AAS NOVA — Research Highlights 2016
Posted: Mon May 23, 2016 3:15 pm
AAS NOVA — Research Highlights 2016
American Astronomical Association
American Astronomical Association
APOD and General Astronomy Discussion Forum
https://asterisk.apod.com/
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! ...
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? ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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). ...
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. ...
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? ...
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. ...
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. ...
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! ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
Interesting. I had not heard of any previous evidence of a massive black hole in the center of the Large Magellanic Cloud.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
- Astrophysical Journal Letters 825(1):L25 (2016 July 01) DOI: 10.3847/2041-8205/825/1/L6
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1606.02548 > 08 Jun 2016
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. ...
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. ...
[c]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. ...
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (GSFC), M. Wong (UC Berkeley),
and G. Orton (JPL-Caltech)[/c][hr][/hr]
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. ...