New ‘Hot Jupiter’ Exoplanet detected by K2 mission

New “hot Jupiter” exoplanet detected by K2 mission

Phase-folded K2 light curve of EPIC 228735255 (black points) with best-fit model plotted as a solid red line. Top panel: Full phase light curve with the transit of EPIC 228735255b. There are no other significant dips indicating any other transits. Middle panel: Zoom-in of the transit of EPIC 228735255b and the resulting residuals from it and the model fit. Bottom panel: Zoom-in around phase 0.5. There is no indication of an observable secondary eclipse. Credit: Giles et al., 2017.

An international team has identified a new extrasolar planet from the data provided by Kepler spacecraft’s prolonged mission known as K2. EPIC 228735255b, is a “hot Jupiter” on an eccentric orbit around its parent star...

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The Stable Retrograde Orbit of the Bee-Zed Asteroid explained

The Bee-Zed asteroid orbits in the opposite direction to planets

Co-orbital bodies that orbit the Sun in the same direction as a planet can follow trajectories (blue curves with arrows) that, from the perspective of the planet, look like tadpoles, horseshoes or ‘quasi-satellites’. Credit: Helena Morais & Fathi Namouni

In our solar system, an asteroid orbits the sun in the opposite direction to the planets. Asteroid 2015 BZ509, also known as Bee-Zed, takes 12 years to make one complete orbit around the sun. This is the same orbital period as that of Jupiter, which shares its orbit but moves in the opposite direction. The asteroid with the retrograde co-orbit was identified by Helena Morais, a professor at São Paulo State University’s Institute of Geosciences & Exact Sciences (IGCE-UNESP). Morais had predicted the discovery 2 years earlier.

“It’s good to...

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Thwarting Metastasis by Breaking Cancer’s Legs with Gold Rods

Georgia Tech's Regents Professor Mostafa El-Sayed (front) is one of the most highly decorated and cited living chemists. With his team for this research from left to right: Yue Wu, Professor Ronghu Wu, and Yan Tang. Credit: Georgia Tech / Christopher Moore

Georgia Tech’s Regents Professor Mostafa El-Sayed (front) is one of the most highly decorated and cited living chemists. With his team for this research from left to right: Yue Wu, Professor Ronghu Wu, and Yan Tang. Credit: Georgia Tech / Christopher Moore

Researchers have found a way to virtually halt cell migration, a key component in metastasis, in vitro, in human cells. In past in vivo studies in mice, treated cancer did not appear to recur. No significant side effects were observed. Cancer cells often cover themselves bristly leg-like protrusions that enable them to creep. The researchers have used minuscule gold rods heated gently by a laser to mangle the protrusions, according to a new study.

The treatment can also easily kill cancer cells, but in this experiment, it was vital to sp...

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New Class of ‘Soft’ Semiconductors could Transform HD displays

Single nanowires shown emitting different colors. The top panel shows a cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3)-cesium lead chloride (CsPbCl3) heterojunction simultaneously emitting green and blue lights, respectively, under UV excitation. The bottom panel shows a cesium lead iodide (CsPbI3)-cesium lead bromide-cesium lead chloride configuration emitting red, green, and blue lights, respectively. Credit: Letian Dou/Berkeley Lab and Connor G. Bischak/UC Berkeley

Single nanowires shown emitting different colors. The top panel shows a cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3)-cesium lead chloride (CsPbCl3) heterojunction simultaneously emitting green and blue lights, respectively, under UV excitation. The bottom panel shows a cesium lead iodide (CsPbI3)-cesium lead bromide-cesium lead chloride configuration emitting red, green, and blue lights, respectively. Credit: Letian Dou/Berkeley Lab and Connor G. Bischak/UC Berkeley

A new type of semiconductor may be coming to a high-definition display near you. Scientists at Berkeley Lab have shown that a class of semiconductor called halide perovskites is capable of emitting multiple, bright colors from a single nanowire at resolutions as small as 500 nanometers...

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