Related topics: stars · star formation

A dust factory around a dead star

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of astronomers, led by Loretta Dunne from the University of Nottingham, have found some very unusual stardust. In a paper to be published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Dr Dunne ...

Mapping the Milky Way's magnetic field in 3D

We are all very familiar with the concept of the Earth's magnetic field. It turns out that most objects in space have magnetic fields but it's quite tricky to measure them. Astronomers have developed an ingenious way to measure ...

Cosmic dust could have helped get life going on Earth

Life on our planet appeared early in Earth's history. Surprisingly early, since in its early youth our planet didn't have much of the chemical ingredients necessary for life to evolve. Since prebiotic chemicals such as sugars ...

Artemis launch brings us closer to space exploration goals

On Monday, Aug. 29, NASA plans to launch its Orion spacecraft from the world's most powerful rocket for a trip around the moon. This launch of the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission is a step toward the goal of landing people on ...

Making simulated cosmic dust—in the microwave

Cosmic dust is the key to the chemical evolution of stars, planets, and life itself, but its composition is not well understood, and we can't currently collect samples for analysis. A few examples have arrived on Earth as ...

Making planets in a rocket

How are celestial bodies created? Aside from philosophical questions, researchers are taking practical steps to investigate the very first moments when planets are born—on a sounding rocket launching from Sweden next week.

Image: Hubble snaps a galactic potpourri of particles

Every now and then, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope glimpses a common object—say, a spiral galaxy—in an interesting or unusual way. A sharply angled perspective, such as the one shown in this Hubble image, can make ...

Cosmic 'dustpedias' could reveal new types of galaxy

Measuring the vast quantities of cosmic dust in interstellar space may be a key to unlocking various mysteries of the cosmos, including how the grains form and whether new types of galaxy are obscured by the particle clouds.

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