Space news topic and space related news

[Toliman]

First light for ESPRESSO — the next generation planet hunter

The Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) has successfully made its first observations. Installed on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, ESPRESSO will search for exoplanets with unprecedented precision by looking at the minuscule changes in the light of their host stars. For the first time ever, an instrument will be able to sum up the light from all four VLT telescopes and achieve the light collecting power of a 16-metre telescope.

ESPRESSO has achieved first light on ESO's Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile [1]. This new, third-generation echelle spectrograph is the successor to ESO's hugely successful HARPS instrument at the La Silla Observatory. HARPS can attain a precision of around one metre per second in velocity measurements, whereas ESPRESSO aims to achieve a precision of just a few centimetres per second, due to advances in technology and its placement on a much bigger telescope.

ESPRESSO can detect tiny changes in the spectra of stars as a planet orbits. This radial velocity method works because a planet's gravitational pull influences its host star, causing it to "wobble" slightly. The less massive the planet, the smaller the wobble, and so for rocky and possibly life-bearing exoplanets to be detected, an instrument with very high precision is required. With this method, ESPRESSO will be able to detect some of the lightest planets ever found [2].

The test observations included observations of stars and known planetary systems. Comparisons with existing HARPS data showed that ESPRESSO can obtain similar quality data with dramatically less exposure time.

more here:
http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1739/

[Toliman]

Falcon 9 rocket launch provides spectacular view in Bakersfield

SpaceX's Falcon 9, a rocket carrying satellites, launched shortly before 5:30 p.m. Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the coast and provided a spectacular view all the way to Bakersfield.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRzZl_nq6fk

[Toliman]

Falcon Heavy preparing for Static Fire test

SpaceX has been ticking off the milestones towards the maiden flight of its Falcon Heavy rocket, with the latest achievement resulting in the vehicle making her first trip to the launch pad. Via a process known as "Fit Checks", this flow milestone allows for a test run of rollout and erection on Pad 39A ahead of another upcoming first, the Static Fire test involving the ignition of all 27 engines.
...

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/12/falcon-heavy-maiden-static-fire-test/

[BlueHusky2154]

Glad to see them making progress. 

[Toliman]

Glad to see them making progress. 

Yeah, I am glad for any progress at astronautics and space exploration

[Toliman]

Interesting stientific article about exoplanets detectability in the Alpha Centauri system:

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1711.06320.pdf

[BlueHusky2154]

Interesting stientific article about exoplanets detectability in the Alpha Centauri system:

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1711.06320.pdf

Good read.

[Toliman]

NASA will host a briefing at 1 p.m. EST Thursday, Jan. 4, about the agency's upcoming science mission to explore where Earth's atmosphere meets space. The live event will air on NASA Television and stream on the agency's website and Facebook Live.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-briefing-previews-mission-to-explore-nearest-reaches-of-space

[Toliman]

Researchers Catch Supermassive Black Hole Burping — Twice

Supermassive black holes, weighing millions of times as much as our Sun, are gatherers not hunters. Embedded in the hearts of galaxies, they will lie dormant for a long time until the next meal happens to come along.

The team of astronomers using observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and as well as the W.M. Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the Apache Point Observatory (APO) near Sunspot, New Mexico, zeroed in on a flickering black hole.

A black hole in the center of galaxy SDSS J1354+1327, located about 800 million light-years away, appears to have consumed large amounts of gas while blasting off an outflow of high-energy particles. The fresh burst of fuel might have been supplied by a bypassing galaxy. The outflow eventually switched off then turned back on about 100,000 years later. This is strong evidence that accreting black holes can switch their power output off and on again over timescales that are short compared to the 13.8-billion-year age of the universe.
...

Found here:
http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2018-05

[Toliman]

First light for exoplanet hunter ExTrA at La Silla

A new national facility at ESO's La Silla Observatory has successfully made its first observations. The ExTrA telescopes will search for and study Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby red dwarf stars. ExTrA's novel design allows for much improved sensitivity compared to previous searches. Astronomers now have a powerful new tool to help in the search for potentially habitable worlds.

The newest addition to ESO's La Silla observatory in northern Chile, Exoplanets in Transits and their Atmospheres (ExTrA), has made its first successful observations. ExTrA is designed to search for planets around nearby red dwarf stars and study their properties. ExTrA is a French project funded by the European Research Council and the French Agence National de la Recherche. The telescopes will be operated remotely from Grenoble, France.

To detect and study exoplanets, ExTrA uses three 0.6-metre telescopes [1]. They regularly monitor the amount of light received from many red dwarf stars and look for a slight dip in brightness that could be caused by a planet passing — transiting — across a star's disc and obscuring some of its light.


https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1803/?lang


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwKj6kzFeDI

[Toliman]

Video from yersterday SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB_nEtZxPog

[BlueHusky2154]

Starman has a sweet ride too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2p55BmwmJM

He's jamming to David Bowie as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYYRH4apXDo

[Toliman]

First link is NICE

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

Falcon Heavy exceeded its launch performance and launched the Tesla roadster into a spectacularly high orbit-- into the asteroid belt and almost out to the orbit of Ceres. The original goal was to get it to orbit out as far as Mars. But the second stage had enough reserve capacity (the intention was always to use all the remaining fuel, not to achieve some specific orbit) to boost it considerable farther. The orbital parameters are .98 AU X 2.61 AU, with a C3 if 12 km^2/sec^2. This shows that Falcon heavy easily has enough capability to carry a satelly out to the apogee of a geostationary transfer orbit, and perform the orbital insertion burn there. This is a military requirement SpaceX was asked to meet, and the only other vehicle capable of diong is is the Delta 4 Heavy. This bodes very well for SpaceX and the Falcon Heavy.

The only disappointment in the mission was the core stage only restarted one of the three engines required for the land ing burn. No firm word yet why, but I have leard low propellant and out of Triethylborane as possible causes. It missed the drone ship, but was going 300 MPH (483 km/h) when it hit the water. The stage disintegrated on impact, and took out 2 thrusters on the droneship. The other two boosters ladded simultaneously at the Cape, wowing spectators.

There is a livestream of the coast phase of the mission where you can watch the Tesla roadster slowly roll in space, while listening to David Bowie.

But anyway, kudos to SpaceX in a spectacularly sucessful mission!

[Toliman]

The only disappointment in the mission was the core stage only restarted one of the three engines required for the land ing burn. No firm word yet why, but I have leard low propellant and out of Triethylborane as possible causes. It missed the drone ship, but was going 300 MPH (483 km/h) when it hit the water. The stage disintegrated on impact, and took out 2 thrusters on the droneship. The other two boosters ladded simultaneously at the Cape, wowing spectators.

Yeah, maybe it would be possible explanation... We will see...
And that simultaneous landing of two boosters was really spectacular!

But anyway, kudos to SpaceX in a spectacularly sucessful mission!

Yes, it surely is

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

Its looking like the core stage did run out of TEB, which shouldn't have happened. Maybe there was a problem. It will be hard to tell now.

[Toliman]

Hmm ... maybe yes.



Found this:

Astronomers Claim to Find Population of Rogue Exoplanets in Distant Galaxy
http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/rogue-exoplanets-distant-galaxy-05691.html

Scientists may have discovered the first planets outside the Milky Way
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/02/05/scientists-discover-the-first-planets-outside-the-milky-way/?utm_term=.c948d58f5f63

Cluster of planets 3.8 billion light-years away, a recent discovery that if confirmed could extend the boundary of what we know about the universe.
Using data from a NASA X-ray laboratory in space, Xinyu Dai, an astrophysicist and professor at the University of Oklahoma, detected, for the first time ever, a population of planets beyond the Milky Way galaxy. The planets range in size from Earth's moon to the massive Jupiter. ...

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

That's either cutting edge science, or fringe science. The idea that they can detect moon-sized objects in a galaxy 'polluted' by much larger stars all radiating significant amounts of energy, is a real stretch.

[Toliman]

That's either cutting edge science, or fringe science. The idea that they can detect moon-sized objects in a galaxy 'polluted' by much larger stars all radiating significant amounts of energy, is a real stretch.

Yeah, I agree completely.



Found this:

Hubble Probes Atmospheres of Exoplanets in TRAPPIST-1 Habitable Zone
http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2018-07

Worlds in the Star's Habitable Zone Are Not Smothered Under Primordial Atmospheres

Only 40 light-years away — a stone's throw on the scale of our galaxy — several Earth-sized planets orbit the red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1. Four of the planets lie in the star's habitable zone, a region at a distance from the star where liquid water, the key to life as we know it, could exist on the planets' surfaces.

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have conducted the first spectroscopic survey of these worlds. Hubble reveals that at least three of the exoplanets do not seem to contain puffy, hydrogen-rich atmospheres similar to gaseous planets such as Neptune. This means the atmospheres may be more shallow and rich in heavier gases like those found in Earth's atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and oxygen.

Astronomers plan to use NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2019, to probe deeper into the planetary atmospheres to search for the presence of such elements that could offer hints of whether these far-flung worlds are habitable.

[BlueHusky2154]

Well, at least the gaseous planet possibility seems to be ruled out.