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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Star’s Birth may have Triggered another Star Birth, astronomers say

    June 21, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Protostar FIR 3 (HOPS 370) with outflow that may have triggered the formation of younger protostar FIR 4 (HOPS 108, location marked with red dot), in the Orion star-forming region. (au = astronomical unit, the distance from the Earth to the Sun, about 93 million miles.) Credit: Osorio et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF

    Protostar FIR 3 (HOPS 370) with outflow that may have triggered the formation of younger protostar FIR 4 (HOPS 108, location marked with red dot), in the Orion star-forming region. (au = astronomical unit, the distance from the Earth to the Sun, about 93 million miles.)
    Credit: Osorio et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF

    Youngerstar is in path of outflow from older. Astronomers using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have found new evidence suggesting that a jet of fast-moving material ejected from one young star may have triggered the formation of another, younger protostar. “The orientation of the jet, the speed of its material, and the distance all are right for this scenario,” said Mayra Osorio, of the Astrophysical Institute of Andalucia (IAA-CSIC) in Spain.

    The scientists studied a giant clo...

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    New Branch in Family Tree of Exoplanets discovered

    June 20, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    1. How planets are assembled and sorted into two distinct size classes. First, the rocky cores of planets are formed from smaller pieces. Then, the gravity of the planets attracts hydrogen and helium gas. Finally, the planets are "baked" by the starlight and lose some gas. At a certain mass threshold, planets retain the gas and become gaseous mini-Neptunes; below this threshold, the planets lose all their gas, becoming rocky super-Earths.<br /> Credit: NASA/Kepler/Caltech (R. Hurt)<br /> 2. Researchers using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory and NASA's Kepler mission have discovered a gap in the distribution of planet sizes, indicating that most planets discovered by Kepler so far fall into two distinct size classes: the rocky Earths and super-Earths (similar to Kepler-452b), and the mini-Neptunes (similar to Kepler-22b). This histogram shows the number of planets per 100 stars as a function of planet size relative to Earth.<br /> Credit: NASA/Ames/Caltech/University of Hawaii (B. J. Fulton)<br /> 3. This sketch illustrates a family tree of exoplanets. Planets are born out of swirling disks of gas and dust called protoplanetary disks. The disks give rise to giant planets like Jupiter as well as smaller planets mostly between the sizes of Earth and Neptune. Researchers using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory and NASA's Kepler mission discovered that the smaller planets can be cleanly divided into two size groups: the rocky Earth-like planets and super-Earths, and the gaseous mini-Neptunes. Credit: NASA/Kepler/Caltech (T. Pyle)

    1. How planets are assembled and sorted into two distinct size classes. First, the rocky cores of planets are formed from smaller pieces. Then, the gravity of the planets attracts hydrogen and helium gas. Finally, the planets are “baked” by the starlight and lose some gas. At a certain mass threshold, planets retain the gas and become gaseous mini-Neptunes; below this threshold, the planets lose all their gas, becoming rocky super-Earths.
    Credit: NASA/Kepler/Caltech (R. Hurt)
    2. Researchers using data from the W. M...

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    Astronomers discover Bubble-like structure associated with the pulsar PSR J1015−5719

    June 20, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    ATCA radio intensity maps zoomed in at J1015 and the nebula G283.1−0.59 at 16, 6, and 3 cm. The 16 cm image is obtained from the off-pulse phase bins with the pulsar binning data. The crosses mark the pulsar positionand the beam sizes are shown in the lower left. Credit: Ng et al., 2017.

    ATCA radio intensity maps zoomed in at J1015 and the nebula G283.1−0.59 at 16, 6, and 3 cm. The 16 cm image is obtained from the off-pulse phase bins with the pulsar binning data. The crosses mark the pulsar positionand the beam sizes are shown in the lower left. Credit: Ng et al., 2017.

    Astronomers have recently identified a peculiar bubble-like structure associated with an energetic pulsar known as PSR J1015−5719. The newly found feature, designated G283.1−0.59, is most likely a polar wind nebula. Located some 16,600 light years away from the Earth, PSR J1015−5719 is an energetic pulsar with a spin period of 0.14 seconds and an estimated age of about 39,000 years. The pulsar was detected in 2003 by the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey...

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    Researchers build first Deployable, Walking, Soft Robot

    June 19, 2017, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Astronomy/Space

    deploybot

    Illustration of DeployBots deploying themselves on a planet for space exploration. Credit: Wang et al. ©2017 Royal Society of Chemistry

    The new robot can move itself without motors or any additional mechanical components. The robot “walks” when an electric current is applied to shape-memory alloy wires embedded in its frame: the current heats the wires, causing the robot’s flexible segments to contract and bend. Sequentially controlling the current to various segments in different ways results in different walking gaits.

    The researchers expect that the robot’s ability to be easily deployed, along with its low mass, low cost, load-bearing ability, compact size, and ability to be reconfigured into different forms may make it useful for applications such as space missions, seabed exploration...

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