August 2011
60 posts
eso1132 — Science Release: The Star That Should...
31 August 2011
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A team of European astronomers has used ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to track down a star in the Milky Way that many thought was impossible. They discovered that this star is composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, with only remarkably small amounts of other chemical elements in it. This intriguing composition places it in the “forbidden zone” of a...
ESO - First 7-metre ALMA Antenna Arrives at...
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The first of twelve 7-metre diameter ALMA antennas has just been transported on 24 August 2011 to the 5000-metre-high Chajnantor plateau, where the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is under construction. ALMA is a giant radio telescope composed of an array of fifty 12-metre antennas, as well as a smaller array known as the Atacama Compact Array (ACA). This will...
Hubble - Astronomical Vision Test
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Peering into the depths of space, the sharp-eyed NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has imaged the nearby but faint dwarf galaxy ESO 540-030. This object itself appears as a huge swarm of dim stars, but ESO 540-030 is actually just one point of interest in the picture.
ESO 540-030 is just over 11 million light-years distant, and is part of the Sculptor group of galaxies. This...
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Hubble - Feeling the Strain
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NGC 2146 is classified as a barred spiral due to its shape, but the most distinctive feature is the dusty spiral arm that has looped in front of the galaxy’s core as seen from our perspective. The forces required to pull this structure out of its natural shape and twist it up to 45 degrees are colossal. The most likely explanation is that a neighbouring galaxy is...
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NASA JPL - Comet Elenin Poses No Threat to Earth
Trajectory of comet Elenin. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech › Larger image
August 16, 2011
Often, comets are portrayed as harbingers of gloom and doom in movies and on television, but most pose no threat to Earth. Comet Elenin, the latest comet to visit our inner solar system, is no exception. Elenin will pass about 22 million miles (35 million kilometers) from Earth during its closest...
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NASA JPL - NASA Research Confirms it's a Small...
This view of Earth comes from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard the Terra satellite. Image credit: NASA/JPL › Full image
August 16, 2011
A NASA-led research team has confirmed what Walt Disney told us all along: Earth really is a small world, after all. Since Charles Darwin’s time, scientists have speculated that the solid Earth might be expanding or...
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Zooniverse - Ejecta Blocking Boulder
15 August 2011 by tom128, Moon Zoo Blog
On the floor of Al-Bakri crater lies an approximately 100 foot diameter crater with a very unusual feature that may have interfered with its impact ejecta pattern.
ACT-REACT map NAC photo strip
You can see the open wedge area (no ejecta) caused from a strategically placed boulder near its rim. Here is what Moon Zoo Team member Irene ...
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ESO - As Time Goes By
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Just as the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so do the stars appear to slowly march across the sky. Their leisurely pace is imperceptible to a casual observer, but you can test the effect for yourself: on the next clear night note the position of a bright star, and then check again a few hours later. The change is not caused by the motion of the stars themselves,...
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Hubble - Hubble Offers a Dazzling Necklace
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A giant cosmic necklace glows brightly in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The object, aptly named the Necklace Nebula, is a recently discovered planetary nebula, the glowing remains of an ordinary, Sun-like star. The nebula consists of a bright ring, measuring about two light-years across, dotted with dense, bright knots of gas that resemble diamonds in a...
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Zooniverse - Q3 Data Release Annoucement
13 August 2011 by Meg, Planet Hunters Blog
The Kepler team announced yesterday the release of Q3 data has moved up from June 2012 to September 23rd. Q3 is about 90 days of additional data (bringing the time baseline to about 210 days). The press release also mentions Planet Hunters by name (thanks Kepler team!).
We just heard the news yesterday, so we’re starting to discuss and plan now...
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Zooniverse - Finishing the Q1 data in time for...
9 August 2011 by Meg, Planet Hunters Blog
Thanks to your hard work, in October, we will be presenting the first results from Planet Hunters at the European Planetary Science Congress and American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Sciences joint EPSC-DPS meeting in Nantes, France. We will be giving a talk at the meeting, showing the results from your classifications of the ...
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Zooniverse News - What's happening...
Again, apologies for not keeping up with what’s going on at The Zooniverse. Having to look after my mother, who isn’t well, so I don’t get a lot of time to spend on the PC talking to astronomers and finding out the latest news and goings on. Not that I mind looking after my mum, of course; but it is a full time job. Anyway here’s a list of some of the latests happenings at...
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ESO - Dark Sky and White Desert — Snow pays a rare...
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The night sky above Cerro Paranal, the home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), is dark and dotted with the bright stars of the Milky Way, and more distant galaxies. But it is very rare to see the ground contrasting with the sky as markedly as in this photograph, which shows a gentle layer of white snow dotted with darker spots of the desert terrain beneath. The picture was...
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Hubble - Crowded, but Suspiciously Quiet?
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The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has imaged part of the Hickson Compact Group 7, or HCG 7 for short. This grouping is composed of one lenticular (lens-shaped) and three spiral galaxies in close proximity. In this image, one of the spirals dominates the foreground, with many more distant galaxies peppering the background. Observing tightly-knit galaxy groups like HCG 7 is...
