Astronomy Domine

Through a series of theoretical calculations and supercomputer simulations, astrophysicists have determined that new stars form by gravitational collapse rather than the widely held belief that they come from the buildup of unbound gas.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope image shows a panoramic portrait of a vast, sculpted landscape of gas and dust where thousands of stars are being born. This fertile star-forming region, called the 30 Doradus Nebula, has a sparkling stellar centerpiece: the most spectacular cluster of massive stars in our cosmic neighborhood of about 25 galaxies. Credit: NASA, N. Walborn and J. Maíz-Apellániz (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD), R. Barbá (La Plata Observatory, La Plata, Argentina)

read more | digg story

The genius of Albert Einstein, who added a "cosmological constant" to his equation for the expansion of the universe but later retracted it, may be vindicated by new research.
The enigmatic "dark energy" that drives the acceleration of the Universe behaves just like Einstein's famed cosmological constant, according to the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS).Their observations reveal that the dark energy behaves like Einstein's cosmological constant to a precision of 10%.

The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey Supernova Program aims primarily at measuring the equation of state of Dark Energy. It is designed to precisely measure several hundred high-redshift supernovae.

The first results of the SNLS survey, to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, place strong constraints on cosmological models.

(Einstein introduced the cosmological constant in his General Theory of Relativity)

"We don't have good observations for how the universe is expanding again so rapidly after a long period of slowing down," Hawking said, addressing a packed audience at Oakland's Paramount Theater, where he delivered a lecture called "Origin of the Universe.", according to the report on CNET News.

"We cannot be sure of the future of the universe: Is inflation the law of nature? Or will the universe eventually collapse again?" he said.

Hawking reassured the audience that these questions would soon have answers, thanks to the thriving study of cosmology. Scientists are now making use of ever-more-precise instruments and powerful telescopes to observe previously unknown aspects of the universe.

"We're getting close to answering the questions, Why are we here, and where did we come from?" he said.

Hawking give a talk on Oakland, California, in november 10, to an audience of about 3,000, drawing an eclectic crowd that included men in business suits, college students with dreadlocks, and children in wheelchairs who apparently suffer from the same debilitating disease as Hawking.

Hawking and Bush 

When asked about his thoughts on President Bush's proposal to put a man on Mars within 10 years, Hawking simply replied: "Stupid."

Hawking answered one question with more seriousness than others--that concerning his feelings about the U.S. government's policy on stem-cell research.

In Britain, he said, stem-cell research is seen as a great opportunity.

"America will be left behind if it doesn't change its policy," he said