Finally, India is making foray into the space-based observational astronomy. “The astrosat will turn out to be a great boon for x-ray observations, especially in India, since it does not have one of its own. It will allow users to study the spectrum and time variation of emission produced by cosmic sources. Determining the size [...]

It is the first time that the discovered planet using space mission has been studied using follow-up observations from ground based telescope. This will be new trend of follow-up observations of the planets found using accompaning dedicated expensive space missions, which will give fresh new air of understanding into planetary sciences studies in years to [...]

New ground-breaking thermal images obtained with ESO’s Very Large Telescope and other powerful ground-based telescopes show swirls of warmer air and cooler regions never seen before within Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, enabling scientists to make the first detailed interior weather map of the giant storm system linking its temperature, winds, pressure and composition with its [...]

via dailygalaxy.com Orion nebula is the nearest star forming region and it is a great observatory for further research star and planet formation. The new results of discovery of organic molecule in the nebula shall definitely change the probability equation of finding life elsewhere than on earth. The Herschel Space Observatory using the telescope’s heterodyne instrument [...]

After years of successful concealment, the most primitive stars outside our Milky Way galaxy have finally been unmasked. New observations using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have been used to solve an important astrophysical puzzle concerning the oldest stars in our galactic neighbourhood — which is crucial for our understanding of the earliest stars in the [...]

A NASA radar aboard India’s Chandrayaan-I lunar orbiter found 40 craters, ranging in size from 1 to 9 miles across, with pockets of ice. Scientists estimate at least 600 million tons of ice could be entombed in these craters. The radar, called the Mini-SAR, sends pulses of left-polarized radio waves out to measure the surface [...]

Recent article in New York Times opens up again some questions surrounding dark energy. Dark energy slowly became popular, perhaps for the reason that it has such a catchy name, just after the finding that the expansion of our universe is accelerating. These findings were based on Supernova Type Ia observations, which are considered, from [...]

Cloud computing is slowly becoming a norm for various web-based applications. It is driving the new wave of not just applications on demand, but also infrastructure and services on demand. It utilizes the whole facility according to computational needs. It is much better than using sourcing new infrastructure and software and thereby underutilizing the present [...]

ESO is releasing a magnificent VLT image of the giant stellar nursery surrounding NGC 3603, in which stars are continuously being born. Embedded in this scenic nebula is one of the most luminous and most compact clusters of young, massive stars in our Milky Way, which therefore serves as an excellent “local” analogue of very [...]

VISTA — the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy — is the latest addition to ESO’s Paranal Observatory. It is the largest survey telescope in the world and is dedicated to mapping the sky at infrared wavelengths. The large 4.1-metre mirror, wide field of view and very sensitive detectors make VISTA a unique instrument. [...]