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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Scientists uncover Warehouse-full of Complex Molecules never before seen in Space

    March 20, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    In a series of nine papers, scientists from the GOTHAM—Green Bank Telescope Observations of TMC-1: Hunting Aromatic Molecules—project described the detection of more than a dozen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Taurus Molecular Cloud, or TMC-1. These complex molecules, are allowing scientists to better understand the formation of stars, planets, and other bodies. In this artist’s conception, some of the detected molecules include, from left to right: 1-cyanonaphthalene, 1-cyano-cyclopentadiene, HC11N, 2-cyanonaphthalene, vinylcyanoacetylene, 2-cyano-cyclopentadiene, benzonitrile, trans-(E)-cyanovinylacetylene, HC4NC, and propargylcyanide, among others.
    Credit: M. Weiss / Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

    Radio observations of a cold, dense cloud of molecular ga...

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    Astronomers see a ‘Space Jellyfish’

    March 19, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A composite image of the USS Jellyfish in Abell 2877 showing the optical Digitised Sky Survey (background) with XMM X-ray data (magenta overlay) and MWA 118 MHz radio data (red-yellow overlay). Credit: Torrance Hodgson, ICRAR/Curtin University.

    A radio telescope located in outback Western Australia has observed a cosmic phenomenon with a striking resemblance to a jellyfish.

    Published today in The Astrophysical Journal, an Australian-Italian team used the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope to observe a cluster of galaxies known as Abell 2877.

    Lead author and PhD candidate Torrance Hodgson, from the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Perth, said the team observed the cluster for 12 hours at five radio frequencies betwee...

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    Jupiter’s ‘Dawn Storm’ Auroras are surprisingly Earth-like

    March 18, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Evolution of a Dawn Storm in Jupiter's Polar Aurorae
    Evolution of a dawn storm in Jupiter’s polar aurorae. The imagery for the video was collected using data from the Ultraviolet Spectrograph instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft. (See video in the article below for more detail.) Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/UVS/ULiège

    Spectacular ultraviolet storms in big planet’s aurora, generated by charged particles from its volcanic moon, Io. The midnight births of the dramatic bright surges in Jupiter’s aurora known as dawn storms are captured in a new study of data from the Juno space probe.

    The storms, which consist of brightenings and broadenings of the dawn flank of an oval of auroral activity that encircles Jupiter’s poles, evolve in a pattern surprisingly reminiscent of familiar surges in the aurora that undulate across Earth’s po...

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    There might be many Planets with Water-Rich Atmospheres

    March 17, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Artist illustration of the exoplanet WASP-121b
    A study suggests that exoplanets close to their stars may actually retain a thick atmosphere full of water. Above, an artist’s illustration of the exoplanet WASP-121b, which appears to have water in its atmosphere.
    Image courtesy of Engine House VFX, At-Bristol Science Centre, University of Exeter

    A new study suggests that hot, rocky exoplanets could not only develop atmospheres full of water vapor, but keep them for long stretches. An atmosphere is what makes life on Earth’s surface possible, regulating our climate and sheltering us from damaging cosmic rays. But although telescopes have counted a growing number of rocky planets, scientists had thought most of their atmospheres long lost.

    However, a new study by University of Chicago and Stanford University researchers expands our p...

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