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05/12/2006

Palomar Observes Broken Comet

Astronomers have recently been enjoying front-row seats to a spectacular cometary show. Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 is in the act of splitting apart as it passes close to Earth. The breakup is providing a firsthand look at the death of a comet.

05/04/2006

CARMA Radio Telescope Array in the Inyo Mountains Dedicated May 5

Robert Tindol

The official dedication of the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA) facility was held Friday, May 5, at Cedar Flat in the Inyo Mountains near Bishop.

04/11/2006

Hubble Space Telescope Obtains Best-Ever Size Measurement of Xena; Still Larger Than Pluto

Robert Tindol

To paraphrase a certain young lady from literature, the tenth planet Xena is getting curiouser and curiouser. Data released today by the Space Telescope Science Institute reveals that Xena is about 5 percent larger than Pluto, which means that it must be the most reflective planet in the solar system.

03/28/2006

Experimental Particle Physicist Jay Marx Named Executive Director of LIGO

Robert Tindol

Jay Marx, an experimental particle physicist who in recent decades has been involved in several of the highest-profile physics projects in the country, has been named executive director of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). His appointment has been approved by the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the two academic institutions in charge of the project, and the National Science Foundation, which provides funding.

03/15/2006

Astronomers Discover a River of Stars Streaming Across the Northern Sky

Robert Tindol

Astronomers have discovered a narrow stream of stars extending at least 45 degrees across the northern sky. The stream is about 76,000 light-years distant from Earth and forms a giant arc over the disk of the Milky Way galaxy.

02/27/2006

Andromeda's Stellar Halo Shows Galaxy's Origin to Be Similar to That of Milky Way

Robert Tindol

For the last decade, astronomers have thought that the Andromeda galaxy, our nearest galactic neighbor, was rather different from the Milky Way. But a group of researchers have determined that the two galaxies are probably quite similar in the way they evolved, at least over their first several billion years.

02/21/2006

LIGO Kicks into High Gear for Gravitational-Wave Search with 18-Month Observation Run

Robert Tindol

The quest to detect and study gravitational waves with the NSF-funded Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is now in the fourth month of its first sustained science run since achieving its promised design sensitivity, project personnel announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

01/18/2006

Astrophysical Device Will Sniff Out Terrorism

Astrophysicists spend most of their time looking for objects in the sky, but 9/11 changed Ryan McLean's orientation.

01/11/2006

Quasar Study Provides Insights into Composition of the Stars That Ended the "Dark Ages"

Robert Tindol

A team of astronomers has uncovered new evidence about the stars whose formation ended the cosmic "Dark Ages" a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.

01/10/2006

Kuiper Belt Moons Are Starting to Seem Typical

Robert Tindol

In the not-too-distant past, the planet Pluto was thought to be an odd bird in the outer reaches of the solar system because it has a moon, Charon, that was formed much like Earth's own moon was formed. But Pluto is getting a lot of company these days. Of the four largest objects in the Kuiper belt, three have one or more moons.

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