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    Category Astronomy/Space

    When do Aging Brown Dwarfs Sweep the Clouds away?

    March 4, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Artist's conception of a different brown dwarf to the one studied by Jonathan Gagné and his team. The brown dwarf depicted here is also part of a moving group, although a different one than AB Doradus. Credit: NASA/JPL, slightly modified by Jonathan Gagné

    Artist’s conception of a different brown dwarf to the one studied by Jonathan Gagné and his team. The brown dwarf depicted here is also part of a moving group, although a different one than AB Doradus. Credit: NASA/JPL, slightly modified by Jonathan Gagné

    Astronomers measure temperature at which brown dwarfs go from cloudy to cloudless. Brown dwarfs, the larger cousins of giant planets, undergo atmospheric changes from cloudy to cloudless as they age and cool. A team of astronomers measured for the first time the temperature at which this shift happens in young brown dwarfs. Their findings may help them better understand how gas giant planets like our own Solar System’s Jupiter evolved.

    Brown dwarfs are too small to sustain the hydrogen fusion process that fuels stars and allows them to ...

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    Can strongly Lensed Type 1a Supernovae resolve cosmology’s biggest controversy?

    March 4, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Image - This composite of two astrophysics simulations shows a Type Ia supernova (purple disc) expanding over different microlensing magnification patterns (colored fields). Because individual stars in the lensing galaxy can significantly change the brightness of a lensed event regions of the supernova can experience varying amounts of brightening and dimming, which scientists believed would be a problem for cosmologists measuring time delays. Using detailed computer simulations at NERSC, astrophysicists showed that this would have a small effect on time-delay cosmology. (Credit: Danny Goldstein/UC Berkeley)

    This composite of two astrophysics simulations shows a Type Ia supernova (purple disc) expanding over different microlensing magnification patterns (colored fields). Because individual stars in the lensing galaxy can significantly change the brightness of a lensed event, regions of the supernova can experience varying amounts of brightening and dimming, which scientists believed would be a problem for cosmologists measuring time delays. Using detailed computer simulations at NERSC, astrophysicists showed that this would have a small effect on time-delay cosmology. (Credit: Danny Goldstein/UC Berkeley)

    Researchers think so – and they’re using NERSC supercomputers to find them...

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    Hubble Observes Exoplanet Atmosphere in more Detail than ever before

    March 4, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A team of British and American astronomers used data from several telescopes on the ground and in space -- among them the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope -- to study the atmosphere of the hot, bloated, Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b, about 700 light-years from Earth. The analysis of the spectrum showed a large amount of water in the exoplanet's atmosphere -- three times more than in Saturn's atmosphere. Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

    A team of British and American astronomers used data from several telescopes on the ground and in space – among them the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope – to study the atmosphere of the hot, bloated, Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b, about 700 light-years from Earth. The analysis of the spectrum showed a large amount of water in the exoplanet’s atmosphere – three times more than in Saturn’s atmosphere. Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

    An international team has used Hubble Space Telescope to study the atmosphere of the hot exoplanet WASP-39b. By combining this new data with older data they created the most complete study yet of an exoplanet atmosphere...

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    Mineralogy of Potential Lunar Exploration Site

    March 2, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A new study shows four distinct compositional regions within and around the Moon's largest impact basin. The findings could help guide future exploration of the basin. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

    A new study shows four distinct compositional regions within and around the Moon’s largest impact basin. The findings could help guide future exploration of the basin. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

    Scientists have long wanted to retrieve rock samples from the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken basin, and a new study could be helpful in locating an ideal landing site. A detailed study of a giant impact crater on the Moon’s far side could provide a roadmap for future lunar explorers.

    The study, by planetary scientists from Brown University, maps the mineralogy of the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, a gash in the lunar surface with a diameter of ~2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles)...

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