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A Potential Solution to How Rocky Planets Formed

New work from Carnegie’s Alan Boss offers a potential solution to a longstanding problem in the prevailing theory of how rocky planets formed in our own Solar System, as well as in others.

26 Jun 2015

Giant Messier 87 Galaxy has Swallowed an Entire Galaxy

New observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope have revealed that the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 has swallowed an entire medium-sized galaxy over the last billion years.

26 Jun 2015

Scientists Demonstrate That Quantum Spin Hall Effect is Also an Intrinsic Property of Light

In a paper that crystalizes knowledge from a variety of experiments and theoretical developments, scientists from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science in Japan have demonstrated that the quantum spin Hall effect--an effect known to take place in solid state physics--is also an intrinsic property of light.

26 Jun 2015

New Measuring Stick in the Form of Neutron Star's Echoes

In late 2013, when the neutron star at the heart of one of our galaxy's oddest supernovae gave off a massive burst of X-rays, the resulting echoes -- created when the X-rays bounced off clouds of dust in interstellar space -- yielded a surprising new measuring stick for astronomers.

25 Jun 2015

Active Galactic Nuclei Resemble a Flickering Lamp

Supermassive black holes pull in gas with great force from their surroundings. As the gas rotates around the black hole, it becomes progressively hotter through friction and begins to radiate. This is how the brightest objects in the universe, active galactic nuclei (AGN), are formed. They often shine brighter than the hundreds of billions of stars in their galaxy. In the center of our home galaxy, the Milky Way there is also such a black hole that, according to some studies, shone as an AGN a few millions of years ago.

25 Jun 2015

University of Chicago Researchers Make Crucial Step Towards Nuclear Spintronic Technologies

An electronics technology that uses the "spin" -- or magnetization -- of atomic nuclei to store and process information promises huge gains in performance over today's electron-based devices. But getting there is proving challenging.

25 Jun 2015

Astronomers Discover Cosmic Rings of X-ray Light

The largest and brightest set of cosmic rings resulting from echoes of X-ray light has been discovered by a science team that includes a Penn State astronomer. The team used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to discover the beautiful and extraordinary rings, which were produced by an intense burst of energy from a neutron star. Rings of this type give astronomers a rare chance to determine the distance from Earth to an object in our Milky Way Galaxy.

25 Jun 2015

Continued Study of Dwarf Galaxies Could Reveal Identity of Dark Matter Particles

In March, scientists announced that a flurry of eight objects that look to be newfound dwarf galaxy satellites of the Milky Way have turned up in observations by the Dark Energy Survey, an international astronomy project that aims to explain the universe's accelerating expansion. These miniature galaxies – the first discovered in a decade – shine with a mere billionth of our galaxy's brightness and each contain a million times less mass. Belying their diminutive stature, dwarf galaxies are big news for scientists.

25 Jun 2015

Intense Flare from Neutron Star Produces Extraordinary Rings

Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have discovered the largest and brightest set of rings from X-ray light echoes ever observed. These extraordinary rings, produced by an intense flare from a neutron star, provide astronomers a rare chance to determine how far across the Milky Way galaxy the star is from Earth.

24 Jun 2015

Astronomers Solve Mystery of Unusually Hot Blue Hook Stars

Astronomers have solved a mystery over small, unusually hot blue stars, 10 times hotter than our Sun, that are found in the middle of dense star clusters.

24 Jun 2015