Unlocking Galactic Mysteries, Star Formation, Dark Matter Jan 17, 2008
The THINGS images revealed what Elias Brinks of the University of Hertfordshire, UK, called a "stunning complexity of structures in the tenuous interstellar medium of the galaxies." These structures include large shells and "bubbles," presumably caused by multiple supernova explosions of massive stars. Analyzing the detail of these complex structures will help astronomers better understand the differences in star formation processes in the varied types of galaxies. (Science Daily)
Supernova Remnants Dance In The Large Magellanic Cloud Jan 16, 2008
8, 1999) The expanding shock wave of a supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud has provided strong evidence to support a popular model of the interstellar medium, says a University of Illinois. (Jan. (Science Daily)
Planet with "moth" shaped disk found Jan 15, 2008
According to Hines, the fact that the dust is crashing into the interstellar medium really lit this disk up and allowed the astronomers to observe it. Such disks are believed to be made of the material from which planets form and are common around young stars. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Photo in the News: "Blue Blobs" in Space Are Odd Stars Jan 9, 2008
What's more, Mello said, the blobs could be "the polluters of the universe" expelling heavy elements generated as the stars burn into the interstellar medium when they go supernova. Victoria Jaggard. (National Geographic)
The enduring mysteries of the outer solar system Jan 1, 2008
When the supersonic wind of charged particles that flows from our sun collides with the thin gas found between the stars, the solar wind essentially blows a bubble in this interstellar medium a ball known as the heliosphere. Scientists have thought unusually weak cosmic rays energetic particles that zip from space at Earth come from the heliosphere. (USA Today -- Tech)
Voyager 2 Proves Solar System Is Squashed Dec 13, 2007
IBEX will study the interaction between the solar wind and the material beyond our solar system called the interstellar medium. (Credit: Walt Feimer, Goddard Space Flight Center). (Science Daily)
Plasma Science Instrument Finds Surprises At Solar System's Edge Dec 12, 2007
It is now passing through a boundary zone called the heliosheath, a region where the solar wind interacts with the surrounding interstellar medium ... At that point, it will be able to measure characteristics of the interstellar medium, for the first time, in a region unaffected by the solar wind and the sun's magnetism. (Science Daily)
Voyager 2 is About to Cross the Termination Shock Dec 1, 2007
The final stage in the Voyagers' journey will occur when they reach the heliopause; the boundary where the interstellar medium completely halts the solar wind. After that, they'll be out of the Solar System, and just traveling out into the galaxy. (International Reporter)
Computer simulation predicts Voyager 2 will reach major milestone in space in late 2007early 2008 Nov 28, 2007
The solar wind a stream of charged particles ejected by the sun in all directions travels at supersonic speeds when it leaves the sun, until it eventually encounters the interstellar medium made up of plasma, neutral gas and dust ... After it crosses this boundary, Voyager 2 will be in the outer heliosphere beyond which lies the interstellar medium and galactic space ... In the future, the spacecraft will encounter their next milestone in space: the heliopause, which is the boundary where... (EurekAlert!)
SOFIA Begins Aircraft Testing Phase Oct 17, 2007
The flying observatory is designed to detect the formation of stars in our galaxy, determine the chemical composition of the interstellar medium and peer through the dust that hides the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Sky Publishing, a New Track Media Company Copyright 2007 New Track Media. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Astronomers get their hands dirty as they lift the veil on galactic dust Oct 13, 2007
The new instruments will allow us to detect dust associated with less dense regions of the interstellar medium, said Bianchi. Astronomers also hope to learn more about the role played by dust in star formation. (EurekAlert!)
Future 50Where will space exploration take us in the next 50 years? Oct 6, 2007
The opening of these fields of astronomy has revolutionised our understanding of planets, stars, the interstellar medium, the structure of galaxies and how the first light appeared in the Universe. One can say the latter because looking beyond the Solar System becomes exploration in time as well as in space. (BBC News -- Science)
Research team says extraterrestrial impact to blame for Ice Age extinctions Sep 25, 2007
The black mat also has turned up nanodiamonds, which are formed in the interstellar medium outside the solar system, by or by a high-explosive detonation. Either these things came in with the impactor or they were made during impact detonation. (EurekAlert!)
'One Of The Most Curious Objects In The Sky' Delights Astronomers Again Sep 4, 2007
Wolf-Rayet stars are extremely hot blue stars losing enormous amounts of mass to the interstellar medium ... The study of IC 10 is giving astronomers a picture of what the Milky Way might have looked like billions of years ago before the galaxy s interstellar medium was enriched with elements such as oxygen and nitrogen. (Science Daily)
Supersonic 'Rain' Falls On Newborn Star Aug 31, 2007
"There are lots of primitive icy bodies in our solar system, and the ice they carry is often thought to descend directly from the interstellar medium, so that by studying one we could learn about the other," says Watson. "But in NGC 1333 IRAS 4B's disk, it is clear that the water is received as vapor and will be re-frozen under different conditions, and this means that the oxygen and hydrogen chemistry of its disk is reset from interstellar conditions. It's not getting pristine, interstellar... (Science Daily)
Cosmic tail stretches out from speeding star Aug 16, 2007
Or, he added, "it may be that the star has moved into a region of the interstellar medium that is denser, and that makes the tail light up more.". Our own sun will one day become a red giant, so the finding, detailed in Thursday's issue of the journal , could provide valuable clues about the fate of our solar system and how stars' castoff remains become seeds for new stars, planets and possibly even life. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Circumstellar Space: Where Stars Are Born Aug 2, 2007
At the same time, the star begins to eject its outer layers into the interstellar medium by stellar winds, building up a circumstellar shell. So eventually, most of a star's mass, including the newly produced elements, is ejected into the interstellar medium through the circumstellar shell ... From there, the gas and grains enter the interstellar medium and provide the material for new stars and solar systems to be born. (Science Daily)
Very Brief History of the Universe Jul 31, 2007
Some of the primordial matter remained in the interstellar medium to be tapped for future generations of stars ... The supernova simultaneously manufactures the heaviest elements, via the r process, and blasts material containing all the elements that the star has made in its lifetime back into the interstellar medium ... Gradually after a few generations of massive stars and supernovae, the recycled stellar material, containing all the naturally occurring elements, mixes with the primordial... (Suite101.com)
Chronicle Of A Star's Death Foretold Jun 5, 2007
They performed, for the first time, a series of coordinated observations of three separate layers within the star's tenuous outer envelope: the molecular shell, the dust shell, and the maser shell, leading to significant progress in our understanding of the mechanism of how, before dying, evolved stars lose mass and return it to the interstellar medium ... "Because we are all stardust, studying the phases in the life of a star when processed matter is sent back to the interstellar medium to be... (Science Daily)
Molecular oxygen found in space May 4, 2007
Astrochemists have long argued that the basic molecules of life water and oxygen are abundant in the denser regions of the interstellar medium. The Canadian members of the team include Fich, Sun Kwok and Rene Plume of the University of Calgary, Christine Wilson of Hamilton's McMaster University, and George Mitchell of Saint Mary's University in Halifax. (Toronto Star)
Molecular Oxygen Detected For The First Time In The Interstellar Medium Apr 18, 2007
Although the first three species have been detected in the interstellar medium, the O2 molecule had never been seen until now. Since our atmosphere is full of molecular oxygen, ground-based telescopes are totally blind in the range of frequencies corresponding to O2 lines. (Science Daily)
New thinking on the death of Sun-like stars Apr 9, 2007
Moreover, Hfner explained "this mechanism strongly favors the presence of magnesium silicates over iron silicates in the interstellar medium," in agreement with recent findings from NASA's comet-sampling Stardust space probe. Andersen and Hfner detailed their findings in the April issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. (USA Today -- Tech)
Milky Way Black Hole May Be A Colossal 'Particle Accelerator' Mar 1, 2007
After the high-energy protons escape the black hole environment, they fly off into the interstellar medium, where they collide with low-energy protons (hydrogen gas) in a smash-up so energetic that particles called 'pions' form. These particles of matter quickly decay into high-energy gamma rays that, like other radiation, travel in all directions. (Science Daily)
Superbubble Of Supernova Remnants Caught In Act Of Forming Jan 11, 2007
During its life and death, a massive star forges the heavy elements that enrich the interstellar medium and form planets ... -- The interstellar medium (or ISM) is the name astronomers give to the tenuous gas and dust that pervade interstellar space. (Science Daily)
X-ray Evidence Supports Possible New Class Of Supernova Jan 6, 2007
-- The interstellar medium (or ISM) is the name astronomers give to the tenuous gas and dust that pervade interstellar space. Whilst the ISM refers to the matter (interstellar matter, also abbreviated. (Science Daily)
New Type Of Massive Stellar Death Dec 25, 2006
Stars with a mass more than 8 times that of our sun die violently in energetic supernova explosions expelling several solar masses of chemically enriched material into the interstellar medium leaving behind either neutron stars or black holes in the centre. In this way the interstellar medium becomes more and more enriched in elements such as Oxygen and Carbon, that are essential for life ... The implications of this discovery are therefore this: Where as we up till know thought that massive... (Science Daily)
Giant Mexican telescope launched Nov 25, 2006
This will give it the ability to see through the dust in the interstellar medium that obscures the view of many other astronomical facilities. President Fox said it would "put Mexico in the scientific and investigative vanguard in this field". (Yahoo News -- Mexico)
Japanese Space Probe's View Of Large Magellanic Cloud: Star Formation At Work Nov 14, 2006
It enables astronomers to study the way stars recycle their constituent gases and return them to the interstellar medium at the end of their lives ... -- The interstellar medium (or ISM) is the matter (interstellar matter) and energy (interstellar radiation field, ISRF) content that exists between the stars within a galaxy. (Science Daily)
Milky Way's Neighbouring Galaxies Have Different History Nov 11, 2006
Most heavy elements in the Universe are created by the nuclear reactions powering stars, which are fed into the interstellar medium when stars eject their gas layers at the end of their evolution. Studying the metal content of a star can therefore give information on its age and the conditions under which it formed. (Science Daily)
Scientists Crack Open Stellar Evolution Nov 1, 2006
The same process applies to low-mass metal poor suns, which may have been more important than metal-rich stars like the sun throughout the earlier part of galactic history in determining the 3He abundance of the interstellar medium ... However, observations of 3He in the interstellar medium show that it remains at ... Prior to our work, it was perceived that the 3He in the envelope was largely indestructible, and would be blown off later into space, thus enriching the interstellar medium and... (Science Daily)
How Matter Behaves In Disc Around A 'Be Star' Oct 6, 2006
ScienceDaily: How Matter Behaves In Disc Around A 'Be Star. How Matter Behaves In Disc Around A 'Be Star. (Science Daily)
Ballooning for Cosmic Rays Sep 30, 2006
"A supernova blast blows a bubble in the interstellar medium that grows until the shock wave runs out of energy," he explained. "They can accelerate particles up to some point, about 1014 electron volts (eV) per nucleon, but not beyond that. Below that level all of the different cosmic ray species - protons, helium nuclei, etc; should have the same kind of energy spectrum: a power law with index around -2.7.". (FirstScience.com)
The Weirdest Type Ia Supernova Yet Sep 26, 2006
A group of scientists affiliated with the SuperNova Legacy Survey (SNLS) have found startling evidence that there is more than one kind of Type Ia supernova, a class of exploding stars which until now has been regarded as essentially uniform in all important respects. Supernova SNLS-03D3bb is more than twice as bright as most Type Ia supernovae but has much less kinetic energy, and appears to be half again as massive as a typical Type Ia. (Science Daily)
A 'Genetic Study' Of The Galaxy Sep 21, 2006
Looking in detail at the composition of stars with ESO's VLT, astronomers are providing a fresh look at the history of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. They reveal that the central part of our Galaxy formed not only very quickly but also independently of the rest. (Science Daily)
New Evidence Links Stellar Remains To Oldest-recorded Supernova Sep 19, 2006
(February 8, 1999) -- The expanding shock wave of a supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud has provided strong evidence to support a popular model of the interstellar medium, says a University of Illinois ... -- The interstellar medium (or ISM) is the matter (interstellar matter) and energy (interstellar radiation field, ISRF) content that exists between the stars within a galaxy. (Science Daily)
Missing gas found in Milky Way Aug 22, 2006
Three years ago, he proposed that the patchiness has to do with the chemistry of dust grains found in the space between stars, the interstellar medium ... Strong bond The basic idea is that the chemical bond between carbon atoms and deuterium atoms in the interstellar medium is slightly stronger, due to that extra neutron, than the chemical bond between carbon and hydrogen atoms ... This process occurs when dust grains are very cold and undisturbed, which is typical in the interstellar medium. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Stuff of life is in space Aug 9, 2006
"The discovery of these large organic molecules in the coldest regions of the interstellar medium has certainly changed the belief that large organic molecules would only have their origins in hot molecular cores," said study team member Anthony Remijan of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). "It has forced us to rethink the paradigms of interstellar chemistry.". (USA Today -- Tech)
Scientists Find Possible Origin Of Mysterious Red And Blue Lights In The Milky Way Galaxy Aug 3, 2006
The structure of two recently discovered silicon oxide nanoparticles, their properties provide a formation mechanism for larger silicates and are a potential source of luminescence in the interstellar medium. (Credit: A. Reber, VCU). (Science Daily)
Meteorites carry ancient carbon May 9, 2006
We could be looking at the remnants of precursor organic molecules, formed in the interstellar medium before the Solar System even existed ... "What is presented here are data that show that the distribution of isotopic compositions within the organic complex is [highly varied]. "I guess it is possible that we could be looking at the remnants of precursor organic molecules, formed in the interstellar medium before the Solar System even existed, embedded in a complex that formed at a later time... (BBC News -- Science)
Meteorites Discovered To Carry Interstellar Carbon May 6, 2006
"We have known for some time, for instance, that interplanetary dust particles (IDP), collected from high-flying airplanes in the upper atmosphere, contain huge excesses of these isotopes, probably indicating vestiges of organic material that formed in the interstellar medium. The IDPs have other characteristics indicating that they originated on bodies--perhaps comets--that have undergone less severe processing than the asteroids from which meteorites originate." ... -- The interstellar medium... (Science Daily)
Comet Dust Has Landed Apr 19, 2006
"The fundamental point is that we ultimately are made of this stuff -- 'stardust' from the interstellar medium," Andrew Westphal, associate director of the Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley, told The Chronicle last week. Scientists used to think they could explain the origin of terrestrial life solely in terms of chemical events that happened on Earth's surface several billion years ago. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Science)
New Map Of The Milky Way Charts Where Stars Are Born Mar 29, 2006
The value of such high range imaging is that it enables us to identify the underlying patterns of gas distribution and speeds that point toward the key physical processes occurring within the molecular gas phase of the interstellar medium, said Dr. Mark Heyer, a researcher from UMass involved in the project. Using a new receiver developed at UMass, the astronomers could depict the structure of the clouds faster and with much finer detail than any previous attempts. (Science Daily)
Beginner's Guide to Making a Star Mar 10, 2006
Using the ACIS, astronomers are taking pictures of Cas A that reveal the distribution of heavy atoms like oxygen, silicon and iron in the supernova's rapidly expanding shell that show how those elements are mixing into the ambient interstellar medium of gas and dust ... On the eastern side of the supernova's shell, Ca and Si images reveal a high speed jet erupting into a relatively low-density region of the interstellar medium ... By monitoring these changes, Chandra scientists hope to learn... (FirstScience.com)
Part-time Pulsar Yields New Insight Into Inner Workings Of Cosmic Clocks Mar 5, 2006
-- The interstellar medium (or ISM) is the matter (interstellar matter) and energy (interstellar radiation field, ISRF) content that exists between the stars within a galaxy. The matter consists of. (Science Daily)
Interplanetary Dust Particles: Reproducing GEMS-like Structure In The Laboratory Feb 17, 2006
The team first postulates that the GEMS precursors originated in the interstellar medium and were progressively heated in the protosolar nebula ... Scientists now eagerly await the analysis of grains collected by Stardust to find out for certain that some GEMS truly come from the interstellar medium. (Science Daily)
Multi-wavelength Images Help Astronomers Study Star Birth, Death Jan 18, 2006
New composite images of optical, radio, infrared, ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths are giving astronomers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign a clearer picture of the birth, life and death of massive stars, and their effect on the gas and dust of the interstellar medium surrounding them ... While alive, these stars energize and enrich the interstellar medium with their strong ultraviolet radiation and their fast stellar winds ... As they die, shock waves from their death throes... (Science Daily)
Astronomers weigh 'recycled' millisecond pulsar Jan 13, 2006
4 GHz, which provides a good compromise between the brightness of the pulsar and the deleterious effects of the interstellar medium. By taking exact measurements of the arrival time of pulses from PSR J1909-3744 at regular intervals for nearly two years, and keeping count of every pulse of radio waves during this time (about 19 billion pulses), the astronomers precisely mapped out the pulsar's position on the sky and the shape of its orbit. (EurekAlert!)
Black Holes, Black Holes, Black Holes! Jan 12, 2006
The annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C. this year covered more than 30 subjects from the Sun, White Dwarfs, Pulsars and Black Holes to the evolution of Galaxies, the interstellar medium and gamma-ray bursts. Here's a short review of 5 new discoveries about black holes. (Softpedia)
Flashes From The Past: Echoes From Ancient Supernovae Jan 1, 2006
Astronomers also can use supernova light echoes to measure the structure and nature of the interstellar medium. Dust and gas between the stars are invisible unless illuminated by some light source, just as fog at night is not noticeable until lit by a car s headlights. (Science Daily)
