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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Cheers! NASA’s Webb finds Ethanol, other Icy Ingredients for Worlds

    March 18, 2024, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Graphic titled “NGC 1333 IRAS 2A Protostar, MIRI Medium -Resolution Spectroscopy” shows a graph of optical depth on the y-axis versus wavelength of light in microns on the x-axis. The x-axis ranges from 6.8 microns on the left to 8.6 microns on the right, labeled in even increments of 0.2 microns. The y-axis ranges from 0 on the top to about 0.65 on the bottom, with labeled tick marks at 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6. A jagged white line with several prominent valleys extends horizontally. Vertical bands in different colors mark different wavelength regions and are labeled with molecular names and formulas.
    NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) has identified a variety of complex organic molecules that are present in interstellar ices surrounding two protostars. These molecules, which are key ingredients for making potentially habitable worlds, include ethanol, formic acid, methane, and likely acetic acid, in the solid phase. The finding came from the study of two protostars, IRAS 2A and IRAS 23385, both of which are so young that they are not yet forming planets.
    Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, L. Hustak (STScI). Science: W. Rocha (Leiden University).

    What do margaritas, vinegar, and ant stings have in common? They contain chemical ingredients that NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has identified surrounding two young protostars known as IRAS 2A and IRAS 233...

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    Condor Telescope reveals a New World for Astrophysicists

    March 14, 2024, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Condor Image
    A view created by Condor and computer technologies of extremely faint shells of ionized gas surrounding the dwarf nova Z Camelopardalis. Credit: Condor Team

    A new telescope called the “Condor Array Telescope” may open up a new world of the very-low-brightness universe for astrophysicists. Four new papers, published back to back in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) this month, present the first scientific findings based on observations acquired by Condor. The project is a collaborative led by scientists in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).

    According to lead researchers Kenneth M. Lanzetta, Ph.D...

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    Scientists Propose New Theory that explains Sand Ripples on Mars and on Earth

    March 14, 2024, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Photo caption: Waves received in the wind tunnel of Ben Gurion University of the Negev with glass balls with a diameter of 90 microns. Two scales of waves can be seen in the image.
    Small waves with a wavelength of centimeters and large waves with a wavelength of about 10 centimeters resemble waves due to the flow of water. The existence of two scales of waves on Mars was discovered by the Mars Curiosity Rover.| Photo: Hezi Yizhaq

    Sand ripples are fascinating. They are symmetrical, yet wind — which causes them — is very much not. Furthermore, they can be found on Mars and on Earth. They would be even more fascinating if the same effect found on Mars could be found here on Earth as well. What if one unified theory could explain their formation on two different planets of our solar system?

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    Finding New Physics in Debris from Colliding Neutron Stars

    March 10, 2024, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Artist’s illustration of two merging neutron stars. (Image: National Science Foundation/LIGO/Sonoma State University/A. Simonnet)

    Neutron star mergers are a treasure trove for new physics signals, with implications for determining the true nature of dark matter, according to research from Washington University in St. Louis.

    On Aug. 17, 2017, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), in the United States, and Virgo, a detector in Italy, detected gravitational waves from the collision of two neutron stars. For the first time, this astronomical event was not only heard in gravitational waves but also seen in light by dozens of telescopes on the ground and in space.

    Physicist Bhupal Dev in Arts & Sciences used observations from this neutron star merger — an ev...

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