http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- Black holes, one of the most amazing and bizarre predictions of Einstein's theory of gravity, are irresistible sinks for matter and energy. They are so dense that not even light can escape from their gravitational clutches. http://phys.org/news225712440.html Space & Earth Fri, 27 May 2011 10:54:23 EST news225712440 Back in June 1991, just before the launch of NASA's Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, astronomers knew of gamma rays from exactly one galaxy beyond our own. To their surprise and delight, the satellite captured similar emissions from dozens of other galaxies. Now its successor, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, is filling in the picture with new finds of its own. http://phys.org/news166807061.html Space & Earth Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:18:40 EST news166807061 We live in a hierarchical Universe where small structures join into larger ones. Earth is a planet in our Solar System, the Solar System resides in the Milky Way Galaxy, and galaxies combine into groups and clusters. Clusters are the largest structures in the Universe, but sadly our knowledge of them is not proportional to their size. Researchers have long known that the gas in the centers of some galaxy clusters is rapidly cooling and condensing, but were puzzled why this condensed gas did not form into stars. Until recently, no model existed that successfully explained how this was possible. http://phys.org/news166793207.html Space & Earth Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:27:35 EST news166793207 The tight cluster of stars surrounding a supermassive black hole after it has been violently kicked out of a galaxy represents a new kind of astronomical object and a fossil record of the kick. http://phys.org/news166374804.html Space & Earth Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:20:03 EST news166374804 This beautiful image gives a new look at Stephan's Quintet, a compact group of galaxies discovered about 130 years ago and located about 280 million light years from Earth. The curved, light blue ridge running down the center of the image shows X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. http://phys.org/news166371617.html Space & Earth Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:21:24 EST news166371617 CSIRO astronomers have revealed the hidden face of an enormous galaxy called Centaurus A, which emits a radio glow covering an area 200 times bigger than the full Moon. http://phys.org/news166184425.html Space & Earth Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:30:04 EST news166184425 (PhysOrg.com) -- Using a worldwide combination of diverse telescopes, astronomers have discovered that a giant galaxy's bursts of very high energy gamma rays are coming from a region very close to the supermassive black hole at its core. The discovery provides important new information about the mysterious workings of the powerful "engines" in the centers of innumerable galaxies throughout the Universe. http://phys.org/news165763462.html Space & Earth Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:24:43 EST news165763462 A new class of black hole, more than 500 times the mass of the Sun, has been discovered by an international team of astronomers. http://phys.org/news165675129.html Space & Earth Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:52:39 EST news165675129 (PhysOrg.com) -- Our Milky Way galaxy only survived because it was already immersed in a large clump of dark matter which trapped gases inside it, scientists led by Durham University's Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC) found. http://phys.org/news165645175.html Space & Earth Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:33:27 EST news165645175 The "coming of age" of galaxies and black holes has been pinpointed, thanks to new data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes. This discovery helps resolve the true nature of gigantic blobs of gas observed around very young galaxies. http://phys.org/news165071424.html Space & Earth Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:11:01 EST news165071424 Astronomers Karl Gebhardt of The University of Texas at Austin and Jens Thomas of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics have used new computer modeling techniques to discover that the black hole at the heart of M87, one the largest nearby giant galaxies, is two to three times more massive than previously thought. http://phys.org/news163781722.html Space & Earth Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:56:18 EST news163781722 How did we get here and where are we headed? These are some of life's biggest questions. To get the answers, one Kansas State University professor is doing the math. http://phys.org/news163768550.html Other Sciences Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:16:52 EST news163768550 In a controversial new paper in the journal Nature, astronomers from Queen's University Belfast have proposed a new physical interpretation of a supernova discovered on 7th November 2008. http://phys.org/news163760815.html Space & Earth Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:07:23 EST news163760815 (PhysOrg.com) -- While humans are still struggling to get rid of unwanted carbon it appears that the heavens are really rather good at it. New research by astrophysicists at the University of Warwick has discovered that a mystery stellar explosion recorded in 2006 may have marked the unusual death of an equally unusually carbon-rich star. http://phys.org/news163061166.html Space & Earth Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:46:41 EST news163061166 NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has found a cosmic "ghost" lurking around a distant supermassive black hole. This is the first detection of such a high-energy apparition, and scientists think it is evidence of a huge eruption produced by the black hole. http://phys.org/news162744642.html Space & Earth Thu, 28 May 2009 15:52:17 EST news162744642 Particle physics saves lives, connects continents through new channels of communication, helps us understand the world around us and inspires tomorrow's leaders. http://phys.org/news162721306.html Physics Thu, 28 May 2009 09:22:15 EST news162721306 (PhysOrg.com) -- In trying to understand how gravity behaves on the quantum scale, physicists have developed a model that has an interesting implication: mini black holes could be everywhere, and all particles might be made of various forms of black holes. http://phys.org/news161857121.html Physics Mon, 18 May 2009 09:19:20 EST news161857121 A supermassive black hole may be responsible for the glowing appearance of galaxy 3C 305, located about 600 million light years away in the constellation Draco. Composite data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes suggests that the black hole may be interacting with interstellar gas and emitting X-rays. Or, bright radiation from regions near the black hole may infuse energy into the gas that makes it glow. http://phys.org/news161533193.html Space & Earth Thu, 14 May 2009 15:20:45 EST news161533193 The Hubble space telescope, the object of NASA's fifth and last servicing mission next week, is a veritable time machine that has revolutionized humankind's vision and comprehension of the universe. http://phys.org/news161142870.html Space & Earth Sun, 10 May 2009 02:55:16 EST news161142870 (PhysOrg.com) -- Research by a theoretical physicist at Indiana University shows that the crusts of neutron stars are 10 billion times stronger than steel or any other of the earth's strongest metal alloys. http://phys.org/news160827120.html Space & Earth Wed, 06 May 2009 11:12:28 EST news160827120 (PhysOrg.com) -- It sounds like the plot of a sci-fi movie: rogue black holes roaming our galaxy, threatening to swallow anything that gets too close. In fact, new calculations by Ryan O'Leary and Avi Loeb (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) suggest that hundreds of massive black holes, left over from the galaxy-building days of the early universe, may wander the Milky Way. http://phys.org/news160223196.html Space & Earth Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:27:35 EST news160223196 (PhysOrg.com) -- A process called ‘dark gulping’ may solve the mystery of the how supermassive black holes were able to form when the Universe was less than a billion years old. http://phys.org/news159695546.html Space & Earth Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:53:16 EST news159695546 (PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have found the most distant signs of water in the Universe to date. Dr John McKean of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) will be presenting the discovery at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Hatfield on Wednesday 22nd April. http://phys.org/news159636334.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:26:09 EST news159636334 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of astronomers, led by Carnegie's Masami Ouchi, have discovered a mysterious, giant object that existed when the universe was only 800 million years old. Dubbed an extended "Lyman-Alpha blob," it is a huge body of gas. It is named Himiko for a legendary Japanese queen and stretches for 55 thousand light years, a record for that early point in time. Its length is comparable to the radius of the Milky Way's disk. http://phys.org/news159634614.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:57:41 EST news159634614 (AP) -- Cambridge University says physicist Stephen Hawking is still hospitalized but recovering from a chest infection. http://phys.org/news159607792.html Other Sciences Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:30:27 EST news159607792 (PhysOrg.com) -- A flare-up in a jet of matter blasting from a monster black hole is giving astronomers an incredible light show. http://phys.org/news158939828.html Space & Earth Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:57:53 EST news158939828 (PhysOrg.com) -- Integral has captured one of the brightest gamma-ray bursts ever seen. A meticulous analysis of the data has allowed astronomers to investigate the initial phases of this giant stellar explosion, which led to the ejection of matter at velocities close to the speed of light. In particular, the astronomers believe that the explosion lifted a piece of the central engine's magnetic field into space. http://phys.org/news157976603.html Space & Earth Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:24:02 EST news157976603 (PhysOrg.com) -- New results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have made a major advance in explaining how a special class of black holes may shut off the high-speed jets they produce. These results suggest that these black holes have a mechanism for regulating the rate at which they grow. http://phys.org/news157212704.html Space & Earth Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:12:29 EST news157212704 Scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science and San Diego State University managed to observe a super-sized supernova explosion from start to finish, including the black hole ending. http://phys.org/news157034084.html Space & Earth Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:35:07 EST news157034084 Celebrated physicist, Stephen Hawking, delivered an inspiring speech to a full house in Bovard Auditorium on March 10. USC College Dean Howard Gillman kicked off the event by introducing Nick Warner, professor of physics, mathematics and astronomy. Hawking was Warner’s academic adviser while he studied at the University of Cambridge. http://phys.org/news156450506.html Space & Earth Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:29:36 EST news156450506