Source:W.M. Keck Observatory News and Outreach
Artist's impression of an extrasolar planet.
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada.
Planet hunters using Keck Observatory have detected an extrasolar planet that is only four times the mass of Earth. The planet is the second smallest exoplanet ever discovered and adds to astronomers’ growing cadre of low mass planets called super-Earths. (read more)
Source: NASA/WISE Mission
Eight-second exposure of a region in the constellation Carina near the Milky Way shows infrared light from three of WISE's four wavelength bands: Blue, green and red correspond to 3.4, 4.6, and 12 microns, respectively.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has captured its first look at the starry sky that it will soon begin surveying in infrared light.(read more)
Related Links:
Universe Today
Space Daily
Source:NASA Science News
A supercomputer model of a rapidly-spinning, core-collapse supernova.
Credit: Fiona Harrison/Caltech.
A massive old star is about to die a spectacular death. As its nuclear fuel runs out, it begins to collapse under its own tremendous weight. The crushing pressure inside the star skyrockets, triggering new nuclear reactions, setting the stage for a terrifying blast. And then... nothing happens.
At least that's what supercomputers have been telling astrophysicists for decades. Many of the best computer models of supernova explosions fail to produce an explosion. Instead, according to the simulations, gravity wins the day and the star simply collapses. (read more)
