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| INTEGRAL researcher scoops Zeldovich Medal |
| Dr. Vito Sguera, a young, Italian scientist who contributed significantly to the discovery of a new sub-class of X-ray binaries, using ESA's INTEGRAL telescope, has been awarded the 2010 Zeldovich Medal from the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). He is being recognised for his work on Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXTs). |
| Date: 22 Jun 2010 |
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| Venus Express shows off new findings at major conference |
| Thanks to data from Venus Express we have the best idea yet of how Venus' atmosphere works, but there is still a long way to go, delegates at this year's International Venus Conference will be told. At the event, taking place this week (20-26 June) in Aussois, France, scientists are outlining how a better understanding of our nearest planetary neighbour can help us probe our own planet, as well as other bodies in our Solar System, and beyond. |
| Date: 22 Jun 2010 |
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| Hubble captures bubbles and baby stars [heic1011] |
| A spectacular new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image - one of the largest ever released of a star-forming region - highlights N11, part of a complex network of gas clouds and star clusters within our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. This region of energetic star formation is one of the most active in the nearby Universe. |
| Date: 22 Jun 2010 |
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| XMM-Newton line detection provides new tool to probe extreme gravity |
| A long-sought-after emission line of oxygen, carrying the imprint of strong gravitational fields, has been discovered in the XMM-Newton spectrum of an exotic binary system composed of two stellar remnants, a neutron star and a white dwarf. Astronomers can use this line to probe extreme gravity effects in the region close to the surface of a neutron star. |
| Date: 21 Jun 2010 |
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| Hubble scrutinises site of mysterious flash and missing cloud belt on Jupiter [heic1010] |
| New and detailed observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have provided insights into two recent events on Jupiter: the mysterious flash of light seen on 3 June and the recent disappearance of the planet's dark Southern Equatorial Belt. |
| Date: 16 Jun 2010 |
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| CoRoT unveils a rich assortment of new exoplanets |
| By detecting the faint dimming in the light emitted by stars during a transit event, CoRoT has detected six new exoplanets - each with its own peculiar characteristics - and one brown dwarf. One of these exoplanets, designated CoRoT-11b, has twice the mass of Jupiter and orbits a rapidly rotating star; this type of star is an extremely difficult target for exoplanet searches and its detection marks a significant achievement for the CoRoT team. |
| Date: 14 Jun 2010 |
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| The Cluster archive: more than 1000 users |
| More than 1000 scientists are now registered to access the Cluster Active Archive (CAA), the online database of the Cluster mission. On average, the amount of data downloaded every month by these scientists exceeds 1 Terabyte. |
| Date: 03 Jun 2010 |
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| Hubble catches stars on the move [heic1009] |
| By exploiting the exquisite image quality of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and comparing two observations made ten years apart astronomers have, for the first time, managed to measure the tiny motions of several hundred young stars within the central cluster of the star-forming region NGC 3603. The team was surprised to find that the stars are moving in ways that are at odds with the current understanding of how such clusters evolve. The stars in the cluster have not "settled down" as expected. |
| Date: 02 Jun 2010 |
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| Novel observing mode on XMM-Newton opens new perspectives on galaxy clusters |
| Surveying the sky, XMM-Newton has discovered two massive galaxy clusters, confirming a previous detection obtained through observations of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, the 'shadow' they cast on the Cosmic Microwave Background. The discovery, made possible thanks to a novel mosaic observing mode recently introduced on ESA's X-ray observatory, opens a new window to study the Universe's largest bound structures in a multi-wavelength approach. |
| Date: 31 May 2010 |
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| Herschel Announcement of Opportunity for Open Time (OT1) observations |
| The first in-flight Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for Open Time (OT1) observations with the Herschel Space Observatory has been issued. The OT1 call solicits proposals from the worldwide astronomical community and offers 6592 hours of Herschel observing time. The deadline for proposal submissions is: 22 July 2010 at 12:00 UT. |
| Date: 21 May 2010 |
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| ESA International Research Fellow awarded gold medal by the Russian Academy of Sciences |
| Dr. Maria Gritsevich, an International Research Fellow in the Research & Scientific Support Department of ESA at ESTEC in the Netherlands, has received a gold medal from the Russian Academy of Sciences. The medal, granted to the best young scientist of the past year in the field of Problems of mechanical engineering, mechanics and control processes, recognises the extensive work accomplished by Gritsevich during her PhD studies at the Lomonosov Moscow State University. |
| Date: 20 May 2010 |
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| Scientists discuss progress in next generation X-ray observatory |
| Despite their travel arrangements being thrown into chaos by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, nearly 200 participants from around the world came together recently at the Cité Universitaire in Paris, for the Second International X-ray Observatory (IXO) Science Meeting. This was a timely opportunity to review the progress that has been made on IXO in a number of areas. |
| Date: 18 May 2010 |
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| X-ray discovery points to location of missing matter |
| Using observations with ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have announced a robust detection of a vast
reservoir of intergalactic gas about 400 million light years from Earth. This discovery is the strongest evidence yet that the 'missing matter' in the nearby Universe is located in an enormous web of hot, diffuse gas. |
| Date: 11 May 2010 |
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| Hubble catches heavyweight runaway star speeding from 30 Doradus [heic1008] |
| A heavy runaway star is rushing away from a nearby stellar nursery at more than 400 000 kilometres per hour, a speed that would get you to the Moon and back in two hours. The runaway is the most extreme case of a very massive star that has been kicked out of its home by a group of even heftier siblings. Tantalising clues from three observatories, including the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's newly installed Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), and some old-fashioned detective work, suggest that the star may have travelled about 375 light-years from its suspected home, a giant star cluster called R136. |
| Date: 11 May 2010 |
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| Herschel unveils rare massive stars in the act of forming |
| New images from ESA's Herschel space observatory reveal high-mass protostars around two ionised regions in our Galaxy. The detection of these rare stars in an early phase of evolution is key to understanding the mysterious formation of massive stars. |
| Date: 06 May 2010 |
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| Herschel reveals galaxies in the GOODS fields in a brand new light |
| The discovery of a previously unresolved population of galaxies in the GOODS fields and the first measurements of properties of galaxies in the almost unexplored far-infrared domain are among the first exciting scientific results achieved by Herschel's PACS and SPIRE instruments. These findings confirm the extraordinary capabilities of ESA's new infrared space observatory to investigate the formation and evolution of galaxies. |
| Date: 06 May 2010 |
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| Herschel's HIFI follows the trail of cosmic water |
| Herschel's HIFI instrument was especially designed to follow the water trail in the Universe over a wide range of scales, from the Solar System out to extragalactic sources. Early results, presented this week at the Herschel First Results Symposium, demonstrate how HIFI uses water to probe the physical and chemical conditions in different regions of the cosmos. |
| Date: 06 May 2010 |
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| James Webb Space Telescope passes key mission design review milestone |
| The James Webb Space Telescope has passed its most significant mission milestone to date, the Mission Critical Design Review. This signifies that the integrated observatory will meet all science and engineering requirements for its mission. |
| Date: 03 May 2010 |
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| XMM-Newton releases new edition of cosmic catalogue |
| One of the teams behind ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray mission has unveiled the latest edition of their 2XMM catalogue. The newest incarnation boasts an additional 42 000 entries, ratcheting up the total to over a quarter of a million X-ray sources. This unprecedented cosmic X-ray library is a valuable resource allowing astronomers to explore the extreme Universe. |
| Date: 28 Apr 2010 |
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| Star formation processes highlighted by Planck |
| The processes involved in star formation can be disentangled using the power of multi-frequency observations. New images from Planck reveal the interstellar medium and isolate the physical processes at work in our Galaxy. |
| Date: 26 Apr 2010 |
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