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What Do Sunsets Look Like From Other Planets?

By Guest PostJanuary 17, 2012ScienceAlien, aspen, astrophysicist, atmosphere, colorado, conference, exoclimes, exoclimes 2012, extrasolar planets, frederic pont, fundamental problems, Galaxy, gloomy orange, hd 189, hd 189733 b, hd 209, hd 209458 b, Hubble Space Telescope, modern astronomy, neutral sodium lines, osiris, planet forming discs, planetary atmospheres, planets, sodium street lighting, solar system, spectral, sun, sunset, sunset images, transmission spectrum, university of exeter, website

A University of Exeter astrophysicist has shown what sunsets look like on planets outside our solar system.

He has worked out the colour of sunsets on two planets: HD 209458 b and HD 189733 b, known as ‘extrasolar planets’ because they are outside our solar system.

Extrasolar planets orbit stars, in a similar way to the Earth orbiting the Sun. Professor Frédéric Pont of the University of Exeter has used the extrasolar planets’ ‘transmission spectrum’, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, to work out the colour of the ‘sunsets’ created by these stars.

Writing on the website ExoClimes.com, where he has posted the two sunset images he has produced, Professor Pont said: “Unlike its sister planet HD ’189, the planet HD ’209 (‘Osiris’) has a sunset that looks truly alien. The star is white outside the atmosphere, since its temperature is close to that of the Sun. It then acquires a bluish tinge as it sinks deeper, because the absorption by the broad wings of the neutral sodium lines (the spectral lines responsible for the gloomy orange of sodium street lighting) remove the red and orange from the star light. (more…)

Scientists Prepare to Take First-Ever Picture of a Black Hole

By Guest PostJanuary 16, 2012Scienceabyss of space, albert einstein, alma, arizona, astrophysicists, atacama large millimeter array, atmosphere, black hole, black void, center of milky way, Chile, cosmic traffic jam, dan marrone, daniel stolte, dimitrios psaltis, earth, einstein, event horizon, event horizon telescope, extreme environment, field of gravity, game changer, general relativity, global array, hawaii, haystack observatory, maelstroms, mass, massachusetts institute of technology, mauna kea, mercury, Mexico, MIT, mt graham, nothingness, optical telescopes, plasma, radio telescopes, radio waves, shadow, sheperd doeleman, south pole, space and time, steward observatory, sun, supermassive black hole, theory of general relativity, tucson, ultra precise timing, universe, university of arizona, virtual telescope, water vapor, wavelengths

*The Event Horizon Telescope is an Earth-sized virtual telescope powerful enough to see all the way to the center of our Milky Way, where a supermassive black hole will allow astrophysicists to put Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity to the test.*

Astronomers, physicists and scientists from related fields across the world will convene in Tucson, Ariz. on Jan. 18 to discuss an endeavor that only a few years ago would have been regarded as nothing less than outrageous.

The conference is organized by Dimitrios Psaltis, an associate professor of astrophysics at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory, and Dan Marrone, an assistant professor of astronomy at Steward Observatory. (more…)

NASA Mars-Bound Rover Begins Research in Space

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2011Scienceaeroshell, astronauts, atomic and subatomic particles, boulder, cape canaveral, christian albrechts university, curiosity rover, distant supernovas, don hassler, doug mccuistion, earth, energetic particle radiation, gale crater, Germany, human missions, kiel, mars, mars science laboratory, microbes, monitoring, NASA, rad, radiation assessment detector, red planet, signs of life on mars, sources, southwest research institute, Space, space radiation, spacecraft, sun, surface of mars, trajectory

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s car-sized Curiosity rover has begun monitoring space radiation during its 8-month trip from Earth to Mars. The research will aid in planning for future human missions to the Red Planet.

Curiosity launched on Nov. 26 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Mars Science Laboratory. The rover carries an instrument called the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) that monitors high-energy atomic and subatomic particles from the sun, distant supernovas and other sources. (more…)

In The Dragonfish’s Mouth: The Next Generation of Superstars to Stir Up Our Galaxy

By Guest PostDecember 5, 2011Scienceastronomers, astronomical terms, celestial gas shell, Chile, christopher matzner, dae sik moon, deep sea creature, dragonfish, european southern observatory, Galaxy, gravity, infrared, light years, mouth, mubdi rahman, new technology telescope, peter shearer, radio waves, spitzer satellite, sun, supermassive stars, telescopes, ultraviolet, university of toronto, visible light, wmap satellite

TORONTO, ON – Three astronomers at the University of Toronto have found the most numerous batch of young, supermassive stars yet observed in our galaxy: hundreds of thousands of stars, including several hundreds of the most massive kind –blue stars dozens of times heavier than our Sun. The light these newborn stars emit is so intense it has pushed out and heated the gas that gave them birth, carving out a glowing hollow shell about a hundred light-years across.

These findings will be published in the December 20 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters. For the researchers, the next step is already clear: “By studying these supermassive stars and the shell surrounding them, we hope to learn more about how energy is transmitted in such extreme environments,” says Mubdi Rahman, a PhD candidate in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, who led the work with his supervisors, Professors Dae-Sik Moon and Christopher Matzner. (more…)

NASA Telescopes Help Solve Ancient Supernova Mystery

By Guest PostOctober 25, 2011Sciencebill danchi, brian j williams, chandra xray observatory, chinese astronomers, european space agency, exploding star, guest star, infrared observations, NASA, peaceful death of a star, rcw 86, sky, spitzer space telescope, stellar explosion, sun, supernova remnant, type ia supernova, wide field infrared survey explorer, wise, xmm newton observatory

PASADENA, Calif. — A mystery that began nearly 2,000 years ago, when Chinese astronomers witnessed what would turn out to be an exploding star in the sky, has been solved. New infrared observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, reveal how the first supernova ever recorded occurred and how its shattered remains ultimately spread out to great distances.

The findings show that the stellar explosion took place in a hollowed-out cavity, allowing material expelled by the star to travel much faster and farther than it would have otherwise. (more…)

Sun and Planets Constructed Differently, Analysis from Nasa Mission Suggests

By Guest PostJuly 3, 2011Sciencebernard marty, centre national de la recherche scientifique, dugway, earth, gaseous nebula, genesis mission, george jarzebinski, heavy elements, isotopes, isotopic composition of oxygen, kevin mckeegan, martian, megasims, NASA, neutrons, o 16, oxygen and nitrogen, oxygen atoms, oxygen on mars, Paris, planets, protons, rocky planet, roger wiens, secondary ion mass spectrometer, solar material, solar system, solar wind, sun, utah, utah test and training range, veronika heber

The sun and the solar system’s rocky inner planets, including the Earth, may have formed differently than previously thought, according to UCLA scientists and colleagues analyzing samples returned by NASA’s Genesis mission.

The data from Genesis, which collected material from the solar wind blowing from the sun, reveal differences between the sun and planets with regard to oxygen and nitrogen, two of the most abundant elements in our solar system, the researchers report in two studies in the June 24 issue of the journal Science. And although the differences are slight, the research could help determine how our solar system evolved. (more…)

Improved Measurements of Sun to Advance Understanding of Climate Change

By Guest PostJanuary 17, 2011Environment, Scienceamount of energy, anthropogenic causes of climate change, calibration facility, climate change, climate respond, earth, global temperature, global warming, greg kopp, industrial revolution, judith lean, laboratory, NASA, optical design, planet, satellite data, solar fluctuations, solar irradiance, solar radiation and climate experiment spacecraft, sorce, spacecraft easurements, sun, tim, total irradiance monitor, total solar irradiance, tsi, tsi value

WASHINGTON — Scientists have taken a major step toward accurately determining the amount of energy that the sun provides to Earth, and how variations in that energy may contribute to climate change.

In a new study of laboratory and satellite data, researchers report a lower value of that energy, known as total solar irradiance, than previously measured and demonstrate that the satellite instrument that made the measurement—which has a new optical design and was calibrated in a new way—has significantly improved the accuracy and consistency of such measurements. (more…)

Plasma Jets are Suspect in Solar Mystery

By Guest PostJanuary 13, 20111 commentScienceatmosphere, coronal heating, plasma jets, solar corona, solar mystery, sun

Scientists take new look at solar corona

One of the most enduring mysteries in solar physics is why the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, is millions of degrees hotter than its surface. (more…)

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