November 2019

The afterglow of GRB 190114C observed by Hubble (Image NASA, ESA, and V. Acciari et al. 2019)

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Three articles published in the journal “Nature” report different aspects of the study of a gamma-ray burst cataloged as GRB 190114C which was observed at many frequencies in what’s called multiband observation. Many scientists, particularly the ones from the MAGIC Collaboration, combined observations made using space and ground-based telescopes to study the gamma-ray burst with the greatest energy ever observed. In fact, photons were detected with an energy of the order of the teraelectronvolt, a level theorized for a long time but only now confirmed. A fourth article to be published in the journal “Astronomy and Astrophysics” reports an analysis of the galaxy in which GRB 190114C occurred.

Artist's concept of Starship with lander on the Moon (Image courtesy SpaceX)

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NASA has announced the selection of five more companies within the program called Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). They’re added to the ones announced in November 2018 for a total of 14 companies that will be eligible to bid on proposals to provide services to send various types of cargoes to the Moon. They’re support services to the Artemis program which aims to send humans back to the Moon. There’s the well-known SpaceX, another company that already has contracts with NASA such as Sierra Nevada Corporation, an ambitious company that has yet to show what it can do such as Blue Origin and two lesser known companies such as Ceres Robotics and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Inc.

An investigation on multiple star systems shows that many of them host planets

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An article published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” reports an analysis of data collected by ESA’s Gaia space probe in search for exoplanets in multiple systems. Dr. Markus Mugrauer of the University of Jena, Germany, examined over 1,300 stars hosting exoplanets in a radius of about 1,600 light years from Earth to determine which of them had one or even more companions. The result is that over 200 of them are multiple systems, in one case even a quadruple one, in which the companions are above all red dwarfs but in eight cases there’s a white dwarf as a companion. This is the confirmation that multiple systems with exoplanets are not an exception and that exoplanets can survive the death of one of the stars.

Asteroid Ryugu (Photo courtesy JAXA, Chiba Institute of Technology, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Meiji University, University of Aizu, AIST)

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The Japanese space agency JAXA has confirmed that its Hayabusa 2 space probe has left asteroid Ryugu, reached on June 27, 2018. Until November 19 it will keep on taking pictures of Ryugu, a limit due to the fact that subsequently a maneuver needed to use its ion engine will lead it to turn into a position from which it will no longer have the asteroid in its camera’s view. Until that day, it will be possible to send a farewell message to Ryugu via Twitter or even letters and postcards to JAXA. Hayabusa 2 is scheduled to return near the Earth with its samples near the end of 2020.

Oxygen spikes in Mars atmosphere are a new mystery

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An article published in the “Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets” reports an analysis of the composition of the atmosphere of the planet Mars based on data collected by NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity. A team of researchers led by Melissa Trainer of NASA’s Goddard Space Center confirmed the presence of various gases already known with seasonal variations due to carbon dioxide’s freezing and evaporation. A surprise came from the detection of a remarkable growth of oxygen in spring and its drop back to the previous levels in fall. This is a new mystery added to that of the presence of methane on the red planet.