Thursday 26 July 2018

Enduring 'radio rebound' powered by jets from gamma-ray burst

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Astronomers using ALMA studied a cataclysmic stellar explosion known as a gamma-ray burst, or GRB, and found its enduring 'afterglow.' The rebound, or reverse shock, triggered by the GRB's powerful jets slamming into surrounding debris, lasted thousands of times longer than expected. These observations provide fresh insights into the physics of GRBs, one of the universe's most energetic explosions.
via Science Daily
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Black holes really just ever-growing balls of string

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Black holes aren't surrounded by a burning ring of fire after all, suggests new research.
via Science Daily
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Thin gap on stellar family portrait

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A thin gap has been discovered on the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (HRD), the most fundamental of all maps in stellar astronomy, a finding that provides new information about the interior structures of low mass stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, according to a new study.
via Science Daily
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New family photos of Mars and Saturn from Hubble

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In summer 2018 the planets Mars and Saturn are, one after the other, in opposition to Earth. During this event the planets are relatively close to Earth, allowing astronomers to observe them in greater detail. Hubble took advantage of this preferred configuration and imaged both planets to continue its long-standing observation of the outer planets in the solar system.
via Science Daily
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Saturn and Mars Team Up to Make Their Closest Approaches to Earth in 2018


As Saturn and Mars ventured close to Earth, Hubble captured their portraits in June and July 2018, respectively. The telescope photographed the planets near opposition, when the Sun, Earth and an outer planet are lined up, with Earth sitting in between the Sun and the outer planet. Around the time of opposition, a planet is at its closest distance to Earth in its orbit. Hubble viewed Saturn on June 6, when the ringed world was approximately 1.36 billion miles from Earth, as it approached a June 27 opposition. Mars was captured on July 18, at just 36.9 million miles from Earth, near its July 27 opposition. Hubble saw the planets during summertime in Saturn’s northern hemisphere and springtime in Mars’ southern hemisphere. The increase in sunlight in Saturn’s northern hemisphere heated the atmosphere and triggered a large storm that is now disintegrating in Saturn’s northern polar region. On Mars, a spring dust storm erupted in the southern hemisphere and ballooned into a global event enshrouding the entire planet.


via Hubble - News feed
http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2018-29

Mars Express detects liquid water hidden under planet’s south pole

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Radar data collected by ESA's Mars Express point to a pond of liquid water buried under layers of ice and dust in the south polar region of Mars.
via Science Daily
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How to See Mars Opposition and Closest Approach to Earth

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For the past few weeks, the red planet has been growing brighter in the night sky, and everyone in the world can enjoy it at its closest approach.
via New York Times

BepiColombo to target mid-October launch

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Europe’s first mission to Mercury will target the early morning of 19 October for launch, Arianespace and ESA announced today.


via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/BepiColombo/BepiColombo_to_target_mid-October_launch