ESA Science & Technology - News Archive
News archive
News archive
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope - with a little help from an amateur astronomer - has produced one of the best views yet of nearby spiral galaxy Messier 106. Located a little over 20 million light-years away, practically a neighbour by cosmic standards, Messier 106 is one of the brightest and nearest spiral galaxies to our own.
Published: 5 February 2013
ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory has completed the most detailed study ever of the fierce wind from a giant star, showing for the first time that it is not a uniform breeze but is fragmented into hundreds of thousands of pieces.
Published: 5 February 2013
Astronomers using Herschel have found heavy molecular hydrogen in the protoplanetary disc around nearby star TW Hydrae. The observations enabled an estimate of the gaseous disc's mass, which is equivalent to 50 Jupiters.
Published: 30 January 2013
Measurements obtained with ESA's Venus Express spacecraft have shed new light on the interaction between the solar wind and the second planet from the Sun.
Published: 29 January 2013
Monitoring a pulsar with XMM-Newton, astronomers discovered X-ray variations that mimic in reverse similar changes seen in radio waves. This switching behaviour, which occurs within only a few seconds, challenges the current understanding of pulsars.
Published: 24 January 2013
NASA has officially joined ESA's Euclid mission, a space telescope designed to investigate the mysterious natures of dark matter and dark energy.
Published: 24 January 2013
Nearly 200 000 light-years from Earth, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, newly formed stars light up gas clouds in a riot of colours, visible in this image from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Published: 17 January 2013
ESA's Herschel space observatory made new observations of asteroid Apophis as it approached Earth this weekend. The data shows the asteroid to be bigger than first estimated, and less reflective.
Published: 9 January 2013
How fast people age may have more to do with their lifestyle than with how old they actually are. A new study with the Hubble Space Telescope reveals that the same is true of star clusters.
Published: 19 December 2012
The European Space Agency invites small platform providers from ESA Member States to declare their interest for the provision of the CHEOPS spacecraft by replying to this RFI. The submission deadline for the response to this RFI is 30 January 2013, 12:00 CET (noon).
Published: 19 December 2012
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates the holiday season with a striking image of the planetary nebula NGC 5189. The intricate structure of the stellar eruption looks like a giant and brightly coloured ribbon in space.
Published: 18 December 2012
A long-standing puzzle of solar physics is that the solar wind is hotter than it should be. A new study of data obtained by ESA's Cluster spacecraft may help to explain this mystery.
Published: 18 December 2012
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered seven primitive galaxies from a distant population that formed more than 13 billion years ago. In the process, their observations have put forward a candidate for the record for the most distant galaxy found to date (at redshift 11.9), and have shed new light on the earliest...
Published: 12 December 2012
Studying the Andromeda galaxy with XMM-Newton, astronomers have discovered a black hole accreting mass at very high rate. This allowed them to study the link between disc and jets around a black hole at the peak of its accretion activity.
Published: 12 December 2012
Bright pink nebulae almost completely encircle a spiral galaxy in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 922. The ring structure and the galaxy's distorted spiral shape result from a smaller galaxy scoring a cosmic bullseye, hitting the centre of NGC 922 some 330 million years ago.
Published: 6 December 2012
The largest census of starburst galaxies, with almost 800 redshift measurements, has been assembled using data from Herschel and Keck. The survey confirms the important role of starbursts in the history of the Universe's star formation.
Published: 4 December 2012
For decades, planetary scientists have debated whether Venus possesses active volcanoes. The latest twist to the tale is provided by data sent back from Venus Express, revealing unexplained major changes in the amount of sulphur dioxide gas above the planet's dense cloud layer.
Published: 2 December 2012
New observations made by the international Cassini spacecraft confirm that dramatic atmospheric reversal takes place as the seasons shift on Saturn's giant moon Titan.
Published: 28 November 2012
Astronomers using Herschel have detected massive debris discs around two nearby stars hosting low-mass planets. The discovery suggests that debris discs may survive more easily in planetary systems without very massive planets.
Published: 27 November 2012
Astronomers have discovered a 'bridge' of hot gas connecting the galaxy clusters Abell 399 and 401. At least part of this gas might derive from the warm-hot intergalactic medium - the elusive web of gaseous filaments pervading the Universe.
Published: 20 November 2012
—
20 Items per Page