A surprising new class of X-ray pulsating variable stars has been discovered by a team of American and Canadian astronomers led by Villanova University's Scott Engle and Edward Guinan. Part of the Villanova Secret Lives ...
Astronomy
Mar 24, 2017
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62
Astronomers are reporting a rare star as big—or bigger—than the Earth's sun that is expanding and contracting in a unique pattern in three different directions.
Astronomy
Feb 14, 2017
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14
Since its launch on Sept. 22, 2006, Hinode, a joint mission of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA, has been watching the sun nearly non-stop, providing valuable insight into our star – and others throughout ...
Space Exploration
Sep 23, 2016
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12
The first catalogue of more than a billion stars from ESA's Gaia satellite was published today – the largest all-sky survey of celestial objects to date.
Astronomy
Sep 14, 2016
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2541
This 10.5-billion-year-old globular cluster, NGC 6496, is home to heavy-metal stars of a celestial kind! The stars comprising this spectacular spherical cluster are enriched with much higher proportions of metals—elements ...
Astronomy
Jun 6, 2016
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41
(Phys.org)—Located some 87,000 light years away, a dense globular cluster named Messier 54 (also known as NGC 6715) is a real gold mine for astronomers. Recently, an international team has discovered dozens of new variable ...
The Ancient Egyptian papyrus Cairo 86637 calendar is the oldest preserved historical document of naked eye observations of a variable star, the eclipsing binary Algol - a manifestation of Horus, a god and a king. This calendar ...
Space Exploration
Dec 17, 2015
0
1344
The movement of gas inside a star causes seismic waves which in turn cause irregularities on the star's surface. These 'earthquakes' (or pulsations) produce periodic variations in the brightness of a star, and the study of ...
Astronomy
Dec 2, 2015
0
10
Astronomers using the VISTA telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory have discovered a previously unknown component of the Milky Way. By mapping out the locations of a class of stars that vary in brightness called Cepheids, ...
Astronomy
Oct 28, 2015
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146
To measure distances in the universe, astronomers use cepheids, a family of variable stars whose luminosity varies with time. Their role as distance calibrators has brought them attention from researchers for more than a ...
Astronomy
May 12, 2015
1
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