With the rapid expansion of commercial space, there is a growing number of satellites in orbit around our planet. Most of these are in low-Earth orbit, which is becoming increasingly crowded. This has led some to be concerned about a catastrophic rise of space debris, as well as a growing frustration by astronomers due to the number of satellite sky trails.
In the past three decades, the field of extrasolar planet studies has advanced by leaps and bounds. To date, 4,903 extrasolar planets have been confirmed in 3,677 planetary systems, with another 8,414 candidates awaiting confirmation. The diverse nature of these planets, ranging from Super-Jupiters and Super-Earths to Mini-Neptunes and Water Worlds, has raised many questions about the nature of planet formation and evolution. A rather important question is the role and commonality of natural satellites, aka. “exomoons.”
The Alan Hills meteorite is a part of history to Mars aficionados. It came from Mars and meteorite hunters discovered in Antarctica in 1984. Scientists think it’s one of the oldest chunks of rock to come from Mars and make it to Earth.
When it comes to observing protoplanetary disks, the Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array (ALMA) is probably the champion. ALMA was the first telescope to peer inside the almost inscrutable protoplanetary disks surrounding young stars and watch planets forming. ALMA advanced our understanding of the planet-forming process, though our knowledge of the entire process is still in its infancy.
This week’s apparition of asteroid 1994 PC1 offers observers a chance to see a space rock moving in real time.
The aurorae are also known as the northern and southern lights. They appear in the sky at extreme latitudes, and they are caused by charged particles from the Sun slamming into our atmosphere.
Welcome back to Messier Monday! Today, we continue in our tribute to our dear friend, Tammy Plotner, by looking at the barred spiral galaxy known as Messier 95!
Ah, black holes. Basically the worst things in the universe. Nobody likes them. Nobody wants to be them. Nobody even wants to get close to them. If it weren’t for black holes, the cosmos would be a much brighter place.
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a…bolide?
We live on the surface of the Earth, which is a globe. To help us orient ourselves and navigate around, we draw pretend lines on the globe. The lines of latitude run parallel to each other from east to west, and the lines of longitude run from north to south. You can name any position on the Earth in reference to these lines. We also have a few special places, like the equator that runs around the middle of the globe, and the two poles.
An undersea volcano erupted near the Pacific island of Tonga, and several satellites caught the incredible explosion in action. The blast of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano created a plume of ash, steam and gas mushrooming above the Pacific Ocean, with a quickly expanding shockwave visible from orbit. Japan’s Himawari-8 weather satellite recorded this dramatic video:
In 1784 astronomer Edward Pigott discovered something strange about the star Eta Aquilae. It pulsed, getting brighter and dimmer regularly over the course of a few days. A few months later, another astronomer by the name of John Goodricke saw the same thing happen with the star Delta Cephei. By the end of the 1800’s, astronomers knew of a few dozen of these so-called “Cepheid variables”. Some varied over the course of a few days, while others took weeks to change.
The Sun isn’t the only star in this galactic neighbourhood. Other stars also call this neighbourhood home. But what’s the neighbourhood’s history? What triggered the birth of all those stars?
Welcome to another edition of Constellation Friday! Today, in honor of the late and great Tammy Plotner, we take a look at “the Twins” – the Gemini constellation. Enjoy!
“Coma” comes from the Greek word for “hair”, and it’s also the origins of the word comet. When comets appear in the sky, they don’t look like a normal star. Instead, they are surrounded by a glowing halo, and sometimes that halo appears to trail behind them, like long hair in the wind.
In globular clusters you will find a lot of older, redder stars packed closely together. In many ways, they’re the retirement homes for the galaxy.
The study of extrasolar planets has revealed some interesting things in recent decades. Not only have astronomers discovered entirely new types of planets – Super Jupiters, Hot Jupiters, Super-Earths, Mini-Neptunes, etc. – it has also revealed new things about solar system architecture and planetary dynamics. For example, astronomers have seen multiple systems of planets where the orbits of the planets did not conform to our Solar System.
What fills the vast spaces between the stars? Mostly nothing – those expanses would register as a vacuum in a laboratory here on Earth. But it’s not completely, totally, 100% empty. If you look closely, and wait long enough, you’ll see a beehive of activity.
The highly anticipated Europa Clipper mission, set to launch in 2024, will investigate Jupiter’s moon Europa. This icy moon with a subsurface ocean is considered one of the most enticing places in our Solar System where life might exist. To look beneath Europa’s icy crust, the Clipper mission has a host of instruments looking for plumes and ‘hot spots.’
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