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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: astronomy

astronomy stories: 68 news summaries

41 - 60 of 68 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 Next >>

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 Black Mini Still Has
 Hole Lotta Power 

15-mile-wide black hole is smallest ever found

Apr 2, 08 10:10 AM CDT
(Newser) - Astronomers have spotted the smallest black hole ever discovered, Reuters reports. It is just 15 miles across—the size of a city—but still has a pull strong enough to "stretch your body into a strand of spaghetti," said a NASA researcher. The relative pipsqueak weighs about as... More »

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NASA • astronomy • space • star • black hole • Milky Way

 Exploding Star
 Brightest Object Ever Seen

Brightest object ever observed by humans

Mar 22, 08 9:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - Light from a star that exploded billions of years before the Earth was formed have been spotted by terrestrial astronomers, Space.com reports. The gamma-ray burst from halfway across the universe was the most distant object ever seen by the naked eye, and the brightest object ever observed by humans.... More »

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NASA • astronomy • star • universe • Arthur C. Clarke • gamma rays

Laws of Physics
May Need an Overhaul

Scientists detect gravity-defying behavior of spacecrafts

Mar 14, 08 6:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - The laws of physics just might be broken. Scientists have detected gravity-defying behavior from spacecrafts flung around the Earth, the Economist reports. Five different spacecrafts picked up speed at a pace deviating,ever so slightly, from the laws created by Newton and Einstein. After laborious calculations, astronomers have created... More »

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astronomy • science • Galileo • gravity • Albert Einstein • spacecraft • Jet Propulsion Laboratory • John Anderson

Sky's the Limit in Powerful
New Searches for Alien Life

Pioneering technology
rachets up ET hunt

Feb 21, 08 4:27 AM CST
(Newser) - Powerful new instruments will help scientists in their search for extra-terrestrial life, the Christian Science Monitor writes. New telescopes will make it possible for the SETI Institute to scan millions of star systems for alien radio signals. Only a thousand have been analyzed in detail so far, but the institute... More »

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astronomy • space • extraterrestrial life • aliens • exoplanet • radio telescope • telescopes • SETI • ET

New Solar System Sparks Hope for
Other Life

Maybe we're not alone, say astronomers

Feb 15, 08 4:10 AM CST
(Newser) - Excited astronomers say that the discovery of a solar system with strong similarities to our own raises the chances of other life out there. The system has two gas giants similar to Jupiter and Saturn orbiting at a similar distance from the alien sun 5,000 light years away, and... More »

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astronomy • planet • space • extraterrestrial life • solar system

Solar Lull May Trigger Ice Age

Global warming still dire despite
sluggish sun, study says

Feb 14, 08 2:56 PM CST
(Newser) - Solar activity, which usually runs in 11-year cycles, has been so sluggish of late that space weathermen are worried we might be entering a mini-ice age. They expected to see sunspot activity pick up about last March, to peak in 2012; if the sun stays this sluggish for another year... More »

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climate change • weather • astronomy • greenhouse gases • global warming • space • sun • magnetic field • cold

Total Eclipse Coming Feb. 20

3 billion could see Earth's shadow blot moon

Feb 7, 08 6:02 PM CST
(Newser) - Nearly half the world's population will find themselves really in the dark Feb. 20 as Earth's shadow totally eclipses the moon, LiveScience reports. Visible to 3 billion residents of North and South America, Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia, the eclipsed moon will create a celestial triangle in the night... More »

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NASA • astronomy • telescope • Saturn • lunar eclipse • moon

Spectacular Show Awaits Sky Gazers

Venus and Jupiter
to converge, and the
moon drops in, too

Jan 26, 08 2:58 PM CST
(Newser) - Sky gazers have an exceptional show awaiting them over the next couple of weeks, Space.com reports, and the most striking celestial sights will be in the early morning. Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets, will converge, forming a spectacular "double planet" low in the dawn light, and... More »

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astronomy • planet • space • Jupiter • moon • Venus

Asteroid to Whiz Past Earth

Space rock to be visible Tuesday even through amateur telescopes

Jan 25, 08 9:49 AM CST
(Newser) - A big asteroid is set to speed past Earth on Tuesday night, and those with amateur telescopes will get a peek. NASA discovered the object in October, and scientists believe it's between 500 and 2,000 feet in diameter, LiveScience reports. It won't come closer than 334,000 miles to... More »

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NASA • astronomy • Mars • Earth • asteroid • orbit

Space Cloud on Collision Course

Huge mass of hydrogen could trigger star formation in Milky Way

Jan 12, 08 7:46 AM CST
(Newser) - A cloud of hydrogen 11,000 light years long and 2500 light years wide is headed straight for our galaxy, and the inevitable collision will create a spectacular burst of star formation. But don't plan your viewing party yet—Smith's Cloud, as it is called, won't arrive for another 20... More »

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astronomy • Milky Way • Smith's Cloud • hydrogen gas • star formation • American Astronomical Society

NASA Plans Daring Hubble Fix

Unprecedented spacewalk will make for spiffier 'scope

Jan 9, 08 12:42 PM CST
(Newser) - Astronauts will save—and drastically upgrade—the Hubble Space Telescope in an unprecedented mission this year, NewScientist Space reports. The mission will make the Hubble 90 times more powerful than it originally was, but will require spacewalkers to complete a delicate electronics repair job in zero gravity while wearing bulky... More »

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NASA • astronomy • Hubble • space • astronauts • spacewalk • John Grunsfeld • neutral buoyancy laboratory

Gates Sees Stars, Donates $10M to 'Scope

Joins 2nd Microsoft mogul in backing plan to photograph heavens

Jan 5, 08 4:05 PM CST
(Newser) - Bill Gates and Bill Simonyi—space geeks and Microsoft billionaires both—are donating $30 million to the Chilean-based Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the Guardian reports. The $400 million endeavor, scheduled to be working in 2015, will snap pics of the sky with a 3,200 megapixel digital camera every 15... More »

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astronomy • Bill Gates • telescope • Chile • universe • International Space Station • galaxy • Cerro Pachon • Andes Mountains • Large Synoptic Survey Telescope • Charles Simonyi • Tucson, Arizona

'08's Best Meteor Show Tonight

Unique opportunity for viewing Quadrantids

Jan 3, 08 4:01 PM CST
(Newser) - The most exciting space show of 2008 might well be the Quadrantid meteor shower's peak at 1:40 a.m. EST tomorrow, Space.com reports. Though factors such as moonlight and weather usually obscure the annual spectacle, a rural observer this year may see one or two shooting stars per... More »

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astronomy • meteor shower • meteor • Quadrantids

Is Time Running Out on Time?

Scientists speculate
that the universe is
winding down and
could one day stop

Jan 1, 08 5:39 PM CST
(Newser) - Astronomers have been scratching their heads for years trying to figure out why exploding stars at the very edge of the universe seem to be moving faster than ones in the middle. Some theories say the acceleration is due to mysterious "dark energy,"but a new one posits... More »

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astronomy • space • Big Bang • astrophysics

Mars Draws Near, Shines Bright

Our next chance for this good a look at red planet won't come until 2016

Dec 14, 07 4:56 PM CST
(Newser) - Astronomers of all abilities—and children scanning the night sky for Santa Claus—should be able to see a gleaming Mars as the red planet draws close enough, and into the right position, to outshine Sirius as the brightest evening star. Practically brushing shoulders with Earth—a mere 54,783,... More »

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astronomy • Mars • Earth • full moon

Milky Way May Have
a Hidden Neighbor

Scientist think another galaxy could be cause of odd gravitational pull

Nov 30, 07 7:22 PM CST
(Newser) - We may have new neighbors. Astronomers think they've discovered the cause of a peculiar gravitational pull on the Milky Way—it's another galaxy hidden behind a giant cloud of cosmic dust, the New Scientist reports. The new galaxy could be as close as 3 million light years away, a relative... More »

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astronomy • Milky Way

Planet Found Orbiting Star

Gas giant is 45 times the size of Earth

Nov 6, 07 10:28 PM CST
(Newser) - Astronomers have found a planet that’s at least 45 times the size of Earth orbiting a star 41 light years away, Space.com reports. The giant ball of gas is the fifth planet discovered around the star 55 Cancri. And while it's not a "twin of our solar... More »

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astronomy • planet • space • solar system • Cancri 55

Astronomers Watch as New Earth-Like Planet Forms

424 light-years away, materials clump together around young star

Oct 4, 07 2:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - A massive belt of dust swirling around a young star 424 light-years away could be evidence of a second Earth in the making, Space.com reports. Astronomers observing the area through a NASA space telescope say many of the conditions for forming an Earth-sized planet are present, including moderate temperatures... More »

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NASA • astronomy • planet • Earth

Scientists Stumped by Blast From Outer Space

Mysterious pulse could be sign of black hole evaporating or supernovas colliding

Sep 29, 07 5:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - A bizarre burst from outer space has scientists talking black holes and colliding stars, Physorg reports — and may even help us "determine the amount of material in intergalactic space," one researcher says. The radio waves, which were measured in milliseconds, might be a blast from 2 superdense... More »

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astronomy • space • black hole • radio spectrum • radio telescope

Hidden Galaxies Come to Light

Scientists discover star systems obscured by quasars

Sep 24, 07 12:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - Astronomers have added 14 “invisible galaxies” to their map of the heavens, thanks to an imaginative breakthrough and a massive telescope. Researchers realized that some galaxies might be hidden by the bright lights of quasars behind them, so they scanned quasar data for “dips” where those lights might... More »

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astronomy • space exploration • space • deep space • quasars • galaxy

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