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Hot Topic
Deep Space
Cosmic Evolution
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Where Cosmic Rays Come From
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
11/05/04 |
| A century-old mystery is the origin of cosmic rays. Viewing a supernova remnant with high energy detectors, or gamma-ray eyes, shows that particles are likely accelerated by such massive explosions. Cosmic rays are thought to have played a major role in the early Earth's evolution and life's first mutations. |
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Planet Building: Colliding Mountains
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
10/19/04 |
| How is a planet built? The standard model assumes aggregation of fine stellar dust, but observations using the infrared Spitzer telescope now suggest that mountain-sized aggregates collide to make new worlds. |
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Worlds in Collision
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
10/19/04 |
| Planet-building is a violent, messy process. Observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope indicate this process may last much longer than previously thought. |
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Stellar Night-Goggles
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
10/12/04 |
| The recent discovery of a possible visible exoplanet has refocused efforts to understand their companion stars, now thought to be brown dwarfs. This category is best studied in the mid-infrared range which is relatively unavailable from today's surveys. |
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Galactic Dead Zone
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
10/05/04 |
| At the center of the Milky Way may lie the most fertile star forming region, but the bust-boom cycle of star birthing can hinder what might be considered any real biological fertility. |
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New Star-Type Stillborn
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
10/05/04 |
| When a binary star system starts to transfer mass, one of the twins may well win out, leaving its companion to occupy a strange region half way between a star and a planet. A new star-type of this sort has been found, which resembles the infrared ash of a stillborn star. |
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The Shape of Things to Come
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
10/05/04 |
| It will probe the dark ages before the era of re-ionization, and perhaps before the birth of the first stars. It will observe the formation of the first galaxies. It will map the web of neutral hydrogen that is spread across our universe, near and far. |
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Galactic Construction Boom
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
09/25/04 |
| Imagine clusters that smash together thousands of galaxies and trillions of stars. Its energy would seem second only to the Big Bang itself. While inconceivable from the comfort of our planet, just such an event was witnessed near the constellation, Hydra, like two heads of that giant monster coming together. |
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High Carb Heaven
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
09/20/04 |
| From 26,000 light-years-- near the center of our galaxy-- comes a radio signal that can be interpreted as a cloud of sugar molecules, one key component of what might have assisted the development of life if transported on primordial comets. |
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Mira Behind the Molecules
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
09/16/04 |
| Among the stellar class known as red giants, Mira stars provide seventy-five percent of our galaxy's molecules including water vapor. These red giants pulsate as fast as every few months to years with their brightness varying by ten times during a cycle. |
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