Every 50,000 years or so, a nomadic star passes near our solar system. Most brush by without incident. But, every once in a while, one comes so close that it gains a prominent place in Earth’s night sky, as well as knocks distant comets loose from their orbits.
The most famous of these stellar interlopers is called Scholz’s Star. This small binary star system was discovered in 2013. Its orbital path indicated that, about 70,000 years ago, it passed through the Oort Cloud, the extended sphere of icy bodies that surrounds the fringes of our solar system. Some astronomers even think Scholz’s Star could have sent some of these objects tumbling into the inner solar system when it passed.
And here's another article:
Jupiter is so Big that our Solar System almost had two Suns - Universe Today
About half of all the star systems in the galaxy are made of pairs or triplets of stars. Our solar system features just one star, the Sun, and a host of (relatively) small planets. But it was almost not the case, and Jupiter got right on the edge of becoming the Sun’s smaller sibling.
Jupiter, the biggest planet in the solar system, is by far the largest. If you added up the masses of all the other planets, it wouldn’t even come to half of the mass of Jupiter. You could eliminate every single planet in the solar system except Jupiter, and you would basically still have…the solar system.
To safely explore the solar system and beyond, spaceships need to go faster—nuclear-powered
An update of 50-year-old regulations has kickstarted research into the next generation of rockets, which could be the key to faster, safer exploration of space. Professor Iain Boyd shares on The Conversation.
* * *
The Conversation is an independent, nonprofit publisher of commentary and analysis, authored by academics and edited by journalists for the general public. On a mission "to promote truthful information and strengthen journalism by unlocking the rich diversity of academic research for audiences across America," they publish short articles by academics on timely topics related to their research. CU Boulder provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.
Random Poll of the Day: Best Non-Earth Planet (Solar System Edition) - Lone Star Ball
We have no baseball, and so, in the interim, while I'll be finding some baseball things to write about, the baseball stuff will be fairly scant.
* * *
Five weeks ago, Monday we asked , of the Texas Rangers second round draft picks who have made the majors, who is your favorite? Tuesday we asked , what is your favorite numeral? Wednesday we asked , what is your favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie? Thursday we asked , what is your favorite Quentin Tarantino movie? Friday we asked, what is your favorite musician or musical act with an animal name?
While you're here, how about this:
The sun is experiencing a less active phase called 'solar minimum,' but it won't cause an ice age
Astronomers Have Just Detected a New Kind of Asteroid
Comets have long, looping orbits and are loaded up with volatile ices that sublimate, generating a dusty, misty halo and tail when the comet comes close to the Sun. Asteroids, on the other hand, are generally considered rocky, dry and inert, with orbits in the Solar System similar to those of the planets.
Every now and again, though, we come across something that challenges these definitions. And a newly discovered asteroid called 2019 LD2 is truly special - an asteroid of a kind we've never seen before.
Florida man takes FPL to court, alleging the utility acts like a net metering regulator –
PG&E in California also has a 115% generation limit going to the grid tied system. However, off grid battery systems, that could also power your home and charge an Electric Car have no limits. Now Tesla is designing into the model 3 a two way battery charge and power systems so the car battery could be used as part of solar storage system for $50.00 more than a charge only battery pack. With utilities getting more restrictive and battery systems getting cheaper.
Scientists using Very Large Telescope for the first time observe a new planet being formed - ABC
Astronomers have gazed into what appears to be a planetary maternity ward — within a huge disk of dense gas and dust surrounding a newly formed star — a planet in the process of being born.
The large young planet is believed to be forming around a star called AB Aurigae, which is about 2.4 times the mass of the sun and located in our Milky Way galaxy, 520 light-years from Earth.
They detected a "twist" pattern of gas and dust in the spiral structure marking where the planet was coalescing, said Observatoire de Paris astronomer Anthony Boccaletti, who led the research published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
No comments:
Post a Comment