May 2020

The Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft approaching the International Space Station (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft docked to the International Space Station’s Harmony module completing the first part of its SpX-DM2 (SpaceX Demonstration Mission 2), or SpaceX Demo-2, mission that began yesterday with its launch. After checking that the pressure is correctly balanced, the hatch will be opened to allow Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to enter the Station.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft starts its SPX-DM2 mission blasting off atop a Falcon 9 rocket (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in its SpX-DM2 (SpaceX Demonstration Mission 2) or SpaceX Demo-2 mission. After about eleven minutes, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and went en route to carry out its mission. This is the first crewed mission of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, in this case with Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on board.

Artist's concept of a super-Earth with its star behind it (Image courtesy M. Weiss/CfA)

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An article accepted for publication in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports the discovery of a super-Earth in the system of HD 164922, a star that’s slightly smaller and slightly less massive than the Sun. A team of researchers led by Serena Benatti of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, Palermo, used the HARPS-N spectrograph installed on the Galileo Telescope, on the Canary Islands, to collect the data which, together with others previously collected with other instruments, allowed to discover the exoplanet designated as HD 164922d. The discoveries of exoplanets are increasingly made thanks to software that performs an automatic analysis of data collected by various telescopes, but in this case it’s the prize for the tenacity of astronomers who put together the data of years of observations conducted with various instruments.

An FRB's journey to Earth (Image courtesy ICRAR)

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An article published in the journal “Nature” reports a measurement of the amount of the so-called baryonic matter, ordinary matter, in the universe analyzing the characteristics of fast radio bursts (FRBs). A team of researchers led by Professor Jean-Pierre Macquart from the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), used detections carried out using the ASKAP radio telescope, which allowed to determine the position of the FRBs in the galaxies that host them with considerable precision. By analyzing their characteristics it was possible to determine the density of matter between their point of origin and the Earth.

Galaxy R5519 (Image courtesy Tiantian Yuan/Hubble Space Telescope)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” reports the study of a very rare type of galaxy, called a cosmic ring of fire. A team of researchers led by Dr. Tiantian Yuan from Australia’s ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) used spectroscopic images obtained at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii and images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope to identify the strange structure of the galaxy officially designated as R5519. It’s an ancient galaxy, and its discovery may require new changes to current galactic formation models.