News Archive: 200520062007200820092010
Short solar cycle detected on distant star - 2nd September 2010
Scientists using the Convection Rotation and Planetary Transits (CoRoT) space mission have uncovered a short solar magnetic cycle on a distant star using stellar seismology.
A new way to weigh planets - 31st August 2010
Instead of determining the mass of a planet by measuring the orbits of moons or spacecraft around them, astronomers have come up with a new method using radio signals from pulsars.
Kepler finds first double planet transiting system - 30th August 2010
The Kepler space mission has discovered two new Saturn-sized planets and a possible third planet one and a half times bigger than Earth orbiting a star over 2,200 light years away in the constellation Lyra. The discovery also heralds the first time that it has been possible to measure the masses of planets using transit observations.
Fast spinning asteroids spawn new generation - 29th August 2010
New observations conducted with the one-metre telescope at the Wise Observatory in Israel and the Danish 1.54-metre telescope at La Silla, Chile, conclude that fast spinning asteroids can split to spawn asteroid pairs.
Eclipsing pulsar sheds light on Universe's densest objects - 25th August 2010
Using NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), astronomers have discovered the first fast X-ray pulsar to be eclipsed by its companion star.
The Moon is shrinking - 24th August 2010
Evidence that the Moon is shrinking has been found by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which has discovered thrust faults all over the Moon where the surface has crumpled upwards as the Moon has contracted.
Galaxies' glory days revealed - 22nd August 2010

Observations of one of the Universe's most distant galaxy clusters reveal that a signification population of its galactic inhabitants are still churning out stars.

Solving the mystery of the long solar minimum - 19th August 2010

A team of researchers led by Mausumi Dikpati from the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Roger Ulrich from the University of California, Los Angeles have suggested a cause for the unusually long lull in solar activity in the last decade.

Citizen scientists make pulsar discovery - 14th August 2010
The citizen science project Einstein@home has made its first discovery thanks to the computing power volunteered by three members of the public: an unusual lone pulsar spinning 41 times per second.
Planets found around dying star - 8th August 2010

Two pairs of gas giants locked in unusually tight orbital dances have been discovered around old, dying stars. The four gas giants were discovered via the Doppler shift method, that is, by detecting the wobble in the light emitted by their host stars as the planets track around them.

Brown dwarf in tight orbit around young Sun-like star - 5th August 2010

A very young brown dwarf star has been found in a tight orbit around a nearby Sun-like star. Brown dwarfs are also known as failed stars, since although they are larger than gas giants they don't possess the mass to sustain the nuclear fusion that fully-fledged stars boast.

Solar blast heads for Earth - 3rd August 2010

The Sun appears to have jolted from its deep slumber, blasting tonnes of plasma into interplanetary space on Sunday, which is expected to collide with the Earth within the next 24 hours.

Closing in on the Higgs boson - 26th July 2010
Scientists working at the US Department of Energy's Fermilab DZero and CDF projects have together narrowed down the mass range of the elusive Higgs boson particle.
The frugal alien's beacon - 23rd July 2010

August, 15 1977: a pulse of radio waves at 1,420MHz radiates down from space to be received by the Big Ear radio telescope in Ohio for 72 seconds. Then: nothing. Sporadic searches of the area since have failed to find this interstellar radio chorus. It's origins remain a mystery.

We are of course talking about the fabled ‘Wow!' signal, the SETI detection that never was. Critics argued that because it switched off after a short time, never to heard from again, it could not be a real alien signal. There was no message contained within it, no structure, no signature of intelligent design.

Giant star breaks all records - 21st July 2010
A star that weighed in at over 320 times more massive than our Sun when it was born has been discovered deep within the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, confounding expectations of just how big monster stars can be.
Rosetta visits mysterious asteroid to unlock its secret - 15th July 2010
Europe's Rosetta spacecraft flew less than 2,000 miles from asteroid Lutetia Saturday, snapping pictures of the new world and collecting bonus science on a primitive relic of the solar system.
Planet found tugging on transits - 12th July 2010
A brand new technique for finding exoplanets, which piggybacks on an already established method, has turned up its first discovery, a planet 15 times the mass of Earth orbiting the star WASP-3. It also promises to be able to find Earth-sized planets.
Hubble captures stellar fireworks - 10th July 2010
Hubble's latest offering captures a spectacular fireworks display of stars bursting into life through colourful nebulous clouds of gas and dust.
Titan atmosphere experiment reveals clues to life's origins - 8th July 2010
University of Arizona scientists have performed laboratory experiments that show how atmospheric nitrogen can be incorporated into organic molecules, an important step in determining models for the formation of life on nitrogen rich bodies such as Earth and Titan.
Mini black hole packs powerful punch - 8th July 2010
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope to follow up on a NASA Chandra X-ray telescope observation, the most powerful pair of jets ever seen have been found bursting from a black hole of just a few solar masses.
Scientists find dust inside Japan's asteroid capsule - 7th July 2010
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced Monday they found particles inside the Hayabusa mission's capsule that was supposed to scoop up a sample from the surface of asteroid Itokawa in 2005.
Unveiling the Universe - 6th July 2010
Cardiff University astronomers have helped reveal unique images of the entire sky which could provide new insights into the way stars and galaxies form and reveal how the Universe itself came to life after the Big Bang.
ESO paints a cosmic watercolour - 3rd July 2010
Using the Wide Field Imager at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory, astronomers have painted a spectacular picture of the region around star R Coronae Australis.
Hubble's bubbles and baby stars - 30th June 2010

A new Hubble Space Telescope image delving into the N11 region of the Large Magellanic Cloud reveals bright bubbles of glowing gas and a region of frenetic star birth.

Astronomy Now's guide to solar observing - 28th June 2010
If you're thinking about taking up solar observing this summer be sure to consult our fantastic video guides, in which Astronomy Now's equipment expert Nick Howes first introduces you to the different types of solar telescope available and the different wavelengths used to observe the Sun, before guiding you through aligning your telescope with the Sun, which can be a surprisingly difficult feat!
Study suggests water was a global occurrence on Mars - 24th June 2010
Two probes circling the Red Planet have discovered evidence that water was once present in the northern hemisphere of Mars, a sign the planet's entire surface may have been habitable billions of years ago.
Pan-STARRS begins search for killer asteroids - 19th June 2010
The first Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System telescope, Pan-STARRS 1, is now fully operational, tracking the sky for "killer" asteroids and comets.
Exoplanet on the move - 14th June 2010
Astronomers have tracked, for the first time, an exoplanet orbiting around its host star.
Observations of new asteroid needed! - 14th June 2010
Students studying asteroids at the University of Hawai`i as part of the HI-STAR program may have discovered a new asteroid using the Faulkes Telescope North.  The students carefully examined several star filled images and found a tiny blip moving among the crowd.  The tiny blip is an asteroid.
Something strange is happening on Titan - 10th June 2010
New findings on Saturn's hydrocarbon-shrouded moon Titan reveal anomalies that although are likely explained by chemical processes, still leave the room open for the possibility of life.
Space found for Earth-like planets - 8th June 2010
Analysis of all 79 star systems known to have transiting exoplanets has revealed that only two could definitely not support life as we know it, according to astronomers at the Open University whose work will appear in an upcoming edition of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The Drake Equation revisited part 3: Life - 1st June 2010

Life is a mystery. This isn't just a philosophical statement about existence, but a biological one too. This May biologist J Craig Venter of the J Craig Institute in California, who was on the team that sequenced the human genome in 2000, announced that his group of crack biologists had created an entire bacterial genome containing 582,970 base pairs and inserted it into an inert, host bacterium, coaxing their new bacteria into life, which then began to reproduce. This isn't quite the same as creating life from scratch - they were using existing materials extracted from other living cells and reassembled, a bit like Frankenstein's Monster - but besides the technological ramifications of being able to custom build your own unique bacteria, it is a step in the right direction to understanding the origins of life. That is crucial to SETI, for if we can understand how and why life developed on Earth, we'll be in a better position to appreciate whether it could happen somewhere else, too.

The Drake Equation revisited part 2: Planets - 29th May 2010
In the second piece on the Drake Equation in 2010, Keith Cooper considers the role of planets. Life as we know it needs a planet to live on. With over 450 exoplanets currently known (keep a check on the growing tally at the Exoplanets Encyclopedeia, http://exoplanet.eu/) we take it for granted that there are planets out there, orbiting other suns, but it is all too easy to forget that back in 1960, there were no planets known beyond our Solar System.
The Drake Equation revisited - part 1 - 27th May 2010
How many advanced extraterrestrial civilisations are there in our Galaxy? Some critics argue that you might as well ask how many angels can dance on the point of a needle, but Frank Drake thinks otherwise. The SETI pioneer's famous equation seeks an answer to that question and although it has proven controversial over the years, Drake still stands by it and it continues, rightly or wrongly, to form the heart of our estimates about ET.
Careers guide for astronomy - 27th May 2010
A new careers guide that focusses on astronomy and astrophysics has just been produced by a US-based organisation. It covers a variety of areas of astronomy and gives some useful insights into what being an astronomer actually means, and what qualifications etc. are required.
2010 KQ - An as-yet unidentified man-made object orbiting the Sun - 25th May 2010
Dr. Richard Miles of the British Astronomical Association reports observations of an apparently man-made object that has been observed with the Faulkes Telescope North
Asteroids and satellites swim through Tadpole Nebula - 20th May 2010
A new infrared image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) captures two asteroids and a pair of satellites sweeping through a star-forming region known as the Tadpole Nebula.
Naming X, a global online competition - 19th May 2010

If you had a chance to name a minor planet, what name would you give it and why? Naming X is global online competition launched on 30th April 2010 at: http://venetiaburneyphair.blogspot.com/p/competition.html

Targets of Opportunity: A New Comet - 19th May 2010
UK amateur John Cave has discovered a new comet using Faulkes Telescope North.
Ice and organics found on main belt asteroid - 15th May 2010
Water-ice, accompanied by organic compounds, has been detected for the first time on the surface of a large main belt asteroid, a finding that carries important implications for the source of Earth's oceans.
Escaped: supermassive black hole and heavyweight star - 11th May 2010
In two separate reports released today, scientists announce a supermassive black hole being ejected from its host galaxy, and a heavyweight star racing away from a stellar nursery.
An impossible star - 6th May 2010
The first science results from ESA's Herschel Space Observatory include an image of the birth of an 'impossible' star that is set to challenge ideas of star formation.
SETI: The water hole - 26th April 2010
"Where shall we meet our neighbours? At the water hole, where species have always gathered" - Dr Bernard Oliver, former head of NASA's SETI programme.

For oxygen breathing, water-drinking carbon-based life forms such as ourselves, space is a barren desert, with vast stretches of unbearable nothingness between the oases of life that we are searching for.

‘Hubble for the Sun’ returns amazing first imagery - 23rd April 2010

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), launched by NASA on 11 February, has produced its first pictures and movies, illustrating gigantic prominences, waves rippling across the the face of Sun that instigate coronal mass ejections, and the first measurements of solar flares in extreme ultraviolet, all in higher resolution than ever before.

Dusty discs around stars young and old - 18th April 2010
Details of compact discs of rocky and dusty material have been detected around two young stars at similar distances as the Earth resides from our Sun, and around two ageing stars, providing information on discs at various stages of their evolution.
Hot jupiters bad for earth-like planets - 14th April 2010
A windfall of nine new planets, including some that orbit backwards, may turn theories of how ‘hot jupiters' come to be on their head. These planets, which were announced today at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting at the University of Glasgow, would seem to rule out the possibility of hot jupiters and Earth-like planets existing together.
Water, water everywhere - 13th April 2010
In today's Water in the Solar System session at the National Astronomy Meeting, compelling evidence was presented that suggests rocky planets hosting water may be commonplace throughout the Milky Way.
The shocking size of Comet McNaught - 12th April 2010
In early 2007 Comet C/2006 P1 McNaught became the brightest comet visible from Earth for 40 years, and now, according to new data, is also the largest comet measured to date.
Venus is alive! - 9th April 2010
ESA's Venus Express mission has detected clear evidence for relatively young lava flows on our neighbouring planet, suggesting that Venus may still be active today.
First generation quasars found - 23rd March 2010
Two of the earliest and most primitive supermassive black holes have been uncovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, providing vital information about the nature of the early Universe.
Comet's split caught in the act - 20th March 2010
Amateur astronomer Nick Howes revealed images from the Faulkes Telescope North that suggest Comet C2007 Q3 Siding Spring is in the process of breaking up. We can now confirm that this is a fragmentation event, and catch up with Nick after his latest stint on the Faulkes Telescope.
Is Comet Siding Spring splitting up? - 18th March 2010
Faulkes Telescope images obtained by amateur astronomer Nick Howes of Comet C2007 Q3 Siding Spring suggest that the comet's nucleus might be disintegrating.
Sizing up a temperate exoplanet - 17th March 2010
Combining observations from the CoRoT satellite and ground-based ESO HARPS instrument, astronomers have a discovered a 'standard' exoplanet that is set to become the Rosetta stone of exoplanet research.
Cosmic dark flow mystery deepens - 11th March 2010
The motion of distant galaxy clusters streaming at a million miles per hour along a path centred on the southern constellations Centaurus and Hydra has been tracked to twice the distance originally recorded.
Light, wind and fire - 4th March 2010
ESO's latest stellar portrait encapsulates the light, wind and heat given off by massive stars incubating within NGC 346, the brightest star-forming region in our neighbouring galaxy the Small Magellanic Cloud.
Milky Way packed with alien stars - 1st March 2010
Around one-quarter of the globular star clusters hosted by our Milky Way have migrated here from other galaxies, new research finds.
Gassy galaxies were perfect star factories - 26th February 2010
Large galaxies that were present in the first few billion years after the big bang were bloated on gas, resulting in a rash of star formation that outstripped the current rate at which stars are born in the Universe today by up to ten times.
Type Ia supernova may be caused by merging white dwarfs - 23rd February 2010
The supernova explosions in faraway galaxies that are used to measure the expansion of the Universe may be caused by the mergers of two white dwarfs, rather than single white dwarfs exploding, say new observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. But don't panic - the concept of dark energy is still safe.
Faulkes Telescope Themed Observing Days - 12th 23rd and 26th March - 21st February 2010

The Faulkes Telescope Project has announced it's latest Themed Observing Day to image M101 as a large mosaic.  These will be held on the 12th, 23rd and 26th March 2010.

Messier March at the Faulkes Telescope North - 19th February 2010
March is Messier Month on Faulkes Telescope North.  So come on and book yourself a slot on the telescope and get imaging!  This is an ideal opportunity for all of you who have not used your account yet or for a while to have a go.
More evidence for water on Enceladus - 16th February 2010
Unexpected populations of charged molecules and dust tasted by the Cassini spacecraft as it plunged through the plumes of Enceledus provide further evidence that the moon harbours liquid water beneath its icy shell.
Suspected asteroid collision leaves trail of destruction - 10th February 2010
The Hubble Space Telescope has zoomed in on the potential crash scene of two asteroids in the Asteroid Belt, showing evidence for a never before seen head-on collision.
Recent Outburst of Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann - 8th February 2010
Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann appears to have undergone another massive outburst, this time on 2010 February 2 increasing in brightness by a factor of 30-40.  The object is one of the largest active comets known.
Gwernyfed High School Astronomy Club turn Glasbury Village Hall into planetarium - 8th February 2010
On Saturday, February 6, a village hall in the Welsh borders became a planetarium for a night.
Newborn black holes add power to exploding stars - 6th February 2010
For the first time, astronomers have uncovered two supernovae explosions with properties similar to a gamma-ray burst but without the gamma rays, leading them to suspect that newborn black holes are providing the extra boost.
Record low for Brown Dwarf - 3rd February 2010
A bizarre failed star with a record-breaking low surface temperature has been discovered by the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii, extending the range of extremes the properties of these kinds of objects can possess.
Obama kills Moon program, endorses commercial space - 3rd February 2010
On the seventh anniversary of the 2003 Columbia disaster, the Obama administration unveiled a sweeping change of course for the nation's civilian space program Monday, killing NASA's post-Columbia moon program and shifting development and operation of new rockets and capsules from the government to private industry.
Are heavyweight stars born like our Sun? - 1st February 2010
Obscured by dust, catching the rapid formation of massive stars in the act is nigh on impossible, but new Gemini observations hint that these stellar heavyweights may be born in a similar way to lightweights like our Sun.
School students recover Martian companion using Faulkes Telescope - 26th January 2010
Two girls from Victoria College, Belfast, have recovered a unique asteroid that is one of a very rare class of companions to the planet Mars.  Christina Larkin and Catherine O'Prey remotely controlled the 2-metre Faulkes Telescope North on the island of Maui, Hawaii, during a week's work experience at the Armagh Observatory.
SETI in the capital - 26th January 2010
In the fiftieth anniversary since the first attempt to search for radio signals from alien civilisations, pre-eminent scientists from the worlds of astrobiology and astronomy have convened for a special meeting at the Royal Society in London both yesterday and today to thrash out where the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) currently stands.
Alien dust found around distant proto-planets - 7th January 2010
Dusty debris found around planetary embryos in a 500 light year distant system by astronomers using the Gemini South telescope bears no resemblance to the planetary building blocks of our own Solar System.
Mapping the Milky Way’s dark matter - 6th January 2010
The dark matter halo that surrounds the Milky Way Galaxy, making up 70 percent of its mass, appears to be shaped like a squashed ball, according to new findings presented today at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC.
What is Epsilon Aurigae? - 5th January 2010
In August 2009 the bright star Epsilon Aurigae begun to lose brightness for the first time in 27 years. Today astronomers announce that this critical phase ended on New Year's Day and take new steps towards determining the nature of this eclipsing system.
How Earth survived birth - 4th January 2010
According to standard models of planet formation, Earth shouldn't exist. Now, new simulations show how inner solar system planets escape consumption by their host stars.
Kepler detects five 'hot Jupiters' in six weeks - 4th January 2010
A robotic planet-hunting telescope in deep space has detected five new blistering worlds beyond the solar system, but the Kepler probe's search for Earth-like planets is just beginning.