Category Archives: Science

Science

Astronomers discover a multiplanet system nearby

Leave a comment

MIT astronomers have discovered a new multiplanet system that lies just 10 parsecs, or about 33 light-years, from Earth, making it one of the closest known multiplanet systems to our own. The star at the heart of the system likely hosts at least two terrestrial, Earth-sized planets. Credit: MIT News, with TESS Satellite figure courtesy of NASA

Astronomers at MIT and elsewhere have discovered a new multiplanet system within our galactic neighborhood that lies just 10 parsecs, or about 33 light-years, from Earth, making it one of the closest known multiplanet systems to our own.

At the heart of the system lies a small and cool M-dwarf star, named HD 260655, and astronomers have found that it hosts at least two terrestrial, Earth-sized planets. The rocky worlds are likely not habitable, as their orbits are relatively tight, exposing the planets to temperatures that are too high to sustain liquid surface water.

Nevertheless, scientists are excited about this system because the proximity and brightness of its star will give them a closer look at the properties of the planets and signs of any atmosphere they might hold.

“Both planets in this system are each considered among the best targets for atmospheric study because of the brightness of their star,” says Michelle Kunimoto, a postdoc in MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and one of the discovery’s lead scientists. “Is there a volatile-rich atmosphere around these planets? And are there signs of water or carbon-based species? These planets are fantastic test beds for those explorations.”

The team will present its discovery today (June 15) at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, California. Team members at MIT include Katharine Hesse, George Ricker, Sara Seager, Avi Shporer, Roland Vanderspek, and Joel Villaseñor, along with collaborators from institutions around the world.

Data power

The new planetary system was initially identified by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an MIT-led mission that is designed to observe the nearest and brightest stars, and detect periodic dips in light that could signal a passing planet.

In October 2021, Kunimoto, a member of MIT’s TESS science team, was monitoring the satellite’s incoming data when she noticed a pair of periodic dips in starlight, or transits, from the star HD 260655.

She ran the detections through the mission’s science inspection pipeline, and the signals were soon classified as two TESS Objects of Interest, or TOIs—objects that are flagged as potential planets. The same signals were also found independently by the Science Processing Operations Center (SPOC), the official TESS planet search pipeline based at NASA Ames. Scientists typically plan to follow up with other telescopes to confirm that the objects are indeed planets.

The process of classifying and subsequently confirming new planets can often take several years. For HD 260655, that process was shortened significantly with the help of archival data.

Soon after Kunimoto identified the two potential planets around HD 260655, Shporer looked to see whether the star was observed previously by other telescopes. As luck would have it, HD 260655 was listed in a survey of stars taken by the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES), an instrument that operates as part of the Keck Observatory in Hawaii. HIRES had been monitoring the star, along with a host of other stars, since 1998, and the researchers were able to access the survey’s publicly available data.

HD 260655 was also listed as part of another independent survey by CARMENES, an instrument that operates as part of the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain. As these data were private, the team reached out to members of both HIRES and CARMENES with the goal of combining their data power.

“These negotiations are sometimes quite delicate,” Shporer notes. “Luckily, the teams agreed to work together. This human interaction is almost as important in getting the data [as the actual observations].”

Planetary pull

In the end, this collaborative effort quickly confirmed the presence of two planets around HD 260655 in about six months.

To confirm that the signals from TESS were indeed from two orbiting planets, the researchers looked through both HIRES and CARMENES data of the star. Both surveys measure a star’s gravitational wobble, also known as its radial velocity.

“Every planet orbiting a star is going to have a little gravitational pull on its star,” Kunimoto explains. “What we’re looking for is any slight movement of that star that could indicate a planetary-mass object is tugging on it.”

From both sets of archival data, the researchers found statistically significant signs that the signals detected by TESS were indeed two orbiting planets.

“Then we knew we had something very exciting,” Shporer says.

The team then looked more closely at TESS data to pin down properties of both planets, including their orbital period and size. They determined that the inner planet, dubbed HD 260655b, orbits the star every 2.8 days and is about 1.2 times as big as the Earth. The second outer planet, HD 260655c, orbits every 5.7 days and is 1.5 times as big as the Earth.

From the radial-velocity data from HIRES and CARMENES, the researchers were able to calculate the planets’ mass, which is directly related to the amplitude by which each planet tugs on its star. They found the inner planet is about twice as massive as the Earth, while the outer planet is about three Earth masses. From their size and mass, the team estimated each planet’s density. The inner, smaller planet is slightly denser than the Earth, while the outer, larger planet is a bit less dense. Both planets, based on their density, are likely terrestrial, or rocky in composition.

The researchers also estimate, based on their short orbits, that the surface of the inner planet is a roasting 710 kelvins (818 degrees Fahrenheit), while the outer planet is around 560 K (548 F).

“We consider that range outside the habitable zone, too hot for liquid water to exist on the surface,” Kunimoto says.

“But there might be more planets in the system,” Shporer adds. “There are many multiplanet systems hosting five or six planets, especially around small stars like this one. Hopefully we will find more, and one might be in the habitable zone. That’s optimistic thinking.”

Two rocky exoplanets discovered around nearby star

Provided by
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.

Citation:
Astronomers discover a multiplanet system nearby (2022, June 15)
retrieved 15 June 2022
from https://phys.org/news/2022-06-astronomers-multiplanet-nearby.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.



Read original article here

Science

Quanta Magazine

Leave a comment

The physicists also created an “odd ball” that always bounces to one side and an “odd wall” that controls where it absorbs energy from an impact.  The objects all stem from the same equation describing an asymmetric relationship between stretching and squashing motions that the researchers identified two years ago.

“These are indeed behaviors you would not expect,” said Auke Ijspeert, a bioroboticist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne. Coulais and Vitelli declined to comment while their latest paper is under peer review.

In addition to guiding the design of more robust robots, the new research may prompt insights into the physics of living systems and inspire the development of novel materials.

Odd Matter

The odd wheel grew out of Coulais and Vitelli’s past work on the physics of “active matter” — an umbrella term for systems whose constituent parts consume energy from the environment, such as swarms of bacteria, flocks of birds and certain artificial materials. The energy supply engenders rich behavior, but it also leads to instabilities that make active matter difficult to control.

Physicists have historically focused on systems that conserve energy, which must obey principles of reciprocity: If there’s a way for such a system to gain energy by moving from A to B, any process that takes the system from B back to A must cost an equal amount of energy. But with a constant influx of energy from within, this constraint no longer applies.

In a 2020 paper in Nature Physics, Vitelli and several collaborators began to investigate active solids with nonreciprocal mechanical properties. They developed a theoretical framework in which nonreciprocity manifested in the relationships between different kinds of stretching and squashing motions. “That to me was just a beautiful mathematical framework,” said Nikta Fakhri, a biophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suppose you squash one side of a solid, causing it to bulge outward in a perpendicular direction. You can also stretch and squash it along an axis rotated by 45 degrees, distorting it into a diamond shape. In an ordinary, passive solid, these two modes are independent; deforming the solid in one direction does not deform it along either diagonal.

In an active solid, the researchers showed that the two modes can instead have a nonreciprocal coupling: Squashing the solid in one direction will also squash it along the axis rotated by 45 degrees, but squashing along this diagonal will stretch it, not squash it, along the original axis. Mathematically, the number describing the coupling between these two modes is positive going one way and negative going the other way. Because of the sign difference, the physicists call the phenomenon “odd elasticity.”

In an odd elastic solid, undoing a deformation isn’t as simple as reversing the stretching and squashing motions that produced it; instead, the cycle of deformations that returns the solid to its starting configuration can leave it with some excess energy. This has striking consequences, such as enabling uphill locomotion of the odd wheel.

if(getCookie('acceptedPolicy')) { // google analytics (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-8526335-13', 'auto'); ga('set', 'forceSSL', true); ga('require', 'displayfeatures'); ga('send','pageview');

// facebook pixel !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function() {n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)} ; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '190747804793608'); fbq('track', 'PageView');

// chartbeat var _sf_async_config = { uid: 65564, domain: 'quantamagazine.org', useCanonical: true };(function() {function loadChartbeat(){ window._sf_endpt = (new Date()).getTime(); var e = document.createElement('script'); e.setAttribute('language', 'javascript'); e.setAttribute('type', 'text/javascript'); e.setAttribute('src','//static.chartbeat.com/js/chartbeat.js'); document.body.appendChild(e); };var oldonload = window.onload;window.onload = (typeof window.onload != 'function') ?loadChartbeat : function(){ oldonload(); loadChartbeat(); };})();

// parsley const head = document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; const parsleyScript = document.createElement("script"); parsleyScript.type = "text/javascript"; parsleyScript.src = "https://cdn.parsely.com/keys/quantamagazine.org/p.js"; parsleyScript.id = "parsley-cfg"; // end parsley

//smartlook window.smartlook||(function(d) { var o=smartlook=function(){ o.api.push(arguments)},h=d.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; var c=d.createElement('script');o.api=new Array();c.async=true;c.type="text/javascript"; c.charset="utf-8";c.src="https://rec.smartlook.com/recorder.js";h.appendChild(c); })(document); smartlook('init', '3bac9c73fbc7f7f1c527d035a117e2b66f7c3e30');

// Google Ads conversions window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date());

gtag('config', 'AW-10788252298');

} else { (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-8526335-13', { storage: 'none' }); ga('set', 'anonymizeIp', true); ga('set', 'forceSSL', true); ga('require', 'displayfeatures'); ga('send','pageview'); } rnnn","settings":{"socialLinks":[{"type":"facebook","label":"Facebook","url":"https://www.facebook.com/QuantaNews","__typename":"SocialMediaLink"},{"type":"twitter","label":"Twitter","url":"https://twitter.com/QuantaMagazine","__typename":"SocialMediaLink"},{"type":"youtube","label":"YouTube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/c/QuantaScienceChannel","__typename":"SocialMediaLink"},{"type":"instagram","label":"Instagram","url":"https://instagram.com/quantamag","__typename":"SocialMediaLink"},{"type":"rss","label":"RSS","url":"https://api.quantamagazine.org/feed/","__typename":"SocialMediaLink"}],"newsletterAction":"https://quantamagazine.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=0d6ddf7dc1a0b7297c8e06618&id=f0cb61321c","newsletterUrl":"http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/home/?u=0d6ddf7dc1a0b7297c8e06618&id=f0cb61321c","sfNotice":"An editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation.","commentsHeader":"

Quanta Magazine moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (New York time) and can only accept comments written in English. 

n","channels":[{"title":"The Joy of Why","slug":"the-joy-of-why","description":"The mathematician and author Steven Strogatz interviews leading researchers about the great scientific and mathematical questions of our time.","featured_image":{"alt":"","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1-520x293.jpg","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1-160x160.jpg","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1-520x520.jpg","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1-1720x968.jpg","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1-768x432.jpg","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1.jpg","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"},"square_image":{"alt":"","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600.jpg","width":600,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600-520x520.jpg","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600-160x160.jpg","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600-520x520.jpg","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600.jpg","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600.jpg","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600.jpg","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"},"subscribe_itunes_link":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-joy-of-why/id1608948873","subscribe_spotify_link":"https://open.spotify.com/show/2FoxHraQSKwxV2HgUfwLMp","subscribe_android_link":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkucXVhbnRhbWFnYXppbmUub3JnL2ZlZWQvdGhlLWpveS1vZi13aHk","subscribe_stitcher_link":"https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-joy-of-why","__typename":"Channel"},{"title":"Quanta Science Podcast","slug":"podcast","description":"In-depth news about mathematics, physics, biology and computer science. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. ","featured_image":{"alt":null,"caption":null,"url":null,"width":null,"height":null,"sizes":{"thumbnail":null,"square_small":null,"square_large":null,"medium":null,"medium_large":null,"large":null,"__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"},"square_image":{"alt":"","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000.jpg","width":3000,"height":3000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000-520x520.jpg","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000-160x160.jpg","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000-520x520.jpg","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000-1720x1720.jpg","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000-768x768.jpg","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000-2880x2880.jpg","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"},"subscribe_itunes_link":"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/quanta-science-podcast/id1021340531?mt=2&ls=1","subscribe_spotify_link":"https://open.spotify.com/show/7oKXOpbHzbICFUcJNbZ5wF?si=jdnj9sTHSD2bj4hDMFLKEA","subscribe_android_link":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucXVhbnRhbWFnYXppbmUub3JnL2ZlZWQvcG9kY2FzdC8","subscribe_stitcher_link":"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/quanta-magazine-2/quanta-magazine-podcast","__typename":"Channel"},{"title":"The Joy of x","slug":"the-joy-of-x","description":"The acclaimed mathematician and author Steven Strogatz interviews some of the world’s leading scientists about their lives and work.","featured_image":{"alt":"","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1-520x293.jpg","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1-160x160.jpg","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1-520x520.jpg","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1-1720x968.jpg","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1-768x432.jpg","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1.jpg","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"},"square_image":{"alt":"","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600.jpg","width":600,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600-520x520.jpg","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600-160x160.jpg","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600-520x520.jpg","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600.jpg","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600.jpg","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600.jpg","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"},"subscribe_itunes_link":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-joy-of-x/id1495067186","subscribe_spotify_link":"https://open.spotify.com/show/5HcCtKPH5gnOjRiMtTdC07?si=lFzCzat9QfuPU3hWuYibxQ","subscribe_android_link":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkucXVhbnRhbWFnYXppbmUub3JnL2ZlZWQvdGhlLWpveS1vZi14Lw","subscribe_stitcher_link":"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-joy-of-x","__typename":"Channel"}],"popularSearches":[{"term":"math","label":"Mathematics","__typename":"PopularSearch"},{"term":"physics","label":"Physics","__typename":"PopularSearch"},{"term":"black holes","label":"Black Holes","__typename":"PopularSearch"},{"term":"evolution","label":"Evolution","__typename":"PopularSearch"}],"searchTopics":[{"type":"Tag","label":"Podcasts","tag":{"name":"podcast","slug":"podcast","term_id":"552","__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"Tag","label":"Columns","tag":{"name":"Quantized Columns","slug":"quantized","term_id":"551","__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"Series","label":"Series","tag":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"Category","label":"Interviews","tag":{"name":"Q&A","slug":"qa","term_id":"567","__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":"Q&A","slug":"qa","term_id":"176","__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"Category","label":"Multimedia","tag":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":"Multimedia","slug":"multimedia","term_id":"43","__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"Category","label":"Puzzles","tag":{"name":"puzzles","slug":"puzzles","term_id":"542","__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":"Puzzles","slug":"puzzles","term_id":"546","__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"Category","label":"Blog Posts","tag":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":"Abstractions blog","slug":"abstractions","term_id":"619","__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"news","label":"News Articles","tag":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"videos","label":"Videos","tag":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"}],"searchSections":[{"name":"Mathematics","slug":"mathematics","term_id":"188","__typename":"Term"},{"name":"Physics","slug":"physics","term_id":"189","__typename":"Term"},{"name":"Biology","slug":"biology","term_id":"191","__typename":"Term"},{"name":"Computer Science","slug":"computer-science","term_id":"190","__typename":"Term"}],"searchAuthors":[{"id":"38171","name":"Adam Becker","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"28087","name":"Adam Mann","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"29794","name":"Alex Kontorovich","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"39302","name":"Alexander Hellemans","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"56","name":"Alla Katsnelson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"29458","name":"Allison Whitten","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"73","name":"Amanda Gefter","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"39164","name":"Ana Kova","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"59","name":"Andreas von Bubnoff","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"8728","name":"Anil Ananthaswamy","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"11648","name":"Ann Finkbeiner","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"42689","name":"Annie Melchor","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"95","name":"Ariel Bleicher","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"15493","name":"Ashley Smart","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"450","name":"Ashley Yeager","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"36490","name":"Ben Brubaker","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"16315","name":"Bill Andrews","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"2752","name":"Bob Henderson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"15492","name":"Brendan Z. Foster","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"68","name":"Brooke Borel","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"62","name":"Carl Zimmer","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"13684","name":"Caroline Lee","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"13691","name":"Caroline Lee","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"50","name":"Carrie Arnold","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"15142","name":"Chanda Prescod-Weinstein","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"8084","name":"Charlie Wood","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"742","name":"Christie Wilcox","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"11543","name":"Claudia Dreifus","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"57","name":"Courtney Humphries","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"7262","name":"Dalmeet Singh Chawla","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"70","name":"Dan Falk","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"19918","name":"Dana Najjar","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"13695","name":"Daniel Garisto","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"32676","name":"Daniel S. Freed","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"13724","name":"David H. Freedman","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"26310","name":"David S. Richeson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"30207","name":"David Tse","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"19266","name":"Devin Powell","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"13251","name":"Diana Kwon","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"17000","name":"Elena Renken","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"17149","name":"Elizabeth Landau","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"5279","name":"Elizabeth Preston","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"58","name":"Elizabeth Svoboda","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"32612","name":"Ellen Horne","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"27534","name":"Emily Buder","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"25173","name":"Emily Levesque","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"64","name":"Emily Singer","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"47","name":"Erica Klarreich","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"14784","name":"Erika K. Carlson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"98","name":"Esther Landhuis","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"5830","name":"Eva Silverstein","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"6793","name":"Evelyn Lamb","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"75","name":"Ferris Jabr","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"52","name":"Frank Wilczek","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"69","name":"Gabriel Popkin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"77","name":"George Musser","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"19092","name":"Grant Sanderson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"20557","name":"Howard Lee","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"66","name":"Ingrid Daubechies","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"85","name":"Ivan Amato","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"37141","name":"Jake Buehler","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"12170","name":"Janna Levin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"32","name":"Jeanette Kazmierczak","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"51","name":"Jennifer Ouellette","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"72","name":"John Pavlus","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"16475","name":"John Preskill","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"91","name":"John Rennie","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"10351","name":"Jonathan Lambert","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"31716","name":"Jonathan O'Callaghan","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"1241","name":"Jordana Cepelewicz","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"8463","name":"Joshua Roebke","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"49","name":"Joshua Sokol","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"16815","name":"jye","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"67","name":"K.C. Cole","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"37462","name":"Karmela Padavic-Callaghan","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"87","name":"Kat McGowan","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"36139","name":"Katarina Zimmer","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"20556","name":"Katherine Harmon Courage","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"90","name":"Katia Moskvitch","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"39551","name":"Katie McCormick","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"27374","name":"Kelsey Houston-Edwards","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"40","name":"Kevin Hartnett","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"38413","name":"Lakshmi Chandrasekaran","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"12570","name":"Laura Poppick","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"38699","name":"Leila Sloman","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"23451","name":"Liam Drew","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"79","name":"Liz Kruesi","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"38","name":"Lucy Reading-Ikkanda","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"60","name":"Maggie McKee","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"2333","name":"Mallory Locklear","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"3569","name":"Marcus Woo","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"414","name":"Mark Kim-Mulgrew","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"20495","name":"Matt Carlstrom","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"17147","name":"Matthew Hutson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"30953","name":"Max G. Levy","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"32437","name":"Max Kozlov","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"38705","name":"mcho","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"40613","name":"Melanie Mitchell","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"7186","name":"Melinda Wenner Moyer","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"14093","name":"Michael Harris","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"34","name":"Michael Kranz","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"23","name":"Michael Moyer","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"74","name":"Michael Nielsen","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"19093","name":"Michele Bannister","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"1472","name":"Moira Chas","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"6476","name":"Monique Brouillette","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"42264","name":"Mordechai Rorvig","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"10","name":"Natalie Wolchover","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"37605","name":"Nick Thieme","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"43298","name":"Nicole Yunger Halpern","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"37428","name":"Nima Arkani-Hamed","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"19962","name":"Nola Taylor Redd","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"24","name":"Olena Shmahalo","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"1816","name":"Patrick Honner","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"84","name":"Peter Byrne","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"55","name":"Philip Ball","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"31","name":"Pradeep Mutalik","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"24011","name":"Puja Changoiwala","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"100","name":"Quanta Magazine","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"2784","name":"R. Douglas Fields","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"26114","name":"Rachel Crowell","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"9412","name":"Raleigh McElvery","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"820","name":"Ramin Skibba","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"1666","name":"Rebecca Boyle","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"20950","name":"Richard Masland","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"48","name":"Robbert Dijkgraaf","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"80","name":"Roberta Kwok","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"15681","name":"Robin George Andrews","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"24577","name":"Rodrigo Pérez Ortega","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"78","name":"Sabine Hossenfelder","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"23845","name":"Samuel Velasco","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"83","name":"Sarah Lewin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"35441","name":"Scott Aaronson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"76","name":"Sean B. Carroll","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"15680","name":"Sean Carroll","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"7239","name":"Shannon Hall","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"44197","name":"Sheon Han","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"65","name":"Siobhan Roberts","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"5944","name":"Sophia Chen","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"61","name":"Steph Yin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"63","name":"Stephanie Bucklin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"26311","name":"Stephanie DeMarco","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"71","name":"Stephen Ornes","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"17148","name":"Steve Nadis","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"13356","name":"Steven Strogatz","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"17150","name":"Susan D'Agostino","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"39768","name":"Tamar Lichter Blanks","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"2960","name":"Tara C. Smith","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"14785","name":"Thomas Lewton","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"3","name":"Thomas Lin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"54","name":"Tim Vernimmen","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"88","name":"Tom Siegfried","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"12964","name":"Vanessa Schipani","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"53","name":"Veronique Greenwood","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"86","name":"Virginia Hughes","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"3244","name":"Viviane Callier","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"89","name":"Wynne Parry","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"15913","name":"XiaoZhi Lim","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"42263","name":"Yasemin Saplakoglu","__typename":"AuthorList"}],"adBehavior":"everywhere","adUrl":"https://www.quantamagazine.org/podcasts/","adAlt":"Get Entangled","adImageHome":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2021/09/2021PodcastAd_Web-Default_260.jpg","adImageArticle":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2021/09/2021PodcastAd_Article_160.jpg","adImageTablet":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2021/09/2021PodcastAd_Tablet_890.jpg","adImageMobile":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2021/09/2021PodcastAd_Web-Default_260.jpg","trackingScripts":"rnrn"},"theme":{"page":{"accent":"#ff8600","text":"#1a1a1a","background":"white"},"header":{"type":"default","gradient":{"color":"white"},"solid":{"primary":"#1a1a1a","secondary":"#999999","hover":"#ff8600"},"transparent":{"primary":"white","secondary":"white","hover":"#ff8600"}}},"redirect":null,"fallbackImage":{"alt":"","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default.gif","width":1200,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default-520x260.gif","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default-160x160.gif","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default-520x520.gif","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default.gif","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default-768x384.gif","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default.gif","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"}},"modals":{"loginModal":false,"signUpModal":false,"forgotPasswordModal":false,"resetPasswordModal":false,"lightboxModal":false,"callback":null,"props":null},"podcast":{"id":null,"playing":false,"duration":0,"currentTime":0},"user":{"loggedIn":false,"savedArticleIDs":[],"userEmail":"","editor":false},"comments":{"open":false},"cookies":{"acceptedCookie":false}},
env: {
APP_URL: 'https://www.quantamagazine.org',
NODE_ENV: 'production',
WP_URL: 'https://api.quantamagazine.org',
HAS_GOOGLE_ID: true,
HAS_FACEBOOK_ID: true,
},
}

Read original article here

Science

The James Webb Space Telescope is finally ready to do science – and it’s seeing the universe more clearly than even its own engineers hoped for

Leave a comment

NASA is scheduled to release the first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope on July 12, 2022. They’ll mark the beginning of the next era in astronomy as Webb – the largest space telescope ever built – begins collecting scientific data that will help answer questions about the earliest moments of the universe and allow astronomers to study exoplanets in greater detail than ever before. But it has taken nearly eight months of travel, setup, testing and calibration to make sure this most valuable of telescopes is ready for prime time. Marcia Rieke, an astronomer at the University of Arizona and the scientist in charge of one of Webb’s four cameras, explains what she and her colleagues have been doing to get this telescope up and running.

1. What’s happened since the telescope launched?

After the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope on Dec. 25, 2021, the team began the long process of moving the telescope into its final orbital position, unfolding the telescope and – as everything cooled – calibrating the cameras and sensors onboard.

The launch went as smoothly as a rocket launch can go. One of the first things my colleagues at NASA noticed was that the telescope had more remaining fuel onboard than predicted to make future adjustments to its orbit. This will allow Webb to operate for much longer than the mission’s initial 10-year goal.

The first task during Webb’s monthlong journey to its final location in orbit was to unfold the telescope. This went along without any hitches, starting with the white-knuckle deployment of the sun shield that helps cool the telescope, followed by the alignment of the mirrors and the turning on of sensors.

Once the sun shield was open, our team began monitoring the temperatures of the four cameras and spectrometers onboard, waiting for them to reach temperatures low enough so that we could start testing each of the 17 different modes in which the instruments can operate.

The NIRCam on Webb was the first instrument to go online and helped align the 18 mirror segments.
NASA Goddard Space Center/Wikimedia Commons

2. What did you test first?

The cameras on Webb cooled just as the engineers predicted, and the first instrument the team turned on was the Near Infrared Camera – or NIRCam. NIRCam is designed to study the faint infrared light produced by the oldest stars or galaxies in the universe. But before it could do that, NIRCam had to help align the 18 individual segments of Webb’s mirror.

Once NIRCam cooled to minus 280 F, it was cold enough to start detecting light reflecting off of Webb’s mirror segments and produce the telescope’s first images. The NIRCam team was ecstatic when the first light image arrived. We were in business!

These images showed that the mirror segments were all pointing at a relatively small area of the sky, and the alignment was much better than the worst-case scenarios we had planned for.

Webb’s Fine Guidance Sensor also went into operation at this time. This sensor helps keep the telescope pointing steadily at a target – much like image stabilization in consumer digital cameras. Using the star HD84800 as a reference point, my colleagues on the NIRCam team helped dial in the alignment of the mirror segments until it was virtually perfect, far better than the minimum required for a successful mission.

3. What sensors came alive next?

As the mirror alignment wrapped up on March 11, the Near Infrared Spectrograph – NIRSpec – and the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph – NIRISS – finished cooling and joined the party.

NIRSpec is designed to measure the strength of different wavelengths of light coming from a target. This information can reveal the composition and temperature of distant stars and galaxies. NIRSpec does this by looking at its target object through a slit that keeps other light out.

NIRSpec has multiple slits that allow it to look at 100 objects at once. Team members began by testing the multiple targets mode, commanding the slits to open and close, and they confirmed that the slits were responding correctly to commands. Future steps will measure exactly where the slits are pointing and check that multiple targets can be observed simultaneously.

NIRISS is a slitless spectrograph that will also break light into its different wavelengths, but it is better at observing all the objects in a field, not just ones on slits. It has several modes, including two that are designed specifically for studying exoplanets particularly close to their parent stars.

So far, the instrument checks and calibrations have been proceeding smoothly, and the results show that both NIRSpec and NIRISS will deliver even better data than engineers predicted before launch.

The MIRI camera, image on the right, allows astronomers to see through dust clouds with incredible sharpness compared with previous telescopes like the the Spitzer Space Telescope, which produced the image on the left.
NASA/JPL-Caltech (left), NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI (right)/Flickr, CC BY

4. What was the last instrument to turn on?

The final instrument to boot up on Webb was the Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI. MIRI is designed to take photos of distant or newly formed galaxies as well as faint, small objects like asteroids. This sensor detects the longest wavelengths of Webb’s instruments and must be kept at minus 449 F – just 11 degrees F above absolute zero. If it were any warmer, the detectors would pick up only the heat from the instrument itself, not the interesting objects out in space. MIRI has its own cooling system, which needed extra time to become fully operational before the instrument could be turned on.

Radio astronomers have found hints that there are galaxies completely hidden by dust and undetectable by telescopes like Hubble that captures wavelengths of light similar to those visible to the human eye. The extremely cold temperatures allow MIRI to be incredibly sensitive to light in the mid-infrared range which can pass through dust more easily. When this sensitivity is combined with Webb’s large mirror, it allows MIRI to penetrate these dust clouds and reveal the stars and structures in such galaxies for the first time.

5. What’s next for Webb?

As of June 15, 2022, all of Webb’s instruments are on and have taken their first images. Additionally, four imaging modes, three time series modes and three spectroscopic modes have been tested and certified, leaving just three to go.

On July 12, NASA plans to release a suite of teaser observations that illustrate Webb’s capabilities. These will show the beauty of Webb imagery and also give astronomers a real taste of the quality of data they will receive.

After July 12, the James Webb Space Telescope will start working full time on its science mission. The detailed schedule for the coming year hasn’t yet been released, but astronomers across the world are eagerly waiting to get the first data back from the most powerful space telescope ever built.

Read original article here

Science

Weird Star Produces the Fastest Nova on Record

Leave a comment

This illustration shows an intermediate polar system, a type of two-star system that the research team thinks V1674 Hercules belongs to. A flow of gas from the large companion star impacts an accretion disk before flowing along magnetic field lines onto the white dwarf. Credit: Illustration by Mark Garlick

Most people are familiar with supernovas, the spectacular stellar explosions that occur at the end of a massive star’s life and often result in a

Now, astronomers are buzzing after observing the fastest nova ever recorded. The unusual event drew scientists’ attention to an even more unusual star. As they study it, they may find answers to not only the nova’s many baffling traits, but to larger questions about the chemistry of our solar system, the death of stars and the evolution of the universe.

The research team, led by Arizona State University Regents Professor Sumner Starrfield, Professor Charles Woodward from the University of Minnesota and Research Scientist Mark Wagner from The Ohio State University, co-authored a report published today (June 14, 2022) in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society.

A nova is a sudden explosion of bright light from a two-star system. Every nova is created by a white dwarf — the very dense leftover core of a star — and a nearby companion star. Over time, the white dwarf draws matter from its companion, which falls onto the white dwarf. The white dwarf heats this material, causing an uncontrolled reaction that releases a burst of energy. The explosion shoots the matter away at high speeds, which we observe as visible light.

The bright nova usually fades over a couple of weeks or longer. On June 12, 2021, the nova V1674 Hercules burst so bright that it was visible to the naked eye — but in just over one day, it was faint once more. It was like someone flicked a flashlight on and off.

Nova events at this level of speed are rare, making this nova a precious study subject.

“It was only about one day, and the previous fastest nova was one we studied back in 1991, V838 Herculis, which declined in about two or three days,” says Starrfield, an astrophysicist in ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration.

As the astronomy world watched V1674 Hercules, other researchers found that its speed wasn’t its only unusual trait. The light and energy it sends out is also pulsing like the sound of a reverberating bell.

Every 501 seconds, there’s a wobble that observers can see in both visible light waves and X-rays. A year after its explosion, the nova is still showing this wobble, and it seems it’s been going on for even longer. Starrfield and his colleagues have continued to study this quirk.

“The most unusual thing is that this oscillation was seen before the outburst, but it was also evident when the nova was some 10 magnitudes brighter,” says Wagner, who is also the head of science at the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory being used to observe the nova. “A mystery that people are trying to wrestle with is what’s driving this periodicity that you would see it over that range of brightness in the system.”

The team also noticed something strange as they monitored the matter ejected by the nova explosion — some kind of wind, which may be dependent on the positions of the white dwarf and its companion star, is shaping the flow of material into space surrounding the system.

Though the fastest nova is (literally) flashy, the reason it’s worth further study is that novae can tell us important information about our solar system and even the universe as a whole.

A white dwarf collects and alters matter, then seasons the surrounding space with new material during a nova explosion. It’s an important part of the cycle of matter in space. The materials ejected by novae will eventually form new stellar systems. Such events helped form our solar system as well, ensuring that Earth is more than a lump of carbon.

“We’re always trying to figure out how the solar system formed, where the chemical elements in the solar system came from,” Starrfield says. “One of the things that we’re going to learn from this nova is, for example, how much lithium was produced by this explosion. We’re fairly sure now that a significant fraction of the lithium that we have on the Earth was produced by these kinds of explosions.”

Sometimes a white dwarf star doesn’t lose all of its collected matter during a nova explosion, so with each cycle, it gains mass. This would eventually make it unstable, and the white dwarf could generate a type 1a supernova, which is one of the brightest events in the universe. Each type 1a supernova reaches the same level of brightness, so they are known as standard candles.

“Standard candles are so bright that we can see them at great distances across the universe. By looking at how the brightness of light changes, we can ask questions about how the universe is accelerating or about the overall three-dimensional structure of the universe,” Woodward says. “This is one of the interesting reasons that we study some of these systems.”

Additionally, novae can tell us more about how stars in binary systems evolve to their death, a process that is not well understood. They also act as living laboratories where scientists can see nuclear physics in action and test theoretical concepts.

The nova took the astronomy world by surprise. It wasn’t on scientists’ radar until an amateur astronomer from Japan, Seidji Ueda, discovered and reported it.

Citizen scientists play an increasingly important role in the field of astronomy, as does modern technology. Even though it is now too faint for other types of telescopes to see, the team is still able to monitor the nova thanks to the Large Binocular Telescope’s wide aperture and its observatory’s other equipment, including its pair of multi-object double spectrographs and exceptional PEPSI high resolution spectrograph.

They plan to investigate the cause of the outburst and the processes that led to it, the reason for its record-breaking decline, the forces behind the observed wind, and the cause of its pulsing brightness.

Reference: 14 June 2022, Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society.
DOI: 10.3847/2515-5172/ac779d



Read original article here

Science

June’s strawberry supermoon will take the sky Tuesday night

Leave a comment

People across the U.S. can catch the strawberry supermoon on Tuesday night, if the weather permits. 

According to NASA, the full moon will be at its closest point to the Earth for this orbit at 7:24 p.m. EDT Tuesday. It will be close enough to be considered a supermoon, making it the second one of 2022.  

It will appear full Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, and it’ll be the lowest full moon of the year, reaching only 23.3 degrees above the horizon Wednesday at 1:56 a.m. EDT, the agency said. 

Full strawberry supermoon is seen on June 14 in Indonesia.

WF Sihardian/NurPhoto via Getty Images


How did strawberry moon gets its name? 

The name has nothing to do with its color. Traditionally, the strawberry moon is the full moon in June, which is typically the last of spring or first of summer. 

According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the name was used by Native American Algonquin tribes that live in northeastern U.S. and Ojibwe, Dakota, and Lakota peoples. It was used to mark the ripening of strawberries ready to be gathered in June. 

How to watch the strawberry supermoon

After sunset, sky gazers are recommended to look southeast to watch the full moon rise above the horizon, the Almanac said. It reached peak illumination earlier, on Tuesday, at 7:52 a.m. EDT, but it won’t be visible in North American time zones until Tuesday evening, as some parts of the world have already seen the supermoon. The Almanac can calculate moonrise and moonset times based on your location here. 

“Full moons are a fun time to observe lunar features, as the rest of the sky will be washed out by the light. With the naked eye, you can see the vast highlands and lowlands of the moon, which can appear to be certain shapes and generate stories about those shapes, depending on the culture you follow,” according to Space.com. 

For those that won’t stay up, a free livestream from the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy is also showing the full moon rise over Rome. 

And if you miss this supermoon, there will be another on July 13. 

Christopher Brito

Christopher Brito is a social media producer and trending writer for CBS News, focusing on sports and stories that involve issues of race and culture.

Read original article here

Science

Fastest nova ever recorded burns out in just one day 

Leave a comment

The fastest nova star explosion ever seen has been recorded by astronomers. 

They watched as a white dwarf star ‘stole’ gas from a nearby red giant and triggered a blast bright enough to be witnessed from Earth with binoculars.

Named V1674 Hercules, the nova explosion occurred 100 light-years away on June 12 last year but lasted for just a day — up to three times quicker than any previously observed.

A nova is a sudden explosion of bright light from a two-star system. Every nova is created by a white dwarf – the very dense leftover core of a star – and a nearby companion star. 

Experts from Arizona State University hope their observation will help answer larger questions about the chemistry of our solar system, the death of stars and the evolution of the universe.

The fastest nova star explosion ever seen has been recorded by astronomers. This illustration shows the type of two-star system that the research team thinks V1674 Hercules belongs to

WHAT IS A WHITE DWARF? 

A white dwarf is the remains of a smaller star that has run out of nuclear fuel.

While large stars – those exceeding ten times the mass of our sun – suffer a spectacularly violent climax as a supernova explosion at the ends of their lives, smaller stars are spared such dramatic fates.

When stars like the sun come to the ends of their lives they exhaust their fuel, expand as red giants and later expel their outer layers into space.

The hot and very dense core of the former star – a white dwarf – is all that remains.

White dwarfs contain approximately the mass of the sun but have roughly the radius of Earth, meaning they are incredibly dense.

The gravity on the surface of a white dwarf is 350,000 times that of gravity on Earth.

They become so dense because their electrons are smashed together, creating what’s caused ‘degenerative matter’.

This means that a more massive white dwarf has a smaller radius than its less massive counterpart.

 

<!- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/de/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->

Advertisement

Material shot into space at speeds of millions of miles an hour — which was visible from Earth for just over 24 hours before fizzling out. 

Lead author Professor Sumner Starrfield, of Arizona State University, said: ‘It was like someone flicked a flashlight on and off.’

Novas differ from supernovas. They occur in binary systems where there is a small, incredibly dense star and a much bigger sun-like companion.

Over time, the former draws matter from the latter, which falls onto the white dwarf. 

The white dwarf then heats this material, causing an uncontrolled reaction that releases a burst of energy and shoots the matter away at high speeds, which we observe as visible light.

The bright nova usually fades over a couple of weeks or longer but V1674 Hercules was over in a day.

Professor Starrfield said: ‘It was only about one day, and the previous fastest nova was one we studied back in 1991, V838 Herculis, which declined in about two or three days.’

Nova events at this level of speed are rare, making this nova a precious study subject.  

Its speed wasn’t its only unusual trait — the light and energy sent out also pulses like the sound of a reverberating bell.

Every 501 seconds, there is a wobble detectable in visible light waves and X-rays. It is still there a year on — and is set to continue for even longer.

Mark Wagner, head of science at the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory on Mount Graham, southern Arizona, said: ‘The most unusual thing is this oscillation was seen before the outburst.

‘But it was also evident when the nova was some 10 magnitudes brighter. A mystery that people are trying to wrestle with is what’s driving this periodicity that you would see it over that range of brightness in the system.’

The US team also noticed a strange wind as they monitored the matter ejected by the nova, which they think may be dependent on the positions of the white dwarf and its companion star.

They appear to be shaping the flow of material into space surrounding the system which lay in the constellation of Hercules.

It is very conveniently placed, being in a dark sky in the east as twilight fades after sunset.

As this places it less than 17° north of the celestial equator, it could be seen from all over the world — and be photographed with an exposure of just a few seconds.

Novae can tell us important information about our solar system and even the universe as a whole.

About 30 to 60 are thought to occur each year in the Milky Way, although only about 10 are discovered during that time. Most are obscured by interstellar dust.

A white dwarf collects and alters matter, then seasons the surrounding space with new material when it goes nova.

It is an important part of the cycle of matter in space as the materials ejected by novae will eventually form new stellar systems.

Such events helped form our solar system as well, ensuring that Earth is more than a lump of carbon.

White dwarfs are the incredibly dense remains of sun-sized stars after they exhaust their nuclear fuel, shrunk down to roughly the size of Earth (artist’s impression)

Professor Starrfield said: ‘We are always trying to figure out how the solar system formed, where the chemical elements in the solar system came from.

‘One of the things we are going to learn from this nova is, for example, how much lithium was produced by this explosion.

‘We are fairly sure now that a significant fraction of the lithium that we have on the Earth was produced by these kinds of explosions.’

Sometimes a white dwarf star doesn’t lose all of its collected matter during a nova explosion, so with each cycle, it gains mass.

This would eventually make it unstable, and the white dwarf could generate a type 1a supernova, which is one of the brightest events in the universe.

Each type 1a supernova reaches the same level of brightness, so they are known as standard candles.

Co-author Professor Charles Woodward, of the University of Minnesota, said: ‘Standard candles are so bright we can see them at great distances across the universe.

‘By looking at how the brightness of light changes, we can ask questions about how the universe is accelerating or about the overall three-dimensional structure of the universe. This is one of the interesting reasons that we study some of these systems.’

Additionally, novae can tell us more about how stars in binary systems evolve to their death, a process that is not well understood.

They also act as living laboratories where scientists can see nuclear physics in action and test theoretical concepts.

The observed nova is now too faint for other types of telescopes to see, but it can still be monitored by the Large Binocular Telescope thanks to its wide aperture and state of the art scanners.

Professor Starrfield and colleagues now plan to investigate the cause, the processes that led to it, the reason for its record-breaking decline, the forces behind the observed wind, and the pulsing brightness.

The observation was published in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society.

HOW DO STARS FORM?

Stars form from dense molecular clouds – of dust and gas – in regions of interstellar space known as stellar nurseries. 

A single molecular cloud, which primarily contains hydrogen atoms, can be thousands of times the mass of the sun. 

They undergo turbulent motion with the gas and dust moving over time, disturbing the atoms and molecules causing some regions to have more matter than other parts. 

If enough gas and dust come together in one area then it begins to collapse under the weight of its own gravity. 

As it begins to collapse it slowly gets hotter and expands outwards, taking in more of the surrounding gas and dust.

At this point, when the region is about 900 billion miles across, it becomes a pre-stellar core and the starting process of becoming a star. 

Then, over the next 50,000 years this will contract 92 billion miles across to become the inner core of a star. 

The excess material is ejected out towards the poles of the star and a disc of gas and dust is formed around the star, forming a proto-star. 

This matter is then either incorporated into the star or expelled out into a wider disc that will lead to the formation of planets, moons, comets and asteroids.

<!- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/de/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_2 - ->

Advertisement

Read original article here

Science

New Milky Way Visualizations Show the Dance of Millions of Stars in Incredible Detail

Leave a comment

Illustration: ESA/Gaia/DPAC/CU6

It wasn’t all stars for Gaia’s third dataset. The space observatory also mapped the orbit of more than 150,000 asteroids, from the inner parts of the solar system all the way out to the Trojan asteroids that trail behind, and lead in front of, Jupiter. The different types of asteroids are indicated by different colors.

The yellow dot at the center of the illustration is the Sun, while the blue represents the inner part of the solar system, with its rocky planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and Near Earth Asteroids, as well as Mars crossers. The main asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, is represented in green, while Jupiter’s Trojans are red.

Read original article here

Science

As the Large Hadron Collider Revs Up, Physicists’ Hopes Soar

Leave a comment

In April, scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, outside Geneva, once again fired up their cosmic gun, the Large Hadron Collider. After a three-year shutdown for repairs and upgrades, the collider has resumed shooting protons — the naked guts of hydrogen atoms — around its 17-mile electromagnetic underground racetrack. In early July, the collider will begin crashing these particles together to create sparks of primordial energy.

And so the great game of hunting for the secret of the universe is about to be on again, amid new developments and the refreshed hopes of particle physicists. Even before its renovation, the collider had been producing hints that nature could be hiding something spectacular. Mitesh Patel, a particle physicist at Imperial College London who conducts an experiment at CERN, described data from his previous runs as “the most exciting set of results I’ve seen in my professional lifetime.”

A decade ago, CERN physicists made global headlines with the discovery of the Higgs boson, a long-sought particle, which imparts mass to all the other particles in the universe. What is left to find? Almost everything, optimistic physicists say.

When the CERN collider was first turned on in 2010, the universe was up for grabs. The machine, the biggest and most powerful ever built, was designed to find the Higgs boson. That particle is the keystone of the Standard Model, a set of equations that explains everything scientists have been able to measure about the subatomic world.

But there are deeper questions about the universe that the Standard Model does not explain: Where did the universe come from? Why is it made of matter rather than antimatter? What is the “dark matter” that suffuses the cosmos? How does the Higgs particle itself have mass?

Physicists hoped that some answers would materialize in 2010 when the large collider was first turned on. Nothing showed up except the Higgs — in particular, no new particle that might explain the nature of dark matter. Frustratingly, the Standard Model remained unshaken.

The collider was shut down at the end of 2018 for extensive upgrades and repairs. According to the current schedule, the collider will run until 2025 and then shut down for two more years for other extensive upgrades to be installed. Among this set of upgrades are improvements to the giant detectors that sit at the four points where the proton beams collide and analyze the collision debris. Starting in July, those detectors will have their work cut out for them. The proton beams have been squeezed to make them more intense, increasing the chances of protons colliding at the crossing points — but creating confusion for the detectors and computers in the form of multiple sprays of particles that need to be distinguished from one another.

“Data’s going to be coming in at a much faster rate than we’ve been used to,” Dr. Patel said. Where once only a couple of collisions occurred at each beam crossing, now there would be more like five.

“That makes our lives harder in some sense because we’ve got to be able to find the things we’re interested in amongst all those different interactions,” he said. “But it means there’s a bigger probability of seeing the thing you are looking for.”

Meanwhile, a variety of experiments have revealed possible cracks in the Standard Model — and have hinted to a broader, more profound theory of the universe. These results involve rare behaviors of subatomic particles whose names are unfamiliar to most of us in the cosmic bleachers.

Take the muon, a subatomic particle that became briefly famous last year. Muons are often referred to as fat electrons; they have the same negative electrical charge but are 207 times as massive. “Who ordered that?” the physicist Isador Rabi said when muons were discovered in 1936.

Nobody knows where muons fit in the grand scheme of things. They are created by cosmic ray collisions — and in collider events — and they decay radioactively in microseconds into a fizz of electrons and the ghostly particles called neutrinos.

Last year, a team of some 200 physicists associated with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois reported that muons spinning in a magnetic field had wobbled significantly faster than predicted by the Standard Model.

The discrepancy with theoretical predictions came in the eighth decimal place of the value of a parameter called g-2, which described how the particle responds to a magnetic field.

Scientists ascribed the fractional but real difference to the quantum whisper of as-yet-unknown particles that would materialize briefly around the muon and would affect its properties. Confirming the existence of the particles would, at last, break the Standard Model.

But two groups of theorists are still working to reconcile their predictions of what g-2 should be, while they wait for more data from the Fermilab experiment.

“The g-2 anomaly is still very much alive,” said Aida X. El-Khadra, a physicist at the University of Illinois who helped lead a three-year effort called the Muon g-2 Theory Initiative to establish a consensus prediction. “Personally, I am optimistic that the cracks in the Standard Model will add up to an earthquake. However, the exact position of the cracks may still be a moving target.”

The muon also figures in another anomaly. The main character, or perhaps villain, in this drama is a particle called a B quark, one of six varieties of quark that compose heavier particles like protons and neutrons. B stands for bottom or, perhaps, beauty. Such quarks occur in two-quark particles known as B mesons. But these quarks are unstable and are prone to fall apart in ways that appear to violate the Standard Model.

Some rare decays of a B quark involve a daisy chain of reactions, ending in a different, lighter kind of quark and a pair of lightweight particles called leptons, either electrons or their plump cousins, muons. The Standard Model holds that electrons and muons are equally likely to appear in this reaction. (There is a third, heavier lepton called the tau, but it decays too fast to be observed.) But Dr. Patel and his colleagues have found more electron pairs than muon pairs, violating a principle called lepton universality.

“This could be a Standard Model killer,” said Dr. Patel, whose team has been investigating the B quarks with one of the Large Hadron Collider’s big detectors, LHCb. This anomaly, like the muon’s magnetic anomaly, hints at an unknown “influencer” — a particle or force interfering with the reaction.

One of the most dramatic possibilities, if these data hold up in the upcoming collider run, Dr. Patel says, is a subatomic speculation called a leptoquark. If the particle exists, it could bridge the gap between two classes of particle that make up the material universe: lightweight leptons — electrons, muons and also neutrinos — and heavier particles like protons and neutrons, which are made of quarks. Tantalizingly, there are six kinds of quarks and six kinds of leptons.

“We are going into this run with more optimism that there could be a revolution coming,” Dr. Patel said. “Fingers crossed.”

There is yet another particle in this zoo behaving strangely: the W boson, which conveys the so-called weak force responsible for radioactive decay. In May, physicists with the Collider Detector at Fermilab, or C.D.F., reported on a 10-year effort to measure the mass of this particle, based on some 4 million W bosons harvested from collisions in Fermilab’s Tevatron, which was the world’s most powerful collider until the Large Hadron Collider was built.

According to the Standard Model and previous mass measurements, the W boson should weigh about 80.357 billion electron volts, the unit of mass-energy favored by physicists. By comparison the Higgs boson weighs 125 billion electron volts, about as much as an iodine atom. But the C.D.F. measurement of the W, the most precise ever done, came in higher than predicted at 80.433 billion. The experimenters calculated that there was only one chance in 2 trillion — 7-sigma, in physics jargon — that this discrepancy was a statistical fluke.

The mass of the W boson is connected to the masses of other particles, including the infamous Higgs. So this new discrepancy, if it holds up, could be another crack in the Standard Model.

Still, all three anomalies and theorists’ hopes for a revolution could evaporate with more data. But to optimists, all three point in the same encouraging direction toward hidden particles or forces interfering with “known” physics.

“So a new particle that might explain both g-2 and the W mass might be within reach at the L.H.C.,” said Kyle Cranmer, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin who works on other experiments at CERN.

John Ellis, a theoretician at CERN and Kings College London, noted that at least 70 papers have been published suggesting explanations for the new W-mass discrepancy.

“Many of these explanations also require new particles that may be accessible to the L.H.C.,” he said. “Did I mention dark matter? So, plenty of things to watch out for!”

Of the upcoming run Dr. Patel said: “It’ll be exciting. It’ll be hard work, but we are really keen to see what we’ve got and whether there is something genuinely exciting in the data.”

He added: “You could go through a scientific career and not be able to say that once. So it feels like a privilege.”

Read original article here

Science

China’s new map of the moon captures lunar geologic features in incredible detail

Leave a comment

Scientists have created a new high-resolution map of the moon using data from China’s recent lunar missions.

The detailed map was created using data primarily from China’s Lunar Exploration Program collected over the past 15 years, and was supplemented by high-quality data from international exploration missions from the U.S., Japan and India.

It reveals geologic layers, structural features and a chronology of the moon‘s surface, and includes 12,341 impact craters, 81 impact basins, 17 rock types and 14 types of structures.

Related: Amazing moon photos from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

The map reflects “the evolution of lunar crust under igneous processes, catastrophic impacts and volcanic activities,” the research team wrote in a paper accepted for publication in the journal Science Bulletin (opens in new tab).

The map uses a Mollweide projection that creates an elliptical view of the moon; China also provided stereographic projections, separately centered on the north and south poles. Researchers could use the new work for further lunar geologic mapping and landing site selection for future missions. 

The full-size map is available from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ National Space Science Center (opens in new tab).

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 



Read original article here

Science

Plants Appear to Be Breaking Biochemistry Rules by Making ‘Secret Decisions’

Leave a comment

Researchers have just discovered a previously unknown process that makes sense of the ‘secret decisions’ plants make when releasing carbon back into the atmosphere.

“We found that plants control their respiration in a way we did not expect, they control how much of the carbon from photosynthesis they keep to build biomass by using a metabolic channel,” University of Western Australia plant biochemist Harvey Millar told ScienceAlert.

 

“This happens right as the step before they decide to burn a compound called pyruvate to make and release CO2 back to the atmosphere.”

If you think back to high-school biology, you might remember that during photosynthesis, plants make sugar or sucrose. The plant typically makes an excess of sucrose; some is stored, some is degraded. This is called the citric acid (or tricarboxylic acid) cycle, and it’s equally important for life.

As part of this cycle, sucrose, which has twelve carbon atoms, is broken down into glucose with six carbons. Then glucose is broken into pyruvate, which has three carbons. Using pyruvate for energy produces carbon as a waste product, so it’s at this point where the ‘decision’ is made in the plant.

“Pyruvate is the last point for a decision,” Millar told ScienceAlert.

“You can burn it and release CO2, or you can use it to build phospholipids, stored plant oils, amino acids and other things you need to make biomass.”

The discovery came about while working on a classic plant model organism called thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana). The researchers, led by University of Western Australia plant molecular scientist Xuyen Le, labeled pyruvate with C13 (a carbon isotope) to track where it was being shifted during the citric acid cycle, and found that pyruvate from different sources was being used differently.

 

This means the plant can actually track the source of the pyruvate and act accordingly, choosing to either release it, or hold on to it for other purposes.

“We found that a transporter on mitochondria directs pyruvate to respiration to release CO2, but pyruvate made in other ways is kept by plant cells to build biomass – if the transporter is blocked, plants then use pyruvate from other pathways for respiration,” Le said.

“Imported pyruvate was the preferred source for citrate production.”

This ability to make decisions, the team suggests, breaks the normal rules of biochemistry, where typically, every reaction is a competition and the processes don’t control where the product goes.

“Metabolic channeling breaks these rules by revealing reactions that don’t behave like this, but are set decisions in metabolic processes that are shielded from other reactions,” says Millar.

“This is not the first metabolic channel to ever be found, but they are relatively rare, and this is the first evidence of one governing this process in respiration.”

Although plants are wonderful stores of CO2 – forests alone store around 400 gigatonnes of carbon – not every molecule of CO2 that is taken up by plants is then kept. Around half of the carbon dioxide that plants take up is released back into the atmosphere.

 

Being able to get plants to store a little more carbon dioxide in this process could be a fascinating way to help our climate change woes.

“As we consider building and breeding plants for the future – we shouldn’t just be thinking about how they can be good food and food for our health, but also if they can be good carbon storers for the health of the atmosphere that we all depend on,” Millar told ScienceAlert.

Such futureproofing is yet to come, as the researchers have only just discovered this biochemical process to behind with. But if we can hijack the way plants make decisions about carbon storage, it could be one piece of the bigger climate change mitigation puzzle.

The research has been published in Nature Plants.

 

Read original article here