SCIENCE
August 25, 2011 | Amina Khan
For the first time, astronomers say they've borne witness to a supermassive black hole consuming a star. Two papers released Wednesday by the journal Nature describe powerful blasts of radiation whose brightness and behavior can be explained only by a sun-sized star being torn apart by the gravitational forces of a black hole at the center of its galaxy, the authors say. Scientists believe they have seen the aftermath of such stellar violence...
SCIENCE
June 18, 2011 | Amina Khan
Astronomers have discovered a hidden collection of supermassive, growing black holes dating back to the early universe -- showing, for the first time, that black holes populated the cosmos far earlier than thought. The findings, published online Wednesday in the journal Nature, could help scientists understand how these black holes are born, how big they grow and how galaxies develop with them. "We know the nearest galaxies, like our own Milky Way, all have supermassive black holes in the center," said lead author Ezequiel Treister, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii.
ENTERTAINMENT
January 9, 2011 | By Nick Owchar, Los Angeles Times
How I Killed Pluto And Why It Had It Coming Mike Brown Spiegel & Grau: 267 pp., $25 Moon A Brief History Bernd Brunner Yale University Press: 290 pp., $25 Pluto. Poor little guy. He never wanted much. The others could be bigger, they could be better-looking or brag about themselves ("I'm burning hot!" or "I have rings!" or "I support life!"). He didn't care. All he wanted was to be part of the planet club. And for about 75 years, that tiny frozen world billions of miles from the sun was a card-carrying member.
SCIENCE
August 28, 2010 | By Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times
Astronomers have found two new solar systems circling distant stars, one with as many as seven planets and both with planets only slightly larger than Earth. The system with seven planets is the largest yet known beyond our own, and the two planets close to the size of Earth are the smallest yet discovered. Neither could be considered Earth-like, however. Both orbit so close to their stars that their surfaces are blistering hot — so hot that they might even glow, experts said.
SCIENCE
July 10, 2010 | By Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times
When the moon blots out the sun's blinding rays on Sunday, a sliver of the Earth's surface will be plunged into eerie darkness. Travelers who have crossed thousands of miles to witness the celestial show will gaze at the sky and, for a few minutes, see a thing most people never get to see: a halo of fire — the sun's corona — flickering around the edges of the silhouette of the moon. But Jay Pasachoff, over on Easter Island, may be looking down more than up — calibrating his instruments, checking for technical glitches, peering through lenses.
ENTERTAINMENT
November 7, 2009 | Associated Press
Matthew Broderick says he's puzzled by the bashing he's received for his actions during the first New York preview of "The Starry Messenger," a new play by good friend Kenneth Lonergan. "We had to rush to our first preview and then I guess we got some press just after one show, which I don't really understand," the actor said. Messages posted on various theater websites said a prompter in the front row needed to assist Broderick with his lines during the Oct. 26 performance of the three-hour play, produced by off-Broadway's New Group.