SpaceShipTwo completes two glide test flights within twenty-four hours
SpaceShipTwo completes two glide test flights within twenty-four hours.
Year: 2011
An X-ray deep field over six weeks by Chandra finds massive black holes common in early universe
An X-ray deep field image taken over a six week period by Chandra had found that massive black holes are common in early universe.
These results imply that between 30% and 100% of the distant galaxies contain growing supermassive black holes. Extrapolating these results from the relatively small field of view that was observed to the full sky, there are at least 30 million supermassive black holes in the early Universe. This is a factor of 10,000 larger than the estimated number of quasars in the early Universe.
The progenitor of the May supernova in M51 identified
The progenitor star that produced the May supernovae in the Whirlpool Galaxy (also known as M51) has been identified, and it isn’t what scientists predicted.
In a preprint paper published today on the Los Alamos astro-ph website, astronomers describe the star that exploded as a yellow supergiant, not a red supergiant or Wolf-Rayet star, as predicted by the theory explaining this particular type of supernova. Moreover, though theory also favors the star being a member of a binary system, the progenitor of 2011dh appears to be a lone star, not even a member of a cluster.
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The world’s oldest functioning light bulb: 110 years old
The world’s oldest functioning light bulb: 110 years old.
Negotiations over debt limit and budget still appear deadlocked
Though some progress has been made, the negotiations over the debt limit and the budget still appear deadlocked.
Shuttle’s end leaves NASA with a half billion dollar pension bill
The pork goes on: The shuttle’s end has still left NASA with a half billion dollar pension bill.
Hezbollah takes over Lebanon’s government
The end of the Cedar Revolution: The terrorist group Hezbollah took over Lebanon’s government this week.
Probe clears five SWAT-raid officers in Arizona
Getting away with murder: An internal probe today cleared five SWAT-raid officers in Arizona for the killing of ex-Marine Jose Guerena.
Wisconsin courts rule union law legal
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled today that the union law passed earlier this year is legal.
Loretta Lynn and the Muppets – One’s on the way
An evening pause: Loretta Lynn and the Muppets
Europe Downscales Monster Telescope to Save Money
Europe has decided to shrink the design of the gigantic Extremely Large Telescope (yes, that’s really its name) by 13% to save money.
Memo Marks Official End of Constellation
Don’t bet on it: A memo signed today by a senior NASA official marks the end of the Constellation program.
All this does is make the name change of the program-formerly-called-Constellation official. The pork continues nonetheless!