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Astronomers Find Bounty of Failed Stars

By Guest PostOctober 14, 2011Sciencealeks scholz, astronomical oddballs, brown dwarfs, Chile, dublin institute of advanced studies, eth zurich, failed stars, garching, gas clouds, Germany, giant planets, hawaii, ireland, jupiter, koraljka muzic, mariangela bonavita, motohide tamura, ngc 1333, optical and infrared wavelengths, planets, ray jayawardhana, rho ophiuchi star, sonyc, stars, subaru telescope, substellar objects in nearby young clusters, switzerland, university of toronto, very large telescope, vincent geers, vlt

*One youngster only six times heftier than Jupiter*

TORONTO, ON – A University of Toronto-led team of astronomers has discovered over two dozen new free-floating brown dwarfs, including a lightweight youngster only about six times heftier than Jupiter, that reside in two young star clusters. What’s more, one cluster contains a surprising surplus of them, harbouring half as many of these astronomical oddballs as normal stars.

“Our findings suggest once again that objects not much bigger than Jupiter could form the same way as stars do. In other words, nature appears to have more than one trick up its sleeve for producing planetary mass objects,” says Professor Ray Jayawardhana, Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics at the University of Toronto and leader of the international team that made the discovery. (more…)

NASA Space Telescope Finds Fewer Asteroids Near Earth

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2011Scienceamy mainzer, asteroids, astronomers, dinosaurs, distant galaxies, jupiter, lindley johnson, mars, NASA, near earth asteroids, neowise, spaceguard, survey project, tim spahr, wide field infrared survey explorer, wise

PASADENA, Calif. –– New observations by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, show there are significantly fewer near-Earth asteroids in the mid-size range than previously thought. The findings also indicate NASA has found more than 90 percent of the largest near-Earth asteroids, meeting a goal agreed to with Congress in 1998.

Astronomers now estimate there are roughly 19,500 — not 35,000 — mid-size near-Earth asteroids. Scientists say this improved understanding of the population may indicate the hazard to Earth could be somewhat less than previously thought. However, the majority of these mid-size asteroids remain to be discovered. More research also is needed to determine if fewer mid-size objects (between 330 and 3,300-feet wide) also mean fewer potentially hazardous asteroids, those that come closest to Earth. (more…)

NASA Gives Public New Internet Tool to Explore the Solar System

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2011Scienceblaine baggett, Environment, eyes on the solar system, jim green, jupiter, kevin hussey, nasa data, planetary science division, solar system, spacecraft, virtual environment, Washington, web application

PASADENA, Calif. –– NASA is giving the public the power to journey through the solar system using a new interactive Web-based tool.

The “Eyes on the Solar System” interface combines video game technology and NASA data to create an environment for users to ride along with agency spacecraft and explore the cosmos. Screen graphics and information such as planet locations and spacecraft maneuvers use actual space mission data. (more…)

Astronomer Tom Gehrels, 1925-2011

By Guest PostJuly 14, 2011Scienceasteroids and comets, astronomer, astronomy, Britain, Chicago, dutch resistance, earth, England, gerard p kuiper, haarlemmermeer, harold masursky award, imaging photopolarimetry, jupiter, kitt peak, leiden university, nobel astrophysicist, saturn, saturn mysterious f ring, special operations executive, study of wavelength dependence of polarization of stars and planets, subrahmanyan chandrasekhar, the netherlands, tom gehrels, universal evolution, university of arizona, university of chicago

*In a career that spanned more than half a century, Gehrels fostered new research on asteroids and comets, including those that pose a threat to Earth.*

Tom Gehrels, an internationally noted planetary scientist and astronomer at the University of Arizona, as well as a hero of the Dutch Resistance during WWII, died Monday. He was 86.

Gehrels was among the first members of the fledgling Lunar and Planetary Laboratory when he joined the UA in 1961. During a long and distinguished career Gehrels pioneered new research on asteroids and comets, especially those that pose a collision threat to Earth. He also developed and taught introductory astronomy courses that were popular with non-science undergraduates. (more…)

Cassini Captures Images and Sounds of Saturn Storm

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2011Scienceandrew ingersoll, austrian academy of sciences, california institute of technology, cassini, cassini spacecraft, cloud, earth, georg fischer, graz, hemispheres, iowa city, journal nature, jupiter, NASA, northern hemisphere, pasadena, pictures from cassini, saturn storm, saturn storm watch, solar illumination, storm alley, university of iowa, weather on saturn

PASADENA, Calif. — Scientists analyzing data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft now have the first-ever, up-close details of a Saturn storm that is eight times the surface area of Earth.

On Dec. 5, 2010, Cassini first detected the storm that has been raging ever since. It appears approximately 35 degrees north latitude of Saturn. Pictures from Cassini’s imaging cameras show the storm wrapping around the entire planet covering approximately 2 billion square miles (4 billion square kilometers). (more…)

Free-Floating Planets May be More Common Than Stars

By Guest PostMay 19, 2011Scienceastronomers, dark of space, david bennett, earth, gaseous bodies, giant wingless, gravitational microlensing events, jupiter, mario perez, microlensing observations in astrophysics, milky way galaxy, moa, NASA, new zealand, nuclear fuel, ogle, optical gravitational lensing experiment, orphan planets, star, star forming clusters, takahiro sumi, telescope in chile, turbulent solar systems

PASADENA, Calif. — Astronomers, including a NASA-funded team member, have discovered a new class of Jupiter-sized planets floating alone in the dark of space, away from the light of a star. The team believes these lone worlds were probably ejected from developing planetary systems.

The discovery is based on a joint Japan-New Zealand survey that scanned the center of the Milky Way galaxy during 2006 and 2007, revealing evidence for up to 10 free-floating planets roughly the mass of Jupiter. The isolated orbs, also known as orphan planets, are difficult to spot, and had gone undetected until now. The newfound planets are located at an average approximate distance of 10,000 to 20,000 light-years from Earth. (more…)

NASA’s Galileo Reveals Magma ‘Ocean’ Beneath Surface of Jupiter’s Moon

By Guest PostMay 13, 2011Scienceearth surface, galileo, galileo spacecraft, hotspots, io, jupiter, krishan khurana, magma, magma layer, magnetic field, magnetometer, NASA, ocean, pacific ocean, planet, ring of fire, solar system, spacecraft, the mantle, torrence johnson, ultramific rocks, volcanic moon, volcanic object, xianzhe jia

A new analysis of data from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft has revealed that beneath the surface of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io is an “ocean” of molten or partially molten magma.

The finding, from a study published May 13 in the journal Science, is the first direct confirmation of such a magma layer on Io and explains why the moon is the most volcanic object known in the solar system. The research was conducted by scientists from UCLA, UC Santa Cruz and the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. (more…)

Four Planets Huddle Up Before Dawn Next Week

By Guest PostMay 8, 2011Scienceanimation, beautiful astronomical photos, binoculars, ecliptic, jupiter, mars, mcdonald observatory, mercury, moon, page sky almanac, planets, sky, skymaps, skywatching events, stardate magazin, venus

AUSTIN, Texas — Four of the five planets visible to the unaided eye huddle quite close together in the pre-dawn sky next week, according to the editors of StarDate magazine.

On the morning of May 10, Venus and Jupiter will stand side by side, quite low in the east, as dawn brightens. If you have a horizon clear of buildings and trees, they will be easy to spot. They are the brightest objects in the night sky after the moon. Venus is the brighter of the two. Jupiter is to its left. (more…)

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