Massimo Luciani

The Dragon cargo spacecraft leaving the International Space Station to end its CRS-19 mission (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft ended its CRS-19 (Cargo Resupply Service 19) mission for NASA splashing down smoothly in the Pacific Ocean almost 500 kilometers (about 300 miles) off the coast of California. The Dragon left the International Space Station a few hours earlier.

Shortly after landing, SpaceX boats went to retrieve the Dragon to transport it to the coast. The cargo brought back to Earth will be delivered to NASA soon, probably tomorrow. The Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station on December 8, 2019.

Artist's concept of Sub-Neptune planet (Image NASA/ESA/G. Bacon (STScI)/L. Kreidberg & J. Bean (U. Chicago)/H. Knutson (Caltech) )

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal Letters” offers an explanation of the abundance of sub-Neptune planets discovered compared to gas giants. A team of researchers led by Edwin Kite of the University of Chicago studied the characteristics of these planets offering as an explanation what they called fugacity crisis in reference to the term that measures how much more easily a gas dissolves into a mixture than it would be expected based on pressure. In the case of the sub-Neptune planets, the their atmosphere’s gas dissolve in the ocean of magma that probably covers the surface of their rocky core.

The galaxy AGC 203001 is the most visible thanks to the huge red ring

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An article published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” reports the discovery of a giant neutral hydrogen ring surrounding a “quenched galaxy” cataloged as AGC 203001. A team of astronomers from the National Center for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) in Pune, India, used the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) to observe that ring, much larger than the galaxy itself with a diameter of about 380,000 light years, four tiems the Milky Way’s. The collaboration of French astronomers allowed a further study with the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope (CFHT) in Hawaii, USA, which found no signs of stars associated with the ring, an oddity considering that such a structure seems perfect as a nursery for new stars.

Artist's concept of a blazar (Image courtesy M. Weiss/CfA)

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An article published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” reports a study on the blazar CTA 102. A team of researchers used data that cross the electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to gamma rays detected by a series of space and ground-based telescopes. They allowed to monitor the variability of CTA 102 between 2013 and 2017 and events such as the significant activity of gamma ray emissions between November 2016 and February 2017, with outbursts on four occasions with a peak reached on December 28, 2016.

Boeing's CST-100 Starliner Calypso spacecraft during recovery (Photo courtesy Boeing. All rights reserved)

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Boeing has announced that its engineers and technicians are conducting an in-depth examination of its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, which landed on December 22 after the premature end of its Boe-OFT (Boeing Orbital Flight Test) mission. The exam includes the recovery of all the data recorded by the on-board systems to obtain final answers on the problem that caused an off-nominal orbit insertion about half an hour after launch. After landing at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, the name Calypso was proposed by astronaut Sunita Williams and quickly approved, therefore it will be the official name used in the next missions, as the spacecraft is reusable.