ASTRONOMY NEWS & LINKS
© Susanne Weimer
HIGHLIGHTS 2004
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2005   2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997
December 2004
Dec 29 [BBC] Russia plans to stop carrying US astronauts to the International Space Station for free from 2006
Dec 27 [BBC] SpaceShipTwo (SS2) shall have room for 5 to 8 passengers
Dec 25 [NASA] Progress 16 cargo craft automatically docked to International Space Station
Dec 25 [ESA] The Huygens probe was successfully released by the Cassini orbiter
Dec 23 [CNN] Food supply is running low aboard the International Space Station
Dec 22 [NRAO] To study the winds in Titan's atmosphere radio telescopes will make precise measurements of Huygens position and speed during its descent
Dec 16 [STScI] The Helix Nebula may consist of two gaseous disks nearly perpendicular to each other
Dec 14 [Harvard] Rapid cooling of the young pulsar 3C58 points to unexpected conditions in the matter of neutron stars
Dec 09 [STScI] Discovery of dusty disks around sun-like stars
Dec 01 [STScI] I Zwicky 18: age determination of a very young galaxy
November 2004
Nov 26 [MPA] Observing reionization with a radio telescope
Nov 24 [ESO] Young Stars Poised for Production of Rocky Planets. VLT Interferometer Studies the Inner Region of Circumstellar Discs
Nov 22 [Harvard] Supermassive black holes did already exist in very early epochs of the universe
Nov 18 [ESO] Stellar Clusters Forming in the Blue Dwarf Galaxy NGC 5253
Nov 16 [ESA] Arrival at the Moon: the European mission SMART-1 enters lunar orbit
Nov 09 [CalTech] Spitzer Sees Ice and Warm Glows in Dark and Dusty Places
Nov 08 [NRAO] Radio studies of the most distant known quasar indicate that the young galaxy already contains a supermassive black hole
Nov 02 [MPA] Tramp stars in the intergalactic space within galaxy clusters: records of a violent history
October 2004
Oct 29 [ESO] Measuring Cosmic Distances with Stellar Heart Beats. VLTI Watches the Changing Size of Bright Southern Cepheids
Oct 27 [STScI] Stellar Survivor from 1572 A.D. Explosion Supports Supernova Theory
Oct 26 [Harvard] Chandra's Find of Lonely Halo Raises Questions About Dark Matter
Oct 26 [NRAO] Microquasar SS433: the speed of the ejected particles varies over time, explaining the corkscrew shape of the jet
Oct 22 [ESO] The Virgo Cluster of Galaxies in the Making. VLT Observations of Planetary Nebulae Confirm the Dynamical Youth of Virgo
Oct 20 [NRAO] The VLA Low-frequency Sky Survey (VLSS) provides at 74 MHz a new radio view of the universe
Oct 18 [CalTech] Astronomers Discover Planet Building Is Big Mess
Oct 06 [STScI] NASA's Great Observatories May Unravel 400-Year Old Supernova Mystery
Oct 01 [MPA] Three-dimensional simulations of Type Ia supernova explosions
September 2004
Sep 29 [ESO] ESO Views of Earth-Approaching Asteroid Toutatis. Unique Photos from La Silla and Paranal Measure the Distance
Sep 23 [Harvard] The Mouse That Soared
Sep 23 [STScI] Hubble Approaches the Final Frontier: The Dawn of Galaxies
Sep 20 [NRAO] Sugar molecules detected in the interstellar cloud Sagettarius B2 at extremely low temperatures
Sep 10 [ESO] Is This Speck of Light an Exoplanet? VLT Images and Spectra of Intriguing Object near Young Brown Dwarf
Sep 08 [Harvard] Motions in Nearby Galaxy Cluster Reveal Presence of Hidden Superstructure
August 2004
Aug 31 [MPA] Short Gamma-Ray Bursts - New models shed light on enigmatic explosions
Aug 25 [ESO] Discovery of the lightest known exoplanet - with a mass of only 14 times the mass of the Earth
Aug 24 [ESO] First light for SINFONI, a new spectrograph on ESO's Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory
Aug 23 [Harvard] Deepest Image of Exploded Star Uncovers Bipolar Jets
Aug 17 [ESO] How Old is the Milky Way? VLT Observations of Beryllium in Two Old Stars Clock the Beginnings
Aug 13 [Harvard] Chandra Catches Early Phase of Cosmic Assembly
Aug 07 [BBC] Instrument failure on board the Hubble Space Telescope - the Imaging Spectrograph STIS stopped working
Aug 04 [CalTech] Gamma-ray burst of December 3 was a new type of cosmic explosion
Aug 03 [NASA] Successfull launch of MESSENGER - the mission to the planet Mercury
Aug 02 [MPA] The largest N-body simulation of the universe
July 2004
Jul 30 [ESO] Catching a Falling Star. ESO's Very Large Telescope Obtains Unique Spectrum of a Meteor
Jul 27 [NRAO] Microquasar may have been blasted out from a star cluster by an asymmetric supernova explosion
Jul 22 [Harvard] X-Ray Outburst from Young Star in McNeil's Nebula
Jul 15 [STScI] First direct measurement of the mass of a single star
Jul 14 [BBC] Committee: Hubble Space Telescopes needs servicing missions to survive
Jul 07 [ESO] Four massive galaxies found that must have formed in the early universe
Jul 07 [ESO] Finland Becomes Eleventh ESO Member State
Jul 06 [Harvard] Chandra Looks Over a Cosmic Four-Leaf Clover
June 2004
Jun 30 [MPA] Low mass black holes still grow today
Jun 30 [ESO] Revisiting the Orion Nebula. Wide Field Imager Provides New View of a Stellar Nursery
Jun 28 [Harvard] Astronomers Reveal Extinct Extra-Terrestrial Fusion Reactor
Jun 22 [Harvard] Chandra Turns Up the Heat in the Milky Way Center
Jun 21 [NRAO] Discovery of two new molecules in an interstellar cloud near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy
Jun 15 [ESO] First direct mass measurements of an ultra-cool star and its brown dwarf companion
Jun 10 [NRAO] SN 1986J: for the first time the central object of a recent supernova became visible
Jun 03 [NRAO] Gas Clouds in Whirlpool Galaxy Yield Important Clues Supporting Theory on Spiral Arms
Jun 03 [ESO/MPG] Largest x-ray survey of galaxy clusters provides new constraints on Dark Matter
Jun 02 [CfA] Monster Lies Camouflaged Inside Nebula's Heart
Jun 02 [Harvard] Smoking Gun Found for Gamma-Ray Burst in Milky Way
Jun 02 [BBC] Robots could rescue the Hubble Space Telescope
Jun 02 [NRAO] Starburst-Driven Winds May Have Created Giant "Lobe" in Galactic Center
Jun 01 [STScI] Conflict about the distance to the Pleiades Star Cluster: new measurements confirm the former value of about 440 light years.
Jun 01 [NRAO] Origin of Enigmatic Galactic-center Filaments Revealed
May 2004
May 31 [CfA] The Sources of Solar Hazards In Interplanetary Space
May 28 [ESO] Discovery of numerous Type-2 quasars - number of supermassive black holes so far underestimated
May 26 [CfA] Double Stars Emerge As New Heavyweight Champions
May 18 [Harvard] Dark energy's effect on the acceleration of the Universe confirmed by x-ray observations of galaxy clusters
May 12 [ESO] The largest circumstellar disk ever detected surrounds a young high-mass protostar
May 12 [ESO] Successful "First Light" for the Mid-Infrared VISIR Instrument on the VLT
May 12 [CfA] Scientists Prepare to Place Einstein on the Rim of a Black Hole
May 10 [Harvard] Giant Galaxy's Violent Past Comes Into Focus
May 07 [ESO] Discovery of two extremely hot Jupiter-size extra-solar planets in close orbits by the transit method
May 05 [ESO] Interferometer studies of the central region in active galaxy NGC 1068 confirm the theory of a dust torus around the black hole
May 03 [CfA] Illuminating The "Dark Ages" Of The Universe
April 2004
Apr 28 [ESO] Strong gravitational interaction between three galaxies - NGC 6769-71
Apr 23 [BBC] NASA is optimistic about the fate of the Hubble Space Telescope
Apr 21 [BBC] ISS Expedition 9: Soyuz spacecraft docked with the space station
Apr 14 [STScI] Surprising observations: Sedna, the farthest planetoid in the solar system, does not appear to have a moon
Apr 14 [ESO] New images of Saturn's largest moon Titan show many surface features
Apr 11 [BBC] NASA considers a Russian plan to keep crews for one year aboard the International Space Station
Apr 06 [ESO] Dynamics of the Milky Way - the spatial motions of 14.000 F- and G-type stars reveal the chaotic evolution of our Galaxy
Apr 05 [CfA] CfA Scientists Help Test Einstein's Theory
Apr 05 [ESO] AMBER - new instrument at the VLT Interferometer for the combination of multiple light beams
Apr 05 [Harvard] Transit in front of the Crab nebula: Titan's X-ray shadow allows measurement of the extent of its atmosphere
Apr 04 [NAOJ] Discovery of water ice grains in the coma of Comet LINEAR C/2002T7
Apr 01 [AAO] Observation of 46 new ultra-compact dwarf galaxies in the Fornax Cluster
Apr 01 [NRAO] Sagittarius A* - direct measurement of the size of our Galaxy's central object
Apr 01 [MPA] Computer simulations of supernova explosions: supernovae in our Galaxy should produce detectable gravitational waves
March 2004
Mar 31 [ESO] Quasar studies limit possible variation of the fine-structure constant over cosmological time
Mar 24 [ESA] SMART-1 - spacecraft copes well with large shadow region
Mar 22 [LBL] Type Ia supernova SN 2002ic - explosion of a white dwarf inside a dense circumstellar disk
Mar 22 [Gemini] McNeil Nebula in Orion - rare observation of a flare during a stellar birth
Mar 19 [MPIfR] High energy radiation from the inner region of our Milky Way testifies to a Gamma Ray Burst a long time ago
Mar 17 [CfA] Start of construction for VERITAS, a sensitive very high energy gamma-ray observatory
Mar 17 [JPL] Stardust images show tremendous surface details of comet Wild 2
Mar 17 [ESA] Gamma-ray background - Diffuse gamma radiation from the Galactic Centre comes from individual sources
Mar 17 [JPL] Closest approach of a Near Earth Asteroid: 2004 FH - 30 meters in diameter - passes by the Earth in only 43000 km distance
Mar 15 [JPL] Sedna - the most distant planet-like object in Solar System discovered
Mar 11 [ESA] Two asteroid fly-bys for Rosetta
Mar 09 [Jodrell] RadioNet - 20 partners will improve cooperation in European radio astronomy
Mar 09 [STScI] The Hubble Ultra Deep Field - a million second observation in search for the earliest galaxies
Mar 08 [Harvard] X-ray observation of Saturn - the X-rays are concentrated near the planet's equator
Mar 08 [JPL] Henize 206 - detailled image of the dust and gas nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Mar 05 [JPL] Mars Rovers - Volcanic rock in the Gusev crater showing material like minerals crystallized out of water may be a hint to past Water on Mars
Mar 02 [ESA] Rosetta begins its 10-year journey to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Mar 02 [MPA] The magnetic fields of A-stars and white dwarfs explained
Mar 02 [JPL] Mars Rover found strong evidence for water on Mars in the past
Mar 02 [ESO] Images of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at a distance of approximately 670 million kilometres from the Sun
Mar 01 [Harvard] Recently discovered x-ray sources may be a new type of intermediate-mass black holes
Mar 01 [ESA] Redshift 10: new record for the farthest galaxy
February 2004
Feb 27 [JPL] Best color image of Saturn taken by Cassini four month before arrival
Feb 26 [Jodrell] New observations of the cosmic microwave background: density fluctuations may not be independent of scale
Feb 26 [Hawaii] Nearest star with a visible circumstellar dust disk in a distance of 33 lightyears
Feb 25 [CfA] Cosmic Dark Ages lasted for more than a billion years
Feb 25 [CfA] KH 15D: eclipses are caused by a young binary system and not by a protoplanetary disk
Feb 20 [CfA] Dusty disks around a star are good evidence for planet formation
Feb 20 [STScI] New Clues About the Nature of Dark Energy: Einstein May Have Been Right After All
Feb 19 [CalTech] Planetary scientists find planetoid in Kuiper Belt; could be biggest yet discovered
Feb 19 [STScI] SN 1987A - new supernova image shows many bright spots along a ring of gas
Feb 18 [Harvard] First strong evidence: Star streched and torn apart by a supermassive black hole
Feb 15 [STScI] Redshift 7: The most distant galaxy 13 billion lightyears away was discovered by the help of a gravitational lense
Feb 11 [CfA] Third, central image of a quasar by a gravitational lense can be used to investigate the properties of the lensing galaxy
Feb 09 [ESO] Finland will become the eleventh member state of the European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Feb 09 [RAS] ULTRACAM, SUPER WASP and the Liverpool Telescope - new instruments improve observations of time-variable objects
Feb 05 [STScI] M64 - image of a galaxy with bright nucleus and a spectacular dark band (Hubble Heritage)
Feb 04 [ESA] SMART-1 - all functions performing nominally
Feb 03 [NRAO] Neutral hydrogen clouds around the Andromeda galaxy may be leftover building blocks of galaxy formation
January 2004
Jan 30 [Harvard] V471 Tauri: one star engulfed the other during its Red Giant phase
Jan 30 [ESO] First auxiliary telescope for the VLT Interferometer installed at Paranal
Jan 26 [PPARC] SN2003gd - observations of the progenitor of the supernova, a red supergiant
Jan 22 [NOAO] Low-mass protostar with jet in the Rosette Nebula - a rare young stellar object that is visible
Jan 17 [BBC] The Hubble Space Telescope shall be dropped - there will be no more Shuttle servicing missions
Jan 14 [Jodrell] Ultra-relativistic jet: neutron star imitates black hole
Jan 08 [Jodrell] First detection of a double pulsar system enables completely new high-precision tests of gravitational theories
Jan 08 [NOAO] Majority of planetary nebulae may arise from binary systems
Jan 07 [Harvard] Rich amounts of neon, magnesium, and silicon in a pair of colliding galaxies indicates a very high rate of supernova explosions
Jan 07 [NASA] New found cosmic structure - a giant string of galaxies about 300 million light-years long
Jan 07 [Hawaii] SN 1993J: first direct observational evidence that the supernova did occur in a binary system
Jan 06 [STScI] C153: a galaxy disrupted by the collision of two clusters of galaxies
Jan 05 [NRAO] Binary system SS 433: daily radio images give new insights into the varying jets of the microquasar
Jan 05 [Gemini] Galaxy evolution: many galaxies in the young universe 8-11 billion years ago are fully formed
Jan 04 [JPL] Spirit has landed safely on Mars and transmitted first photos
Jan 02 [JPL] Stardust passed through the coma of comet Wild 2, collected dust particles, took photos and is on the way back home
Jan 01 [STScI] Galaxy formation shortly after the big bang: a proto-cluster of young galaxies 12 billion years ago


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© Susanne Weimer (info at astrophys.net) - Last update: January 01, 2005