Latest X-ray astronomy Stories
New radio surveys could turn up many supernovas hidden within gas and dustThe chance discovery last month of a rare radio supernova - an exploding star seen only at radio wavelengths and undetected by optical or X-ray telescopes - underscores the promise of new, more sensitive radio surveys to find supernovas hidden by gas and dust."This supernova is the nearest supernova in five years, yet is completely obscured in optical, ultraviolet and X-rays due to the dense medium of the...
An extremely deep Chandra X-ray Observatory image of a region near the center of our galaxy has resolved a long-standing mystery about an X-ray glow along the plane of the galaxy. The glow in the region covered by the Chandra image was discovered to be caused by hundreds of point-like X-ray sources, implying that the glow along the plane of the galaxy is due to millions of such sources.This image shows an infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope of the central region of the Milky Way,...
WASHINGTON, April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Swift satellite and an international team of astronomers have found a gamma-ray burst from a star that died when the universe was only 630 million years old, or less than five percent of its present age. The event, dubbed GRB 090423, is the most distant cosmic explosion ever seen. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) "Swift was designed to catch these very distant bursts," said Swift lead scientist Neil...
Using the NASA Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite, a team of astronomers have discovered an object predicted, but never seen before "“ a "˜jet trail' nebula. Team leader Dr Klaas Wiersema of the University of Leicester will present the discovery on Wednesday 22nd April at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science conference at the University of Hertfordshire.The RXTE satellite has been scanning the centre of our galaxy every few days for the last years, searching for...
'Sigmoids' are S-shaped structures found in the outer atmosphere of the Sun (the corona), seen with X-ray telescopes and thought to be a crucial part of explosive events like solar flares. Now a group of astronomers have developed the first model to reproduce and explain the nature of the different stages of a sigmoid's life. Professor Alan Hood and Dr. Vasilis Archontis, both from the Mathematical Institute at St. Andrews University, Scotland, will present the team's results at the European...
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., April 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The first mirror segment that will fly on the James Webb Space Telescope, built by Northrop Grumman Corporation, has completed its first series of cryogenic temperature tests in the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) "We're excited that we can support the James Webb Space Telescope with our world class cryogenic and x-ray...
Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing the first clear detection of signatures long sought in the spectra of X-ray astronomical sources, the so-called EXAFS signatures, standing for "Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure". EXAFS is a powerful tool for studying the structure of grains in the interstellar medium (ISM). It gives a more detailed picture of the composition and structure of amorphous grains in the ISM.Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing the first clear detection of...
Scientists at Queen's University have made a finding that will help us to understand more about the turbulent solar weather and its affect on our planet.Along with scientists at the University of Sheffield and California State University, the researchers have detected giant twisting waves in the lower atmosphere of the Sun.The discovery sheds some light on why the Sun's corona, the region around the Sun, has a much higher temperature than its surface - something that has always puzzled...
The oldest isolated pulsar ever detected in X-rays has been found with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This very old and exotic object turns out to be surprisingly active.The pulsar, PSR J0108-1431 (J0108 for short) is about 200 million years old. Among isolated pulsars -- ones that have not been spun-up in a binary system -- it is over 10 times older than the previous record holder with an X-ray detection. At a distance of 770 light years, it is one of the nearest pulsars known.Pulsars are...
While waiting for high-energy outbursts and cosmic explosions, NASA's Swift Gamma-ray Explorer satellite is monitoring Comet Lulin as it closes on Earth. For the first time, astronomers are seeing simultaneous ultraviolet and X-ray images of a comet. "We won't be able to send a space probe to Comet Lulin, but Swift is giving us some of the information we would get from just such a mission," said Jenny Carter, at the University of Leicester, U.K., who is leading the study."The...
Latest X-ray astronomy Reference Libraries
Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center on December 2, 1990 at 1:49 AM EST and landed at Edwards AFB on December 10 at 9:54 PM PST. The shuttle orbited 144 times at an altitude of 190 nautical miles at an inclination of 28.45 degrees and travelled 3.7 million miles. The mission lasted 8 days, 23 hours, 5 minutes, and 8 seconds. The primary objectives were round-the-clock observations of the celestial sphere in ultraviolet and x-ray astronomy with the ASTRO-1 observatory consisting of...
Sample Entry: Astronomy is the scientific study of stars, planets, comets, galaxies, and other phenomena that occur outside Earth's atmosphere (e.g. cosmic radiation). Astronomy deals with the evolution, physics, chemical makeup, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, and also the formation of the universe. The word Astronomy comes from the Greek words astron (meaning "star") and nomos (meaning "law"). Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. Since the dawn of man, people always...
X-Ray Astronomy -- Although the more energetic X-rays (E > 30 keV) can penetrate the air at least for distances of a few meters (they would never have been detected and medical X-ray machines would not work if this was not the case) the Earth's atmosphere is thick enough that virtually none are able to penetrate from outer space all the way to the Earth's surface. X-rays in the 0.5 - 5 keV range, where most celestial sources give off the bulk of their energy, can be stopped by a few...
X-ray Pulsar -- This dramatic artist's vision shows a city-sized neutron star centered in a disk of hot plasma drawn from its enfeebled red companion star. Ravenously accreting material from the disk, the neutron star spins faster and faster emitting powerful particle beams and pulses of X-rays as it rotates 400 times a second. Could such a bizarre and inhospitable star system really exist in our Universe? Based on data from the orbiting Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite,...
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,...
![NASA\](/media/gallery/fermi-gamma-ray-space-telescope/thumbs/thumbs_746305main_swift_xrt.jpg "NASA\")
