STELLAR CHEMISTRY - SKY NIGHTLY

Using optical chaos to control the momentum of light

Oct 20, 2017 (SPX)

Now, a team of researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, in collaboration with Peking University in Beijing, has de...

NASA Receives Findings from WFIRST Independent Review Team

Oct 20, 2017 (SPX)

In response to the report's findings, NASA is studying modifications to the WFIRST project. "NASA thanks this prestigious and highly-experienced team for their ...

Research demonstrates method to alter coherence of light

Oct 20, 2017 (SPX)

In a paper published in the journal Science Advances, the researchers show that they can use surface plasmon polaritons - propagating electromagnetic waves conf...

What lurks below NASA's Chamber A

Oct 19, 2017 (SPX)

This voluminous area is called the plenum, and it supports the weight of the chamber above as well as houses some of the cabling and plumbing for it. Before Web...

Scientists prove extragalactic origin of high-energy cosmic rays

Oct 18, 2017 (SPX)

Since the early 1960s, it has been known that high-energy cosmic particles exist and enter the Earth's atmosphere. Since then, scientists have been trying to re...

NASA Seeks Information from Potential Funders for Spitzer

Oct 17, 2017 (JPL)

"This provides an opportunity for a public-private partnership to continue a highly successful mission," said Paul Hertz, director of the NASA Astrophysics Divi...

Heavy elements in neutron star mergers detected

Oct 17, 2017 (SPX)

In 2010 an international collaboration led by Gabriel Martinez-Pinedo (GSI Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung and Technische Universitat Darmstadt) and B...

FAST Feature: No aliens found yet, but heartbeats of a universe heard

Oct 17, 2017 (XNA)

The "ear" is the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), the world's largest radio telescope, with a dish as large as 30 football fields. It is ...

Violent helium reaction on white dwarf surface triggers supernova explosion

Oct 09, 2017 (SPX)

A Type Ia supernova is a type of white dwarf star explosion that occurs in a binary star system where two stars are circling one another. Because these supernov...

Scientists find missing baryons -- half the universe's missing matter

Oct 09, 2017 (UPI)

When it comes to the search for missing matter, dark matter -- the mysterious, invisible material accounting for roughly 80 precent of the mass of the universe ...

Astronomers use IAC instrument to probe the origins of cosmic rays

Oct 09, 2017 (SPX)

The explosion produced an expanding cloud of superhot gas, a supernova remnant which was rediscovered in 1952 by British radioastronomers, confirmed by visible ...

The Scientific Quest to Explain Kepler's Most Enigmatic Find

Oct 09, 2017 (SPX)

Ever since then, the scientific community has been observing this enigmatic character and sifting methodically through the data in search of an answer. Certain ...

Asymmetric sound absorption lets in the light

Oct 09, 2017 (SPX)

Many asymmetric absorbers, those that only absorb sound coming in from one direction, are currently based on a single-port system, where sound enters one side a...

Astronomers reveal evidence of dynamical dark energy

Oct 06, 2017 (SPX)

Lead author of the study Professor Gong-Bo Zhao, from the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG) at the University of Portsmouth and the National Astronom...

NASA's Webb Telescope to witness galactic infancy

Oct 05, 2017 (SPX)

After it launches and is fully commissioned, scientists plan to focus Webb telescope on sections of the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) and the Great Observatori...

Mysterious Dimming of Tabby's Star May Be Caused by Dust

Oct 05, 2017 (JPL)

In addition, the star has had much subtler but longer-term enigmatic dimming trends, with one continuing today. None of this behavior is expected for normal sta...

Surface helium detonation spells end for white dwarf

Oct 05, 2017 (SPX)

This can occur if the white dwarf is part of a binary star system. The white dwarf accretes material from the companion star, then at some point, it might explo...

ALMA and Rosetta detect freon-40 in space

Oct 05, 2017 (SPX)

This discovery suggests that organohalogens may not be as good markers of life as had been hoped, but that they may be significant components of the material fr...

Scientists still confounded by Milky Way's most mysterious star

Oct 04, 2017 (UPI)

The star, officially titled KIC 8462852, and sometimes called Boyajian's Star, first caught astronomers attention in 2015. While monitoring the F-type main-sequ...

Progenitor for Tycho's Supernova Was Not Hot and Luminous

Oct 03, 2017 (SPX)

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) serve as standard candles of modern observational cosmology; they also play a vital role in galactic chemical evolution. However, th...