Astronomy News https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/t6772 Runboard| Astronomy News en-us Fri, 29 Mar 2024 08:41:34 +0000 Fri, 29 Mar 2024 08:41:34 +0000 https://www.runboard.com/ rssfeeds_managingeditor@runboard.com (Runboard.com RSS feeds managing editor) rssfeeds_webmaster@runboard.com (Runboard.com RSS feeds webmaster) akBBS 60 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p110254,from=rss#post110254https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p110254,from=rss#post110254Nokia is building 4G network in the Moon. No, seriously. Nokia has gotten contract with NASA to provide data network in Moon when Artemis project of US and 7 other countries aims to establish a base in few years.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Mon, 19 Oct 2020 23:45:15 +0000 Re:https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p110163,from=rss#post110163https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p110163,from=rss#post110163Not news, but explanation on how Sun isn't quite the center of solar system nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Tue, 28 Jul 2020 14:55:53 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p109823,from=rss#post109823https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p109823,from=rss#post109823New pictures of asteroid Hygiea have made it a dwarf planet candidate. It would be smallest dwarf planet, being about half the width of Ceres.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Thu, 31 Oct 2019 14:13:22 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p109793,from=rss#post109793https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p109793,from=rss#post109793nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Tue, 08 Oct 2019 22:33:49 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p109408,from=rss#post109408https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p109408,from=rss#post109408VOTE NAME FOR A MINOR PLANET https://2007or10.name/nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Mon, 15 Apr 2019 15:12:01 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p109086,from=rss#post109086https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p109086,from=rss#post109086China sends rover to "dark" side of the Moonnondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Sun, 09 Dec 2018 18:08:01 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p108860,from=rss#post108860https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p108860,from=rss#post108860First exomoon found First moon has been found in another star system and it's a big one: vastly bigger than Earth or any moon in our solar system, closer to gas giant planets Neptune and Uranus. Also like those the moon is gaseous, unlike all previously known rocky moons. It makes sense that a very large moon is the first found, but this does change our perspective on moons and planets (possibly restarting the debate about definitions of planet, dwarf planet, moon etc.)nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Wed, 03 Oct 2018 23:26:16 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p108504,from=rss#post108504https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p108504,from=rss#post108504(see above post) I started to look into this and here's a little personal fact: when my grandfather was born, the Galilean four were still the only known moons of Jupiter. 38 moons (if you count Charon, orbiting dwarf planet) and Pluto were found during his long lifetime - twice as many as were known when he was born. But in my lifetime, over 150 moons have been found, and several dwarf planets.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Thu, 19 Jul 2018 12:17:27 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p108500,from=rss#post108500https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p108500,from=rss#post108500Dozen more moon found for Jupiterquote:Astronomers are still finding moons at Jupiter, 400 years after Galileo used his spyglass to spot the first ones. The latest discovery of a dozen small moons brings the total to 79, the most of any planet in our solar system.quote:Galileo detected Jupiter's four largest moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto in 1610. The latest count of 79 known planets includes eight that have not been seen for several years. Saturn is next with 61, followed by Uranus with 27 and Neptune with 14. Mars has two, Earth has one and Mercury and Venus have none.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Tue, 17 Jul 2018 22:49:16 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p107985,from=rss#post107985https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p107985,from=rss#post107985A Star Grazed Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago, and Early Humans Likely Saw It Scholz's star is one of (tens of) nearest stars from us, but it was found only recently because it is very dim and for another more interesting reason: it has passed our solar system very close and therefore is now moving straight away from us. That makes it harder to observe than objects that move "sideways". It is a binary system where the actual red dwarf star has a brown dwarf companion.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Thu, 22 Mar 2018 19:03:30 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p107499,from=rss#post107499https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p107499,from=rss#post107499Voyager still works NASA turns to Voyager’s dormant thrusters for first time in 37 years – and they work!nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Sat, 02 Dec 2017 17:39:03 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p107473,from=rss#post107473https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p107473,from=rss#post107473Say hello to 1I/'Oumuamua First Visitor From Outside Our Solar System Has a Name and an Origin (Very vague origin though, more of a direction it came from.)nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Fri, 10 Nov 2017 16:00:50 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p107289,from=rss#post107289https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p107289,from=rss#post107289Now they've found smallest star yet, one actually smaller than planet Jupiter (in size, I don't know of mass). This is considered to be about as small as a star can be, otherwise it wouldn't burn and was just a lightless brown dwarf.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Thu, 13 Jul 2017 14:02:41 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p107099,from=rss#post107099https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p107099,from=rss#post107099New record-breaking brown dwarf is 'purest' and most massivenondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Sat, 25 Mar 2017 00:03:12 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106801,from=rss#post106801https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106801,from=rss#post106801It's coming right for us! (that's a South Park reference) A whole other star is on a crash course with our solar system quote:We spend a lot of time worried about asteroids that might one day impact our planet. But what if a whole star threatened to collide with us? Well, in around 1.35 million years, that's close to what might happen. Scientists have been plotting the course of a rogue star, Gliese 710, which currently sits in the constellation of Serpens some 64 light years from Earth. Turns out, it's headed straight for us, reports Forbes. The star isn't scheduled to collide directly with Earth, but it will be passing through our solar system's Oort Cloud, a shell of countless comets and other bodies in the outer reaches of the Sun's gravitational influence. You might think that's a safe distance, but the star is likely to slingshot comets all over the solar system, and one of those could very well have our name on it. “Gliese 710 will trigger an observable cometary shower with a mean density of approximately ten comets per year, lasting for three to 4 million years,” wrote the study's co-authors. Gliese 710 is only half the size of our sun, but if there are still people around in 1.35 million years to observe the event, the star will appear as the brightest and fastest object in the night sky. It's bizarre to imagine that our solar system will house a whole other star, even if it is only supposed to pass through the Oort Cloud. Gliese 710 won't be sticking around; eventually it will curb around the sun and be on its way, but not before wreaking some havoc. Scientists calculated that Gliese 710 is the star that's expected to come closest to us within the next 10 million years (which is as far ahead as scientists could project), but it's not the only close encounter. As many as 14 other stars could come within 3 light-years distance in the next few million years, and there are numerous fainter, red dwarf stars with unknown trajectories that could be headed our way too. So perhaps we should be grateful that we live in the relatively isolated solar system that we do today.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Thu, 29 Dec 2016 17:02:36 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106493,from=rss#post106493https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106493,from=rss#post106493Europe's Rosetta Probe Finds Lost Philae Lander on Cometnondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Mon, 05 Sep 2016 18:15:43 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106398,from=rss#post106398https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106398,from=rss#post106398Io's atmosphere freezes to solid every time it's in Jupiter's shadow (which is 2 hours every 1.7 days)nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Wed, 03 Aug 2016 19:44:27 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106340,from=rss#post106340https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106340,from=rss#post106340I'm not sure what's the real status of 2015 RR245, which now appears in news as "new found/confirmed dwarf planet". It may be that it has been observed better than several larger objects that have for years been candidates for new dwarf planets. But as far as I know, this is just another icy rock to a long list of potential dwarf planets.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Tue, 12 Jul 2016 03:21:20 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106277,from=rss#post106277https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106277,from=rss#post106277Aurora spotted on Jupiter Ultraviolet in reality, but pretty nonetheless.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Fri, 01 Jul 2016 01:13:09 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106057,from=rss#post106057https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106057,from=rss#post106057New theory suspects Sun may have eaten a planetnondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Wed, 20 Apr 2016 21:52:50 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106055,from=rss#post106055https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p106055,from=rss#post106055Every now and then it slaps me in the face how little I know about even somewhat basic astronomical concepts. Recently found Crater 2 has now awakened me to the matter of satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. That's something you don't hear often, that we have dozens of small galaxies orbiting Milky Way. (Not all certainly orbiting, some may just be passing by, but nevertheless).nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Tue, 19 Apr 2016 16:23:17 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p105762,from=rss#post105762https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p105762,from=rss#post105762You may have heard of the "9th planet". If the gravity math works as well as they say, I'm ready to believe it's out there. I'll try to explain what we're dealing with. There's certain logic - due Newtonian math/science I don't pretend to fully know - that each planet is typically about 1,5-1,8 times as far from Sun as the previous. By this logic we see that there should be a planet between Mars and Jupiter, we're is the asteroid belt. Consider Mercury as being on Track 1. Venus, Earth, Mars Tracks 2-4. The asteroid belt (or alternatively just dwarf planet Ceres) on Track 5. Tracks 6-9: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Track 10 is crowded: Pluto and fellow dwarf planets Haumea and Makemake are all three in the approximate distance where the next planetary object should be. The last dwarf planet Eris is on Track 11. (There are around dozen "dwarf planet candidates", objects that could be considered dwarf planets and are nearly as big as recognized ones, that are practically also on Tracks 10 and 11.) This new "Planet 9" isn't on Track 12. Or 13. No, it's so far that by this logic it would be on Track 16. Which also means there are 4 "Tracks" between Eris and P9; 4 areas where there's likely lots of material including one or more dwarf planets or even a small planet. So if/when Planet 9 is proven real, it greatly increases probability of having several more dwarf planets (or even a planet or two) not yet found. I should point out the "Track" theory becomes increasingly more inaccurate to further you go from Sun, as orbits of objects get more eccentric. So the logic is already very arguable at Tracks 10-11 and there's very little information about objects beyond that. Being so far, even though it's assumed larger than Earth, P9 is hard to actually see. Pluto is 200 times brighter than it's potential replacement as ninth planet.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Thu, 21 Jan 2016 18:20:35 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p105642,from=rss#post105642https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p105642,from=rss#post105642We Finally Have the Full Story on Ceres' Mysterious Bright Spots quote:Now, in the most detailed surface analysis to date, a study led by Andreas Nathues of the Max Planck Institute in Germany argues that the mystery spots are actually a little bit of both—mostly salt, some water ice. The combination of these two ingredients probably comes from a briny ice sheet located somewhere beneath Ceres’ surface, one that gets excavated during impacts. We also have much stronger evidence for afternoon haze over at least two of the bright spots—a phenomenon that’s been witnessed over comets, but never over a rocky, asteroid-like body.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Thu, 10 Dec 2015 16:40:20 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p105630,from=rss#post105630https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p105630,from=rss#post105630really old galaxy Looking further than ever - to the past.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Fri, 04 Dec 2015 20:45:53 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p105233,from=rss#post105233https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p105233,from=rss#post105233Here we have it Some of Pluto's surface, a good picture of the big moon Charon and - unfortunately - still the best picture yet we have of Hydra, one of the small moons.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Thu, 16 Jul 2015 14:43:05 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p105212,from=rss#post105212https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p105212,from=rss#post105212In 10 days New Horizons flies by Pluto and we're getting better and better pictures. So far we've seen that the little brown ex-planet has mysterious dark spots and the big moon Charon a darker area at north pole. Also it's been confirmed Pluto has no more than the known five moons (unless very small and distant).nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Sat, 04 Jul 2015 22:06:32 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p105075,from=rss#post105075https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p105075,from=rss#post105075Best picture yet still doesn't solve the mystery of Ceres bright spots.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Sat, 23 May 2015 15:05:12 +0000 Re:https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p104630,from=rss#post104630https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p104630,from=rss#post104630Sorry K, what I know about astronomy is dangerous ... I can barely make out the Southern Cross unless someone points it out to me. Duh!nondisclosed_email@example.com (Petal Alderin)Sat, 28 Feb 2015 10:17:15 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p104628,from=rss#post104628https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p104628,from=rss#post104628Currently biggest astronomical mystery: what is the bright spot on Ceres? Bright lights on dwarf planet perplex NASA as probe nears Probably just ice, but that still leaves questions. Ice volcano? But being in middle of large crater suggests other options too. nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Fri, 27 Feb 2015 16:21:14 +0000 Re: Astronomy Newshttps://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p104600,from=rss#post104600https://banythinggoes3.runboard.com/p104600,from=rss#post104600Close call: star whizzed past solar system at distance of a light year This is something I hadn't really understood about stars before: how fast they move. Only 70 000 years a star - in fact a twin star, if you count brown dwarfs as stars - passed what is generally defined as our solar system. Coming as close as 0.8 light years, it was within the Oort Cloud, the outer part of solar system. Now that same star is 20 light years away from us. Currently closest star, Alpha Centauri is 4.3 LY away. So out there are all these star system, going here and there and it wouldn't take millions of years for couple to hit each other... (takes thousands of years, though)nondisclosed_email@example.com (Kaunisto)Wed, 18 Feb 2015 23:26:27 +0000