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Astronomy posts

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  • March 8, 2012
  • 04:21 AM
  • 451 views

Life on Europa: A Controversial Proposal on a Moon of Jupiter

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

An astrobiology research team from the University of Arizona has recently claimed that the ocean below a thick layer of...... Read more »

Gleeson DF, Pappalardo RT, Anderson MS, Grasby SE, Mielke RE, Wright KE, & Templeton AS. (2012) Biosignature detection at an arctic analog to europa. Astrobiology, 12(2), 135-50. PMID: 22283368  

  • March 7, 2012
  • 03:16 PM
  • 599 views

Supermassive Black Holes May be Shaping Galaxies Faster

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

The understanding of the way in which supermassive black holes shape galaxies is quickly changing, considering that new data is...... Read more »

  • March 6, 2012
  • 07:50 AM
  • 373 views

Venus – Beautiful, Deadly, Strange or Fascinating?

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

Venus symbolizes femininity, beauty, and love. It is the twin planet to Earth, our world of vast green forests, deep...... Read more »

Costantino Sigismondi. (2012) Solar diameter with 2012 Venus transit. Fourth French-Chinese meeting on Solar Physics Understanding Solar Activity: Advances and Challenges. DOI: arXiv:1201.4011v1  

  • March 6, 2012
  • 01:28 AM
  • 289 views

Puzzle remains around dark core in cosmic collision

by Charles Daney in Today's Science

Galaxy clusters, like the universe as a whole, are composed of both baryonic (“ordinary”) matter and dark matter, with about 1 part in 6 of the former, and five parts in 6 of the latter. A curious thing happens – usually – when two clusters collide. Both the visible baryonic matter, consisting mainly of luminous [...]... Read more »

Jee, M., Mahdavi, A., Hoekstra, H., Babul, A., Dalcanton, J., Carroll, P., & Capak, P. (2012) A STUDY OF THE DARK CORE IN A520 WITH THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE: THE MYSTERY DEEPENS . The Astrophysical Journal, 747(2), 96. DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/747/2/96  

  • March 5, 2012
  • 08:06 AM
  • 660 views

Let’s Explore the States of Matter

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

Our universe is actually constructed of a small number of building blocks that interact in a small number of well...... Read more »

Nikolay Prokof'ev, & Boris Svistunov. (2005) On the Supersolid State of Matter. American Physical Society. arXiv: cond-mat/0409472v2

  • March 2, 2012
  • 08:06 AM
  • 685 views

Meet I Zw 18: A Dwarf Galaxy

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

The Center of Astrophysics of the University of Porto recently came up with an analysis that seriously calls into question...... Read more »

  • March 1, 2012
  • 06:03 AM
  • 502 views

Let’s Explore Gamma-ray Bursts

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

Astronomers remain fascinated by gamma-ray bursts. These bursts of energy appear to be the most powerful explosions in the universe...... Read more »

Woosley, S., & Bloom, J. (2006) The Supernova–Gamma-Ray Burst Connection. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 44(1), 507-556. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.astro.43.072103.150558  

  • February 29, 2012
  • 09:00 AM
  • 307 views

How 'UFOs curb black hole growth

by Kelly Oakes in Basic Space

Something unusual has been spotted lurking around several galaxies’ central black holes. Astronomers think it may be limiting the growth of the black holes – and stars elsewhere in the galaxies, too.
... Read more »

  • February 28, 2012
  • 08:00 AM
  • 779 views

Tellurium Detected for the First Time in Ancient Stars

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

Nearly 13.7 billions years ago our universe consisted of three basic elements which included hydrogen, helium, and a little bit...... Read more »

Ian U. Roederer, James E. Lawler, John J. Cowan, Timothy C. Beers, Anna Frebel, Inese I. Ivans, Hendrik Schatz, Jennifer S. Sobeck, & Christopher Sneden. (2012) Detection of the Second r-process Peak Element Tellurium in Metal-Poor Stars. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 747(1). DOI: arXiv:1202.2378  

  • February 27, 2012
  • 07:11 PM
  • 368 views

The dwarf satellite galaxy problem

by Charles Daney in Today's Science

Simulations of galaxy formation based on the Lambda-Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model predict that a large galaxy such as the Milky Way should have many dwarf satellite galaxies, perhaps thousands. However, only about 20 or 30 have been identified. Where are the rest? Are they really there? That question alludes to the “dwarf galaxy [...]... Read more »

Vegetti, S., Lagattuta, D., McKean, J., Auger, M., Fassnacht, C., & Koopmans, L. (2012) Gravitational detection of a low-mass dark satellite galaxy at cosmological distance. Nature, 481(7381), 341-343. DOI: 10.1038/nature10669  

  • February 27, 2012
  • 07:43 AM
  • 524 views

Seismic Shake-ups in Our Solar System

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

The U.S. Geological survey estimates that Earth experiences several million earthquakes and around 50 volcanic eruptions every year. But ours is...... Read more »

A. Grigahcène, M.-A. Dupret, S. G. Sousa, M. J. P. F. G. Monteiro, R. Garrido, R. Scuflaire, & M. Gabriel. (2011) Towards precise asteroseismology of solar-like stars. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings series (ASSP). DOI: arXiv:1112.5961  

  • February 24, 2012
  • 11:44 AM
  • 505 views

The Extraterrestrial Debate Rages On

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

Sigh…another day, another research paper trying to convince the world that we are alone in the universe… I came across...... Read more »

  • February 23, 2012
  • 10:22 PM
  • 470 views

Changing Faces of Titan

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

... Read more »

Rodriguez S, Le Mouélic S, Rannou P, Tobie G, Baines KH, Barnes JW, Griffith CA, Hirtzig M, Pitman KM, Sotin C.... (2009) Global circulation as the main source of cloud activity on Titan. Nature, 459(7247), 678-82. PMID: 19494910  

Fortes, D. (2008) Uncovering Titan's secrets. Nature Geoscience, 1(7), 415-416. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo238  

  • February 22, 2012
  • 03:17 PM
  • 693 views

Phases of Matter: Sublimation and Deposition

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

... Read more »

Heiselberg, H. (2000) Phases of dense matter in neutron stars. Physics Reports, 328(5-6), 237-327. DOI: 10.1016/S0370-1573(99)00110-6  

  • February 21, 2012
  • 02:44 PM
  • 1,004 views

Drilling Lake Vostok

by Olga Vovk in Milchstraße

On February 5th, 2012, the Russian team has finally managed to penetrate through almost 4000 m (3,768 m) of Antarctica’s ice and reach the surface of lake Vostok.... Read more »

  • February 21, 2012
  • 02:16 PM
  • 489 views

GJ 1214b: A New Class of Planet Discovered

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

... Read more »

Berta, Z., Charbonneau, D., Désert, J., Miller-Ricci Kempton, E., McCullough, P., Burke, C., Fortney, J., Irwin, J., Nutzman, P., & Homeier, D. (2012) THE FLAT TRANSMISSION SPECTRUM OF THE SUPER-EARTH GJ1214b FROM WIDE FIELD CAMERA 3 ON THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE . The Astrophysical Journal, 747(1), 35. DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/747/1/35  

  • February 20, 2012
  • 05:00 PM
  • 487 views

The Universe, Its Way Past, and Its Way Future

by Brooke N in Smaller Questions

Scientific American recently published a cosmic timeline, beginning after the Big Bang and going to a time when sueprmassive black holes evaporate. This post is a primary-source investigation of the cosmic events cited in the timeline.... Read more »

Abraham Loeb. (2011) Cosmology with Hypervelocity Stars. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. arXiv: 1102.0007v2

  • February 18, 2012
  • 01:22 PM
  • 398 views

Let’s Explore Photosynthesis on Exoplanets

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

Imagine an astronaut stepping out of a spacecraft onto the surface of an extrasolar planet that is capable of sustaining life. Now imagine the astronaut is greeted by the sight of red colored trees and grass. Such a scenario could be more reality than science fiction because of the variances in photosynthesis theorized to exist in other parts of the Milky Way Galaxy.... Read more »

Kiang, N., Siefert, J., Govindjee, ., & Blankenship, R. (2007) Spectral Signatures of Photosynthesis. I. Review of Earth Organisms. Astrobiology, 7(1), 222-251. DOI: 10.1089/ast.2006.0105  

Kiang, N., Segura, A., Tinetti, G., Govindjee, ., Blankenship, R., Cohen, M., Siefert, J., Crisp, D., & Meadows, V. (2007) Spectral Signatures of Photosynthesis. II. Coevolution with Other Stars And The Atmosphere on Extrasolar Worlds. Astrobiology, 7(1), 252-274. DOI: 10.1089/ast.2006.0108  

  • February 17, 2012
  • 05:00 PM
  • 358 views

'Dropout' electrons get pushed out of Van Allen belts

by Kelly Oakes in Basic Space

Judging by the many flares erupting from the sun at the moment, it is well on track to reach its next peak in activity early next year. As this peak approaches, we can expect many more huge bursts of energy that erupt from the sun and send lots of energetic particles, and sometimes magnetic fields, our way. These in turn will lead to more of the fantastic light displays, which you might have seen (or at least heard about) lately, creeping down from the North Pole towards the equator.... Read more »

  • February 8, 2012
  • 10:00 PM
  • 334 views

How did some early black holes get so big so fast?

by Charles Daney in Today's Science

The supermassive black holes (SMBHs) found in the centers of large galaxies can be astonishingly large. The closest example to us is in the giant elliptical galaxy M87, and it’s estimated to be 6.6 billion solar masses (M⊙). More distant examples can be even larger, more than 10 billion M⊙ (at distances ~300 million light-years). [...]... Read more »

Di Matteo, T., Khandai, N., DeGraf, C., Feng, Y., Croft, R., Lopez, J., & Springel, V. (2012) COLD FLOWS AND THE FIRST QUASARS. The Astrophysical Journal, 745(2). DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/745/2/L29  

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