Using NASA’s +Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have captured for the first time snapshots of fledgling white dwarf stars beginning their slow-paced, 40-million-year migration from the crowded center of an ancient star cluster to the less populated suburbs.

White dwarfs are the burned-out relics of stars that rapidly lose mass, cool down, and shut off their nuclear furnaces. As these glowing carcasses age and shed weight, their orbits begin to expand outward from the star cluster’s packed downtown. This migration is caused by a gravitational tussle among stars inside the cluster. Globular star clusters sort out stars according to their mass, governed by a gravitational billiard-ball game where lower mass stars rob momentum from more massive stars. The result is that heavier stars slow down and sink to the cluster’s core, while lighter stars pick up speed and move across the cluster to the edge. This process is known as “mass segregation.” Until these Hubble observations, astronomers had never definitively seen the dynamical conveyor belt in action.

Astronomers used Hubble to watch the white-dwarf exodus in the globular star cluster 47 Tucanae, a dense swarm of hundreds of thousands of stars in our Milky Way galaxy. The cluster resides 16,700 light-years away in the southern constellation Tucana.

Please join your hosts +Tony Darnell, Dr.+Carol Christian, and +Scott Lewis as they explore this amazing migration of white dwarfs in ancient star clusters.

#Science   #ScienceEveryday   #Space   #Hubble25   #Cosmology   #Astronomy   #Spitzer   #Keck   #STEM

The James Webb Space Telescope has a series of mirrors to get the light from the universe into the observatory’s cameras. After the light reaches the primary mirror, it is then bounced up 25 feet to the secondary mirror. This much smaller mirror is deployed using three arms, or struts. Engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center are conducting tests to ensure a successful deployment after launch. This episode of Behind the Webb shows us the scope of the task at hand and how the test is being done to simulate a zero-gravity environment.

“Behind the Webb” is an ongoing series that follows the construction of the Webb Space Telescope, Hubble’s successor. Find more episodes at Hubblesite.org.

“Behind the Webb” archive:
http://webbtelescope.org/webb_telescope/behind_the_webb/archive/

Observations over the past 20 years reveal high-energy collisions inside the black hole jet in NGC 3862! While it has been known that the jets from black holes are extremely energetic, shooting out particles at about 98% the speed of light, astronomers were “shocked” to see collisions occuring inside the jets themselves.

This week, join +Tony Darnell, Dr. +Carol Christian and +Scott Lewis as they host the #HubbleHangout , discussing the science behind this discovery with the astronomers that used the +Hubble Space Telescope to make the observations. 

You can interact with the team by commenting below or using the Q&A app in Google+ or YouTube. Also Tweet us your comments and questions at @HubbleTelescope using the hash tag #HubbleHangout  and it might get answered on air.

Learn more about the news here: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/19

#Science   #Space   #Astronomy   #BlackHoles   #Hubble25   #Hubble

Backyard stargazers get a monthly guide to the northern hemisphere’s skywatching events with “Tonight’s Sky.” In June, Hercules and Draco the Dragon battle for territory in the night sky.

“Tonight’s Sky” is produced by HubbleSite.org, online home of the Hubble Space Telescope. This is a recurring show, and you can find more episodes — and other astronomy videos — at HubbleSite.org.

Visit Tonight’s Sky on HubbleSite.
http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/tonights_sky

The Weirdest Stars in the Universe
Emily Levesque, University of Colorado

How big can a star get? Why would a star only PRETEND to explode? Can you hide one star inside another? During this talk Dr. Levesque will take you on a tour of some of the weirdest stars in the universe, from our nearest neighbors to stars more than 13 billion light years away. She will discuss the history of stellar astronomy, delve into about some present-day observing techniques and exciting new discoveries, and explore some of the most puzzling and exotic objects being studied by astronomers today.

Hosted by Dr. Frank Summers. Recorded live on June 2, 2015 at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, USA

For more information: http://hubblesite.org/about_us/public_talks/

Surprising new results from Hubble Space Telescope observations show hitherto unknown behavior of Pluto’s moons. Astronomers have been monitoring and imaging the Pluto system at various times throughout Hubble’s mission. Many of these observations were used to support science planning for NASA’s New Horizons’ observations. 

Please join +Tony Darnell Dr.+Carol Christian and +Scott Lewis  for this week’s #HubbleHangout to learn about these exciting Hubble findings in anticipation of the New Horizons spacecraft flyby of Pluto in July 2015!

Read more here:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/24/

#Pluto #Science   #Space   #Astronomy   #BlackHoles   #Hubble25   #Hubble

This episode of “Hubble at 25” uncovers Hubble’s key role in the study of planets beyond our own solar system. Thousands of “exoplanet” candidates have been discovered. While Hubble is not responsible for most exoplanet detections, it is able to examine the chemical compositions of their atmospheres. Since these planets are too far away to ever visit in the forseeable future, analyzing their atmospheres provides critical clues about the existence of life elsewhere in the universe.

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered surprising new clues about a hefty, rapidly aging star whose behavior has never been seen before in our Milky Way galaxy. In fact, the star is so weird that astronomers have nicknamed it “Nasty 1,” a play on its catalog name of NaSt1. The star may represent a brief transitory stage in the evolution of extremely massive stars.

First discovered several decades ago, Nasty 1 was identified as a Wolf-Rayet star, a rapidly evolving star that is much more massive than our Sun. The star loses its hydrogen-filled outer layers quickly, exposing its super-hot and extremely bright helium-burning core.

Please join +Tony Darnell Dr.+Carol Christian and +Scott Lewis  for this week’s #HubbleHangout as they discuss these observations with the astronomers who made them!

Read more here:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/21/

#Science   #Space   #Astronomy   #Hubble25   #Hubble

Quasars are among the brightest outflows of energy in the universe, with an intrinsic brightness of one trillion suns. Most quasars appear as pinpoint sources in the biggest telescopes we have. Astronomers believe quasars are produced by energy coming from over-fed, supermassive black holes, with most of them erupting 12 billion years ago.

The question is, why?  Please join +Tony Darnell Dr.+Carol Christian and +Scott Lewis as we discuss these fascinating objects with the astronomers studying them using the Hubble Space Telescope. Learn about the latest research and explore the current thinking of what caused quasars and what was happening in the universe 12 billion years ago.

Read more here:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/20/

#PlutoTime   Webtool:
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-lets-you-experience-pluto-time-with-new-custom-tool

#Science   #Space   #Astronomy   #Hubble25   #Hubble   #quasars #blackholes