2017

The Eridania basin (Image NASA)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Communications” describes the discovery of evidence of the existence of very ancient hydrothermal deposits on a seabed in the Eridania region on Mars. A team of researchers studied data collected by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) space probe to reconstruct the presence of massive deposits in a basin in the red planet’s southern hemisphere. It’s a type of environment favorable to the birth of life forms, similar to that in which scientists think life on Earth was born.

Illustration of the possible dust cloud around Tabby's star (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” describes a research that offers an explanation of the many sudden brightness changes observed in Tabby’s star in recent years. A team of researchers co-ordinated by the University of Arizona used data collected by NASA’s Spitzer and Swift space telescopes and the Belgian AstroLAB IRIS observatory concluding that this phenomenon is caused by a dense cloud of dust orbiting the star.

Two possible pairs of supermassive black holes

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Two articles, one recently accepted for publication in “The Astrophysical Journal” and one published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” (MRAS), describe as many researches on pairs of supermassive black holes. In total, five candidates could form as many pairs of black holes with masses millions of times the Sun’s at the center of galaxies. At a time when gravitational wave research obtained historical results, very powerful sources could be very useful for new studies.

V766 Cent and its companion (Image ESO/M. Wittkowski (ESO))

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An article accepted for publication in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophisics” describes a study on the star V766 Cent, also known as the HR 5171 A, the largest yellow hypergiant discovered so far. A team of researchers used ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) to conduct new observations and compare them to the previous ones. The observation of the evolution of V766 Cent is made more complicated by the fact that a companion passes in front of it.

The galaxy NGC 4490 (Image ESA/Hubble, NASA)

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An image of the galaxy NGC 4490 captured by the Hubble Space Telescope shows in detail its distorted shape. That’s the result of a clash with the smaller galaxy NGC 4485, which millions of years ago went through its bigger neighbor. Probably this is just the beginning of the merger between the two galaxies but for now this clash has created among other things the conditions for the formation of new stars within NGC 4490.