Oil exploration work in California's Central Valley region has uncovered a possible space impact crater. The 5.5km-wide bowl is buried under shale sediments west of Stockton, in San Joaquin County, and is thought to be between 37 and 49 million years old. Researchers are continuing to analys...
Title: Chandra X-Ray Observation of the Globular Cluster GLIMPSE-C01 Authors: D. Pooley (UW Madison), S. Rappaport (MIT), A. Levine (MIT), E. Pfahl (KITP/Ucsb), J. Schwab (MIT) We have observed the recently discovered rich star cluster GLIMPSE-C01 for 46 ks with the Chandra X-ray Observatory....
The deeper astronomers gaze into the cosmos, the more they find it's a bizarre and violent universe. The research findings from this week's annual meeting of U.S. astronomers range from blue orphaned baby stars to menacing "rogue" black holes that roam our galaxy, devouring any planet...
Likened to a scene from an HG Wells novel, the green streak of a meteor has been sighted in the skies above Peterborough and Stamford. Verified by three separate eye-witness accounts, the meteor which could have been hundreds of miles above the Earth's surface may have been no larger than a pea. The me...
The prehistoric alignment of world wonders : The Great circle Great circles are straight lines that go all the way around the centre of the earth. The equator is a great circle. Meridians of longitude that cross over the north and south poles are also great circles. For every location on a great circl...
South Koreas first multipurpose satellite Arirang 1 has fallen silent according to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). KARI lost communication with the Arirang 1 satellite on Dec. 30. Initial reviews indicate a mechanical m...
Antilles Sloth Fossil Exhibited in Havana The 20-million-year-old fossil was one of several that have been found since the 1970s in an area known as Domo Zaza, in the central Cuban province of Sancti Spíritus. They were discovered during the excavation of a canal. Discovered in the 1970s, the fossi...
Title: The Tully-Fisher Zero Point Problem Authors: Aaron A. Dutton (UCSC), Frank C. van den Bosch (MPIA), Stéphane Courteau (Queen's) A long standing problem for hierarchical disk galaxy formation models has been the simultaneous matching of the zero point of the Tully-Fisher relation and the...
Title: Dynamical Mass of GJ 802B: a brown dwarf in a triple system Authors: M.J. Ireland, A. Kraus, F. Martinache, J.P. Lloyd, P.G. Tuthill We report a dynamical measurement of the mass of the brown dwarf GJ 802B using aperture-masking interferometry and astrometry. In addition, we report the disc...
At over over 30000 feet deep, the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean is the deepest canyon... Cotahuasi canyon 270 kilometres from Arequipa, we arrive at Cotahuasi canyon. Carved out of the earth by the Cotahuasi river, the canyon is one of the most spectacular spots in the Andes. Here, the mountai...
Astronomers are puzzling over a spiral galaxy whose spiral arms are wrapped in opposing directions. The unusual structure may be a lingering scar from a tussle with a smaller galaxy that was ultimately swallowed. Before astronomers had studied this unusual spiral galaxy, called NGC 4622, they th...
Title: Accounting for velocity jitters in planet search surveys Authors: Roman V. Baluev The role of radial velocity (RV) jitters in extrasolar planet search surveys is discussed. Based on the maximum-likelihood principle, improved statistical algorithms for RV fitting and period search are...
