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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Re-Making Planets after Star-Death

    July 7, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    1. Data at wavelength of 0.45 mm, combined from SCUBA and SCUBA-2, in a false-colour image. The Geminga pulsar (inside the black circle) is moving towards the upper left, and the orange dashed arc and cylinder show the ‘bow-wave’ and a ‘wake’. The region shown is 1.3 light-years across; the bow-wave probably stretches further behind Geminga, but SCUBA imaged only the 0.4 light-years in the centre. Credit: Jane Greaves / JCMT / EAO. 2. Sketch of the nebula formed by a wind of electrons and positrons coming from the pulsar, and the interaction with interstellar gas. Geminga crossed the plane of the Galaxy (off to the bottom right) around 100,000 years ago. It is thought that the supernova explosion was not symmetric, causing the remnant to recoil at around 200 km per second from its birth location. Credit: Jane Greaves / University of Cardiff.

    1. Data at wavelength of 0.45 mm, combined from SCUBA and SCUBA-2, in a false-colour image. The Geminga pulsar (inside the black circle) is moving towards the upper left, and the orange dashed arc and cylinder show the ‘bow-wave’ and a ‘wake’. The region shown is 1.3 light-years across; the bow-wave probably stretches further behind Geminga, but SCUBA imaged only the 0.4 light-years in the centre. Credit: Jane Greaves / JCMT / EAO. 2. Sketch of the nebula formed by a wind of electrons and positrons coming from the pulsar, and the interaction with interstellar gas. Geminga crossed the plane of the Galaxy (off to the bottom right) around 100,000 years ago...

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    Recreating Interstellar Ions with Lasers

    July 6, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    1. Mechanisms and time-resolved dynamics for trihydrogen cation (H3 ) formation from organic molecules in strong laser fields. Scientific Reports, 2017; 7 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-04666-w 2. MSU's Marcos Dantus has recreated interstellar ions with lasers. Credit: Courtesy of MSU

    1. Mechanisms and time-resolved dynamics for trihydrogen cation (H3 ) formation from organic molecules in strong laser fields. Scientific Reports, 2017; 7 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-04666-w
    2. MSU’s Marcos Dantus has recreated interstellar ions with lasers.
    Credit: Courtesy of MSU

    Trihydrogen, H3+, is called the molecule that made the universe, where it plays a greater role in astrochemistry than any other molecule. While H3+ is astronomically abundant, no scientist understood the mechanisms that form it from organic molecules. Until now. Using lasers, Michigan State University scientists have unlocked the secret and published their results in the current issue of Scientific Reports...

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    Fastest Stars in the Milky Way are ‘Runaways’ from another tiny galaxy

    July 6, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Fastest Stars in the Milky Way are '#Runaways' from another tiny galaxy

    Fastest Stars in the Milky Way are ‘Runaways’ from another tiny galaxy

     
    The fastest-moving stars in our galaxy – which are travelling so fast that they can escape the Milky Way – are in fact runaways from a much smaller galaxy in orbit around our own. The researchers, from University of Cambridge, used data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and computer simulations to demonstrate that these stellar sprinters originated in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a dwarf galaxy in orbit around the Milky Way.
     
    These fast-moving stars, known as hypervelocity stars, were able to escape their original home when the explosion of one star in a binary system caused the other to fly off with such speed that it was able to escape the gravity of the LMC and get absorbed into the Milky Way...
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    Dazzling Spiral with an Active Heart: Barred spiral galaxy Messier 77

    July 6, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) has captured a magnificent face-on view of the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77. The image does justice to the galaxy's beauty, showcasing its glittering arms criss-crossed with dust lanes -- but it fails to betray Messier 77's turbulent nature. Credit: ESO

    ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has captured a magnificent face-on view of the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77. The image does justice to the galaxy’s beauty, showcasing its glittering arms criss-crossed with dust lanes — but it fails to betray Messier 77’s turbulent nature.
    Credit: ESO

     
    ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has captured a magnificent face-on view of the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77. The image does justice to the galaxy’s beauty, showcasing its glittering arms criss-crossed with dust lanes – but it fails to betray Messier 77’s turbulent nature. This picturesque spiral galaxy appears to be tranquil, but there is more to it than meets the eye...
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