August 2018

A Hot DOG galaxy seen at X-rays

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An article to be published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” describes the first detailed X-ray observation of a galaxy cataloged as W1835+4355 of a rare type because at its center there’s a quasar of the Hot DOG (Hot Dust-Obscured Galaxies) type. A team led by Luca Zappacosta of INAF in Rome, Italy, used data collected by ESA’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s NuSTAR space telescopes to obtain the most accurate X-ray emission detections from a Hot DOG galaxy. This will be useful to better understand the nature of this type of galaxies and the activity of the supermassive black hole at their center.

Simulated views of WASP-121b (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/Aix-Marseille University (AMU))

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” describes a research on gas giant planets very close to their star. A team of researchers used observations made with Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes and computer simulations to study in particular the characteristics of the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-121b but also of other similar ones, called ultrahot Jupiters. They’re so close to their stars that their dayside has very high temperatures and are in some ways more similar to a star than a planet.

The sky around NGC 5018

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An article accepted for publication in “The Astrophysical Journal” describes the VST Early-type GAlaxy Survey (VEGAS). A team of researchers led by Marilena Spavone from INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte in Naples, Italy, used ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) in Chile to obtain highly detailed images of many elliptical galaxies. Among them there’s NGC 5018, interesting among other things for structures such as what’s called a tidal tail, a stream of gas containing various stars stretching outwards from that galaxy. These are evidence of interactions between galaxies that provide information on the characteristics of primordial galaxies.

44 exoplanets detected by the Kepler space telescope confirmed in one go

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An article published in “The Astronomical Journal” describes the confirmation of 44 exoplanets that are part of an original group of 72 candidates detected by NASA’s Kepler space telescope. A team of researchers led by John Livingston of the University of Tokyo, Japan, used data collected by ESA’s Gaia space probe and ground-based telescopes in the US to confirm the existence of 44 exoplanets in one go and discover some of their characteristics. 16 of them have a radius less than twice the Earth’s.