Astronomy posts
- March 25, 2011
- 11:45 AM
- 1,031 views
Zzzzzzzzs and Galaxies
by Brooke N in Smaller Questions
Bouwen, et al., and their use of Hubble's WFC3, a near-infrared camera, to find at galaxies of z~8 (meaning about 600 million years after the first neutral hydrogen atoms were formed) and found five of them, including one with z~10. The group wanted to investigate their luminosity, star formation rate, and dust content, to see how those parameters compared to those of galaxies with lower z.... Read more »
Bouwens, R., Illingworth, G., Oesch, P., Stiavelli, M., van Dokkum, P., Trenti, M., Magee, D., Labbé, I., Franx, M., Carollo, C.... (2010) DISCOVERY OF ∼ 8 GALAXIES IN THE HUBBLE ULTRA DEEP FIELD FROM ULTRA-DEEP WFC3/IR OBSERVATIONS . The Astrophysical Journal, 709(2). DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/709/2/L133
- March 24, 2011
- 08:40 AM
- 1,101 views
The Pioneer Anomaly
by Christine Corbett Moran in Cosmic Rays
A few weeks ago, Astrophysics Master’s student Tina Wentz gave a great overview of the phenomenon known as the Pioneer Anomaly in our gr-qc journal club. I’m indebted to her for that overview as well as pointing me to relevant papers in the preparation of this post. Background Launched in 1972 and 1973 respectively, the [...]... Read more »
Slava G. Turyshev, Viktor T. Toth, Larry R. Kellogg, Eunice. L. Lau, & Kyong J. Lee. (2005) The Study of the Pioneer Anomaly: New Data and Objectives for New Investigation. Int.J.Mod.Phys.D15:1-56,2006. arXiv: gr-qc/0512121v2
John D. Anderson, Philip A. Laing, Eunice L. Lau, Anthony S. Liu, Michael Martin Nieto, & Slava G. Turyshev. (2001) Study of the anomalous acceleration of Pioneer 10 and 11. Phys.Rev.D65:082004,2002. arXiv: gr-qc/0104064v5
Slava G. Turyshev, & Viktor T. Toth. (2010) The Pioneer Anomaly. Living Rev. Relativity 13, 4 (2010). arXiv: 1001.3686v2
- March 21, 2011
- 12:00 PM
- 1,066 views
Rings (in and around) anticyclones of Jupiter
by nath in Imprints of Philippine Science
The paper explains the colors of Jupiter's cyclones.... Read more »
de Pater, I., Wong, M., Marcus, P., Luszcz-Cook, S., Ádámkovics, M., Conrad, A., Asay-Davis, X., & Go, C. (2010) Persistent rings in and around Jupiter’s anticyclones – Observations and theory. Icarus, 210(2), 742-762. DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2010.07.027
- March 19, 2011
- 08:14 PM
- 1,191 views
Looking at the Bending of Light Around the Multiple Galaxy Collisions in "Pandora's Cluster"
by DJ Busby in Astronasty
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A new arXiv paper has been released analyzing Pandora's Cluster of galaxies.
"Creation of cosmic structure in the complex galaxy cluster merger Abell 2744"
As you can see from the paper's title, the technical name for Pandora's Cluster is Abell 2744. This area of the sky is in a state of extreme cosmic violence. We're witnessing a rare situation where there are multiple galaxies smashing
... Read more »
J. Merten, D. Coe, R. Dupke, R. Massey, A. Zitrin, E. S. Cypriano, N. Okabe, B. Frye, F. Braglia, Y. Jimenez-Teja.... (2011) Creation of cosmic structure in the complex galaxy cluster merger Abell 2744. MNRAS. arXiv: 1103.2772v1
- March 13, 2011
- 06:35 PM
- 1,355 views
Bubbles under the microscope
by sarah in One Small Step
As the data from the Milky Way Project are starting to come in, and Rob is making progress with the data reduction of many clicks and drawings, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to these gorgeous bubbles we’re seeing. How were they created, why do they appear the way they do, and what [...]... Read more »
James E. Dale, & Ian Bonnell. (2011) Ionizing feedback from massive stars in massive clusters: Fake bubbles and untriggered star formation. Arxiv. arXiv: 1103.1532v1
- March 10, 2011
- 07:43 AM
- 1,505 views
when astrobiology goes very, very wrong…
by Greg Fish in weird things
In the wake of the news which must have rocked the scientific world, any by extension, probably yours as well, the Journal of Cosmology, the pet project of cosmologist Rudolph Schild is going out of business. What pray tell are eccentric scientists on a mission to prove to the world that the aliens are out [...]... Read more »
Carl H. Gibson, Rudolph E. Schild, & N. C. Wickramasinghe. (2010) The Origin of Life from Primordial Planets. Int. J. of Astrobiology. arXiv: 1004.0504v4
- March 8, 2011
- 05:16 AM
- 1,481 views
How the Sun lost its spots
by Kelly Oakes in Basic Space
It may look like a static yellow ball from here, but in reality the Sun is alive with activity. Right now it is becoming more active each day as we get closer to the next solar maximum, which is expected … Continue reading →... Read more »
Nandy D, Muñoz-Jaramillo A, & Martens PC. (2011) The unusual minimum of sunspot cycle 23 caused by meridional plasma flow variations. Nature, 471(7336), 80-2. PMID: 21368827
- March 6, 2011
- 08:39 AM
- 902 views
Is this claim of bacteria in a meteorite any better than the 1996 one?
by Rosie Redfield in RRResearch
A new paper from a NASA scientist claims to present evidence for bacteria-like organisms in some meteorites. (Richard Hoover, 2011, Fossils of cyanobacteria in C11 carbonaceous meteorites. Journal of Cosmology 2011, vol 13.)I don't know much about meteorites, but here's my evaluation: (Executive Summary: Move along folks, there's nothing to see here.)What the author did:He fractured tiny comet-derived meteorites (0.1 - 0.6 g) from two events and examined the freshly broken surfaces. ........ Read more »
Hoover, R. B. (2011) fossils of cyanobacteria in C11 carbonaceous meteorites. Journal of Cosmology. info:/
- March 3, 2011
- 05:38 PM
- 1,295 views
Periodic impact
by Emma in we are all in the gutter
Engaging the public in science is something lots of us are passionate about but how do you measure its impact? This might seem like an unimportant question, but it’s something that funding agencies are increasingly interested in, as they understandably want to check their money isn’t being wasted. It’s also a question addressed by the [...]... Read more »
Haran B, & Poliakoff M. (2011) How to measure the impact of chemistry on the small screen. Nature chemistry, 3(3), 180-2. PMID: 21336314
- March 2, 2011
- 12:08 PM
- 933 views
News from the Kepler observatory: our galaxy is really, really big
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
The Kepler observatory was launched into orbit in early 2009. Its mission: to search for planets in solar systems other than our own. Their recent results point to a staggering number of planets that share the galaxy with us, many of which orbit their sun in a habitable temperature zone: between 0 and 100 °C. This means that water-based life such as ourselves would neither freeze nor boil away, assuming that the planet has atmospheric pressure similar to Earth.
Normal, Earth-bound telescopes........ Read more »
William J. Borucki, et al. (2011) Characteristics of planetary candidates observed by Kepler, II: Analysis of the first four months of data. The Astrophysical Journal. arXiv: 1102.0541v1
J. J. Lissauer, et al. (2011) A closely packed system of low-mass, low-density planets transiting Kepler-11. Nature, 470(7332), 53-8. PMID: 21293371
- March 2, 2011
- 09:37 AM
- 1,666 views
how to keep your ocean in interstellar space
by Greg Fish in weird things
If you think of a solar system as a stellar family, you should probably be aware that this sort of family is highly dysfunctional, especially in its early years. Planetoids viciously slam into each other, and gas giants can and do throw out smaller, rocky worlds when they settle into eccentric orbits. When the solar [...]... Read more »
Dorian S. Abbot, & Eric R. Switzer. (2011) The Steppenwolf: A proposal for a habitable planet in interstellar space. n/a. arXiv: 1102.1108v1
- March 2, 2011
- 06:25 AM
- 496 views
In the news this month: seasonal changes in the northern dunes of Mars
This blog post is a news story from the Jodcast, aired in the March 2011 edition.
Hansen CJ, Bourke M, Bridges NT, Byrne S, Colon C, Diniega S, Dundas C, Herkenhoff K, McEwen A, Mellon M, Portyankina G, & Thomas N (2011). Seasonal erosion and restoration of Mars' northern polar dunes. Science (New York, N.Y.), 331 (6017), 575-8 PMID: 21292976... Read more »
Hansen CJ, Bourke M, Bridges NT, Byrne S, Colon C, Diniega S, Dundas C, Herkenhoff K, McEwen A, Mellon M.... (2011) Seasonal erosion and restoration of Mars' northern polar dunes. Science (New York, N.Y.), 331(6017), 575-8. PMID: 21292976
- March 2, 2011
- 05:59 AM
- 755 views
In the news this month: giant black hole in a dwarf galaxy
This blog post is a news story from the Jodcast, aired in the March 2011 edition.
Reines, A., Sivakoff, G., Johnson, K., & Brogan, C. (2011). An actively accreting massive black hole in the dwarf starburst galaxy Henize 2-10 Nature, 470 (7332), 66-68 DOI: 10.1038/nature09724... Read more »
Reines, A., Sivakoff, G., Johnson, K., & Brogan, C. (2011) An actively accreting massive black hole in the dwarf starburst galaxy Henize 2-10. Nature, 470(7332), 66-68. DOI: 10.1038/nature09724
- February 28, 2011
- 12:34 PM
- 1,323 views
Science funding and the future of UK science; on the cusp of a decision
by Jack Serle in Elements Science
The wobbling global economy has given research grants a thump. Jack Serle looks at the ramifications this hit to funding will have for British and Irish scientists.
Related posts:CERN and Fermilab celebrate women in science on International Women΄s Day
First-ever study on sex hormone-hunger link
... Read more »
Zwicky, F. (1958) Nuclear Goblins and Flare Stars. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 506. DOI: 10.1086/127284
- February 25, 2011
- 06:27 PM
- 1,396 views
Fusion for the Future: NIF
by The Astronomist in The Astronomist.
Fusion is only 50 years away and it will solve all of the worlds energy problems. That is the good news. The bad news is that it has been 50 years away for the last 50 years. If that situation is maddening to you then you are not alone. Leonardo Mascheroni, a retired Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist, wanted funding to build a colossal laser for producing energy from fusion and was willing to trade the United States' nuclear weapons secrets to realize his dream. Mascheroni was recently in........ Read more »
Glenzer, S., MacGowan, B., Michel, P., Meezan, N., Suter, L., Dixit, S., Kline, J., Kyrala, G., Bradley, D., Callahan, D.... (2010) Symmetric Inertial Confinement Fusion Implosions at Ultra-High Laser Energies. Science, 327(5970), 1228-1231. DOI: 10.1126/science.1185634
- February 23, 2011
- 09:40 AM
- 1,852 views
Giggity
by Iddo Friedberg in Byte Size Biology
The authors and editor knew exactly what they were doing with this one:... Read more »
Chau, R., Hamel, S., & Nellis, W. (2011) Chemical processes in the deep interior of Uranus. Nature Communications, 203. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1198
- February 23, 2011
- 04:00 AM
- 1,480 views
Cut down to size: supermassive black holes turn out not to be so “super” after all
by Kelly Oakes in Basic Space
You might not be able to tell from wherever you are reading this, but black holes in the distant universe just shrunk down to as little as a tenth of their previous size. This is not some cosmic disappearing act; … Continue reading →... Read more »
Kollatschny, W., & Zetzl, M. (2011) Broad-line active galactic nuclei rotate faster than narrow-line ones. Nature, 470(7334), 366-368. DOI: 10.1038/nature09761
- February 20, 2011
- 11:40 PM
- 1,004 views
Supermassive black hole in a dwarf galaxy
by Charles Daney in Science and Reason
Supermassive black hole in a type of galaxy where nobody expected to find one? Henize 2-10 is a small, mostly unremarkable compact dwarf galaxy. Its estimated dynamical mass is about 1010 M⊙, only a few percent of our galaxy's mass, and its distance from us is about 30 million light years. It is irregular in shape and does not fit in any category of the standard Hubble sequence.The only respect in which Henize 2-10 has attracted attention – for several decades – before now is a........ Read more »
Reines, A., Sivakoff, G., Johnson, K., & Brogan, C. (2011) An actively accreting massive black hole in the dwarf starburst galaxy Henize 2-10. Nature, 470(7332), 66-68. DOI: 10.1038/nature09724
- February 20, 2011
- 05:53 AM
- 977 views
I saw a new Earth
by Jörg Friedrich in Reading Nature
Typically it takes quite a few months before a submitted article in nature has passed the peer review process and has been accepted – and then until it is actually printed, it usually takes even more then a quarter of … Continue reading →... Read more »
Lissauer JJ, Fabrycky DC, Ford EB, Borucki WJ, Fressin F, Marcy GW, Orosz JA, Rowe JF, Torres G, Welsh WF.... (2011) A closely packed system of low-mass, low-density planets transiting Kepler-11. Nature, 470(7332), 53-8. PMID: 21293371
Editorial. (2011) Earth 2.0. Nature, 470(7332), 5. PMID: 21293328
Reich ES. (2011) Astronomy: Beyond the stars. Nature, 470(7332), 24-6. PMID: 21293349
Billings L. (2011) Astronomy: Exoplanets on the cheap. Nature, 470(7332), 27-9. PMID: 21293350
- February 19, 2011
- 08:00 AM
- 1,476 views
How Our Valentines Day Solar Flare Helped Our Astronauts In Orbit
by DJ Busby in Astronasty
In light of the recent solar flare, here's a breakdown of the radiation we're exposed to, how we're shielded, and how solar flares can actually protect our astronauts.... Read more »
B. F. Rauch, J. T. Link, K. Lodders, M. H. Israel, L. M. Barbier, W. R. Binns, E. R. Christian, J. R. Cummings, G. A. de Nolfo, S. Geier, R. A. Mewaldt, J. W. Mitchell, S. M. Schindler, L. M. Scott, E. C. Stone, R. E. Streitmatter, C. J. Waddington, M. E. (2009) Cosmic-ray origin in OB associations and preferential acceleration of refractory elements: Evidence from abundances of elements 26Fe through 34Se. Astrophys.J.697:2083-2088,2009. info:/arXiv:0906.2021v1
Svensmark, H., Bondo, T., & Svensmark, J. (2009) Cosmic ray decreases affect atmospheric aerosols and clouds. Geophysical Research Letters, 36(15). DOI: 10.1029/2009GL038429
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