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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Small Asteroid is Earth’s Constant Companion

    June 18, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Asteroid 2016 HO3 has an orbit around the sun that keeps it as a constant companion of Earth. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Asteroid 2016 HO3 has an orbit around the sun that keeps it as a constant companion of Earth. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    A small asteroid has been discovered in an orbit around the sun that keeps it as a constant companion of Earth, and it will remain so for centuries to come. As it orbits the sun, this new asteroid, designated 2016 HO3, appears to circle around Earth as well. It is too distant to be considered a true satellite of our planet, but it is the best and most stable example to date of a near-Earth companion, or “quasi-satellite.”

    “Since 2016 HO3 loops around our planet, but never ventures very far away as we both go around the sun, we refer to it as a quasi-satellite of Earth,” said Paul Chodas, JPL...

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    Unexpected Excess of Giant Planets in Star Cluster Messier 67

    June 17, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This artist's impression shows a hot Jupiter planet orbiting close to one of the stars in the rich old star cluster Messier 67, in the constellation of Cancer (The Crab). Astronomers have found far more planets like this in the cluster than expected. This surprise result was obtained using a number of telescopes and instruments, among them the HARPS spectrograph at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. The denser environment in a cluster will cause more frequent interactions between planets and nearby stars, which may explain the excess of hot Jupiters. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

    This artist’s impression shows a hot Jupiter planet orbiting close to one of the stars in the rich old star cluster Messier 67, in the constellation of Cancer (The Crab). Astronomers have found far more planets like this in the cluster than expected. This surprise result was obtained using a number of telescopes and instruments, among them the HARPS spectrograph at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. The denser environment in a cluster will cause more frequent interactions between planets and nearby stars, which may explain the excess of hot Jupiters. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

    Astronomers have found there are far more planets of the hot Jupiter type than expected in a cluster of stars called Messier 67...

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    How Black Hole Jets Break out of their Galaxies

    June 17, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    New simulations of the jets produced by rotating supermassive black holes in the cores of galaxies show how, with enough power, they can force their way through surrounding gas and drill out of the galaxy, channeling hot gas into the interstellar medium (top). Less powerful jets get stalled inside the galaxy, however, dumping their hot gas inside and generally heating up the galaxy. These stalled jets may be part of the black hole feedback mechanism that periodically halts the inflow of gas that feeds the black hole. Simulations by Alexander Tchekhovskoy, a NASA Einstein postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley, and Omer Bromberg, a former Lyman Spitzer Jr. postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University who is now at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

    New simulations of the jets produced by rotating supermassive black holes in the cores of galaxies show how, with enough power, they can force their way through surrounding gas and drill out of the galaxy, channeling hot gas into the interstellar medium (top). Less powerful jets get stalled inside the galaxy, however, dumping their hot gas inside and generally heating up the galaxy. These stalled jets may be part of the black hole feedback mechanism that periodically halts the inflow of gas that feeds the black hole. Simulations by Alexander Tchekhovskoy, a NASA Einstein postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley, and Omer Bromberg, a former Lyman Spitzer Jr. postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University who is now at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

    A simulation of the powerful jets generated by sup...

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    CaSSIS sends 1st Image of Mars

    June 16, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The first images of CaSSIS show the Tharsis face of Mars at a resolution of 460km/px. The image was taken from a distance of 41 million kilometers. Credit: The resolution is expected to exceed the resolution of Hubble’s Pictures already this October. © ESA/Roscosmos/ExoMars/UniBe/CaSSIS

    The first images of CaSSIS show the Tharsis face of Mars at a resolution of 460km/px. The image was taken from a distance of 41 million kilometers. Credit: The resolution is expected to exceed the resolution of Hubble’s Pictures already this October. © ESA/Roscosmos/ExoMars/UniBe/CaSSIS

    The Mars Camera CaSSIS on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter captured its first images of the Red Planet this week. The pictures are a part of the mission’s preparations for arriving at its destination in October. CaSSIS (Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System) has been developed by a team led by the University of Bern. It was launched with ESA’s ExoMars TGO in March and has already travelled just under half of its nearly 500 million km journey.

    While the orbiter’s ‘first-light’ image of a star field was su...

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