Category :: Space Exploration



Minimum Mass For Galaxies Discovered: Breakthrough Sheds Light On Mysterious Dark Matter

Date August 28, 2008

Satellite galaxies studied by UCI researchers that are within 500,000 light-years from the Milky Way.
(Credit: J. Bullock/M. Geha/R. Powell; Image courtesy of University of California - Irvine)

ScienceDaily (Aug. 28, 2008) — By analyzing light from small, faint galaxies that orbit the Milky Way, UC Irvine scientists believe they have discovered the minimum mass for […]

Computer viruses make it to orbit

Date August 27, 2008

A computer virus is alive and well on the International Space Station (ISS).
Nasa has confirmed that laptops carried to the ISS in July were infected with a virus known as Gammima.AG.

The worm was first detected on Earth in August 2007 and lurks on infected machines waiting to steal login names for popular online games.
Nasa said […]

First Light from Space Telescope Reveals Gamma-Ray Sky

Date August 27, 2008

The first results from a powerful gamma-ray telescope launched into orbit earlier this summer show it is on track to unlock new secrets of the most energetic explosions in the universe. That was the message from NASA researchers speaking at a teleconference this afternoon to present the findings and to announce the mission’s new name.

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Clash Of Clusters Provides New Dark Matter Clue

Date August 27, 2008

Hubble and Chandra Composite of the Galaxy Cluster MACS J0025.4-1222. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC, M. Bradac (University of California, Santa Barbara), and S. Allen (Stanford University))

New Hubble and Chandra observations of the cluster known as MACSJ0025.4-1222 indicate that a titanic collision has separated dark from ordinary matter. This provides independent confirmation of a similar effect […]

How Do Galaxies Grow? Massive Galaxies Caught In The Act Of Merging

Date August 26, 2008

Composite colour-image of the brightest galaxies in four groups located about 4 billion light-years away. The galaxies are ordered in increasing stellar mass, i.e. a rough time sequence (upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right). (Credit: Image courtesy of ESO)

Astronomers have caught multiple massive galaxies in the act of merging about 4 billion years […]

Generations Of Stars Pose For Family Portrait

Date August 25, 2008

A new image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope tells a tale of life and death amidst a rich family history. The striking infrared picture shows a colorful cosmic cloud, called W5, studded with multiple generations of blazing stars.

It also provides dramatic new evidence that massive stars — through their brute winds and radiation — can […]

Sky survey yields new cosmic haul

Date August 25, 2008

Astronomers looking through the data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the world’s largest survey of galaxies, have found a new haul of objects closer to home - including one with a potentially exotic origin.

By searching through a survey region known as Stripe 82, a team led by Dr Andrew Becker of the University of […]

Some solar flares may be caused by dark matter

Date August 22, 2008

A powerful X-ray flare (lower centre) erupted from the Sun on 28 October 2003 (Image: NASA/ESA)

Some solar flares may be caused by dark matter particles called axions spewing out from the centre of the Sun, new calculations suggest.

Solar flares are sudden changes in the Sun’s brightness thought to be caused when twisted magnetic fields on […]

Mystery Of Young Stars Near Black Holes Solved

Date August 22, 2008

The mystery of how young stars can form within the deep gravity of black holes has been solved by a team of astrophysicists at the Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

The team made the discovery after developing computer simulations of giant clouds of gas being sucked into black holes. The new research may help scientists […]

Space Age Engineers To Verify Control Software For Future Robotic Inter-planetary Missions

Date August 22, 2008

An international team of engineers is to develop mission-critical control software for future European robotic space missions, it has been announced.

Artist’s view of a future Mars Sample Return (MSR) ascent module lifting off from Mars’ surface with the Martian soil samples. (Credit: Image courtesy of ESA)
Dr. Declan Bates, a senior lecturer in the University of […]

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