Category Astronomy/Space

This image shows the protoplanetary disc surrounding the young star HL Tauri, revealing substructures within the disc that have never been seen before. It even shows the possible positions of planets forming in the dark patches within the system. Image credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO).

For a long time the formation of protostellar disks has defied theoretical astrophysicists. In a dense, collapsing cloud of gas and dust, the magnetic field would be dragged to the centre as well resulting in a braking effect. Hardly any rotationally supported disk can form this way, unless tiny grains are removed from the cloud by growing or coagulating into bigger grains. This is the result from a new study at Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and other intuitions...

This image shows the remnant of Supernova 1987A seen in light of very different wavelengths. ALMA data (in red) shows newly formed dust in the centre of the remnant. Hubble (in green) and Chandra (in blue) data show the expanding shock wave. Credit: ALMA/NASA

Research published in April provided “slam dunk” evidence of 2 prehistoric supernovae exploding ~300 light years from Earth. Now, a follow-up investigation based on computer modeling shows those supernovae likely exposed biology on our planet to a long-lasting gust of cosmic radiation, which also affected the atmosphere. According to Prof Melott, initially the 2 stars that exploded 1.7 to 3.2 million and 6.5 to 8...

This map shows the frequency of carbon dioxide frost’s presence at sunrise on Mars, as a percentage of days year-round. Carbon dioxide ice more often covers the ground at night in some mid-latitude regions than in polar regions, where it is generally absent for much of summer and fall. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Some dusty parts of Mars get as cold at night year-round as the planet’s poles do in winter, even regions near the equator in summer, according to new NASA findings based on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observations. The surface in these regions becomes so frigid overnight that an extremely thin layer of CO2 frost appears to form. The frost then vaporizes in the morning...

At the poles of Ceres, scientists have found craters that are permanently in shadow (indicated by blue markings). Such craters are called “cold traps” if they remain below about minus 240 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 151 degrees Celsius). These shadowed craters may have been collecting ice for billions of years because they are so cold. This image was created using data from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Goddard

Scientists with NASA’s Dawn mission have identified permanently shadowed regions on the dwarf planet Ceres. Most of these areas likely have been cold enough to trap water ice for a billion years, suggesting that ice deposits could exist there now. “The conditions on Ceres are right for accumulating deposits of water ice,” said N Schorghofer...