http://ec.europa.eu//research/index.cfm?pg=whatsnew en Tue, 21 May 2013 15:05:01 GMT http://ec.europa.eu/research/index.cfm?pg=rss For more RSS news feeds click the link above. Tue, 21 May 2013 15:05:01 GMT http://ec.europa.eu/research/index.cfm?pg=rss http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/star/index_en.cfm?p=ss-elsa&calledby=infocentre&item=Infocentre&artid=28934 August 2013 will see the launch of Gaia, a five-year space mission packed with scientific ambition that is quite literally astronomical. The European Space Agency (ESA) aims to chart about one billion stars, or roughly 1% of the Milky Way. It is expected to discover thousands of new celestial objects, from extra-solar planets to failed stars called brown dwarfs. It is an extraordinary endeavour, taking astrometry to a new level of complexity and precision, but it will mean little if Europe's science community cannot handle the volume of data that Gaia space mission is expected to send back to Earth. And this is where ELSA comes in. ]]> Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT tag:ch,2013-01-10:/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/star/index_en.cfm?p=ss-elsa&calledby=infocentre&item=Infocentre&artid=28934 http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/headlines/news/article_12_10_30_en.html&item=Infocentre&artid=27773 In 2004 Stephen Hawking famously changed his mind about black holes – a place in space where gravity pulls so much that not even light can escape from it. Now astronomers have made a new discovery that may well once again change the way science sees black holes, or more precisely the company they keep. A team of international astronomers have discovered two black holes, bucking theorists who suggested that there could only be one. The discovery is making scientists rethink their understanding of the environment in globular star clusters, tight-knit collections containing hundreds of thousands of stars.]]> Tue, 30 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT tag:ch,2012-10-30:/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/headlines/news/article_12_10_30_en.html&item=Infocentre&artid=27773 http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/headlines/news/article_12_09_20_en.html&item=Infocentre&artid=26953 An international team of astronomers has found evidence that a planet was destroyed by its ageing star. Led by Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) in the United States, the team showed that the missing planet was 'consumed' as the star expanded into a 'red giant', what experts refer to as the advanced age of stars. Presented in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, the study was funded in part by the PLANES ('Unfolding the evolution of planetary systems') project, which has received a Marie Curie Action Reintegration grant worth EUR 100 000 under the FP7.]]> Thu, 20 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT tag:ch,2012-09-20:/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/headlines/news/article_12_09_20_en.html&item=Infocentre&artid=26953 http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/headlines/news/article_12_07_11_en.html&item=Infocentre&artid=26093 An 18-member international team of researchers has found exciting new evidence that supports the theory of an extraterrestrial impact that occurred nearly 13 000 years ago. Their evidence lies in material found in a thin layer of sedimentary rock in Pennsylvania and South Carolina in the United States and in Syria. This material stands out because at the time it was created it could only have been formed at 1 700 to 2 200 degrees Celsius and as a result of a cosmic body impacting Earth. All together this points to evidence that could strongly support the controversial Younger Dryas Boundary hypothesis.]]> Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT tag:ch,2012-07-11:/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/headlines/news/article_12_07_11_en.html&item=Infocentre&artid=26093 http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/headlines/news/article_12_04_19_en.html&item=Infocentre&artid=24634 A European team of researchers led by the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland has developed a prototype of a new, ultra-compact motor that will enable small satellites to journey beyond Earth's orbit. The objective of this new motor is to make space exploration less expensive. The result is an outcome of the MICROTHRUST ('Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based electric micropropulsion for small spacecraft to enable robotic space exploration and space science') project, which is supported under the Space Theme of the FP7, to the tune of EUR 1.9 million.]]> Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT tag:ch,2012-04-19:/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/headlines/news/article_12_04_19_en.html&item=Infocentre&artid=24634