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    Category Astronomy/Space

    ‘Ribbon’ wraps up Mystery of Jupiter’s Magnetic Equator

    July 25, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This image shows the same map of H3+ brightness as in redmap.jpg. However, here, we have overlain three different measurements of Jupiter's magnetic equator. The first, in blue (with the broadest dashes), is the best past estimate of what was thought to be the equator using ultraviolet light; the second, in red and yellow (with medium dashes) is the location of the dark ribbon seen in this map; the third is the new measurement of the magnetic equator recently measured by the Juno spacecraft. This magnetic measurement shows how closely the dark ribbon follows Jupiter's magnetic equator. Credit: University of Leicester

    This image shows the same map of H3+ brightness as in redmap.jpg. However, here, we have overlain three different measurements of Jupiter’s magnetic equator. The first, in blue (with the broadest dashes), is the best past estimate of what was thought to be the equator using ultraviolet light; the second, in red and yellow (with medium dashes) is the location of the dark ribbon seen in this map; the third is the new measurement of the magnetic equator recently measured by the Juno spacecraft. This magnetic measurement shows how closely the dark ribbon follows Jupiter’s magnetic equator.
    Credit: University of Leicester

    New data from Jupiter observations is a gift to astronomers...

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    The Milky Way’s Long-Lost Sibling finally found

    July 24, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    In this image, the Andromeda galaxy shreds the large galaxy M32p, which eventually resulted in M32 and a giant halo of stars. Credit: Richard D’Souza. Image of M31 courtesy of Wei-Hao Wang. Credit: Image of stellar halo of M31 courtesy of AAS/IOP.

    In this image, the Andromeda galaxy shreds the large galaxy M32p, which eventually resulted in M32 and a giant halo of stars. Credit: Richard D’Souza. Image of M31 courtesy of Wei-Hao Wang.
    Credit: Image of stellar halo of M31 courtesy of AAS/IOP.

    Scientists at the University of Michigan have deduced that the Andromeda galaxy, our closest large galactic neighbor, shredded and cannibalized a massive galaxy two billion years ago. Even though it was mostly shredded, this massive galaxy left behind a rich trail of evidence: an almost invisible halo of stars larger than the Andromeda galaxy itself, an elusive stream of stars and a separate enigmatic compact galaxy, M32...

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    NASA’s New Mini Satellite will Study Milky Way’s Halo

    July 23, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    HaloSat, a new CubeSat mission to study the halo of hot gas surrounding the MilkyWay, was released from the International Space Station over Australia on July 13. Credit: NanoRacks/NASA

    HaloSat, a new CubeSat mission to study the halo of hot gas surrounding the MilkyWay, was released from the International Space Station over Australia on July 13. Credit: NanoRacks/NASA

    A new mission called HaloSat will help scientists search for the universe’s missing matter by studying X-rays from hot gas surrounding the Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers keep coming up short when they survey “normal” matter, the material that makes up galaxies, stars and planets. A new NASA-sponsored CubeSat mission called HaloSat, deployed from the International Space Station on July 13, will help scientists search for the universe’s missing matter by studying X-rays from hot gas surrounding our Milky Way galaxy.

    The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is the oldest light in the universe, radiation from when ...

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    How to Weigh Stars with Gravitational Lensing

    July 22, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Image from the PAN-STARRS Telescope at Hawaii from early 2011 with the foreground star Ross 322 (blue square) and the background star (at the centre of the green circle) which will be traversed by Ross 322 in the next few weeks. By summer 2015, Ross 322 had moved to the position of the blue triangle (measured by Gaia). Since then, it has been moving along the blue-red line and is currently close to the position of the background star.

    Image from the PAN-STARRS Telescope at Hawaii from early 2011 with the foreground star Ross 322 (blue square) and the background star (at the centre of the green circle) which will be traversed by Ross 322 in the next few weeks. By summer 2015, Ross 322 had moved to the position of the blue triangle (measured by Gaia). Since then, it has been moving along the blue-red line and is currently close to the position of the background star.

    Astronomers have published the predictions of the passages of foreground stars in front of background stars. A team of astronomers, using ultra-precise measurements from the Gaia satellite, have accurately forecast two passages in the next months...

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