Hubble

Researcher computes universe's expansion speed

Sydney: A researcher has come up with one of the most accurate measurements ever made of how fast the universe is expanding.

Florian Beutler, doctoral candidate with the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) at The University of Western Australia, has calculated how fast the universe is growing by measuring the Hubble constant.

"The Hubble constant is a key number in astronomy because it's used to calculate the size and age of the universe," said Beutler.

The Hubble constant links how fast galaxies are moving with how far they are from us, the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society reports....more

11:46 AM, Jul 28, 2011

Hubble sees birth of new stars

by Associated Press

Washington: The Hubble Space Telescope got its first peek at a mysterious blob that is giving birth to new stars, some only a couple million years old, in remote areas of the universe where stars don't normally form. The blob of gas was first discovered by a Dutch school teacher in 2007 and is named Hanny's Voorwerp (HAN'-nee's-FOR'-vehrp). Voorwerp is Dutch for object. NASA released the new Hubble photo Monday...

04:02 PM, Jan 12, 2011

Cannibal galaxies eat smaller neigbours

London: Scientists have discovered that there's more than one way for older galaxies to stay young - by cannibalising their smaller neighbours. Astronomers studying an elderly elliptical galaxy, NGC 4150, have found that it is still producing stars despite its advanced age believed to be more than a billion years. New observations with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope revealed that NGC 4150 is keeping itself fat, sassy, youthful and reproductive by...

06:32 PM, Nov 23, 2010