Have You Heard of Super-Mercuries?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Surface of Mercury captured by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft.(NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)

I often here of super-Earths among the spotted expolanets, but super-Mercuries? They are less common, with only eight spotted to date, including two recently found around exoplanet using the Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) spectrograph on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. The two super-Mercuries were spotted in the star system HD 23472 along with two super-Earths.

Researcher researcher Susana Barros with the Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço’s, who led the team that found the new super-Mercuries, stated:

For the first time we have discovered a system with two super-mercuries. This allows us to obtain clues about how these planets were formed, which could help us exclude some possibilities. For example, if an  impact large enough to create a Super-Mercury is already very unlikely, two giant impacts in the same system seems very improbable. We still don’t know how these planets are formed but it appears to be connected to the composition of the parent star. This new system can help us find out.

Much of the exoplanet talk to date has been about super-Earths and mini-Neptunes, so it is nice to see a super-Mercury thrown into the mix. With the exoplanet search is still in its early days, expect more local planet terminology to be added to the discussion.

For more on the super-Mercury story, go here.

Podcast: Scientists Discuss the JWST

Posted on by onespaceman2000

It is worth checking out the BBC’s Sky at Night podcast if you want to follow the stars or just listen to astronomers discussing the night sky. Two recent episodes in particular, both related to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), should be on your podcast list.

  • How James Webb Space Telescope Observes the Universe (broadcast on August 26, 2022): Dr Pamela Klaassen, an instrument scientist, reveals the science behind how JWST studies the cosmos, what its images show us, and the secrets it might uncover. She also discusses her work studying very large stars. Finally, the discussion covers the Square Kilometre Array Organization and how this brand new ground-based observatory will work in tandem with the JWST to unlock the secrets of the Universe.
  • Exploring Exoplanets with JWST (broadcast on August 22, 2022): Dr Hannah Wakeford from the University of Bristol is part of an international collaboration of exoplanet hunters looking to see how the JWST can reveal the secrets of worlds orbiting stars beyond our solar system. One exoplanet priority for the JWST discussed during the episode is WASP-39b, the results of which were recently shared with the public.

More on Black Holes

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Image from the Very Large Telescope in Chile showing stars orbiting the supermassive black hole that lies at the heart of the Milky Way. (ESO/MPE)

The earlier article on a black hole binary system was pretty amazing, yet the video accompanying the story was created to demonstrate the phenomena. I found an even more amazing real video of stars orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center or the Milky Way galaxy. You can see the 20-year time-lapse video here from the NaCo instrument on the European Space Telescope’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. This black hole, Sagittarius A*, is about 27 000 light-years away from Earth.

JWST Image: Swirling Galaxy

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): View from above the spiral galaxy NGC 628. (NASA/ESA/CSA/Judy Schmidt)

Here is another recent images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This one is a unique close-up view of a spiral galaxy looking from above (or below) rather that from the side. It is NGC 628, which is about 32 million light years away.

You can see more such JWST images by visiting the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) Survey site. The site also includes images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and other sources.

Fire Damages Kitt Peak National Observatory Buildings

Posted on by onespaceman2000
 Image (Credit): View from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope showing the Contreras Fire burning near the summit of Kitt Peak on Thursday 16 June 2022. (KPNO / NOIRLab / NSF / Aura)

Earlier this month, a lightening strike led to a fire in Baboquivari Mountains in southern Arizona, home of the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO). According to news reports, the telescopes themselves are fine, but four “non-scientific” buildings were lost in the fire. Pro-active fire crews were able to prevent greater damage in the area.

This is the latest summary from the blog of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) NSF’sNational Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab):

Update 21 June pm: 

Today the area affected by the Contreras fire increased by 4,401 acres to a total of 24,761 acres. Containment increased to 50% according to the Eastern Area Incident Management Team.

The Team reports that fire around the eastern flank of the summit of Kitt Peak National Observatory is now controlled and they expect to have the northern flank controlled today. The fight is not over for our Tohono O’odham neighbors and we are keeping these communities in our thoughts...

According to the NOIRLab site, the site hosts the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope on behalf of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey, the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope, and the facilities of consortia that operate between them more than a dozen optical telescopes and two radio telescopes. Since the start of COVID, the KPNO has been closed to visitors, so the threat to people in the area reduced.

While the mountains of Arizona offer plenty of benefits for observatories, seasonal fires are also part of the deal. Luckily, the fire crews were there in time to keep Mother Nature in check.

Image (Credit): The Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, AZ, (NSF telescopes from left to right) showing the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope, the Visitor Center Levine 0.4-meter Telescope, 0.9-meter, Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope, and KPNO 2.1-meter Telescope.  (NOIRLab)