AstroSpace Update
August 2010
Gathered by Don Lynn from NASA and other sources
Exoplanet wind – Spectrographic analysis of light shining through the atmosphere of an exoplanet named HD209458b during its transit (passage in front) of its star has determined that there are winds on the planet blowing at 3-6 thousand mph. The planet orbits quite close to [...]
AstroSpace Update
July 2010
Gathered by Don Lynn from NASA and other sources
Kepler (exoplanet finder) has been observing 156,000 stars in Cygnus since May last year, looking for the dips in light level caused by planets transiting (passing in front of) their stars. The first 1.5 months of data has finally been released (only partially) and there [...]
AstroSpace Update
June 2010
Gathered by Don Lynn from NASA and other sources
Runaway black hole – A college student in the Netherlands has discovered what appears to be a supermassive black hole that has been ejected from the center of its galaxy.
AstroSpace Update
May 2010
Gathered by Don Lynn from NASA and other sources
Retrograde exoplanet – It was reported here in January that the 2nd known retrograde exoplanet (planet outside our solar system that orbits in the opposite direction to its star’s rotation) had been discovered, and the comment was made that this should be unusual.
AstroSpace Update
April 2010
Gathered by Don Lynn from NASA and other sources
Chandra (orbiting X-ray Observatory) has studied several elliptical galaxies and failed to find the X-ray emission expected from Type Ia supernovas. It has been generally accepted that Type Ia supernovas occur in 2 ways:
