Space and astronomy news
XMM-Newton slew survey of the Vela supernova remnant. Image credit: ESA. Click to enlarge For most of its time, ESA’s XMM-Newton observatory is staring intently at a single object. But astronomers have figured out how to use the time the observatory spends turning from object to object – called “slewing”. Over the past 4 years, …
Continue reading “XMM-Newton Finds Objects in its Spare Time”
M53. Image credit: Credit: REU Program/NOAO/AURA/NSF. Click to enlarge. Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Have you been following the comet’s trail? If not, there’s observing tips on how to locate 73/P Schwassmann-Wachmann easily. Get out your binoculars or telescopes as we prepare to journey to the Moon and beyond ths week – because… Here’s what’s up! Tuesday, …
Continue reading “What’s Up This Week – May 2 – May 7, 2006”
The Ring Nebula by Stefan Heutz. Click to enlarge When stars similar to our Sun have exhausted their nuclear fuel, they release their outer layer into a beautiful expanding sphere that resembles a planet through a small telescope. The Ring Nebula, pictured here, is one of the most famous examples in the northern sky. But …
Continue reading “Astrophoto: The Ring Nebula by Stefan Heutz”
M3 – Credit: S. Kalfa and K. Honeycutt/Indiana University/WIYN/NAOA/NSF Greetings fellow SkyWatchers! If you haven’t had a chance to observe Comet 73/P Schwassmann-Wachmann yet, right now is a good time as it sweeps through Coma Berenices. This week hosts galaxy studies and meteor showers, so enjoy darker skies – because… Here’s what’s up! Monday, April …
Continue reading “What’s Up This Week – April 24 – April 30, 2006”
A scientifically accurate model of Beta Pictoris and its disk. Image credit: NAOJ. Click to enlarge The disks of gas and dust that surround newborn stars are known as proto-planetary disks; which are thought to be regions where planets will eventually form. These disks disappear as the stars mature, but some stars can still be …
Massive star forming region as seen by ISO. Image credit: ESA. Click to enlarge Astronomers have used ESA’s Infrared Space Observatory to peer at the biggest stars being born. These stars form from the collapse of enormous clouds of gas, and can shine more than 100,000 times as bright as our own Sun. The images …
Effects of the extragalactic background light on the gamma emission by a quasar before reaching Earth. Image credit: HESS Collaboration. Click to enlarge When astronomers look into the sky, they see bright objects, but also a diffuse glow coming from objects across the Universe in many different wavelengths. This glow could serve like a fossil …
Continue reading “A History of the Universe Written in Gamma Rays”
Pulsar RX J0720.4-3125 captured by XMM-Newton. Image credit: ESA/MPE. Click to enlarge ESA’s orbiting X-ray telescope, the XMM-Newton space observatory, has located a neutron star that’s out of control. Researchers found that its temperature rose steadily for more than four years, but now it’s starting to decrease again. The object’s overall temperature isn’t changing, it’s …
Star clusters in small magellanic cloud. Image credit: ESA/NASA. Click to enlarge The Hubble Space Telescope has captured these stunning images of open star clusters NGC 265 and NGC 290 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The two clusters are about 200,000 light years away, and are roughly 65 light-years across. Clusters like this contain young …
M102: “The Spindle Galaxy”. Image credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF . Click to enlarge. Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! This week begins with a meteor shower, but quickly turns galaxy hunt as we sail the galactic realm of the Virgo Cluster. If all you ask is a tall ship and a star to steer it by – then weigh anchor, …
Continue reading “What’s Up This Week – April 18 – April 23, 2006”