Latest Andrew Fabian Stories

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) on Friday Jan. 13 announced the winners of the Society's medals and awards for 2012. These prizes honor leading figures that have made an outstanding contribution to astronomy (designated 'A') and geophysics (designated 'G') and recognize individuals and groups in the UK and around the world. The awards will be presented at the 2012 National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2012) that will take place from 27-30 March in Manchester. Professor Roger Davies,...

Using new data from ESA's XMM-Newton spaceborne observatory, astronomers have probed closer than ever to a supermassive black hole lying deep at the core of a distant active galaxy.The galaxy "“ known as 1H0707-495 "“ was observed during four 48-hr-long orbits of XMM-Newton around Earth, starting in January 2008. The black hole at its center was thought to be partially obscured from view by intervening clouds of gas and dust, but these current observations have revealed the innermost...