Astronomy news

• Astronomers Detect Reflected Light from Hot Jupiter Exoplanet 51 Pegasi b - Sci-News.com

  22-04-2015 21:55 via sci-news.com
  Sci-News.com
  Astronomers Detect Reflected Light from Hot Jupiter Exoplanet 51 Pegasi b
  Sci-News.com
  For the first time, astronomers have directly detected visible light reflected off an extrasolar planet. This artist's view shows the hot Jupiter exoplanet 51 Pegasi b. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser / Nick Risinger, skysurvey.org. The first ...
  22 April 2015 in News: First visible light spectrum from exoplanet observedAstronomy Now Onlineall 32 news articles »
  
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• Thick atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan fluctuates with Sun's cycle

  22-04-2015 21:21
  Saturn's moon Titan is the only moon in the solar system that has an atmosphere as thick as Earth's, consisting of more than 98 percent nitrogen, roughly 1.4 percent of methane, and smaller amounts of other gases. NASA's Cassini satellite has been circling Saturn since 2004, witnessing more than one-third of its 29-year orbit around the Sun, allowing it to observe the changing of the seasons. However, a new study finds that the seasons are not the only thing changing Titan's atmosphere: its chem
  
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• Tau ceti: The next Earth? Probably not

  22-04-2015 20:25
  
  Star system Tau Ceti has long been used in science fiction as a very likely place to have life due to its proximity to Earth and the star's sun-like characteristics. Since December 2012 Tau Ceti has become even more appealing, thanks to evidence of possibly five planets orbiting it, with two of these potentially residing in the habitable zone. Researchers took a closer look and determined that most likely the planets do not and cannot support life.
  
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• Astronomy Photo of the Day — E0102-72 - From Quarks to Quasars

  22-04-2015 19:10 via fromquarkstoquasars.com
  
  From Quarks to Quasars
  Astronomy Photo of the Day — E0102-72
  From Quarks to Quasars
  This ghostly apparition can be found approximately 190,000 light-years from Earth in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), both, in turn, lurk within the confines of the Tucana constellation. Called E0102-72, we are glimpsing into the heart of a fiery ...
  
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• Extreme Solar Systems III Meeting Registration Is Now Open!

  22-04-2015 17:31
  Extreme Solar Systems III is the third in a series that began in 2007 with the Santorini meeting on Extreme Solar Systems and was followed in 2011 by Extreme Solar Systems II in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The conference will cover all aspects of research on exoplanets.ESS III will take place 29 November − 4 December 2015 at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa on the Big Island of Hawai'i. The dates of the meeting happen to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the paper by Mayor & Q
  
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• Propose Content for the 227th Meeting of the AAS

  22-04-2015 17:15
  Propose for a Special Session, Town Hall, Workshop, or Splinter Meeting for the 227th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society to be held in Kissimmee, Florida, 4-8 January 2016.The AAS seeks session proposals on both broad and narrow topics that will appeal to large and small groups. The High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) and Historical Astronomy Division (HAD) will hold sessions as well, making for quite a rich schedule. The Kissimmee 2016 meeting will be a standout conference, host
  
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• Around the Southside: Stars align for Astronomy Day - The Advocate

  22-04-2015 16:53 via theadvocate.com
  
  Around the Southside: Stars align for Astronomy Day
  The Advocate
  Spend an evening among the stars Saturday as Highland Road Park Observatory, 13800 Highland Road, holds at its ninth annual International Astronomy Day celebration. The event is from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.. One day every year, astronomy clubs, ...
  
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• Millimeter-sized stones formed our planet

  22-04-2015 16:44
  
  Researchers can now explain how asteroids are formed. Our own planet also has its origins in the same process, a cosmic ocean of millimeter-sized particles that orbited the young sun, according to new research.
  
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• First exoplanet visible light spectrum

  22-04-2015 14:49
  
  Astronomers have made the first-ever direct detection of the spectrum of visible light reflected off an exoplanet. These observations also revealed new properties of this famous object, the first exoplanet ever discovered around a normal star: 51 Pegasi b. The result promises an exciting future for this technique, particularly with the advent of next generation instruments and future telescopes, such as the E-ELT.
  
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• Space scientists pay homage to 25 years of the Hubble Space Telescope

  22-04-2015 14:43
  
  It was launched 25 years ago and has given humankind a glimpse at some of the farthest and earliest cosmic phenomenon in the observable Universe. On Friday, 24 April, the HST will celebrate exactly 25 years since it was launched.
  
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• Exploding stars help us understand thunderclouds on Earth

  22-04-2015 14:42
  
  How is lightning initiated in thunderclouds? This is difficult to answer -- how do you measure electric fields inside large, dangerously charged clouds? It was discovered, more or less by coincidence, that cosmic rays provide suitable probes to measure electric fields within thunderclouds.
  
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• Exploding stars help to understand thunderclouds on Earth

  22-04-2015 14:42
  
  How is lightning initiated in thunderclouds? This is difficult to answer – how do you measure electric fields inside large, dangerously charged clouds? It was discovered, more or less by coincidence, that cosmic rays provide suitable probes to measure electric fields within thunderclouds.
  
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• As bright as a hundred million Suns: The clusters of monster stars that lit up the early universe

  22-04-2015 14:42
  
  The first stars in the Universe were born several hundred million years after the Big Bang, ending a period known as the cosmological 'dark ages' -- when atoms of hydrogen and helium had formed, but nothing shone in visible light. Now researchers have calculated what these objects were like: they find that the first stars could have clustered together in phenomenally bright groups, with periods when they were as luminous as 100 million Suns.
  
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• 22 April 2015 in News: Clusters of monster stars lit up the early universe - Astronomy Now Online

  22-04-2015 10:11 via astronomynow.com
  Astronomy Now Online
  22 April 2015 in News: Clusters of monster stars lit up the early universe
  Astronomy Now Online
  An artist's impression of some of the first stars in the early Universe. Five protostars are seen here forming in the centre of discs of gas. Image credit: Shantanu Basu, University of Western Ontario. The first stars in the universe were born several ...
  Clusters of monster stars lit up the early universeAstronomy Magazineall 8 news articles »
  
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