2019

Ultima Thule has a shape even stranger than expected

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NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have published new images of the Kuiper belt Object cataloged as 2014 MU69 and nicknamed Ultima Thule along with animations that show new details of its shape. A sequence of 14 images captured by the New Horizons space probe during its January 1, 2019 flyby shows that the this object’s two lobes are not vaguely spherical as it seemed but in particular the larger one is definitely flat, to the point that it was compared to a pancake, and it’s not clear why it has that shape.

A newborn star in a giant bubble in the Large Magellanic Cloud

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An article published in the journal “Nature” reports the discovery of a jet of materials from a young massive star in an area called LHA 120-N 180B, or simply N180 B, a star formation region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. A team of researchers led by Anna McLeod used the MUSE instrument installed on the VLT in Chile to study the area and in particular the jet cataloged as HH 1177, the first of this type detected in visible light outside the Milky Way.

False-color image of V883 Ori. The distribution of dust is shown in orange and the distribution of methanol, an organic molecule, is shown in blue. (Image ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Lee et al.)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” reports the discovery of complex organic molecules (COMs) in the protoplanetary disk of the star V883 Orionis, or simply V883 Ori. A team of researchers led by Jeong-Eun Lee of Kyung Hee University, South Korea, used the ALMA radio telescope to detect the “chemical signatures” of compounds such as methanol, acetaldehyde, methyl formate, acetonitrile and acetone after a sudden outburst caused the snow line to move causing the sublimation of frozen materials and the consequent release of those compounds.

Artist's concept of protoplanet impact (Image Nasa/JPL-Caltech modified)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” describes a study about two super-Earths in the Kepler-107 star system that have similar size but very different densities that indicate a very different chemical composition. A team of researchers led by Aldo Bonomo of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) in Turin used the HARPS-N spectrograph installed on the Galileo National Telescope in the Canary Islands to examine the planets Kepler-107b and Kepler-107c and conclude that probably the remarkable differences between them are due to a primordial impact.

Mars Rover Curiosity and the Apollo 17's Moon Rover (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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An article published in the journal “Science” reports a clever use of the Mars Rover Curiosity’s accelerometers and gyroscopes to estimate the density of rocks under Gale Crater. A team of scientists examined the data collected over the years by those instruments to evaluate the gravity force where Curiosity passed, obtaining lower than expected measurements. This suggests that in that area the rocks are very porous and less compact than scientists thought.