The Sky Tonight

December 07, 2015

A new technique to gauge the distant Universe
Paris (ESA) Dec 07, 2015
Scientists have developed a technique to use quasars - powerful sources driven by supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies - to study the Universe's history and composition. To demonstrate the new method, based on a relation between a quasar's luminosity at X-ray and ultraviolet wavelengths, they made extensive use of data from ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory. This approach promises to become an important tool to constrain the properties of our Universe. At the core of most massive ga ... read more

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ALMA spots monstrous baby galaxies cradled in dark matter Astronomers discovered a nest of monstrous baby galaxies 11.5 billion light-years away using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The young galaxies seem to reside at the junctio ... more		Student discovers stellar chamaeleon had astronomers fooled for years Astronomers have been mistakenly interpreting the dust in the environment of a famous star. A graduate student has discovered that astronomers have for years been mistakenly interpreting the d ... more		Dawn spiraling in towards Ceres An intrepid interplanetary explorer is now powering its way down through the gravity field of a distant alien world. Soaring on a blue-green beam of high-velocity xenon ions, Dawn is making excellen ... more
				Shedding light on particle acceleration in solar flares For scientists studying the impacts of space weather, one of the central mysteries of solar flares - the colossal release of magnetic energy in the Sun's atmosphere that erupts with the force of mil ... more		NASA team discover how water escapes from Saturn A University of Montana professor who studies astrophysics has discovered how water ions escape from Saturn's environment. His findings recently were published in the journal Nature Physics. UM Prof ... more

Space mission to test gravitational wave detector lifts off The LISA Pathfinder mission was successfully this week and is now on its way to demonstrate technology for observing gravitational waves from space. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of ... more		Event Horizon Telescope reveals magnetic fields in central black hole Most people think of black holes as giant vacuum cleaners sucking in everything that gets too close. But the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies are more like cosmic engines, convert ... more		US lawmaker warns of military 'misunderstanding' risk with China Spain approves 'total' arms embargo against Israel Khamenei says Iran 'won't yield' to pressure to abandon uranium enrichment		Magnified image of faintest galaxy from early universe Astronomers harnessing the combined power of NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes have found the faintest object ever seen in the early universe. It existed about 400 million years after the b ... more
				Earth-sized telescope finds clue to black hole growth A new discovery, published in the journal Science, has greatly deepened our understanding black holes, which are believed to be the gravitational engines at the centres of most galaxies, including o ... more		What kinds of stars form rocky planets As astronomers continue to find more and more planets around stars beyond our own Sun, they are trying to discover patterns and features that indicate what types of planets are likely to form around ... more

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Fermi-type acceleration of interstellar ions driven by high-energy lepton plasma flows Stochastic acceleration and shock acceleration are well recognized as key mechanisms for cosmic ray generation since first proposed by Fermi. So far, these two mechanisms have been investigated wide ... more		Japan asteroid probe conducts 'Earth swing-by' in space quest A Japanese space probe launched last year passed by Earth on Thursday to harness the planet's gravitational pull to propel it toward a far away asteroid in its quest to study the origin of the solar system, authorities said. ... more		Typhoon Ragasa hits south China after killing 15 in Taiwan Toxic homes a lasting legacy of Los Angeles fires Climate change causing havoc with global water cycle: UN		LISA Pathfinder en route to gravitational wave demonstration ESA's LISA Pathfinder lifted off earlier today on a Vega rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on its way to demonstrate technology for observing gravitational waves from space. ... more
CERN collides heavy nuclei at new record high energy The world's most powerful accelerator, the 27 km long Large Hadron Collider (LHC) operating at CERN in Geneva established collisions between lead nuclei, this morning, at the highest energies ever. ... more		What is the universe made of Matter known as ordinary, which makes up everything we know, corresponds to only 5% of the Universe. Approximately half of this percentage still eluded detection. Numerical simulations made it possi ... more		New law establishes ownership rights for space minerals A new public law signed by President Obama sets the stage for continued expansion of the U.S. space program and transforms the mining of space mineral resources (SMR). The President signed into law ... more		Half of Kepler's giant exoplanet candidates are false positives An international team led by Alexandre Santerne from Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciencias do Espaco (IA) made a 5-year radial velocity campaign of Kepler's giant exoplanet candidates, using the SOPHI ... more

	Researchers question results from the study of pulsating stars The movement of gas inside a star causes seismic waves which in turn cause irregularities on the star's surface. These 'earthquakes' (or pulsations) produce periodic variations in the brightness of ... more		LISA Pathfinder launch timeline On Thursday, a Vega rocket will boost LISA Pathfinder into space to pave the way to a future mission for detecting gravitational waves. Once aloft, ESA's mission control teams will pace the ultra hi ... more

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Who owns space

The hottest white dwarf in the Galaxy

Simulating the Death of Stars

Aging star's weight loss secret revealed

Hubble captures a galactic waltz towards the end

NEOWISE observes carbon gases in comets

MUSE observations enable prediction of once-in-a-lifetime supernova replay

Neptune-size exoplanet around a red dwarf star

Scientists get first glimpse of black hole eating star, ejecting high-speed flare

New U.S. space mining law may violate international treaty

CERN colliding lead ions at record energy using upgraded LHC

'Shrinking bull's-eye' data algorithm crunches days into hours

Quantum spin could create unstoppable, one-dimensional electron waves

President Obama signs bill recognizing asteroid resource property rights into law

Comet fragments best explanation of mysterious dimming star

Where Alice in Wonderland Meets Albert Einstein

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