Abell 315: A cluster and a sea of galaxies

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A new wide-field image released today by ESO displays many thousands of distant galaxies, and more particularly a large group belonging to the massive galaxy cluster known as Abell 315. As crowded as it may appear, this assembly of galaxies is only the proverbial "tip of the iceberg", as Abell 315 — like most galaxy clusters — is dominated by dark matter. The huge mass of this cluster deflects light from background galaxies, distorting their observed shapes slightly.

Sunlight with cooling factor

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Largest atlas of nuclear galactic rings unveiled

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An international team of astrophysicists has just unveiled the most complete atlas of nuclear rings, enormous star-forming ring-shaped regions that circle certain galactic nuclei. The catalogue, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, includes 113 such rings in 107 galaxies.

'Survivor' black holes in galaxy M82 may be mid-sized

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New evidence from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton strengthens the case that two mid-sized black holes exist close to the center of a nearby starburst galaxy. These "survivor" black holes avoided falling into the center of the galaxy and could be examples of the seeds required for the growth of supermassive black holes in galaxies, including the one in the Milky Way.

Scientists finds evidence of water ice on 24 Themis asteroid's surface

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KNOXVILLE -- Asteroids may not be the dark, dry, lifeless chunks of rock scientists have long thought.

Josh Emery, research assistant professor with the earth and planetary sciences department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has found evidence of water ice and organic material on the asteroid 24 Themis. This evidence supports the idea that asteroids could be responsible for bringing water and organic material to Earth.

The findings are detailed in the April 29 issue of the journal "Nature."

GJ 436b - This planet tastes funny

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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered something odd about a distant planet called GJ 436b; it lacks methane, an ingredient common to many of the planets in our solar system.

AA special feature: Science with AKARI

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Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing a special feature this week dedicated to the new results obtained with AKARI, the first Japanese infrared satellite. AKARI is a project of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) with the participation of the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched in February 2006. It is equipped with a 68.5 cm cooled telescope and two instruments: the infrared camera (1.8-26 mic) and the far-infrared surveyor (50-180 mic). AKARI surveyed the whole sky in six infrared bands from May 2006 to August 2007. Two AKARI all-sky survey catalogs have just been released to the astronomers' community (see the ESA press release on 31 March 2010). The new catalogs contain more than one million celestial sources and will be a major tool for astronomers, after having to rely on the IRAS atlas for more than 25 years.

BYF73 and insight into how massive stars form

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Using a CSIRO radio telescope, an international team of researchers has caught an enormous cloud of cosmic gas and dust in the process of collapsing in on itself – a discovery which could help solve one of astronomy's enduring conundrums: 'How do massive stars form?'

Ice of 24 Themis may be 'living fossil' with clues to oceans' origins

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The first-ever discovery of ice and organic molecules on an asteroid may hold clues to the origins of Earth's oceans and life 4 billion years ago.

University of Central Florida researchers detected a thin layer of water ice and organic molecules on the surface of 24 Themis, the largest in a family of asteroids orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.

Their unexpected findings will be published Thursday, April 29 in Nature, which will featuretwo complementary articles by the UCF-led team and by another team of planetary scientists.

Earth microbes may contaminate the search for life on Mars

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Bacteria common to spacecraft may be able to survive the harsh environs of Mars long enough to inadvertently contaminate Mars with terrestrial life according to research published in the April 2010 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

The search for life on Mars remains a stated goal of NASA's Mars Exploration Program and Astrobiology Institutes. To preserve the pristine environments, the bioloads on spacecraft headed to Mars are subject to sterilization designed to prevent the contamination of the Martian surface.