Space and Science News
Poster: Aron Schatz
Posted on January 9, 2003 at 5:56:50 PM
If you don't like it, too bad! I like it.
Wandering star heading for a dwarfing.
Best view of a blackhole.
Top 5 Space myths.
Deep Space SnapShots.
Wandering star heading for a dwarfing.
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The wandering star, T Tauri Sb, lies 450 light years away in the constellation Taurus. Astronomers have plotted its course for nearly 20 years. At first it seemed to be orbiting a pair of larger stars, T Tauri Sa, in an off-centre ellipse.
In 1995, T Tauri Sb passed about as close to T Tauri Sa as Mars is to the Sun. After this, "the shape and velocity of the orbit changed dramatically", says Laurent Loinard of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City.
T Tauri Sb's speed doubled, from 10 to 20 kilometres per second. Instead of curving back towards the T Tauri Sa pair, it is now heading away from them, Loinard told the American Astronomical Society meeting this week in Seattle.
Best view of a blackhole.
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Black holes love to feast. Among their favorite food is gas. Today, astronomers announced they've made the most detailed observations ever of giant clouds of gas very near a colossal black hole.
On the black hole's dinner plate was carbon monoxide. Some of it will almost surely be consumed, the researchers say. Scientists have struggled to observe these final stages of consumption, because black holes are far away and because the eating generates a lot of light that drowns out what's happening.
Top 5 Space myths.
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How much astronomy do you know? I mean, really know. Completely, self-assuredly, bet-your-bottom-dollar, 100 percent absolutely certain you know.
Deep Space SnapShots.
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Astronomers used the gravity of the galaxy cluster Abell 1689 to zoom in on the objects behind it. They think they may have spotted galaxies 13 billion light years away, from when the Universe was 2 billion years old.