All are invited to celebrate the 40th anniversary of NASA's Apollo 11 mission, and humans' first steps on the moon, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. July 18 at Kennedy Hall, Cornell University. The celebration will feature a panel discussion, "Apollo 11 Lunar Landing: 40 Years After," at 2 p.m. in C...
Astronomers say they had found the farthest supernova ever detected, a giant star that ripped apart around 11 billion years ago. A new technique enabled the cosmologists to make the find, which should help advance knowledge into these rare phenomena and their role in generating other stars, they s...
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. were scheduled to perform the first captive firing test (CFT) on April 1, 2009 (Japan Standard Time) at the Tanegashima Space Centre. However, JAXA have announced the suspension of the test today as we found a lea...
Researchers using the ROTSE-IIId telescope at the TUBITAK National Observatory in Bakirlitepe, Turkey have discovered a new dwarf nova cataclysmic variable star (ROTSE3J203224.8+602837). The star in outburst was measured at magnitude 16.05. in archive images a magnitude 20 star is located...
Exploding rockets, monster comets and a sea of storms are all in a night's work for Perth deep-space photographer Ray Palmer. The self-taught cosmotographer, who has dedicated 15 years to capturing images many moons away, will have his work up in lights this month in Northbridge. [url=http://www...
The rocket carrier Soyuz-U with the cargo transport ship Progress -02 was delivered to the launch pad in the morning on May, 5th to the cosmodrome Baikonur. Read more
A new magnitude 14 comet C/2008 T2 (Cardinal) was discovered by R.D. Cardinal (Rothney Astrophysical Observatory), on the 1st October, 2008. The preliminary orbital elements of the comet indicate a perihelion passage on the 16th June, 2009, at a distance of 1.2 AU from the Sun. [url=http://cfa-w...
Comet C/2008 Q3 (Garradd) was discovered by G. J. Garradd (Siding Spring Survey) on August 27, 2008, and confirmed by A.C. Gilmore (Mount John Observatory). The preliminary orbital elements of the comet indicate a perihelion passage on July 1, 2009, at a distance of 2.5 AU from the Sun. [url=http...
Astronomers have spotted a surprising asteroid, whose unusual orbit may help explain where comets come from. The asteroid, currently named 2008 KV42, is orbiting the Sun backwards and almost perpendicular to the orbits of the planets - a 104 degree tilt. This odd orbit suggests that 2008 KV42 may h...
Nigeria to launch second satellite next year Nigeria's foray into space exploration-related activities appears set for resumption with the planned launch into orbit next year of the country's second satellite, Nigeria SAT-2. The nation's first satellite, Nigeria SAT-1, went into orbit in 200...
Title: Rings of Dark Matter in Collisions Between Clusters of Galaxies Authors: J. A. ZuHone (UChicago), D. Q. Lamb (UChicago), P. M. Ricker (UIUC) (Version v2) Several lines of evidence suggest that the galaxy cluster Cl0024+17, an apparently relaxed system, is actually a collision of two clust...
Star clusters point to black holes ejected from host galaxies The tight cluster of stars surrounding a supermassive black hole after it has been violently kicked out of a galaxy represents a new kind of astronomical object and a fossil record of the kick. A paper published in the July 10 issue of The As...
The 270 - 600 metre wide asteroid 2001 FE90 will make a close pass (7.0 Lunar Distances, 0.0180AU), travelling at 10.14 km/s, to the Earth-Moon system on the 28th June, 2009. The asteroid should brighten to magnitude 12.3 at closest approach. [url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2001%...
A magnitude 15.8 supernova, 2009hd, was discovered on the 2nd July, 2009, by B. Monard in the spiral galaxy Messier 66 in the constellation Leo. The supernova is located 28" east and 42" south from the center of the galaxy. As yet the type is unknown. Position (2000): RA = 11 20 16.96, Dec =...
NASA will hold a media teleconference 18:00 GMT (1 p.m. EDT) Tuesday, April 18, to announce a breakthrough in simulating black hole mergers and predicting their gravitational wave signatures.
The finding is based on the largest astrophysical calculation ever performed by a NASA supercompute...