Category Astronomy/Space

The artistic representation illustrates a measurement of a beam in a particle accelerator, demonstrating the beam’s structural complexity increases when measured in progressively higher dimensions. Each increase in dimension reveals information that was previously hidden.
Credit: ORNL/Jill Hemman

The first full characterization measurement of an accelerator beam in six dimensions will advance the understanding and performance of current and planned accelerators around the world. A team of researchers led by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville conducted the measurement in a beam test facility at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory using a replica of the Spallation Neutron Source’s linear accelerator, or linac...

This deep image of the area of sky around the elliptical galaxy NGC 5018 offers a spectacular view of its tenuous streams of stars and gas. These delicate features are hallmarks of galactic interactions, and provide vital clues to the structure and dynamics of early-type galaxies.
Credit: ESO/Spavone et al.

A glittering host of galaxies populate this rich image taken with ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope, a state-of-the-art 2.6-m telescope designed for surveying the sky in visible light. The features of the multitude of galaxies strewn across the image allow astronomers to uncover the most delicate details of galactic structure.

Whereas ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) can observe very faint astronomical objects in great detail, when astronomers want to understand how the huge variety of galaxies...

These simulated views of the ultrahot Jupiter WASP-121b show what the planet might look like to the human eye from five different vantage points, each illuminated to different degrees by its parent star. The images were made with a computer simulation being used to help scientists understand the atmospheres of these planets. Ultrahot Jupiters reflect almost no light, much like charcoal. However, their daysides have temperatures of between 3,600 F and 5,400 F, so they produce their own glow like a hot ember. The orange color in this simulated image thus comes from the planet’s own heat.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Vivien Parmentier/Aix-Marseille University (AMU)

An unusual kind of star-planet hybrid atmosphere is emerging from studies of ultrahot planets orbiting close to other stars...

The 44 confirmed planets and their approximate size class, orbits and surface temperatures. Credit: John Livingston Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-08-largest-haul-extrasolar-planets-japan.html#jCp

Confirmation of exoplanets and planetary systems may shed light on our place in the cosmos. Forty-four planets in solar systems beyond our own have been unveiled in one go, dwarfing the usual number of confirmations from extrasolar surveys, which is typically a dozen or less. The findings will improve our models of solar systems and may help researchers investigate exoplanet atmospheres. Novel techniques developed to validate the find could hugely accelerate the confirmation of more extrasolar planet candidates.

An international team of astronomers pooled data from U.S...