Space

Oct 10 2019

Our second interstellar visitor has a name: 2I/Borisov

Were we being too loud, or did they just want to see Earth before it’s too late? Our Solar System is apparently becoming a popular destination point with extrasolar tourists. All jokes aside: After ‚Oumuamua at the end of 2017, astronomers have apparently just photographed our second interstellar object, which is currently moving toward the Sun. The object was first discovered on August 30th. That night, amateur astronomer, Gennadi Borisov, found a comet-like object (initially called C/2019 Q4) in the skies over Crimea using his self-built 0.65-m telescope. At that time, it featured a coma and has since also developed…

New NASA simulations: what it’s like around a black hole

Space

Oct 8 2019

New NASA simulations: what it’s like around a black hole

A black hole grows by being fed from a so-called accretion disk that supplies it with fresh matter. This disk is made up of plasma, ionized gas that orbits in continuous spirals around the black hole at high speeds. This plasma is constantly heated by internal collisions. To an observer, however, an accretion disk won’t look like a classic disk (like, for example, Saturn’s rings). This is because a black hole generates such an unbelievably large force of gravity that radiation from the rear part of the disk becomes distorted as it moves toward the observer. Now, researchers at…

Exo-Io: volcanic exomoon in orbit around WASP-49 b?

Space

Oct 6 2019

Exo-Io: volcanic exomoon in orbit around WASP-49 b?

WASP-49 is a yellow dwarf star, somewhat smaller than the Sun and, in the grand scheme of the universe, just as unimportant as our own home star, so that up to now it hasn’t even been given a proper name. Astronomers also know it as “2MASS J06042146-1657550” or “TYC 5936-2086-1.” The fact that it also has the relatively short and catchy name of WASP-49 is thanks to the “Wide Angle Search for Planets”: WASP is an international cooperation that operates two autonomous telescopes. In 2011, researchers analyzing data from these telescopes discovered a planet orbiting this star, 550 light-years…

Water vapor in the atmosphere of an inhabitable rocky planet

Life

Oct 5 2019

Water vapor in the atmosphere of an inhabitable rocky planet

There’s no shortage of water in the universe. Water molecules have even been found in the cold interstellar medium. After hydrogen, water is the second most abundant substance in the atmosphere of hot gas planets. Neptune, Uranus, and their siblings in space are not called ice giants for no reason – they also contain a large amount of water ice. On rocky planets, water could be a sign of good conditions for life. This, however, would also depend on where the water is located. Researchers already think that some planets have large quantities of water due to their densities.…

When storms carry ammonia gas to the top

Space

Sep 8 2019

When storms carry ammonia gas to the top

Jupiter is easily identifiable from the band-like structures that extend across its surface. These belts are areas of different rotation and quite different properties. But what’s going on underneath them? The Hubble telescope or probes such as Juno primarily show just the exterior layer. To understand the dynamic behavior of Jupiter’s atmosphere, scientists need to look into its depths – something the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) makes possible in the radio frequency range. (more…)

Astrophysics

Sep 6 2019

Structures in the cosmic mist

The Milky Way has existed for at least 13 billion years. Since then, it has continued to produce more and more new stars; one generation gives way to the next. To do this, it needs gas – more than it contains itself. That applies to all other galaxies too. But where do the Milky Way, Andromeda, and their like find more gas? In the intergalactic medium, which, at first glance, looks like just empty space between the galaxies. (more…)

Space

Aug 22 2019

ISS Above: your direct line to the International Space Station

Since 2014, four high-definition cameras on the outside of the International Space Station ISS have been tracking what’s going on in space. “ISS Above” can bring this video stream (and a lot more information) right to your television screen. Normally, the cameras are filming our planet and thus offer a unique look at the Earth as usually experienced only by astronauts. However, the Earth is visible in the video stream only when the ISS is above the Sun-lit side of the Earth during its 92-minute orbit around our planet at an altitude of about 450 kilometers (280 miles). That…

A radio view into a black hole’s backyard

Astrophysics

Aug 20 2019

A radio view into a black hole’s backyard

By definition, black holes themselves remain shut off from direct observation. But astronomers have been able to precisely image the sphere of influence of a black hole – the area in which its gravity is the dominant force. In the case of a supermassive black hole in the interior of a galaxy, this area can be up to 500 light-years across. For comparison, the closest star to the Sun is a good four light-years away. This imaging was done by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Atacama desert of Chile. NGC 3258, a giant elliptical galaxy about…