Monday, March 15, 2010

A Wise comet

Well, the comet itself probably isn't wise (it isn't alive you know), it was discovered by the recently launched Wise satellite. Go here to learn more.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

The "Burps" of Baby Stars

As seen in this beautiful image of the Orion Nebula, many of the young stars in this region are ejecting gas of at speeds of several thousands of miles per hour. Why? How? Well, people are still trying to work it out... The pictures are gorgeous though!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

NASA's new priorities

As I'm sure many of you have already heard, the proposal 2010 Federal Government budget has major implications of NASA - essentially suggesting that the new Constellation program to replace the space shuttle be scrapped in favor of more basic science satellites. The NY Times has its opinion here, what do you think? I'm curious to know, so please leave your opinion below.

Friday, March 12, 2010

The Spectrum of an Exoplanet

While the first exoplanets (planets orbiting stars other than our own Sun) were first discovered more than a decade ago, the composition of these planets has long remained a mystery - especially since these planets appears to be very different than any planets in our own Solar System. Thanks to the capabilities of the ESO's VLT in Chile, a group of astronomers were able to finally directly measure the spectrum of one of these exoplanets (as opposed to looking at absorption lines which appears with the exoplanet passes between us and its star) - giving vital information on the chemical composition of its atmosphere. Go here for details, and enjoy!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Dancing Moons

In projection, at least. Go here to see what I'm taking about, courtesy of the Cassini team.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Ever-shifting face of Pluto

Just because it isn't a planet anymore doesn't mean it isn't interesting. Go here to read what some recent Hubble pictures of the founding "plutoid" revealed.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Where did spiral galaxies comes from?

Hubble might have imaged their ancestors, the proto-galaxies which merged together to form spirals like our own Milky Way. And they didn't appear to be spiral-like at all. Go here for more details.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Stars in their cocoon

As imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Go here to see for yourself.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Little telescope...

... big exoplanet. Go here to read how an old, fairly small, NASA-run telescope in Hawaii was able to measure the properties of the atmosphere of a planet in another solar system. Enjoy!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Baby massive stars...

Aren't they so cute? Go here to see a recent image of a stellar nursery in the Milky Way, where the most massive star in our galaxy may reside.