telescopes

Kepler Lifts Off To Find Life In Our Galaxy

Armen Hareyan — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:01:10 -0600

Just about 3 minutes ago NASA launched Kepler telescope. Kepler will search for life in our galaxy Milky Way. Kepler will monitor 100,000 stars, searching for signs of planets - including ones as small as or smaller than Earth. The telescope will continue the search for habitable planets.

100 m virtual telescope captures unique detailed color image

harminka — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:43:21 -0600

A team of French astronomers has captured one of the sharpest colour images ever made. They observed the star T Leporis, which appears, on the sky, as small as a two-storey house on the Moon. The image was taken with ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), emulating a virtual telescope about 100 metres across and reveals a spherical molecular shell around an aged star.

Nanotechnology makes supertelescopes much more sensitive

harminka — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:24:24 -0600

Nanotechnologist Chris Lodewijk has succeeded in significantly increasing the sensitivity of the new supertelescopes in Chile. He will receive his PhD on this topic at Delft University of Technology on Monday 2 February.

Researchers focus on building telescope at South Pole

harminka — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:26:41 -0600

It's 40 degrees F below zero (with the wind chill) at the South Pole today. Yet a research team from the University of Delaware is taking it all in stride.

NASA Supercomputer Shows How Dust Rings Point to Exo-Earths

harminka — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:33:26 -0500

Supercomputer simulations of dusty disks around sunlike stars show that planets nearly as small as Mars can create patterns that future telescopes may be able to detect. The research points to a new avenue in the search for habitable planets.

Young Galaxy's Magnetism Surprises Astronomers

harminka — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:14:45 -0500

Astronomers have made the first direct measurement of the magnetic field in a young, distant galaxy, and the result is a big surprise. Looking at a faraway protogalaxy seen as it was 6.5 billion years ago, the scientists measured a magnetic field at least 10 times stronger than that of our own Milky Way. They had expected just the opposite.

Future Looks Bright for Interferometry

harminka — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 07:17:32 -0500

The PRIMA instrument of the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) recently saw "first light" at its new home atop Cerro Paranal in Chile. When fully operational, PRIMA will boost the capabilities of the VLTI to see sources much fainter than any previous interferometers, and enable astrometric precision unmatched by any other existing astronomical facility. PRIMA will be a unique tool for the detection of exoplanets.

Radio telescopes reveal unseen galactic cannibalism

harminka — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:33:44 -0500

Radio-telescope images have revealed previously-unseen galactic cannibalism -- a triggering event that leads to feeding frenzies by gigantic black holes at the cores of galaxies. Astronomers have long suspected that the extra-bright cores of spiral galaxies called Seyfert galaxies are powered by supermassive black holes consuming material. However, they could not see how the material is started on its journey toward the black hole.

Black holes have simple feeding habits

harminka — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:31:00 -0500

The biggest black holes may feed just like the smallest ones, according to data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ground-based telescopes.

Arecibo joins global network to create 6,000-mile telescope

harminka — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:15:10 -0500

On May 22, Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico joined other telescopes in North America, South America, Europe and Africa in simultaneously observing the same targets, simulating a telescope more than 6,800 miles (almost 11,000 kilometers) in diameter.

NASA scientists pioneer method for making giant lunar telescopes

harminka — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:06:21 -0500

Scientists working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have concocted an innovative recipe for giant telescope mirrors on the Moon. To make a mirror that dwarfs anything on Earth, just take a little bit of carbon, throw in some epoxy, and add lots of lunar dust.

Astronomers search for orphan stars using newly upgraded telescope

harminka — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:42:11 -0500

Using new charge coupled device (CCD) instrumentation, Case Western Reserve University astronomers can now view the night sky wider and deeper than before.