Friday, December 13, 2013

This Exoplanet Is Turning Planetary Formation Scenarios Upside Down

This Exoplanet Is Turning Planetary Formation Scenarios Upside Down:
Artist's conception of a planet like HD106906 b. Visible in the picture is a debris disk and its distant host star. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This Exoplanet Is Turning Planetary Formation Scenarios Upside Down
Artist’s conception of a planet like HD 106906 b. Visible in the picture is a debris disk and its distant host star. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
What the heck is that giant exoplanet doing so far away from its star? Astronomers are still trying to figure out the curious case of HD 106906 b, a newly found gas giant that orbits at an astounding 650 astronomical units or Earth-sun distances from its host star. For comparison, that’s more than 20 times farther from its star than Neptune is from the sun.
“This system is especially fascinating because no model of either planet or star formation fully explains what we see,” stated Vanessa Bailey, a graduate astronomy student at the University of Arizona who led the research.
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Subaru Telescope Captures the Fine Details of Comet Lovejoy’s Tail

Subaru Telescope Captures the Fine Details of Comet Lovejoy’s Tail:
Comet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) imaged by the Subaru Telescope on Dec. 3. Image credit: NAOJ with data processing by Masafumi Yagi (NAOJ)
Subaru Telescope Captures the Fine Details of Comet Lovejoy’s Tail
Comet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) imaged by the Subaru Telescope on Dec. 3. Image credit: NAOJ with data processing by Masafumi Yagi (NAOJ)
Comet ISON may be no more than just a cloud of icy debris these days but there’s another comet that’s showing off in the morning sky: C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy), which was discovered in September and is steadily nearing its Christmas Day perihelion. In the early hours of Dec. 3, astronomers using the 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii captured this amazing image of Lovejoy, revealing the intricate flows of ion streamers in its tail. (Click the image above for extra awesomeness.)
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Little Big Universe: Tilt-Shifted Astro Images Make Space Look Tiny

Little Big Universe: Tilt-Shifted Astro Images Make Space Look Tiny:
Hubble image of the Horsehead Nebula, "tilt-shifted" by Imgur user ScienceLlama (Original image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))
Little Big Universe: Tilt-Shifted Astro Images Make Space Look Tiny
Hubble image of the Horsehead Nebula, “tilt-shifted” by Imgur user ScienceLlama (Original image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))
Aww, how cute! What an adorable little… nebula?
Although here it may look like it could fit in your hand, the Horsehead Nebula is obviously quite a bit larger – about 1.5 light-years across from “nose” to “mane.” But given a tilt-shift effect by Imgur.com user ScienceLlama, the entire structure takes on the appearance of something tiny — based purely on our eyes’ natural depth-of-field when peering at a small object close up. Usually done with Photoshop filters these days, it’s a gimmick, yes… but it works!
The original image was captured in infrared light by the Hubble Space Telescope and released in April 2013, in celebration of its 23rd anniversary.
Check out more of ScienceLlama’s “tiny universe” images below:
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This Spooky X-Ray ‘Hand’ Demonstrates A Pulsar Star Mystery

This Spooky X-Ray ‘Hand’ Demonstrates A Pulsar Star Mystery:
This X-ray nebula appears to look like a human hand. The ghostly shape comes courtesy of a pulsar star called PSR B1509-58 (B1509 for short) that is just 12 miles or 19 kilometers in diameter. The nebula itself is 150 light-years across. Image taken by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Credit: NASA/CXC/CfA/P. Slane et al.
This Spooky X-Ray ‘Hand’ Demonstrates A Pulsar Star Mystery
This X-ray nebula appears to look like a human hand. The ghostly shape comes courtesy of a pulsar star called PSR B1509-58 (B1509 for short) that is just 12 miles or 19 kilometers in diameter. The nebula itself is 150 light-years across. Image taken by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Credit: NASA/CXC/CfA/P. Slane et al.
That spooky hand in the image above is producing questions for scientists. While the shape only coincidentally looks like a human hand, scientists are still trying to figure out how a small star produced such a large shape visible in X-rays.
Pulsar star PSR B1509-58 (or B1509 for short) is a 12-mile (19-kilometer) remnant of a much larger star that exploded and left behind a quickly spinning neutron star. Energy leaves mostly via neutrino (or neutral particle) emission, with a bit more coming out via beta decay, or a radioactive process where charged particles leave from atoms.
Using a new model, scientists found that so much energy comes out from neutrino emission that there shouldn’t be enough left for the beta decay to set off the X-rays you see here in this image, or in other situations. Yet it’s still happening. And that’s why they’re hoping to take a closer look at the situation.
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Get Ready for the 2013 Geminid Meteor Shower

Get Ready for the 2013 Geminid Meteor Shower:
The rising radiant of the Geminids-Looking east at 9PM local from latitude 30 degrees north. (Credit-Stellarium).
Get Ready for the 2013 Geminid Meteor Shower
The rising radiant of the Geminids-Looking east at 9PM local from latitude 30 degrees north. (Credit-Stellarium).
One of the best annual meteor showers occurs this coming weekend.
The 2013 Geminid meteors peak this coming Saturday on December 14th. This shower has a broad maximum, assuring that observers worldwide get a good look. In 2013, the maximum for the Geminids is forecast to span from 13:00 Universal Time (UT) on Friday, December 13th to 10:00UT/5:00AM EST on Saturday, December 14th, with a projected maximum centered a few hours earlier at 2:00 UT Saturday morning.(...)
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‘Glowing Wreck Of A Star’ Reveals Cosmic Cannibalism

‘Glowing Wreck Of A Star’ Reveals Cosmic Cannibalism:
Composite image of Circinus X-1, which is about 24,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Circinus. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison/S. Heinz et al; Optical: DSS; Radio: CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA
‘Glowing Wreck Of A Star’ Reveals Cosmic Cannibalism
Composite image of Circinus X-1, which is about 24,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Circinus. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison/S. Heinz et al; Optical: DSS; Radio: CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA
Circinus X-1 may look like a serene place from a distance, but in reality this gassy nebula is quite a busy spot. Embedded in the nebula is the neutron star that is also a leftover of the supernova that produced the gas. Not only that, but the neutron star is still locked on to a companion and is in fact “cannibalizing” it, astronomers said.
The “glowing wreck of a star”, as the team called it, is exciting because it demonstrates what systems look like in the first stages after an explosion. The nebula is an infant in cosmic terms, with an upper limit to its age of just 4,500 years. To put that in human terms, that’s around the time of the first civilizations (such as in Mesopotamia).
“The fact that we have this remnant along with the neutron star and its companion means we can test all kinds of things,” stated Sebastian Heinz, an astronomy professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who led the research.
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Take a Virtual Spin Around Mars’ North Pole

Take a Virtual Spin Around Mars’ North Pole:

Get a satellite’s-eye view of the Martian north pole in this new animation from the Mars Express spacecraft, using data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding instrument, MARSIS. This instrument allows for studying the surface heights, providing a 3-D view of the Mars’ north pole.
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 325: Cold Fusion

Astronomy Cast Ep. 325: Cold Fusion:

The Universe is filled with hot fusion, in the cores of stars. And scientists have even been able to replicate this stellar process in expensive experiments. But wouldn’t it be amazing if you could produce energy from fusion without all that equipment, and high temperatures and pressures? Pons and Fleischmann announced exactly that back in 1989, but things didn’t quite turn out as planned…
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See What the Moon Will Look Like in All of 2014 in Just 5 Minutes

See What the Moon Will Look Like in All of 2014 in Just 5 Minutes:

Here’s how the Moon will look to us on Earth during the entire year of 2014. Using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio can project how the Moon will appear, and compresses one month into 24 seconds and a year to about 5 minutes. Above is the video where Celestial north is up, corresponding to the view from the northern hemisphere, and below is how the Moon will look from the southern hemisphere.
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And the Coldest Place on Earth Is …

And the Coldest Place on Earth Is …:
With remote-sensing satellites, scientists have found the coldest places on Earth, just off a ridge in the East Antarctic Plateau. The coldest of the cold temperatures dropped to minus 135.8 F (minus 93.2 C) -- several degrees colder than the previous record. Image Credit: Ted Scambos, National Snow and Ice Data Center.
And the Coldest Place on Earth Is …
With remote-sensing satellites, scientists have found the coldest places on Earth, just off a ridge in the East Antarctic Plateau. The coldest of the cold temperatures dropped to minus 135.8 F (minus 93.2 C) — several degrees colder than the previous record.
Image Credit: Ted Scambos, National Snow and Ice Data Center.
What is the coldest place on Earth? Scientists say it’s a place so cold that ordinary mercury or alcohol thermometers won’t work there. At this place, the new record of minus 136 F (minus 93.2 C) was set on Aug. 10, 2010. Researchers analyzed data from several satellite instruments and found the coldest place on Earth in the past 32 years is … (...)
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Mapping Molecular Clouds Changes Astronomers Outlook On Starbirth

Mapping Molecular Clouds Changes Astronomers Outlook On Starbirth:
Molecular hydrogen in the Whirlpool Galaxy M51. The blueish features show the distribution of hydrogen molecules in M51, the raw material for forming new stars. The PAWS team has used this data to create a catalogue of more then 1,500 molecular clouds. The background is a color image of M51 by the Hubble Space Telescope. Superimposed in blue is the CO(1-0) radiation emitted by carbon monoxide (CO) molecules, as measured for the PAWS study using the millimeter telescopes of the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique. The CO molecules are used as tracers for molecular hydrogen. Credit: PAWS team/IRAM/NASA HST/T. A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage)
Mapping Molecular Clouds Changes Astronomers Outlook On Starbirth
Molecular hydrogen in the Whirlpool Galaxy M51. The blueish features show the distribution of hydrogen molecules in M51, the raw material for forming new stars. The PAWS team has used this data to create a catalogue of more then 1,500 molecular clouds. The background is a color image of M51 by the Hubble Space Telescope. Superimposed in blue is the CO(1-0) radiation emitted by carbon monoxide (CO) molecules, as measured for the PAWS study using the millimeter telescopes of the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique. The CO molecules are used as tracers for molecular hydrogen. Credit: PAWS team/IRAM/NASA HST/T. A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage)
It didn’t happen overnight. By studying the properties of giant molecular clouds in the Whirlpool Galaxy for several years with the millimeter telescopes of IRAM, the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique, astronomers have been given a whole, new look at star formation. Encompassing 1,500 maps of molecular clouds, this new research has found these building blocks of future suns to be encased in a sort of molecular hydrogen mist. This ethereal mixture appears to be far denser than speculated and is found throughout the galactic disc. What’s more, it would appear the pressure created by the molecular fog is a critical factor in determining whether or not stars are able to form within the clouds. (...)
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New Project Aims To Improve Galaxy Simulation — And Help Us Understand More About The Universe

New Project Aims To Improve Galaxy Simulation — And Help Us Understand More About The Universe:
Image of NGC 6872 (left) and companion galaxy IC 4970 (right) locked in a tango as the two galaxies gravitationally interact. The galaxies lie about 200 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Pavo (the Peacock). Image credit: Sydney Girls High School Astronomy Club, Travis Rector (University of Alaska, Anchorage), Ángel López-Sánchez (Australian Astronomical Observatory/Macquarie University), and the Australian Gemini Office.
New Project Aims To Improve Galaxy Simulation — And Help Us Understand More About The Universe
Image of NGC 6872 (left) and companion galaxy IC 4970 (right) locked in a tango as the two galaxies gravitationally interact. The galaxies lie about 200 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Pavo (the Peacock). Image credit: Sydney Girls High School Astronomy Club, Travis Rector (University of Alaska, Anchorage), Ángel López-Sánchez (Australian Astronomical Observatory/Macquarie University), and the Australian Gemini Office.
Galaxy modelling is complicated, and even more so when different computer models don’t agree on how the factors come together. This makes it hard to understand the nature of our universe. One new project called AGORA (Assembling Galaxies of Resolved Anatomy) aims to resolve the discrepancies and make the results more consistent. Basically, the project aims to compare different codes against each other and also against observations.
“The physics of galaxy formation is extremely complicated, and the range of lengths, masses, and timescales that need to be simulated is immense,” stated Piero Madau, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and co-chair of the AGORA steering committee.
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Young Boy’s Discovery Confirmed as a Peculiar Supernova Explosion

Young Boy’s Discovery Confirmed as a Peculiar Supernova Explosion:
Artist's sketch of a supernova explosion (credit: Adam Burn / Deviant art).
Young Boy’s Discovery Confirmed as a Peculiar Supernova Explosion
An artist’s sketch of a supernova explosion (credit: Adam Burn / deviantART).
New observations confirm that young Nathan Gray’s discovery is indeed a supernova explosion, albeit a rather peculiar one.  Nathan Gray, age 10, discovered a new cosmic source on October 30th that emerged in the constellation of Draco, and it was subsequently classified as a supernova candidate.  Evidence available at the time was sufficiently convincing that Nathan was promptly heralded as the youngest individual to discover a supernova.
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Stunning Movie Shows What Earth Looks Like to an Incoming Spacecraft

Stunning Movie Shows What Earth Looks Like to an Incoming Spacecraft:

When NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew past Earth in October of this year, it focused some of its cameras on the Earth-Moon system. Immediately after the flyby, images taken by the Junocam were released, but today, NASA released an amazing video taken by the Advanced Stellar Compass (ASC) camera, a low-light camera that is primarily used as a star tracking a navigation tool. Over the course of three days, it captured the orbital ballet-like dance between the Earth and Moon.
“This is profound, and I think our movie does the same thing as “Pale Blue Dot” image from Voyager, except it’s a movie instead of an image,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator, speaking during a press briefing from the American Geophysical Union conference today in San Fransisco. “Like Carl Sagan said, everything we know is on this dot. To me this says, ‘we’re all in this together.’”
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Space Shuttle-Sized Asteroid 2013 XY8 to Fly Past Earth on Dec. 11

Space Shuttle-Sized Asteroid 2013 XY8 to Fly Past Earth on Dec. 11:
Asteroid 2013 XY8 imaged on 2013, December 10, 2013 by E. Guido, N. Howes and M. Nicolini/Remanzacco Observatory.
Space Shuttle-Sized Asteroid 2013 XY8 to Fly Past Earth on Dec. 11
Asteroid 2013 XY8 imaged on 2013, December 10, 2013 by E. Guido, N. Howes and M. Nicolini/Remanzacco Observatory.
A newly-discovered asteroid about the size of a space shuttle will fly past Earth on December 11, 2013 at a very safe distance of 760,000 kilometers (470,000 miles). The closest approach of Asteroid 2013 XY8 will be 11:14 UT, and its size is estimated between 31 – 68 meters. This asteroid is zipping along at about 14 kilometers per second, and of course at about 2 lunar distances away, there is no danger of this asteroid hitting Earth. The asteroid was discovered on Dec. 7 by the team at the Catalina Sky Survey, and our friends Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes and Martino Nicolini from the Remanzacco Observatory have provided a follow-up image of the asteroid, taken just this morning.
You can see an animation of it here, and more information at their website.
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Foom! Morpheus Project Lander Roars In Free Flight Test

Foom! Morpheus Project Lander Roars In Free Flight Test:
NASA's Morpheus Project -- a prototype for vertical landing and takeoff for other planets -- during a free flight test Dec. 10, 2013. Credit: NASA (@MorpheusLander Twitter feed)
Foom! Morpheus Project Lander Roars In Free Flight Test
NASA’s Morpheus Project — a prototype for vertical landing and takeoff for other planets — during a free flight test Dec. 10, 2013. Credit: NASA (@MorpheusLander Twitter feed)
What an otherworldly experience, without having to leave Earth! The Morpheus Project wrapped up a successful free-flight test yesterday. That picture above is just to whet your appetite for the actual video, which you can see (and definitely hear) after the jump below.
“WOOOOHOOOOO! How about them apples?!” the @MorpheusLander Twitter feed said shortly after the test wrapped up with a takeoff, hover and landing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. ”Successful #FREEFLIGHT @NASAKennedy today!” the feed added later. “Get ready for us to #increasetheawesome as we progress through our tests!”
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The Search For Life On Europa Could Center On Celestial Party-Crashers

The Search For Life On Europa Could Center On Celestial Party-Crashers:
Jupiter's moon, Europa, appears to have clay-like minerals on it (visible in blue in the false-color patch, amid red-colored water ice). The information came from new data analysis from NASA's Galileo mission, which concluded in 2003. The backdrop is a mosaic of visual-light images from Galileo's Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI
The Search For Life On Europa Could Center On Celestial Party-Crashers
Jupiter’s moon, Europa, appears to have clay-like minerals on it (visible in blue in the false-color patch, amid red-colored water ice). The information came from new data analysis from NASA’s Galileo mission, which concluded in 2003. The backdrop is a mosaic of visual-light images from Galileo’s Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI
The cool thing about space missions is long after they conclude, the data can yield the most interesting information. Here’s an example: Jupiter’s moon Europa may have a ripe spot for organic materials to take root.
Scouring the data from NASA’s past Galileo mission — which ended a decade ago — scientists unveiled an area with “clay-like minerals” on it that came to be after an asteroid or comet smashed into the surface. The connection? These celestial party-crashers often carry organics with them.
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Astronauts Safe As NASA Investigates Space Station Cooling Problem, Agency Says

Astronauts Safe As NASA Investigates Space Station Cooling Problem, Agency Says:
A view of the International Space Station as seen by the last departing space shuttle crew, STS-135. Credit: NASA
Astronauts Safe As NASA Investigates Space Station Cooling Problem, Agency Says
A view of the International Space Station as seen by the last departing space shuttle crew, STS-135. Credit: NASA
A cooling problem on the International Space Station has resulted in partial shutdowns of noncritical systems on the Harmony node, Columbus Laboratory and Japanese Kibo laboratory, NASA said yesterday (Dec. 11).
The agency emphasized that the six-person Expedition 38 crew is not in danger and that its ground control teams are working as quickly as possible to resolve the issue. While a spacewalk is a possibility to fix the problem, it’s too early to say what NASA and other space station partners will decide to do, officials added.
Update, 11:16 a.m. EST: After spending the night moving critical systems to a single cooling loop and verifying the configuration was stable, controllers on the ground plan to move the troublesome valve to several positions and monitor the effect on cooling temperatures, according to a NASA TV update. The crew is going about their activities as much as possible, although they’re on a “reduced timeline” because some non-critical payloads aren’t running as usual. NASA also said it’s looking at whether the expected Dec. 18 launch of the Cygnus cargo spacecraft to station can proceed as planned.
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Hubble Discovers Water Plumes Erupting from Europa

Hubble Discovers Water Plumes Erupting from Europa:
UV observations from Hubble show the size of water vapor plumes coming from Europa's south pole (NASA, ESA, and M. Kornmesser)
Hubble Discovers Water Plumes Erupting from Europa
UV observations from Hubble show the size of water vapor plumes coming from Europa’s south pole (Artist’s impression. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Kornmesser)
It’s been known since 2005 that Saturn’s 300-mile-wide moon Enceladus has geysers spewing ice and dust out into orbit from deep troughs that rake across its south pole. Now, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, we know of another moon with similar jets: Europa, the ever-enigmatic ice-shelled moon of Jupiter. This makes two places in our Solar System where subsurface oceans could be getting sprayed directly into space — and within easy reach of any passing spacecraft.
The findings were announced today during the meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
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Argon – The First Noble Gas Molecules Discovered In Space

Argon – The First Noble Gas Molecules Discovered In Space:
Messier 1 Hubble Image: Credit - NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State University)
Argon – The First Noble Gas Molecules Discovered In Space
Messier 1 Hubble Image: Credit – NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State University)
There are only six of them: radon, helium, neon, krypton, xenon and the first molecules to be discovered in space – argon. They are all odorless, colorless, monatomic gases with very low chemical reactivity. So where did a team of astronomers using ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory make their rather unusual discovery? Try Messier 1… The “Crab” Nebula! (...)
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Fast Radio Bursts May Originate Closer to Home Than Previously Thought

Fast Radio Bursts May Originate Closer to Home Than Previously Thought:
Fast Radio Bursts May Originate Closer to Home Than Previously Thought
Fast Radio Bursts May Originate Closer to Home Than Previously Thought
Our active sun imaged in Sept. 1999. Image Credit: NASA/SDO
Fast radio bursts — eruptions of extreme energy that occur only once and last a thousandth of a second — are continuing to defy astronomers.  At first observations suggested they came from billions of light years away. A new study, however, points to sources much closer to home: nearby flaring stars.
“We have argued that fast radio burst sources need not be exotic events at cosmological distances, but rather could be due to extreme magnetic activity in nearby Galactic stars,” said Harvard professor Abraham Loeb in the study.
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This Picture Symbolizes The Changing Mission Of One Plucky Spacecraft

This Picture Symbolizes The Changing Mission Of One Plucky Spacecraft:
The Helix nebula is visible in the center of this image, surrounded by tracks of asteroids that are much closer to Earth (yellow dots). Click on the image to see them. The streaks you see are from satellites or cosmic rays. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
This Picture Symbolizes The Changing Mission Of One Plucky Spacecraft
The Helix nebula is visible in the center of this image, surrounded by tracks of asteroids that are much closer to Earth (yellow dots). Click on the image to see them. The streaks you see are from satellites or cosmic rays. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
Besides being a darn pretty picture of the Helix nebula, this snapshot is a bit of symbolism for NASA. The spacecraft that nabbed this view is called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. If you look very carefully — you may have to click on the picture for a closer view — you can see little dots showing the paths of asteroids in the picture. (The streaks are cosmic rays and satellites.)
WISE has an interesting history. It began as a telescope seeking secrets of the universe in infrared light, but ran out of coolant in 2010 and was repurposed for asteroid searching under the NEOWISE mission. It wrapped up its mission, was put into hibernation in February 2011, then reactivated this August to look for asteroids again for at least the next three years. You can see some pictures and data WISE collected during its mission below the jump.
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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Astronomy Cast Ep. 325: Cold Fusion

Astronomy Cast Ep. 325: Cold Fusion:

The Universe is filled with hot fusion, in the cores of stars. And scientists have even been able to replicate this stellar process in expensive experiments. But wouldn’t it be amazing if you could produce energy from fusion without all that equipment, and high temperatures and pressures? Pons and Fleischmann announced exactly that back in 1989, but things didn’t quite turn out as planned…
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Read the rest of Astronomy Cast Ep. 325: Cold Fusion (46 words)
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