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NASA's Fermi enters extended mission (w/video)
On Aug. 11, Fermi entered an extended phase of its mission - a deeper study of the high-energy cosmos. This is a significant step toward the science team's planned goal of a decade of observations, ending in 2018.
August 22, 2013 Read more
What's for dinner on Mars?
Imagine finding freeze-dried meats and fruits, dehydrated vegetables, egg crystals, ghee-like anhydrous butter, powdered milk and chipotle peppers in your kitchen, but not a morsel of fresh food. That's what happened to six 'astronauts' who lived in a simulated Martian base on the slopes of Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano from April 16 to Aug. 13 as part of a HI-SEAS mission.
August 21, 2013 Read more
Highest-ever resolution photos of the night sky
A team of astronomers from three institutions has developed a new type of telescope camera that makes higher resolution images than ever before, the culmination of 20 years of effort.
August 21, 2013 Read more
New theory points to 'zombie vortices' as key step in star formation
Scientists have proposed a new model that elucidates a key step in star formation. They point to 'zombie vortices' as a destabilizing force needed to help protostars accumulate the mass needed to grow into stars.
August 20, 2013 Read more
Starbirth surprisingly energetic: ALMA observations give new insights into protostars
While observing a newborn star, astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope discovered twin jets of matter blasting out into space at record-breaking speed. These surprisingly forceful molecular 'winds' could help refine our understanding of how stars impact their cloudy nurseries and shape their emerging stellar systems.
August 20, 2013 Read more
Newly discovered exoplanet orbits its star in 8.5 hours
In the time it takes you to complete a single workday, or get a full night's sleep, a small fireball of a planet 700 light-years away has already completed an entire year.
August 19, 2013 Read more
Revealing dark energy's hold on the Universe
A new collaboration aims to learn how dark energy is driving the accelerated expansion of the universe.
August 15, 2013 Read more
Pulsars make a GPS for the cosmos
CSIRO scientists have written software that could guide spacecraft to Alpha Centauri, show that the planet Nibiru doesn't exist... and prove that the Earth goes around the Sun.
August 15, 2013 Read more
Spaceflight alters bacterial social networks
In two NASA-funded studies biofilms grown aboard the International Space Station bound space shuttle were compared with those grown on the ground. The study results show for the first time that spaceflight changes the behavior of bacterial communities.
August 15, 2013 Read more
Cosmic turbulences result in star and black hole formation
Just how stars and black holes in the Universe are able to form from rotating matter is one of the big questions of astrophysics. Now, a new publication by HZDR physicists in Physical Review Letters shows how magnetic fields can also cause turbulences within "dead zones," thus making an important contribution to our current understanding of just how compact objects form in the cosmos.
August 15, 2013 Read more
Galaxies had 'mature' shapes 11.5 billion years ago
An international team of astronomers led by BoMee Lee has established that mature-looking galaxies existed much earlier than previously known, about 11.5 billion years ago.
August 14, 2013 Read more
Dwarf galaxy caught ramming into a large spiral
Observations with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have revealed a massive cloud of multimillion-degree gas in a galaxy about 60 million light years from Earth. The hot gas cloud is likely caused by a collision between a dwarf galaxy and a much larger galaxy called NGC 1232.
August 14, 2013 Read more
A magnetar at the heart of our Milky Way
Radio astronomers use pulsar with strong magnetic field to investigate supermassive black hole.
August 14, 2013 Read more
Precisely measuring the velocity of a supernova shockwave
A research team has succeeded in precisely measuring the expansion velocity of a shockwave of the supernova remnant W44.
August 13, 2013 Read more
Cosmology in the lab using laser-cooled ions
Scientists used laser-cooled ions in so-called 'ion Coulomb crystals'. They were able to show for the first time how symmetry breaking can be generated in a controlled manner and how the occurrence of defects can then be observed.
August 12, 2013 Read more
Perseid meteors to light up summer skies
The evening of 12 August and morning of 13 August see the annual maximum of the Perseids meteor shower. This year prospects for watching this natural firework display are particularly good.
August 9, 2013 Read more
Poised for discovery: Gemini's much-anticipated infrared instrument goes on-sky
Gemini Observatory's latest instrument, a powerful infrared camera and spectrograph at Gemini South, reveals its potential in a series of striking on-sky commissioning images released today.
August 9, 2013 Read more
Hubble finds source of Magellanic stream
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have solved a 40-year mystery on the origin of the Magellanic Stream, a long ribbon of gas stretching nearly halfway around our Milky Way galaxy.
August 8, 2013 Read more