Space News Archive - March 23, 2006

The theory of relativity tells us that the faster you travel through space, the slower you travel through time. Rocketing to Alpha Centauri is a good way to stay young. Or is it? Some researchers are beginning to believe that space travel could have the opposite effect.

ESA's XMM-Newton has seen vast clouds of superheated gas, whirling around miniature stars and escaping from being devoured by the stars’ enormous gravitational fields - giving a new insight into the eating habits of the galaxy's 'cannibal' stars.

Scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have detected an extensive halo of hot gas around a quiescent spiral galaxy. This discovery is evidence that galaxies like our Milky Way are still accumulating matter from the gradual inflow of intergalactic gas.