January 07, 2009
The 213th meeting of the American Astronomical Society on Long Beach, Calif., is buzzing with cosmic news. From Jan. 5 to 7, this page will be updated with news from JPL researchers and the JPL-managed Spitzer Space Telescope.
NASA Balloon Mission Tunes in to Radio Mystery - Jan. 7
Cosmic radio noise booms six times louder than expected, according to a new study that includes JPL co-authors Michael Seiffert and Steven Levin. The finding comes from a balloon-borne instrument named the Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission, also known as Arcade.
Goddard release
Hubble Finds Stars That 'Go Ballistic' - Jan. 7
Some stars go ballistic, racing through interstellar space like bullets and tearing through clouds of gas. Images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, taken by Raghvendra Sahai of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and colleagues reveal 13 of these young, runaway stars.
JPL release
Supernova Remnant Comes Alive Across Time and Space - Jan. 6
A ground-breaking visualization of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, using data from NASA's Chandra and Spitzer space telescopes, was made possible through a collaboration with the Astronomical Medicine project based at Harvard. The goal of this project is to bring together the best techniques from two very different fields, astronomy and medical imaging.
Cassiopeia animation
Chandra news release
New Mission Might Find Closest Stars - Jan. 5
JPL's Amy Mainzer spoke at a press conference about the upcoming JPL-managed Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission, scheduled to launch in late 2009. This infrared telescope will seek out the closest stars to our sun -- "brown dwarfs" too cool to be seen in visible light.
Mission home page
Baby Jupiters Must Gain Weight Fast - Jan. 5
The planet Jupiter gained weight in a hurry during its infancy. It had to, since the material from which it formed probably disappeared in just a few million years, according to a new study using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
Full story at the Center for Astrophysics
Dead Stars Tell Story of Planet Birth - Jan. 5
Observations made with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal six dead white dwarf stars littered with the remains of shredded asteroids.
JPL release
