Astronomy / Astrophysics

Artist's concept of a 5-Exoplanet system (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech))

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports the confirmation of the presence of 5 rocky planets in the HD 23472 star system. A team of researchers used the Espresso spectrograph on ESO’s VLT to examine these exoplanets to estimate their masses using the radial velocity method. Their sizes were already known thanks to the data collected by NASA’s TESS space telescope, which observed their transit in front of their star. The result of the examination is that three of those exoplanets are super-Earths and two are probably super-Mercuries, rare cases characterized by a larger iron core and in general a high percentage of iron.

A topographic map of Ultimi Scopuli's area on Mars

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An article published in the journal “Nature Communications” offers new confirmation of the presence of very salty liquid water on Mars underground. A team of researchers led by Roberto Orosei of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics and Elena Pettinelli of the Italian Roma Tre University examined detections conducted with ESA’s Mars Express space probe’s MARSIS instrument together with laboratory experiments and simulations to rule out that the data collected were generated by materials other than salty liquid water.

The asteroid Dimorphos a few seconds before the impact (Image NASA TV)

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Yesterday, NASA’s DART spacecraft crashed into Dimorphos, a small asteroid satellite of Didymos, a larger asteroid. These two asteroids are visible from Earth using instruments powerful enough, which will be used to monitor Dimorphos’ orbit and how much it was modified by the impact. Nearby is LICIACube, a CubeSat-class mini-probe equipped with two cameras that will provide much better observations than any telescope on Earth.

Neptune, its rings and some of its moons as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope (Image NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI. Image processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI))

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Images of Neptune captured by the James Webb Space Telescope show details of the planet and its rings with a clarity comparable only to those taken in 1989 by NASA’s Voyager 2 space probe during a planet flyby. The observations made it possible to capture details of many storms existing in Neptune’s atmosphere, including the Great Dark Spot. Webb also photographed Triton and six of the smaller moons.

Mars seen on the left in a NASA image based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) and on the right by the Webb Space Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera instrument (NIRCam) at two different infrared wavelengths

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The first images of Mars captured by the James Webb Space Telescope on September 5, 2022, offer views of the planet at different infrared wavelengths and some spectroscopies. Webb is in a position where it can see part of the sunlit side of Mars and can provide images and spectra to help complete the detections of space probes, rovers, and other telescopes. The red planet is very close and very bright compared to the normal targets of Webb’s observations, so the exposures used were very short to avoid causing problems to the instruments.