Stars

The Flame Nebula with the NGC 2023 nebula on the right (Image ESO/Th. Stanke)

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An article accepted for publication in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports an overview of the first results of an astronomical survey called ALCOHOLS concerning the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. For the occasion, ESO released images of the Orion Flame Nebula, one of the star formation areas within that complex. Researchers led by former ESO astronomer Thomas Stanke used the SuperCam instrument mounted on the APEX radio telescope to map the presence of carbon monoxide in that area. Despite its name and what it looks like in the images, the Flame Nebula is very cold, with temperatures generally just a few degrees above absolute zero.

Some of the stars orbiting Sagittarius A*

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Two articles published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” report aspects of a research on Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The GRAVITY collaboration and other researchers used ESO’s VLTI in Chile to observe stars around Sagittarius A* at a magnification 20 times greater than what was possible before the VLTI. This enabled to discover another star relatively close to the supermassive black hole, and by examining the orbit of that and other stars in that area, they estimated the mass of Sagittarius A* with greater precision.

Coronal streamers

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An article published in the journal “Physical Review Letters” reports the passage of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe through the Sun’s atmosphere, under what is called the Alfven critical surface. NASA announced this success, the first for an artificial vehicle, at the annual American Geophysical Union Meeting. It’s a milestone not only for this space probe’s mission but for the study of the Sun in general. Specifically, the Parker Solar Probe passed through what is known as the corona, the upper part of the atmosphere, collecting samples and measuring magnetic fields. The information gathered directly from the solar plasma will help to better understand the processes taking place in the star that, among other things, supports life on Earth and affects the environment on the Earth and the other objects in the solar system.

BD+60 1417's system

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports the discovery of an object orbiting BD+60 1417, a young star a little smaller than the Sun, which could be a gas giant planet but also a small brown dwarf. Amateur astronomer Jörg Schümann spotted a moving object by examining images in the “Backyard Worlds: Planet 9” program that anyone can participate in. A team led by Jackie Faherty of the American Museum of Natural History used various telescopes to confirm the existence of the object, cataloged as CWISER J124332.12+600126.2 or simply W1243. Its mass was estimated between 10 and 20 times the planet Jupiter’s, around the border between planet and brown dwarf, estimated around 13 Jupiter masses. The object had escaped previous research probably because its distance from its star is about 1660 times that of the Earth from the Sun.

b Centauri's system seen by SPHERE

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An article published in the journal “Nature” reports the discovery of a planet in the binary system b Centauri, the most massive in which a planet has been discovered. A team of researchers used ESO’s VLT in Chile to locate the exoplanet cataloged as b Centauri (AB)b or simply b Centauri b photographing it with the SPHERE instrument. It’s a record-breaking planet also because it has a mass estimated at about ten times Jupiter’s, making it one of the most massive known planets, with an orbit that is about one hundred times farther from the two stars than Jupiter’s distance from the Sun. The researchers think that b Centauri b likely formed in another area of its system and then moved due to gravitational interactions.