Category Astronomy/Space

Artist’s impression of the unique object C/2014 S3 (PANSTARRS). Observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope, and the Canada France Hawai`i Telescope, show that this is the first object to be discovered that is on a long-period cometary orbit, but that has the characteristics of a pristine inner Solar System asteroid. It may provide important clues about how the Solar System formed.Because the object has spent most of its life away from the inner Solar System it suffered very few collisions, and its surface displays few or no craters. As it formed in the same region as the Earth did, it is mostly rocky, and therefore has only very limited cometary activity. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Illustration of the Drake equation and the Frank equation. In 1961, astrophysicist Frank Drake developed an equation to estimate the number of advanced civilizations likely to exist in the Milky Way galaxy. The Drake equation (top row) has proven to be a durable framework for research, and space technology has advanced scientists’ knowledge of several variables. But it is impossible to do anything more than guess at variables such as L, the probably longevity of other advanced civilizations...

Left: Chart of nuclides and important astrophysical reactions. Right: SOHO-EIT image from 14 September 1997 showing a huge eruptive prominence in the resonance line of singly ionized helium (He II) at 304 Angstroms in the extreme ultraviolet. The material in the eruptive prominence is at temperatures of 60,000 – 80,000 K, much cooler than the surrounding corona, which is typically at temperatures above 1 million K. Credit: Image courtesy of Texas A&M Cyclotron Institute and NASA

Fermi LAT images showing the gamma-ray sky around the blazar PKS B1424-418. Brighter colors indicate greater numbers of gamma rays. The dashed arc marks part of the source region established by IceCube for the Big Bird neutrino (50-percent confidence level). Left: An average of LAT data centered on July 8, 2011 covering 300 days when the blazar was inactive. Right: An average of 300 active days centered on Feb. 27, 2013, when PKS B1424-418 was the brightest blazar in this part of the sky. Credit: NASA/DOE/LAT Collaboration