“ScienceDaily (2011-12-01) — A strangely powerful, long-lasting gamma-ray burst on Christmas Day, 2010 has finally been analyzed to the satisfaction of a multinational research team. Called the Christmas Burst, GRB 101225A was freakishly lengthy and it produced radiation at unusually varying wavelengths. But by matching the data with a model developed in 1998, the team was able to characterize the star explosion as a neutron star spiraling into the heart of its companion star.” More…

Categories: Astronomy, Science
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The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a modified Boeing 747SP, equipped with a 2.5-metre-diameter telescope.

Researchers at NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) Science Center, located at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., and operated by the Universities Space Research Association, have used the space agency’s flying telescope to take the highest resolution mid-infrared image of a region of rapid, massive star formation named W40. More…

Tags: Observatory,SOFIA,Telescope
Categories: Astronomy, Science
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Russian re-supply ship fail and crashes.

Categories: Astronomy, Science, Space, Technology
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Apparently while Hubble was doing a survey of Pluto to determine if it had rings like Saturn or Uranus they discovered instead that Pluto has another moon. This discovery is based on the continuing work of the New Horizons mission. The New Horizons mission will be doing a close flyby in 2015. With this new discovery program managers can work to include a study of the new moon.

The new moon is located between the orbits of Nix and Hydra, which Hubble discovered in 2005. Pluto’s other moon Charon was discovered by the US Naval Observatory in 1978 and was first imaged by Hubble in 1990.

The moon temporarily designated P4 was first imaged on June 28th by Hubbles Wide Field 3 and follow up images on July 3 and 18 confirmed the find.

The new moon is the smallest discovered around Pluto. It has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km). By comparison, Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, is 648 miles (1,043 km) across, and the other moons, Nix and Hydra, are in the range of 20 to 70 miles in diameter (32 to 113 km).

Tags: Hubble,Moon,P4,Pluto
Categories: Astronomy, Science, Space, Technology
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New Comet Approaching!

Help Scientists Decide on What KBOs the New Horizons Spacecraft Will Visit

Astronomers discover that galaxies are either asleep or awake

Russian Amateurs Launch Globe to the Edge of Space [Flight

Largest cosmic structures ‘too big’ for theories

Universe’s highest electric current found

Spying on Spy Satellites with Thierry Legault

New ice thickness map of the Arctic unveiled

Categories: Astronomy, Science, Space, Technology
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