Astronomy news

• Some potentially habitable planets began as gaseous, Neptune-like worlds

  28-01-2015 22:05
  
  Two phenomena known to inhibit the potential habitability of planets -- tidal forces and vigorous stellar activity -- might instead help chances for life on certain planets orbiting low-mass stars, astronomers have found.
  
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• Engineer advances new daytime star tracker

  28-01-2015 22:05
  
  NASA is developing a precision attitude sensor or star tracker that would be able to locate points of reference, or in other words, stars, during daylight hours.
  
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• Why You Should Participate in CVD & Advocate for Astronomy

  28-01-2015 21:46
  This guest post comes from Kelly Korreck, an astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory with a research focus on shock physics, solar instrumentation, and space weather. Kelly participated in our 2014 Congressional Visits Day. This post originally appeared on her blog.
  Last March I had the honor to participate in our democracy and attend the AAS Congressional Visit Day. The visit was such a positive experience; I want to strongly encourage you to consider becoming involved in a
  
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• Citizen scientists lead astronomers to mystery objects in space - Astronomy Magazine

  28-01-2015 21:27 via astronomy.com
  Astronomy Magazine
  Citizen scientists lead astronomers to mystery objects in space
  Astronomy Magazine
  Scientists analyzed the “yellow balls” that appeared in Spitzer data and figured out that they are a new way to detect the early stages of massive star formation. By Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California | Published: Wednesday, January 28, 2015.
  28 January 2015 in News: Citizen scientists lead astronomers to mystery ...Astronomy Now Online
  Public Release: 27-Jan-2015 Stellar astro
  
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• Gully patterns document Martian climate cycles

  28-01-2015 21:22
  
  Gullies carved into impact craters on Mars provide a window into climate change on the Red Planet. A new analysis suggests Mars has undergone several ice ages in the last several million years. The driver of these climate swings is likely the Red Planet's wobbly axis tilt.
  
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• Quantum computer as detector shows space is not squeezed

  28-01-2015 20:16
  
  Ever since Einstein proposed his special theory of relativity in 1905, physics and cosmology have been based on the assumption that space looks the same in all directions -- that it's not squeezed in one direction relative to another. A new experiment by physicists used partially entangled atoms -- identical to the qubits in a quantum computer -- to demonstrate more precisely than ever before that this is true: to one part in a billion billion.
  
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• God's Hand: Astronomers Capture Cometary Globule CG4 - Sci-News.com

  28-01-2015 20:15 via sci-news.com
  Sci-News.com
  God's Hand: Astronomers Capture Cometary Globule CG4
  Sci-News.com
  Some astronomers suggest that cometary globules are shaped by stellar winds and ionizing radiation from hot, massive OB stars. These effects could first lead to the bizarrely named formations known as elephant trunks and then eventually cometary ...
  Staring into the Maw of a Mysterious Cosmic GlobuleDiscovery News
  
  all 19 news articles »
  
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• The two faces of Mars: Moon-sized celestial object crashed into south pole

  28-01-2015 18:54
  
  The two hemispheres of Mars are more different from any other planet in our solar system. Non-volcanic, flat lowlands characterize the northern hemisphere, while highlands punctuated by countless volcanoes extend across the southern hemisphere. Although theories and assumptions about the origin of this so-called and often-discussed Mars dichotomy abound, there are very few definitive answers. Geophysicists are now providing a new explanation.
  
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• Gigantic ring system around J1407b - Astronomy Magazine

  28-01-2015 17:47 via astronomy.com
  Astronomy Magazine
  Gigantic ring system around J1407b
  Astronomy Magazine
  Astronomers at Leiden Observatory in The Netherlands and the University of Rochester in New York have discovered that the planetary ring system that they see eclipse the young Sun-like star J1407 is of enormous proportions, much larger and heavier than ...
  
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• Please Consider Becoming a Harlow Shapley Visiting Lecturer!

  28-01-2015 17:21
  The AAS Harlow Shapley Visiting Lectureship Program is a gem in the crown of the Society’s education efforts. Its purpose is to bring the excitement of modern astronomy and astrophysics to North American colleges and universities of all types through a 2- to 3-day visit by a professional astronomer. The AAS is particularly interested in reaching out to institutions that do not offer degrees in astronomy, as well as to community colleges and minority-serving institutions.
  The AAS pays the lect
  
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• Club reaches for the stars, hopes for astronomical turnout - The Courier

  28-01-2015 17:10 via codcourier.org
  The Courier
  Club reaches for the stars, hopes for astronomical turnout
  The Courier
  Schlosser has always held a fascination with astronomy. When others in his class began to voice their own interests, Schlosser recruited enough participants to start a club under the college's regulations. Within a few weeks, the club was ready to ...
  
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• An Update on the AAS/IOP Publishing eBook Program

  28-01-2015 16:18
  This announcement is posted on behalf of our partners at IOP Publishing:
  Following the announcement in December about the exciting new partnership between the AAS and IOP Publishing to launch a joint ebook program, we were delighted to have the opportunity to talk with many of you at the 225th AAS meeting in Seattle in early January about what the program will entail.
  It was a pleasure to hear the enthusiasm of so many AAS members about the new venture, and we can’t wait to get to work on th
  
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• New instrument to study the extreme universe -- the X-Ray polarimeter X-Calibur

  28-01-2015 16:06
  
  X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about high-energy astrophysical sources, such as black hole systems, the bright and active centers of galaxies, compact neutron stars, and gamma-ray bursts. The instrument will measure the polarization of 20-80keV X-rays. The detector is completed, tested, and fully calibrated and ready to be flown on a high-altitude balloon.
  
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• Ballooning offers platform for performing research in a space-like environment

  28-01-2015 15:35
  
  A high-altitude (>20 km) balloon platform is nearly ideal for carrying out scientific observations in a space-like environment, flight qualifying instrumentation, and transporting humans to the edge of space. This platform is regularly utilized by a wide range of disciplines, including astrophysics, heliophysics, planetary and Earth science. The increasing interest has driven the development of improved capabilities for payloads to fly at high altitudes for longer durations (> 100 days).
  
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• The mouth of the beast: VLT images cometary globule CG4

  28-01-2015 14:22
  
  Like the gaping mouth of a gigantic celestial creature, the cometary globule CG4 glows menacingly in this new image from ESO's Very Large Telescope. Although it appears to be big and bright in this picture, this is actually a faint nebula, which makes it very hard for amateur astronomers to spot. The exact nature of CG4 remains a mystery.
  
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• Astronomy first: 'Super Saturn' rings - WSBT-TV

  28-01-2015 13:38 via wsbt.com
  
  Sci-News.com
  Astronomy first: 'Super Saturn' rings
  WSBT-TV
  In 1610, after he built his telescope, Galileo Galilei first spotted enormous Saturn's gigantic rings. More than 400 years later, astronomers have in a sense dwarfed that discovery with a similar first.
  26 January 2015 in News: Exoplanet J1407b possesses ring system 200 times ...Astronomy Now Online
  Super-Saturn J1407b Hosts Massive Ring System, Astronomers SaySci-News.com
  Huge alien planet has rings 200 times bigger than Sa
  
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• 28 January 2015 in News: Citizen scientists lead astronomers to mystery ... - Astronomy Now Online

  28-01-2015 10:35 via astronomynow.com
  Phys.Org
  28 January 2015 in News: Citizen scientists lead astronomers to mystery ...
  Astronomy Now Online
  Volunteers using the web-based Milky Way Project brought star-forming features nicknamed “yellowballs” to the attention of researchers, who later showed that they are a phase of massive star formation. The yellow balls — which are several hundred to ...
  Amateur astronomers spot 'yellowballs' in spaceFuturity: Research News
  Stellar astronomers answer question posed by citi
  
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