Astronomy
Chandra Spots X-Ray Jet Evolution
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| Image credit: Chandra |
Astronomers announced this week that they have seen the complete life cycle of X-ray jets spewing out of a black hole. The jets were first discovered coming out of stellar mass black hole XTE J1550-564, and then the astronomers watched them for 4 years using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. The jets were traveling at nearly the speed of light until this year when they began to slow down because of interactions with interstellar gas. Similar jets have been seen emanating from supermassive black holes, but they take thousands of years to go through this process.
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Oct 7, 2002, 4:45pm
Space Flight
Atlantis Launch Ends Long Shuttle Delays
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| Image credit: NASA |
The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center today after four months of repairs and delays. The shuttle and its 6-astronaut crew lifted off at 1945 GMT (3:45pm EDT), and reached orbit shortly after; by Wednesday it will link up with the International Space Station. A new camera, mounted on the external fuel tank pointed down at the shuttle, and showed the whole launch until separation.
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Oct 7, 2002, 4:36pm
Astronomy
New Large Object Discovered Past Pluto
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| Image credit: Hubble |
Astronomers have discovered a new object far past the orbit of Pluto. Dubbed Quaoar, the object is 1,200 km across (approximately 1/10th the size of the Earth), and orbits the sun once every 288 years. Although the object is half the size of the Pluto, it probably won't be considered a new planet – even Pluto's planetness is hotly debated. Ironically, Quaoar was caught in images taken as far back as 20 years ago; astronomers just didn't realize what they were looking at.
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Oct 7, 2002, 12:32pm
Astronomy
Best Infrared Image Ever Taken of our Galaxy's Heart
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| Image credit: NASA |
A team of astronomers have taken the highest resolution mid-infrared picture ever taken of the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The image is so detailed, you can actually see dust swirling around the giant black hole located at the centre of the galaxy. The camera, called the Mid-Infrared Large-Well Imager, or Mirlin, is attached to the enormous Keck observatory in Hawaii.
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Oct 2, 2002, 3:28pm
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