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    Category Astronomy/Space

    First Detection of Methyl Alcohol in a Planet-forming Disc

    June 15, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This artist's impression shows the closest known protoplanetary disc, around the star TW Hydrae in the huge constellation of Hydra (The Female Watersnake). The organic molecule methyl alcohol (methanol) has been found by the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in this disc. This is the first such detection of the compound in a young planet-forming disc. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

    This artist’s impression shows the closest known protoplanetary disc, around the star TW Hydrae in the huge constellation of Hydra (The Female Watersnake). The organic molecule methyl alcohol (methanol) has been found by the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in this disc. This is the first such detection of the compound in a young planet-forming disc. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

    The protoplanetary disc around young star TW Hydrae is the closest known example to Earth, at ~170 light-years. As such it is an ideal target for astronomers to study discs. This system closely resembles what astronomers think the Solar System looked like during its formation more than four billion years ago...

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    Life’s 1st Handshake: Chiral Molecule detected in Interstellar Space

    June 15, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Scientists applaud the first detection of a "handed" molecule, (propylene oxide) in interstellar space. It was detected, primarily with the NSF's Green Bank Telescope, near the center of our Galaxy in Sagittarius (Sgr) B2, a massive star-forming region. Propylene oxide is one of a of so-called "chiral" molecules -- molecules that have an identical chemical composition, but right- and left-handed versions. Chiral molecules are essential for life and their discovery in deep space may help scientists understand why life on Earth relies on a certain handedness to perform key biological functions. Sgr A* in this image indicates the supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy. The white features in the composite image are the bright radio sources in the center of our Galaxy as seen with the VLA. The background image is from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The two "handed" versions of propylene oxide are illustrated. The "R" and "S" designations are for the Latin terms rectus (right) and sinister (left). Credit: B. Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF from data provided by N.E. Kassim, Naval Research Laboratory, Sloan Digital Sky Survey

    Scientists applaud the first detection of a “handed” molecule, (propylene oxide) in interstellar space. It was detected, primarily with the NSF’s Green Bank Telescope, near the center of our Galaxy in Sagittarius (Sgr) B2, a massive star-forming region. Propylene oxide is one of a class of so-called “chiral” molecules — molecules that have an identical chemical composition, but right- and left-handed versions. Chiral molecules are essential for life and their discovery in deep space may help scientists understand why life on Earth relies on a certain handedness to perform key biological functions. Sgr A* in this image indicates the supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy...

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    Researchers Gear up Galaxy-seeking Robots for a Test Run

    June 14, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This is an array of 10 wedge-shaped petals, each loaded with 500 robotic fiber-optic positioners, will be assembled in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument's focal plate. At right, a view of the robots fitted into holes in one of the petals. Credit: DESI Collaboration

    This is an array of 10 wedge-shaped petals, each loaded with 500 robotic fiber-optic positioners, will be assembled in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument’s focal plate. At right, a view of the robots fitted into holes in one of the petals. Credit: DESI Collaboration

    A prototype system, designed as a test for a planned array of 5,000 galaxy-seeking robots, is taking shape at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Dubbed ProtoDESI, the scaled-down, 10-robot system will help scientists achieve the pinpoint accuracy needed to home in on millions of galaxies, quasars and stars with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) planned for the Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Ariz...

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    New Planet is Largest discovered that Orbits 2 Suns

    June 14, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This is a comparison of the relative sizes of several Kepler circumbinary planets. Kepler-1647 b is substantially larger than any of the previously known circumbinary planets. Credit: Lynette Cook

    This is a comparison of the relative sizes of several Kepler circumbinary planets. Kepler-1647 b is substantially larger than any of the previously known circumbinary planets. Credit: Lynette Cook

    If you cast your eyes toward the constellation Cygnus, you’ll be looking in the direction of the largest planet yet discovered around a double-star system. It’s too faint to see with the naked eye, but a team from Goddard Space Flight Center and San Diego State University, used Kepler Space Telescope to identify the new planet, Kepler-1647b, 3,700 light-years away and ~4.4 billion years old, roughly the same age as Earth. The stars are similar to the sun, with one slightly larger than our home star and the other slightly smaller...

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