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. (Phys.org) —A team led by the University of Warwick has pinpointed a new type of exceptionally powerful and long-lived cosmic explosion, prompting a theory that they arise in the violent death throes of a supergiant star. http://phys.org/news285346187.html Space & Earth Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:49:55 EST news285346187 (Phys.org)—Using the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy (IfA) have confirmed that the chance of asteroid 2011 AG5 impacting Earth in 2040 is no longer a significant risk – prompting a collective sigh-of-relief. Previously, scientists estimated that the risk of this 140-meter-diameter (about the length of two American football fields) asteroid colliding with the Earth was as high as one in 500. http://phys.org/news275334313.html Space & Earth Fri, 21 Dec 2012 17:45:47 EST news275334313 (Phys.org)—Despite being infamously demoted from its status as a major planet, Pluto (and its largest companion Charon) recently posed as a surrogate extrasolar planetary system to help astronomers produce exceptionally high-resolution images with the Gemini North 8-meter telescope. Using a method called reconstructive speckle imaging, the researchers took the sharpest ground-based snapshots ever obtained of Pluto and Charon in visible light, which hint at the exoplanet verification power of a large state-of-the-art telescope when combined with speckle imaging techniques. The data also verified and refined previous orbital characteristics for Pluto and Charon while revealing the pair's precise diameters. http://phys.org/news267896558.html Space & Earth Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:43:08 EST news267896558 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has passed another milestone in its 21 years of exploration: the 10,000th refereed science paper has been published. This makes Hubble one of the most prolific astronomical endeavors in history. http://phys.org/news242465503.html Space & Earth Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:00:01 EST news242465503 There are a lot of things someone could do in nearly 900 hours. http://phys.org/news226575689.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:41:46 EST news226575689 (PhysOrg.com) -- Weighing 6.6 billion solar masses, the black hole at the center of galaxy M87 is the most massive black hole for which a precise mass has been measured. Using the Frederick C. Gillett Gemini Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, a team of astronomers calculated the black hole’s mass, which is vastly larger than the black hole in the center of the Milky Way, which is about 4 million solar masses. http://phys.org/news214249304.html Space & Earth Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:57:10 EST news214249304 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has observed an unusual galaxy cluster that contains a bright core of relatively cool gas surrounding a quasar called 3C 186. This is the most distant object yet observed, and could provide insight into the triggering of quasars and the growth of galaxy clusters. http://phys.org/news207322460.html Space & Earth Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:50:01 EST news207322460 The European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft beamed back to Earth dramatic close-up images on July 10, 2010, as it flew past the 100-kilometer-sized asteroid (21) Lutetia on its way to a comet rendezvous in 2014. But even before Rosetta's encounter with Lutetia, an international team of astronomers, using three of the world's largest telescopes, were busy making its own assessment of the asteroid's shape and size, as well as searching for satellites. The pre-flyby images are being compared this week with those from Rosetta at a meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, Calif., revealing that the ground-based images are amazingly accurate. http://phys.org/news205662472.html Space & Earth Thu, 07 Oct 2010 09:28:13 EST news205662472 (PhysOrg.com) -- Looking almost 11 billion years into the past, astronomers have measured the motions of stars for the first time in a very distant galaxy and clocked speeds upwards of one million miles per hour, about twice the speed of our Sun through the Milky Way. http://phys.org/news168698290.html Space & Earth Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:38:47 EST news168698290 (PhysOrg.com) -- Jupiter is sporting a glowing bruise after getting unexpectedly whacked by a small solar system object, according to astronomers using the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai'i. A spectacular new mid-infrared image is available for download on this page. http://phys.org/news167584212.html Space & Earth Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:30:02 EST news167584212