New experiments show complex astrochemistry on thin ice covering dust grains
We’ve long known from observations that complex atoms, including chlorofluorocarbons and polycyclic hydrocarbons, can be found in space. How they get there has been challenging to explain, but new work from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy has sought to recreate in a lab what happens in space, and they are starting to succeed.
Astronomers Find Elusive Target Hiding Behind Dust
In addition to spotting high-energy events like FRBs, radio telescopes also allow us to see processes in the sky that are blacked by gas and dust and hidden from our optical light telescopes. This is what has made them such amazing tools for studying baby stars and their surrounding disks that may someday form solar systems.
Jodrell Bank leads international effort which reveals 157 day cycle in unusual cosmic radio bursts
Today, we get word from Jodrell Bank that across four years of observations they have discovered a really weird repeating pattern of behavior in FRB 121102. This pattern could only be discovered thanks to regular monitoring by the giant, 76-meter Lovell Telescope.
A Mirror Image of Earth and Sun
Kepler 160 and its planet KOI-456.04 are going to also make headlines. In this case, it’s because we actually found a system I’m comfortable calling a “Fat Earth” system.
25-Year-Old Hubble Data Confirms Exoplanet Proxima Centauri c
Space is hard, and our understanding only advances in two ways – through major breakthroughs that require luck and creativity to recognize, and with the slow and steady advancement of better instruments that allow us to uncover details that had previously been just out of sight.
Hubble Makes Surprising Find in the Early Universe
Once upon a time in the early universe, in theory at least, there was a time when our universe was made of hydrogen, helium, and trace amounts of lithium and beryllium. From this mixture, everything that we see today was formed, and among the first things to form, at least in theory, were stars made only of hydrogen, helium, and those trace amounts of lithium and beryllium.
Martian Moon’s Orbit Hints at Ancient Ring
Using new dynamical models, scientists at the SETI Institute and Purdue University, led by Matija Ćuk, have found new evidence that Mars has had small rings in the past and will likely have them again in the future. This is all part of a cyclic ring theory for Mars.
Zooming In on the Origins of Fast Radio Bursts
One of the most energetic, and still unexplained, phenomena are Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). These momentary bursts, that in a few rare instances repeat, emit the same energy in seconds that our Sun will release across 80 years.
Flash from Milky Way’s Black Hole Illuminated Gas Outside Our Galaxy
Our first story of the day taught me a new term: Fermi bubbles. Named after the gamma-ray telescope that discovered them, these dramatic regions of heated gas extend above and below the disc of our Milky Way galaxy, and were created during high-energy events involving our galaxy’s supermassive black hole (SMBH).
Virgin Orbit Ignites LauncherOne Rocket During First Launch Demo, Mission Safely Terminated
Under development by Virgin Orbit since 2007, LauncherOne is an air-launched rocket for small satellite payloads. The launch date was Monday, May 25, 2020, at 7:50 PM (UTC).
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