Sentences with phrase «for astronomers because»

Although the spiral is tilted away from us, with only a thin slither on view, such a perspective can be advantageous for astronomers because the regions above and below the galaxy's disc can be seen much more clearly (Credit: ESA / Hubble & NASA)

At 21 light - years away, the planet is the closest outside of our solar system that can be seen crossing, or transiting, its star — a bonus for astronomers because transiting planets make ideal specimens for detailed studies of their atmospheres.

This powerful capability is key for astronomers because a highly - detailed spectral image allows them to identify a cosmic object's characteristics, including its temperature, motion, density, mass, distance, chemical composition, and more.

Massive stars are particularly important for astronomers because of their enormous feedback.

Not exact matches

Newton, for example, told the Astronomer Royal, Flamsteed, to correct some astronomical data because it disagreed with theoretical predictions; several factors, including refraction of light by the atmosphere, were later proposed to justify the corrections.11

In part because of their immense numbers, such stars are in some respects easier for astronomers to study.

Newberg adds that physicists hunting for particles of dark matter wafting through the Milky Way might detect fragments of Sagittarius, because many astronomers suspect that dwarf galaxies are especially rich in dark matter.

Because parallax measurements are so difficult to obtain for far - distant star - forming regions on the other side of the galaxy, astronomers widely agree they will chiefly serve as important calibration points to augment existing kinematic distance measurements.

The group's youth and proximity make the stars «fantastically suitable for direct searches for warm newborn planets,» says astronomer Ray Jayawardhana of UC Berkeley, because such planets would shine brightly in infrared light.

«If there are plumes emerging from Europa, it is significant because it means we may be able to explore that ocean for organic chemistry or even signs of life without having to drill through unknown miles of ice,» says study lead William Sparks, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Because they grew up in relative isolation, the lonely galaxies within voids are a perfect test case for astronomers curious about how galaxies change over time, and what the earliest, primordial galaxies were like.

Asteroid Univofutah initially was numbered 391795 because it was the 391,795 th minor planet — the term that astronomers use for asteroids — to be discovered and receive a number.

These discoveries posed an even bigger conundrum for astronomers than the original sighting of the HH objects because the geometry of the jets was so peculiar.

Fast radio bursts, which flash for just a few milliseconds, created a stir among astronomers because they seemed to be coming from outside our galaxy, which means they would have to be very powerful to be seen from Earth, and because none of those first observed were ever seen again.

Titan's surface seems to be covered with ethane oceans and an organic goo that may resemble the Earth's early surface chemistry, but nobody knows for sure, because astronomers can't see through the moon's maddeningly opaque orange fog.

Because a good spacecraft is a terrible thing to waste, astronomers are looking for new heavenly bodies for the spacecraft to observe.

Recently, astronomers looking for potentially habitable worlds have targeted red dwarf stars because they are the most common type of star, comprising 80 percent of the stars in the universe.

Astronomers also let their eyes «dark adapt» for about 15 minutes before observing, because rods take a long time to reach full sensitivity.

Discovering molecules like amino acetonitrile is a big deal, because it's not easy for them to materialize in the extreme temperatures of space, says radio astronomer Anthony Remijan of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia: «Too hot and they are destroyed, too cold and they can't form.»

Ever since the first exoplanets were discovered 2 decades ago, astronomers have been fascinated by super-Earths because we have no model for what they would be like.

The day of NASA's announcement, Thursday 23 April, was an especially testing one for many astronomers because they had to respond off the cuff to questions from journalists, without knowing the details of the COBE findings.

Typically, stars are characterized by how much iron they contain, because iron is a relatively common element and is almost always the easiest for astronomers to detect.

Similarly - aged stars moving through space together in a group — described by astronomers as an association — are of great interest to researchers, because they are considered a prime target to hunt for brown dwarfs and free - floating planet - like objects.

Because oxygen is heavier than helium — which astronomers consider the cut - off for so - called heavy elements — and water has oxygen in it, the researchers could use the water signal to determine the abundance of heavy elements in the atmosphere of HAT - P - 26b.

Because gas is the raw material for creating stars, NGC 253 is literally jettisoning its chances to be as big as it could be; but it's also giving astronomers a ringside seat on a phenomenon that probably puts a lid on galaxy growth throughout the universe.

«This system is poorly studied because it wasn't on our watch list of stars capable of producing large flares,» said Rachel Osten, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore and a deputy project scientist for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, now under construction.

So that's made it easy for — and the reason I say radio astronomy is because I'm following this one specific group of radio astronomers for another project and I've seen how off - the - shelf consumer electronics has really made their mission possible.

It will be extremely challenging for astronomers to directly see water vapor on those worlds, because it's too low in the atmosphere and shielded from telescopes.

It's important to do so, however, because without other stars for comparison, astronomers can't determine whether the sun's magnetism is normal.

Astronomers will continue monitoring Fomalhaut b for decades to come because they may have a chance to observe a planet entering an icy debris belt that is like the Kuiper Belt at the fringe of our own solar system.

Because queue mode observing is commonly used on many ground - based telescopes, and space - based telescopes come with fully developed data pipelines, visiting observers assume Keck Observatory resident astronomers will conduct all the observing for them, a situation that would have been unheard of 10 years ago.

«For NASA, this number — that every fifth star has a planet somewhat like Earth — is really important, because successor missions to Kepler will try to take an actual picture of a planet, and the size of the telescope they have to build depends on how close the nearest Earth - size planets are,» said Andrew Howard, astronomer with the Institute for Astronomy at the University of HawaFor NASA, this number — that every fifth star has a planet somewhat like Earth — is really important, because successor missions to Kepler will try to take an actual picture of a planet, and the size of the telescope they have to build depends on how close the nearest Earth - size planets are,» said Andrew Howard, astronomer with the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawafor Astronomy at the University of Hawaii.

For example, the Spitzer infrared astronomers favour a two major arm model because red giant stars (which emit a lot of infrared) are largely confined to the Perseus and Centaurus arms, whereas radio astronomers tend to favour a four major arm model because radio telescopes can detect atomic hydrogen in all four arms.

This is the most famous of the two clusters because it has a compact core of galaxies scattered across two degrees of the sky which makes it a popular target for amateur astronomers.

Dark basaltic plains on the Moon, similar to but smaller than lunar maria, are called lacus (Latin for «lake») because early astronomers thought they were lakes of water.

He thinks Eris is a fitting name for the new dwarf planet because astronomers have argued for so long over how to define a planet.

Because both the principal stars are fairly similar to the Sun (for example, in age and metallicity), astronomers have been especially interested in making detailed searches for planets in the Alpha Centauri system.

Because of their relative brightness, high - energy gamma and x-ray quasars have become important probes for astronomers studying distant reaches of the universe and its ancient past.

The modeling efforts continue to be incredibly important because they tie our physics - based understanding of how gravitational lensing works with the observations of gravitational lensing, and they allow astronomers to accurately search for and study extremely distant and lensed galaxies.

Astronomers have uncovered evidence buried in the noise of apparently empty data showing that five super-Earths are orbiting the nearby Tau Ceti — a star chosen as one of the targets in the pioneering 1960 Project OZMA search for extraterrestrial life because of its strong similarity to the Sun.

Because SOHO has been watching the sun for so long, astronomers have been able to watch the sun through more than one of its 11 - year sunspot cycles.

Astronomers can see this individual star because its light has been highly magnified by an intervening galaxy cluster through a process called gravitational lensing, said Liliya Williams, University professor in the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics.

Because most jobs are in basic research and development, a doctoral degree is the usual educational requirement for astronomers.

The debate raged on for years because astronomers needed larger, more powerful, telescopes to resolve the details.

For example, Helfand pointed out that there are cases in which astronomers concluded that a pulsar and supernova remnant, while nearby, are not related because the pulsar's «characteristic age» was much younger than the age calculated for the supernova remnaFor example, Helfand pointed out that there are cases in which astronomers concluded that a pulsar and supernova remnant, while nearby, are not related because the pulsar's «characteristic age» was much younger than the age calculated for the supernova remnafor the supernova remnant.

Because of the distance uncertainty, for example, astronomers did not know if GRBs were in our own Solar System, our Galaxy, or in the distant Universe.

Planet - hunting astronomers have been seeking habitable - zone planets because they're the best places to look for life.