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 […]
