astronomy

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What We Can Learn From Venus' Transit

Phenomenon could help us identify exoplanets

(Newser) - Astronomers have identified some 2,000 possible far-off worlds called exoplanets, and today could mark a milestone in the quest to confirm their findings. The transit of Venus across the sun could help us learn about the changes in light caused by a planet passing its star—and this knowledge...

How to Watch Today's Transit of Venus

Last time until 2117

(Newser) - Tuesday night Bingo will have to wait: Barring the discovery of some fountain of youth, today is the last chance you'll get to watch the second planet cross the sun in a simple, twice-a-century phenomenon called the transit of Venus. All the usual rules apply, notes the Wall Street ...

Venus to Cross Sun for Last Time This Century

 Venus to Cross 
 Sun for Last Time 
 This Century 
in case you missed it
Jun 2, 2012 12:43 PM CDT

Venus to Cross Sun for Last Time This Century

Transit occurs Tuesday; next one in 2117

(Newser) - This Tuesday, Venus will move between the Earth and the sun—and you may want to catch it now, because you probably won't be around when it happens again in 2117. The event will be visible throughout the US shortly before sunset. On the East Coast, you'll want...

Bye-Bye, Milky Way —in Just 4B Years

Andromeda galaxy will smash into it

(Newser) - Our Milky Way is on a crash course with the (relatively) nearby Andromeda galaxy, and the two are scheduled to smash into each other—in just 4 billion years, reports the Christian Science Monitor . Actually, the two galaxies will collide three times over the following 2 billion years, eventually forming...

White Dwarfs Yield Key to Age of Ancient Stars

Astronomer used white dwarfs to calculate age of Milky Way's inner halo

(Newser) - Accurately measuring the age of low-mass, hydrogen burning stars is notoriously difficult, but now astronomers say they have come up with a technique for measuring those difficult stars using white dwarfs, reports the LA Times . A white dwarf is a star that has burned through all of its hydrogen, shed...

Check Out Last Night's Supermoon

Biggest full moon of the year

(Newser) - Last night brought this year's "supermoon," the point in which the moon is closest to the Earth in its orbit. The moon was some 15,300 miles closer to us than usual, making it look about 14% bigger, an expert tells the AP . Unfortunately, "you'd...

&#39;Supermoon&#39; Coming Saturday

 Don't Forget:  
 'Supermoon' 
 Tonight 
in case you missed it
May 5, 2012 6:56 AM CDT

Don't Forget: 'Supermoon' Tonight

It occurs when the moon is nearest Earth in its orbit

(Newser) - The biggest and brightest full moon of the year will grace the skies tonight. The "supermoon," which occurs when the moon is nearest Earth in its orbit, will appear only slightly smaller than last year's, which was the brightest full moon in nearly 20 years. It will...

New California Gold Rush: Searching for Meteorite Bits

Ancient space rock can fetch $1K a gram

(Newser) - The fireball that exploded over California last week did more than just produce a window-shaking sonic boom—it also scattered pieces of meteorite over, fittingly enough, a 30-square-mile portion of the state's Gold Country region. News of the extremely rare type of space rock sent scientists and treasure hunters...

Astronomer Gets Cameron to Re-Shoot Titanic Scene

Stars were in wrong positions

(Newser) - Remember the scene in Titanic in which Kate Winslet clings to a piece of wood, promising Leonardo DiCaprio that she'll "never let go?" (And then she lets go?) Well, apparently, the stars shown in the night sky during that scene were all wrong. But never fear: James Cameron...

Rare 'Rectangular' Galaxy Spotted

'Emerald cut' shape probably the result of two galaxies colliding

(Newser) - The vast majority of galaxies fall into one of three categories—football-shaped, irregular, or a disc with spiral arms. But LEDA 074886 is a strange one. When viewed from our planet, the dwarf galaxy has a strange, rectangular, "emerald cut" shape. Its discoverers believe the galaxy is shaped like...

Venus, Jupiter Nestle Nice and Close Tonight

Planets will dazzle skywatchers with annual get-together

(Newser) - Look out the window tonight and you'll see two planetary pals coming together for their annual rendezvous. Venus and Jupiter, which have been approaching each other for months, will finally dazzle skywatchers this week by nestling nice and close—from our perspective, in fact, just a few inches apart....

Ancient Asteroid May Explain Moon's Magnetic Mystery

Collision resulted in magnetized rock, say scientists

(Newser) - One of the moon's oddest anomalies is how parts of its crust have a magnetic field and others don't. But now scientists say they have a relatively simple theory for this inconsistency—a 120-mile-wide asteroid that smashed into the moon's south pole 4.5 billion years ago...

Mars Puts on a Show Tonight

Sun, Earth, Mars line up, making for great skywatching

(Newser) - It's called the Mars opposition—the period every 26 months that the orbits of the sun, Earth, and Mars line up, with the sun and Mars on opposite sides of the Earth. And with Mars swinging extra close to the Earth tonight—a veritable stone's throw at just...

'Super Earth' Spotted, Might Support Life

GG 667Cc orbits star 22 light years away

(Newser) - A planet in a triple-star system a relatively close 22 light years away is the best candidate yet for supporting life, researchers say. The rocky planet, GJ 667Cc, is around 4.5 times the size of Earth and orbits in the middle of the "Goldilocks zone" where water can...

Astronomers: Yep, Milky Way Is White

And it has a lot of planets

(Newser) - What does the Milky Way look like, from outside the Milky Way? It seems like an impossible question to answer, but astronomers found a way—and discovered in the process that the Milky Way is, as one might have guessed, white. "If you looked at new spring snow, which...

Is Jupiter&#39;s Core Dissolving?
 Is Jupiter's Core Dissolving? 
Dec 21, 2011 9:48 AM CST

Is Jupiter's Core Dissolving?

Theory holds that midsection is slowly shrinking

(Newser) - Jupiter may be the largest planet in our solar system, but what if its massive core is actually dissolving? Jupiter's core of iron, rock, and ice is suspended in a sea of hydrogen and helium, under pressure 40 million times greater than that which we experience on Earth, and...

Local Black Hole About to Chow Down

Milky Way's super-massive black hole to devour gas cloud

(Newser) - The super-massive black hole at the heart of our galaxy is about to have a feast—and astronomers think it's going to be messy. A giant gas cloud has been spotted approaching the black hole, which lies some 27,000 light years from Earth. Scientists believe the cloud will...

&#39;Large Regions&#39; of Mars Are Habitable

 'Large Regions' 
 of Mars Are 
 Habitable 
study says
Dec 12, 2011 7:45 AM CST

'Large Regions' of Mars Are Habitable

But no sign of aliens, spaceships: researchers

(Newser) - More fascinating news about the potential for life on Mars . Some 3% of Mars' volume is capable of sustaining life, Australian scientists have found—more than the 1% of Earth that contains living things. Researchers based their findings on a comparison between the two planets' temperature and pressure attributes, AFP...

Sky-Watchers Relish Total Lunar Eclipse

Moon-lovers revel in 'orangy-red' color

(Newser) - Moon watchers in the western US, Hawaii, and elsewhere across the globe were treated yesterday to a rare celestial phenomenon: a total lunar eclipse. For 51 minutes starting at 6:06 a.m. PST, the Earth's shadow completely blocked the moon. The moon took on a reddish glow, as...

Vast New Black Holes Shatter Record

They're 10 times the size of our solar system

(Newser) - Ready to have your mind boggled by the awe-inspiring scale of cosmological phenomena? Well boggle away: Astronomers have discovered two black holes bigger than any glimpsed before, with one weighing in as much as 21 billion suns, the New York Times reports. The other clocks in at a mere 9....

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