Category Astronomy/Space

Neutron star mass and radius measurements from atmospheric model fits to X-ray burst cooling tail spectra. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2017; DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201731082

Neutron stars are made out of cold ultra-dense matter. How this matter behaves is one of the biggest mysteries in modern nuclear physics. Researchers developed a new method for measuring the radius of neutron stars which helps them to understand what happens to the matter inside the star under extreme pressure. A new method for measuring neutron star size was developed in a study led by a high-energy astrophysics research group at the University of Turku, Finland. The method relies on modelling how thermonuclear explosions taking place in the uppermost layers of the star emit X-rays to us...

A Kyoto University-based team has unraveled the mystery of gamma-ray emission cascades caused by lightning strikes. Credit: Kyoto University/Teruaki Enoto

Researchers find that lightning strikes causes photonuclear reactions in the atmosphere, creating antimatter. Researchers from Japan describe how gamma rays from lightning react with the air to produce radioisotopes and even positrons – the antimatter equivalent of electrons. “We already knew that thunderclouds and lightning emit gamma rays, and hypothesized that they would react in some way with the nuclei of environmental elements in the atmosphere,” explains Teruaki Enoto from Kyoto University.

“In winter, Japan’s western coastal area is ideal for observing powerful lightning and thunderstorms...

Titan’s winter polar vortex imaged by the Cassini Spacecraft’s ISS camera. The vortex is now in deep winter and can only be seen because the polar clouds within the vortex extend high above Titan’s surface into the sunlight. The vortex was extremely cold from 2012-2015 giving rise to unusual nitrile ice clouds. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Jason Major

A new study led by a University of Bristol earth scientist has shown that recently reported unexpected behaviour on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is due to its unique atmospheric chemistry. Titan’s polar atmosphere recently experiences and unexpected and significant cooling, contrary to all model predictions and differing from the behaviour of all other terrestrial planets in our solar system.

Titan is the largest moo...

Moon crust formation graphic. Credit: The University of Texas at Austin/Jackson School of Geosciences

A team led by The University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences took to the lab to recreate the magmatic melt that once formed the lunar surface and uncovered new insights on how the modern moonscape came to be. Their study shows that the Moon’s crust initially formed from rock floating to the surface of the magma ocean and cooling. However, the team also found that one of the great mysteries of the lunar body’s formation – how it could develop a crust composed of just one mineral – cannot be explained by the initial crust formation and must have been the result of some secondary event.

“It’s fascinating to me that there could be a body as big as the Moon that was completely ...