2017

Cosmic Eyelash seen by ALMA (Image ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/E. Falgarone et al.)

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An article published in the journal “Nature” describes the first detection in the distant universe of the carbon hydride molecule, or CH+. A team led by Edith Falgarone of the Ecole Normale Supérieure and Observatoire de Paris, France, used the ALMA radio telescope to discover that cold and turbulent gas in galaxies of the starburst type such as SMM J2135-0102, nicknamed Cosmic Eyelash. This discovery will help to better understand the mechanisms of galaxy growth and the periods of rapid star formation.

Peggy Whitson, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Jack Fischer after landing (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago the astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer and the cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin returned to Earth on the Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft, that landed without problems in Kazakhstan. Peggy Whitson spent more than 9 months on the International Space Station, where she arrived on November 19, 2016 as part of Expedition 50. Jack Fischer and Fyodor Yurchikhin spent just over 4 months on the International Space Station, where they arrived on April 20 2017 as part of Expedition 51.

Artist's impressione of the TRAPPIST-1 system seen from one of its planets (Image ESO/N. Bartmann/spaceengine.org)

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An article published in “The Astronomical Journal” describes a research in which an estimate of the presence of water on the seven planets of the star system TRAPPIST-1 is provided. A team of astronomers led by Vincent Bourrier of the Observatoire de l’Université de Genève, Switzerland, used the Hubble Space Telescope to examine that system concluding that its outer planets are more likely tyo still have a substantial amount of water. They include the three planets in the system’s habitable zone.

Scheme of the detection of a galaxy's magnetic field through a gravitational lens (Image Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF; NASA, Hubble Heritage Team, (STScI/AURA), ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI). Additional Processing: Robert Gendler)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” describes the measurement of the magnetic field of a galaxy that is nearly 5 billion light-years away from Earth, the farthest of which such a detection has been made. A team of researchers used the Very Large Array (VLA) to detect it not directly but thanks to a kind of magnetic footprint called Faraday effect that reached the Earth thanks to the light coming from a quasar that appears to us behind the galaxy studied.

The Pleiades seen by the Kepler Space Telescope (Image NASA / Aarhus University / T. White)

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An article published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” describes the most detailed study ever made on the variability of the Pleiades. A team of astronomers led by Dr. Tim White of the Stellar Astrophysics Center at the Danish University of Aarhus used a new algorithm to improve the observations made by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope in its K2 mission.