Situated in rich star fields and glowing hydrogen gas, these opaque clouds of interstellar dust and gas are so large they might be able to form stars. Their home is known as IC 2944, a bright stellar nursery located about 5,900 light years away toward the constellation of Centaurus. The largest of these dark globules, […]
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French observer Stéphane Lamotte Bailey created this animation of the Whirlpool galaxy’s new supernova using images he took with his 8-inch telescope on May 30 and June 2, 2011. / Stéphane Lamotte Bailey For the second time in six years, a star has exploded in the iconic Whirlpool Galaxy (Messier 51), and — good news! […]
Rings produced by a computer model of a stellar merger (left) mimic those of supernova 1987A (right) / Illustration: T Morris/P Podsiadlowski; Image: C Burrows/ESA/STScI/NASA A merger of two stars and the deadly dance that preceded it produced the distinctive triple ring system of supernova 1987A, a new study says. SN 1987A exploded in the […]
Image credit NASA, Caltech, MPIA, and Calar Alto Tycho’s supernova remnant, a real-world example of a Type Ia supernova. An an attempt to peer inside powerful star explosions, scientists recently made a “supernova in a jar” using a chemical reaction in a viscous fluid. Called the iodate-arsenous acid (IAA) system, the experiment involved injecting a […]
On 27 December, COROT is to be launched into space on a unique astronomy mission: its twin goals are to detect exoplanets orbiting around other stars and to probe the mysteries of stellar interiors as never before. . . . While CNES is completing preparations for the launch from Baikonur/Kazakhstan, ESA and a large number […]
Astronomers have proposed a variety of sources over the years for the Christmas star — comets, a supernova or a grouping of planets. The actual astronomical events of the time suggest a solution, according to Griffith Observatory astronomer John Mosley. Mosley’s 1987 book “The Christmas Star” examines the sky during the time frame that historians […]
