Category Astronomy/Space

This image shows a planet being stripped by host star’s heat. Credit: Peter Devine

Astrophysicists at the Uni of Birmingham have used data from the NASA Kepler space telescope to discover a class of extrasolar planets whose atmospheres have been stripped away by their host stars. Planets with gaseous atmospheres that lie close to their host stars are bombarded by a torrent of high-energy radiation. Due to their proximity to the star the ‘envelopes’ have been blown away by intense radiation. This violent ‘stripping’ occurs in planets that are made up of a rocky core with a gaseous outer layer.

The scientists used asteroseismology to characterize the stars and their planets to levels of accuracy not achieved before for these systems...

In this frame taken from video from NASA TV, the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship is captured by a robot arm from the International Space Station, Sunday April 10, 2016. A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, two days after launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Station astronauts used a big robot arm to capture the Dragon, orbiting 260 miles above Earth. (NASA TV via AP)

A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived at ISS on Sunday, 2 days after launching from Cape Canaveral. Station astronauts used a robot arm to capture the Dragon, orbiting 250 miles above Earth. The Dragon holds 7,000 pounds of freight, including the soft-sided compartment built by Bigelow Aerospace...

The breakthrough nanophotonic chip that can harness the angular momentum of light, paving the way for next generation optical technologies and enabling scientists to gain a deeper understanding of black holes. Credit: RMIT University

>>paves way for next generation optical technologies and enables deeper understanding of black holes. The Australian team designed an integrated nanophotonic chip that can achieve unparalleled control over angular momentum (AM) of light. The pioneering work opens new opportunities for using AM at a chip-scale for generation, transmission, processing and recording of information, and could also be used to help scientists better understand the evolution and nature of black holes.

While traveling approximately in a straight line, a beam of light also spins and tw...

Possible manifestations of brown dwarfs (artist’s impression). As brown dwarfs are nearly invisible in the optical light and only emit radiation in the IR regime, they exhibit different colors in that range. Credit: AIP/J. Fohlmeister

When re-analysing catalogued and updated observational data of brown dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood, astronomers from Potsdam have found a significant number of nearby brown dwarfs should still be out there. The study challenges the previously established picture of brown dwarfs in the solar neighborhood.

Brown dwarfs are objects that are too large to be called planets, yet too small to be stars...