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| 13 distant galaxies found in a sample of sky. Image credit: ESO. Click to enlarge. |
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| Many Galaxies Found in the Early Universe |
| Sep 22, 2005 - By looking at the most distant Universe, astronomers are hoping to learn what kinds of galaxies formed first, leading through mergers to the mature galaxies we see today. The more galaxies you look at, the better the predictions. A team of French and Italian astronomers have used the VIsible Multi-Object Spectrograph (VIMOS) instrument on one of the ESO's 8.2 m telescopes to image and measure thousands of galaxies. They found 2 to 6 times as many early galaxies with vigorous star formation than astronomers had previously expected. (Full Story) |
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| Tycho's Supernova as viewed by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Image credit: NASA. Click to enlarge. |
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| Chandra View of Tycho's Remnant |
| Sep 22, 2005 - In 1572, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe observed and studied an exploding star that would later be named after him. NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory shows that the Tycho's Supernova remnant is an expanding bubble of debris which is inside a larger bubble of high-energy electrons. Astronomers think that remnants like this could be a source of cosmic rays; high-energy nuclei found throughout the galaxy which constantly bombard the Earth. (Full Story) |
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| Computer illustration of what the Universe's first stars looked like. Image credit: CfA. Click to enlarge. |
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| Finding the First Stars |
| Sep 22, 2005 - To have the current elements in the Universe, cosmologists believe there had to be several generations of stars, building up heavier and heavier elements. But what did that first generation of stars look like? They were probably huge, weighing 50-500 times the mass of the Sun. They lived quickly and then died as massive supernovae that seeded the surrounding space with heavier elements forged during this explosion. They could even be the source of gamma ray bursts, which are the most powerful known explosions in the Universe. (Full Story) |
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| Mars Express Mission Extended |
| Sep 22, 2005 - The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft will have its mission extended by one Martian year - approximately 23 months - beginning December 2005. Since it began science operations in early 2004, Mars Express has made several findings: volcanic and glacial processes happened quite recently; there are small quantities of methane gas in the Martian atmosphere, which could indicate life; and large bodies of liquid water might have lasted under the surface of Mars for a long period of time. (Full Story) |
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