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Likewise, three-dimensional maps of the distribution of galaxies contain
valuable information about the early history of the universe and the way
its large-scale structure came into being. The latest results from two
comprehensive galaxy surveys independently confirm the important role of
dark matter and dark energy in the evolution of the cosmos. "The
concordant picture of the universe is hanging together amazingly well,"
says Martin J. Rees (Cambridge University, England)....

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1436_1.asp

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EXOPLANET IMAGE CONFIRMED?

Astronomers may have their long-coveted first image of an extrasolar
planet, thanks to follow-up observations made by the Hubble Space
Telescope. But it all depends on the definition of a "planet." The object
in question does not orbit a normal star. Rather, it orbits a brown
dwarf -- an object containing insufficient mass to sustain the nuclear
fusion reactions that power stars. The brown dwarf is only five times
heavier than its companion.

A French team led by Gael Chauvin (European Southern Observatory) found
the planet candidate in April 2004....

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1435_1.asp

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A BLACK HOLE SWARM

Like mosquitos hovering around a mountain, small black holes swarm around
the supermassive black hole in the core of the Milky Way. According to a
team led by Michael P. Muno (University of California, Los Angeles), there
may be as many as 20,000 stellar-mass black holes lurking within a
three-light-year-wide sphere surrounding the 3-million-solar-mass behemoth
in our galactic center.

Stellar-mass black holes, which contain roughly 5 to 20 solar masses,
often give themselves away when they are part of closely separated binary
systems....

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1433_1.asp

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HUBBLE SPIES TWISTED SPIRAL

Half of the spiral galaxies in the present-day universe are barred -- and
no one knows why. If Patricia Knezek (WIYN consortium) has her way,
however, exciting new Hubble Space Telescope images may help astronomers
understand what sets these galaxies apart from their pure pinwheel kin.

At last week's meeting of the American Astronomical Society in San Diego,
Knezek and Zoltan Levay (Space Telescope Science Institute) unveiled a
stunning image of NGC 1300, a large, 10th-magnitude barred spiral some 70
million light-years distant in the constellation Eridanus....

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1434_1.asp

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INTRIGUING IAPETUS

In Arthur C. Clarke's novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, the spaceship Discovery
heads to Saturn's enigmatic moon Iapetus in search of ET (in the movie,
Discovery instead ventures to Jupiter). In real life, NASA's Cassini
spacecraft flew by Iapetus for another reason: to provide answers to an
enduring mystery: why is the leading hemisphere as dark as asphalt, while
the other is as reflective as freshly-fallen snow?

On the final day of 2004, NASA's Cassini orbiter flew by Iapetus at a
range of only 123,000 kilometers (about 76,000 miles, or one-third the
average Earth-Moon distance). Images from the close encounter show
unprecedented detail....

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1432_1.asp

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ASTRO NEWS BRIEFS

Spacecraft Sets Out to Strike a Comet

NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 1:47 p.m.
Eastern time on January 12th, and began its six-month journey to strike a
comet. If all goes as planned, Deep Impact will reach 9P/Tempel 1 in July
and release a 370-kilogram projectile that will slam into the comet's
nucleus at 10 kilometers per second. Instruments aboard the spacecraft, as
well as ground-based and Earth-orbiting telescopes, will scrutinize the
spray of liberated material. The impact should provide data about the
comet's subsurface chemical composition, while the size and shape of the
resulting crater will yield valuable insight into the internal structure
of the icy body.
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