2021

Artist's concept of Planet Pirx seen from a possible moon (Image courtesy M. Mizera / Pta / Iau100)

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy and Astrophysics” reports the discovery of 26 planetary systems within the TAPAS (Tracking Advanced Planetary Systems) project. A team of researchers led by Professor Andrzej Niedzielski of the Institute of Astronomy at the NCU (Nicolaus Copernicus University) in Torun, Poland, used over a decade of observations with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and the Galileo National Telescope to locate the traces of exoplanets around old stars, mostly now red giants, the last phase of their life. For their masses very similar to the Sun’s, three stars in particular have been defined as the Sun’s elder sisters.

Artist's representation of P172+18 (Image ESO/M. Kornmesser)

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports the discovery of the farthest radio-loud quasar. A team of researchers led by Chiara Mazzucchelli, a Fellow at ESO in Chile, and Eduardo Bañados of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy used various telescopes to identify the quasar cataloged as PSO J172.3556+18.7734 and simply called P172+18. This quasar is about 13 billion years old and that means we see it as it was when the universe was very young, less than 800 million years after the Big Bang. It can offer new insights into the primordial universe and the objects its emissions passed through to reach Earth.

The nebula surrounding VY Canis Majoris seen by Hubble (Image NASA, ESA, and R. Humphreys (University of Minnesota), and J. Olmsted (STScI))

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An article published in “The Astronomical Journal” reports a study on the dimming of the red hypergiant star VY Canis Majoris. A team of researchers led by astrophysicist Roberta Humphreys of the University of Minnesota, USA, used observations conducted with the Hubble Space Telescope to study not only the star but also huge clumps of materials around it. The conclusion is that VY Canis Majoris had moments where it ejected huge amounts of materials that formed those clumps and obscured it for various periods, detected over time.

Hoinga in a composition of X-Ray and radio wave emissions

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports the discovery of the largest supernova remnant in X-rays. A team of researchers used observations conducted with the Spektr-RG space telescope’s eROSITA instrument to create its first X-ray map of the sky to locate the traces of the supernova remnants that have been nicknamed Hoinga. The discovery was confirmed in radio frequency data from the CHIPASS survey conducted with the Parkes radio telescope.

Starship SN10 blasting off (Image courtesy SpaceX)

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It was afternoon in the USA when SpaceX conducted the flight test of the Starship prototype identified as SN10 in Boca Chica, Texas, the third after the one conducted on February 2, 2020. SpaceX engineers made some refinements to the SN10 to solve the problems that led to the crash of the previous prototypes. SN10 also made a regular flight up to an altitude of about 10 kilometers and then attempted a controlled landing at the end of a series of maneuvers, and this time was successful. Staff and fans watching the test had a few minutes to cheer, then SN10 exploded for reasons yet to be determined. The test was a success, but there’s still work to be done on Starship.