Researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Cambridge (United States) have discovered a star, almost as old as the universe, which supports the theory that the Milky Way 'swallowed up' other smaller galaxies to reach its current size. The work has been published in the journal 'Nature'.

A.R. | 4 March 2010

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics may have uncovered the mystery of the origin of supernovae (exploding stars at the end of their lives). Such stars are very important, because they have a crucial role in showing that the universe's expansion is accelerating, driven by a mysterious dark energy. It could arise from the merger of two white dwarfs. The research is published in the journal 'Nature'.

A.R. | 19 february 2010

Scientists of the Department of Theoretical Physics and the Cosmos, University of Granada have analyzed the chemical composition and evolutionary status of carbon stars of spectral type R. The analysis seeks to explain the origin of the enrichment of carbon in its atmosphere, which had not been analyzed to date. While scientists warn that the study has no immediate application, the information obtained can be invaluable in the future: explaining how to create carbon, one of the basic ingredients of life.

A.R. | 15 january 2010

Using the recently updated Hubble Space Telescope (HST) two teams of UK astronomers have identified galaxies which are likely to be the most distant yet seen. The UK teams, from University of Oxford and University of Edinburgh, analyzed infrared images from the new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument on HST, installed during the most recent Space Shuttle servicing mission in May 2009.

A.R. | 9 december 2009