News – Page 63 – Astronomy Now

Ariane 5 launches two satellites on 7-year voyage to Mercury

21 October 2018 William Harwood

A powerful European Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana late Friday and boosted a pair of satellites into space for a seven-year plunge into the inner solar system, a voyage requiring seven planetary flybys to slow down enough in the sun’s gravitational clutches to slip into orbit around hellish Mercury.

Red dwarf superflares pose threats to exoplanet atmospheres

19 October 2018 Astronomy Now

New observations indicate young red dwarf stars are much more likely to experience extremely powerful flares, possibly affecting exoplanet habitability.

Gamma ray burst sheds light on gravity wave event

18 October 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers studying the aftermath of a gamma ray burst say it may represent a new class of events that generate powerful, short-lived jets of energetic particles.

Infant galactic supercluster found in early universe

18 October 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found a proto-supercluster of galaxies in the very early universe, the most massive structure yet found in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang.

How did a very young star end up with four gas giants?

15 October 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have discovered evidence of three more gas giant worlds orbiting a star already known to host a ‘hot Jupiter’ in an extremely close orbit. The observations raise new questions about how solar systems form.

Final NASA workshop considers Mars 2020 landing sites

15 October 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA is staging a fourth and final workshop to debate four proposed landing sites for the agency’s Mars 2020 rover. A decision on where to target the rover is expected by the end of the year.

Chandra X-ray Observatory to resume observations after gyro swap

15 October 2018 William Harwood

The Chandra X-ray Observatory should be out of ‘safe mode’ and back in operation soon after engineers traced a recent problem to one of the telescopes gyroscopes. A backup has been activated that should resolve the matter.

Opaque voids in early universe tied to galaxy scarcity

14 October 2018 Astronomy Now

New research indicates vast voids in the extremely early universe did not contain large amounts of gas, blocking light from background galaxies. They actually contain little mass, with fewer nearby galaxies than expected.

Chandra X-ray Observatory joins Hubble in protective safe mode

12 October 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory entered protective safe mode 10 October, the second of NASA’s “Great Observatories” to be sidelined in one week by a technical issue. Engineers are studying telemetry to pinpoint the problem.

Astronomers see birth of rare binary neutron star

12 October 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found an “ultra-stripped supernova” that created a second neutron star in a tight binary system, matching theoretical predictions for how such binaries are formed in otherwise disruptive blasts.