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Categories: Space: Structures and Features, Space: The Solar System
Published A spacecraft has 'touched' the sun for the first time
(via sciencedaily.com) On April 28, 2021, NASA's Parker Solar Probe reached the sun's extended solar atmosphere, known as the corona, and spent five hours there. The spacecraft is the first to enter the outer boundaries of our sun.
Published Infant stars identified at the center of our galaxy
(via sciencedaily.com) A cosmic object originally classified as a gas and dust cloud actually consists of three stars and could resolve a controversy among astronomers.
Published A young, sun-like star may hold warnings for life on Earth
(via sciencedaily.com) Last year, scientists looked on as a star called EK Draconis ejected a massive burst of energy and charged particles many times more powerful than anything recorded on Earth's sun. Such explosive events may have been common in the early years of our solar system, the researchers say.
Published Optical cavities could be key to next generation interferometers
(via sciencedaily.com) A new concept has been developed that has the potential to assist new instruments in the investigation of fundamental science topics such as gravitational waves and dark matter.
Published ESO telescope images planet around most massive star pair to date
(via sciencedaily.com) The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) has captured an image of a planet orbiting b Centauri, a two-star system that can be seen with the naked eye. This is the hottest and most massive planet-hosting star system found to date, and the planet was spotted orbiting it at 100 times the distance Jupiter orbits the Sun. Some astronomers believed planets could not exist around stars this massive and this hot -- until now.
Published Evidence emerges for dark-matter free galaxies
(via sciencedaily.com) Astronomers have found no trace of dark matter in the galaxy AGC 114905, despite taking detailed measurements over a course of forty hours with state-of-the-art telescopes.
Published Lunar radar data uncovers new clues about moon’s ancient past
(via sciencedaily.com) The dusty surface of the moon -- immortalized in images of Apollo astronauts' lunar footprints -- formed as the result of asteroid impacts and the harsh environment of space breaking down rock over millions of years. An ancient layer of this material, covered by periodic lava flows and now buried under the lunar surface, could provide new insight into the Moon's deep past, according to a team of scientists.
Published Astronomers discover strangely massive black hole in Milky Way satellite galaxy
(via sciencedaily.com) Astronomers have discovered an unusually massive black hole at the heart of one of the Milky Way's dwarf satellite galaxies, called Leo I. Almost as massive as the black hole in our own galaxy, the finding could redefine our understanding of how all galaxies -- the building blocks of the universe -- evolve.
Published Brief presence of water in Arabia Terra on Mars
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists recently discovered that water was once present in a region of Mars called Arabia Terra.
Published Mars seismic deployment lays groundwork for future planetary missions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source About 1000 days after the Mars InSight mission deployed SEIS, the first seismometer on the red planet, researchers are analyzing new seismic data and reporting on instrument responses, using these data to plan for future planetary seismographs.
Published Hubble witnesses shock wave of colliding gases in Running Man Nebula
(via sciencedaily.com) Mounded, luminous clouds of gas and dust glow in this Hubble image of a Herbig-Haro object known as HH 45. Herbig-Haro objects are a rarely seen type of nebula that occurs when hot gas ejected by a newborn star collides with the gas and dust around it at hundreds of miles per second, creating bright shock waves. In this image, blue indicates ionized oxygen (O II) and purple shows ionized magnesium (Mg II). Researchers were particularly interested in these elements because they can be used to identify shocks and ionization fronts. This object is located in the nebula NGC 1977, which itself is part of a complex of three nebulae called The Running Man. NGC 1977 -- like its companions NGC 1975 and NGC 1973 -- is a reflection nebula, which means that it doesn't emit light on its own, but reflects light from nearby stars, like a streetlight illuminating fog. Hubble observed this region to look for stellar jets and planet-forming disks around young stars, and examine how their environment affects the evolution of such disks.
Published One year on this giant, blistering hot planet is just 16 hours long
(via sciencedaily.com) Astronomers have discovered an ultrahot Jupiter with shortest orbit of any known gas giant planet.
Published Carbon dioxide cold traps on the moon are confirmed for the first time
(via sciencedaily.com) After decades of uncertainty, researchers have confirmed the existence of lunar carbon dioxide cold traps that could potentially contain solid carbon dioxide. The discovery will likely have a major influence in shaping future lunar missions and could impact the feasibility of a sustained robot or human presence on the moon.
Published Near-earth asteroid might be a lost fragment of the moon
(via sciencedaily.com) Near-Earth asteroid Kamo`oalewa could be a fragment of our moon.
Published Juno peers deep into Jupiter’s colorful belts and zones
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study of data captured in orbit around Jupiter has revealed new insights into what's happening deep beneath the gas giant's distinctive and colorful bands.
Published A lab in the sky: Physics experiment in Earth’s atmosphere could help improve GPS performance
(via sciencedaily.com) The Earth's atmosphere has been used as a 'laboratory' to carry out a physics experiment which could help to improve the performance of GPS.
Published Astronomers provide 'field guide' to exoplanets known as hot Jupiters
(via sciencedaily.com) By combining Hubble Space Telescope observations with theoretical models, a team of astronomers has gained insights into the chemical and physical makeup of a variety of exoplanets known as hot Jupiters. The findings provide a new and improved 'field guide' for this group of planets and inform ideas about planet formation in general.
Published Amount of information in visible universe quantified
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have long suspected a connection between information and the physical universe, with various paradoxes and thought experiments used to explore how or why information could be encoded in physical matter. A researcher attempts to shed light on exactly how much of this information is out there and presents a numerical estimate for the amount of encoded information in all the visible matter in the universe -- approximately 6 times 10 to the power of 80 bits of information.
Published Titan’s river maps may advise Dragonfly’s 'sedimental' journey
(via sciencedaily.com) With future space exploration in mind, a team of astronomers has published the final maps of Titan's liquid methane rivers and tributaries -- as seen by NASA's late Cassini mission -- so that may help provide context for Dragonfly's upcoming 2030s expedition.
Published NASA, ULA launch Lucy Mission to ‘fossils’ of planet formation
(via sciencedaily.com) NASA's Lucy mission, the agency's first to Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Over the next 12 years, Lucy will fly by one main-belt asteroid and seven Trojan asteroids, making it the agency's first single spacecraft mission in history to explore so many different asteroids. Lucy will investigate these 'fossils' of planetary formation up close during its journey.