Astronomy

Hubble detects helium in the atmosphere of an exoplanet for the first time

"Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have detected helium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-107b. This is the first time this element has been detected in the atmosphere of a planet outside the Solar System. The discovery demonstrates the ability to use infrared spectra to study exoplanet extended atmospheres."

http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1809/

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dreamwoven

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 467 2018 April 22


DEAD STAR CIRCLED BY LIGHT
ESO

New data from the MUSE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile
have revealed a remarkable ring of gas in a system called 1E 0102.2-7219,
expanding slowly within the depths of numerous other fast-moving filaments
of gas and dust left behind after a supernova explosion that took place 2000
years ago in the Small Magellanic Cloud. That discovery allowed astronomers
to identify for the first time an isolated neutron star with low magnetic
field located beyond our own Milky Way galaxy. The team noticed that the
ring was centred on an X-ray source that had been noted years before and
designated p1. The nature of that source had remained a mystery. In
particular, it was not clear whether p1 actually lies inside the remnant or
behind it. It was only when the ring of gas -- which includes both neon and
oxygen -- was observed with MUSE that the scientific team noticed that it
perfectly circled p1. The coincidence was too great, and they realised that
p1 must lie within the supernova remnant itself. Once p1's location was
known, the team used existing X-ray observations of it from the Chandra
X-ray Observatory to determine that it must be an isolated neutron star,
with a low magnetic field. When massive stars explode as supernovae, they
leave behind curdled webs of hot gas and dust, known as supernova remnants.
Those turbulent structures are key to the redistribution of the heavier
elements -- which are cooked up by massive stars as they live and die --
into the interstellar medium, where they eventually form new stars and
planets. Typically barely ten kilometres across, yet with masses more than
our Sun's, isolated neutron stars with low magnetic fields are thought to be
abundant across the Universe, but they are very hard to find because they
shine only at X-ray wavelengths. The fact that the confirmation of p1 as an
isolated neutron star was enabled by optical observations is thus
particularly exciting.

---

I saw that post only today. Neutron stars, Helium, I wonder what more is coming.

https://www.universetoday.com/139215...tellar-travel/

Pros and Cons of Various Methods of Interstellar Travel
14 May , 2018 by Matt Williams
A new study by a UK scientists takes a look at the different means of interstellar travel, and considers the pros and cons of each.

Considering that the next star is right around the corner, amazing!

"[...]Dr. Braddock considers five principle means for mounting crewed missions to other star systems in his study. These include super-luminal (aka/ FTL) travel, hibernation or stasis regimes, negligible senescence (aka. anti-aging) engineering, world ships capable of supporting multiple generations of travellers (aka. generation ships), and cyogenic freezing technologies."
https://www.universetoday.com/139215...tellar-travel/

I am quite interested in the anti-aging part, but without having to travel for it. ;)

See also this from EarthSky: http://earthsky.org/space/marco-cube...-new-comm-tech. New technology using cube sats...

https://www.space.com/32601-where-to...rn-lights.html

Aberdeen is one place I have seen the Northern Lights. Old Aberdeen to be more precise, where they have a song about "the Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%2...lege,_Aberdeen

"Survival is far from guaranteed. As the saying goes: space is hard. The first challenge will be switching on. The MarCO batteries were last checked in March by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems of Irvine, California, which inserted each CubeSat into a special dispenser that will propel it into space. Those batteries will be used to deploy each CubeSat’s solar arrays, with the hope that enough power will be left over to turn on their radios. If power is too low, the MarCO team may hear silence until each spacecraft is more fully charged.

If both MarCOs make the journey, they’ll test a method of communications relay that could act as a “black box” for future Mars landings, helping engineers understand the difficult process of getting spacecraft to safely touch down on the red planet."
http://earthsky.org/space/marco-cube...-new-comm-tech

Can´t say that looks very inviting but they are on it and will be improving fastly!

This one is related. But in fact, photos don´t do the Aurora borealis justice. On has to see the movements.

https://www.space.com/32610-amazing-...ures-2016.html

That is true, the Northern Lights we see from Old Aberdeen are less prominent than the shifting blue curtains of polar light!

King's College in Aberdeen was founded in 1495: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King's...ge%2C_Aberdeen and also has the oldest endowed Chair of Medicine in Britain.

Scottish higher education has been pre-eminent from very early on, King's College was founded under a Papal Bull dated 10 February 1495.

I subscribe to EarthSky separately:http://earthsky.org/space/marco-cube...pale-blue-dot:

It seems that 2 cubesats are travelling to Mars, the first time that they are being employed beyond Earth:

"The Voyager 1 spacecraft took a classic portrait of Earth – the famous Pale Blue Dot image – from several billion miles away in 1990. On May 9, 2018, two tiny, boxy spacecraft known as CubeSats – nicknamed Wall-E and Eva by spaceflight engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California – took their own version of a pale blue dot image, capturing Earth and its moon in one shot.

This is the Mars Cube One or MarCO mission, launched on May 5 along with NASA’s InSight lander. InSight will touch down on Mars this November and study the planet’s deep interior for the first time."

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics

Not strictly about Astronomy, but it does seem that opinion in Scotland do not want to leave the UK.

Read the above link and see what you think!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dreamwoven

I subscribe to EarthSky separately:http://earthsky.org/space/marco-cube...pale-blue-dot:

It seems that 2 cubesats are travelling to Mars, the first time that they are being employed beyond Earth:

"The Voyager 1 spacecraft took a classic portrait of Earth – the famous Pale Blue Dot image – from several billion miles away in 1990. On May 9, 2018, two tiny, boxy spacecraft known as CubeSats – nicknamed Wall-E and Eva by spaceflight engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California – took their own version of a pale blue dot image, capturing Earth and its moon in one shot.

This is the Mars Cube One or MarCO mission, launched on May 5 along with NASA’s InSight lander. InSight will touch down on Mars this November and study the planet’s deep interior for the first time."

---

Yes. They look more like big suitcases than spacecrfts.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dreamwoven

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics

Not strictly about Astronomy, but it does seem that opinion in Scotland do not want to leave the UK.

Read the above link and see what you think!

---

For some unknown reason the BBC page is not available to me. But here we are. It´s almost half and half:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence

http://earthsky.org/todays-image/kil...st-injury-laze

This post revealed to me much new information about Volcanoes