Physics and Astronomy

Astronomers Dr Simon Jeffery of the Armagh Observatory and Dr Hideyuki Saio of Tohoku University, Japan, have finally solved a long-standing mystery concerning the creation of two particular kinds of rare stars. They have found that a class of variable stars named after their prototype R Coronae Borealis (RCrB), and a related group called `extreme helium stars` are the products of mergers between pairs of white dwarf stars. What kind of star results from the merger depends on the composition of the w

Astronomers using the Gemini North Telescope on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea report that they have created a three-dimensional movie of a powerful, active galaxy located some 70 million light years away. The addition of a new instrument, the Integral Field Unit (IFU), to the Gemini telescope enabled the group to study light from the galaxy NGC1068 in much greater detail. From a single still of NGC1068, the IFU generated data on the physical conditions and velocities of galactic material throughout the image.

Martian atmosphere churns harder in south making north wetter.

Scientists have figured out why it’s wet up north – on Mars. A new computer simulation of the martian atmosphere suggests that the planet’s geography causes differences in atmospheric circulation within the northern and southern hemispheres. These differences dump more water on the martian north pole, where it adds to the seasonal ice-cap.

Mark Richardson of the California Institute of Technology in Pasa

Astronomers at the Gemini telescope in Hawaii have obtained a complete, multi-dimensional picture, of the dynamic flow of gas and stars at the core of an active galaxy [NGC 1068] located 70 million light years away. The image was achieved in a single snapshot and is the first time such a picture has been obtained by one of the new generation of giant telescopes with an 8 – 10 metre light collecting mirror. The astronomers used a new instrument – the Integral Field Unit (IFU), designed and built at Du

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have announced a call to communication companies who are interested in undertaking a contract for brand communication services related to the International Space Station (ISS).

The contract is a significant move for ESA and CSA who want to heighten the profile of the ISS within Europe and Canada to help meet the commercial objectives of the Space Station.

The two organisations want to hear expressions of interest

Light bending reveals clumps of matter around early galaxy.

European astronomers have got their first glimpse of the soup of matter that surrounded a galaxy in the early Universe, just 3 billion years after the Big Bang. Their results provide clues as to how this matter got together, which is crucial to understanding why the Universe looks the way it does today 1 .

The 12-billion-year-old galaxy is called MS 1512-cB58. It is not the earliest galaxy known, but