Category Astronomy/Space

This artist’s concept depicts a planetary system. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

HAT-P-26b is an inflated, Neptune-mass exoplanet 437 light years from Earth, which orbits its parent star HAT-P-26 every 4.23 days. The planet has a relatively low surface gravity that is well suited for atmospheric characterization. To determine composition of HAT-P-26b’s atmosphere and finding traces of water vapor in it, the scientists made use of data provided by the Low Dispersion Survey Spectrograph 3C (LDSS-3C) instrument and NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. LDSS-3C is an optical imager and (multi-) slit spectrograph on the 6.5m Magellan II (Clay) telescope, Chile.

They observed the primary transit of HAT-P-26b with LDSS-3C on Apr...

An Earth observation taken from the International Space Station during a day pass. Also in view is the Cygnus cargo spacecraft, which arrived on Dec. 9, carrying science and other supplies. Credits: NASA

Completion of critical ocular health testing, notable developments with the OASIS liquid crystal study and an intriguing find inside the Veggie planter punctuated the holiday week aboard the International Space Station.

Astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko completed comprehensive testing for their Ocular Health suite of exams, which comprise vision testing, BP, tonometry (determining the fluid pressure inside the eye), and ocular and cardiac ultrasound...

Quadrantid Meteor Shower

A meteor shower, a binocular comet and the winter circle of stars. Here are the details:
~Quadrantid Meteor Shower: The Quadrantid meteor shower on Jan. 4 will either sizzle or fizzle for observers in the U.S. The shower may favor the U.S. or it could favor Europe depending on which prediction turns out to be correct. For viewing in the US observers should start at 3 a.m. EST. The peak should last about 2 hrs with rates of 120 meteors per hour predicted in areas with a dark sky.

Comet Catalina

~Comet Catalina: In the middle of the month, midnight to predawn will be primetime for viewing Comet Catalina. It should be visible with binoculars if you have a dark sky, but a telescope would be ideal...

For distant stars with planets orbiting them, this information is key in determining whether any of those planets can harbour life. Knowing the surface gravity of a star is essentially knowing how much you would weigh on that star. If stars had solid surfaces on which you could stand, then your weight would change from star to star. On the sun you would weigh 20X more than on Earth. A red giant star (future fate of our Sun) has a much weaker pull at its surface, so you’d be 50X lighter.

The new method allows scientists to measure surface gravity with an accuracy of about 4%, for stars too distant and too faint to apply current techniques...