News – Page 68 – Astronomy Now

Molecules ripped apart in giant close-orbiting exoplanet

17 August 2018 Astronomy Now

Computer simulations and spectroscopic analysis show molecular bonds in the atmosphere of a Jupiter-class exoplanet orbiting so close to its star that temperatures reach some 4,000 degrees Celsius (7,200 F) are ripped asunder.

Hundreds of galaxies hidden in quasar’s 46-billion-sun glare

17 August 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers discover a huge cluster of galaxies ‘hidden in plain sight’ in the glare of a quasar and its voracious central black hole, raising the possibility the universe contains more mass than previously suspected

Excavation begins for Giant Magellan Telescope observatory

14 August 2018 Astronomy Now

Construction crews have begun excavating an estimated 5,000 cubic metres (13,300 tons) of rock – 330 dump truck loads – atop a mountain in the Atacama Desert in Chile to make way for the foundation supporting the Giant Magellan Telescope.

Protons may play outsized role in neutron star behaviour

13 August 2018 Astronomy Now

Protons make up only about 5 percent of the particles making up a ultra-compact neutron star, but a new analysis indicates they may play an outsize role in how the dense stars cool and even how they merge in cataclysmic collisions.

Parker Solar Probe launched on historic mission to ‘touch the sun’

12 August 2018 Astronomy Now

Opening a new era, NASA’s $1.5 billion Parker Solar Probe is on its way to a close encounter with the sun, repeatedly flying through the star’s outer atmosphere to find out what heats up the corona and accelerates the solar wind

No place like home in crowded core of Omega Centauri

12 August 2018 Astronomy Now

An analysis of the crowded core of one of the most star-packed globular clusters in the Milky Way – Omega Centauri – indicates frequent gravitational interactions would prevent stable solar systems from forming and along with them, life.

Dwarf galaxy mergers provide fuel for star building in larger galaxies

12 August 2018 Astronomy Now

A new computer simulation sheds light on how the merger of dwarf galaxies results in widely dispersed gas that can be swept up by larger galaxies to provide fuel reserves for star formation.

$2 million earmarked to repair hurricane-damaged radio telescope

8 August 2018 Astronomy Now

Hurricane damage to the St. Croix dish in the continent-spanning Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope network will be repaired with $2 million in disaster-relief funding.

Most distant radio galaxy, host to a voracious black hole, is found

7 August 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have detected the most distant known radio galaxy, a surprising discovery given the supermassive black hole powering the galaxy was actively accreting gas and dust when the Universe was in its infancy.

Brown dwarf or massive exoplanet detected with powerful magnetic field

4 August 2018 Astronomy Now

The Very Large Array radio telescope has made the first detection of a planetary-mass body with a magnetic field 200 times more powerful than Jupiter’s. But it’s not yet clear whether it’s a brown dwarf or a massive exoplanet.