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Supernova remnant G11.15-0.71 |
In October 2003 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new supernova remnant using the NRAO Very Large Array radio telescope (VLA) and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). The estimated distance to the new SNR G11.15-0.71 is about 24 kpc (ref: AJ, January 2004).
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 30:08:2004 |
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Galaxy J1320-1427 |
In May 2004 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new galaxy member of the NGC 5044 Group in the course of a Group Evolution Multiwavelength Study (GEMS) investigation into the formation and volution of galaxies in nearby groups using ATNF Parkes telescope. The distance to the irregular type galaxy J1320-1427 is about 33 Mpc (the adopted distance to the NGC 5044 Group) (ref: astro-ph/0405241, accepted for publication in MNRAS).
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30:08:2004 |
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Supernova remnant G11.03-0.05 |
In October 2003 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new supernova remnant using the NRAO Very Large Array radio telescope (VLA) and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). The estimated distance to the new SNR G11.03-0.05 is about 16 kpc (ref: AJ, January 2004).
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25:08:2004 |
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Supernova remnant G11.18 0.11 |
In October 2003 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new supernova remnant using the NRAO Very Large Array radio telescope (VLA) and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). The estimated distance to the new SNR G11.18 0.11 is about 17 kpc (ref: AJ, January 2004).
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25:08:2004 |
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Gravitationally lensed quasar WFI J2033-4723 |
In December 2003 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new gravitationally lensed quasar using the Las Campanas Magellan Observatories telescopes and Hubble Space Telescope. A quadruply lensed quasar WFI J2033-4723 is at z = 1.66. The redshift of the lensing galaxy is about 0.4 (ref: AJ, May 2004).
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25:08:2004 |
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Gravitationally lensed quasar WFI J2026-4536 |
In December 2003 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new gravitationally lensed quasar using the Las Campanas Magellan Observatories telescopes and Hubble Space Telescope. A quadruply lensed quasar WFI J2026-4536 is at z = 2.23. The redshift of the lensing galaxy is about 0.4 (ref: AJ, May 2004).
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25:08:2004 |
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Pulsar RX J0047.3-7312 |
In December 2003 Japanese astronomers reported the discovery of a new X-ray binary pulsar, RX J0047.3-7312, in the Small Magellanic Cloud using XMM-Newton data. Astronomers found periodic variations of about 4000-s and coherent pulsations of 263-s of it's X-ray flux (ref: astro-ph/0312356, submitted to Publ.Astron.Soc.Jap).
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11:08:2004 |
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Galaxy J0249-0806 |
In May 2004 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new galaxy member of the NGC 1052 Group in the course of a Group Evolution Multiwavelength Study (GEMS) investigation into the formation and evolution of galaxies in nearby groups using ATNF Parkes telescope. The galaxy, J0249-0806, is a low surface brightness irregular type galaxy (ref: astro-ph/0405241, accepted for publication in MNRAS).
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11:08:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR J2140-2310A |
In March 2004 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new binary millisecond pulsar in the core-collapsed globular cluster M30 using the Green Bank Telescope. The pulsar, PSR J2140-2310A, is an eclipsing 11-ms pulsar in a 4-hr circular orbit. The discovery of new cluster pulsars is of interest for astronomers because of the wide variety of science that can result from using them as sensitive probes into the natures of the pulsars themselves and the clusters in which they live (ref: ApJ, March 2004).
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03:08:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR J2021 3651 |
In September 2002 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a young and energetic pulsar in the course of observations of X-ray sources coincident with some known gamma-ray sources. The pulsar, PSR J2021 3651, has a rotation period of 104 ms. Astronomers used data obtained with the new Wideband Arecibo Pulsar Processor at the Arecibo Observatory (ref: ApJL, September 2002).
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03:08:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR J1847-0130 |
In July 2003 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a radio pulsar in the Parkes multibeam survey of the Galactic plane. The 6.7-s period of this pulsar, PSR J1847-0130, is the second-longest known. Its inferred surface dipole magnetic field strength is the highest by far among all known radio pulsars. The inferred dipolar magnetic field strength and period of this pulsar are in the same range as those of the anomalous X-ray pulsars, which have been identified as being "magnetars" whose luminous X-ray emission is powered by their large magnetic fields. Astronomers consider the properties of this pulsar as a challenge for understanding the possible relationship between these two manifestations of young neutron stars (ref: ApJL, July 2003).
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28:07:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR J1829 2456 |
In June 2004 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new binary pulsar using the Arecibo telescope. The pulsar, PSR J1829 2456, has a 41-ms spin period and is in a 28-hr binary orbit. According to the system parameters it is a rare example of a double neutron star system (ref: Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc., June 2004).
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28:07:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR J1747-2958 |
In September 2002 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a young radio pulsar associated with the axially-symmetric "Mouse" radio nebula (G359.23-0.82) using the Parkes telescope. The pulsar, J1747-2958, is a weak radio source and has a spin period of 98 ms (ref: ApJL, September 2002).
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21:07:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR J0609 2130 |
In January 2004 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new isolated pulsar with a 55.7-ms spin period using Arecibo radio telescope. While the spin parameters of the new pulsar, J0609 2130, are similar to other pulsars of its type - so-called "recycled" pulsars - it has no binary companion. Astronomers believe that the pulsar represents the remains of a high-mass X-ray binary system which was disrupted by the supernova explosion of the secondary star (ref: Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc., January 2004).
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21:07:2004 |
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Quasar CXO J084837.9 445352 |
In March 2002 an international team of astronomers reported the detection of a Type II Quasar by Chandra X-ray Observatory. Quasar CXO J084837.9 445352 is at z = 3.288. Astronomers note that gravitational lensing due to the 30" distant z = 1.27 galaxy cluster magnified the quasar only by less than 10% (ref: ApJ, March 2002).
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13:07:2004 |
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Gravitationally lensed quasar HE 0047-1756 |
In March 2004 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new gravitationally lensed quasar. It is the second system found in the course of an ongoing survey for the lensing of quasars using the Magellan consortium 6.5-m telescopes on Cerro Las Campanas. Quasar HE 0047-1756 is at z = 1.67. The redshift of the lensing galaxy is only known to be not less than 0.6. (ref: Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters, June 2004).
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13:07:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR J1944 0907 |
In April 2004 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a recycled pulsar using the Arecibo telescope. Recycled pulsars are believed to be formed when an old neutron star is spun up through the accretion of matter from a binary companion. The pulsar, PSR J1944 0907, has a spin period of 5.2 ms and is isolated (ref: astro-ph/0404181, to appear in proceedings of Aspen Center for Physics Conference on "Binary Radio Pulsars").
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07:07:2004 |
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X-ray source in Holmberg II |
In June 2004 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a powerful X-ray source at the center of a nebula in the dwarf irregular galaxy Holmberg II. Having calculated the amount of X-rays pouring out, astronomers found that the X-ray source, which has about 25-40 solar masses, should be the rare type of intermediate-mass black hole. This discovery is only the second known example of a black hole-illuminated nebula and the first example of a nebula powered by an intermediate-mass black hole. Astronomers used data from Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton spacecraft. (ref: Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc, July 2004).
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07:07:2004 |
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Gravitationally lensed quasar SDSS J092455.87 021924.9 |
In August 2003 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new gravitationally lensed quasar in the course of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Quasar SDSS J092455.87 021924.9 is at z = 1.524. Lensing galaxy is at z = 0.4. Astronomers suppose this quasar to be an example of the relatively rare class of "three component" lens systems (ref: AJ, August 2003).
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29:06:2004 |
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Gravitationally lensed quasar SDSS J090334.92 502819.2 |
In November 2003 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a previously unknown gravitationally lensed quasar in the course of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Quasar SDSS J090334.92 502819.2 is at z = 3.6. Lensing galaxy is at z = 0.388 (ref: AJ, November 2003).
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29:06:2004 |
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Pulsar XTE J1814-338 |
In June 2002 a team of American astronomers reported the discovery of a new pulsar using RXTE observatory. XTE J1814-338 is one of the five currently known so-called accretion-driven millisecond X-ray pulsars. The 4.3 hour orbital period makes it the widest binary system among the accretion-driven millisecond pulsars (ref: IAUC 8144).
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21:06:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR J1806-2125 |
In June 2002 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new pulsar during the Parkes multibeam pulsar survey. The pulsar, PSR J1806-2125, has a rotational period of 0.4s. Between October 1999 and December 2000 this pulsar underwent a glitch - an increase in rotational frequency. The magnitude of this glitch is approximately 2.5 times greater than any previously observed in any pulsar (ref: Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc, June 2002).
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21:06:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR J1830-1135 |
In September 2002 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new pulsar during the Parkes multibeam pulsar survey. The pulsar, PSR J1830-1135, is the second slowest radio pulsar known, with a 6-s period (ref: Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc, September 2002).
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15:06:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR J1734-3333 |
In September 2002 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery and subsequent timing observations of a group of new pulsars during the Parkes multibeam pulsar survey. The Parkes multibeam survey is an on-going survey of a 10 degrees - wide strip along the Galactic plane (|b| < 5 degrees and l = 260 degrees to l = 50 degrees). The survey aims to detect a large sample of pulsars for population studies. One of the objects discovered was PSR J1734-3333 - a young pulsar with the second highest surface magnetic field strength among the known radio pulsars (ref: Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc, September 2002).
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15:06:2004 |
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Galaxy LALA J142442.24 353400.2 |
In March 2004 a team of American astronomers reported the discovery of a new galaxy by its Lyman alpha emission. The galaxy, LALA J142442.24 353400.2, has a redshift of 6.535. Astronomers obtained the data using the Kitt Peak National Observatory, the Gemini Observatory, and the W. M. Keck Observatory (ref: ApL, April 2004).
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07:06:2004 |
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Galaxy HCM 6A |
In February 2002 an international team of astronomers has discovered one of the most distant galaxies in the Universe using the 10-m Keck I telescope, with other images also coming from the Subaru 8.3-m Telescope, also on Mauna Kea. The galaxy HCM 6A has a redshift of 6.56 and is seen as it was when the Universe was only about 780 million years old. The galaxy is lying behind the cluster Abell 370 and is a "Lyman alpha emitter" type object (ref: ApJL, April 2002).
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07:06:2004 |
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Galaxy Canis Major |
In November 2003 an international team of astronomers has discovered a new galaxy colliding with our own Milky Way. The new galaxy, Canis Major dwarf, is about 25000 light years away from the solar system and is the closest galaxy to the centre of the Milky Way. Called after the constellation in which it lies, the new galaxy is quite small, it only contains about a billion stars. The discovery of the Canis Major dwarf galaxy was made possible by a recent survey of the sky in infrared light - the Two-Micron All Sky Survey or 2MASS (ref: Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc., February 2004).
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31:05:2004 |
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Galaxy Andromeda IX |
In April 2004 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new dwarf spheroidal satellite of M31, Andromeda IX. Astronomers used stellar photometry data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Andromeda IX is the lowest surface brightness galaxy found to date. At the distance estimated from the position of the tip of Andromeda IX's red giant branch Andromeda IX is also the faintest galaxy known (ref: astro-ph/0404268, accepted for publication in ApJL).
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31:05:2004 |
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Quasar pair SDSS 0338 0021 |
In June 2003 a team of American astronomers reported the discovery of a clustered quasar pair at z ~ 5. They have found a quasar at z = 4.96 - 0.03 within a few Mpc of the known quasar SDSS 0338 0021 at z = 5.02 - 0.02. Astronomers believe that the two objects probably mark a large-scale structure, possibly a protocluster, at z ~ 5. This is the most distant such structure currently known (ref: ApJ, October 2003).
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24:05:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR J1930 1852 |
In June 2002 an international team of astronomers have found a pulsar in a bright ring of high-energy particles in a distant supernova remnant. The discovery was made using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Arecibo Radio Telescope. Chandra's image of the supernova remnant SNR G54.1 0.3 revealed a bright, point-like central source surrounded by a ring and two jet-like structures in an extended nebula of high-energy particles. The radio data showed that this bright central source is a pulsar rotating 7 times per second. The features observed in SNR G54.1 0.3 are very similar to other "pulsar wind nebulas" found by Chandra (ref: ApJL, March and July 2002).
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24:05:2004 |
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Galaxy Chandra Deep Field South |
In February 2003 a team of American astronomers reported the discovery of a luminous star-forming galaxy using Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope data. The galaxy is at z=5.78. The galaxy is very compact. It's the highest redshift galaxy discovered and studied using HST data (ref: Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc., July 2003).
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17:05:2004 |
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Pulsar in the Be X-ray binary SAX J2239.3 6116 |
In December 2001 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a pulsar in the Be X-ray binary SAX J2239.3 6116 using Narrow Field Instruments on BeppoSAX and the Proportional Counter Array on RXTE. The pulsar has a rotational period of 1247 s and orbital period of 262 days. It has both the longest orbital period and the longest pulse period of pulsars of its type with measured orbital periods (ref: Astronomy & Astrophysics, December 2001).
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17:05:2004 |
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Pulsar XTE J1751-305 |
In April 2002 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new millisecond "accreting" pulsar in a binary star system using the NASA Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. It is one of only a handful of now-known millisecond pulsars that are presumably spinning up by mass accretion. The star, XTE J1751-305, orbits its companion every 42 minutes, one of the tightest orbits known. The spin period is 2.3 ms. Its companion star is only 15 Jupiter masses, whittled down from a star originally up to half the mass of the Sun (ref: ApJL, August 2002)
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11:05:2004 |
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Pulsar J0514-4002A |
In March 2004 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of the binary millisecond pulsar J0514-4002A, which is the first known pulsar in the globular cluster NGC 1851 and the first pulsar discovered using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at Khodad near Pune, India. The pulsar has a rotational period of 4.99 ms, an orbital period of 18.8 days, and the most eccentric pulsar orbit yet measured (e = 0.89). Its companion has a minimum mass of 0.9 mass of the Sun and its nature is presently not known (ref: ApJL, May 2004).
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11:05:2004 |
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Black hole in binary system XTE J1550-564 |
In October 2002 astronomers reported the results of their observation of a mini black hole in our Galaxy. For the first time, astronomers have tracked the life cycle of X-ray jets from a black hole. Astronomers have been using Chandra and CSIRO's Australia Telescope to observe two opposing jets of high-energy particles emitted following an outburst, first detected in 1998 by NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, from the double-star system XTE J1550-564. A series of images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed that as the jets evolved, they traveled at near light speed for several years before slowing down and fading. The black hole in XTE J1550-564 is about ten times the mass of the Sun and is orbited by a low-mass companion star. Astronomers believe that a discovery like this will help them understand how massive black holes produce radiation visible half-way across the Universe (ref: Science, October 4, 2002).
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11:05:2004 |
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Pulsar XTE J0929-314 |
In May 2002 a team of American astronomers reported the discovery of a new pulsar in a binary star system using the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer.Pulsar XTE J0929-314 is only the third known "accreting" millisecond pulsar of its kind. It orbits its companion every 43 minutes. This system has one of the lowest-mass companions of any stellar binary. Due to the accretion process the pulsar's companion became only about 10 times more massive than Jupiter (ref: ApJL, September 2002).
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11:05:2004 |
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X-ray source XTE J1807-294 |
In February 2003 astronomers from the University of Maryland and Goddard Space Flight Center reported the discovery of a new millisecond pulsar, designated XTE J1807-294. This is the fourth known accreting millisecond pulsar. Its period is about 5.25 ms. (ref: The Astronomer's Telegram, Feb. 2003).
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26:04:2004 |
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Pulsar J1740-5340 |
In February 2002 Italian astronomers reported the discovery of an unusual double-star system - a fast spinning pulsar and a bloated red companion star. Pulsar's gravity has deformed its companion star into a giant red teardrop - as the pulsar orbits, it drags the star around. The pulsar, called J1740-5340, spins 274 times a second. It was found in 2000 by an international team using the Parkes telescope to search for millisecond pulsars. A system consisting of a millisecond pulsar and a star that is not a white dwarf has never been seen before. Astronomers believe that they are seeing the system before the bloated red star has been "emptied" of gas and turned into a white dwarf. Astronomers used the combined powers of the Parkes radio telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope (ref: ApJL, November 2001).
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26:04:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR J1909-3744 |
In December 2003 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a new binary millisecond pulsar. PSR J1909-3744 has a period of 2.95 ms. Its companion was identified as a white dwarf star. Pulsar's narrow pulse width of 43 microseconds makes it an excellent candidate for gravitational waves measuring experiments (ref: ApJ Letters, December 2003).
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19:04:2004 |
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Star cluster (associated with IRAS source 16177-5018) |
In October 2003 a Brazilian team of astronomers reported the discovery of a young massive stellar cluster associated with the infrared source IRAS 16177-5018. Astronomers combined 2MASS (Two Micron All Sky Survey) data with new observations from LaboratВґorio Nacional de Astrofisica (LNA), Brazil. Astronomers classified the majority of the cluster members as reddened massive stars earlier than spectral type B5 (ref: AJ October 2003).
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19:04:2004 |
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Supernova remnant 0103-72.6 |
In December 2003 American astronomers reported the discovery of a new supernova remnant using Chandra X-Ray Observatory. SNR 0103-72.6 is the second brightest X-ray supernova remnant in the Small Magellanic Cloud (ref: ApJ Letters, December 2003).
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12:04:2004 |
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Pulsar B1951 32 |
In March 2002 an international team of astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope reported the observation of the known pulsar B1951 32. The new results show that the pulsar is considerably younger than previously thought. According to the researchers, this finding, combined with the discovery in 2000 of a pulsar that was older than previously thought, means that many assumptions astronomers have made about pulsars' age must be reexamined. Astronomers believe that each individual pulsar is a very complicated object, and nothing should be assumed about it (ref: ApJ Letters, March 2002).
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12:04:2004 |
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Pulsar PSR B1257 12 |
The first planets ever known outside our solar system were discovered by Wolszczan and Frail around an old pulsar PSR B1257 12 in 1991. In May 2003 professor Alexander Wolszczan announced that masses of two of the three known planets orbiting a rapidly spinning pulsar PSR B1257 12 have been successfully measured by a team of astronomers from the California Institute of Technology and Pennsylvania State University. The three pulsar planets, with their orbits spaced in an almost exact proportion to the spacings between Mercury, Venus, and Earth, comprise a planetary system that is strikingly similar in appearance to the inner solar system. The two measured planets are 4.3 and 3.0 times the mass of Earth. Astronomers believe that this finding will provide an important guideline for future searches for Earth-like extrasolar planets (ref: Caltech news release, May 2003).
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05:04:2004 |
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Quasar Pair Q2345 007A,B |
In March 2002 the Chandra X-ray Telescope, orbiting above Earth, has recorded an image of pair of quasars, which was thought to be an illusion as part of a gravitationally lensed system because of the very similar spectra of the pair at both optical and ultraviolet wavelengths. However no intervening galaxy or cluster has been found for this pair and also the X-ray spectra of two objects were found to be distinctly different, which indicates that quasars are distinct objects, rather than a mirage (ref: Chandra X-ray Observatory Center press release, March 2002).
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05:04:2004 |
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Galaxy z6VDF J022803-041618 |
In May 2003 an international team of astronomers have discovered one of the most distant galaxies in the Universe using Canada-France-Hawaii telescope at Mauna Kea. The galaxy has a redshift of 6.17. It was detected because of its unusual colour, being visible only on images obtained through a special optical filter isolating light in a narrow near-infrared band. The galaxy is seen as it was when the Universe was only about 900 million years old.
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29:03:2004 |
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Gravitationally lensed quasar SDSS J115517.35 634622.0 |
An international group of astronomers reported the discovery of a previously unknown gravitationally lensed quasar in the course of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Quasar SDSS J115517.35 634622.0 is at z = 2.89. Lensing galaxy is at z = 0.1756. (ref: AJ, March 2004).
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29:03:2004 |
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Double pulsar system PSR J0737-3039A and PSR J0737-3039B |
An international team of astronomers from the UK, Australia, Italy and the USA have discovered in January 2004 a double pulsar system - the first ever seen. They have shown that the compact object orbiting the 23-millisecond pulsar PSR J0737-3039A with a period of 2.4 hours is not only, as suspected, another neutron star but is also a detectable pulsar, PSR J0737-3039B, that is rotating once every 2.8 seconds. 64-m CSIRO Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales, Australia has been used. Scientists believe that the discovery has major implications for testing Einstein's general theory of relativity (ref: Science Express, January 8, 2004).
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22:03:2004 |
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Gravitationally lensed quasar SDSS J1004 4112 |
An international group of astronomers reported the discovery of a lensed quasar in the course of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Quasar SDSS J1004 4112 is at z = 1.734. Lensing cluster of galaxies is at z = 0.68. SDSS J1004 4112 has a maximum separation between the components of 14.62 arcsec. Such a large separation means that the lensing object must be dominated by dark matter. (ref: Nature, December 2003).
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22:03:2004 |
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Galaxy Andromeda VIII |
Case Western Reserve University astronomers have announced the discovery of a new faint galaxy, termed Andromeda VIII, which orbits the well-known and nearby Andromeda spiral galaxy.The new galaxy is so widespread and transparent that astronomers did not suspect its existence until they mapped the velocity of stars thought to belong to Andromeda galaxy and found them to move independently of Andromeda.Case\'s Burrell Schmidt telescope and the 3.5m WIYN telescope were used to identify the galaxy. Astronomers believe that the discovery will give them further evidence to support the theory that smaller galaxies merge together to form larger, more complex galaxies (ref: ApJL October 2003, Case Western Reserve University press release).
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15:03:2004 |
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Planetary nebula Hewett 1 |
In December 2003 largest known planetary nebula was discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey team. The discovered nebula (designated as Hewett 1) is closer than any planetary nebula other than Sh 2-216. This object is also the first to be unambiguously associated with a DO white dwarf (ref: ApJ December 2003).
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15:03:2004 |
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Galaxy IR 1916 |
New record-breaking most distant galaxy in the Universe was detected. The discovery was reported by French and Swiss astronomers on March 1st 2004. Named Abell 1835 IR1916, the galaxy has a redshift of 10 and is located about 13,230 million light-years away. It is therefore seen at a time when the Universe was merely 470 million years young, that is, about 3 percent of its current age. The new discovery was made using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, in Chile, with other images also coming from the Hubble Space Telescope and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea. To detect such a faint object astronomers had to follow a particular approach – use strong gravitational lensing,which allowed to amplify light approximately 25 to 100 times (ref: European Southern Observatory press release).
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08:03:2004 |
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Magnetar XTE J1810-197 |
An international team of astronomers reported the discovery of a neutron star in the act of changing into a rare class of extremely magnetic objects called magnetars. This discovery marks only the tenth confirmed magnetar ever found and the first transient magnetar. The transient nature of this object was discovered using NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. Astronomers believe that magnetars could be more common than what is seen but exist in a prolonged dim state (ref: NASA GSFC press release of January 06, 2004).
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08:03:2004 |
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Pulsar CXOU J112439.1-591620 |
In October 2001 a team of American astronomers reported the discovery of an apparent young pulsar and its associated pulsar wind nebula within the supernova remnant (SNR) G292.0 1.8 during observations of the SNR using Chandra X-ray Observatory. The parameters of the SNR imply the pulsar\'s period of about 280 ms, but the detailed measurements are still to be carried out (ref: ApJL October 2001).
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 19:11:2001 |
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Gravitational lens CLASS B0739 366 |
The discovery of a new two-image gravitational lens CLASS B0739 366 from the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey was reported by the group of American and European astronomers in February 2001.Observations using Very Large Array, Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and Hubble Space Telescope revealed two compact components and an extended object between them, which was identified as the lensing galaxy. Redshifts for the galaxy and lensed source have not yet been obtained. (ref: AJ February 2001).
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19:11:2001 |
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Pulsar PSR J0205 6449 |
In September 2001 a team of American astronomers reported the discovery of a young pulsar during observations of SNR 3C58 using Chandra X-ray Observatory instruments. The pulsar is one of the youngest known and has a period of about 66 ms (ref: submitted to ApJL Letters).
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19:11:2001 |
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X-Ray Pulsar AX J0049-732 |
In the end of 2000 a team of Japanese astronomers reported the discovery of an X-Ray pulsar in the Small Magellanic Cloud. It has a period of about 9s. Discovery was made using ASCA X-ray telescopes (ref: 2000, PASJ 52).
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22:10:2001 |
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Galaxy PDF J011423 |
In October 2001 an international team of astronomers discovered that the radio source PDF J011423 is a low-redshift (z = 0.65) extremely red galaxy (ERG). The discovery was made in the course of the follow-up multiwavelength study of a deep radio survey. PDF J011423 is a representative member of the dusty ERG population, providing a local counterpart for studying more distant ERGs. (ref: Astrophysical Journal Letters, October 2001).
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12:10:2001 |
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Galaxy cluster 2346 0045 |
In August 2001 an American team of astronomers reported the discovery of a galaxy cluster via its weak gravitational lensing effect on background galaxies using the National Science Foundation\'s BlancoTelescope in Chile. It is the first spectroscopically confirmed cluster to be discovered through its gravitational effects rather than by its electromagnetic radiation. The cluster contains at least 15 galaxies at z = 0.276 (ref: Astrophysical Journal Letters, August 2001).
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26:09:2001 |
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Gravitational lens CLASS B1359 154 |
In August 2001 an international team of astronomers has reported the discovery of the first gravitational lens in which the single image of a distant galaxy has been split into six different images. National Science Foundation\'s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope and NASA\'s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have been used. The gravitational lens consists of a galaxy more than 11 billion light-years away in the constellation Bootes. It is positioned behind a trio of galaxies more than seven billionlight-years away (ref: NRAO press release, August 2001).
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10:09:2001 |
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Pulsar PSR J1016-5857 |
In August 2001 the international group of astronomers reported the discovery of a young radio pulsars with possible supernova remnant, X-ray, and gamma-ray associations by the Parkes multibeam pulsar survey. The pulsar has a period of 107 ms.(ref: Astrophysical Journal Letters, August 2001).
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29:08:2001 |
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Supernova remnant G292.2-0.5 |
In June 2001 an international group of astronomers reported the discovery of a radio supernova remnant during the observations of the recently discovered young pulsar J1119-6127. This supernova remnant is positionally coincident with the pulsar, and the scientists conclude that the two objects are physically associated (ref: ApJ June. 2001).
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23:07:2001 |
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Quasar QSO 2359-1241 |
In January 2001 a group of American astronomers reported the discovery of a bright quasar, associated with the flat spectrum radio source NVSS J235953-124148. The quasar is at z = 0.868. It possesses a rare combination of extreme properties that make it of special interest. Some of these properties are high optical polarization and extreme luminosity for quasars at z<1 (ref: ApJ Jan. 2001).
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09:07:2001 |
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Quasar PHL 1811 |
In June 2001 a group of American astronomers reported the discovery of a new bright quasar during the FIRST radio survey. The quasar is at z = 0.192 and is now the second-brightest quasar known beyond z = 0.1. PHL 1811 is optically classified as a narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy (ref: AJ June 2001).
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18:06:2001 |
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Galaxy cluster 1WGAJ1226.9+3332 |
In June 2001 astronomers from the USA and Europe reported the discovery of a high redshift cluster of galaxies using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The cluster is at about z=0.85 (ref: LANL preprint astro-ph/0106066, accepted for publication in ApJ main journal).
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11:06:2001 |
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Gravitational lens CLASS B0128+437 |
The discovery of a new quadruple gravitational lens CLASS B0128+437 from the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey was reported by the group of American and European astronomers in December 2001. The system was found after a re-analysis of the entire CLASS dataset. The redshift values of the lensing galaxy and the background radio source were not reported (ref: MNRAS, Dec. 2000).
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04:06:2001 |
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Galaxy cluster XMMU J183225.4-103645 |
In May 2001 a group of European astronomers reported the discovery of a cluster of galaxies close to the Galactic plane with XMM-Newton satellite observatory. The cluster is at redshift of about 0.12. The object was not visible in earlier ROSAT observations due to high amount of absorption (ref: Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2001).
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28:05:2001 |
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Pulsar PSR J1837-0604 |
PSR J1837-0604 is the second young radio pulsar, detected by the Parkes multibeam pulsar survey, which corresponds to a gamma-ray source detected by the EGRET instrument on the Gamma Ray Observatory. It has a period of 96 ms (ref: Astrophysical Journal, May 2001).
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21:05:2001 |
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Pulsar PSR J1420-6048 |
In May 2001 the international group of astronomers reported the discovery of two young energetic radio pulsars by the Parkes multibeam pulsar survey. One of them, PSR J1420-6048 has a period of 68 ms. Both pulsars lie within the error circles of gamma-ray sources detected by the EGRET instrument on the Gamma Ray Observatory (ref: Astrophysical Journal, May 2001).
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14:05:2001 |
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Pulsar PSR J2229+6114 |
In April 2001 the group of American and British astronomers reported the discovery of an energetic young pulsar in the error box of the EGRET source 3EG J2227+6122. Radio and X-Ray pulsations at a period of about 52 ms were discovered using ASCA and Chandra observatories as well as Jodrell Bank radio telescopes. Further observations are needed to confirm that the pulsar is the source of gamma rays from 3EG J2227+6122 (ref: accepted by the Astrophysical Journal Letters).
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07:05:2001 |
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Gravitational lens CLASS B2319+051 |
The discovery of a new two-image gravitational lens CLASS B2319+051 from the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey was reported by the group of American and European astronomers in April 2001. Hubble Space Telescope observations show two galaxies at different redshifts, 0.624 and 0.588, while source redshift has not been determined yet (ref: LANL preprint 0104399).
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30:04:2001 |
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X-Ray Pulsar XTE J0052-723 |
In April 2001 the group of astronomers from USA and UK reported the discovery of two, and possibly three new X-raypulsars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. One of them, XTE J0052-723 has a period of 4.78s. Discovery was made using Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite (ref: Gamma-Ray 2001 meeting, USA, April 2001).
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16:04:2001 |
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Galaxy cluster Cl J1226.9+3332 |
In February 2001 the group of astronomers from USA and UK reported the discovery of a galaxy cluster in the Wide Angle ROSAT Pointed Survey. The cluster is at z= 0.89 and is the most distant X-ray luminous cluster currently known (ref: Astrophysical Journal Letters, February 2001).
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26:03:2001 |
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Pulsar PSR J1807-2459 |
In January 2001 the international group of astronomers has reported the discovery of a new binary pulsar, which is in the globular cluster NGC 6544. The pulsar has a period of 3.06 ms, which is the second shortest of known binary pulsars (ref: Astrophysical Journal, January 2001).
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19:03:2001 |
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Galaxy cluster RX J0911.4+0551 |
In November 2000 the international group of astronomers reported the discovery of a massive high-redshift cluster of galaxies near the quadruple quasar RX J0911+05. The object at z= 0.769 was found using the Keck II telescope (ref: Astroph. J. Letters, November 2000).
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05:03:2001 |
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X-ray galaxy cluster 3C294 |
In February 2001 a group of astronomers from British Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge reported the discovery of the most distant X-ray galaxy cluster. The discovery was made using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The cluster 3C294 is 40 percent farther than the next most distant X-ray galaxy cluster previously known (ref: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics press release).
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19:02:2001 |
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Pulsar PSR J1907+0918 |
In December 2000 two American astronomers reported the discovery of a young radio pulsar near soft gamma repeater SGR 1900+14 using the Arecibo Telescope. The pulsar has a period of 226 ms. Its period derivative shows that the age of J1907+0918 is only 38000 years, making it one of the youngest known pulsars. (ref: Astrophysical Journal, December 2000).
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05:02:2001 |
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Quasar FIRST J101614.3+520916 |
In November 2000 the group of American astronomers reported the discovery of a quasar, which belongs to the recently established class of radio-loud broad absorption line quasars. The object at z = 2.455 was found during FIRST Bright Quasar survey (ref: Astrophysical Journal, November 2000).
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29:01:2001 |
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Pulsar PSR J1141-6545 |
In November 2000 the international group of astronomers reported the discovery of a young radio pulsar in a relativistic binary orbit during the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar survey. The pulsar has a period of 394 ms. Its companion is believed to be a massive white dwarf that formed prior to the birth of the pulsar (ref: Astrophysical Journal, November 2000).
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22:01:2001 |
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Binary pulsar PSR J1740-3052 |
In December 2000 the international group of astronomers reported the discovery of a radio pulsar with a companion at least 11 times the mass of the Sun - the most massive pulsar companion known. The pulsar has a period of 570 ms. Scientists believe that the companion is most likely a main-sequence B star or a black hole (ref: Jodrell Bank Observatory press release).
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15:01:2001 |
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Pulsar PSR J0030+0451 |
New pulsar PSR J0030+0451 was discovered by American astronomers during the Arecibo Drift Scan Search. With a period of 4.8 ms PSR J0030+0451 belongs to the less common category of isolated millisecond pulsars (ref: Astrophysical Journal, December 2000).
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08:01:2001 |
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Galaxy RXJ 2153.3-1514 |
Narrow-line Seyfert 1galaxy was discovered by Indian and British astronomers. Galaxy RXJ 2153.3-1514 was identified as optical counterpart of an X-ray source discovered with ROSAT. The galaxy (V=14.7 mag) is at redshift of 0.0778 (ref: MNRAS, February 2000).
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20:11:2000 |
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Galaxy HS 0822+3542 |
The international group of astronomers discovered a new nearby blue compact galaxy (BCG) HS 0822+3542. 6m telescope of the Russian Special Astrophysical Observatory was used. The galaxy is extremely metal-poor and is found to be the third most metal-deficient BCG. The spectroscopic data suggest that the galaxy is one of the nearest and dimmest galaxies experiencing a recently-started first star formation (SF) episode (ref: Astron. Astrophys., May 2000).
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14:11:2000 |
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Pulsar PSR J1814-1744 |
New radio pulsar PSR J1814-1744 was discovered by the international group of astronomers during the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey. PSR J1814-1744 has a period of 3.975 s and is the radio pulsar with the largest magnetic field yet observed (ref: Astrophysical Journal, September 2000).
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07:11:2000 |
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Galaxy 1SAXJ2234.8-2541 |
The group of astronomers from Italy and UK reported the BeppoSAX serendipitous discovery of the new Seyfert 2 galaxy 1SAXJ2234.8-2541. Subsequent spectroscopy of the galaxy’s optical conterpart, galaxy ESO533-G50 with redshift z=0.026, confirms its identification with the X-ray source (ref: Astron. Astrophys., July 2000).
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31:10:2000 |
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Double lensed quasar HS 0818+1227 |
Two German astronomers discovered new gravitationally lensed quasar in the course of Hamburg Quasar Survey using Calar Alto Schmidt 2.2m telescope. The lens galaxy is at z = 0.39. Quasar HS 0818+1227 is at z = 3.115 (ref: Astron. Astrophys., May 2000).
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17:10:2000 |
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Galaxy RX J1236.9+2656 |
The international group of astronomers reported the discovery of a narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy (V = 17.1). RX J1236.9+2656 is at redshift of 0.225. The galaxy was observed with ROSAT and 3.5m telescope of the Apache Point Observatory (ref: Astron. Astrophys., August 2000).
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10:10:2000 |
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PSR J1846-0258 |
In August 2000 a team led by astronomers at Columbia University have discovered the youngest pulsar yet, an object in the supernova remnant Kes 75, which age is only about 700 years. The pulsar is about 300 years younger than the second-youngest pulsar, the Crab. The Kes 75 pulsar is at least 10 times more magnetic than ordinary pulsars and spins upon its axis once every 0.3 second (ref: NASA GSFC news release).
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26:09:2000 |
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Pair of Quasars SDSSp J143952.58-003359.2 and SDSSp J143951.60-0 |
Based on data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the international group of astronomers reported the discovery of a close pair of z = 4.25 quasars. The two objects have a separation of 33 arcseconds. This is the third serendipitous discovery of a z > 4 quasar. (ref:e-Print Astrophysics abstract, paper submitted to the Astronomical Journal).
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19:09:2000 |
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X-Ray Pulsar AX J0049.4-7323 |
The third X-Ray pulsar in the Small Magellanic Cloud was discovered by Japanese astronomers during the April of 2000 with the help of ASCA X-ray telescopes. AX J0049.4-7323 has a period of about 755 s (ref: IAUC 7442).
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05:09:2000 |
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X-Ray Pulsar AX J0057.4-7325 |
In April 2000 a team of Japanese astronomers discovered one more X-Ray pulsar in the Small Magellanic Cloud. It has a period of about 101 s. Discovery was made using ASCA X-ray telescopes (ref: IAUC 7441).
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29:08:2000 |
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X-Ray Pulsar AX J183220-0840 |
A new pulsating X-ray source, which has a period of about 1549 s, was discovered by a team of Japanese astronomers from observations in 1997 and in 1999. Discovery was made using ASCA X-ray telescopes during an observation on the Galactic plane. From the pulsation period and the pulsar's spectral data the object is supposed to be a magnetic white dwarf binary (ref: Astrophysical Journal, 2000, v. 534).
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15:08:2000 |
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X-Ray Pulsar AX J0051.6-7311 |
In April 2000 a team of Japanese astronomers discovered an X-Ray pulsar in the Small Magellanic Cloud with a period of about 172 s. Discovery was made using ASCA X-ray telescopes (ref: IAUC 7428).
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08:08:2000 |
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Microquasar LS 5039 |
As the June, 2000 issue of Science reports, Spanish and German astronomers have discovered a new microquasar - a smaller version of massive objects known as quasars. The new microquasar, known by the name of it's optical counterpart as star LS 5039, is located in the Milky Way galaxy about 9,100 light-years from Earth and is only an 11-th object of it's kind discovered. The researchers believe the microquasar is powered by a small black hole or neutron star (ref: Science, 2000 June 30).
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17:07:2000 |
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Nebula IRAS 05436-0007 |
On Jan. 23, 2004 a new nebula was discovered by an amateur astronomer, Jay McNeil, in his backyard observatory in western Kentucky using a 3-inch telescope. The nebula is lit by what astronomers think is a
newborn star, catalogued as IRAS 05436-0007 (ref: IAUC 8284).
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03:03:2004 |
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Quasar J114816.64 525150.3,
J104845.05 463718.3,
J163033 |
In April 2003 three new high-redshift quasars were discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey team. The farthest of them, the redshift 6.43 quasar is seen at a time when the universe was just 800 million years old and is the most distant known
quasar. The object is about 13 billion light years away (ref: AJ April 2003).
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03:03:2004 |
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Supercluster of stars Lynx Arc |
In October 2003 biggest and brightest
star-forming region ever seen in space was discovered. The newly identified supercluster of stars appears as a mysterious red arc behind a distant galaxy cluster. The arc is the stretched and magnified image of a mysterious celestial object about 12 billion light-years away (at a redshift of 3.36). Lynx Arc contains about a million blue-white stars that are twice as hot as similar stars in our Milky Way galaxy (ref: Astrophysical Journal, October 2003).
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03:03:2004 |
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High redshift galaxy in Abell 2218 |
On February 15th, 2004 an international team of astronomers reported the discovery of the most distant known galaxy in the universe. The galaxy is located at estimated 13 billion light-years away and is being observed at a time about 750 million years after the big bang, when the universe was about 5 percent of its current age. The discovery was made using combined power of NASA Hubble Space Telescope and W. M. Keck Telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawaii (ref: STScI press release).
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02:03:2004 |
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XTE J1118+480 |
In March 2000 an odd stellar object was discovered near the constellation Ursa Majoris by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, a NASA satellite. Scientists suspect that the object may be a black hole or a neutron star, but the most strange thing about the object is that it is not located in the plane of the Milky Way galaxy, where the vast majority of stars are located (ref: IAUC 7389).
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13:06:2000 |
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X-Ray Pulsar AX J0051-733 |
In 1999 a team of Japanese astronomers discovered an X-Ray pulsar in the central region of the Small Magellanic Cloud with a period of about 323 s. Discovery was made using ASCA X-ray telescopes (ref: Publ. Astron. Soc. Japan, 51, 1999).
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13:06:2000 |
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Black hole CXOUJ215334.0+174240 |
In March 2000 a team of astronomers from England and France discovered a powerful source of X rays, which they believe is actually a rare type of black hole called a Type 2 quasar. Discovery was made using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Type 2 quasars have been predicted to exist by quasar models and the discovery will help to confirm the so-called unified model for quasars (ref: Chandra X-ray Observatory Center press release).
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12:05:2000 |
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Quasar SDSS 1044-0125 |
At the beginning of April 2000 new record-breaking deep sky object was discovered. Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) astronomer and Princeton graduate student Xiaohui Fan has found the most distant object ever observed in the universe – quasar SDSS 1044-0125, that has a redshift of 5.8, which is greater than of any other known object (ref: SDSS press release).
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25:04:2000 |
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Pulsar PSR J1119-6127 |
At the end of 1999 new radio pulsar PSR J1119-6127 was discovered by the international group of astronomers during the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey. PSR J1119-6127 has a period of 0.41 s and is one of the radio pulsars with the largest surface magnetic field yet seen (ref: MNRAS, March 2000).
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30:03:2000 |
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Pulsar SAX J0103.2-7209 |
New X-ray pulsar SAX J0103.2-7209 with a period of 345 s was discovered by the group of astronomers from USA and Europe during 1998 July BeppoSAX observation of a field in the Small Magellanic Cloud (ref: Astrophysical Journal, 2000, v. 531).
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10:03:2000 |
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Quasar RD J030117+002025 |
A team of astronomers led by Dr. Daniel Stern of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory discovered a quasar at a redshift of 5.5 in the constellation Cetus. Redshift of 5.5 corresponds to a distance of about 13 billion light years, which places the new object among the earliest known structures ever formed in the Universe (ref: NASA JPL news release, Feb. 18, 2000).
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24:02:2000 |
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Quasar J1819+3845 |
At the beginning of 1999 two scientists from Netherlands found a microarcsecond quasar, which shows over 300% amplitude changes in radio flux density on the period of hours. This source, J1819+3845, appears to be the most extremely variable extragalactic source known in the radio sky (ref: Astroph. J. Letters, 02/2000).
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19:01:2000 |
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PSR J2144-3933 |
A new pulsar PSR J2144-3933 was discovered by West Australian PhD student Matthew Young in the middle of 1999. The object belongs to the small group of pulsars whose existence cannot be explained by current theories due to their slow motion - slower than once every few seconds. The new pulsar spins once every eight seconds and is located at an estimated distance of about 600 light years (ref: CSIRO Media Release).
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07:12:1999 |
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Pulsar 1SAX J1452.8-5949 |
A new X-ray pulsar 1SAX J1452.8-5949 with a period of 437 s was discovered by the group of astronomers from USA and Europe during a BeppoSAX galactic plane survey on 1999 July 20 (ref: Astron. Astrophys, 1999, v. 351).
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02:12:1999 |
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Mystery |
A discovery of very mysterious object in the constellation Serpens was announced at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in spring 1999. In fact, the object was found three years ago, but its spectrum shocked the discoverers, astronomers at the California Institute of Technology, and they made many additional studies to explain their result. No much success! The spectrum of the Mystery object was not close to that of any known object in the Universe, and no one could it clarify. Just recently, a near infrared study of the Mystery was performed at the Keck Observatory that proved its being a very peculiar quasar at redshift 1.2 (ref: Caltech's data).
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02:11:1999 |
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X-ray emitting cluster of galaxies RX J1716.6+6708 |
Soon after RedShift 3 was released an international team of scientists from USA and Germany reported about discovery of an X-ray emitting cluster of galaxies RX J1716.6+6708 at extreme distance (z=0.813). It became only the third X-ray emitting cluster of galaxies at redshift greater than 0.8. Some of the theories of the Universe formation do not allow existence of such massive objects as RX J1716.6+6708 at great redshifts, thus this discovery is also very important for cosmology. Add the cluster to your RedShift catalog (ref: Astron. J., 114, 1997).
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02:11:1999 |
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Binary quasar FIRST J164311.3+315618 |
A unique quasar pair is discovered recently. The first component is radio-loud, the second one is radio-quiet. This pair, associated with the radio source FIRST J164311.3+315618, is the lowest redshift (z=0.586) and smallest separation (of 2.3") binary quasar yet found (ref: Astroph. J., 04/1999).
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02:11:1999 |
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X-ray source SAX J1712.6-3739 |
On August 24, 1999 a new X-ray source is discovered by an international team of astronomers from Space Research Organization Netherlands, Utrecht, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale, CNR, Rome, and BeppoSAX Science Operation Center, Rome. This X-ray source is designated as SAX J1712.6-3739 (ref: IAUC 7243).
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02:11:1999 |
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Galaxy Cepheus 1 |
At the end of 1998 a striking discovery was made by Robert Braun, of the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy, and Butler Burton, of Leiden University. They found a massive and large spiral galaxy at only 6 Mpc from us. For the first time in the modern astronomy a newly found nearby galaxy is not obscured totally by the dusty absorbing band of the Milky Way. The galaxy is designated Cepheus 1 (ref: Astron. J., 1999 January).
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02:11:1999 |
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Pulsar XTE J1946+274 |
A new pulsar XTE J1946+274 orbiting a massive superhot blue-white star (type B) was discovered by Colleen Wilson-Hodge, an astrophysicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center at the end of 1998. About the same time the pulsar had been noticed in the course of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer's All-Sky Monitor. The new pulsar is found near the familiar constellation of Cygnus at an estimated distance of about 13,000 light years (ref: NASA's Space Science News, 1998 December).
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02:11:1999 |
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X-ray pulsar 1SAX 1324.4-6200 |
Birmingham astronomer Michael Church discovered a rare and one of the most fascinating objects in the Universe. On the images obtained aboard an international satellite SAX he found a new X-ray pulsar 1SAX 1324.4-6200 (less than forty objects like that are known now). This is a system of a small (a few tens kilometers), but extremely dense neutron star orbiting a massive companion. The period of rotation for 1SAX 1324.4-6200 is 170 sec only, and the temperature in the vicinity of the system is estimated as 100 million degrees! (Ref: The Bulletin of the University of Birmingham, No.155, Sept. 1998)
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02:11:1999 |
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Radio-galaxy TNJ0924-2201 |
The most distant radio galaxy to date is found by team of astronomers of LawrenceLivermore National Laboratory led by Wil van Breugel. The radio-galaxy TN J0924-2201 is located in the constellation Hydra at an estimated distance of around 11 billion light years from us (ref: LLNL News Release 99-06-01).
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02:11:1999 |
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Quasar UN J1025-0040 |
A team of scientists led by Mike Brotherton, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, found a quasar in the constellation of Sextans which is unique for its giant sturburst, the most luminous starburst ever observed. The astronomers believe the amount of gas involved to that firestorm of stars to be as much as about 0.1 mass of our home galaxy, the Milky Way! The quasar UN J1025-0040 is mostly observed with infrared light (ref: LLNL News Release 99-01-01).
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02:11:1999 |
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Open star cluster Eta Chamaeleontis |
A discovery of an unique open star cluster not far from the Southern Cross made by Graduate Student Eric E. Mamajek, Senior Lecturer Warrick A. Lawson, of the University of New South Wales, and Professor Eric D. Feigelson, of Penn State was announced in June 1999. The cluster Eta Chamaeleontis is the nearest open cluster discovered this century (97 pc from the Sun) and the first one discovered with X-rays. Three members of the cluster population, eta Cha, RS Cha, and HD 75505 are bright enough (~ 5m-7m) to be observed with just binoculars or a small telescope. Look at this object (ref: ExoScience Space News 1/6/99).
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02:11:1999 |
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Quasar APM08279+5255 |
The brighest object ever found in the Universe is quasar APM08279+5255 discovered by Dr. Mike Irwin (the Royal Greenwich Observatory) with his colleagues in 1998. The quasar emits energy four to five million billion times more than our Sun: it is at about 11 billion light years distance from us (ref: ING Media Release 3/98).
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02:11:1999 |
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Galaxy Sharon |
In April 1999 Hsiao-Wen Chen, Kenneth M. Lanzetta, and Sebastian Pascarelle, StateUniversity of New York, U.S.A. reported about the most distant galaxy ever discovered. This galaxy Sharon, named after the sister of one of its discoverers, has redshift 6.68, i.e., it is 13.4 billion light-years away! The galaxy is formed at the time of the Universe's "childhood", approximately 800 million years after the Big Bang (ref: Nature, April 15, 1999).
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02:11:1999 |
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Quasar RX J105225.9+571905 |
Quasar RX J105225.9+571905 is also the most distant object, but among x-ray sources (its redshift is 4.45). The quasar was discovered using the x-raydetectors aboard the satellite ROSAT and is one of the faintest x-ray sources ever detected. To "catch" it the on-board camera was being pointed at the relevant patch of sky for one million seconds! (Ref: Astron.J., April 1998).
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02:11:1999 |
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Galaxy RD1 |
The second most distant object known in the Universe is a young galaxy RD1 at theredshift 5.34 found by a joint team of astronomers from Johns Hopkins University, University of California-Berkeley and the Keck observatory with the 10-meter Telescope II at the W.M.Keck Observatory. This is the first object beyond redshift 5, and it expanded the bounds of the Universe by about 90 million light-years more up to12.22 billion light-years. RD1 is a faint galaxy with a mass and luminosity estimated to be less than that of our Galaxy. Although we don't expect every RedShift's user has an easy access to a powerful optical instrument like one of the two 10-meter Keck Telescopes, but who knows... So let's try to find this galaxy and ... even more distant objects right now!(Ref: W.M.Keck Observatory News, 1998)
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02:11:1999 |
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Dwarf galaxy And VI |
Another galaxy discovered quite recently, at the beginning of 1999, is a bit closer - "just" 2.6 million light-years from Earth. This is a dwarf galaxy And VI discovered by George H. Jacoby and Taft E. Armandroff of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories in Tucson, Arizona, and James E. Davies of the Johns Hopkins University. The new galaxy is a member of the Local Group and located about 27 deg south of the Andromeda Galaxy (ref: NOAO Release 99-01).
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02:11:1999 |
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Magnetar SGR 1806-20 |
A new type of deep-sky objects is discovered! Several unusual objects called "Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters" or SGRs are being observed since their first discovery in 1979, but only at the middle of 1998 Dr. Chryssa Kouveliotou and her team fromUSRA, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center obtained strong evidence that SGRs are super-magnetized neutron stars created by supernova explosions. They confirmed that the object SGR 1806-20 is a "magnetar" or the strongest magnet ever found. Its magnetic field is estimated as equal to 10**15 Gauss or to that of1,000,000,000,000 stars like our Sun! (Ref: NASA's Space Science News).
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02:11:1999 |
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Magnetar SGR1900+14 |
Another magnetar SGR1900+14 is famous for its being the first distant object beyond the Solar system that significantly influenced the Earth's environment. On August 27, 1998 a powerful burst of X-ray and gamma radiation on the object (which is 20,000 light years away!) made such disturbances in the Earth' upper ionosphere that Umran Inan, professor of electrical engineering at Stanford exclaimed "It was as if night was briefly turned into day in the ionosphere!" (Ref: UniSci Science and Research News).
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02:11:1999 |
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Gravitational lens GRB990123 |
An exciting event took place recently. On January 23, 1999 the first visible-light images of a gamma-ray burst in progress have been obtained. It was the brightest visible-light afterglow for any burst ever detected. An object, named as GRB990123(Gamma-Ray Burst), shined at 9th magnitude less than a minute after the gamma-ray event began, and in a few minutes it faded to fainter than 14th magnitude and was down to 20th magnitude to now. However, the biggest surprise was its redshift - 1.6 that corresponds to distance of about 9 billion light-years! In this case the amount of energy produced by the burst is such enormous that can not be explained by any existing theory...except one! Two possible galaxies at redshift of 0.29 and 0.21 have been found along the line of sight to the burst. It is supposed that the image was being greatly magnified and brightened by the lensing effect of the galaxy's gravitational field. It immediately follows from the theory that such a lens can create SEVERAL images of the same burst that can arrive to us later, in a few days, weeks or even months! Let's assume that just you will detect these "copy images" soon... Don't miss such a chance, download the position of the burst (it is halfway from the handle of the Big Dipper to the Keystone of Hercules), and direct your telescope towards your chance! In the case of success write immediately to the American Association of Variable StarObservers (observations@aavso.org) and to us (redshift@maris.com). (Ref: Sky and Telescope.)
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02:11:1999 |
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Gravitational lens B2045+265 |
The discovery of another multi-image gravitational lens B2045+265 is made by an international group of astronomers from the USA, the UK and the Netherlands. A background radio-source is multiplied four times by the lensing galaxy! Download theposition of such a fantastic event on the sky (ref: Astron. J., 1999 February).
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02:11:1999 |
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Gravitational lens PG 1115+080 |
The case when an active distant object is gravitationally lensed and multiplied by an intervening galaxy is quite rare. At the end of 1998 astronomers from theHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and The University of Arizona in Tucson have found and studied such an unique object, the quasar PG 1115+080. Its infraredimage shows the four (!) quasar images, a ring of lensed light that connects them, and the elliptical lensing galaxy at the center of the ring. Although, such an exciting picture is obtained by means of Hubble Space Telescope, an attempt to see it from the Earth does not look senseless at all. Let's try... (Ref: STS Press Release 98-37.)
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02:11:1999 |
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Double lensed systemCLASS B1152+199 |
A discovery of two new gravitational lenses is made in the course of the Cosmic LensAll-Sky Survey (CLASS) project. The first of them is a double lensed systemCLASS B1152+199, where the background quasar at z=1.019 is lensed by a foreground galaxy at z = 0.439 (ref: Astron. J., 1999 June).
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02:11:1999 |
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Quadruplelensed quasar CLASS B1359+154 |
Another gravitational lens is a quadruple lensed quasar CLASS B1359+154 at z=3.235: the redshift of the lensing object in undetermined yet (ref: Astron. J., 1999 June).
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02:11:1999 |
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Sagittarius A* (around the Galactic centre) |
Why don't look at the centre of our Galaxy? A misterious object called Sagittarius A* is there... It's believed to be an extraordinary black hole with a mass equivalent to several million Suns. We only know about a powerful radio sourceapparently being there which can be theoretically resulted from conversion of gravityenergy of enormous amount of material falling in toward a black hole to heat, X-rays,radiowaves, etc. Or this object is just a dense cluster of millions stars near the Galactic centre? Nobody knows the exact answer, and additional observations and studies of that region by both professional astronomers and amateurs are welcome.
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02:11:1999 |
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Quasar 3C273 |
Add to your Deep Sky Catalog the most famous and bright quasar 3C273. It is at 12.9 mag and is included to Hipparcos Input Catalog (and respectively to RedShift) as... a star HIP 60936! Although, the note to Hipparcos Input Catalog identifies HIP 60936 with 3C 273, the coordinates of the latter differ from those in the catalogQuasars & AGN (Veron, 1996) by about 1". The reason is Hipparcos' accuracy degraded for faint objects, and at 12.9m 3C273 really stretched theinstrumentation to the limit. Moreover, Hipparcos yields the parallax of 3.59 mas (!) for this objects that implies the quasar's being of 908.5 light years away only. At the same time the redshift of 3C273 is equal to 0.158 that corresponds to its distance from the Earth of about... 9 billions light years! Good reason to update the data for 3C273 in RedSfift (ref: Veron, 1996). And J. Brit. Astron. Assoc. recently reported about probably the first determination of 3C273 redshift made by an amateur! Try to follow him!
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02:11:1999 |
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