Tag Archive | "Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory"

Center for Astrophysics project gets first look through new ALMA telescope

Center for Astrophysics project gets first look through new ALMA telescope

Humanity's most complex ground-based astronomy observatory, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), has officially opened for astronomers at its 16,500-foot high desert plateau in northern Chile. [...more]

astrophysics Comments (1)

From Star Wars to science fact: Tatooine-like planet discovered

From Star Wars to science fact: Tatooine-like planet discovered

Although cold and gaseous rather than a desert world, the newfound planet Kepler-16b is still the closest astronomers have come to discovering Luke Skywalker's home world of Tatooine. [...more]

Featured, astrophysics Comments (0)

Invisible world “spotted” tugging on visible planet by Kepler spacecraft

Invisible world “spotted” tugging on visible planet by Kepler spacecraft

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has spotted a planet that alternately runs late and early in its orbit because a second, "invisible" world is tugging on it. This is the first definite detection of a previously unknown planet using this method. [...more]

astrophysics Comments (0)

Our galaxy might hold thousands of ticking “time bombs”

Our galaxy might hold thousands of ticking “time bombs”

New research shows that some old stars might be held up by their rapid spins, and when they slow down, they explode as supernovae. Thousands of these "time bombs" could be scattered throughout our Galaxy. [...more]

Featured, astrophysics Comments (0)

Swift satellite alerts astronomers to cosmic accident in constellation Draco

Swift satellite alerts astronomers to cosmic accident in constellation Draco

Two studies appearing in the Aug. 25 issue of the journal Nature provide new insights into a cosmic accident that has been streaming X-rays toward Earth since late March. NASA's Swift satellite first alerted astronomers to intense and unusual high-energy flares from the new source in the constellation Draco. [...more]

Featured, astrophysics Comments (0)

Darkest known exoplanet, a Jupiter-sized gas giant, discovered

Darkest known exoplanet, a Jupiter-sized gas giant, discovered

This Jupiter-sized world reflects less than one percent of the light that falls on it, making it blacker than any planet or moon in our solar system. [...more]

Featured, astrophysics Comments (1)

Exoplanet aurora: An out-of-this-world sight

Exoplanet aurora: An out-of-this-world sight

New research shows that aurorae on distant "hot Jupiters" could be 100-1000 times brighter than Earthly aurorae. They also would ripple from equator to poles (due to the planet's proximity to any stellar eruptions), treating the entire planet to an otherworldly spectacle. [...more]

Featured Comments (1)

Stellar eclipse gives glimpse of exoplanet: New data reveals a ‘super-Earth’ next door, astronomically speaking

Stellar eclipse gives glimpse of exoplanet: New data reveals a ‘super-Earth’ next door, astronomically speaking

The far-out planet, named 55 Cancri e, is twice as big as Earth and nearly nine times more massive. It is most likely composed of rocky material, similar to Earth, supplemented with light elements such as water and hydrogen gas. Scientists estimate the planet’s surface is much hotter than ours: close to 2,700 degrees Celsius. [...more]

astrophysics Comments (0)

Meet our Scientists—Videos!

Science Spotlight

This fossil represents a new genus and species of extinct aneuretopsychid, Jeholopsyche liaoningensis, recently described in a paper in the journal ZooKeys by Conrad Labandeira of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and Dong Ren and ChungKun Shih of the College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing. The aneuretopsychidae are a family of long-proboscid insects that lived in Asia from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. The paper documents the first formal record of fossil Aneuretopsychidae in China. The new fossils reveal previously unknown and detailed structure of the mouthparts, antennae, head, thorax, legs and abdomen of this distinctive insect lineage.

Science Spotlight Archives