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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Hot Jupiter-like planet: Discovery of 2 close-in Planet companions sheds new light on Planet Formation

    October 17, 2015, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The basic chemistry for life has been detected in a second hot gas planet, HD 209458b, depicted in this artist's concept. Two of NASA's Great Observatories - the Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, yielded spectral observations that revealed molecules of carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor in the planet's atmosphere. HD 209458b, bigger than Jupiter, occupies a tight, 3.5-day orbit around a sun-like star about 150 light years away in the constellation Pegasus. Planets like this one, which circle stars beyond our sun, are called exoplanets. The new finding follows the detection of these same organic molecules in the atmosphere of another hot, giant planet, called HD 189733b, by astronomers using Hubble and Spitzer data. Astronomers can now begin comparing the chemistry and dynamics of these two planets, and search for similar measurements of other candidate exoplanets, advancing toward the goal of being able to characterize planets where life could exist. Neither of the two planets studied is habitable, but they display the same molecules that, if found around a rocky planet in the future, could potentially indicate the presence of life. The new findings pave the way for future work that will help astronomers shortlist any promising rocky Earth-like planets where the signatures of organic chemicals might indicate the presence of life. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

    The basic chemistry for life has been detected in a second hot gas planet, HD 209458b, depicted in this artist’s concept. Two of NASA’s Great Observatories – the Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, yielded spectral observations that revealed molecules of carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor in the planet’s atmosphere. HD 209458b, bigger than Jupiter, occupies a tight, 3.5-day orbit around a sun-like star about 150 light years away in the constellation Pegasus. Planets like this one, which circle stars beyond our sun, are called exoplanets. The new finding follows the detection of these same organic molecules in the atmosphere of another hot, giant planet, called HD 189733b, by astronomers using Hubble and Spitzer data...

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    Galaxies forming Stars at Extreme Rates 9 Billion yrs ago were more Efficient than Average Galaxies today

    October 17, 2015, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Example of a galaxy merger Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)

    Figure 1: Example of a galaxy merger Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)

    The majority of stars have been believed to lie on a “main sequence,” where the larger a galaxy’s mass, the higher its efficiency to form new stars. However, every now and then a galaxy will display a burst of newly-formed stars that shine brighter than the rest. A collision between 2 large galaxies is usually the cause of such starburst phases, where the cold gas residing in the giant molecular clouds becomes the fuel for sustaining such high rates of star formation.

    The question astronomers have been asking is whether such starbursts in the early universe were the result of having an overa...

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    Mound near Lunar South Pole formed by Unique Volcanic Process

    October 16, 2015, Categories  Astronomy/Space, Environment/Geology

    A topographic view of the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Reds are high; blues are low. Mafic Mound, (the reddish area in the center) stands 800 meters above the surrounding surface. Credit: NASA/Goddard/MIT/Brown

    A topographic view of the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Reds are high; blues are low. Mafic Mound, (the reddish area in the center) stands 800 meters above the surrounding surface. Credit: NASA/Goddard/MIT/Brown

    Within a giant impact basin near the moon’s south pole, there sits a large mound of mysterious origin. Research by geologists suggests the mound was formed by unique volcanic processes set in motion by the impact that formed the basin. The formation, known as Mafic Mound, stands about 800m tall and 75 km across, smack in the middle of a giant impact crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin. This new study suggests that the mound is the result of a unique kind of volcanic activity set in motion by the colossal impact that formed the basin.

    “If the scenarios that we lay out for its for...

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    Large Solar Storms ‘Dodge’ Detection Systems on Earth

    October 16, 2015, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Solar flares can provoke geomagnetic perturbations to the Earth. Credit: NASA

    Solar flares can provoke geomagnetic perturbations to the Earth. Credit: NASA

    According to observations from the Tihany Magnetic Observatory in Hungary, the indices used to assess the Sun’s geomagnetic perturbations to Earth are unable to detect some of these events, which could put both power supply and communication networks at risk. The Tihany Magnetic Observatory registered a solar storm similar to the largest one ever recorded while other observatories were completely unaware of the event.

    In 1859 the largest and most powerful solar storm ever recorded, also known as the Carrington Event or the Carrington Flare in honour of the English Astronomer Richard Carrington who observed it, was detected at the Colaba Observatory in India...

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