Pin Itemailprint Now that’s a whole lot of darkness. Astronomers have compiled a massive map revealing a complex web of so-called “dark matter” and galaxies spanning a distance of one billion light-years. This monumental task wasn’t achieved by observing the dark matter directly, but rather by observing gravitational effects on light traveling from galaxies that [...]
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What a year it was for scientific advancements. In 2011, there were some amazing discoveries in astronomy, particle physics, lost civilizations, and even the animal kingdom. From pyramids buried in the desert to the discovery of amazing new planets, 2011 was quite a year! Check it out below. More here: Best of 2011 Incoming search [...]
It would seem that rumors of Comet Lovejoy‘s death have been greatly exaggerated. The newly discovered comet surprised many yesterday by surviving a suicide dive through the sun’s hot atmosphere, according to NASA. Comet Lovejoy passed through the sun’s corona at around 7 p.m. EST, coming within roughly 87,000 miles of its surface. Temperatures in [...]
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The second total lunar eclipse of 2011 will take place on Saturday, December 10, and along with it will come a unique occurrence once thought to be impossible. The best views for this lunar eclipse can be found in Alaska, Hawaii, northwestern Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and central and eastern Asia. Over the U.S. and [...]
Continue reading " Lunar Eclipse: December 2011 Show to Include Rare ‘Selenelion’ "
It seems like with each passing week we get closer and closer to answering the eternal question of whether or not we are alone in the universe. Another giant step leap forward has just been made, as NASA‘s Kepler spacecraft has confirmed the discovery of the first alien world in its host star’s habitable zone, [...]
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On Thanksgiving Day, you may want to give thanks for the fact that we (hopefully) haven’t all been smashed to bits. NASA has just discovered a new Near-Earth Object (NEO), dubbed Asteroid 2011 WP4 which will graze our planet on Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. The asteroid was just discovered on Friday, November 18, [...]
Mysterious clouds of dust found near some supermassive black holes could be caused by violent collisions between planets and asteroids, according to a new study. An international team of astronomers studied various supermassive black holes, which are found in the central areas of most galaxies. They found that about 50 percent of them are hidden [...]
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Thanks to two of the world’s biggest optical-infrared telescopes, the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, a group of astronomers has found more than two dozen brown dwarf stars floating freely throughout two galactic clusters. During the Substellar Objects in Nearby Young Clusters (SONYC) survey, these “failed stars” drew [...]
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Exactly what is “dark energy”? The European Space Agency hopes to find out. The ESA has announced that it will launch a space telescope called Euclid in a few years to study the mysterious “dark energy”. The current plan is for Euclid to travel to the so-called Earth/Solar L2 point where the Earth’s gravity and [...]
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Here’s something you certainly don’t see every day. A giant, planet-sized comet discovered by amateur astronomers on Friday smashed into the sun on Saturday with unexpected consequences. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory recorded the comet’s impact with the sun. Right after the comet hit, a massive CME (solar flare) exploded out of the other side [...]
Continue reading " Did a Giant Comet Hitting the Sun Cause a Massive CME (VIDEO) "
If you love strange cosmic sights, the yolk’s on you. A space telescope in Europe has cracked open the best image yet of one of the rarest types of stars in the known universe, and astronomers note that is resembles a fried egg. The European Southern Observatory‘s aptly-named Very Large Telescope, at the Paranal Observatory [...]
Continue reading " ‘Fried Egg Nebula’ Sunny Side Up Thanks to Giant Star (VIDEO) "
Here’s something you don’t see every day. Astronomers believe they have determined what caused a giant energy flash spotted in a galaxy far, far away, saying it emanated from an enormous massive black hole that gobbled up a star that had drifted too close to it. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, Swift satellite, and the [...]
