Beyond Astronomy
Beyond Astronomy. Information for today\'s amateur astronomer
Articles
Billions of habitable planets in Milky Way
2012-01-11 15:55:00
By scouring millions of stars in the night sky over six years, researchers found that the majority of the 100 billion stars in the Milky Way have planets similar to Earth or Mercury, Venus or Mars, the other similar planets in our solar system.They estimated that in our galaxy there are about 10 billion stars with planets in the "habitable zone" – the distance from the star where solid planets can be found – many of which could in theory be capable of supporting life. Dr Martin Dominik, a German research fellow at St Andrews University, said: "Even if life existed on only one planet in each galaxy there would still be 100 billion in the universe."We still don't have the evidence of life on another planet, and we could be unique, but confronted with these numbers it seems highly unlikely."There are a small number of planets which we think could harbour life, a small number of candidates with what we believe might be the right conditions." More than 1,000 planets have already been d
2012-01-11 15:55:00
By scouring millions of stars in the night sky over six years, researchers found that the majority of the 100 billion stars in the Milky Way have planets similar to Earth or Mercury, Venus or Mars, the other similar planets in our solar system.They estimated that in our galaxy there are about 10 billion stars with planets in the "habitable zone" – the distance from the star where solid planets can be found – many of which could in theory be capable of supporting life. Dr Martin Dominik, a German research fellow at St Andrews University, said: "Even if life existed on only one planet in each galaxy there would still be 100 billion in the universe."We still don't have the evidence of life on another planet, and we could be unique, but confronted with these numbers it seems highly unlikely."There are a small number of planets which we think could harbour life, a small number of candidates with what we believe might be the right conditions." More than 1,000 planets have already been d
Russian Space Failures May Be Result of Foul Play, Official Says
2012-01-11 15:32:00
Foul play may be responsible for the failure of Russia's Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, as well as a string of other embarrassing setbacks that plagued the country's space agency last year, the agency's chief suggested.The 14.5-ton Phobos-Grunt spacecraft got stuck in Earth orbit shortly after its Nov. 8 launch, and Russian officials predict it will crash back into the atmosphere this Sunday (Jan. 15). Shadowy unnamed actors may have brought the probe down and caused four other Russian space failures in 2011, hinted Vladimir Popovkin, chief of Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)."It is unclear why our setbacks often occur when the vessels are travelling through what for Russia is the 'dark' side of the Earth — in areas where we do not see the craft and do not receive its telemetry readings," Popovkin told Russia's Izvestia newspaper, according to Agence-France Presse."I do not want to blame anyone, but today there are some very powerful countermeasures that can be used against space
2012-01-11 15:32:00
Foul play may be responsible for the failure of Russia's Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, as well as a string of other embarrassing setbacks that plagued the country's space agency last year, the agency's chief suggested.The 14.5-ton Phobos-Grunt spacecraft got stuck in Earth orbit shortly after its Nov. 8 launch, and Russian officials predict it will crash back into the atmosphere this Sunday (Jan. 15). Shadowy unnamed actors may have brought the probe down and caused four other Russian space failures in 2011, hinted Vladimir Popovkin, chief of Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)."It is unclear why our setbacks often occur when the vessels are travelling through what for Russia is the 'dark' side of the Earth — in areas where we do not see the craft and do not receive its telemetry readings," Popovkin told Russia's Izvestia newspaper, according to Agence-France Presse."I do not want to blame anyone, but today there are some very powerful countermeasures that can be used against space
Off the clock: Scientists create cloaking device that 'hides' whole events - making time itself disappear
2012-01-05 14:38:00
Most of the human race don't have any problem making time disappear - but scientists have cracked a very hi-tech way of doing exactly that. Scientists have developed a 'temporal cloaking' device that can hide events from view.The demonstration 'hid' events for 40 trillionths of a second - or 40 picoseconds - by speeding up and slowing down different parts of a light beam.The different parts of the light beam were then put back together, so that any observers could not detect what happened during the 'hidden' time.The information is simply not there to be read or reconstructed.So far, the technique only works on periods of 0.00012 of a second - so the police can probably rest easy, as evildoers would have to move far faster than human beings ever could to 'conceal' their actions.Instead, the 'hidden' fractions of a second could be used for ultra-secure communications.The scientists think that the technique could even be combined with recent advances in optical 'cloaking' - to hide an e
2012-01-05 14:38:00
Most of the human race don't have any problem making time disappear - but scientists have cracked a very hi-tech way of doing exactly that. Scientists have developed a 'temporal cloaking' device that can hide events from view.The demonstration 'hid' events for 40 trillionths of a second - or 40 picoseconds - by speeding up and slowing down different parts of a light beam.The different parts of the light beam were then put back together, so that any observers could not detect what happened during the 'hidden' time.The information is simply not there to be read or reconstructed.So far, the technique only works on periods of 0.00012 of a second - so the police can probably rest easy, as evildoers would have to move far faster than human beings ever could to 'conceal' their actions.Instead, the 'hidden' fractions of a second could be used for ultra-secure communications.The scientists think that the technique could even be combined with recent advances in optical 'cloaking' - to hide an e
Rare slow-spinning star reveals space oddity
2012-01-03 13:09:00
Astronomers have discovered a strange spinning star that appears to be older than the explosion that gave birth to it, scientists say. The star is a pulsar, a rotating, super-dense core left behind after a massive star goes supernova. This pulsar, known as SXP 1062, is spinning quite slowly, suggesting an advanced age. But the pulsar can't be as old as it looks, because the star probably exploded less than 40,000 years ago, researchers said. They've just now begun delving into this newly discovered cosmic mystery. A pulsar is bornPulsars are created after supernova explosions, when a star's remnant collapses and becomes so dense that protons and electrons squish together to form neutrons. [ Supernova Photos: Great Images of Star Explosions ] Conservation of angular momentum causes these newly formed, city-size neutron stars to rotate, often extremely rapidly. They're called pulsars because this rotation makes their light appear to pulse at regular intervals. Astronomers feel fortunate
2012-01-03 13:09:00
Astronomers have discovered a strange spinning star that appears to be older than the explosion that gave birth to it, scientists say. The star is a pulsar, a rotating, super-dense core left behind after a massive star goes supernova. This pulsar, known as SXP 1062, is spinning quite slowly, suggesting an advanced age. But the pulsar can't be as old as it looks, because the star probably exploded less than 40,000 years ago, researchers said. They've just now begun delving into this newly discovered cosmic mystery. A pulsar is bornPulsars are created after supernova explosions, when a star's remnant collapses and becomes so dense that protons and electrons squish together to form neutrons. [ Supernova Photos: Great Images of Star Explosions ] Conservation of angular momentum causes these newly formed, city-size neutron stars to rotate, often extremely rapidly. They're called pulsars because this rotation makes their light appear to pulse at regular intervals. Astronomers feel fortunate
We should scour the moon for ancient traces of aliens, say scientists
2011-12-29 10:38:00
Online volunteers could be set task of spotting alien technology, evidence of mining and rubbish heaps in moon images. Hundreds of thousands of pictures of the moon will be examined for telltale signs that aliens once visited our cosmic neighbourhood if plans put forward by scientists go ahead.Passing extraterrestrials might have left messages, scientific instruments, heaps of rubbish or evidence of mining on the dusty lunar surface that could be spotted by human telescopes and orbiting spacecraft.Though the chances of finding the handiwork of long-gone aliens are exceptionally remote, scientists argue that a computerised search of lunar images, or a crowd-sourced analysis by amateur enthusiasts, would be cheap enough to justify given the importance of a potential discovery.Prof Paul Davies and Robert Wagner at Arizona State University argue that images of the moon and other information collected by scientists for their research should be scoured for signs of alien intervention. The p
2011-12-29 10:38:00
Online volunteers could be set task of spotting alien technology, evidence of mining and rubbish heaps in moon images. Hundreds of thousands of pictures of the moon will be examined for telltale signs that aliens once visited our cosmic neighbourhood if plans put forward by scientists go ahead.Passing extraterrestrials might have left messages, scientific instruments, heaps of rubbish or evidence of mining on the dusty lunar surface that could be spotted by human telescopes and orbiting spacecraft.Though the chances of finding the handiwork of long-gone aliens are exceptionally remote, scientists argue that a computerised search of lunar images, or a crowd-sourced analysis by amateur enthusiasts, would be cheap enough to justify given the importance of a potential discovery.Prof Paul Davies and Robert Wagner at Arizona State University argue that images of the moon and other information collected by scientists for their research should be scoured for signs of alien intervention. The p
NASA's Kepler Mission Confirms Its First Planet in Habitable Zone of Sun-like Star
2011-12-06 14:07:00
The newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth. Scientists don't yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets. Previous research hinted at the existence of near-Earth-size planets in habitable zones, but clear confirmation proved elusive. Two other small planets orbiting stars smaller and cooler than our sun recently were confirmed on the very edges of the habitable zone, with orbits more closely resembling those of Venus and Mars."This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin," said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Kepler's results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA's science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe."Rea
2011-12-06 14:07:00
The newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth. Scientists don't yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets. Previous research hinted at the existence of near-Earth-size planets in habitable zones, but clear confirmation proved elusive. Two other small planets orbiting stars smaller and cooler than our sun recently were confirmed on the very edges of the habitable zone, with orbits more closely resembling those of Venus and Mars."This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin," said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Kepler's results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA's science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe."Rea
Astronomers discover biggest black holes ever
2011-12-06 14:05:00
Scientists have discovered the two biggest black holes ever observed, each with a mass billions of times greater than the Sun's, according to a study published Monday.The two giants are located in the heart of a pair of galaxies several hundred million light years from Earth, said the study in scientific journal Nature.Each black hole is estimated to have a mass about 10 billion times greater than the sun, dwarfing the previously largest-known black hole, which has a mass of 6.3 billion suns.The University of California, Berkeley, team led by Nicholas McConnell and Chung-Pei Ma said one black hole is located in NGC 3842, the brightest of a cluster of galaxies about 320 million light years from Earth.Read the entire article:http://news.yahoo.com/astronomers-discover-biggest-black-holes-ever-153131310.html
2011-12-06 14:05:00
Scientists have discovered the two biggest black holes ever observed, each with a mass billions of times greater than the Sun's, according to a study published Monday.The two giants are located in the heart of a pair of galaxies several hundred million light years from Earth, said the study in scientific journal Nature.Each black hole is estimated to have a mass about 10 billion times greater than the sun, dwarfing the previously largest-known black hole, which has a mass of 6.3 billion suns.The University of California, Berkeley, team led by Nicholas McConnell and Chung-Pei Ma said one black hole is located in NGC 3842, the brightest of a cluster of galaxies about 320 million light years from Earth.Read the entire article:http://news.yahoo.com/astronomers-discover-biggest-black-holes-ever-153131310.html
'UFOs' Disrupting Search for 'God Particle'
2011-11-30 16:26:00
Physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator at CERN Laboratory in Switzerland, are trying to slam particles together hard enough to break them into never-before-seen pieces, which could solve some of the biggest puzzles in nature.But UFOs — unidentified falling objects, that is — keep getting in their way.The LHC is a 17-mile (27-km) circular tunnel lined with powerful magnets, which accelerate protons (particles in the nuclei of atoms) to 99.9999991 percent the speed of light. Beams of these super-brisk protons are accelerated clockwise around the ring and collide with beams traveling counter-clockwise, and, like a well-struck piñata, a dead-on hit produces a thrilling outburst of subatomic goodies. When they turn the proton beams up to full power, the physicists hope to find the Higgs boson, also known as the "God particle," which is believed to create the drag that gives everything else mass, among the collision debris. They'll also look for d
2011-11-30 16:26:00
Physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator at CERN Laboratory in Switzerland, are trying to slam particles together hard enough to break them into never-before-seen pieces, which could solve some of the biggest puzzles in nature.But UFOs — unidentified falling objects, that is — keep getting in their way.The LHC is a 17-mile (27-km) circular tunnel lined with powerful magnets, which accelerate protons (particles in the nuclei of atoms) to 99.9999991 percent the speed of light. Beams of these super-brisk protons are accelerated clockwise around the ring and collide with beams traveling counter-clockwise, and, like a well-struck piñata, a dead-on hit produces a thrilling outburst of subatomic goodies. When they turn the proton beams up to full power, the physicists hope to find the Higgs boson, also known as the "God particle," which is believed to create the drag that gives everything else mass, among the collision debris. They'll also look for d
CERN Experiment Excludes 1 Error In Faster-Than-Light Finding
2011-11-19 07:51:00
GENEVA — The chances have risen that Einstein was wrong about a fundamental law of the universe. Scientists at the world's biggest physics lab said Friday they have ruled out one possible error that could have distorted their startling measurements that appeared to show particles traveling faster than light.Many physicists reacted with skepticism in September when measurements by French and Italian researchers seemed to show subatomic neutrino particles breaking what Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein considered the ultimate speed barrier.The European Organization for Nuclear Research said more precise testing has now confirmed the accuracy of at least one part of the experiment."One key test was to repeat the measurement with very short beam pulses," the Geneva-based organization, known by its French acronym CERN, said in a statement.The test allowed scientists to check if the starting time for the neutrinos was being measured correctly before they were fired 454 miles (
2011-11-19 07:51:00
GENEVA — The chances have risen that Einstein was wrong about a fundamental law of the universe. Scientists at the world's biggest physics lab said Friday they have ruled out one possible error that could have distorted their startling measurements that appeared to show particles traveling faster than light.Many physicists reacted with skepticism in September when measurements by French and Italian researchers seemed to show subatomic neutrino particles breaking what Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein considered the ultimate speed barrier.The European Organization for Nuclear Research said more precise testing has now confirmed the accuracy of at least one part of the experiment."One key test was to repeat the measurement with very short beam pulses," the Geneva-based organization, known by its French acronym CERN, said in a statement.The test allowed scientists to check if the starting time for the neutrinos was being measured correctly before they were fired 454 miles (
Massive, unstoppable rock hurtles toward Earth
2011-11-08 17:14:00
An asteroid the size of the U.S.S. Nimitz is bearing down on Earth. NASA's Near-Earth Object Program says the impact of the rock, dubbed 2005 YU55, would equal a 4,000-megaton blast and create 70-foot high tsunami waves, CBS News reports. That's near 200,000 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki.Fortunately for us, NASA predicts the murderous cosmic body will miss our planet by about 202,000 miles, passing around 6:28 p.m. on Tuesday. That's about 0.85 times the distance to the moon, NASA says. The last time an asteroid this size came this close to Earth was in 1976, and it shouldn't happen again until 2028 -- provided we're still here. Read the entire article:http://www.wtop.com/?nid=884&sid=2624431
2011-11-08 17:14:00
An asteroid the size of the U.S.S. Nimitz is bearing down on Earth. NASA's Near-Earth Object Program says the impact of the rock, dubbed 2005 YU55, would equal a 4,000-megaton blast and create 70-foot high tsunami waves, CBS News reports. That's near 200,000 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki.Fortunately for us, NASA predicts the murderous cosmic body will miss our planet by about 202,000 miles, passing around 6:28 p.m. on Tuesday. That's about 0.85 times the distance to the moon, NASA says. The last time an asteroid this size came this close to Earth was in 1976, and it shouldn't happen again until 2028 -- provided we're still here. Read the entire article:http://www.wtop.com/?nid=884&sid=2624431