Cosmic dust discs withstand hellfire
Bonn, Germany (SPX) Mar 12, 2015 -
A team of scientists led by astronomers at the University of Bonn discovered an unusual phenomenon in the centre of the Milky Way: They detected about 20 rotating dust and gas discs in each cluster hosting exceptionally large and hot stars. The existence of these discs in the presence of the destructive UV radiation field of their massive neighbours came as a surprise.
The science team is ...
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Milky Way isn't a flat disk, it's corrugated
Troy, N.M. (UPI) Mar 11, 2015 -
According to a new study by a team of international astronomers, the Milky Way's galactic disk resembles the undulating ripples seen after a pebble is tossed into a pond. In other words, it's not flat - it's corrugated, like a steel roof.
The study, led by Heidi Jo Newberg, an astronomer at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York, is a reinterpretation of data collected ...
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In 'milestone' toward Mars, NASA test-fires rocket
Miami (AFP) March 11, 2015 -
The most powerful solid rocket booster ever built was fired up for the first time Wednesday in a test that NASA described as a "significant milestone" toward Mars.
Tied horizontally to the ground at the base of a Utah mountain, the 177-foot-long (54-meter) Space Launch System (SLS) booster was hot-fired for two minutes to see how the system would perform when eventually launched.
"Great ...
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Gamma rays from dwarf galaxy may point to dark matter
Providence RI (SPX) Mar 12, 2015 -
A newly discovered dwarf galaxy orbiting our own Milky Way has offered up a surprise - it appears to be radiating gamma rays, according to an analysis by physicists at Carnegie Mellon, Brown, and Cambridge universities. The exact source of this high-energy light is uncertain at this point, but it just might be a signal of dark matter lurking at the galaxy's center.
"Something in the direct ...
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Scientists Will Try to Contact the Comet Lander on March 12
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 12, 2015 -
Scientists from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will make the first attempt to contact the stranded comet lander Philae on Thursday Mar. 12. "The first attempt will take place already this week, on March 12," Stephan Ulamec, Lander Project Manager at DLR, told astrowatch.net.
If we're lucky, the first signal will be received by ESA's Rosetta spacecraft at 05:00 CET. Philae came to rest o ...
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Testing astronauts' lungs in Space Station airlock
Paris (ESA) Mar 12, 2015 -
Air was pumped out of the International Space Station's air lock for the first time in the name of science last week. Inside the cylindrical Quest airlock, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA's Terry Virts monitored their breathing for researchers back on Earth.
With each lungful of air, our bodies absorb oxygen and exhale waste-product molecules such as carbon dioxide and the im ...
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Astronauts return to Earth on Russian Soyuz spaceship
Miami (AFP) March 12, 2015 -
Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut returned to Earth aboard a Soyuz space capsule after spending six months at the International Space Station.
Yelena Serova, Alexander Samokutyaev and Barry Wilmore landed in snowy Kazakhstan just after sunrise on Thursday morning.
"The Expedition 42 crew is back on Earth," said NASA commentator Rob Navias on the US space agency's live broa ...
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