Latest Standard candles Stories
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Using observations made from the Suzaku satellite, a joint venture between Japan's space agency and NASA, an international team of researchers has found that the star responsible for Johannes Kepler’s famous supernova contained a much higher heavy metal content that our own sun. After determining the makeup of the distant star, the scientists said they have a greater understanding of Ia supernovae, a useful class of stellar...
WASHINGTON, April 4, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has found the farthest supernova so far of the type used to measure cosmic distances. Supernova UDS10Wil, nicknamed SN Wilson after American President Woodrow Wilson, exploded more than 10 billion years ago. (Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) SN Wilson belongs to a special class called Type Ia supernovae. These bright beacons are prized by astronomers because they provide a...
ESA/Hubble The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has broken the record in the quest to find the furthest supernova of the type used to measure cosmic distances. This supernova exploded more than 10 billion years ago (redshift 1.914), at a time the Universe was in its early formative years and stars were being born at a rapid rate. The supernova, designated SN UDS10Wil, belongs to a special class of exploding stars known as Type Ia supernovae. These bright beacons are prized by astronomers...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Astronomers discovered a new type of supernova of a star about 10 to 100 times more massive than our sun. The Type Iax supernova is a fainter and less energetic explosion than the Type Ia, and may not completely destroy the white dwarf star; type Ia supernovae completely destroy their tiny white dwarfs. "A Type Iax supernova is essentially a mini supernova," says lead author Ryan Foley, Clay Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian...
John P. Millis, PhD for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Astronomers have long been aware of supernovae – brilliant explosions ejecting massive amounts of gas and energy into the surrounding medium. But occasionally one of them is different, set apart, unlike anything we have seen before. Researchers with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have announced in a new paper that one such event has been discovered. Supernovae are split into sub-types. While some...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online White dwarf supernovae that occurred millions of years ago have popped up in the Virgo Cluster galaxy and part of the sky labelled as "anonymous." Southern Methodist University (SMU) researchers say they've confirmed two bright stars that showed up in our skies in February and November are supernovae. Supernovae are the result of stars that have reached the end of their life, resulting in a large explosion that can consume anything...
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Cepheid (Nasdaq: CPHD) today announced that its Board of Directors has elected John Bishop as Chairman of the Board of Directors and named Cristina Kepner as Lead Independent Director, effective February 12, 2013. Mr. Bishop, currently Cepheid's Chief Executive Officer, succeeds Thomas Gutshall, who will continue to serve on Cepheid's board as a director. Mr. Bishop has been Cepheid's Chief Executive Officer and a director since...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online New observations have led to a better understanding of supernovae, which could one day lead to even better forecasts for the cosmic events. Type II supernovae form when a massive star collapses, sending off a giant explosion from the dying star. Having a better way to predict these events would allow astronomers to study them in their earliest stages. Astronomers wrote in the journal Nature this week that they have observed an...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Astrophysicists have debated the outcome of two binary stars – stars that orbit each other – coming together in a "common envelope" for a long time. A new study from the University of Alberta has finally provided some answers. Theoretical astrophysicist Natalia Ivanova has revealed the workings of a celestial event that produces an explosion so powerful its luminosity approaches that of a supernova. “When this dramatic...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com -- Your Universe Online Astronomers announced this week that a massive star they have been watching repeatedly mimic a supernova since 2009 has finally exploded for real. The team, led by the University of Arizona, presented their findings to the American Astronomical Society meeting and they will be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. This new study provides critical information on the final death throes of massive stars in...
Latest Standard candles Reference Libraries
X-ray Burster -- X-ray bursters are a class of binary stars which are luminous in X-rays. They contain a neutron star and a low-mass companion star. The companion fills its Roche lobe and therefore the neutron star is accreting matter from it. The inflowing gas forms an accretion disk around the neutron star. Sometimes X-ray bursters show a sudden increase in their X-ray luminosity, called X-ray burst. All properties of the X-ray bursts can be explained assuming that they result from...
Gamma-Ray Burst -- In astronomy, Gamma-ray bursters (GRBs) are flashes of gamma rays that last from seconds to hours, the longer ones being followed by several days of X-ray afterglow. They occur at random positions in the sky several times each day. They are now believed to result from tremendous explosions in far away galaxies, during the creation of a black hole from a dying star or two colliding neutron stars. The black hole, surrounded by a rotating disk of matter falling into it,...
