Researcher advances a new model for a cosmological enigma - dark matter
A novel model of dark matter, dubbed 'flavor-mixed multicomponent dark matter'.
Sep 4th, 2014
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Researchers discover new clues to determining the solar cycle
Approximately every 11 years, the sun undergoes a complete personality change from quiet and calm to violently active. The height of the sun's activity, known as solar maximum, is a time of numerous sunspots, punctuated with profound eruptions that send radiation and solar particles out into the far reaches of space.
Sep 4th, 2014
Read moreNewly identified galactic supercluster is home to the Milky Way
Astronomers have determined that our own Milky Way galaxy is part of a newly identified ginormous supercluster of galaxies, which they have dubbed Laniakea, which means 'immense heaven' in Hawaiian.
Sep 3rd, 2014
Read moreCosmic forecast: Dark clouds will give way to sunshine
Lupus 4, a spider-shaped blob of gas and dust, blots out background stars like a dark cloud on a moonless night in this intriguing new image. Although gloomy for now, dense pockets of material within clouds such as Lupus 4 are where new stars form and where they will later burst into radiant life.
Sep 3rd, 2014
Read moreObserving the onset of a magnetic substorm
Magnetic substorms, the disruptions in geomagnetic activity that cause brightening of aurora, may sometimes be driven by a different process than generally thought, a new study shows.
Sep 2nd, 2014
Read more$1.5M software grant to process solar astronomy data on larger scale
Researchers in Georgia State University's new Astroinformatics program have been awarded $1.5 million from the National Science Foundation to develop software tools that can process large sets of solar astronomy data and allow scientists to perform analyses on scales and detail levels that have not been possible.
Sep 2nd, 2014
Read moreWhy sibling stars look alike: Early, fast mixing in star-birth clouds
Early, fast, turbulent mixing of gas within giant molecular clouds means all stars formed from a single cloud bear the same unique chemical 'tag' or 'DNA fingerprint'. Could such chemical tags help astronomers identify our own Sun's long-lost sibling stars?
Aug 31st, 2014
Read moreMysteries of space dust revealed
The first analysis of space dust collected by a special collector onboard NASA's Stardust mission and sent back to Earth for study in 2006 suggests the tiny specks open a door to studying the origins of the solar system and possibly the origin of life itself.
Aug 29th, 2014
Read moreAstrophysicists report radioactive cobalt in supernova explosion
A group of astrophysicists have detected the formation of radioactive cobalt during a supernova explosion, lending credence to a corresponding theory of supernova explosions.
Aug 29th, 2014
Read moreUncloaking the King of the Milky Way: The largest star in our home galaxy's largest stellar nursery
Astronomers have identified the most massive star in our home galaxy's largest stellar nursery, the star-forming region W49. The star, named W49nr1, has a mass between 100 and 180 times the mass of the Sun.
Aug 28th, 2014
Read morePhysicists observe the creation of solar energy for the first time ever
For the first time in the history of solar research, scientists have successfully measured solar energy at the instant of creation inside the sun. In the Gran Sasso underground laboratory, physicists of the Borexino Collaboration are for the first time ever directly observing the neutrinos created during the fusion of two hydrogen nuclei and the resultant production of heavy hydrogen.
Aug 28th, 2014
Read moreEUV calibrations for satellite sensors
Thanks to precision calibration measurements recently performed at NIST, satellites may soon be looking at sunlight with new and improved vision.
Aug 28th, 2014
Read moreWitnessing the early growth of a giant
Astronomers have uncovered for the first time the earliest stages of a massive galaxy forming in the young Universe. The growing galaxy core is blazing with the light of millions of newborn stars that are forming at a ferocious rate.
Aug 27th, 2014
Read moreLooking into the heart of a stellar explosion
Researchers observe gamma-ray lines from a type Ia supernova.
Aug 27th, 2014
Read moreOrion rocks! pebble-size particles may jump-start planet formation
Rocky planets like Earth start out as microscopic bits of dust tinier than a grain of sand, or so theories predict.
Aug 27th, 2014
Read moreMeasurement at Big Bang conditions confirms lithium problem
The field of astrophysics has a stubborn problem and it's called lithium. The quantities of lithium predicted to have resulted from the Big Bang are not actually present in stars. But the calculations are correct - a fact which has now been confirmed for the first time in experiments conducted at the underground laboratory in the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy.
Aug 27th, 2014
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