January 2020

Salts of ammonium chloride (Photo courtesy University of Bern)

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Two articles published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” report the results of as many analyzes of data collected by ESA’s Rosetta space probe which reveal the presence of compounds such as ammonium salts on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. A team of researchers led by Kathrin Altwegg of the University of Bern, Switzerland, analyzed the data trying to understand the reasons for the scarcity of nitrogen on the comet, concluding that its presence is actually difficult to detect because a part is tied to ammonium salts. These salts are among the building blocks of molecules that include some precursors of life such as urea and glycine, already found on the comet. Another team discovered in the data traces of aliphatic compounds, considered essential for life on Earth, on the comet.

Six so-called bloated stars confirmed at the center of the Milky Way

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An article published in the journal “Nature” reports the identification of what were called G-objects that orbit the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A* or simply Sgr A*. A team of researchers led by Anna Ciurlo of UCLA already announced the discovery of three new G-objects, now they confirm their existence and announce the identification of a fourth one. They add to the two G-objects already confirmed a few years ago. New indications could confirm the hypothesis that they’re the result of mergers of binary systems’ stars.

La navicella spaziale Crew Dragon al decollo per il test di interruzione d'emergenza del lancio (Immagine cortesia SpaceX)

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SpaceX has just completed the In-Flight Abort Test of one of its Crew Dragon spacecraft, the version of Dragon 2 produced for the transport of astronauts. A Falcon 9 rocket was deliberately blown up at the moment of maximum dynamic pressure, Max q in jargon, to test that the the systems which in a normal launch are used to rescue the crew aboard the Crew Dragon work properly.

Artist's concept of the GJ180 system (Image Robin Dienel, courtesy of the Carnegie Institution for Science)

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series” reports the identification of five new exoplanets, the detection of eight exoplanet candidates that will be verified, and the confirmation of three exoplanets previously detected but not yet confirmed. A team of astronomers led by Fabo Feng and Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution for Science selected and reanalyzed data gathered in the survey conducted with the UVES instrument mounted on ESO’s VLT using other verification instruments. Two of the new exoplanets are super-Earths in their system’s habitable zone, the first of this type that orbit around red dwarfs not tidally locked,, a positive factor because having always day on one face and always night on the other generates extreme temperatures that lower the chances of life being born.

New confirmations that phosphorus was brought to Earth by comets

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An article to be published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” reports a study tracing the journey of phosphorus from star formation to comets. A team of researchers led by Víctor Rivilla of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics used the ALMA radio telescope and data collected by ESA’s Rosetta space probe’s ROSINA instrument on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko to understand where phosphorus is formed and how comets may have brought it to Earth, where it’s needed by life forms.