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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Scientists discover a nearby ‘Super-Earth’

    November 17, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    “A super-Earth orbiting the nearby M-dwarf GJ 536”, by A. Suárez Mascareño, J. I. González Hernández, R. Rebolo, N. Astudillo-Defru, X. Bonfils, F. Bouchy, X. Delfosse, T. Forveille, C. Lovis, M. Mayor, F. Murgas, F. Pepe, N. C. Santos, S. Udry, A. Wünsche and S. Velasco. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

    “A super-Earth orbiting the nearby M-dwarf GJ 536”, by A. Suárez Mascareño, J. I. González Hernández, R. Rebolo, N. Astudillo-Defru, X. Bonfils, F. Bouchy, X. Delfosse, T. Forveille, C. Lovis, M. Mayor, F. Murgas, F. Pepe, N. C. Santos, S. Udry, A. Wünsche and S. Velasco. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

    Its short orbital period could help with future studies of biological activity. Researchers have discovered a “super-Earth” type planet, GJ 536 b, whose mass is around 5.4 Earth masses, in orbit around a nearby very bright star. The exoplanet is not within the star’s habitable zone, but its short orbital period of 8...

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    Great Valley found on Mercury

    November 16, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A high-resolution digital elevation model derived from stereo images obtained by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft has revealed Mercury’s great valley shown here in this 3D perspective view. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/DLR/Smithsonian Institution.

    A high-resolution digital elevation model derived from stereo images obtained by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft has revealed Mercury’s great valley shown here in this 3D perspective view. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/DLR/Smithsonian Institution.

    Scientists have discovered a new Great Valley on Mercury that may be the first evidence of buckling of the planet’s outer silicate shell of its lithosphere (its crust and upper mantle) in response to global contraction. The researchers discovered the valley using a new high-resolution topographic map of part of Mercury’s southern hemisphere created by stereo images from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft.

    Earth’s lithosphere is broken up into many tectonic plates, but Mercury’s lithos...

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    NASA Space Telescopes Pinpoint elusive Brown Dwarf

    November 16, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This illustration depicts a newly discovered brown dwarf, an object that weighs in somewhere between our solar system's most massive planet (Jupiter) and the least-massive known star. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    This illustration depicts a newly discovered brown dwarf, an object that weighs in somewhere between our solar system’s most massive planet (Jupiter) and the least-massive known star. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, NASA’s Spitzer and Swift space telescopes joined forces to observe a microlensing event, when a distant star brightens due to the gravitational field of at least one foreground cosmic object. This technique is useful for finding low-mass bodies orbiting stars, such as planets. In this case, the observations revealed a brown dwarf.

    Brown dwarfs are thought to be the missing link between planets and stars, with masses up to 80 times that of Jupiter...

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    NASA finds Unusual Origins of High-Energy Electrons

    November 15, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    NASA finds unusual origins of high-energy electrons

    This image represents one of the traditional proposed mechanisms for accelerating particles across a shock, called a shock drift acceleration. The electrons (yellow) and protons (blue) can be seen moving in the collision area where two hot plasma bubbles collide (red vertical line). The cyan arrows represent the magnetic field and the light green arrows, the electric field. Credits: NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Tom Bridgman, data visualizer

    High above the surface, Earth’s magnetic field constantly deflects incoming supersonic particles from the sun. These particles are disturbed in regions just outside of Earth’s magnetic field – and some are reflected into a turbulent region...

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