The Week in Pictures: July 27–August 2, 2013
In the past seven days, Cassini revealed the forces controlling Enceladus' jets, Chandra captured a transiting exoplanet in X-rays, astronomers found a new way of measuring the spin in supermassive black holes, and more.
Published: Friday, August 02, 2013
NASA/ESA/M. Carollo (ETH Zurich)
Hubble’s COSMOS survey solves “quenched” galaxy mystery
Scientists found that a large number of bigger galaxies switch off at later times, joining their smaller quenched siblings and giving the mistaken impression of individual galaxy growth over time.
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NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Cornell/SSI
Cassini spacecraft reveals forces controlling Saturn moon jets
The intensity of jets of water ice and organic particles that shoot out from Saturn’s moon Enceladus depends on the moon’s proximity to the ringed planet.
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Capturing black hole spin could further understanding of galaxy growth
Using the distance between a black hole and its disk, scientists were able to estimate the spin of the black hole.
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X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/K. Poppenhaeger, et al.; Illustration: NASA
Chandra sees eclipsing planet in X-rays for first time
Thousands of planet candidates have been seen to transit in only optical light, but studying one in X-rays is important because it reveals new information about the properties of an exoplanet.
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ESA/XMM-Newton/EPIC/M. Watson (University of Leicester)
Team sets new record for cosmic X-ray sightings
The new X-ray catalog contains over half a million X-ray source detections and is home to some of the rarest and most extreme phenomena in the universe.
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NASA/JPL-Caltech/SDSS/NOAO
Monster galaxies lose their appetite with age
The new findings will help researchers understand how galaxy clusters, among the most massive structures in our universe, form and evolve.
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Spitzer discovers young stars with a “hula hoop”
Blinking star systems with warped disks offer scientists a way to study how planets form in such environments.
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A new view on the origin of dark matter and dark energy
A new image of M31 demonstrates Hyper-Suprime Cam’s capability to fulfill Subaru Telescope’s intention of producing a large-scale survey of the universe.
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WISE finds mysterious centaurs may be comets
The data point to a cometary origin for most of the objects, suggesting they are coming from deeper out in the solar system.
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P. Frinchaboy (Texas Christian Univ.y)/R. Schiavon (Liverpool John Moores Univ.)/SDSS-III Collaboration; Infrared sky image from 2MASS/IPAC-Caltech/Univ. of Massachusetts
New data help astronomers explore the hidden Milky Way
The ability to explore previously hidden regions of the galaxy allows the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to conduct the first comprehensive study of the Milky Way, from center to halo.
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