Observatory Archives - Defence Monitor

18 Dec

Indian scientists see new type of magnetic explosion on Sun

Washington: Using images from NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory,a team of scientists including those from the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru has observed a magnetic explosion the likes of which has never been seen before. The observation, which confirms a decade-old theory, may help scientists understand a key mystery about the Sun's atmosphere, better predict space weather, and may also lead to breakthroughs in the controlled fusion and lab plasma experiments, according to the study published in the Astrophysical Journal."This was the first observation of an external driver of magnetic reconnection," said Abhishek…

16 Oct

NASA’s Chandra Observatory back in action

Washington: NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, observing the universe in high-energy light since 1999, is back in action after suffering a glitch due to the failure of the gyroscope and going into safe mode last week.The cause of Chandra's safe mode on October 10 has now been understood and the Operations team has successfully returned the spacecraft to its normal pointing mode, according to the US space agency. "The safe mode was caused by a glitch in one of Chandra's gyroscopes resulting in a 3-second period of bad data that, in turn, led the on-board computer to calculate an incorrect value for…

28 Apr

NASA’s next generation space telescope plan takes a pause

Washington: NASA said it is initiating an independent external review to know how long it will take and how much it will cost to build the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). WFIRST is NASA's next large space telescope under development, after the James Webb Space Telescope that is launching in 2018."Developing large space missions is difficult," said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "This is the right time for us to pause for an independent look at our plans to make sure we understand how long it will take, and how much it will cost,…

07 Feb

Black hole devouring star for a decade detected

Washington: Astronomers have detected a giant black hole that ripped apart a star and then gorged on its remains for an unusually long time -- about a decade, which is more than ten times longer than any observed episode of a stars death by black hole. Researchers made this discovery using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Swift satellite as well as European Space Agency's XMM-Newton. The trio of orbiting X-ray telescopes found evidence for a "tidal disruption event" (TDE), wherein the tidal forces due to the intense gravity from a black hole can destroy an object -- such as…