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.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
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.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Feb 24 Recap
Some topics we talked about:
1. Astronomers found Type Ia SNe born differently in some elliptical galaxies than we originally thought. Read the Nature paper here.
2. Four dwarf galaxies relatively nearby (few hundred million light-years away), are in the process of merging, which usually happened billions of light-years away. Read the story here.
3. By studying the age and chemical properties of globular star clusters in our galaxy, astronomers believe at least a quart of star clusters are invaders from other galaxies. Read the story here.
4. Primitive stars have been found outside Milky Way galaxy. Read the news release here.
1. Astronomers found Type Ia SNe born differently in some elliptical galaxies than we originally thought. Read the Nature paper here.
2. Four dwarf galaxies relatively nearby (few hundred million light-years away), are in the process of merging, which usually happened billions of light-years away. Read the story here.
3. By studying the age and chemical properties of globular star clusters in our galaxy, astronomers believe at least a quart of star clusters are invaders from other galaxies. Read the story here.
4. Primitive stars have been found outside Milky Way galaxy. Read the news release here.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Feb 10 Recap
This week's journal club was hosted by Michael Bietenholz. Some highlights were:
1. A numerical simulation shows that, even a galaxy like ours should host hundreds of intelligent civilizations, the civilizations like us are likely exist one at a time. Read the article here. If you like to know about the Rare Earth hypothesis mentioned in the article read the paper here.
2. "Seven-Year WMAP Results: No, They're NOT Anomalies", read the article here, or try your hand to find interesting patterns in WMAP here.
3. Radio astronomers have found a supernova explosion with properties similar to a gamma-ray burst, but without seeing any gamma rays from it. Read the press release here.
4. Astronomers in the Netherlands catch supernova, observe relativistic expansion. Read Nature paper here.
1. A numerical simulation shows that, even a galaxy like ours should host hundreds of intelligent civilizations, the civilizations like us are likely exist one at a time. Read the article here. If you like to know about the Rare Earth hypothesis mentioned in the article read the paper here.
2. "Seven-Year WMAP Results: No, They're NOT Anomalies", read the article here, or try your hand to find interesting patterns in WMAP here.
3. Radio astronomers have found a supernova explosion with properties similar to a gamma-ray burst, but without seeing any gamma rays from it. Read the press release here.
4. Astronomers in the Netherlands catch supernova, observe relativistic expansion. Read Nature paper here.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Feb 3 Recap
This week's journal club was hosted by Prof. Paul Delaney. Some of the topics we discussed were:
1. This week NASA announced their new budget plan. News stories about Constellation has been cancelled, and NASA gave the human spaceflight to 5 commercial companies. Read the details of NASA budget at its homepage.
2. Hubble Space Telescope caught a head-on collision between two asteroids. Read the news here.
3. "What else is out there?" appears in the March edition of Sky & Telescope, discussed about whether earth-size objects exist in the Kuiper Belt, and the detection of interstellar comets.
4. Study of W33A, a Massive Young Stellar Object (MYSO), shows that massive stars form in much the same way as in smaller stars. But planets is less likely to be formed around massive stars. Read the story here.
5. A stellar-mass black hole is found in a binary system in NGC300. It is the second most massive (15 solar masses), and the most far-away (outside the Local Group) stellar-mass black hole ever found. Its company is a Wolf-Rayet star. Read the story here.
1. This week NASA announced their new budget plan. News stories about Constellation has been cancelled, and NASA gave the human spaceflight to 5 commercial companies. Read the details of NASA budget at its homepage.
2. Hubble Space Telescope caught a head-on collision between two asteroids. Read the news here.
3. "What else is out there?" appears in the March edition of Sky & Telescope, discussed about whether earth-size objects exist in the Kuiper Belt, and the detection of interstellar comets.
4. Study of W33A, a Massive Young Stellar Object (MYSO), shows that massive stars form in much the same way as in smaller stars. But planets is less likely to be formed around massive stars. Read the story here.
5. A stellar-mass black hole is found in a binary system in NGC300. It is the second most massive (15 solar masses), and the most far-away (outside the Local Group) stellar-mass black hole ever found. Its company is a Wolf-Rayet star. Read the story here.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Jan 27 Recap
This week's journal club was led by Prof. Pat Hall. Some highlights are
1. Gamma-ray telescopes show origins of cosmic rays. Fermi's first year observation shows evidence of the connection between SNe remnants and the acceleration of CR hadrons. Read the article here.
2. HARPS search for extra-solar planets around dwarf star GJ876, the radial velocity measurements indicate an Earth-mass size planet or smaller. Read the paper here.
1. Gamma-ray telescopes show origins of cosmic rays. Fermi's first year observation shows evidence of the connection between SNe remnants and the acceleration of CR hadrons. Read the article here.
2. HARPS search for extra-solar planets around dwarf star GJ876, the radial velocity measurements indicate an Earth-mass size planet or smaller. Read the paper here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)