AAS NOVA — Research Highlights 2016

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AAS NOVA — Research Highlights 2016

Post by bystander » Mon May 23, 2016 3:15 pm

AAS NOVA — Research Highlights 2016
American Astronomical Association
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Nova: Record-Breaking Eclipsing Binary

Post by bystander » Tue May 24, 2016 2:16 pm

Record-Breaking Eclipsing Binary
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 May 02

A new record holder exists for the longest-period eclipsing binary star system: TYC-2505-672-1. This intriguing system contains a primary star that is eclipsed by its companion once every 69 years — with each eclipse lasting several years! ...

An Extreme Analogue of ε Aurigae: an M-giant Eclipsed Every 69 Years
by a Large Opaque Disk Surrounding a Small Hot Source
- Joseph E. Rodriguez et al http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=35660
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Nova: An Active Black Hole in a Compact Dwarf

Post by bystander » Tue May 24, 2016 2:17 pm

An Active Black Hole in a Compact Dwarf
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 May 04

A new type of galaxy has just been added to the galaxy zoo: a small, compact, and old elliptical galaxy that shows signs of a monster black hole actively accreting material in its center. What can this unusual discovery tell us about how compact elliptical galaxies form? ...

SDSS J085431.18+173730.5: The First Compact Elliptical Galaxy Hosting an Active Nucleus - Sanjaya Paudel et al
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Nova: Predicting Major Solar Eruptions

Post by bystander » Tue May 24, 2016 2:18 pm

Predicting Major Solar Eruptions
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 May 06

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and solar flares are two examples of major explosions from the surface of the Sun — but they’re not the same thing, and they don’t have to happen at the same time. A recent study examines whether we can predict which solar flares will be closely followed by larger-scale CMEs. ...

Predicting Coronal Mass Ejections Using Machine Learning Methods - Monica G. Bobra, Stathis Ilonidis
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Nova: Giant Impacts on Earth-Like Worlds

Post by bystander » Tue May 24, 2016 2:18 pm

Giant Impacts on Earth-Like Worlds
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 May 09

Earth has experienced a large number of impacts, from the cratering events that may have caused mass extinctions to the enormous impact believed to have formed the Moon. A new study examines whether our planet’s impact history is typical for Earth-like worlds. ...

The Frequency of Giant impacts on Earth-like Worlds - Elisa V. Quintana et al
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Nova: A New Way to Confirm Planet Candidates

Post by bystander » Tue May 24, 2016 2:19 pm

A New Way to Confirm Planet Candidates
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 May 11

What was the big deal behind the Kepler news conference yesterday? It’s not just that the number of confirmed planets found by Kepler has more than doubled (though that’s certainly exciting news!). What’s especially interesting is the way in which these new planets were confirmed. ...

False Positive Probabilities for All Kepler Objects of Interest:
1,284 Newly Validated Planets and 428 Likely False Positives
- Timothy D. Morton et al http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=35915
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Nova: A Bubble Triggering Star Formation

Post by bystander » Tue May 24, 2016 2:21 pm

A Bubble Triggering Star Formation
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 May 13
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This remarkable false-color, mid-infrared image (click for the full view!) was produced by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). It captures a tantalizing view of Sh 2-207 and Sh 2-208, the latter of which is one of the lowest-metallicity star-forming regions in the Galaxy. In a recent study led by Chikako Yasui (University of Tokyo and the Koyama Astronomical Observatory), a team of scientists has examined this region to better understand how star formation in low-metallicity environments differs from that in the solar neighborhood. The authors’ analysis suggests that sequential star formation is taking place in these low-metallicity regions, triggered by an expanding bubble (the large dashed oval indicated in the image) with a ~30 pc radius. ...

Low-metallicity Young Clusters in the Outer Galaxy I. Sh 2-207 - Chikako Yasui et al
Low-metallicity Young Clusters in the Outer Galaxy. II. Sh 2-208 - Chikako Yasui et al
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Nova: Discovery of Methanol in a Planetary Birthplace

Post by bystander » Tue May 24, 2016 2:22 pm

Discovery of Methanol in a Planetary Birthplace
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 May 16

Data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has recently revealed the first detection of gas-phase methanol, a derivative of methane, in a protoplanetary disk. This milestone discovery is an important step in understanding the conditions for planet formation that can lead to life-supporting planets like Earth. ...

First Detection of Gas-phase Methanol in a Protoplanetary Disk - Catherine Walsh et al
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Nova: Reconnection on the Sun

Post by bystander » Tue May 24, 2016 2:23 pm

Reconnection on the Sun
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 May 18

Because the Sun is so close, it makes an excellent laboratory to study processes we can’t examine in distant stars. One open question is that of how solar magnetic fields rearrange themselves, producing the tremendous releases of energy we observe as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). ...

Imaging a Magnetic-Breakout Solar Eruption - Yao Chen et al Stereoscopic Observation of Slipping Reconnection in a Double Candle-flame-shaped Solar Flare - Tingyu Gou et al
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Nova: Building Halos by Digesting Satellites

Post by bystander » Tue May 24, 2016 2:24 pm

Building Halos by Digesting Satellites
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 May 20

We think galactic halos are built through the addition of material from the smaller subhalos of satellites digested by their hosts. Though most of the stars in Milky-Way-mass halos were probably formed in situ, many were instead accumulated over time, as orbiting dwarf galaxies were torn apart and their stars flung throughout the host galaxy. A recent set of simulations has examined this brutal formation process. ...

The Eating Habits of Milky Way-mass Halos: Destroyed Dwarf Satellites
and the Metallicity Distribution of Accreted Stars
- Alis J. Deason, Yao-Yuan Mao, Risa H. Wechsler
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Nova: A Comet’s Missing Light

Post by bystander » Tue May 24, 2016 2:31 pm

A Comet’s Missing Light
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 May 23

On 28 November 2013, comet C/2012 S1 — better known as comet ISON — should have passed within two solar radii of the Sun’s surface as it reached perihelion in its orbit. But instead of shining in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths as it grazed the solar surface, the comet was never detected by EUV instruments. What happened to comet ISON? ...

On the Absence of EUV Emission from Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) - Paul Bryans, W. Dean Pesnell
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=29625
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Nova: Clues from Pluto’s Ions

Post by bystander » Tue May 31, 2016 3:46 pm

Clues from Pluto’s Ions
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 May 25

Nearly a year ago, in July 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft passed by the Pluto system. The wealth of data amassed from that flyby is still being analyzed — including data from the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument. Recent examination of this data has revealed interesting new information about Pluto’s atmosphere and how the solar wind interacts with it. ...

Interplanetary Magnetic Field Sector from Solar Wind around Pluto (SWAP)
Measurements of Heavy Ion Pickup Near Pluto
- E. J. Zirnstein et al
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?p=257218#p257218
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Nova: Fireball After a Temporary Capture?

Post by bystander » Tue May 31, 2016 4:02 pm

Fireball After a Temporary Capture?
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 May 30
Image
This image of a fireball was captured in the Czech Republic by cameras at a digital autonomous observatory in the village of Kunžak. This observatory is part of a network of stations known as the European Fireball Network, and this particular meteoroid detection, labeled EN130114, is notable because it has the lowest initial velocity of any natural object ever observed by the network. Led by David Clark (University of Western Ontario), the authors of a recent study speculate that before this meteoroid impacted Earth, it may have been a Temporarily Captured Orbiter (TCO). TCOs are near-Earth objects that make a few orbits of Earth before returning to heliocentric orbits. Only one has ever been observed to date, and though they are thought to make up 0.1% of all meteoroids, EN130114 is the first event ever detected that exhibits conclusive behavior of a TCO. ...

Impact Detections of Temporarily Captured Natural Satellites - David L. Clark et al
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Nova: Testing Our Fundamental Assumptions

Post by bystander » Sun Jul 24, 2016 3:58 pm

Testing Our Fundamental Assumptions
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 June 06

Science is all about testing the things we take for granted — including some of the most fundamental aspects of how we understand our universe. Is the speed of light in a vacuum the same for all photons regardless of their energy? Is the rest mass of a photon actually zero? A series of recent studies explore the possibility of using transient astrophysical sources for tests! ...

Focus on Exploring Fundamental Physics with Extragalactic Transients
Astrophysical Journal Letters

Cosmic Transients Test Einstein's Equivalence Principle out to GeV Energies - He Gao, Xue-Feng Wu, Peter Mészáros Tests of the Einstein Equivalence Principle using TeV Blazars - Jun-Jie Wei, Jie-Shuang Wang, He Gao, Xue-Feng Wu Murchison Widefield Array Limits on Radio Emission from ANTARES Neutrino Events - S. Croft et al Limits on Einstein's Equivalence Principle from the first localized Fast Radio Burst FRB 150418 - Steven J Tingay, David L Kaplan On Testing the Equivalence Principle with Extragalactic Bursts - Adi Nusser Constraints on the Photon Mass with Fast Radio Bursts - Xue-Feng Wu et al
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Nova: Cold Accretion from the Cosmic Web

Post by bystander » Sun Jul 24, 2016 4:13 pm

Cold Accretion from the Cosmic Web
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 June 08

The cosmic web is a vast, foam-like network of filaments and voids stretching throughout the universe. How did the first galaxies form within the cosmic web, at the intersections of filaments? New observations of a “protodisk” — a galaxy in the early stages of formation — may provide a clue. ...

A Newly Forming Cold Flow Protogalactic Disk, a Signature of Cold Accretion From the Cosmic Web - D. Christopher Martin et al
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Nova: Jets from Merging Neutron Stars

Post by bystander » Sun Jul 24, 2016 4:20 pm

Jets from Merging Neutron Stars
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 June 10

With the recent discovery of gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes, it’s especially important to understand the electromagnetic signals resulting from mergers of compact objects. New simulations successfully follow a merger of two neutron stars that produces a short burst of energy via a jet consistent with short gamma-ray burst (sGRB) detections. ...

Binary Neutron Star Mergers: a Jet Engine for Short Gamma-ray Bursts - Milton Ruiz et al
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Nova: Star Clusters in M51

Post by bystander » Sun Jul 24, 2016 5:39 pm

Star Clusters in M51
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 June 20
This beautiful mosaic of images of the Whirlpool galaxy (M51) and its companion was taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. This nearby, “grand-design spiral” galaxy has a rich population of star clusters, making it both a stunning target for imagery and an excellent resource for learning about stellar formation and evolution. In a recent study, Rupali Chandar (University of Toledo) and collaborators cataloged over 3,800 compact star clusters within this galaxy. They then used this catalog to determine the distributions for the clusters’ ages, masses, and sizes, which can provide important clues as to how star clusters form, evolve, and are eventually disrupted. You can read more about their study and what they discovered in the paper below. ...

The Age, Mass, and Size Distributions of Star Clusters in M51 - Rupali Chandar et al
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Nova: Mapping Near-Earth Hazards

Post by bystander » Sun Jul 24, 2016 5:49 pm

Mapping Near-Earth Hazards
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 June 22

How can we hunt down all the near-Earth asteroids that are capable of posing a threat to us? A new study looks at whether the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is up to the job. ...

Modeling the Performance of the LSST in Surveying the Near-Earth Object Population - Tommy Grav, Amy Mainzer, Tim Spahr
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Nova: An Update on Planet Nine

Post by bystander » Sun Jul 24, 2016 6:18 pm

An Update on Planet Nine
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 June 24

What’s the news coming from the research world on the search for Planet Nine? Read on for an update from a few of the latest studies. ...

Corralling a Distant Planet with Extreme Resonant Kuiper Belt Objects - Renu Malhotra, Kathryn Volk, Xianyu Wang Observational Constraints on the Orbit and Location of Planet Nine in the Outer Solar System - Michael E. Brown, Konstantin Batygin The Hunt for Planet Nine: Atmosphere, Spectra, Evolution, and Detectability - Jonathan J. Fortney et al
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=35573
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Nova: Producing Runaway Stars

Post by bystander » Sun Jul 24, 2016 6:37 pm

Producing Runaway Stars
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 June 27

How are the hypervelocity stars we’ve observed in our galaxy produced? A recent study suggests that these escapees could be accelerated by a massive black hole in the center of the Large Magellanic Cloud. ...

A Dipole on the Sky: Predictions for Hypervelocity Stars from the Large Magellanic Cloud - Douglas Boubert, N. W. Evans
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Re: Nova: Producing Runaway Stars

Post by Ann » Mon Jul 25, 2016 5:11 am

bystander wrote:Producing Runaway Stars
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 June 27

How are the hypervelocity stars we’ve observed in our galaxy produced? A recent study suggests that these escapees could be accelerated by a massive black hole in the center of the Large Magellanic Cloud. ...

A Dipole on the Sky: Predictions for Hypervelocity Stars from the Large Magellanic Cloud - Douglas Boubert, N. W. Evans
Interesting. I had not heard of any previous evidence of a massive black hole in the center of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

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Nova: IceCube’s Search for Neutrinos from Gamma-Ray Bursts

Post by bystander » Mon Jul 25, 2016 4:06 pm

IceCube’s Search for Neutrinos from Gamma-Ray Bursts
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 June 29

In a cubic kilometer of volume of ice under Antarctica, an observatory called IceCube is taking measurements that may help us to determine what causes the ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) we occasionally observe from Earth. A recent study reports on its latest results. ...

An All-Sky Search for Three Flavors of Neutrinos from Gamma-Ray Bursts with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory - IceCube Collaboration
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Nova: Forming Spirals from Shadows

Post by bystander » Mon Jul 25, 2016 4:13 pm

Forming Spirals from Shadows
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 July 01

What causes the large-scale spiral structures found in some protoplanetary disks? Most models assume they’re created by newly-forming planets, but a new study suggests that planets might have nothing to do with it. ...

Spiral Waves Triggered by Shadows in Transition Disks - Matias Montesinos et al
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Nova: Mapping Jupiter with Hubble

Post by bystander » Mon Jul 25, 2016 4:36 pm

Mapping Jupiter with Hubble
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 July 04
This global map of Jupiter’s surface (click for the full view!) was generated by the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program, which aims to create new yearly global maps for each of the outer planets. Presented in a study led by Amy Simon (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), the map above is the first generated for Jupiter in the first year of the OPAL campaign. It provides a detailed look at Jupiter’s atmospheric structure — including the Great Red Spot — and allowed the authors to measure the speed and direction of the wind across Jupiter’s latitudes, constructing an updated zonal wind profile for Jupiter. ...

First Results from the Hubble OPAL Program: Jupiter in 2015 - Amy A. Simon, Michael H. Wong, Glenn S. Orton
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=35261
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Nova: A Different Way to Visualize Solar Changes

Post by bystander » Mon Jul 25, 2016 4:45 pm

A Different Way to Visualize Solar Changes
NOVA | American Astronomical Society | 2016 July 06

What if there were a better way to analyze a comet’s tail, the dimming of the Sun’s surface, or the path of material in a bright solar eruption? A recent study examines a new technique for looking at these evolving features. ...

Persistence Mapping Using EUV Solar Imager Data - B. J. Thompson, C. A. Young
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