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Cosmic 'Death Star' is destroying a planet

The Death Star of the movie Star Wars may be fictional, but planetary destruction is real. Astronomers announced today that they have spotted a large, rocky object disintegrating in its death spiral around a distant white dwarf star. The discovery also confirms a long-standing theory behind the source of white dwarf "pollution" by metals.

"This is something no human has seen before," says lead author Andrew Vanderburg of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "We're watching a solar system get destroyed."

Astronomers catch a black hole shredding a star to pieces

When a star comes too close to a black hole, the intense gravity of the black hole results in tidal forces that can rip the star apart. In these events, called tidal disruptions, some of the stellar debris is flung outward at high speeds, while the rest falls toward the black hole. This causes a distinct X-ray flare that can last for years.

Magneticum Pathfinder: Evolution of the universe in an unmatched precision

Within modern cosmology, the Big Bang marks the beginning of the universe and the creation of matter, space and time about 13.8 billion years ago. Since then, the visible structures of the cosmos have developed: billions of galaxies which bind gas, dust, stars and planets with gravity and host supermassive black holes in their centres. But how could these visible structures have formed from the universe's initial conditions?

Milky Way photo with 46 billion pixels

Astronomers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum have compiled the largest astronomical image to date. The picture of the Milky Way contains 46 billion pixels. In order to view it, researchers headed by Prof Dr Rolf Chini from the Chair of Astrophysics have provided an online tool. The image contains data gathered in astronomical observations over a period of five years.

Five-year observation period at the university observatory

Using patients' trail of digital crumbs for public health surveillance

Data is ubiquitous. In the area of heath, there are growing data streams directly initiated by patients through their activities on the internet and on social networks and other related ones such as electronic medical records and pharmacy sales data. These so-called Novel Data Streams (NDS) are very appealing to public health surveillance officials due to their ease of collection.

Scientists find link between comet and asteroid showers and mass extinctions

Mass extinctions occurring over the past 260 million years were likely caused by comet and asteroid showers, scientists conclude in a new study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

For more than 30 years, scientists have argued about a controversial hypothesis relating to periodic mass extinctions and impact craters--caused by comet and asteroid showers--on Earth.

IBEX sheds new light on solar system boundary

In 14 papers published in the October 2015 Astrophysical Journal Supplement, scientists present findings from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, mission providing the most definitive analyses, theories and results about local interstellar space to date.

NASA sees Hurricane Olaf move into central Pacific Ocean

NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites saw Hurricane Olaf move west over the longitude line of 140 degrees that separates the Eastern Pacific from the Central Pacific. On October 20, Olaf strengthened to a Category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

On Oct. 19 at 19:35 UTC (3:35 p.m. EDT) the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite saw Hurricane Olaf moving into the central Pacific Ocean with a visible eye. Powerful thunderstorms circled the eye and extended in a thick band in the eastern quadrant from north to south.

Most earth-like worlds have yet to be born, according to theoretical study

Earth came early to the party in the evolving universe. According to a new theoretical study, when our solar system was born 4.6 billion years ago only eight percent of the potentially habitable planets that will ever form in the universe existed. And, the party won't be over when the sun burns out in another 6 billion years. The bulk of those planets -- 92 percent -- have yet to be born.

This conclusion is based on an assessment of data collected by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the prolific planet-hunting Kepler space observatory.

Conventional, compost, organic production compared for strawberry

RALEIGH, NC - A team of researchers from North Carolina State University set out to provide strawberry growers in their region with information that could help them transition to more sustainable soil and pest management production practices. Their study, published in the August 2015 issue of HortTechnology, compared conventional, compost, and organic strawberry production systems in the southeastern United States, and revealed good news for growers.

Satellite with UNH components sheds new light on solar system boundary

DURHAM, N.H. - A team of scientists, including seven from the University of New Hampshire, present findings from six years of direct observations made by NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission of the interstellar wind that blows through our solar system in 14 papers published today in an Astrophysical Journal Supplement (ApJS) Special Issue.

IBEX spacecraft sets gold standard for understanding galactic material around solar system

San Antonio -- Oct. 20, 2015 -- NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) reached a milestone in its seven-year mission today with the publication of 14 papers in a special issue of The Astrophysical Journal Supplement. Data from IBEX, led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), allowed the team of international researchers to provide the most definitive analyses, theories, and results about the "local" interstellar space to date.

You too can learn to farm on Mars!

PULLMAN, Wash.--Scientists at Washington State University and the University of Idaho are helping students figure out how to farm on Mars, much like astronaut Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon, attempts in the critically acclaimed movie "The Martian."

Washington State University physicist Michael Allen and University of Idaho food scientist Helen Joyner teamed up to explore the challenge. Their five-page study guide was published online at the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science the day the movie premiered earlier this month, said Allen.

Sunscreen is proven toxic to coral reefs

The daily use of sunscreen bearing an SPF of 15 or higher is widely acknowledged as essential to skin cancer prevention, not to mention skin damage associated with aging. Though this sunscreen may be very good for us, it may be very bad for the environment, a new Tel Aviv University study finds.

Smart car cyberattack warning: QUT research finds flaws in security systems

How Australia acts today will determine the security and safety of driverless cars, autonomous vehicles and intelligent transport systems in the future, with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) academics warning there is a risk of in-vehicle cyber attack without appropriate safeguards.

QUT information security expert Dr Ernest Foo presented his paper at the 2015 Australasian Road Safety Conference titled Security Issues for Future Intelligent Transport Systems, highlighting the need to protect the future smart car.