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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Hubble Embraces Spiral with Open Arms

    February 19, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    spiral galaxy NGC 2008
    The spiral galaxy NGC 2008 sits center stage, its ghostly spiral arms spreading out toward us, in this image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

    The spiral galaxy NGC 2008 sits center stage, its ghostly spiral arms spreading out toward us, in this image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

    This galaxy is located about 425 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Pictor (the Painter’s Easel). Discovered in 1834 by astronomer John Herschel, NGC 2008 is categorized as a type Sc galaxy in the Hubble sequence, a system used to describe and classify the various morphologies of galaxies. The “S” indicates that NGC 2008 is a spiral, while the “c” means it has a relatively small central bulge and more open spiral arms...

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    Globular Cluster system of NGC 4546 studied in detail

    February 17, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Image g′ of the central region of NGC 4546 after the subtraction of its surface brightness. Credit: Escudero et al., 2020.

    Using the Gemini-South telescope, astronomers have performed a photometric study of the lenticular galaxy NGC 4546. Results of the new research provide more clues about the structure and nature of the galaxy’s globular cluster system. The study was published February 7 on arXiv.org.

    Globular clusters (GCs) are collections of tightly bound stars orbiting galaxies. Astronomers perceive them as natural laboratories enabling studies on the evolution of stars and galaxies...

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    Mars: Simulations of Early Impacts produce a Mixed Mars Mantle

    February 16, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Early Mars after impact, showing projectile materials leaving the planet
    Courtesy of Southwest Research Institute A Southwest Research Institute team performed high-resolution, smoothed-particle simulations of a large, differentiated projectile hitting early Mars after its core and mantle had formed. The projectile’s core and mantle particles are indicated by brown and green spheres respectively, showing local concentrations of the projectile materials assimilated into the Martian mantle.

    The early solar system was a chaotic place, with evidence indicating that Mars was likely struck by planetesimals, small protoplanets up to 1,200 miles in diameter, early in its history...

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    New Horizons Team uncovers a Critical Piece of the Planetary Formation puzzle

    February 15, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The uniform color and composition of Arrokoth’s surface shows the Kuiper Belt object formed from a small, uniform, cloud of material in the solar nebula, rather than a mishmash of matter from more separated parts of the nebula. The former supports the idea that Arrokoth formed in a local collapse of a cloud in the solar nebula.
    Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Roman Tkachenko

    Data from NASA’s New Horizons mission are providing new insights into how planets and planetesimals – the building blocks of the planets – were formed.

    The New Horizons spacecraft flew past the ancient Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth (2014 MU69) on Jan...

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