May 2019

New clues to the origin of fast radio bursts in neutron stars

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports a study of the data about 43 fast radio bursts (FRBs) that offers new clues to their origin in neutron stars. A team of Italian researchers associated with the National Institute of Astrophysics used observations made with the ASKAP and Parkes radio telescopes, adapting a test from the 1960s to try to establish their distribution by comparing it with that of stars. The results gave some surprises and are not conclusive, but a method was offered that could be the key to solving the mystery for good.

A possible underground ocean on Pluto could be protected by an insulating layer

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An article published in the journal “Nature Geoscience” reports the results of a study of the conditions that could allow the presence of an ocean below the dwarf planet Pluto’s surface. A team of researchers analyzed using computer simulations the possibility that under the heart-shaped area called Sputnik Planitia there’s a layer of gas hydrate of the class known as clathrates formed by water and natural gas which acts as an insulator allowing the layer below them it remains warm enough to keep water in its liquid state.

The galaxy NGC 4485 altered by a cosmic clash

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A new image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instruments portrays the galaxy NGC 4485. It’s an irregular galaxy, which means that its shape is not among the normal ones for galaxies, a consequence of its passage through a much larger neighbor, NGC 4490, which altered the balance inside it and among other things also started the formation of new stars.

Ultima Thule image on the cover of Science (Image NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Roman Tkachenko)

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An article published in the journal “Science” reports the initial results of the exploration of the Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 nicknamed Ultima Thule by NASA’s New Horizons space probe. There are no particular surprises after the ones arrived thanks to the first images sent to the Earth but the following high-resolution ones along with spectrometric data and other data sent allowed to put together some more details about its characteristics from the mission team.

The formation of the Orion Source I system has points in common with that of the solar system

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports the mapping of aluminum monoxide in a cloud around the young star Orion Source I. A team led by Shogo Tachibana of the University of Tokyo used the ALMA radio telescope to study the protoplanetary disk around to the star discovering that molecule in a cloud of limited distribution, which suggests that in its gas form it quickly condenses to form solid grains. That’s an interesting discovery because aluminum monoxide was discovered in meteorites such as the one known as Allende meteorite and that suggests that there are points in common between the history of the solar system and that of the Orion Source I system.