SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: April 2005
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Ground telescopes to 'super-size'
(Apr 10, 2005)
A new generation of ground-based telescopes could be up to 10 times
the size of existing instruments and have vision 40 times as sharp
as the Hubble space telescope. Astronomers have been hailing the plans,
as a European project to build an Extremely Large Telescope (ELT)
enters a design testing phase. An ELT is vital if the pace of astronomical
breakthroughs is to continue, say experts.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Deepest X-rays tell merger story
(Apr 8, 2005)
Scientists have seen giant black
holes growing rapidly in the cores of massive star-forming galaxies.
The observations from the Chandra
space telescope are the deepest X-ray images ever obtained, viewing
events that are 10 billion light-years away. It is also clear most
of these galaxies are merging with close neighbours.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Possible signs of life on Titan
(Apr 7, 2005)
Is there life on Titan?
A few months ago the question would have been ridiculous, but two
US space experts will tell a Nasa astrobiology conference next week
that the Cassini probe's
trip to Saturn's moon has set up some intriguing possibilities. David
Grinspoon, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado,
and Dirk Schulze-Makuch, at Washington State University, say Cassini's
images show geological features that could be caused by microbial
activity.
Read
more. Source: Guardian |
Swift measures distance to gamma-ray bursts
(Apr 7, 2005)
NASA's Swift space
telescope has been used to directly measure the distance to fleeting
cosmic explosions, called gamma-ray
bursts, for the first time. The measurements are crucial for determining
how much energy the bursts unleash. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powerful
blasts of high-energy gamma-ray
photons thought to herald the birth of black
holes. They typically last less than a minute but can produce
afterglows at a range of wavelengths – from X-rays to radio
waves – that linger for hours or weeks. The afterglows can reveal
the distance and nature of the bursts, and Swift was designed to swivel
towards them in about a minute.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Fleshing out the 'first ape-man'
(Apr 7, 2005)
Experts are a step closer to answering whether an ancient skull from
Africa belonged to a possible human ancestor or to a creature closer
to apes. Fresh fossil finds from Chad in central Africa, as well as
a new analysis of the skull, seem to confirm "Toumaļ" was closer to
us, Nature magazine reports. The Toumaļ specimen was unearthed in
Chad in 2002 to international acclaim.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Mars rovers enjoy a new lease of life
(Apr 7, 2005)
The missions of the twin Mars
rovers Spirit and Opportunity - which have already surpassed all
expectations – have been extended by a further 18 months. NASA
officials announced on Tuesday that the rovers will be allowed to
roll on well beyond the end of their second extension, which has just
expired. And the agency is bypassing the usual requirement for a full
review of the project every six months by granting the mission an
extension to September 2006.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Telescope catches early starlight
(Apr 6, 2005)
Astronomers have seen the light coming from what could be some of
the very first stars to shine in the Universe. These ancient objects
burst into life probably no more than 600 million years or so after
the Big Bang itself.
The discovery, announced at the UK National Astronomy Meeting, suggests
the evolution
of galaxies got under way much earlier than previously believed.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Galaxy has mystery star clusters
(Apr 5, 2005)
Unusual clusters of ancient stars have been found in the Andromeda
Galaxy, which neighbours our own Milky
Way. UK scientists say the groupings contain hundreds of thousands
of stars but are spread out over far greater distances than presently
can be explained. They told the National Astronomy Meeting these extended
clusters were not seen in the Milky Way.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Plenty of Earths await discovery
(Apr 5, 2005)
British researchers are more confident than ever that there are "Earths"
out there waiting to be discovered. The scientists say perhaps a half
of all the known planetary systems today could be harbouring habitable
worlds. It must be said most of these systems are strange places where
supergiant planets orbit close in to their stars. But Barrie Jones
and colleagues say their modelling work suggests that even with this
oddness, there should be room for small rocky planets.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Black holes 'do not exist'
(Apr 4, 2005)
Black
holes are staples of science
fiction and many think astronomers have observed them indirectly.
But according to a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
in California, these awesome breaches in space-time
do not and indeed cannot exist. Over the past few years, observations
of the motions of galaxies have shown that some 70% the Universe seems
to be composed of a strange 'dark
energy' that is driving the Universe's accelerating expansion.
George Chapline thinks that the collapse of the massive stars, which
was long believed to generate black holes, actually leads to the formation
of stars that contain dark energy.
Read
more. Source: Nature |
Great extinction came in phases
(Apr 4, 2005)
The greatest mass
extinction recorded in Earth history did not occur as a result
of one single cataclysmic event. A joint UK-Chinese team tell Nature
magazine the disaster that befell the planet 250 million years ago
must have happened in phases. Their conclusion is based on the abundance
of "organic fossils" found in rocks at Meishan in southern China.
These suggest there were at least two episodes to the mass die-off
that saw up to 95% of lifeforms disappear.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Confirmed picture of a planet beyond the
solar system
(Apr 2, 2005)
After a few close calls, astronomers have finally obtained the first
photograph of a planet
beyond our solar system. And this time they say they're sure. Though
some doubt lingers about the mass of the object. The planet is thought
to be one to two times as massive as Jupiter, according to the scientists
who imaged it. It orbits a star similar to a young version of our
Sun. The star, GQ Lupi, has been observed by a team of European astronomers
since 1999. They have made three images using the Very
Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO)
in Chile. The Hubble Space Telescope and the Japanese Subaru Telescope
each contributed an image, too. The work was led by Ralph Neuhaeuser
of the Astrophysical Institute & University Observatory (AIU).
Read
more. Source: space.com |
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