Category Astronomy/Space

Ritchey Crater, located near the Martian equator, has impact melt deposits containing clay minerals. Impact melt forms when rock melted during an impact cools and hardens. The clay minerals found within these deposits are very likely to have formed after the impact event. Most clay minerals on Mars are thought to have formed during the earliest Martian epoch, known as the Noachian. However, evidence from Ritchey crater and other post-Noachian craters, suggests that clay formation after the Noachian was not uncommon. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/Brown University

Clays and other minerals formed when rocks are altered by water have been found in multiple locations on Mars. It’s been assumed that these minerals probably formed in the earliest Martian epoch, >3.7B yrs ago...

Regular spiral galaxies, such as the ‘whirlpool galaxy’ on the left, form far fewer stars than the clumpy galaxy on the right. The blue regions have the least star-forming gas and red-yellow regions have the most. Credit: Dr Danail Obreschkow, ICRAR. Image uses data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Australian researchers have discovered why some galaxies are “clumpy” rather than spiral in shape – and it appears low spin is to blame. The finding challenges an earlier theory that high levels of gas cause clumpy galaxies and sheds light on the conditions that brought about the birth of most of the stars in the Universe.

Dr Danail Obreschkow from ICRAR, said 10B years ago the Universe was full of clumpy galaxies but these developed into more regular objects as they evolved...

Artist’s impression of the ten hot Jupiter exoplanets studied by David Sing and his colleagues. From top left to to lower left these planets are WASP-12b, WASP-6b, WASP-31b, WASP-39b, HD 189733b, HAT-P-12b, WASP-17b, WASP-19b, HAT-P-1b and HD 209458b. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Astronomers have used Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope to study the atmospheres of 10 hot, Jupiter-sized exoplanets in detail, the largest number of such planets ever studied. The team was able to discover why some of these worlds seem to have less water than expected—a long-standing mystery.

To date, astronomers have discovered nearly 2000 planets orbiting other stars. Some are known as hot Jupiters, hot, gaseous planets with characteristics similar to those of Jupiter...

Earlier this month the unmanned explorer, Hayabusa 2, passed by Earth to harness the planet’s gravitational pull in a bid to switch its orbital path to continue toward tiny Ryugu asteroid Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-12-japan-asteroid-probe-orbit-space.html#jCp

It is is on its way to rendezvousing with a far away asteroid, in a quest to study the origin of the solar system, authorities said Monday. Earlier this month the unmanned explorer, Hayabusa 2, passed by Earth to harness the planet’s gravitational pull in a bid to switch its orbital path to continue toward tiny Ryugu asteroid.

“The Hayabusa 2… entered the target orbit to travel to the asteroid,” Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a statement.
Hayabusa 2 was launched a year ago aboard Japan’s main H-IIA rock...