Astronomy and Stars
Discussions about astronomy and stars. As we look further out what can we find in the universe beyond Earth's atmosphere?
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Astronomer Laura Danly of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) has taken a major step in solving a 3 year old mystery by measuring, for the first time, the distance to a high-velocity cloud of cool hydrogen gas. The results show conclusively that the cloud, and presumably others like it, dwell in the "halo" of our Milky Way Galaxy, rather than being between galaxies or in our own stellar neighborhood. (The halo is a spherical region surrounding the spiral disk of our galaxy). View the full article
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This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope picture of a recently-formed "planetary nebula," known as Hen 1357. This expanding cloud of gas was ejected from the aging star in the center. Much of the gas is concentrated in a ring which appears tilted 35 degrees. Besides the big clumps in the ring, HST's detailed images reveal many smaller clumps and wisps of gas, indicating turbulent motions and other activity in the nebula. Two bubbles of gas seen above and below the ring have burst open at their ends, allowing gas from inside to escape. View the full article
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Astronomer John S. Mulchaey, of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and fellow team members announced today the discovery of a huge concentration of mysterious "dark matter" with the ROSAT X-ray observatory satellite. ROSAT is an acronym for Roentgen Satellite, a joint project of Germany, NASA, and the U.K.) View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Discovers Protoplanetary Disks Around Newly Formed Stars
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered the strongest evidence yet that many stars form planetary systems. Dr. C. Robert O'Dell of Rice University, Houston, Texas and colleagues have used Hubble to discover extended disks of dust around 15 newly formed stars in the Orion Nebula, a starbirth region 1,500 light-years away. Such disks are a prerequisite for the formation of solar Systems like our own. "These images provide the best evidence for planetary systems," said O'Dell. View the full article
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Looking far away and far back in time, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has found some suspected ancestors of today's galaxies. The Hubble pictures reveal that star-forming galaxies were far more prevalent in the clusters of the younger universe than in modern clusters of galaxies near us today. View the full article
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Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have gotten their best look yet at the disk of material that surrounds and is being pulled into a suspected black hole. View the full article
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Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope an international team of astronomers Is uncovering intriguing new details about the most distant galaxy known, located more than ten billion light-years away. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has photographed a striking mirror-image of a very distant galaxy. The observations might unlock the secrets of the dark matter mystery which has puzzled astronomers for decades. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is allowing several teams of astronomers to explore Io [EYE-oh] at a level of detail not possible since a pair of Voyager spacecraft flew by the small moon 13 years ago. View the full article
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Six amateur astronomers will have a rare opportunity to use NASA'S Hubble Space Telescope to conduct original research. Officials at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) announced today that the observations were chosen from proposals submitted by amateur astronomers across the nation. View the full article
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Patricia A. Parker, Head of the Operations Division at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, has received a 1992 Goddard Exceptional Achievement Award for her "outstanding leadership and management in the execution and enhancement of the science operations of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). View the full article
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Observations with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have given a tantalizing glimpse of the time soon after galaxies formed, suggesting that these huge Systems of stars formed over a wider span of time than once believed. View the full article
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A "serendipitous" survey of the heavens with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is uncovering remote and unusual galaxies never before resolved by optical telescopes on Earth. HST reveals an unusual variety of shape and structure in these distant galaxies, which previously appeared as fuzzy blobs in ground-based sky surveys. These tantalizing early results may lead to a much clearer understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies. View the full article
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Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST), an international team of astronomers has taken a major first step in redetermining the expansion rate of the universe. This rate, known as the Hubble Constant, is one of two critical numbers needed for making a precise determination of the size and age of the universe. View the full article
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This artist's illustration shows three steps in the merger of a pair of white dwarf stars. The illustration depicts how planets may form around massive white dwarfs and is based upon theoretical studies by astronomers Mario Livio, Jim Pringle, and Rex Saffer of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided astronomers with what may be their first direct view of an immense ring of dust which fuels a massive black hole at the heart of the spiral galaxy M51, located 20 million light-years away. Surprisingly, they found that the ring is standing almost perpendicularly to the relatively flat spiral galaxy, like a top spinning on its side with respect to the floor. Even more surprising is the discovery of a secondary ring or dust lane which is contrary to all expectations. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has revealed a new class of object in the universe -- a grouping of gigantic star clusters produced by the collision of galaxies. Images of the core of the peculiar galaxy Arp 220 show that stars are produced at a furious rate from the dust and gas supplied by the interaction of two galaxies. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revealed an unusual and fascinating new optical jet in the nucleus of the elliptical galaxy NOC 3862. View the full article
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Imagine turning your home computer into the equivalent of a professional telescope which can display millions of stars and galaxies located anywhere in the sky.. Astronomers as well as educators will soon be able to have the sky at their fingertips thanks to an ambitious effort now being funded by NASA and being carried out by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland. View the full article
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The NASA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has imaged N66, a planetary nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way galaxy). The image was obtained at 10:41 p.m. EDT on June 26, 1991, using the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera. View the full article
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Astronomers report that they have found new evidence that a black hole weighing 3 million times the mass of the Sun exists at the center of the nearby elliptical galaxy M32, based on images obtained with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The images show that the stars in M32 become extremely concentrated toward the nucleus. This central structure resembles the gravitational "signature" of a massive black hole. The presence of a black hole in an ordinary galaxy like M32 may mean that inactive black holes are common to the centers of galaxies. The new HST images show that M32 is an interesting "laboratory" for testing theories of the formation of massive black holes. …
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A new image processing technique has yielded the clearest view yet of an extraordinary star cluster located about 169,000 light years from Earth. The new technique, called photometric reconstruction, was applied to a photograph of the star cluster Rl36 that was obtained with the Planetary Camera onboard the NASA Hubble Space Telescope. It reveals that there are at least 47 stars located within an area 1.6 light years across in Rl36. (One light year is approximately 5.8 trillion miles long.) In contrast, the Sun is about 4 light years from the nearest known star, Proxima Centauri. View the full article
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This photograph from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope presents the first clear view of one of the hottest known stars, the central star of nebula NGC 2440 in our Milky Way galaxy. The superhot star, called "the NGC 2440 nucleus" is the bright white dot in the center of this photograph. View the full article
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The image at top right shows Jovian aurora observed on February 8, 1992, by the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera (FOC) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST). This is the first direct image of the aurora taken in ultraviolet light (1600 Angstroms) and the best auroral images ever. An earlier image of Jupiter's full disk (lower left), obtained by HST's Wide Field/Planetary Camera, shows the location of the northern aurora (box) with respect to the rest of the planet. View the full article
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Astronomers report today that they have found intriguing evidence that a black hole weighing over 2.6 billion times the mass of the Sun exists at the center of the giant elliptical galaxy M87, based upon images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The images show that stars become strongly concentrated towards the center of M87, as if drawn into the center and held there by the gravitational field of a massive black hole. View the full article
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