Category Astronomy/Space

A satellite is ejected from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Small Satellite Orbital Deployer on the ISS

A satellite was ejected from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Small Satellite Orbital Deployer on the International Space Station on Dec. 19, 2016. The satellite is actually 2 small satellites that, once at a safe distance from the station, separated from each other, but were still connected by a 100m-long Kevlar tether. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson helped the JAXA ground team to deploy the satellite, Space Tethered Autonomous Robotic Satellite (STARS-C). Once deployed, STARS-C will point toward Earth and use a spring system and gravitational forces to separate, pushing one satellite closer to the planet...

The top panel shows the low-frequency FT of PG 0112+104. We identify two significant peaks, marked with red dots, which describe photometric modulation at the rotation period and its first harmonic. The bottom panel shows the K2 light curve binned into 200 points, folded at the rotation period of 10.17404 hr, and repeated for clarity. A simple spot model is underplotted in red and described in the text. Credit: Hermes et al., 2016.

Astronomers have recently discovered non-radial oscillations in a hot, helium-atmosphere white dwarf designated PG 0112+104. The newly detected 11 independent pulsation modes in this white dwarf could be essential for researchers testing the radial differential rotation and internal compositional stratification of highly evolved stellar remnants.

PG 0112+104 was...

An artist’s rendition of 2016 WF9 as it passes Jupiter’s orbit inbound toward the sun. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s NEOWISE mission has recently discovered some celestial objects traveling through our neighborhood, including one on the blurry line between asteroid and comet. Another—definitely a comet—might be seen with binoculars through next week. An object called 2016 WF9 was detected by the NEOWISE project on Nov. 27, 2016. It’s in an orbit that takes it on a scenic tour of our solar system. At its farthest distance from the sun, it approaches Jupiter’s orbit. Over the course of 4.9 Earth-years, it travels inward, passing under the main asteroid belt and the orbit of Mars until it swings just inside Earth’s own orbit. After that, it heads back toward the outer solar system...

This megamaser galaxy is named IRAS 16399-0937 and is located over 370 million light-years from Earth. This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image belies the galaxy’s energetic nature, instead painting it as a beautiful and serene cosmic rosebud. The image comprises observations captured across various wavelengths by two of Hubble’s instruments: the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

Megamasers are intensely bright, around 100 million times brighter than the masers found in galaxies like the Milky Way. The entire galaxy essentially acts as an astronomical laser that beams out microwave emission rather than visible light (hence the ‘m’ replacing the ‘l’)...