ESO

Serious blow to dark matter theories? New study finds mysterious lack of dark matter in Sun's neighborhood

(Phys.org) -- The most accurate study so far of the motions of stars in the Milky Way has found no evidence for dark matter in a large volume around the Sun. According to widely accepted theories, the solar ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Apr 18, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (45) | comments 164 | with audio podcast

How to rediscover life on Earth by looking at the Moon

(PhysOrg.com) -- By observing the Moon using ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have found evidence of life in the universe -- on Earth. Finding life on our home planet may sound like a trivial observation, ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 29, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (11) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Faraway Eris is Pluto's twin: Dwarf planet sized up accurately as it blocks light of faint star

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have measured the diameter of the dwarf planet Eris by catching it as it passed in front of a faint star. This was seen by telescopes in Chile, including the TRAPPIST telescope ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 26, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

The star that should not exist

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of European astronomers has used ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to track down a star in the Milky Way that many thought was impossible. They discovered that this star is composed ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Aug 31, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (35) | comments 84 | with audio podcast

Giant space blob glows from within: Primordial cloud of hydrogen found to be centrally powered

(PhysOrg.com) -- Observations from ESO's Very Large Telescope have shed light on the power source of a rare vast cloud of glowing gas in the early Universe. The observations show for the first time that this ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Aug 17, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (11) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

What activates a supermassive black hole?

A new study combining data from ESO's Very Large Telescope and ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray space observatory has turned up a surprise. Most of the huge black holes in the centres of galaxies in the past 11 billion ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jul 13, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (13) | comments 108 | with audio podcast

Hydrogen peroxide found in space

(PhysOrg.com) -- Molecules of hydrogen peroxide have been found for the first time in interstellar space. The discovery gives clues about the chemical link between two molecules critical for life: water and ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jul 06, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Astronomers find universe's most distant quasar (w/ video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of European astronomers has used ESO’s Very Large Telescope and a host of other telescopes to discover and study the most distant quasar found to date. This brilliant beacon, powered ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jun 29, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (9) | comments 32 | with audio podcast

A spiral galaxy that resembles our Milky Way

(PhysOrg.com) -- ESO astronomers have used the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope to capture an image of NGC 6744. This impressive spiral galaxy lies about 30 million light-years away in ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jun 01, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Looking deep into a violent storm on Saturn

(PhysOrg.com) -- ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has teamed up with NASA’s Cassini spacecraft to study a rare storm in the atmosphere of the planet Saturn in more detail than has ever been possible ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Pulsating star mystery solved

(PhysOrg.com) -- By discovering the first double star where a pulsating Cepheid variable and another star pass in front of one another, an international team of astronomers has solved a decades-old mystery. ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 24, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (21) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Astronomers find first planet from another galaxy (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- An exoplanet orbiting a star that entered our Milky Way from another galaxy has been detected by a European team of astronomers using the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 18, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (19) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Clearing the cosmic fog: The most distant galaxy ever measured (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- A European team of astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) has measured the distance to the most remote galaxy so far. By carefully analysing the very faint glow of the galaxy they ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 20, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (30) | comments 13 | with audio podcast

Growing galaxies gently

The first galaxies formed before the Universe was less than one billion years old and were much smaller than the giant systems -- including the Milky Way -- that we see today. So somehow the average galaxy ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 13, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 10 | with audio podcast

Richest planetary system discovered (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers using ESO's world-leading HARPS instrument have discovered a planetary system containing at least five planets, orbiting the Sun-like star HD 10180. The researchers also have tantalising ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Aug 24, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (29) | comments 13 | with audio podcast