This artist’s impression shows a rocky exoplanet with a wispy, cloudy atmosphere orbiting a red dwarf star. Astronomers have identified a new method that could allow Webb to detect an exoplanet’s atmosphere in just a few hours of observing time. Credit: L. Hustak and J. Olmsted (STScI)
When NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launches in 2021, one of its most anticipated contributions to astronomy will be the study of exoplanets —planets orbiting distant stars. Among the most pressing questions in exoplanet science is: Can a small, rocky exoplanet orbiting close to a red dwarf star hold onto an atmosphere?
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Bad Astronomy | Q: How did this black hole get so big? A: Maybe it's really two black holes.
Astronomers have found a black hole in our galaxy that's a lot bigger than we thought this kind could get: It has about 70 times the mass of the Sun, and models of how a black hole like this can form have trouble producing one this beefy.
To be clear, this is what we call a stellar-mass black hole , one with a few or a few dozen times the mass of the Sun. There's a whole 'nuther kind, called supermassive black holes , with millions or billions of times the Sun's mass, but those formed in a very different way . Stellar mass black holes form when a massive star explodes ; the outer layers blast away in a supernova, while the core of the star collapses into a black hole .
Astronomers Propose a Novel Method of Finding Atmospheres on Rocky Worlds – Exoplanet
This artist’s impression shows a rocky exoplanet with a wispy, cloudy atmosphere orbiting a red dwarf star. Astronomers have identified a new method that could allow the James Webb Space Telescope to detect an exoplanet’s atmosphere in just a few hours of observing time.
Credits: L. Hustak and J. Olmsted (STScI)
When NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launches in 2021, one of its most anticipated contributions to astronomy will be the study of exoplanets — planets orbiting distant stars. Among the most pressing questions in exoplanet science is: Can a small, rocky exoplanet orbiting close to a red dwarf star hold onto an atmosphere?
Novel Method Proposed To Find Atmospheres On Rocky Worlds - Astrobiology
When NASA's James Webb Space Telescope launches in 2021, one of its most anticipated contributions to astronomy will be the study of exoplanets -- planets orbiting distant stars.
Among the most pressing questions in exoplanet science is: Can a small, rocky exoplanet orbiting close to a red dwarf star hold onto an atmosphere?
In a series of four papers in the Astrophysical Journal, a team of astronomers proposes a new method of using Webb to determine whether a rocky exoplanet has an atmosphere. The technique, which involves measuring the planet's temperature as it passes behind its star and then comes back into view, is significantly faster than more traditional methods of atmospheric detection like transmission spectroscopy.
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Fireball Spotted Over Australian Desert May Have Been Super-Rare 'Minimoon'
Fireballs explode in Earth's atmosphere all the time , usually unremarkably. And a fireball that exploded over the Australian desert in 2016 might have been mistaken for any other bolide, if not for a network of cameras monitoring the sky to search for just such events.
It was thanks to images taken by these cameras - called the Desert Fireball Network - that astronomers were able to ascertain the fireball was no ordinary exploding space rock.
Instead, velocity data revealed the rock had probably been in orbit around Earth before meeting its fiery end; a phenomenon known as a temporarily captured orbiter, or, colloquially, a minimoon.
Event Pick: Pop-Culture Peers Orbit for Satellite of Lou Tribute - LA Weekly
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice; Thu., Dec. 5, 8 p.m.; $10. (310) 822-3006, beyondbaroque.org .
SpaceX Launches 60 more Starlink Satellites to Orbit | Discover Magazine
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, claims the satellites will be barely visible when they're in their final orbits. But many astronomers still worry the satellites could produce harmful light pollution that affects science observations.
The booster, which is designed to be reused up to 10 times, was caught Monday by SpaceX's drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You , in the Atlantic Ocean. It touched down in the middle of the landing pad without missing a beat. SpaceX planned to catch the nose cone with drone ships as well, but due to rough sea conditions the company decided to retrieve the nose cone with two drone ships after it splashed down into the ocean.
NASA spacecraft finds crash site of Indian lunar lander - The Verge
A NASA spacecraft in orbit around the Moon spotted the crash site of India's ill-fated lunar lander , Vikram, which slammed into the Moon's surface during a landing attempt in September. Images taken by the spacecraft confirm that the lander met an explosive end, revealing the lander's impact site and the surrounding debris created by the accident.
Part of India's Chandrayaan-2 mission to the Moon , Vikram was supposed to be the first Indian spacecraft to touch down gently on the lunar surface. India had put a vehicle on the Moon before, but that spacecraft purposefully slammed into the ground, kicking up lunar dirt and allowing researchers to learn more about the kinds of materials lurking on the Moon. With Vikram, India hoped to put a spacecraft intact on the Moon, to study the lunar environment in more detail.
Happening on Twitter
Can hot, rocky worlds hold onto an atmosphere? ☀️🌘 New research suggests #NASAWebb could detect the presence of an… https://t.co/Bkrl6OVuXK NASAWebb (from Greenbelt, Maryland) Mon Dec 02 15:53:01 +0000 2019
Thanks to new scientific research, @NASAWebb could detect the atmospheres of rocky exoplanets in a matter of hours… https://t.co/jRSwkDigIR NASA_Marshall (from Huntsville, Alabama USA) Mon Dec 02 21:45:01 +0000 2019
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