West Australia was treated to a rare show last night as a meteor blazed across the sky between Perth and the Goldfields. Perth Observatory received dozens of reports of blue, green and orange lights in the sky between Perth and Leonora and east to Kalgoorlie just before 8.30pm. Experts say the fireba...
With longer nights and clearer skies, winter is the time to read and watch stars. Most people think astronomers predict weather, compose horoscopes or count stars. In truth, they study life of the universe through the interaction of planets, stars and other solar objects. You can rub shoulders wit...
It's hard to draw a surfer's attention away from the next wave, but whatever was in the northwest sky Friday evening around 6:20 p.m. drew a crowd along Kewalo Basin and Ala Moana Beach Park. Honolulu resident Peter Hollingworth described as two lights circling in the sky, about 45 degrees a...
A magnitude 14.9 supernova, 2008if, was discovered by Pignata et al. (CHASE) on the 12th December, 2008, in the spiral galaxy MCG -01-24-10 in the constellation Hydra. The supernova is located 22".4 east and 17" north from the center of the galaxy. As yet the type is unknown. Position(20...
Title: Spitzer Planet Limits around the Pulsating White Dwarf GD66 Authors: Fergal Mullally, William T. Reach, Steven Degennaro, Adam Burrows We present infrared observations in search of a planet around the white dwarf, GD66. Time-series photometry of GD66 shows a variation in the arrival tim...
Title: The astronomical units Authors: N. Capitaine, B. Guinot (Observatoire de Paris, France) The IAU-1976 System of astronomical constants includes three astronomical units (i.e. for time, mass and length). This paper reports on the status of the astronomical unit of length (ua) and mass (MS...
Title: An XMM-Newton Spectral and Timing Study of IGR J16207-5129: An Obscured and Non-Pulsating HMXB Authors: John A. Tomsick (SSL/UCB), Sylvain Chaty (AIM - Univ. Paris VII and CEA Saclay), Jerome Rodriguez (AIM - Univ. Paris VII and CEA Saclay), Roland Walter (ISDC, Observatoire de Geneve), P...
Title: Swift-UVOT captures the earliest ultraviolet spectrum of a Gamma Ray Burst Authors: N.P.M. Kuin, W. Landsman, M.J. Page, P. Schady, M. Still, A.A. Breeveld, M. De Pasquale, P.J. Brown, M.Carter, C. James, P.A. Curran, A. Cucciara, C. Gronwall, S.T. Holland, E. Hoversten, S. Hunsberger, T...
Orbital elements: 2008 YA Earth MOID = 0.4595 AU Epoch 2008 Nov. 30.0 TT = JDT 2454800.5 MPC M 5.13278 (2000.0) P Q n 0.25152189 Peri. 200.24561 +0.72930082 +0.50786473 a 2.4855291 Node 120.56389 -0.53125441 +0.84259851 e 0.8156417 Incl. 32.17083 -0.43114855 -0.17916797 P 3.92 H 17.8 G 0.15 From 1...
Renowned cosmonaut Valentin Lebedev, who set a world record for his stay in Earth's orbit, is rapidly losing his eyesight. "I suffered from a lot of radiation in space. It was all concealed back then, during the Soviet years, but now I can say that I caused damage to my health because of that fligh...
Every 5.6 years, EE Cephei is eclipsed by an unseen companion. The eclipse of the 10.9-magnitude long period eclipsing binary in the constellation Cepheus lasts 17 days. The long period variability of B5 star EE Cephei was first identified by the Italian astronomer Romano in 1956. The star syste...
Scientists have shown that tiny crystals found inside bacteria provide a magnetic compass to help them navigate through sediment to find the best food, in research out today. Researchers say their study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, could provide fresh clues to explai...
A Chinese man originally thought to have been struck by lightning was in fact killed by a small weather rocket whose existence was only discovered when his body exploded during his cremation. Inquiries revealed that the rainfall on the day of the original disaster was triggered by the local weather...