Featured series 
Tag: Astronomy
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Science & Tech
Researcher wins Nobel Prize for work in X-ray astronomy
Riccardo Giacconi worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics from 1973 to 1981. During that period, he led the development of the Einstein X-ray Observatory, which was launched in 1978. The Einstein Observatory was the first fully imaging non-solar X-ray telescope put into space. It provided, for the first time, the capability to image extended…
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Science & Tech
From cradle to grave
Astronomers have been using the Chandra X-ray Observatory and radio telescopes to observe two opposing jets of high-energy particles emitted following an outburst, first detected in 1998 by NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, from the double-star system XTE J1550-564. The X-ray jets, which require a continuous source of trillion-volt electrons to remain bright, were observed…
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Science & Tech
X-ray arcs tell tale of giant eruption
Scientists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) report that two arc-like structures of multimillion-degree gas in the galaxy Centaurus A appear to be part of a ring 25,000 light years in diameter. The size and location of the ring suggest that it could have been produced in a titanic explosion that occurred about 10…
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Science & Tech
South Pole telescope maps heart of Milky Way
Research results obtained by a team of astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) led by Chris Martin and Antony Stark suggest that we are headed for some celestial fireworks. Sometime in the next 300 million years, the galactic center will experience a dramatic burst of star formation and will shine with the light…
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Science & Tech
Culprit caught in gamma-ray burst mystery
Gamma-ray bursts have long puzzled astronomers. “The hunt for the source of gamma-ray bursts has been a detective story as challenging as any faced by the famous Lieutenant Columbo. We were thrilled to be the first to catch a supernova ‘in the act,’ so to speak,” says Kris Stanek of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.…
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Science & Tech
When worlds collide
Astronomers believe the a mega-merger in the galaxy known as Arp 220 triggered the formation of huge numbers of new stars, sent shock waves rumbling through intergalactic space, and could possibly lead to the formation of a supermassive black hole in the center of the new conglomerate galaxy. Data collected by the Chandra X-ray observatory…
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Science & Tech
Scientists predict calmer weather ahead
When the Sun is more active, it has bad effects on our planet. For instance, energy from solar eruptions changes the orbits of satellites, causing them to spiral back to the Earth. Solar eruptions perturb the Earth’s magnetic field, causing communications disruptions, especially to cell phone and other wireless devices. Magnetic storms also cause current…
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Science & Tech
Even stars use sunscreen!
Mira variable stars are named after the red giant star Mira (omicron Ceti) in the constellation Cetus the Whale. Variable stars brighten, then dim, then brighten again. While astronomers have known of the existence of these dramatically changing stars for hundreds of years, the cause of their variability has been hard to identify. Now, two…
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Science & Tech
Chandra scores a double bonus with a distant quasar
In one set of observations of quasar PKS 1127-145, researchers found an X-ray jet that extends over a length of at least a million light years. The jet reveals explosive activity that occurred 10 billion years ago around the quasar’s central supermassive black hole. “The X-rays from the jet are likely due to the collision…
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Science & Tech
New, far-out planet is discovered
A planet discovered in the constellation Sagittarius is so distant that light takes 5,000 years to travel from there to here at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. Called OGLE-TR-56b, the planet orbits too close to its sun to be hospitable to living things. The way it was found could lead to the discovery…
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Science & Tech
Submillimeter array opens one of astronomy’s last frontiers
Exploring one of astronomy’s last frontiers at a site near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the submillimeter array (SMA) project offers a unique opportunity for astronomers to observe objects in unprecedented detail. The SMA will ultimately combine the electronic signals from eight 6-meter antennas to imitate the resolving power of a much larger…
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Science & Tech
Structure in dust around Vega may be signature of planet
Vega, located 25 light years away in the constellation Lyra, is the brightest star in the summer sky. Observations of Vega in 1983 with the Infrared Astronomy Satellite provided the first evidence for large dust particles around another star, probably debris related to the formation of planets. This discovery likely inspired Carl Sagan to place…
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Science & Tech
Chandra finds ghosts of eruption in galaxy cluster
Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory recently discovered relics of an ancient eruption that tore through a cluster of galaxies. The discovery implies that galaxy clusters are the sites of enormously energetic and recurring explosions, and may provide an explanation why galaxy clusters behave like giant cosmic magnets. Galaxy clusters are the largest known gravitationally…
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Science & Tech
Looking toward the end
Among astronomers there is almost a consensus that universal expansion will go on forever, with galaxies and clusters of galaxies moving away from each other so fast that gravity cannot ever pull them together. Since 1998, astronomers have found good evidence that this expansion is accelerating, that galaxies are separating at ever-increasing speed. But what…
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Science & Tech
Chandra captures Venus in a whole new light
Researchers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have made the first X-ray images of Venus, Earth’s sister planet.
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Science & Tech
Atmosphere detected on distant world orbiting another star
One-hundred-and-fifty light years away from Earth, in the constellation Pegasus, is a star known as HD 209458. Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, a research team was able to detect the atmosphere of a planet orbiting the star. This marks the first time that scientists were able to observe the atmosphere of a planet outside our…
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Science & Tech
Chandra probes nature of dark matter
It’s one of the universe’s most enduring mysteries — what comprises the “dark matter” that scientists believe most of the universe is made of, but which humans have been unable yet to see? Scientists using the Chandra X-ray Observatory were able to precisely determine the distribution of dark matter in a distant galaxy cluster named…
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Science & Tech
Astronomers take the measure of dark matter in the universe
Astronomers believe that most of the matter in the universe is invisible to us — so called “dark matter.” The nature of this dark matter is not known, but most astronomers think that it is in the form of an as-yet-unknown type of elementary particle that contributes to gravity through its mass but otherwise interacts…
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Science & Tech
Chandra discovers eruption and pulsation in nova outburst
The brightening of Nova Aquila was first detected by optical astronomers in December 1999. Although this star is at a distance of more than 6,000 light years, it could be seen with the naked eye for about a month, during which it was about 100,000 times brighter than our own Sun. An international research team…
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Science & Tech
Chandra examines a quadrillion-volt pulsar
A pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star that emits massive amounts of radiation in rapid pulses that occur at regular intervals. A neutron star is created when the central part of a massive star collapses. The atoms in the star are crushed completely, and the electrons are jammed inside the protons to form a…
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Science & Tech
Young pulsar reveals clues to supernova
Using the Chandra X-ray Observatory to learn more about pulsars, A team led by Stephen Murray of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., studied 3C58, the remains of a supernova observed on Earth in 1181 AD in the constellation Cassiopeia. 3C58 is one of the youngest known pulsars, and behaves quite differently from…
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Science & Tech
Scientists find X-rays from stellar winds that may play significant role in galactic evolution
The Rosette Nebula is a nursery for stars. For hundreds of years, astronomers have been looking at this star-forming region and wondering about the forces at work there. Now, scientists using the Chandra X-ray Observatory have determined that colliding stellar winds create turmoil in this part of space, superheating gas in the region to 6…
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Science & Tech
Young stars in Orion may solve mystery of our solar system
Scientists who study how our solar system formed have been hard pressed to explain the presence of extremely unusual chemical isotopes found in ancient meteoroids orbiting the Earth. The isotopes are short-lived and had to have been formed no earlier than the creation of the solar system, some five billion years ago. Yet these elements…
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Science & Tech
Mysterious “two-faced” star explained, scientists say
Scientists looking at X-rays from a binary star system in the M15 globular star cluster have long been puzzled by the star system, which seemed to have two different sets of characteristics. Now, using the powerful Chandra X-ray Observatory to observe the star system, they’ve solved the puzzle. What had been thought of as one…
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Science & Tech
Chandra catches Milky Way monster snacking
Researchers using the Chandra X-ray Observatory have, for the first time, observed the black hole at the center of our galaxy devouring material.
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Science & Tech
Stellar apocalypse yields first evidence of water-bearing worlds beyond our solar system
The first evidence that planetary systems beyond our own contain water, a molecule that is an essential ingredient for known forms of life, was discovered recently by using the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS), a small radio observatory that NASA launched into space in December 1998. The discovery was reported in an article published in…
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Science & Tech
Astronomers detect dust disks around very young brown dwarfs in the Orion Nebula
The results of recent observations by an international team of astronomers suggest that brown dwarfs share a common origin with stars. Brown dwarfs are more similar in nature to stars than to planets and, like stars, have the potential to form with accompanying systems of planets. The observation by the researchers of dusty protoplanetary disks…
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Science & Tech
Star factory near galactic center bathed in high-energy X-rays
A team of astronomers, including some from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has looked into the core of our own Milky Way galaxy and discovered a new phenomenon. The “cauldron” of 60-million-degree gas surrounding a group of young stars in the Arches Cluster supports earlier theoretical predictions about what happens when solar winds from massive…
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Science & Tech
Chandra sees wealth of black holes in star-forming galaxies
Three independent teams of research scientists, including one from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to find what they suspect are groups of mid-mass black holes in starburst galaxies. In a starburst galaxy, stars form and explode at an unusually high rate. The discovery could help explain the relationship among mid-mass…
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Science & Tech
A quasar’s identity may simply be in eye of beholder
A quasar is a super-massive black hole; quasars are among the most energetic objects in the Universe. Most quasars are extremely bright in optical light, but about 10 percent of them appear hidden by clouds of gas and dust. Are these 10 percent different from the rest of the quasars? Astronomers have debated whether these…