Podcasts about astronomy astrophysics

With over 7,000 exoplanets identified in our galaxy, scientists are shifting their focus to studying these worlds' characteristics in the quest for extraterrestrial life. The backdrop for one team is the discovery of super-Earth HD 20794 d, an exoplanet detected by researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and NCCR PlanetS. Orbiting in an eccentric path, HD 20794 d moves in and out of its star's habitable zone, making it a compelling subject for further study. This breakthrough, built on two decades of observations with the world's most advanced telescopes, has just been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Join planetary astronomer Franck Marchis and lead author Nicola Nari for a discussion on the search for exoplanets, what a habitable world could look like, and how HD 20794 d will help us understand our universe. (Recorded live 20 March 2025.)

Fernando Ortuño nos cuenta como un equipo de investigadores del Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA), en colaboración con el Instituto de Astrofísica de Portugal, el Laboratorio de Astrofísica de Marsella y el Observatorio de Ginebra, ha confirmado el primer sistema planetario detectado por el experimento KOBE. Losa resultados del estudio se han publicado en la revista Astronomy & Astrophysics.Olga Baslaobre, la iinvestigadora del centro de Astrobiología del Calar Alto, en Almería, ha sido la persona que ha descubierto estos pplanetas y nos cuenta que ' es el sueño de todo investigador'. Este hallazgo ha sido posible gracias a observaciones realizadas con el instrumento CARMENES, instalado en el Observatorio de Calar Alto (Almería). Representa un importante avance en la búsqueda de exoplanetas en torno a estrellas de tipo K, consideradas óptimas para albergar planetas potencialmente habitables.

Prepárate para un viaje donde exploraremos los misterios del polvo estelar y cómo estas estrellas marcan los ciclos de creación en el universo. En este episodio de "El Viajero de la Ciencia", exploraremos un fascinante estudio publicado en Astronomy & Astrophysics en noviembre de 2024, titulado "Imaging the innermost circumstellar environment of the red supergiant WOH G64 in the Large Magellanic Cloud" . ¡No te pierdas ni un capítulo! Apúntate aquí a nuestro boletín: http://eepurl.com/iHax6s Enlace al artículo completo: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2024/11/aa51820-24/aa51820-24.html

In late 2019, an unremarkable galaxy with the catalog number SDSS1335+0728 suddenly started shining brighter than ever. Curious as to why, astronomers used data from space and ground-based observatories to track changes in the galaxy's brightness and concluded that we are witnessing the sudden awakening of the massive black hole at the galaxy's core. The results were published in Astronomy & Astrophysics in June 2024 with lead author Paula Sánchez Sáez, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory in Germany. Join Deputy Director of the Carl Sagan Center, Simon Steel, in a chat with Dr. Sánchez Sáez about these results and what they mean for our understanding of galaxies and their black holes. (Recorded 1 August 2024.) Press release: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2409/

An international team of astronomers has shed new light on the fascinating and complex process of planet formation. Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) in Chile, researchers captured stunning images of more than 80 young stars and discs of dust and gas where planets are forming. The data has been published today in three papers in Astronomy & Astrophysics. The research represents one of the largest surveys ever of planet-forming discs, providing astronomers with a wealth of data and a treasure trove of imagery and unique insights to help unpick the mysteries of planet formation in different regions of our galaxy. Dr Christian Ginski, lecturer at the University of Galway and lead author of one of three new papers published, said: "This is really a shift in our field of study. We've gone from the intense study of individual star systems to this huge overview of entire star-forming regions. "We know there is a very diverse population of planets out there. Now we know there is a very diverse population of planetary nurseries. Our images help us to try and connect these two, and this will eventually tell us how different kinds of planets are forming. Once we know that we can begin to figure out how often we get something like our own solar system that has the conditions for life to emerge." The team studied 86 stars across three different star-forming regions of the Milky Way galaxy: Taurus and Chamaeleon I, both around 600 light-years from Earth, and Orion, a gas-rich cloud about 1,300 light-years from us that is known to be the birthplace of several stars more massive than our Sun. The collection of new images showcases the extraordinary diversity of planet-forming discs in just three relatively small regions of our galaxy. Dr Ginski describes the imagery captured: "We could call these planetary nurseries - huge discs of gas and dust surrounding young stars. And in terms of the universe, these are in our backyard, as they are only 600-1,300 light years away. Our own Galaxy, the Milky Way, is roughly 80 times as extended. Some of these discs show huge spiral arms, presumably driven by the intricate ballet of orbiting planets." The observations were gathered by a large international team of scientists from more than 10 countries. To date, more than 5,000 planets have been discovered orbiting stars other than our Sun, often within systems markedly different from our own solar system. To understand where and how this diversity arises, astronomers must observe the dust- and gas-rich discs that envelop young stars - the very cradles of planet formation. These are best found in huge gas clouds where the stars themselves are forming. Dr Ginski added: "We are looking at these young birthplaces of planets because we want to understand why we are finding so many planetary systems around distant stars that are extremely diverse in their architecture and, mostly, very different from our solar system. To find that answer, we turn to the earliest phase of planet formation." The international research team was able to glean several key insights from the imagery and dataset. In Orion, they found that stars in groups of two or more were less likely to have large planet-forming discs. This is a significant result given that, unlike our Sun, most stars in our galaxy have companions. As well as this, some of the discs in this region have an asymmetric appearance, suggesting the possibility of massive planets embedded within them, which could cause the discs to warp and become misaligned. Across all three star forming regions some imagery shows beautiful structures. Others appear smooth. Others are still interacting with the surrounding birth-cloud of their central star. In terms of the extraordinary diversity of the planet-formation, some of them are very extended - more than 100 times the distance between the Earth and Sun. In relative terms, some are tiny - maybe 20-30 times the distance between the Earth a...

Understanding the future of the universe requires peering into the past. How quickly the universe is expanding has been an active area of science since the 1920s, with several prizes and breakthroughs. Each time we get new or more accurate measurements it forces scientists to re-evaluate the assumptions and formulas. These breakthroughs then need to be confirmed with follow up studies. The measurement of Hubble's constant using supernova won a Nobel Prize in 2011, and new gravitational lensing measurements have provided extra confirmation to those numbers. Dark matter can influence a lot in our universe, but measuring it is difficult but using lensing techniques a more accurate measurement can be derived. Mauricio Cruz Reyes, Richard I. Anderson. A 0.9% calibration of the Galactic Cepheid luminosity scale based on Gaia DR3 data of open clusters and Cepheids. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2023; 672: A85 DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202244775 Princeton University. (2023, April 7). How to see the invisible: Using the dark matter distribution to test our cosmological model. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 14, 2023 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230407215847.htm

Hayabusa2 had an exciting voyage across our solar system, getting into dust ups and even coming back home again with data to share. We've been tracking the long journey of Hayabusa2 over the 10 years of this podcast, and we're now getting interesting data from the returned samples. The Hayabusa2 probe shot at the asteroid Ryugu and brought back proof for JAXA to study and it tells tales of a very early time in our solar system. Ryugu is much much older than we thought, born only 1.8 million years after the formation of our solar system. How does a planetary system form and why are some planets in a flat line and others really odd. Our Nepture is an anomaly not just in our solar system but also compared to others. What happened to all the other 'Hot Neptune' exoplanets? Did they get burnt off or flung away? Kaitlyn A. McCain, Nozomi Matsuda, Ming-Chang Liu, Kevin D. McKeegan, Akira Yamaguchi, Makoto Kimura, Naotaka Tomioka, Motoo Ito, Naoya Imae, Masayuki Uesugi, Naoki Shirai, Takuji Ohigashi, Richard C. Greenwood, Kentaro Uesugi, Aiko Nakato, Kasumi Yogata, Hayato Yuzawa, Yu Kodama, Kaori Hirahara, Ikuya Sakurai, Ikuo Okada, Yuzuru Karouji, Satoru Nakazawa, Tatsuaki Okada, Takanao Saiki, Satoshi Tanaka, Fuyuto Terui, Makoto Yoshikawa, Akiko Miyazaki, Masahiro Nishimura, Toru Yada, Masanao Abe, Tomohiro Usui, Sei-ichiro Watanabe, Yuichi Tsuda. Early fluid activity on Ryugu inferred by isotopic analyses of carbonates and magnetite. Nature Astronomy, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41550-022-01863-0. V. Bourrier, O. Attia, M. Mallonn, A. Marret, M. Lendl, P.-C. Konig, A. Krenn, M. Cretignier, R. Allart, G. Henry, E. Bryant, A. Leleu, L. Nielsen, G. Hebrard, N. Hara, D. Ehrenreich, J. Seidel, L. dos Santos, C. Lovis, D. Bayliss, H. M. Cegla, X. Dumusque, I. Boisse, A. Boucher, F. Bouchy, F. Pepe, B. Lavie, J. Rey Cerda, D. Ségransan, S. Udry, T. Vrignaud. DREAM. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2023; 669: A63 DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202245004

SpaceTime Series 25 Episode 66*Mars probe MAVEN back in service following a major glitchNASA's MAVEN spacecraft is finally back in operation after defaulting into an emergency safety mode in February. Mission managers eventually traced the problem to its Inertial Measurement Units which are responsible for navigation.*Unravelling the mystery of brown dwarfsAstronomers have discovered five brown dwarfs -- objects that fill the gap between the largest planets and the smallest stars. The five reported in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics will provide new clues about how these rare objects are formed and evolve.*Three new crew board China's space stationThree Chinese taikonauts have arrived safely aboard Beijing's new Tiangong space station for what will be a six month mission to complete construction of the orbiting outpost. The trio blasted off in their Shenzhou-14 capsule aboard a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan satellite launch center in northwestern China's Gobi desert.*The Science ReportA rapid decline in Omicron-specific antibody levels only weeks after the second and third doses.A plant-based diet can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.Scientists develop a living human skin for robots.Skeptic's guide to life after death Listen to SpaceTime on your favorite podcast app with our universal listen link: https://spacetimewithstuartgary.com/listen For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ If you love this podcast, please get someone else to listen to. Thank you…To become a SpaceTime supporter and unlock commercial free editions of the show, gain early access and bonus content, please visit https://bitesz.supercast.com/ . Premium version now available via Spotify and Apple Podcasts.For more podcasts visit our HQ at https://bitesz.com Sponsor Details:This episode of SpaceTime is brought to you with the support of MeUndies. To grab your deal, visit www.meundies.com/spacetime and in turn help support the show. Thank you.If you're enjoying SpaceTime, please help out by sharing and telling your friends. The best recommendation I can get is one by you. Thank you…#astronomy #space #science #technology #news #astrophysics #NASA

Un estudio publicado en la revista Astronomy & Astrophysics nos presenta un nuevo exoplaneta, Proxima d, que orbita alrededor de  la estrella Próxima Centauri, que como su nombre lo indica, es la estrella más cercana a nuestro sistema solar. Este pequeño planeta con un cuarto de la masa de la tierra, es el tercero detectado en este sistema planetario que se encuentra a cuatro años luz de nuestro sol. RFI conversó con uno de los astrónomos que participó en este importante hallazgo. Un equipo internacional de astrónomos, coliderado por investigadores del Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), ha confirmado la presencia de un nuevo planeta orbitando Próxima Centauri, la estrella más cercana al Sistema Solar, situada a apenas cuatro años luz de distancia del Sol. Si mira al cielo, en dirección a la constelación de Centauro, en el punto más brillante, que en realidad son tres estrellas amontonadas, el sistema Alpha Centauri, es ahí donde se descubrió este nuevo exoplaneta, al que le han llamado Proxima d. Para recordar, un exoplaneta o planeta extraesolar, es un planeta que orbita una estrella diferente al sol, por lo que no pertenece a nuestro sistema solar. No fue sino hasta los noventa que se confirmó la existencia de otros sistemas planetarios en el universo y desde entonces, su búsqueda es un objeto de estudio importante de la astronomía. Proxima d es el tercer planeta detectado en esta estrella y uno de los de menor masa jamás descubiertos, con apenas un cuarto de la masa de la Tierra. El estudio, que se publica en la revista Astronomy & Astrophysics, ha utilizado medidas realizadas con el espectrógrafo Espresso, instalado en Very Large Telescope (VLT), del Observatorio Europeo Austral (ESO), en Chile. El nuevo planeta descubierto, Proxima d le toma tan sólo cinco días para orbitar alrededor de su estrella Proxima Centauri. Proxima Centauri es una enana roja pequeña, que forma parte del sistema triple de estrellas de Alpha Centauri y como su nombre lo indica, muy próxima a nuestro sistema solar, a apenas cuatro años luz de distancia. Y es en torno a esta estrella enana, Proxima Centauri, (también conocida como Alfa Centauri C) que en en los últimos años se han hecho muchos hallazgos con respecto a su sistema planetario. En el 2016 se descubrió un primer planeta, (Proxima b) cuya masa es similar a la de la Tierra, con una órbita de 11 días. En el 2019 se descubrió el segundo planeta (Proxima c), mucho más grande que la tierra y con una órbita de cinco años.   Y ahora, en el 2022, se ha logrado confirmar la existencia de este tercer exoplaneta, que siguiendo el orden del hallazgo, se llama Proxima d. “Proxima” para referirse a la estrella Proxima Centauri, y “d”  por ser el tercer planeta descubierto (la letra “a” se reserva siempre a la estrella) Proxima d, a pesar de sus magnitudes tan pequeñas, pudo ser detectado mediante medidas de velocidad radial, gracias a un instrumento llamado ESPRESSO, que forma parte del sistema Very Large Telescope (VLT) en Chile. Un gran descubrimiento que nos comparte con emoción Alejandro Suárez Mascareño, Investigador postdoctoral en el Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) y primer autor de este hallazgo publicado en la revista Astronomy and Astrophysics. Aquí puede escuchar la entrevista completa: Otros temas relacionados: El telescopio espacial James Webb: un enorme ojo dorado para mirar el universo

Planety zazwyczaj są niemal tak stare jak gwiazdy, wokół których krążą. Słońce na przykład narodziło się 4,6 miliarda lat temu, a niedługo potem pojawiła się Ziemia. Astronomowie z KU Leuven odkryli jednak, że możliwy jest też zupełnie inny scenariusz. Niektóre typy gwiazd, które są bliskie śmierci, mogą nadal tworzyć planety. Piszą o tym w najnowszym numerze czasopisma "Astronomy & Astrophysics". Jak mówi RMF FM pierwszy autor pracy dr Jakub Kluska, by mogło tak się stać umierająca gwiazda musi krążyć w układzie podwójnym z inną gwiazdą. Gdy pod koniec życia wyrzuca zewnętrzną część swojej atmosfery w przestrzeń kosmiczną, grawitacyjne przyciąganie drugiej gwiazdy powoduje, że materia ta tworzy płaski, obracający się dysk. Jeśli to się potwierdzi, teorie na temat powstawania planet będzie trzeba zrewidować.

Brian interviews Li Ting, Assistant Professor, David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, U of T. Last week she released fascinating information about ribbons of stars and galaxies attracted to but not part of the Milky Way Galaxy that she says shows how the Milky Way consumers other galaxies and grows but also given how the ribbons orbit around the center of the galaxy exhibit the presence of dark matter and / or a black hole. The conversation is fascinating.Dr Ting is a NASA Hubble Fellowship Program Einstein Fellow and Carnegie-Princeton Fellow at Carnegie Observatories. Ting's research focuses on near-field cosmology. In particular, she studies the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy and nearby galaxies to understand how they form and to understand the nature of dark matter. She specializes in analyzing large data sets from imaging surveys of wide areas the sky and also performs traditional astronomical observations with optical and near-infrared telescopes.

Characterizing Earth Analogs in Reflected Light: Atmospheric Retrieval Studies for Future Space Telescopes, Do Metal-rich Stars Make Metal-rich Planets? New Insights on Giant Planet Formation from Host Star Abundances, and Hot Jupiters: Origins, Structure, Atmospheres Prof. Jonathan Fortney is professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is interested in characterizing planets to better understand their composition and how they evolve with time. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/scientificsense/message

Registrado en enero de 2019, el enorme brote de rayos gamma GRB 190114C liberado por un agujero negro demuestra que ese fenómeno puede ser fuente gigantesca de energía, sostienen los autores de un estudio publicado en la revista Astronomy & Astrophysics. Una nueva teoría permite explicarlo con un modelo de hipernova nacida de la colisión de dos estrellas, una de las cuales está constituida por carbono y oxígeno mientras la otra es de neutrones.

Parshati Patel talks about astronomy, astrophysics, space technology, science communication and much more. She is an astrophysicist, science communicator and STEM education researcher based in London, Ontario, Canada. She is passionate about communicating space science and technology with the students and public to ignite their curiosity about the environment and our place in the universe. Apart from astronomy and communicating science, she enjoys capturing the night sky when time and weather permits! CONNECT WITH PARSHATI: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParshatiPatel ​Instagram: http://instagram.com/ParshatiPatel ​Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parshati.patel --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/spaceexplr/support

In this live episode of the GattoCast I talk about Astrophysics and Cosmology. What is astrophysics? What is cosmology? What do they deal with? How do we study the Universe? What is the role of supercomputers and simulations? What did we learn? These are some of the basic questions I will try to address in this first episode of the series "Explaining the Universe to Joey de Maio"

Si chiamano galassie "relic" e sono particolari oggetti spaziali: galassie che, invece di fondersi con altre diventando immensamente grandi, restano isolate e difficili da rilevare dalla Terra.Un gruppo di ricercatori italiani, dell’Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) e di altre istituzioni internazionali, ne ha individuate due, secondo lo studio in via di pubblicazione sulla rivista Astronomy & Astrophysics, un lavoro svolto nell’ambito del progetto INSPIRE, i cui risultati sono in via di pubblicazione sulla rivista Astronomy & Astrophysics.Ne abbiamo parlato con uno dei ricercatori coinvolti: Crescenzo Tortora, dell'Inaf di Napoli

Extended halo of metal-poor stars in Andromeda, Dwarf galaxies, Star migration, Surface brightness fluctuations and understanding dark matter by studying satellite galaxies. Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta is a Professor and Department Chair of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of California Santa Cruz. His research focuses on galaxies: their dark matter content, cannibalism history, and chemical enrichment as revealed by spectroscopy of their resolved stellar populations. He uses the Hubble Space Telescope and Keck telescope for his research. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/scientificsense/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/scientificsense/support

Gravitational Waves, Black hole mergers, Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and upcoming space based LISA project. Prof Daniel Holz is a professor of Physics, Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, the Enrico Fermi Institute, and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. His research focuses on general relativity in the context of astrophysics and cosmology. He is a member of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration, and was part of the team that announced the first detection of gravitational waves in early 2016 and the first multi-messenger detection of a binary neutron star in 2017. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/scientificsense/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/scientificsense/support

A special Good Heavens!/Apologetics Profile presentation of Dr. Sarah Salviander's chapter on God and black holes from The Story of the Cosmos - How the Heavens Declare the Glory of God.   TheStoryoftheCosmos.com What is a black hole? Where are they? How were they discovered? How does the majesty, mystery, and enigma of black holes point to the glory of God? Come along on this special episode and find out!  Dr. Sarah Salviander received her PhD in astrophysics from the University of Texas at Austin. She was a researcher at UT for sixteen years, where she specialized in the study of quasars, supermassive black holes, and galaxies. She is the author of several peer-reviewed journal papers and a comprehensive Astronomy & Astrophysics homeschool curriculum. She is currently writing books about the remarkable confluence between Christianity and modern science.  Author Website: https://sarahsalviander.com.    You can follow Sarah on Twitter at @SarahSalviander.   Sarah presented her talk at LifePoint Church in League City, Texas (South Houston) on October 21st, 2020, as part of their Wednesday Night “Unfiltered. Conversations that Matter” apologetics ministry. Thanks to Trevor Shakiba and Pastor Josh Sharpe for coordinating the event and for the assistance in the production of the video. You can visit the church’s website at https://golifepointchurch.org.   LifePoint provided the audio and video. Daniel Ray of Watchman Fellowship edited and produced the final video.   For more information on the ministry of Watchman Fellowship, visit our website at https://Watchman.org You can also see the video of this presentation here.https://youtu.be/xi0CwpY5ICg   This prodcast is provided through Good Heavens on Podbean.com.  To support this program go to https://goodheavens.podbean.com/  (or the Podbean App) and look for the Become a patron link in the upper right.  

This is just a Introduction about who i am and what i am going to post in my podcast --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

La puntata 304 è da brividi e potrebbe farvi venire mal di testa! Parliamo di buchi neri “vicinissimi”, emicrania, vernici rinfrescanti e igloo che vi tengono al caldo!In questa puntata Giuliana e Andrea vi parlano della recentissima scoperta di un buco nero, annunciata in un articolo su “Astronomy & Astrophysics”. Si tratta di una scoperta eccezionale, non solo perché si trova a “soli” 1000 anni luce da noi, ma anche perché la sua presenza non è stata rivelata grazie all’emissione di radiazione, come per quasi tutti i buchi neri che conosciamo.In occasione della XII Giornata Nazionale del Mal di Testa, Ilaria intervista la dottoressa Maria Gabriella Poeta, dirigente medico presso il dipartimento di Neurofisiopatologia dell’Ospedale Galliera di Genova. Chi soffre di emicrania sa quanto questo disturbo possa essere invalidante e quanto limiti la vita di tutti i giorni. La dottoressa Poeta ci spiega come l’emicrania possa essere definito un disturbo prevalentemente “di genere” e quali siano i comportamenti che ci possono aiutare a prevenirne un attacco.Infine vi parliamo di una nuova invenzione: vernici rinfrescanti! Tra le fantasiose ipotesi su come queste vernici possano svoltare le nostre vite, ci vengono in mente gli igloo e sfatiamo il paradosso su come una costruzione di ghiaccio possa effettivamente creare un ambiente molto più caldo rispetto all’esterno.Per questa puntata è tutto… alla prossima!

Andrew features a very special guest that has practically become part of The Void Show family. How did we come to know what we know? Especially in the areas of Astronomy & Astrophysics.

What happens when stars brawl? What do they leave behind? When stars are dying they take down everything and everything around them from asteroids to other stars. What is the YORP effect? How do some tiny solar particles destroy an asteroid? Spiraling out of control, asteroids get YORP-ed at the end of a star's life. When a star gets to the end of it's life, it may swell in size, taking out asteroids and nearby stars. H. Olofsson, T. Khouri, M. Maercker, P. Bergman, L. Doan, D. Tafoya, W. H. T. Vlemmings, E. M. L. Humphreys, M. Lindqvist, L. Nyman, S. Ramstedt. HD 101584: circumstellar characteristics and evolutionary status. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2019; 623: A153 DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201834897 Dimitri Veras, Daniel J Scheeres. Post-main-sequence debris from rotation-induced YORP break-up of small bodies – II. Multiple fissions, internal strengths, and binary production. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2020; 492 (2): 2437 DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz3565 M. I. Desai, D. G. Mitchell, J. R. Szalay, E. C. Roelof, J. Giacalone, M. E. Hill, D. J. McComas, E. R. Christian, N. A. Schwadron, R. L. McNutt Jr., M. E. Wiedenbeck, C. Joyce, C. M. S. Cohen, R. W. Ebert, M. A. Dayeh, R. C. Allen, A. J. Davis, S. M. Krimigis, R. A. Leske, W. H. Matthaeus, O. Malandraki, R. A. Mewaldt, A. Labrador, E. C. Stone, S. D. Bale, M. Pulupa, R. J. MacDowall, J. C. Kasper. Properties of Suprathermal-through-energetic He Ions Associated with Stream Interaction Regions Observed over the Parker Solar Probe’s First Two Orbits. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 2020; 246 (2): 56 DOI: 10.3847/1538-4365/ab65ef

Boiling planets being stretched and squished. Tiny white dwarf stars going supernova. Goldilocks planets potentially with liquid water. Exoplanet hunting is now a lot easier with missions like TESS and veterans like Hubble. We look at some special cases, and how searching for 1 planet can uncover loads more. Sometimes planets are lurking in old observatory data, we just need to know where to look. Too hot, too cold, GJ357 potentially has a planet that's just right with liquid water. What causes a White Dwarf to go supernova? It needs more than itself to kickstart it into a Type 1a nova...so where does the extra boost come from? Devouring another planet? Or another star?References: L. Kaltenegger, J. Madden, Z. Lin, S. Rugheimer, A. Segura, R. Luque, E. Palle, N. Espinoza. The Habitability of GJ 357 d Possible Climates and Observability. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2019; (accepted) [link] R. Luque, E. Pallé, D. Kossakowski, S. Dreizler, J. Kemmer, N. Espinoza. Planetary system around the nearby M dwarf GJ 357 including a transiting, hot, Earth-sized planet optimal for atmospheric characterization. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2019; DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201935801 David K. Sing, Panayotis Lavvas, Gilda E. Ballester, Alain Lecavelier des Etangs, Mark S. Marley, Nikolay Nikolov, Lotfi Ben-Jaffel, Vincent Bourrier, Lars A. Buchhave, Drake L. Deming, David Ehrenreich, Thomas Mikal-Evans, Tiffany Kataria, Nikole K. Lewis, Mercedes López-Morales, Antonio García Muñoz, Gregory W. Henry, Jorge Sanz-Forcada, Jessica J. Spake, Hannah R. Wakeford. The Hubble Space Telescope PanCET Program: Exospheric Mg ii and Fe ii in the Near-ultraviolet Transmission Spectrum of WASP-121b Using Jitter Decorrelation. The Astronomical Journal, 2019; 158 (2): 91 DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ab2986 P J Vallely, M Fausnaugh, S W Jha, M A Tucker, Y Eweis, B J Shappee, C S Kochanek, K Z Stanek, Ping Chen, Subo Dong, J L Prieto, T Sukhbold, Todd A Thompson, J Brimacombe, M D Stritzinger, T W-S Holoien, D A H Buckley, M Gromadzki, Subhash Bose. ASASSN-18tb: a most unusual Type Ia supernova observed by TESS and SALT. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2019; 487 (2): 2372 DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz1445

There are many things we don't understand from the formation of our solar system. Why did Jupiter end up with weird asymmetrical groupings of asteroids around it? Is there a region of dust free space around the sun? If there is why can't we find it? What caused the beautiful rings of dust millions of kms wide around Venus and Mercury? Where did that dust come from? All these questions and more as we unpack the hidden parts of our solar system.References: Petr Pokorný, Marc Kuchner. Co-orbital Asteroids as the Source of Venus's Zodiacal Dust Ring. The Astrophysical Journal, 2019; 873 (2): L16 DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab0827 S. Pirani, A. Johansen, B. Bitsch, A.J. Mustill, D. Turrini. Consequences of planetary migration on the minor bodies of the early solar system. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2019; DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201833713

Entrevistamos al fotógrafo Nacho Pardo por su trabajo contra la violencia de género, os hablamos de la misión Insight a Marte, las técnicas de reanimación y un Salvador Dalí atómico. TITULAR 1: Localizan al «gemelo perdido» del Sol Un equipo de astrónomos liderado por investigadores del Instituto de Astrofísica y Ciencias del Espacio de Portugal han publicado en “Astronomy & Astrophysics” el hallazgo de una estrella idéntica a la nuestra. Se llama “HD 186302” y está a 184 años luz de la Tierra. Tiene la misma temperatura y luminosidad que el Sol y cuenta con una química casi idéntica, además de tener prácticamente la misma edad, 4.500 millones de años. Los astrónomos del IA se afanan ahora en buscar cualquier señal que revele la presencia de un planeta alrededor, el que sería la «Tierra 2.0». TITULAR 2: El nacimiento de Orion, la nave que podrá viajar hasta Marte. Orion es el vehículo construido por la NASA en colaboración con la Agencia Espacial Europea. Consta de un módulo de servicio que suministra aire, electricidad y propulsión a la nave, y la cabina de la tripulación, un cono truncado con volumen de 20 metros cúbicos y capacidad para seis astronautas. La nave espacial viajará a la órbita de la Luna, desde donde muy pronto se podrán controlar robots para explorar la superficie del satélite y, en un futuro, será capaz de remolcar componentes para construir una estación espacial desde donde se dirigirán misiones a Marte. TITULAR 3: El avión sin hélices ni turbinas que no necesita combustible Un grupo de investigadores del Instituto de Tecnología de Massachusetts ha conseguido volar por primera vez un avión sin partes móviles utilizando la propulsión iónica, que es silenciosa y permite volar aviones sin combustible convencional. La aeronave de cinco metros que pesa dos kilogramos y medio ha volado con éxito en 10 ocasiones en un espacio interior de 60 metros con una altitud promedio de vuelo de medio metro y una velocidad de 4,8 metros por segundo. Este hallazgo abre vías de investigación para el desarrollo de sistemas de propulsión mejorados y el diseño de nuevos aviones. TITULAR 4: Descubren un “luminoso” nuevo ingrediente para la vida Para que un planeta pueda albergar vida tal y como la conocemos, debe reunir requisitos como la presencia de atmósfera, una capa de ozono, agua líquida o una temperatura adecuada para la habitabilidad. Un nuevo estudio publicado por investigadores de la Universidad Nacional de Australia en la revista Monthly Notices de la Royal Astronomical Society, afirma que existe otro ingrediente. Se trata de la luz ultravioleta, que a través de un proceso relacionado con la presión contrarresta la gravedad, disminuyendo la velocidad de formación de estrellas de la galaxia y evitando que estas arrasen cualquier semilla de vida a través de su radiación. TITULAR 5: Elon Musk renombra el cohete BFR de SpaceX, que será usado para ir a Marte El BFR (Big Falcon Rocket, comúnmente apodado Big Fucking Rocket en alusión a sus mastodónticas dimensiones) cambia de nombre. El CEO de la compañía ha revelado en la red social que el BFR pasa a llamar Starship, aunque "técnicamente" estará compuesto de dos partes diferentes, la nave en sí y otra llamada Super Heavy, que "es el propulsor necesario para escapar del pozo de gravedad de la Tierra, ha explicado Musk en un tweet posterior. El nombre completo, por tanto, será Starship Super Heavy. TITULAR 6: Mejora la percepción social de la ciencia, pero aún hay mucho trabajo por hacer Los resultados de la encuesta sobre la Percepción Social de la Ciencia y la Tecnología han sido presentados esta mañana por el ministro de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Pedro Duque, y la directora de FECYT, Paloma Domingo. Los resultados son en cierto modo esperanzadores, pero denotan que aún hay mucho trabajo por hacer en lo que se refiere a concienciación de la población en torno a temas científicos, especialmente con el fin de desmentir mitos tan extendidos y peligrosos como el funcionamiento de algunas pseudoterapias, como la homeopatía.

Astronomy can be quite beautiful at times. From nano-diamonds giving the galaxy a shimmering glow, to stardust leftover from the creation of the solar system hitching a ride on a coment. We also find out about new ways to hunt for exoplanets by erasing stars with filters. Hope A. Ishii, John P. Bradley, Hans A. Bechtel, Donald E. Brownlee, Karen C. Bustillo, James Ciston, Jeffrey N. Cuzzi, Christine Floss, David J. Joswiak. Multiple generations of grain aggregation in different environments preceded solar system body formation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018; 201720167 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1720167115 J. S. Greaves, A. M. M. Scaife, D. T. Frayer, D. A. Green, B. S. Mason, A. M. S. Smith. Anomalous microwave emission from spinning nanodiamonds around stars. Nature Astronomy, 2018; DOI: 10.1038/s41550-018-0495-z H.J. Hoeijmakers, H. Schwarz, I.A.G. Snellen, R.J. de Kok, M. Bonnefoy, G. Chauvin, A.M. Lagrange, J.H. Girard. Medium-resolution integral-field spectroscopy for high-contrast exoplanet imaging: Molecule maps of the beta Pictoris system with SINFONI. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2018; DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201832902 Image Credit: S. Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF

Wendy Freedman spent part of her career measuring the age of the universe. Now she’s working on a project that may very well give scientists a chance to glimpse into its birth.   Freedman, the John & Marion Sullivan University Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics, works in the field of observational cosmology, measuring the expansion rate of the universe. In 2001, she and a team of scientists found that the universe is around 13.7 billion years old—far more precise than the previous estimate in the 10- to 20-billion-year-old range. Freedman was the founding leader from 2003 until 2015 of an international consortium of researchers and universities (including UChicago) to build the world’s largest telescope high in the mountains of Chile. The Giant Magellan Telescope will be as tall as the Statue of Liberty when complete, and ten times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope—with the ability to look back at the dawn of the cosmos. On this episode of Big Brains, Freedman discusses her research on measuring the age of the universe, her leadership of the Giant Magellan Telescope and the search for life outside our solar system.    Subscribe to Big Brains on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and learn more at news.uchicago.edu

Welcome to STEMCasts: Capturing the journeys of successful STEM professionals. In this episode, we have a conversation with Emily Cunningham,  a PhD student, Astronomy & Astrophysics, UC Santa Cruz. Switching roles from Episode 1, Raja interviews Emily about her STEM journey. From solving math problems in her dad's car to a successful researcher at UC Santa Cruz. Highlights from this episode include: How she went about deciding on a career and the different options she had. The essence of research is about doing science. Taking a break from school to spend a year in Paris. The path to becoming the expert. Thanks to our host for this episode: Raja GuhaThakurta, Astronomer & Professor at UC Santa Cruz. If you would like to volunteer for a STEMCast, please contact us. Help motivate & guide the next STEM generation!

Dr Jaymie Matthews is a Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of British Columbia. He's recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, an Officer of the Order of Canada and other teaching awards. What the textbooks don't tell you explores the human stories behind some of the great astronomical discoveries. Learn more about the BC Humanist Association and support our work at https://www.bchumanist.ca

Feature Guest: Quinn Konopacky The 14th annual Expanding Canada’s Frontiers symposium was hosted on January 27th, 2017 by the Astronomy and Space Exploration Society, a student group based at the University of Toronto. This year’s unique theme was “What Ifs: Is the Impossible, Possible?”! In this special three episode series, we’re joined here at The Star Spot by the event’s keynote speakers as we explore three provocative questions at the cutting edge of astronomy. How would things be different if our sun wasn’t an only child? This isn’t a simple exercise in academic speculation for the majority of stars like our sun actually do come with at least one other companion orbiting them. In this third and final segment of our “what if?” series, we’re joined here at The Star Spot by Quinn Konopacky to find out just what would have happened if we gave our sun the sibling it never had, and by implication, what the prospects are for life among the majority of sun-like stars in our galaxy. Current in Space The Star Spot is expressing its appreciation to Anuj Rastogi for his invaluable contributions to our show. After producing news for the last three years, Anuj is leaving our team to pursue other opportunities. In his final broadcast he offers us three important news updates. Are fast radio bursts signs of alien intelligence in far off galaxies? What are the implications of electric sand on Titan? And has Mars enjoyed a longer period of volcanic activity than even our own Earth? Finally in other news, Dave announces the first detection of an atmosphere around a lower mass extrasolar planet.   About Our Guest Dr. Quinn Konopacky is Assistant Professor at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. She received her PhD from UCLA and performed postdoctoral research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics. Her work focuses on the formation and evolution of stars and planetary systems.

Ever wondered whether dark matter is really dark or how galaxy clusters are formed in a rapidly expanding universe wherby galaxies seem to be racing away from each other. Listen to Prof Ken Freeman from the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU, on fuzzy along with the weekly doze of other stories rocking the world of science.   Eamon and Pallavi present...