Category: Cosmology

Cosmology is the science of the origin and development of the universe. Modern cosmology is dominated by the Big Bang theory, which brings together observational astronomy and particle physics.

Supernova remnant – exploded star is a cosmic flower

Amazing new image of a supernova remnant released on Feb 12, 2015 by NASA and Harvard captured by the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

According to  Chandra.Harvard.edu, the website that released image, “G299 was left over by a particular class of supernovas called Type Ia. Astronomers think that a Type Ia supernova is a thermonuclear explosion – involving the fusion of elements and release of vast amounts of energy – of a white dwarf star in a tight orbit with a companion star. If the white dwarf’s partner is a typical, Sun-like star, the white dwarf can become unstable and explode as it draws material from its companion. Alternatively, the white dwarf is in orbit with another white dwarf, the two may merge and can trigger an explosion.”

Chandra - g299
Chandra – G299.2-2.9

Supernova Remnant G299.2-2.9

  • Chandra observations of the supernova remnant G299.2-2.9 reveal important information about this object.
  • The shape of the “supernova remnant” today gives clues about the explosion that created it about 4,500 years ago.
  • G299.2-2.9 belongs to the class of supernovas known as Type Ias.
  • Astronomers are trying to determine the exact mechanisms that produce these particular explosions.
  • The patterns seen in the Chandra data suggest that a very lopsided explosion may have produced this Type Ia supernova.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory

The Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), previously known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), is a space telescope launched on STS-93 by NASA on July 23, 1999. Chandra is sensitive to X-ray sources 100 times fainter than any previous X-ray telescope, enabled by the high angular resolution of its mirrors. Since the Earth’s atmosphere absorbs the vast majority of X-rays, they are not detectable from Earth-based telescopes; therefore space-based telescopes are required to make these observations. Chandra is an Earth satellite in a 64-hour orbit, and its mission is ongoing as of 2014.

Comet on January 22, 2015 – Rosetta NavCam

Comet on 22 January 2015 – Rosetta NavCam
27.9 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on January 22, 2015

Image Details

  • Title: Comet on January 22, 2015 – NavCam
  • Released: Feb 02, 2015 3:00 pm
  • Copyright: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
  • Id: 334588
  • Description: This four-image mosaic comprises Rosetta navigation camera images taken from a distance of 27.9 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on January 22, 2015. The image resolution is 2.4 m/pixel and the individual 1024 x 1024 frames measure about 2.4 km across. The mosaic measures 4.2 x 4 km.

This work is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) licence. The user is allowed to reproduce, distribute, adapt, translate and publicly perform this publication, without explicit permission, provided that the content is accompanied by an acknowledgement that the source is credited as ‘European Space Agency – ESA’, a direct link to the licence text is provided and that it is clearly indicated if changes were made to the original content. Adaptation/translation/derivatives must be distributed under the same licence terms as this publication. To view a copy of this license, please visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/

Comet on January 21, 2015 – Rosetta NavCam

27.9 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 21 January
27.9 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on January 21, 2015

Image Details

  • Title: Comet on January 21, 2015 – NavCam
  • Released: January 28, 2015 5:15 pm
  • Copyright: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
  • Description: This four-image mosaic comprises Rosetta navigation camera images taken from a distance of 27.9 km from the centre of Comet67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on January 21, 2015. The image resolution is 2.4 m/pixel and the individual 1024 x 1024 frames measure about 2.4 km across. The mosaic measures 4.2 x 4 km.

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

This work is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) licence. The user is allowed to reproduce, distribute, adapt, translate and publicly perform this publication, without explicit permission, provided that the content is accompanied by an acknowledgement that the source is credited as ‘European Space Agency – ESA’, a direct link to the licence text is provided and that it is clearly indicated if changes were made to the original content. Adaptation/translation/derivatives must be distributed under the same licence terms as this publication. To view a copy of this licence, please visit 

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/

Gigantic ring system much larger, heavier than Saturn’s

Scientists at the University of Rochester have discovered an enormous ringed planet with rings 200 times larger than Saturn. The planet, named J1407b, would appear larger than the moon and dominate the night sky if it were in our solar system.

“If we could replace Saturn’s rings with the rings around J1407b, they would be easily visible at night and be many times larger than the full moon,” said Matthew Kenworthy from the Netherlands’ Leiden Observatory.

Gigantic Super Saturn Discovered
Artist’s conception of the ring system circling the young giant planet or brown dwarf J1407b. Credit: Ron Miller

“Astronomer Eric Mamajek at the University of Rochester and his co-author from the Leiden Observatory, The Netherlands, have discovered that the ring system that they see eclipse the very young Sun-like star J1407 is of enormous proportions, much larger and heavier than the ring system of Saturn. The ring system – the first of its kind to be found outside our solar system – was discovered in 2012 by a team led by Rochester’s Eric Mamajek.” – rochester.edu

If Saturn had the same size rings as J1407b, the rings might look like this:

Gigantic ring system is 123 million kilometers in diameter

The astronomers analyzed data from the SuperWASP project – a survey that is designed to detect gas giants that move along their parent star. In 2012, Eric Mamajek and colleagues (University of Rochester) reported the discovery of the young star J1407 and its unusual eclipses. It was assumed that the eclipses were caused by a moon-forming disk around a young giant planet or a brown dwarf.

In the recent study led by Kenworthy, direct observations with adaptive optics and Doppler spectroscopy were used to estimate the mass of the ringed object. Their conclusions based on these and previous publications are intriguing. System J1407 contains a giant ring system that repeatedly blocks the light of the star over a period of about two months (56 days).

After detailed analyzed of the light curve, astronomers came to the surprising conclusion that the diameter of the ring system is about 123 million kilometers, more than a hundred times as large as the rings of Saturn.

Eric Mamajek said, “There is probably at least one earth mass of material are present in the rings, and more material may be in the satellites that provide the substructure of the ring.”

Translated from Astronomie.Nl

Exoring model for J1407b from Matthew Kenworthy on Vimeo.