A team of astronomers led by Jose Dias do Nascimento (Department of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte [DFTE, UFRN], Brazil) has found the farthest known solar twin in the Milky Way Galaxy, CoRoT Sol 1, which has about the same mass and chemical composition as the Sun. Figure [continue reading]

  ESA’s Herschel space observatory has discovered an extremely distant galaxy making stars more than 2000 times faster than our own Milky Way. Seen at a time when the Universe was less than a billion years old, its mere existence challenges our theories of galaxy evolution. Artist’s impression of starburst galaxy HFLS3. The galaxy appears [continue reading]

  Using the new KAT-7 telescope in the Karoo and the existing 26 m radio telescope at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO), South African and international astronomers have observed a neutron star system known as Circinus X-1 as it fires energetic matter from its core in extensive, compact jets that flare brightly. The details [continue reading]

  Water is perhaps the most important molecule in our Solar System. Figuring out where it came from and how it was distributed within and among the planets can help scientists understand how planets formed and evolved. New research from a team including Carnegie’s Erik Hauri demonstrates that water from the interiors of the Earth [continue reading]

  The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has found signs of Earth-like planets in an unlikely place: the atmospheres of a pair of burnt-out stars in a nearby star cluster. The white dwarf stars are being polluted by debris from asteroid-like objects falling onto them. This discovery suggests that rocky planet formation is common in clusters, [continue reading]

  ESA’s Herschel space observatory has made detailed observations of surprisingly hot molecular gas that may be orbiting or falling towards the supermassive black hole lurking at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The environment at the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy. The Galactic Centre hosts a supermassive black hole in the region known as [continue reading]