Binary star system found right under our noses In a day when we have examined astronomical objects shining forth from a time shortly after the Big Bang, one would think astronomers have a pretty good handle on what is in the immediate vicinity of the Solar System. That's why the recent report of a binary star lying only 6.5 light-years away came as rather a surprise to the astronomical community. The pair, called WISE J1049-5319 A and B, are brown dwarf stars and only two star systems – the triple star Alpha Centauri, and Barnard's Star – lie closer to our Sun. In December of 2009, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) was launched into a polar orbit at an altitude of 525 km (326 miles) back in 2009. Brown dwarf stars are stars that have too little mass to fuse hydrogen (although deuterium is likely to fuse for a brief period). Prof. WISE J1049-5319 was one of the objects selected by Luhman's search of the WISE database. Sources: Pennsylvania State University
New Study Challenges Planck Results cosmic microwave backgroundA new view of the cosmic microwave background, as seen over the whole sky with the Planck satellite. Although analyses of this image indicate complete agreement with the simple model of a big bang inflation, a new paper suggests the agreement is so perfect that it is very unlikely the inflation model is actually the correct one. Credit: ESA/Planck A new study from researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics challenges the inflation model, arguing that the new Planck results are actually too good. The universe was created about fourteen billion years ago in a blaze of light known as the big bang. The CMBR was discovered by Penzias and Wilson in 1964. According to models of inflation proposed in the 1980’s, based on concepts in elementary particle physics, the early universe underwent a dramatic and exponential growth spurt, swelling in size a trillion trillion trillion times. Or maybe not. Source: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
BOLIDES - Visualizing meteorites Mapping the Chemistry Needed for Life at Europa This color composite view combines violet, green, and infrared images of Jupiter's intriguing moon, Europa, for a view of the moon in natural color (left) and in enhanced color designed to bring out subtle color differences in the surface (right). The bright white and bluish part of Europa's surface is composed mostly of water ice, with very few non-ice materials. In contrast, the brownish mottled regions on the right side of the image may be covered by hydrated salts and an unknown red component. The yellowish mottled terrain on the left side of the image is caused by some other unknown component. A new paper led by a NASA researcher shows that hydrogen peroxide is abundant across much of the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. The paper, co-authored by Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, analyzed data in the near-infrared range of light from Europa, using the Keck II Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, over four nights in September 2011.
New Asteroid-Mining Company Aims to Spur Space Settlement A new asteroid-mining company launched Tuesday with the goal of helping humanity expand across the solar system by tapping the vast riches of space rocks. The new firm, called Deep Space Industries, Inc., announced today (Jan. 22) that it plans to launch a fleet of prospecting spacecraft in 2015, then begin harvesting metals and water from near-Earth asteroids within a decade or so. Such work could make it possible to build and refuel spacecraft far above our planet's surface, thus helping our species get a foothold in the final frontier. "Using resources harvested in space is the only way to afford permanent space development," Deep Space CEO David Gump said in a statement. Deep Space Industries will hold a press conference today in Santa Monica, Calif., at 10 a.m. "More than 900 new asteroids that pass near Earth are discovered every year," Gump explained. Deep Space is the second company to jump into the asteroid-mining business. Prospecting spacecraft and asteroid sample-return
Review: The Primer Fields From PESWiki Compiled by Sterling D. Allan Pure Energy Systems News January 12, 2013 Ralph Ring referred this video by David Allen LaPoint. Someone in the comments wrote: "This could be the real game changer! Check out some comments on this guy's google+ profile: David LaPoint - Google+" Feel free to leave your comments down below. Official Websites list here Videos The Primer Fields Part 1 "In this video series the currently accepted theories of physics and astrophysics are shaken to the core by a radical new theory of the fundamental forces in all matter. Bizarre Discovery at CERN "Video of magnetic models of the Globe of Science and Innovation at CERN in my vacuum chamber. The Primer Fields Part 2 "The second installment in the Primer Field series" (YouTube / davelapoint777; January 31, 2013) On February 05, 2013 7:43 AM [GMT-7], Steven Kempe wrote: Subject: Primer 1 & 2 by David Lapoint - Make a Vector Equalibrium Device Steve Hello Steve, et all. O_o
Black holes growing faster than expected › News in Science (ABC Science) News in Science Thursday, 17 January 2013 Stuart GaryABC Black hole find Existing theories on the relationship between the size of a galaxy and its central black hole are wrong according to a new Australian study. The discovery by Dr Nicholas Scott and Professor Alister Graham, from Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology, found smaller galaxies have far smaller black holes than previously estimated. Central black holes, millions to billions of times more massive than the Sun, reside in the core of most galaxies, and are thought to be integral to galactic formation and evolution. However astronomers are still trying to understand this relationship. Scott and Graham combined data from observatories in Chile, Hawaii and the Hubble Space Telescope, to develop a data base listing the masses of 77 galaxies and their central supermassive black holes. The astronomers determined the mass of each central black hole by measuring how fast stars are orbiting it. Inconsistency Somewhere in between
Red Square Nebula Not to be confused with a similar nebula, the Red Rectangle Nebula. The Red Square Nebula is a celestial object located in the area of the sky occupied by star MWC 922 in the constellation Serpens. The first images of this bipolar nebula, taken using the Mt. The explanation proposed by Tuthill and his collaborator James Lloyd of Cornell University claims that the square shape arises from two cone shapes placed tip-to-tip, as seen from the side. There is no clear explanation of how the central star could produce the nebula's shape: Towards the end of their lives, many low-mass stars, like the Sun, slough off their outer layers to produce striking 'planetary' nebulae. One possible explanation is that these two outer faint radial spokes are shadows cast by periodic ripples or waves on the surface of an inner disk close to the central star.[1] See also[edit] Red Rectangle Nebula References[edit] Citations[edit] External links[edit] Coordinates: 18h 21m 15.9s, −13° 01′ 27″
Mars 'has life's building blocks' 24 May 2012Last updated at 21:13 ET By Mark Mardell North America editor The researchers suggest Mars has "been undertaking organic chemistry for most of its history" New evidence from meteorites suggests that the basic building blocks of life are present on Mars. The study found that carbon present in 10 meteorites, spanning more than four billion years of Martian history, came from the planet and was not the result of contamination on Earth. Details of the work have been published in the journal Science. But the research also shows the Martian carbon did not come from life forms. A team of scientists based at the Carnegie Institution for Science, based in Washington DC, found "reduced carbon" in the meteorites and says it was created by volcanic activity on Mars. Scientists are looking for clues as to how chemistry evolved to create a "common ancestor" of all life on earth Reduced carbon is carbon that is chemically bonded to hydrogen or itself.
Plutoïde Un article de Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre. La notion de plutoïde ne doit pas être confondue avec celle de plutino. L'Union astronomique internationale s'est accordée sur le terme de « plutoïde » comme désignation pour les planètes naines comme Pluton lors d'une réunion de son comité exécutif à Oslo le 11 juin 2008[2]. Qu'est-ce qu'un plutoïde ? Officiellement[3], « [les] plutoïdes sont des objets célestes en orbite autour du Soleil à un demi-grand axe supérieur à celui de Neptune qui possèdent une masse suffisante pour que leur gravité l'emporte sur les forces de cohésion du corps solide et le maintiennent en équilibre hydrostatique (sous une forme presque sphérique) et qui n'ont pas nettoyé leur voisinage[4] ». Propositions de dénomination officielle[modifier | modifier le code] Caractéristiques[modifier | modifier le code] Les objets de cette catégorie sont caractérisés par une orbite plus inclinée et plus elliptique que celles des planètes. Annexes[modifier | modifier le code]
Free-floating planets in the milky way outnumber stars by factors of thousands: Life-bearing planets may exist in vast numbers Researchers say life-bearing planets may exist in vast numbers in the space between stars in the Milky Way. A few hundred thousand billion free-floating life-bearing Earth-sized planets may exist in the space between stars in the Milky Way. So argues an international team of scientists led by Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham, UK. The scientists have proposed that these life-bearing planets originated in the early Universe within a few million years of the Big Bang, and that they make up most of the so-called "missing mass" of galaxies. Since 1995, when the first extrasolar planet was reported, interest in searching for planets has reached a feverish pitch.
Voyager 1 spacecraft's latest find takes the edge off the solar system | Science | Guardian Weekly The edge of the solar system has no edge, it turns out. It has a fuzzy transitional area, not quite solar system and not quite interstellar space. This basic fact of our star's environment has been discovered by Voyager 1, one of the most remarkable spaceships ever built. Scientists had assumed that Voyager 1, launched in 1977, would have exited the solar system by now. The scientists' assumption turned out to be half-right. This unexpected transitional zone, dubbed the "heliosheath depletion region," is described in three new papers about Voyager 1 published online last month by the journal Science. "There were some surprises," said Ed Stone, who has been the lead scientist of Nasa's Voyager program since 1972. "No one knows," said Stone, 77, a professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology and the former head of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Voyager's home base. The dimensions and nature of the heliosphere are not a wholly esoteric matter.