KREUZADER (Posts tagged space)

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OSIRIS-REx Sample Collection at Asteroid Bennu: SamCam View of TAGSAM

Captured on Oct. 20, during the OSIRIS-REx mission’s Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event, this series of 82 images shows the SamCam imager’s field of view as the NASA spacecraft approaches and touches down on asteroid Bennu’s surface. The sampling event brought the spacecraft all the way down to sample site Nightingale, and the team on Earth received confirmation of successful touchdown at 6:08 pm EDT. Preliminary data show the sampling head touched Bennu’s surface for approximately 6 seconds, after which the spacecraft performed a back-away burn.

osiris-rex nasa asteroid space
In Search for a Planet Better than Earth: Top Contenders for a Superhabitable World The fact that Earth is teeming with life makes it appear odd to ask whether there could be other planets in our galaxy that may be even more suitable for life....

In Search for a Planet Better than Earth: Top Contenders for a Superhabitable World

The fact that Earth is teeming with life makes it appear odd to ask whether there could be other planets in our galaxy that may be even more suitable for life. Neglecting this possible class of “superhabitable” planets, however, could be considered anthropocentric and geocentric biases. Most important from the perspective of an observer searching for extrasolar life is that such a search might be executed most effectively with a focus on superhabitable planets instead of Earth-like planets. We argue that there could be regions of astrophysical parameter space of star-planet systems that could allow for planets to be even better for life than our Earth. We aim to identify those parameters and their optimal ranges, some of which are astrophysically motivated, whereas others are based on the varying habitability of the natural history of our planet. Some of these conditions are far from being observationally testable on planets outside the solar system. Still, we can distill a short list of 24 top contenders among the >4000 exoplanets known today that could be candidates for a superhabitable planet. In fact, we argue that, with regard to the search for extrasolar life, potentially superhabitable planets may deserve higher priority for follow-up observations than most Earth-like planets.

Source: liebertpub.com
exoplanets astronomy space
Statistical properties of habitable zones in stellar binary systems Observations of exoplanets and protoplanetary disks show that binary stellar systems can host planets in stable orbits. Given the high binary fraction among stars, the contribution...

Statistical properties of habitable zones in stellar binary systems

Observations of exoplanets and protoplanetary disks show that binary stellar systems can host planets in stable orbits. Given the high binary fraction among stars, the contribution of binary systems to Galactic habitability should be quantified. Therefore, we have designed a suite of Monte Carlo experiments aimed at generating large (up to 106) samples of binary systems. For each system randomly extracted we calculate the intersection between the radiative habitable zones and the regions of dynamical stability using published empirical formulations that account for the dynamical and radiative parameters of both stars of the system. We also consider constraints on planetary formation in binary systems. We find that the habitability properties of circumstellar and circumbinary regions are quite different and complementary with respect to the binary system parameters. Circumbinary HZs are, generally, rare (≃4%) in the global population of binary systems, even if they are common for stellar separations ≲0.2 AU. Conversely, circumstellar HZs are frequent (≥80%) in the global population, but are rare for stellar separations ≲1 AU. These results are robust against variations of poorly constrained binary systems parameters. We derive ranges of stellar separations and stellar masses for which HZs in binary systems can be wider than the HZs around single stars; the widening can be particularly strong (up to one order of magnitude) for circumstellar regions around M-type secondary stars. The comparison of our statistical predictions with observational surveys shows the impact of selection effects on the habitability properties of detected exoplanets in binary systems.

Source: arxiv.org
space statistics
Heavy metal planet brings the heat A planet orbiting the star was discovered in 2015 by the Wide-Angle Search for Planets, or WASP, a series of cameras with telephoto lenses that cover a huge swath of sky looking for transits: when a planet orbiting...

Heavy metal planet brings the heat

A planet orbiting the star was discovered in 2015 by the Wide-Angle Search for Planets, or WASP, a series of cameras with telephoto lenses that cover a huge swath of sky looking for transits: when a planet orbiting its star passes directly in front of it, dimming the star’s light by a fraction.

WASP-121b, as the planet is called, is just terrifying. It’s a little bit more massive than Jupiter (1.2 times) but is much larger, 1.9 times the diameter. That’s because it’s puffed up. And just why is it puffed up?

Because it’s hot. It orbits the star at a distance of less than 4 million kilometers — compare that to Earth’s orbit around the Sun of 150 million km. WASP-121b is so close it screams around the star in only 1.27 days, which is just 30.5 hours! Its year is barely more than an Earth day long.

It’s so close to the star that it sizzles; the average temperature is about 2100°C (3800°F). And that’s the average. The hottest spot on its day side cooks at over 3000°C (5400°F). That’s hotter than some stars!

astronomy space
Death by Spaghettification: ESO Telescopes Record Last Moments of Star Devoured by a Black Hole Using telescopes from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and other organisations around the world, astronomers have spotted a rare blast of light...

Death by Spaghettification: ESO Telescopes Record Last Moments of Star Devoured by a Black Hole

Using telescopes from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and other organisations around the world, astronomers have spotted a rare blast of light from a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. The phenomenon, known as a tidal disruption event, is the closest such flare recorded to date at just over 215 million light-years from Earth, and has been studied in unprecedented detail. The research is published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Source: eso.org
astronomy black hole astrophysics european southern observatory space
First direct observation of exoplanet β Pictoris c Astronomers using the GRAVITY instrument at the VLT telescopes in Chile have now obtained the first direct confirmation of an exoplanet discovered by radial-velocity. As the planet “β Pictoris c” is...

First direct observation of exoplanet β Pictoris c

Astronomers using the GRAVITY instrument at the VLT telescopes in Chile have now obtained the first direct confirmation of an exoplanet discovered by radial-velocity. As the planet “β Pictoris c” is in a close orbit around its parent star, this is the first time that the faint glint of the exoplanet next to the glare of the star has been directly observed. With these observations, astronomers can obtain both the flux and dynamical masses of exoplanets, allowing them to put closer constrains on formation models for exoplanets.

Source: mpe.mpg.de
astronomy space
Tianwen-1 deep space manoeuvre As I have mentioned in several posts, the trajectory in which Tianwen-1 was launched had a closest approach to Mars of around 3 million km, so at some point a large correction manoeuvre was needed. We had already seen...

Tianwen-1 deep space manoeuvre

As I have mentioned in several posts, the trajectory in which Tianwen-1 was launched had a closest approach to Mars of around 3 million km, so at some point a large correction manoeuvre was needed. We had already seen small manoeuvres TCM-1 and TCM-2, but we were expecting soon enough this large correction, which is called DSM (deep space manoeuvre). Some sources placed the DSM around the beginning of October, while others were more precise and mentioned that it would happen right after the Mid-Autumn festival holiday season, which this year ended on October 8.

This information turned out to be pretty accurate, since yesterday we heard news that Tianwen-1 had done its DSM at 15:00 UTC on 2020-10-09. This information quickly appeared in the news.

After the Bochum 20m antenna was able to acquire the spacecraft’s signal and gather telemetry at 19:09 UTC, we were able to confirm the manoeuvre in the state vectors transmitted by the spacecraft. Paul Marsh M0EYT was also able to receive telemetry confirming this, starting at 18:18 UTC. This post is an analysis of the data.

Source: destevez.net
cnsa mars tianwen-1 space radio
A terrestrial-mass rogue planet candidate detected in the shortest-timescale microlensing event Some low-mass planets are expected to be ejected from their parent planetary systems during early stages of planetary system formation. According to...

A terrestrial-mass rogue planet candidate detected in the shortest-timescale microlensing event

Some low-mass planets are expected to be ejected from their parent planetary systems during early stages of planetary system formation. According to planet-formation theories, such as the core accretion theory, typical masses of ejected planets should be between 0.3 and 1.0 M⊕. Although in practice such objects do not emit any light, they may be detected using gravitational microlensing via their light-bending gravity. Microlensing events due to terrestrial-mass rogue planets are expected to have extremely small angular Einstein radii (< 1 uas) and extremely short timescales (< 0.1 day). Here, we present the discovery of the shortest-timescale microlensing event, OGLE-2016-BLG-1928, identified to date (tE≈0.0288 day=41.5min). Thanks to the detection of finite-source effects in the light curve of the event, we were able to measure the angular Einstein radius of the lens θE=0.842±0.064 uas, making the event the most extreme short-timescale microlens discovered to date. Depending on its unknown distance, the lens may be a Mars- to Earth-mass object, with the former possibility favored by the Gaia proper motion measurement of the source. We rule out stellar companions up to the projected distance of 8.0 au from the planet. Our discovery demonstrates that terrestrial-mass free-floating planets can be detected and characterized using microlensing.

Source: arxiv.org
astronomy space