Recent Comments

    Category Astronomy/Space

    ALMA observes the Formation Sites of Solar-system-like planets

    March 17, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    ALMA image of the dusty disk around the young star DM Tau
    ALMA image of the dusty disk around the young star DM Tau. You can see two concentric rings where planets may be forming. 
    Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Kudo et al.

    Researchers have spotted the formation sites of planets around a young star resembling our Sun. Two rings of dust around the star, at distances comparable to the asteroid belt and the orbit of Neptune in our Solar System, suggest that we are witnessing the formation of a planetary system similar to our own.

    The Solar System is thought to have formed from a cloud of cosmic gas and dust 4.6 billion years ago. By studying young planetary systems forming around other stars, astronomers hope to learn more about our own origins.

    Tomoyuki Kudo, an astronomer at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), and his ...

    Read More

    Astronomers discover 83 Supermassive Black Holes in the Early Universe

    March 15, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Astronomers from Japan, Taiwan and Princeton University have discovered 83 quasars powered by supermassive black holes in the distant universe, from a time when the universe was less than 10 percent of its present age. In this photograph taken by the Hyper-Suprime Camera on the Subaru Telescope on Maunakea, light shines from one of the most distant quasars known, powered by a supermassive black hole lying 13.05 billion light-years away from Earth. The other objects in the field are mostly stars in our Milky Way or galaxies along the line of sight.
    Credit: Image courtesy of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

    Subaru Telescope spots 13-billion-year-old quasars powered by black holes...

    Read More

    What Scientists found after Sifting through Dust in the Solar System

    March 13, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    In this illustration, several dust rings circle the sun. These rings form when planets’ gravities tug dust grains into orbit around the sun. Recently, scientists have detected a dust ring at Mercury’s orbit. Others hypothesize the source of Venus’ dust ring is a group of never-before-detected co-orbital asteroids.
    Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith

    Two recent studies report discoveries of dust rings in the inner solar system: a dust ring at Mercury’s orbit, and a group of never-before-detected asteroids co-orbiting with Venus, supplying the dust in Venus’ orbit. Just as dust gathers in corners and along bookshelves in our homes, dust piles up in space too. But when the dust settles in the solar system, it’s often in rings...

    Read More

    Kepler Space Telescope’s first exoplanet candidate confirmed

    March 12, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Artist’s concept of a Kepler-1658-like system. Sound waves propagating through the stellar interior were used to characterize the star and the planet. Kepler-1658b, orbiting with a period of just 3.8 days, was the first exoplanet candidate discovered by Kepler nearly 10 years ago.

    Credit: Gabriel Perez Diaz/Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

    An international team of astronomers, led by University of Hawaii graduate student Ashley Chontos, announced the confirmation of the first exoplanet candidate identified by NASA’s Kepler Mission. The result was presented at the fifth Kepler/K2 Science Conference held in Glendale, CA.

    Launched almost exactly 10 years ago, the Kepler Space Telescope has discovered thousands of exoplanets using the transit method – small dips in a star’s brightness...

    Read More