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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Gravitational Lens Zooms in on why some Quasars have the Radio turned down

    July 3, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Reconstruction of the lensed radio-quiet quasar HS0810+2554 after removing the effects of the lensing. Right: the data from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array showing what the source looks like after passage through the lensing galaxy. The images are not to scale - the lensed image appears to be many times larger in the sky than the actual size of the source. Credit: N Jackson/NRAO

    Reconstruction of the lensed radio-quiet quasar HS0810+2554 after removing the effects of the lensing. Right: the data from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array showing what the source looks like after passage through the lensing galaxy. The images are not to scale – the lensed image appears to be many times larger in the sky than the actual size of the source. Credit: N Jackson/NRAO

    Mini-jets of material ejected from a central supermassive black hole appear to be the culprits behind faint radio wave emissions in ‘radio-quiet’ quasars. A study of gravitationally-lensed images of 4 radio-quiet quasars has revealed the structure of these distant galaxies in unprecedented detail...

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    Spiderweb Galaxy: Watery Dew Drops surrounding dusty Spider’s Web

    July 2, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Annotated image of the Spiderweb Galaxy as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope (optical) in red, the Very Large Array (radio) in green and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (sub-millimetre) in blue. The red colour shows where the stars are located within this system of galaxies. The radio jet is shown in green, and the position of the dust and water are seen in blue. The water is located to the left and right of the central galaxy. The water to the right is at the position where the radio jet bends down wards. The dust is also seen in blue. The dust is located at the central galaxy and in smaller companion galaxies in its surroundings. Credit: NASA/ESA/HST/STScI/NRAO/ESO/

    Annotated image of the Spiderweb Galaxy as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope (optical) in red, the Very Large Array (radio) in green and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (sub-millimetre) in blue. The red colour shows where the stars are located within this system of galaxies. The radio jet is shown in green, and the position of the dust and water are seen in blue. The water is located to the left and right of the central galaxy. The water to the right is at the position where the radio jet bends down wards. The dust is also seen in blue. The dust is located at the central galaxy and in smaller companion galaxies in its surroundings. Credit: NASA/ESA/HST/STScI/NRAO/ESO/

    Astronomers have spotted glowing droplets of condensed water in the distant Spiderweb Galaxy – but not wh...

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    A Bewildering Form of Sand Dune discovered on Mars

    July 2, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Two sizes of ripples are evident in this Dec. 13, 2015, view of a top of a Martian sand dune, from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. Sand dunes and the smaller type of ripples also exist on Earth. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

    Two sizes of ripples are evident in this Dec. 13, 2015, view of a top of a Martian sand dune, from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover. Sand dunes and the smaller type of ripples also exist on Earth. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

    Some of the wind-sculpted sand ripples on Mars are a type not seen on Earth, and their relationship to the thin Martian atmosphere today provides new clues about the atmosphere’s history. The determination that these mid-size ripples are a distinct type resulted from observations by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover. 6 months ago, Curiosity made the first up-close study of active sand dunes anywhere other than Earth, at”Bagnold Dunes” on the NW flank of Mount Sharp.

    “Earth and Mars both have big sand dunes and small sand ripples, but on Mars, there’s something in between that w...

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    Surface of Mercury Arose from Deep Inside the Planet

    June 30, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A beautiful view of Mercury's horizon. In this scene, which was acquired looking from the shadows toward the sunlit side of the planet, a 120-km (75 mi.) impact crater stands out near the center. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

    A beautiful view of Mercury’s horizon. In this scene, which was acquired looking from the shadows toward the sunlit side of the planet, a 120-km (75 mi.) impact crater stands out near the center. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

    NASA researchers have found that several volcanic deposits on Mercury’s surface require mantle melting to have started close to the planet’s core-mantle boundary, which lies only 400km below the planets surface and making it unique in the solar system. This is reported at the Goldschmidt conference in Yokohama, Japan. The recent MESSENGER mission to Mercury has shown that the surface of the planet is very heterogeneous, but it can be classified into 2 main types of regions...

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