Astronomers capture Rare Images Planet-forming Disks around Stars

The protoplanetary disks around the R CrA (left) and HD45677 (right) stars, captured with ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer. The orbits are added for reference. The star serves the same purpose, since its light was filtered out to get a more detailed image of the disk. Credit: Jacques Kluska et al.

An international team of astronomers has captured fifteen images of the inner rims of planet-forming disks located hundreds of light years away. These disks of dust and gas, similar in shape to a music record, form around young stars. The images shed new light on how planetary systems are formed. They were published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

To understand how planetary systems, including our own, take shape, you have to study their origins...

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Newly discovered Exoplanet Dethrones former king of Kepler-88 planetary system

An artist’s illustration of the Kepler-88 planetary system. CREDIT: W. M. KECK OBSERVATORY/ADAM MAKARENKO

Our solar system has a king. The planet Jupiter, named for the most powerful god in the Greek pantheon, has bossed around the other planets through its gravitational influence. With twice the mass of Saturn, and 300 times that of Earth, Jupiter’s slightest movement is felt by all the other planets. Jupiter is thought to be responsible for the small size of Mars, the presence of the asteroid belt, and a cascade of comets that delivered water to young Earth.

Do other planetary systems have gravitational gods like Jupiter?

A team of astronomers led by the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (UH IfA) has discovered a planet three times the mass of Jupiter in a distant ...

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‘Breathable’ Electronics pave the way for more Functional Wearable Tech

This sleeve incorporates the new electronic material, allowing it to function as a video game controller.

Engineering researchers have created ultrathin, stretchable electronic material that is gas permeable, allowing the material to “breathe.” The material was designed specifically for use in biomedical or wearable technologies, since the gas permeability allows sweat and volatile organic compounds to evaporate away from the skin, making it more comfortable for users – especially for long-term wear.

“The gas permeability is the big advance over earlier stretchable electronics,” says Yong Zhu, co-corresponding author of a paper on the work and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University...

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NIH clinical trial shows Remdesivir Accelerates Recovery from Advanced COVID-19

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (red) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (yellow), isolated from a patient sample. Image captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. NIAID

Hospitalized patients with advanced COVID-19 and lung involvement who received remdesivir recovered faster than similar patients who received placebo, according to a preliminary data analysis from a randomized, controlled trial involving 1063 patients, which began on February 21...

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