Cryptic species - animals that appear identical but are genetically quite distinct - may be much more widespread than previously thought. The findings could have major implications in areas ranging from biodiversity estimates and wildlife management to our understanding of infectious diseas...
Astronomers at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute alert all early morning risers to a spectacular meeting of the two brightest planets on the morning Feb. 1. Venus, the brightest of all the planets, has been dominating the predawn skies in the east since early September. The second bright...
Title: The Intermediate Polar EI UMa: A Pre-Polar Cataclysmic Variable Authors: Tamara W. Reimer, William F. Welsh, Koji Mukai, F. A. Ringwald We present optical and X-ray time-series photometry of EI UMa that reveal modulation at 746 and 770 s, which we interpret as the white dwarf spin and spin-o...
A project being led by a NASA researcher in Huntsville aims to study samples of galactic material from far outside our solar system captured in cosmic rays that pass near Earth. NASA announced Feb. 13 that the Orbiting Astrophysical Spectrometer In Space - OASIS - observatory is one of 19 ideas being...
A thin waning crescent Moon (>5%) will occult the planet Venus (magnitude -3.9) at ~20:20 UT, 5th March 2008. Binoculars will b needed to observe this daytime event, which is viewable from north American and the southern Pacific. Venus will be only 24° from the Sun, so care must be taken. [url=htt...
The remnants of at least ten pyramids have been discovered on the coast of Peru, marking what could be a vast ceremonial site of an ancient, little-known culture, archaeologists say. In January construction crews working in the province of Piura discovered several truncated pyramids and a large a...
The UAE's Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company is taking delivery of its third satellite next month and will launch it in January 2007.
The Sea Launch Company which luaunched two previous Thuraya satellites has been selected to put into orbit Thuraya 3.
"Thuraya's thi...
The sounding rocket Texus 45 was successfully launched today from the Swedish Space Corporations launch facility Esrange Space Centre in northern Sweden. The launch took place at 06:15 (UT) and the rocket provided 398 seconds of weightlessness for the three experiments onboard. [url=http://...
EuroNews looks at comets and asteroids The menacing mass of a rolling asteroid flying past Earth at more than 10 km/s is tracked by the giant telescope of Arecibo in Puerto Rico as well as the powerful radar of Wachtberg in Germany. At ESA, these celestial bodies are studied with passion, in preparati...
Google Sky 850 and 450 micron maps from the SCUBA camera on the JCMT telescope in Hawaii are publicly available from the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC), and the Joint Astronomy Centre (JAC). The maps show regions of cold dust revealed by the SCUBA submillimeter camera. The green hexagons are...
A strong magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred at 14:16:05 (UTC) on Thursday, February 21, 2008, in the Nevada region, about 17 km ESE from Wells, Nevada, at a depth estimated to be 10 km. Location 41.076°N, 114.771°W
Title: X-ray spectral variability in PG1535+547: the changing-look of a 'soft X-ray weak' AGN Authors: L. Ballo (1), M. Giustini (2,3), N. Schartel (1), M. Cappi (3), E. Jimenez-Bailon (4), E. Piconcelli (5), M. Santos-Lleo (1), C. Vignali (2,6) ((1) ESAC-ESA, Madrid, Spain; (2) Bologna Univers...