astronomy
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Star turn for opening of ParliamentThe theme for Parliament's opening this week is inspired by South Africa's bid to become the site for the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope, Speaker Max Sisulu said on Tuesday.
Topix.net | 08-Feb-2012 00:10
'Regional astronomy centre to open by April'
In remarks at the 10th Conference of the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences in Oman, he said the centre seeks to develop the skills of scientists and workers in the field of environmental research, remote sensing and other related sciences.
Topix.net | 08-Feb-2012 00:09
Saas-Fee Lecture Notes: Multi-messenger Astronomy and Dark Matter
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Topix.net | 08-Feb-2012 00:09
Time for Snow Moon - February's full moon
This photo of the full moon on Jan. 8 shows the moon as it appeared to astronauts on the International Space Station.
Topix.net | 07-Feb-2012 21:00
Brightest Galaxy Ever Seen With Gravity Lens Shines in Hubble Photo
This Hubble Space Telescope photo, released Feb. 2, 2012, shows a distant galaxy 10 billion light-years away as it appears through the gravitational lens around the galaxy cluster RCS2 032727-132623 about 5 billion light-years away.
Topix.net | 07-Feb-2012 19:55
Do Black Holes Help Stars Form?
The center of just about every galaxy is thought to host a black hole, some with masses of thousands of millions of Suns and consequently strong gravitational pulls that disrupt material around them.
Topix.net | 07-Feb-2012 18:55
The Starry Dome
Pictor, the Painter, is located in the southeastern sky on February evenings. This constellation is another creation of AbbA© Nicolas Louis de Lacaille.
Topix.net | 07-Feb-2012 14:45
Scientists chart high-precision map of Milky Way's magnetic fields
The sky map of the Faraday effect caused by the magnetic fields of the Milky Way.
Topix.net | 07-Feb-2012 10:41
Chief Vatican Astronomer: Big Bang Is Compatible With Catholicism
In remarks at the announcement of the opening of a Vatican Exhibit showcasingA photos, research tools and minerals from the Moon and Mars, FatherA Jose Gabriel Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory, re-confirmed the Church's stance that the Big Bang and evolution are compatible with Catholic teachings.
Topix.net | 07-Feb-2012 06:31
New Super-Earth Discovered Just 22 Light Years Away
New life might be waiting just around the corner, as a brand-new "super-Earth" was recently discovered by a team of astronomers from UC Santa Cruz and the Carnegie Institution for Science.
Topix.net | 07-Feb-2012 05:31
Keep your eyes on the skies
Mike Roy, a scientific instrument maker at Caltech, shows his backyard Astro-Mar Observatory he built with a 12" Newtonian telescope at his home in the San Gabriel Valley Thursday night, January 26, 2012.
Topix.net | 07-Feb-2012 03:27
Hidden Galaxies May Swarm Near Our Own Milky Way
Artist's concept of the four tails of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way.
Topix.net | 06-Feb-2012 23:12
UVa Astronomer: Active Sunspots to Create Opportunities to See Aurora
University of Virginia astronomer Edward Murphy notes that the sun should be very active over the next 12 to 18 months, so there should be future opportunities to see the aurora during this solar cycle.
Topix.net | 06-Feb-2012 22:07
Martian real estate, windy and cratered but isolated
Now in the ninth year of its mission, the European Space Agency 's Mars Express orbiter has sent back images of the Red Planet's mysterious Syrtis Major region - once thought to be a shallow sea.
Topix.net | 06-Feb-2012 18:57
Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Dust of the Orion Nebula
Explanation: What surrounds a hotbed of star formation? In the case of the Orion Nebula -- dust.
Topix.net | 06-Feb-2012 14:42
Hunter's Moons: Astronomers Use Kepler Spacecraft to Search for Exomoons
There may be Earth-size satellites orbiting exoplanets that can be detected using Kepler data.
Topix.net | 06-Feb-2012 12:38
For the first time: the 'Dark Side' of the Moon caught on video
It's a surprising fact but, despite over 50 years of Moon probes and manned flights, there has never been any video shot of the far side of the Moon, often erroneously called the 'dark side.' that is, until now and NASA's twin GRAIL probes , which began their multi-faceted mission at he start of the year.
Topix.net | 06-Feb-2012 09:33
Astronomers: Mars likely too dry for life - The State Column
Astronomers: Mars likely too dry for life The State Column If there is life on Mars it is likely it is found far under the surface of the arid Red Planet, according to a study released Friday.
Topix.net | 06-Feb-2012 05:28
Eros Asteroid Flyby Attracts Amateur Astronomers
In 1931, the close approach of the asteroid Eros allowed professional astronomers to calculate its distance and make that era's most accurate measurement of the solar system.
Topix.net | 06-Feb-2012 01:19
Surface of Mars an unlikely place for life after 600 million year drought, say scientists
Mars may have been arid for more than 600 million years, making it too hostile for any life to survive on the planet's surface, according to researchers who have been carrying out the painstaking task of analysing individual particles of Martian soil.
Topix.net | 05-Feb-2012 21:19
Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Lunation
Explanation: Our Moon's appearance changes nightly. This time-lapse sequence shows what our Moon looks like during a lunation , a complete lunar cycle.
Topix.net | 05-Feb-2012 19:10
An astronomer's paradise
Cerro Paranal, in the high, dry, Atacama desert in Chile, is where some of the best astronomy in the world is done.
Topix.net | 05-Feb-2012 15:54
Astronomer Creates Wine from 4 Billion-Year-Old Meteorite
An astronomer from Britain has, apparently, created wine from a 4.5 billion year old meteorite! An expatriate, Ian Hutechon has labelled his astronomical-alcoholic creation - Meteorito.
Topix.net | 05-Feb-2012 12:45
Top astronomer coming to Halton
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Topix.net | 05-Feb-2012 08:30
Four telescope link-up creates world's largest mirror
Astronomers have created the world's largest virtual optical telescope linking four telescopes in Chile, so that they operate as a single device.
Topix.net | 05-Feb-2012 04:11
Space cats [video] | @GrrlScientist
Here's an astronomy video about cats, just in time for our Caturday morning video smile! This video is a chat with Brant Widgeon, who is an Astronomical Image Enhancement Engineer.
Topix.net | 05-Feb-2012 00:11
New Study Shows How Trace Elements Affect Stars' Habitable Zones
Comparison of the habitable zone around the Sun in our solar system and around the star Gliese 581.
Topix.net | 04-Feb-2012 20:01
It's National Homemade Soup Day
The words "soup," "supper," "sip," and "sop" are derived from this term. 3 . Andy Warhol is famous for his Campbell 's soup can art of the 1960's. Did you know his first works sold for around 100 dollars? Today they sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Topix.net | 04-Feb-2012 15:52
Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Comet Garradd and M92
Explanation: Sweeping slowly through the constellation Hercules, Comet Garradd passed with about 0.5 degrees of globular star cluster M92 on February 3. Captured here in its latest Messier moment , the steady performer remains just below naked-eye visibility with a central coma comparable in brightness to the dense, well-known star cluster.
Topix.net | 04-Feb-2012 15:52
Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Inside the Eagle Nebula
Explanation: In 1995, a now famous picture from the Hubble Space Telescope featured Pillars of Creation, star forming columns of cold gas and dust light-years long inside M16, the Eagle Nebula .
Topix.net | 04-Feb-2012 15:52
Rosetta: Mission To Land On A Comet
Europe's Rosetta spacecraft is en route to intercept a comet- and to make history.
Topix.net | 04-Feb-2012 12:47
Scientists Chart High-Precision Map Of Milky...
Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory are part of an international team that has pooled their radio observations into a database, producing the highest precision map to date of the magnetic field within our own Milky Way galaxy.
Topix.net | 04-Feb-2012 12:47
Radio stars: Caltech's astronomy professor searches for cosmic radio waves
Growing up in rural northwest Ireland, beyond the reach of city lights, Gregg Hallinan fell in love with the night sky.
Topix.net | 04-Feb-2012 10:47
Sullivan BOCES students get taste of astronomy via Starlab dome
From left, Destiny Richardson, Tylik Finn, teacher Alan Morgenstern, John Haig and Josh Lintz stand outside the Starlab, a portable dome that displays the constellations.
Topix.net | 04-Feb-2012 06:38
Millisecond Pulsars: The Discovery Of Deceleration
Pulsars are among the most exotic celestial bodies known. They have diameters of about 20 kilometers, but at the same time roughly the mass of our sun.
Topix.net | 04-Feb-2012 02:19
Astronomers Spot Fourth Potential Habitable Planet
An international team of astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable planet 22 light years away orbiting a nearby star, reports The Telegraph.
Topix.net | 04-Feb-2012 02:19
Astrophile: Pinball planets get wild, deadly ride
Astrophile is our weekly column on curious cosmic objects, from the solar system to the far reaches of the multiverse Slipping through a rift in space-time A la Doctor Who , you are dumped onto the surface of a planet very much like Earth.
Topix.net | 04-Feb-2012 02:19
Come to Hawaii for the transit of Venus
The last transit of Venus in our lifetimes will take place Tuesday, June 5, 2012.
Topix.net | 03-Feb-2012 22:04
Classic portrait of a barred spiral galaxy
Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is a similar barred spiral, and the study of galaxies such as NGC 1073 helps astronomers learn more about our celestial home.
Topix.net | 03-Feb-2012 17:59
Classic portrait of a barred spiral galaxy
Most spiral galaxies in the Universe have a bar structure in their centre, and Hubble's image of NGC 1073 offers a particularly clear view of one of these.
Topix.net | 03-Feb-2012 17:07
Star Maps From Mobile App Maker Brings Astronomy to the Masses
Skywatching enthusiasts, rejoice! The makers of a popular astronomy app have released a series of free star maps and new educational tools to help both casual and more experienced stargazers learn more about the cosmos, the app's designers said.
Topix.net | 03-Feb-2012 13:50
Stargazing: These heavenly bodies aren't X-rated, they just sound that way
Today I'll write about Sex and Eros. Sex is the abbreviation used for the constellation Sextans, the Sextant.
Topix.net | 03-Feb-2012 11:50
Hubble zooms in on a magnified galaxy
Thanks to the presence of a natural "zoom lens" in space, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope got a uniquely close-up look at the brightest "magnified" galaxy yet discovered.
Topix.net | 03-Feb-2012 07:41
Astronomy Picture of the Day -- La Silla Star Trails North and South
Explanation: Fix your camera to a tripod and you can record graceful trails traced by the stars as planet Earth rotates on its axis .
Topix.net | 03-Feb-2012 06:31
IMAGE: Remnant Of An Explosion With A Powerful...
Vital clues about the devastating ends to the lives of massive stars can be found by studying the aftermath of their explosions.
Topix.net | 03-Feb-2012 02:11
Newfound Alien Planet is Best Candidate Yet to Support Life, Scientists Say
An artist's conception of the alien planet GJ 667Cc, which is located in the habitable zone of its parent star.
Topix.net | 02-Feb-2012 21:56