A new multimillion-rand telescope in the Karoo will offer astronomers an unprecedented view of the stars. The MeerLICHT instrument in Sutherland will be specifically linked to the MeerKAT radio telescope array near Carnarvon in the Northern Cape. Unlike its bigger brother SALT (Southern African Large Telescope), the MeerLICHT is meant …
the brightening and dimming of the Sun may account for a 1,500-year cycle of cooling and warming on parts of the Earth, suggests a study. The study was done by researchers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in Palisades, New York, usa. According to them, a very slight …
the world's highest observatory has been commissioned in Hanle, a remote village in Ladakh. The observatory is situated 4,500 metres above sea level. For astronomers, the observatory's height is crucial for getting a clear view of the space. This observatory, likely to be named the Chandra, is billed as the …
it is one of the unwritten assumptions of physics that the laws of nature are the same not only in all parts of the Universe but also at all times. This assumption is what allows us to say meaningful things about very distant realms of our Universe and also about …
Twelve more moons of the planet Saturn were discovered recently, making Saturn the planet with the highest number of moons in our Solar System. Observations taken by astronomers at a network of telescopes in Chile, Hawaii and Arizona, USA, suggests that 11 of the new moons come from 3 earlier …
the Sun, apart from being the source of all energy for the Earth, also spews out other particles copiously into space. One such particle, the neutrino could help scientists formulate the correct theory of the Sun. Unfortunately, all attempts till date to measure the number of neutrinos coming to us …
we may not be the only ones. With the discovery of a new planet, a team of astronomers has come a step closer to finding solar systems that might have characteristics similar to our own. The team recently found a Jupiter-sized planet in a circular orbit around a faint star …
for the first time ever, a joint team of Indian and British scientists have found bacterial cells believed to be from outer space. According to them, it is the first real evidence of the presence of living organism floating in the Earth's stratosphere. "Air samples collected aseptically over tropical India …
magnetic fields in space can straighten out any bending of space-time caused by gravity, shows new research. Ever since Einstein formulated his general theory of relativity, almost a century ago, it has been known that gravity bends space-time. But now, a scientist has shown how magnetic fields in space can …
after 11 years, the Hubble Space Telescope ( hst ) has completed its measurement of the Hubble constant, a fundamental number that determines how old and how big the Universe is. The value of the constant determined by the hst is close to its value expected by astronomers. As noticed …
titan, Saturn's largest moon, has conditions that resemble those that prevailed on the Earth before the advent of life. Now scientists have discovered that the moon has high velocity winds which blow from west to east. This new information will prove invaluable for space scientists who are planning to land …
the turning point in the history of planetary exploration came in 1976. Two Viking crafts, launched by the us, tested the soil on Mars for microorganisms. Unfortunately, they found none. Scientists concluded that life did not exist on Mars, or at least on the parts of the planet where the …
Astronomers have used a high-resolution spectrograph at the Keck I telescope, in the us, to obtain the spectra of the atmosphere of Venus and reported a strong green line emission. Studying the composition of planetary atmospheres is crucial to understanding their evolution and structure. One way to do it is …
The scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, US have found two new planetary systems. In one of the systems, 123 light-years from Earth, two planetary bodies are circling a star. One of the two may be the biggest planet known to us. The head of the planet-searching team, Geoffrey …
January 17, 2001. 6 pm. The long queue at Siri Fort, New Delhi, resembled those at film festivals where people stand for hours to catch a steamy, uncensored film. Except, in this case, the profile of the people waiting was different. Students, bureaucrats, academics, and, of course, socialites
one of the unresolved mysteries of astrophysics has been the presence of runaway stars. These stars move through space without following the rotation or other motion of their parent galaxies. Now, scientists at the Lieden Observatory in the Netherlands have discovered the reason for this wandering motion of runaway stars. …
Astronomers will be able to pin the date of the construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza within five years. The theory assumes that the Egyptians used two bright stars
Minute traces of specially designed greenhouse gases can be used to heat up Mars and make the planet habitable much faster than anyone thought possible. "On the Earth these gases may be pollution, but on Mars they are medicine,' says Chris McKay, who organised a meeting at the National Aeronautics …
the "shooting stars' or meteors that streak through our atmosphere are actually very old objects. They have typically travelled for millions of years before they hit the Earth. Now scientists have developed a new model that explains why they take so long to come to the Earth. It was believed …
