily on humans to spot smoke plumes or flames. UC Berkeley experts in fires, satellites and remote sensing now say that the technology is ripe for a fire-spotting satellite that could snap images of the US West every few seconds to detect fires before they spread with few false alarms. The cost would be a fraction of the country's annual fire-fighting budget.
Oct 22nd, 2013
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MIT engineer is designing tiny ion thrusters for the next generation of satellites.
Oct 22nd, 2013
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A newly published paper by three UC San Diego astrophysics researchers for the first time provides an explanation for the origin of three observed correlations between various properties of molecular clouds in the Milky Way galaxy known as Larson's Laws.
Oct 21st, 2013
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In preparation for its final switch-off on 23 October, mission controllers today fired Planck's thrusters to empty its fuel tanks. The burn is one of the final steps to ensure that Planck ends its hugely successful mission in a permanently safe configuration.
Oct 21st, 2013
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ESA's billion-star surveyor Gaia will be launched from Europe's spaceport in Kourou on 20 November to begin a five-year mission to map the stars with unprecedented precision.
Oct 21st, 2013
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For the threat of meteor strikes large or small, early detection is key, and evacuation may be the only defense needed within the next 1,000 years, according to an asteroid impact expert.
Oct 21st, 2013
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Supermassive black holes: every large galaxy's got one. But how did they grow so big?
Oct 18th, 2013
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Using data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered a distant planetary system featuring multiple planets orbiting at a severe tilt to their host star.
Oct 17th, 2013
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