Astronomy & Observing News

Einstein Rings

The Hubble Space Telescope snapped these images of eight newly discovered lensed galaxies that each displays what astronomers call Einstein rings. This unique type of gravitational lensing reflects the light of a distant galaxy positioned perfectly in line with the foreground galaxy so that the gravitational warping of the light…

Andromeda Galaxy

Andromeda's Black Hole Surrounded by Young Stars

The Andromeda Galaxy, about 2.5 million light-years away, contains a black hole with the mass of 140 million Suns that has a strange disk (blue) of young hot stars within 1/2 light-year of it.John Kormendy (University of Texas at Austin) / Ralf Bender (University Observatory, Munich, Germany) It's no secret…

Astronomy & Observing News

Gamma-Ray Burst Blasts Distance Record

Long-duration GRB shines from a redshift of 6.29.

Astronomy & Observing News

Spirit Gets High on Mars

Nothing is more satisfying after a climb than a hard-earned view from the top — Spirit has finally reached the summit of Husband Hill.

Astronomy & Observing News

Seeing the Milky Way Take Shape

Our galaxy has been redrawn to include a galactic bar that is longer and thinner than previously thought.

Astronomy & Observing News

Proto-Sunshine at Work

Sulfur compounds in ancient meteorites hold clues to our solar system's fiery birth.

Astronomy & Observing News

GALEX Provides Ultraviolet Goodies

Several ultraviolet events have caught the eye of NASA's space-based UV observatory.

Astronomy & Observing News

Saturn Lights

Strange aurora patterns viewed on Saturn are unlike anything ever seen in the solar system.

Astronomy & Observing News

Tycho's Supernova Companion Discovered

This Chandra X-ray Observatory image reveals the gaseous remnant created by a supernova observed by Tycho Brahe in 1572. Red, green, and blue represent low, medium, and high X-ray energies, respectively. The lack of a central point source is one of several pieces of evidence that the remnant was created…

Astronomy & Observing News

Kepler's Supernova in the Spotlight

Infrared, visual, and X-ray telescopes images come together in this mosaic of Kepler’s Supernova remnant.

Astronomy & Observing News

Binary Pulsar Spins Up a Storm

A unique pair of pulsars is inspiring new models for neutron-star magnetospheres.

Astronomy & Observing News

New Class of Low-luminosity GRBs

The ESA spacecraft XMM-Newton captures an X-ray light echo from gamma-ray burst (GRB) 031203. This GRB, which occurred 1.6 billion light-years away, is one of the closest and faintest bursts ever detected. The light echo is an optical illusion caused by gamma-rays from the burst scattering off dust in the…

Astronomy & Observing News

Does Clarissa Have a Moon?

In spite of recent indications that asteroid 302 Clarissa has a moon circling around it, evidence now suggests that the object may be alone in the cosmos after all. On June 24th, four observers in the northeastern United States watched as the asteroid occulted the star SAO 118999. Astronomers predicted…

Astronomy & Observing News

Gravity Probe B Puts General Relativity to the Test

Gravity Probe B should measure the warp of space due to the geodetic effect as 6.6144 arcseconds of drift in the gyroscropes' spin direction, and only 0.0409 arcsecond due to the frame-dragging effect.Courtesy NASA/MSFC. It took nearly 90 years of theory, 40 years of engineering, and 10 years of lobbying…

Astronomy & Observing News

Sundials Unite Mars and Earth

The Planetary Society is getting volunteers worldwide to build sundials that echo the ones NASA has placed on Mars.

Astronomy & Observing News

Comet Lander Takes Off

After much delay, the Rosetta spacecraft launched this morning. Its mission: to catch a comet.

Astronomy & Observing News

Europe's Mission to the Moon

The European Space Agency's SMART 1 spacecraft will bein mapping the Moon in January 2005

Astronomy & Observing News Astro Image in the News:
Saturn's Varied Colors"}'>

Astro Image in the News:
Saturn's Varied Colors

The Hubble Space Telescope looked at Saturn in three different "lights."

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