Wednesday, March 12, 2014

New Planet-Hunting Telescope To Join Search For Alien Earths In 2024

New Planet-Hunting Telescope To Join Search For Alien Earths In 2024:



Artist's conception of exoplanet systems that could be observed by PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO), a European Space Agency telescope. Credit: ESA - C. Carreau



Artist’s conception of exoplanet systems that could be observed by PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO), a European Space Agency telescope. Credit: ESA – C. Carreau
How could life arise in young solar systems? We’re still not sure of the answer on Earth, even for something as basic as if water arose natively on our planet or was carried in from other locations. Seeking answers to life’s beginnings will require eyes in the sky and on the ground looking for alien worlds like our own. And just yesterday, the European Space Agency announced it is going to add to that search.

The newly selected mission is called PLATO, for Planetary Transits and Oscillations. Like NASA’s Kepler space telescope, PLATO will scan the sky in search of stars that have small, periodic dips in their brightness that happen when planets go across their parent star’s face.

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We ‘Hype’ Alien World Findings Amid Little Data, Exoplanet Scientist Says

We ‘Hype’ Alien World Findings Amid Little Data, Exoplanet Scientist Says:



An exoplanet transiting across the face of its star, demonstrating one of the methods used to find planets beyond our solar system. Credit: ESA/C. Carreau



An exoplanet transiting across the face of its star, demonstrating one of the methods used to find planets beyond our solar system. Credit: ESA/C. Carreau
With exoplanet discoveries coming at us several times a month, finding these worlds is a hot field of research. Once the planets are found and confirmed, however, there’s a lot more that has to be done to understand them. What are they made of? How habitable are they? What are their atmospheres like? These are questions we are only beginning to understand.

One long-standing exoplanet researcher argues that we don’t know very much about about alien planet atmospheres, as an example. Princeton University’s Adam Burrows says that not only is our understanding at an infancy, but the media and scientists overhype information based on very little data.

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Runaway Star Shocks the Galaxy!

Runaway Star Shocks the Galaxy!:



The speeding rogue star Kappa Cassiopeiae sets up a glowing bow shock in this Spitzer image (NASA/JPL-Caltech)



The speeding star Kappa Cassiopeiae sets up a glowing bow shock in this Spitzer image (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
That might seem like a sensational headline worthy of a supermarket tabloid but, taken in context, it’s exactly what’s happening here!

The bright blue star at the center of this image is a B-type supergiant named Kappa Cassiopeiae, 4,000 light-years away. As stars in our galaxy go it’s pretty big — over 57 million kilometers wide, about 41 times the radius of the Sun. But its size isn’t what makes K Cas stand out — it’s the infrared-bright bow shock it’s creating as it speeds past its stellar neighbors at a breakneck 1,100 kilometers per second.

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‘Green Valley’ Of Galaxies Shows Off Gas And Star Formation

‘Green Valley’ Of Galaxies Shows Off Gas And Star Formation:



M33, the Triangulum Spiral Galaxy, seen here in a 4.3 hour exposure image. Credit and copyright: John Chumack.



M33, the Triangulum Spiral Galaxy, seen here in a 4.3 hour exposure image. Credit and copyright: John Chumack.
We keep saying this: the universe is more complex than it appears. Conventional thinking in galaxy research postulates that spiral galaxies have star-forming areas, while ellipticals do not due to a lack of gas. While this thinking has been debunked, there’s now emerging research showing a “green valley” of galaxies somewhat in between these two types.

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New Technique Finds Water in Exoplanet Atmospheres

New Technique Finds Water in Exoplanet Atmospheres:



Artist's concept of a hot Jupiter exoplanet orbiting a star similar to tau Boötes (Image used with permission of David Aguilar, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)



Artist’s concept of a hot Jupiter exoplanet orbiting a star similar to tau Boötes (Image used with permission of David Aguilar, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
As more and more exoplanets are identified and confirmed by various observational methods, the still-elusive “holy grail” is the discovery of a truly Earthlike world… one of the hallmarks of which is the presence of liquid water. And while it’s true that water has been identified in the thick atmospheres of “hot Jupiter” exoplanets before, a new technique has now been used to spot its spectral signature in yet another giant world outside our solar system — potentially paving the way for even more such discoveries.

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Does Free Will Exist? Ancient Quasars May Hold the Clue.

Does Free Will Exist? Ancient Quasars May Hold the Clue.:



Artist’s interpretation of ULAS J1120+0641, a very distant quasar. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser



Artist’s interpretation of ULAS J1120+0641, a very distant quasar. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
Do you believe in free will? Are people able to decide their own destinies, whether it’s on what continent they’ll live, who or if they’ll marry, or just where they’ll get lunch today? Or are we just the unwitting pawns of some greater cosmic mechanism at work, ticking away the seconds and steering everyone and everything toward an inevitable, predetermined fate?

It might sound like the realm of pure philosophy but MIT researchers are actually looking to get to the bottom of this age-old debate once and for all, using some of the most distant and brilliant objects in the Universe.

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Mega Discovery! 715 Alien Planets Confirmed Using A New Trick On Old Kepler Data

Mega Discovery! 715 Alien Planets Confirmed Using A New Trick On Old Kepler Data:



Meet Kepler-22b, an exoplanet with an Earth-like radius in the habitable zone of its host star. Unfortunately its mass remains unknown. Image Credit: NASA



Among Kepler’s 715-planet find was four planets slightly larger than Earth that orbit in what could be the habitable regions of their parent stars. Credit: NASA
Planet-watchers, some exciting news: you know how we keep talking about planet candidates, those planets that have yet to be confirmed, when we reveal stories about other worlds? That’s because verifying that the slight dimming of a star’s light is due to a planet takes time – -specifically, to have other telescopes verify it through examining gravitational wobbles on the parent star.

Turns out there’s a way to solve the so-called “bottleneck” of planet candidates vs. confirmed planets. NASA has made use of a new technique that they say will work for multi-planet systems, one that already has results: a single Kepler release of data today (Feb. 26) yielded 715 new planets in one shot. That almost doubles the amount of known planets found before today, which was just under 1,000, officials said.

“This is the largest windfall of planets, not exoplanet candidates, but actual verified exoplanets announced at one time,” said Doug Hudgins, a NASA exoplanet exploration program scientist based in Washington, D.C., at a press conference today. What’s more, among the release were four planets (about double to 2.5 times the size of Earth) that could be considered habitable: Kepler-174 d, Kepler-296 f, Kepler-298 d, Kepler-309 c.

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Nearby Stream of Stars Reveals Past Cosmic Collision

Nearby Stream of Stars Reveals Past Cosmic Collision:



The 51st entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog is perhaps the original spiral nebula--a large galaxy with a well defined spiral structure also cataloged as NGC 5194. Over 60,000 light-years across, M51's spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy, NGC 5195. Image data from the Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys was reprocessed to produce this alternative portrait of the well-known interacting galaxy pair. The processing sharpened details and enhanced color and contrast in otherwise faint areas, bringing out dust lanes and extended streams that cross the small companion, along with features in the surroundings and core of M51 itself. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant. Not far on the sky from the handle of the Big Dipper, they officially lie within the boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici. Image Credit: NASA



Approximately 31 million light years away lies the Whirlpool galaxy, M51. Its arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy, NGC 5195. This interacting pair is one of the most well-known examples of collisions among galaxies. Image Credit: NASA
The tangled remains of vast cosmic collisions can be seen across the universe, such as the the distant Whirlpool Galaxy’s past close encounter with a nearby galaxy, which resulted in the staggering beauty we see today.

Such colossal collisions between galaxies appear to be common. It’s likely giant galaxies, such as our own, originated long ago after smaller dwarf galaxies crashed together. Unfortunately, Hubble has yet to peer into the early Universe and catch two dwarf galaxies merging by chance. And they’re extremely rare to catch in the present nearby universe.

But for the first time, astronomers have uncovered evidence of a similar collision much closer to home.

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Incredible Aurora Outburst From Recent X-Class Flare

Incredible Aurora Outburst From Recent X-Class Flare:



A gorgeous image of the Aurora Borealis seen near Donegal, Ireland on Feb. 27, 2014. Credit and copyright: Rita Wilson Photography.



A gorgeous image of the Aurora Borealis seen near Donegal, Ireland on Feb. 27, 2014. Credit and copyright: Rita Wilson Photography.
Our Twitter feeds just exploded with pictures of an auroral outburst in the UK, Scandinavia, Iceland and even from the International Space Station! Thanks to the X4.9 class solar flare on on Feb. 25, the resulting CME hit Earth’s magnetic field today and triggered geomagnetic storms. Take a look at some of the images pouring in, featuring dancing curtains of reds, greens, purples and pinks:

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Astrophotos: Sun Halo, Crescent Moon and Earthshine

Astrophotos: Sun Halo, Crescent Moon and Earthshine:



A solar halo was visible neara the Chilidog Observatory in Monterrey, Mexico. Credit and copyright: César Cantú.



A solar halo was visible neara the Chilidog Observatory in Monterrey, Mexico. Credit and copyright: César Cantú.
Here’s a few great astrophotos for today! Astrophotographer César Cantú from the Chilidog Observatory in Monterrey, Mexico captured this stunning halo around the Sun on March 2, 2014. A solar halo is an optical phenomenon produced by ice crystals creating colored or white arcs and spots in the sky. Conditions in the atmosphere have to be just right, with moisture or ice crystals creating a “rainbow” effect around the Sun. Sometimes the halos surround the Sun completely, other times, they appear as arcs around the Sun creating what is known as sundogs. Basically, sunlight is reflecting off moisture in the atmosphere.

Ice crystals in Earth’s atmosphere can also cause rings around the Moon, and moondogs and even Venus “pillars.”

But make sure you look at the crescent Moon tonight — if you’ve missed seeing the thin crescent the past two evenings, tonight it will still be only 11% illuminated (according to Universe Today’s Phases of the Moon app!). Tonight you still might have the chance to see a little Earthshine — reflected Earthlight visible on the Moon’s night side.

See some great crescent Moon and Earthshine images below!

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Planets Plentiful Around Abundant Red Dwarf Stars, Study Says

Planets Plentiful Around Abundant Red Dwarf Stars, Study Says:



Artist's impression of a planet orbiting a red dwarf star. Credit: University of Hertfordshire



Artist’s impression of a planet orbiting a red dwarf star. Credit: University of Hertfordshire
Good news for planet-hunters: planets around red dwarf stars are more abundant than previously believed, according to new research. A new study — which detected eight new planets around these stars — says that “virtually” all red dwarfs have planets around them. Moreover, super-Earths (planets that are slightly larger than our own) are orbiting in the habitable zone of about 25% of red dwarfs nearby Earth.

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Jellyfish-Like Galaxy Appears To Be Shedding All Over Space

Jellyfish-Like Galaxy Appears To Be Shedding All Over Space:



A gas stream from galaxy ESO 137-001 shines brightly in X-rays captured by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The galaxy is captured in other wavelengths by the Hubble Space Telescope. The gas stream is due to the galaxy running into superheated gas in the region. Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC



A gas stream from galaxy ESO 137-001 shines brightly in X-rays captured by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The galaxy is captured in other wavelengths by the Hubble Space Telescope. The gas stream is due to the galaxy running into superheated gas in the region. Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC
Is that a tractor beam trying to latch on to galaxy ESO 137-001? While the bold blue stripe in the picture above looks like a Star Trek-like technology, this new picture combination captures a stream of gas shining brightly in X-rays.

The “galactic disrobing” is taking place as the galaxy moves through the center of a star cluster full of superheated gas, scientists said. You can see another shot of the chaos below the jump.

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Supermassive Black Hole’s Dizzying Spin Is Half The Speed Of Light

Supermassive Black Hole’s Dizzying Spin Is Half The Speed Of Light:



This photo combination shows the quasar RX J1131-1231 imaged by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Michigan/R.C.Reis et al; Optical: NASA/STScI



This photo combination shows the quasar RX J1131-1231 imaged by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Michigan/R.C.Reis et al; Optical: NASA/STScI
The spin rate of a supermassive black hole has been measured for the first time, and wow, is it fast. X-ray observations of  RX J1131-1231 (RX J1131 for short) show it is whizzing around at almost half the speed of light. Through X-rays, the astronomers were able to peer at the rate of debris fall into the singularity, yielding the speed measurement.

“We estimate that the X-rays are coming from a region in the disk located only about three times the radius of the event horizon — the point of no return for infalling matter,” stated Jon Miller, an an associate professor of astronomy at the University of Michigan and a co-author on the paper. “The black hole must be spinning extremely rapidly to allow a disk to survive at such a small radius.”

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New Technique Could Measure Exoplanet Atmospheric Pressure, an Indicator of Habitability

New Technique Could Measure Exoplanet Atmospheric Pressure, an Indicator of Habitability:



Artistic representations of the only known planets around other stars (exoplanets) with any possibility to support life as we know it. Credit: Planetary Habitability Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico, Arecibo. Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/104088/iau-revises-their-stance-on-public-involvement-in-naming-of-exoplanets-and-moons



An artist’s conception of the only known planets that are likely to be habitable. Image Credit: Planetary Habitability Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico, Arecibo.
Measuring the atmospheric pressure of a distant exoplanet may seem like a daunting task but astronomers at the University of Washington have now developed a new technique to do just that.

When exoplanet discoveries first started rolling in, astronomers laid emphasis in finding planets within the habitable zone — the band around a star where water neither freezes nor boils. But characterizing the environment and habitability of an exoplanet doesn’t depend on the planet’s surface temperature alone.

Atmospheric pressure is just as important in gauging whether or not the surface of an exoplanet may likely hold liquid water. Anyone familiar with camping at high-altitude should have a good understanding of how pressure affects water’s boiling point.

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Rocket Launches Into an Aurora to Study Auroral Swirls

Rocket Launches Into an Aurora to Study Auroral Swirls:



On March 3, 2014 the The Ground-to-Rocket Electrodynamics – Electron Correlative Experiment (GREECE) sounding rocket launched straight into an aurora from the Poker Flat Research Range in Poker Flat, Alaska. Credit: NASA



On March 3, 2014 the The Ground-to-Rocket Electrodynamics – Electron Correlative Experiment (GREECE) sounding rocket launched straight into an aurora from the Poker Flat Research Range in Poker Flat, Alaska. Credit: NASA
If you’ve ever wondered what makes the aurora take on the amazing forms it does you’ve got company. Marilia Samara and the crew of aurora researchers at Alaska’s Poker Flat Range head up the NASA-funded Ground-to-Rocket Electrodynamics-Electrons Correlative Experiment, or GREECE. Their mission is to understand what causes the swirls seen in very active auroras. (...)
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A Natural Planetary Defense Against Solar Storms

A Natural Planetary Defense Against Solar Storms:



Click here for animation. Credit:



THEMIS has observed how dense particles can “snake up” along magnetic field lines as cold plasma plumes. Click here for animation. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space flight Center.
Planetary shields up: solar storms inbound…

Researchers at NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have identified a fascinating natural process by which the magnetosphere of our fair planet can — to use a sports analogy — “shot block,” or at least partially buffer an incoming solar event.(...)
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Giant Planet May Be Lurking In ‘Poisonous’ Gas Around Beta Pictoris

Giant Planet May Be Lurking In ‘Poisonous’ Gas Around Beta Pictoris:







A Saturn-mass planet might be lurking in the debris surrounding Beta Pictoris, new measurements of a debris field around the star shown. If this could be proven, this would be the second planet found around that star.

The planet would be sheparding a giant swarm of comets (some in front and some trailing behind the planet) that are smacking into each other as often as every five minutes, new observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) show. This is the leading explanation for a cloud of carbon monoxide gas visible in the array.

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Watch a Bright Star Disappear Behind the Moon Monday Night

Watch a Bright Star Disappear Behind the Moon Monday Night:



Lambda Geminorum at 10:43 p.m. March 11 just two minutes before disappearing behind the moon as seen from Minneapolis, Minn. US. Stellarium



Lambda Geminorum at 10:43 p.m. March 11 just two minutes before disappearing behind the moon as seen from Minneapolis, Minn. USA. Click image for a map and table of times when the occultation will be visible from your town. Stellarium
Ever dabbled in the occult? You’ll have your chance Monday night March 10 when the waxing gibbous moon glides in front of the star Lambda Geminorum for much of North America, occulting it from view for an hour or more. Occultations of stars by the moon happens regularly but most go unnoticed by casual skywatchers. Lambda is an exception because it’s one of the brighter stars that happens to lie along the moon’s path. Shining at magnitude +3.6, any small telescope and even a pair of 10×50 or larger binoculars will show it disappear along the dark edge of the moon. (...)
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Rise And Shine! Rosetta’s Comet Emerges From Behind Sun, Much Brighter Than Before

Rise And Shine! Rosetta’s Comet Emerges From Behind Sun, Much Brighter Than Before:



Artist's impression (not to scale) of the Rosetta orbiter deploying the Philae lander to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Credit: ESA–C. Carreau/ATG medialab.



Artist’s impression (not to scale) of the Rosetta orbiter deploying the Philae lander to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Credit: ESA–C. Carreau/ATG medialab.
After four months behind the sun from Earth’s perspective, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is back in view — and brighter than ever! New pictures of the comet reveal it is 50 percent brighter than the last images available from October 2013. You can see the result below the jump.

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Real Images From NASA Show the ‘Cosmos’ as a Space-Time Odyssey

Real Images From NASA Show the ‘Cosmos’ as a Space-Time Odyssey:



A false-color image, taken by the Cassini spacecraft, of a huge hurricane at Saturn's north pole. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI



A false-color image, taken by the Cassini spacecraft, of a huge hurricane at Saturn’s north pole. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI
With the premiere of the revamped “Cosmos” series, NASA used this opportunity to showcase the imagery and missions that are such a big part of our explorations of the Universe, live-Tweeting during the show:

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Astrophoto: Gorgeous Panorama of the Orion & Horsehead Nebulae and Orion’s Belt

Astrophoto: Gorgeous Panorama of the Orion & Horsehead Nebulae and Orion’s Belt:



A panoramic view of the Great Orion Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula including the very familiar three bright stars of Orion's belt. This was captured in January, February and early March 2014 over 8 nights. Credit and copyright: Terry Hancock.



A panoramic view of the Great Orion Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula including the very familiar three bright stars of Orion’s belt. This was captured in January, February and early March 2014 over 8 nights. Credit and copyright: Terry Hancock.
Astrophotographer Terry Hancock has been working on this for several weeks and the results are fabulous. This panoramic view of the Orion region includes two of the most recognizable objects in this constellation — the Orion Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula. It also takes a look at the three bright stars of Orion’s belt Alnitak (to the left of the image), Alnilam and Mintaka. Additionally, it shows part of the Orion molecular cloud.

Wow!

More info on this image from Terry:

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Astrophoto: “Second Star to the Right and Straight on Until Morning!”

Astrophoto: “Second Star to the Right and Straight on Until Morning!”:



A 14-image panorama of the Milky Way taken under very dark skies in the heart of the Riverina, New South Wales, Australia, with a bit of direction from a road sign. Credit and copyright: Carlos Orue.



A 14-image panorama of the Milky Way taken under very dark skies in the heart of the Riverina, New South Wales, Australia, with a bit of direction from a road sign. Credit and copyright: Carlos Orue.
Which way to the center of the galaxy? This very creative — and gorgeous — view of the Milky Way was taken this past weekend (March 9, 2014) by astrophotographer Carlos Orue from Australia. Carlos said the Milky Way was so bright under these dark skies that “I almost needed sunnies to turn down the glare! Lots of green airglow visible too.”

While taking the images for this 14-image panorama, Carlos said he had lots of company: “Kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, emus, bunny rabbits and foxes.”

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Astronomers Identify the Largest Yellow “Hypergiant” Star Known

Astronomers Identify the Largest Yellow “Hypergiant” Star Known:





Credit: ESO



An artist’s impression of the yellow hypergiant binary star HR 5171. Credit: ESO
A stellar monster lurks in heart of the Centaur.

A recent analysis of a star in the south hemisphere constellation of Centaurus has highlighted the role that amateurs play in assisting with professional discoveries in astronomy.

The find used of the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope based in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile — as well as data from observatories around the world — to reveal the nature of a massive yellow “hypergiant” star as one of the largest stars known.(...)
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Still No Sign Of ‘Planet X’ In Latest NASA Survey

Still No Sign Of ‘Planet X’ In Latest NASA Survey:





No



No “Planet X” was found in a survey of the sky using NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer. This picture, which comes from the same dataset, shows a recently discovered star (in red) called WISEA J204027.30+695924.1. Credit: DSS/NASA/JPL-Caltech
It’s one of those rumors that just won’t quiet down — a large planet lurking at the solar system’s edge. Back in the 1840s, when Neptune was discovered, its orbit seemed to be a little “off” from what was expected.

Some astronomers of the time said that was caused by a planet further out. Although the Neptune perturbations are now ascribed to observational errors, the tale of Planet X continues, and has sometimes even been linked with doomsday. (See this past Universe Today story for the full tale.)

NASA’s latest survey puts even less credence in that theory. A scan of the sky showed nothing Saturn’s size or bigger at a distance of 10,000 Earth-sun distances, or astronomical units. Nothing bigger than Jupiter exists as far as 26,000 AU. (To put that in perspective, Pluto is 40 AU from the sun.)

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Read the rest of Still No Sign Of ‘Planet X’ In Latest NASA Survey (168 words)

© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2014. |
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