April 2018 BRAS Newsletter
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Kepler-452B Is Not a New Earth a Twin of the Sun-Jupiter System
cover EN:l'astrofilo 28/08/15 10:12 Page 1 THE FREE MULTIMEDIA MAGAZINE THAT KEEPS YOU UPDATED ON WHAT IS HAPPENING IN SPACE Bi-monthly magazine of scientific and technical information ✶ September-October 2015 issue astonishing PLUTO Kepler-452b is not a new Earth A twinofthe Sun-Jupiter system www.astropublishing.com ✶ ita.astropublishing.com ✶ [email protected] colophon EN:l'astrofilo 28/08/15 10:17 Page 3 SUMMARY BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION Astonishing Pluto FREELY AVAILABLE THROUGH A faultless mission, that of New Horizons: after a journey of nine and a half years it finally made its THE INTERNET rendezvous with Pluto one minute earlier than predicted and performed its task in the best of ways, 4 revealing a world remarkably more lively and varied than we could have imagined. In these pages... September-October 2015 Kepler-452b is not a new Earth Discovering a planet very similar to ours, at just the right distance from a star identical to the Sun, would be an important step forward in the search for extraterrestrial life. The rush to reach this goal 18 could, however, make us overly optimistic and lead us to define the same as Earth a planet that in... First detection of lithium from an exploding star The light chemical element lithium is one of the few elements that is predicted to have been created by the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago. But understanding the amounts of lithium observed in stars around 26 us today in the Universe has given astronomers headaches. -
Issues Paper on Exploring Space Technologies for Sustainable Development and the Benefits of International Research Collaboration in This Context
United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development Inter-sessional Panel 2019-2020 7-8 November 2019 Geneva, Switzerland Issues Paper on Exploring space technologies for sustainable development and the benefits of international research collaboration in this context Draft Not to be cited Prepared by UNCTAD Secretariat1 18 October 2019 1 Contributions from the Governments of Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, United States of America, as well as from the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the World Food Programme are gratefully acknowledged. Contents Table of figures ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Table of boxes ......................................................................................................................................... 3 I. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 4 II. Space technologies for the Sustainable Development Goals ......................................................... 5 1. Food security and agriculture ..................................................................................................... 5 2. Health applications .................................................................................................................... -
Lurking in the Shadows: Wide-Separation Gas Giants As Tracers of Planet Formation
Lurking in the Shadows: Wide-Separation Gas Giants as Tracers of Planet Formation Thesis by Marta Levesque Bryan In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Pasadena, California 2018 Defended May 1, 2018 ii © 2018 Marta Levesque Bryan ORCID: [0000-0002-6076-5967] All rights reserved iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to thank Heather Knutson, who I had the great privilege of working with as my thesis advisor. Her encouragement, guidance, and perspective helped me navigate many a challenging problem, and my conversations with her were a consistent source of positivity and learning throughout my time at Caltech. I leave graduate school a better scientist and person for having her as a role model. Heather fostered a wonderfully positive and supportive environment for her students, giving us the space to explore and grow - I could not have asked for a better advisor or research experience. I would also like to thank Konstantin Batygin for enthusiastic and illuminating discussions that always left me more excited to explore the result at hand. Thank you as well to Dimitri Mawet for providing both expertise and contagious optimism for some of my latest direct imaging endeavors. Thank you to the rest of my thesis committee, namely Geoff Blake, Evan Kirby, and Chuck Steidel for their support, helpful conversations, and insightful questions. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to collaborate with Brendan Bowler. His talk at Caltech my second year of graduate school introduced me to an unexpected population of massive wide-separation planetary-mass companions, and lead to a long-running collaboration from which several of my thesis projects were born. -
Naming the Extrasolar Planets
Naming the extrasolar planets W. Lyra Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, K¨onigstuhl 17, 69177, Heidelberg, Germany [email protected] Abstract and OGLE-TR-182 b, which does not help educators convey the message that these planets are quite similar to Jupiter. Extrasolar planets are not named and are referred to only In stark contrast, the sentence“planet Apollo is a gas giant by their assigned scientific designation. The reason given like Jupiter” is heavily - yet invisibly - coated with Coper- by the IAU to not name the planets is that it is consid- nicanism. ered impractical as planets are expected to be common. I One reason given by the IAU for not considering naming advance some reasons as to why this logic is flawed, and sug- the extrasolar planets is that it is a task deemed impractical. gest names for the 403 extrasolar planet candidates known One source is quoted as having said “if planets are found to as of Oct 2009. The names follow a scheme of association occur very frequently in the Universe, a system of individual with the constellation that the host star pertains to, and names for planets might well rapidly be found equally im- therefore are mostly drawn from Roman-Greek mythology. practicable as it is for stars, as planet discoveries progress.” Other mythologies may also be used given that a suitable 1. This leads to a second argument. It is indeed impractical association is established. to name all stars. But some stars are named nonetheless. In fact, all other classes of astronomical bodies are named. -
April 2008 SKYSCRAPERS, INC · Amateur Astronomical Society of Rhode Island · 47 Peeptoad Road North Scituate, RI 02857 · April Meeting with Dr
The SkyscraperVol. 35 No. 4 April 2008 SKYSCRAPERS, INC · Amateur Astronomical Society Of Rhode Island · 47 Peeptoad Road North Scituate, RI 02857 · www.theSkyscrapers.org April Meeting with Dr. Alan Guth Friday, April 4 at Seagrave Memorial Observatory Dr. Alan Guth, Professor of Origins, Alan Guth, A Golden Age of Physics at the Massachusetts Insti- Cosmology and other publications. tute of Technology, is best known He will be presenting a talk entitled The Orion Nebula: SBIG 1001E on Meade 16” for the “inflationary” theory of “Inflationary Cosmology.” SCT at Barus and Holley Observatory; L = 12 ex- cosmology in which many features For the April meeting we will be posures x 5 seconds each, binned 1x1; R,G,B = of our universe, including how it returning to Seagrave Observatory. 3 exposures each x 5 seconds each, binned 2x2; came to be so uniform and why it Elections will be held at the April 27 exposures total, total exposure time = 2.25 began so close to the critical density meeting and membership renewals minutes. Images combined and processed using can be explained by. Dr. Guth is the are due. An elections ballot and Maxim DL. Photo by Bob Horton. author of The Inflationary Universe, renewal form are included in the the Quest for a New Theory of Cosmic back of this issue. In This Issue April Meeting with 1 Dr. Alan Guth April 2008 President’s Message 2 Glenn Jackson 4 7:30 pm Annual Meeting with Dr. Alan Guth April Lyrids Meteor 3 Friday Seagrave Memorial Observatory Shower Dave Huestis 5 8:00 pm Public Observing Night Tracking Wildlife -
Occurrence and Core-Envelope Structure of 1–4× Earth-Size Planets Around Sun-Like Stars
Occurrence and core-envelope structure of 1–4× SPECIAL FEATURE Earth-size planets around Sun-like stars Geoffrey W. Marcya,1, Lauren M. Weissa, Erik A. Petiguraa, Howard Isaacsona, Andrew W. Howardb, and Lars A. Buchhavec aDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; bInstitute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822; and cHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 Edited by Adam S. Burrows, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, and accepted by the Editorial Board April 16, 2014 (received for review January 24, 2014) Small planets, 1–4× the size of Earth, are extremely common planets. The Doppler reflex velocity of an Earth-size planet − around Sun-like stars, and surprisingly so, as they are missing in orbiting at 0.3 AU is only 0.2 m s 1, difficult to detect with an − our solar system. Recent detections have yielded enough informa- observational precision of 1 m s 1. However, such Earth-size tion about this class of exoplanets to begin characterizing their planets show up as a ∼10-sigma dimming of the host star after occurrence rates, orbits, masses, densities, and internal structures. coadding the brightness measurements from each transit. The Kepler mission finds the smallest planets to be most common, The occurrence rate of Earth-size planets is a major goal of as 26% of Sun-like stars have small, 1–2 R⊕ planets with orbital exoplanet science. With three years of Kepler photometry in periods under 100 d, and 11% have 1–2 R⊕ planets that receive 1–4× hand, two groups worked to account for the detection biases in the incident stellar flux that warms our Earth. -
Mr R) [ Ndwslffidr
SUMMER 1994 TI,D VOLUME 17, NO.2 /\lMr R) [ NDWSLffiDR Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 to Hit Jupiter Editor's Notes The Great Jupiter Comet Bash! Many changes have come to MIRA recently. For Get a front rorv seat to witness the cataclysmic one, the projected move to the new California State crash of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter. You University at Monterey Bay campus will become a re- are invited to The Great Comet Bash, a benefit event ality. Remodeling of the former Fort Ord building for MIRA, otr July 16th, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the scheduled for transfer to MIRA has gone to the draw- Monterey Conference Center. ing board (the computer screen?) at The Paul Davis You will be a part of an entertaining and educa- Partnership. Soon, MIRA's classrooms rvill surround a evening dinosaurs, music, good light- and greenery-filled atrium on the ground floor tional of astronoffiy, food, space art, and dance. of what was once an unprepossessing military struc- ture. The library and research facilities will occupy the second floor, and administrative offices and more Featured events include: research areas will take over the third level. At last, o Live pictures from the Space Telescope kstitute our many endeavors can be centralized in a single lo- o Historian Tom Logan on lost civilizations and comets cation, accessible to all, and convenient to other insti- o A children's comet art contest tutions committed to education and research. MIRA o Images from ground-based observatories sent via Internet of has some very exciting proposals under consideration the impact by a variety of public and private agencies. -
10. Scientific Programme 10.1
10. SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME 10.1. OVERVIEW (a) Invited Discourses Plenary Hall B 18:00-19:30 ID1 “The Zoo of Galaxies” Karen Masters, University of Portsmouth, UK Monday, 20 August ID2 “Supernovae, the Accelerating Cosmos, and Dark Energy” Brian Schmidt, ANU, Australia Wednesday, 22 August ID3 “The Herschel View of Star Formation” Philippe André, CEA Saclay, France Wednesday, 29 August ID4 “Past, Present and Future of Chinese Astronomy” Cheng Fang, Nanjing University, China Nanjing Thursday, 30 August (b) Plenary Symposium Review Talks Plenary Hall B (B) 8:30-10:00 Or Rooms 309A+B (3) IAUS 288 Astrophysics from Antarctica John Storey (3) Mon. 20 IAUS 289 The Cosmic Distance Scale: Past, Present and Future Wendy Freedman (3) Mon. 27 IAUS 290 Probing General Relativity using Accreting Black Holes Andy Fabian (B) Wed. 22 IAUS 291 Pulsars are Cool – seriously Scott Ransom (3) Thu. 23 Magnetars: neutron stars with magnetic storms Nanda Rea (3) Thu. 23 Probing Gravitation with Pulsars Michael Kremer (3) Thu. 23 IAUS 292 From Gas to Stars over Cosmic Time Mordacai-Mark Mac Low (B) Tue. 21 IAUS 293 The Kepler Mission: NASA’s ExoEarth Census Natalie Batalha (3) Tue. 28 IAUS 294 The Origin and Evolution of Cosmic Magnetism Bryan Gaensler (B) Wed. 29 IAUS 295 Black Holes in Galaxies John Kormendy (B) Thu. 30 (c) Symposia - Week 1 IAUS 288 Astrophysics from Antartica IAUS 290 Accretion on all scales IAUS 291 Neutron Stars and Pulsars IAUS 292 Molecular gas, Dust, and Star Formation in Galaxies (d) Symposia –Week 2 IAUS 289 Advancing the Physics of Cosmic -
Variable Star Classification and Light Curves Manual
Variable Star Classification and Light Curves An AAVSO course for the Carolyn Hurless Online Institute for Continuing Education in Astronomy (CHOICE) This is copyrighted material meant only for official enrollees in this online course. Do not share this document with others. Please do not quote from it without prior permission from the AAVSO. Table of Contents Course Description and Requirements for Completion Chapter One- 1. Introduction . What are variable stars? . The first known variable stars 2. Variable Star Names . Constellation names . Greek letters (Bayer letters) . GCVS naming scheme . Other naming conventions . Naming variable star types 3. The Main Types of variability Extrinsic . Eclipsing . Rotating . Microlensing Intrinsic . Pulsating . Eruptive . Cataclysmic . X-Ray 4. The Variability Tree Chapter Two- 1. Rotating Variables . The Sun . BY Dra stars . RS CVn stars . Rotating ellipsoidal variables 2. Eclipsing Variables . EA . EB . EW . EP . Roche Lobes 1 Chapter Three- 1. Pulsating Variables . Classical Cepheids . Type II Cepheids . RV Tau stars . Delta Sct stars . RR Lyr stars . Miras . Semi-regular stars 2. Eruptive Variables . Young Stellar Objects . T Tau stars . FUOrs . EXOrs . UXOrs . UV Cet stars . Gamma Cas stars . S Dor stars . R CrB stars Chapter Four- 1. Cataclysmic Variables . Dwarf Novae . Novae . Recurrent Novae . Magnetic CVs . Symbiotic Variables . Supernovae 2. Other Variables . Gamma-Ray Bursters . Active Galactic Nuclei 2 Course Description and Requirements for Completion This course is an overview of the types of variable stars most commonly observed by AAVSO observers. We discuss the physical processes behind what makes each type variable and how this is demonstrated in their light curves. Variable star names and nomenclature are placed in a historical context to aid in understanding today’s classification scheme. -
CHRONIK RAUMFAHRTSTARTS Januar Bis März 2018 Von Arno Fellenberg
Heft 45 Ausgabe 1/2018 RC I RAUMFAHRT INFORMATIONS CONCRET DIENST CHRONIK RAUMFAHRTSTARTS Januar bis März 2018 von Arno Fellenberg Raumfahrt Concret Informationsdienst – RCI – 2 – Raumfahrt Concret Informationsdienst RC I RAUMFAHRT INFORMATIONS CONCRET DIENST INHALT COPYRIGHT 2018 / AUTOR VORWORT SEITE 3 CHRONOLOGISCHE STARTFOLGE SEITE 4 BAHNDATEN SEITE 31 ABSTÜRZE UND LANDUNGEN SEITE 38 Impressum Herausgeber: Redaktionskollegium: Raumfahrt Concret Arno Fellenberg (Chronik) Informationsdienst (RCI) Michael Gräfe (SLS & Orion) Ralf Hupertz (Layout) Verlagsanschrift: Jürgen Stark (Statistik) Verlag Iniplu 2000 c/o Initiative 2000 plus e.V. Redaktionsanschrift: Lindenstr. 63 Arno Fellenberg 17033 Neubrandenburg Bochumer Landstr. 256 45276 Essen Druck: [email protected] Henryk Walther Papier- & Druck-Center GmbH & Co. KG Einzelpreis: Neubrandenburg 5,00 € www.walther-druck.de RC-Kunden: 3,00 € Fotos Titelseite (SpaceX): Erststart der Falcon Heavy und Landung der beiden seitlichen Booster (18-017) Chronik – Raumfahrtstarts, Januar bis März 2018 Raumfahrt Concret Informationsdienst – 3 – Chronik Raumfahrtstarts Januar bis März 2018 von Arno Fellenberg Liebe Leserinnen und Leser! Mit dem ersten Teil der RCI-Chronik Raumfahrtstarts des Jahres 2018 beginnen wir den zwölften Jahrgang umfangreicher Informationen zu allen Raumfahrtstarts weltweit unter dem Logo des Raumfahrt Concret Informationsdienst. Diese Ausgabe umfasst die Starts der Monate Januar bis März 2018. Sie finden in diesem Band in chronologischer Folge wichtige Angaben zu allen Raum- fahrtstarts des Berichtszeitraums. Wie gewohnt, werden alle Raumflugkörper näher vor- gestellt und deren Mission wird kurz beschrieben. Weiterhin finden Sie hier eine kompakte Startliste, die die wichtigsten verfügbaren Bahnparameter dieser Raumflugkörper umfasst. Schließlich sind alle Satelliten aufgelistet, die im Berichtszeitraum abgestürzt sind bzw. zur Erde zurückgeführt wurden. Beim Transport von Kleinsatelliten zur ISS, werden diese im Bericht des Startfahrzeuges beschrieben. -
July 2019 Report
July- 2019 India Science Wire - highlighting Indian science in Indian media The coverage of science and technology particularly relating to research done in Indian research institutions, is generally very poor in Indian media. There are several reasons for this situation, one of them being the lack of credible and relevant science content. In order to bridge this gap, Vigyan Prasar launched a unique initiative - India Science Wire (ISW) – in January 2017. The news service is dedicated to developments in Indian research laboratories, universities and academic institutions. Almost all news stories released by this service are based on research papers by Indian scientists published in leading Indian and foreign journals. All news stories and features are written and edited by a team of professional science journalists with decades of experience in science journalism. News stories based on happenings in Indian research labs are released to media houses on a daily basis. These stories are also uploaded on ISW website and are simultaneously promoted though social media – Twitter and Facebook. At present, the service is available in English and Hindi. Reach out ISW Editor with story ideas, comments and suggestions at [email protected] ISW website: http://vigyanprasar.gov.in/isw/isw.htm 1 2 ISW stories released and published in July 2019 S.No Story title Date of release Name of the writer 1 Here is how millets can make India’s July 1 Dinesh C Sharma food basket climate-resilient 2 Vitamin combo may help treat kala July 1 Sunderarajan -
To Trappist-1 RAIR Golaith Ship
Mission Profile Navigator 10:07 AM - 12/2/2018 page 1 of 10 Interstellar Mission Profile for SGC Navigator - Report - Printable ver 4.3 Start: omicron 2 40 Eri (Star Trek Vulcan home star) (HD Dest: Trappist-1 2Mass J23062928-0502285 in Aquarii [X -9.150] [Y - 26965) (Keid) (HIP 19849) in Eridani [X 14.437] [Y - 38.296] [Z -3.452] 7.102] [Z -2.167] Rendezvous Earth date arrival: Tuesday, December 8, 2420 Ship Type: RAIR Golaith Ship date arrival: Tuesday, January 8, 2419 Type 2: Rendezvous with a coasting leg ( Top speed is reached before mid-point ) Start Position: Start Date: 2-December-2018 Star System omicron 2 40 Eri (Star Trek Vulcan home star) (HD 26965) (Keid) Earth Polar Primary Star: (HIP 19849) RA hours: inactive Type: K0 V Planets: 1e RA min: inactive Binary: B, C, b RA sec: inactive Type: M4.5V, DA2.9 dec. degrees inactive Rank from Earth: 69 Abs Mag.: 5.915956445 dec. minutes inactive dec. seconds inactive Galactic SGC Stats Distance l/y Sector X Y Z Earth to Start Position: 16.2346953 Kappa 14.43696547 -7.10221947 -2.16744969 Destination Arrival Date (Earth time): 8-December-2420 Star System Earth Polar Trappist-1 2Mass J23062928-0502285 Primary Star: RA hours: inactive Type: M8V Planets 4, 3e RA min: inactive Binary: B C RA sec: inactive Type: 0 dec. degrees inactive Rank from Earth 679 Abs Mag.: 18.4 dec. minutes inactive Course Headings SGC decimal dec. seconds inactive RA: (0 <360) 232.905748 dec: (0-180) 91.8817176 Galactic SGC Sector X Y Z Destination: Apparent position | Start of Mission Omega -9.09279603 -38.2336637 -3.46695345 Destination: Real position | Start of Mission Omega -9.09548281 -38.2366036 -3.46626331 Destination: Real position | End of Mission Omega -9.14988933 -38.2961361 -3.45228825 Shifts in distances of Destination Distance l/y X Y Z Change in Apparent vs.