11.05.10: Ancient Galaxy Mergers.

 
   Astronomers may have found a cosmological missing link in the realm of galactic evolution. The early universe was a crowded place; galaxy mergers must have been much more common in the primeval universe than they are today. But studying those early collisions has been problematic; the immense distances involved over time and space mean [...]

02.05.10- Star-birth in the Early Universe.

A comparision of an ancient spiral galaxy in visible (left) and Infrared (right).
   Astronomers are shedding new light across the spectrum on an old cosmological mystery. It’s well documented that the rate of star formation today is much less than what it was early on in the history of the universe; what isn’t completely understood is [...]

19.04.10- The Rise of WISE.

Spiral galaxy IC 342 shows its stuff in infrared!
NASA has a new orbiting infrared eye on the universe. WISE, the Wide-field Infrared Space Explorer, is now open for business, and returning some fairly cool images. Launched out of Vandenberg AFB on December 12th of last year, the telescope is now parked in a sun-synchronous orbit at [...]

17.04.10- The Case of the Vanishing Moon: Solved.

The scale of the enormous and thin Phoebe Ring as recently imaged by Spitzer.
 
   Since its discovery by Giovanni Cassini in 1671, Saturn’s moon Iapetus has confounded astronomers. Even early on, observers knew something curious was going on with this far off moon; Iapetus varies in brightness between +10 & +12th magnitude as it orbits [...]

24.10.09: Enceladan Seas?

Move over Europa ; yet another moon may harbor a subsurface sea. Saturn’s moon Enceladus has been inching its way up the charts as of late as a candidate world for extraterrestrial life. Barely 300 miles in diameter, the tiny world is repeatedly flexed by Saturn’s gravity and an increased orbital eccentricity pumped up by [...]

August 2009:News & Notes.

- The LRO Photographs the Apollo landing sites: Fans of this space may have noticed the racy lunar pics we ran a week back as part of our From Earth to the Moon review. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter did indeed snap pics of the famous Apollo landing sites last month. These clearly show the [...]