Paul Delaney regaled us with this weeks astronomy news, and was also the recipient of the Sandford Fleming Medal of the Royal Canadian Institute. He was awarded this for his outstanding contribution to the public understanding of science. Here is a list of talking points of this weeks meeting:
Voyager 2 has been diagnosed! click here to see the prognosis.
Cassini continues its studies of Saturn and its satellites. Specifically Enceladus and Titan, see the latest results.
Astronomers think they have solved the missing baryon problem, it's all tied up in hot gas located in between galaxies in the Sculptor wall. Check out the article.
Jupiter surprised us all recently when its southern equatorial band suddenly disappeared. We'll keep a watchful eye in the next couple months.
Japan is launching a Venus orbiter and something that comes right out science fiction!
A in depth analysis of SOHO's data over the last 13 years has shown the sun to be roughly static in size.
The space station is currently getting one of its last upgrades before the shuttles stop running. check out the article here.
Finally, BBC reports a US-based might have found clues as to why there is the lopsided matter-antimatter ratio.
Enjoy the reading. See you all next week!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
May 10 Recap
Thanks everyone for the stimulating conversation. Here is a list of the talking points covered at this past meeting.
In a press release from the Max-Planck Institute, astronomers have spectroscopically confirmed the highest redshift galaxy cluster at z=1.62. Click here for the press release and here for the arXiv manuscript.
The Large Magellanic Cloud has provided astronomers with the first direct observation of a runaway star. Kicked out of its stellar nursery, the star has traveled roughly 120pc. Here is the universe today, which has links to the published article.
A candidate for the 'recoiling blackhole' theory has been discovered using a combination of X-ray and optical observations. Find the article here.
NASA's Voyager 2 (out at 13 billion km from earth) has run into some technical glitches with its science data. Let's stay vigilant.
ESA's Herchel Infrared Space Telescope has begun officially releasing data, find many new press releases here.
See you all at the next meeting!
In a press release from the Max-Planck Institute, astronomers have spectroscopically confirmed the highest redshift galaxy cluster at z=1.62. Click here for the press release and here for the arXiv manuscript.
The Large Magellanic Cloud has provided astronomers with the first direct observation of a runaway star. Kicked out of its stellar nursery, the star has traveled roughly 120pc. Here is the universe today, which has links to the published article.
A candidate for the 'recoiling blackhole' theory has been discovered using a combination of X-ray and optical observations. Find the article here.
NASA's Voyager 2 (out at 13 billion km from earth) has run into some technical glitches with its science data. Let's stay vigilant.
ESA's Herchel Infrared Space Telescope has begun officially releasing data, find many new press releases here.
See you all at the next meeting!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
May 5 Recap
Kicking off the summer term for the astro journal club, we talked about everything from NASA robots to planetary migration theory. Jesse Rogerson hosted, below is a list of talking points.
Challenge your brain with the universe today puzzle, check out the question and the answer here.
NASA intends to launch a 'humanoid robot' to the ISS to help out with the mundane tasks. Dubbed 'R2,' read the press release here.
The Keck Observatory recently observed the light echoes of the supernova remnant of Cassiopeia A, producing a 3 dimensional view of the, now confirmed, lopsided supernova. Read about it here.
ESO has decided the location for the E-ELT. The mountain Cerro Armazones in the Atacama desert will one day house the largest optical telescope on Earth.
Turning planetary formation models on their heads was the Gemini Observatory with its observations of a brown dwarf/planetary-mass binary.
Asteroids between Mars and Jupiter have been shown to have icy surfaces, and potential ice reservoirs below the surface. Read the nature article here.
Finally, observations of exoplanets from WASP show there is planets out there that are in retrograde motion around their parent stars, lending credence to some new planetary migration theories. Read the Science Daily article here.
That's it for this week!
Challenge your brain with the universe today puzzle, check out the question and the answer here.
NASA intends to launch a 'humanoid robot' to the ISS to help out with the mundane tasks. Dubbed 'R2,' read the press release here.
The Keck Observatory recently observed the light echoes of the supernova remnant of Cassiopeia A, producing a 3 dimensional view of the, now confirmed, lopsided supernova. Read about it here.
ESO has decided the location for the E-ELT. The mountain Cerro Armazones in the Atacama desert will one day house the largest optical telescope on Earth.
Turning planetary formation models on their heads was the Gemini Observatory with its observations of a brown dwarf/planetary-mass binary.
Asteroids between Mars and Jupiter have been shown to have icy surfaces, and potential ice reservoirs below the surface. Read the nature article here.
Finally, observations of exoplanets from WASP show there is planets out there that are in retrograde motion around their parent stars, lending credence to some new planetary migration theories. Read the Science Daily article here.
That's it for this week!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Mar 31 Recap
It was the last meeting of this term. Prof. Marshall McCall was our host. He mainly discussed about the left-handed chiralities of the amino acids and some attempted explanations. One possible solution was mentioned in Nature's 'News and Views' here (the actually link to the Nature paper is broken). Another more recent explanation involved a supernova explosion, a magnetic field and molecular clouds. The paper can be found here.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Mar 24 Recap
This week's meeting was hosted by Laura Chajet. Some topics we talked about were:
1. Astronomers use APEX (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment) telescope have been able to study the size and brightness of regions of star-birth in a very distant (z~2.3) galaxy via a cosmic "gravitational lens". Read the news release at ESO here, and the Nature paper here.
2. "Imaging the surface of massive stars", Andrea Chiavassa leads a group of internatinal astronomers study the surface of red supergiants using both 3-D simulation and interferometric observations with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. Read more here.
3. The Corot satellite found a gas giant planet that may resembles the interior of Jupiter and Saturn. Is is the first transiting planets to have both a longer period and a near-circular orbit. Its temperature is between 250K and 430K. Read the ESA news here, or read the Nature letter here.
4. "Dust-free quasars in the early Universe", two hot-dust-free quasars (at z~6) are believed to be first generate quasars born in dust-free environments and are too young to have formed a detectable amount of hot dust around them. Read the Nature letter here.
1. Astronomers use APEX (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment) telescope have been able to study the size and brightness of regions of star-birth in a very distant (z~2.3) galaxy via a cosmic "gravitational lens". Read the news release at ESO here, and the Nature paper here.
2. "Imaging the surface of massive stars", Andrea Chiavassa leads a group of internatinal astronomers study the surface of red supergiants using both 3-D simulation and interferometric observations with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. Read more here.
3. The Corot satellite found a gas giant planet that may resembles the interior of Jupiter and Saturn. Is is the first transiting planets to have both a longer period and a near-circular orbit. Its temperature is between 250K and 430K. Read the ESA news here, or read the Nature letter here.
4. "Dust-free quasars in the early Universe", two hot-dust-free quasars (at z~6) are believed to be first generate quasars born in dust-free environments and are too young to have formed a detectable amount of hot dust around them. Read the Nature letter here.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Mar10 Recap
This week's journal club is hosted by Jesse Rogerson. Some topics were:
1. "Spirits' Journey to the Center of Mars", read the news about Mars rover Spirit, on NASA here.
2. New results show that the channels on Mars might be formed from lava flow instead of the water flow. Read more here.
3. 2010 Hubble Fellows Symposium. Watch fascinating presentations through Webcast here.
4. "Globe at Night" is on going from Mar 3rd to 16th. An annual 2-week campaign to help address the light pollution issue locally and globally. Read how you can participate here.
5. You can rent a telescope through the web. In March issue of Sky & Telescope Andy Macica told you how well it works.
6. "Keck telescope confirms smallest known star duo". HM Cancri, a binary system consists two white dwarfs, their rotation period around each other has been confirmed as 5.4 minutes. Read the news here.
7. "Underground detector yields tantalizing hint of dark matter", an article in Physics Today February issue talks about the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search and their two "tantalizing but inconclusive" findings. Read the article here.
8. Iapetus, one of Saturn's moons, has extreme albedo. One of the explanation, given as early as 1974, that Iapetus is a very dusty ice ball is supported by Cassini's visible and IR data. Read the article here.
1. "Spirits' Journey to the Center of Mars", read the news about Mars rover Spirit, on NASA here.
2. New results show that the channels on Mars might be formed from lava flow instead of the water flow. Read more here.
3. 2010 Hubble Fellows Symposium. Watch fascinating presentations through Webcast here.
4. "Globe at Night" is on going from Mar 3rd to 16th. An annual 2-week campaign to help address the light pollution issue locally and globally. Read how you can participate here.
5. You can rent a telescope through the web. In March issue of Sky & Telescope Andy Macica told you how well it works.
6. "Keck telescope confirms smallest known star duo". HM Cancri, a binary system consists two white dwarfs, their rotation period around each other has been confirmed as 5.4 minutes. Read the news here.
7. "Underground detector yields tantalizing hint of dark matter", an article in Physics Today February issue talks about the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search and their two "tantalizing but inconclusive" findings. Read the article here.
8. Iapetus, one of Saturn's moons, has extreme albedo. One of the explanation, given as early as 1974, that Iapetus is a very dusty ice ball is supported by Cassini's visible and IR data. Read the article here.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Mar 3 Recap
This meeting was hosted by Dr. Chris Ryan. Some highlights were:
1. Chilean quake may have shortened Earth days. Read the NASA news here.
2. NASA still cannot get contact with Phoenix on Mars. Read the article here.
3. NASA Mini-Sar experiment on board India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar spacecraft has identified thick deposits of water-ice near the Moon's north pole. Read the news here.
4. "Zooniverse" newest attraction, "Solar Storm Watch". Spot and track solar storms online using real data from NASA's STEREO spacecraft. Try your hand here.
5. Nature invited seven astronomers gave ranks to future missions during a dinner. Read what and why they think are important here.
6. Exoplanet, WASP-12b, is being swallowed by its Sun. Read the story here or the Nature letter here.
7. A group of Argentina astronomers show evidence that contrary to the general belief, more than half of the cosmic rays are not from AGNs at all. Read the news at Nature or their journal paper here.
1. Chilean quake may have shortened Earth days. Read the NASA news here.
2. NASA still cannot get contact with Phoenix on Mars. Read the article here.
3. NASA Mini-Sar experiment on board India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar spacecraft has identified thick deposits of water-ice near the Moon's north pole. Read the news here.
4. "Zooniverse" newest attraction, "Solar Storm Watch". Spot and track solar storms online using real data from NASA's STEREO spacecraft. Try your hand here.
5. Nature invited seven astronomers gave ranks to future missions during a dinner. Read what and why they think are important here.
6. Exoplanet, WASP-12b, is being swallowed by its Sun. Read the story here or the Nature letter here.
7. A group of Argentina astronomers show evidence that contrary to the general belief, more than half of the cosmic rays are not from AGNs at all. Read the news at Nature or their journal paper here.
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