[V.Narayan]

Scientists discover ‘mirror image’ of the Earth and the Sun 3,000 light-years away

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com...ign=Newsletter

Excerpts

Scientists have recently discovered a new exoplanet-star pair which resembles our Earth-Sun system. The star Kepler-160 and the planet KOI-456. Are quite similar to the Sun and the Earth, more than any other planets previously discovered which makes the planet more conducive to life, according to a team of scientists led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Gottingen, Germany.

The Kepler-160 has at least three planets in its orbit, according to the research published in the Astronomy and Astrophysics. “We conclude that Kepler-160 has at least three planets, one of which is the non-transiting planet Kepler-160 d. We also find the super-Earth-sized transiting planet candidate KOI-456.04 in the habitable zone of this system, which could be the fourth planet,” the report said. KOI-456.04 is orbiting the Kepler-160 at a distance similar to that of the earth from the sun. It takes approximately 378 days to complete one orbit, according to the report. The planet is approximately 3,000 light-years away from Earth.

The new discovery is different from previously discovered exoplanets. One of the key reasons for the same is its Sun-like host star, as per reports. Most of the exoplanets previously discovered are hosted by red dwarf stars emitting infrared radiation rather than as visible light. Kepler 160’s composition shows that it is more similar to the sun reducing the chances of infrared radiation making it more potentially habitable. However, more research is to be done. More clarity can be provided by NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope as well as the ESA’s PLATO space telescope which is likely to be launched in 2026 as per reports.

[sparky@home]

In the light of the above article by Mr.V.Narayan, the following is an interesting take on that.This Math Formula Has Determined the Odds of Aliens Existing,
there's about a 45 percent chance the truth is out there.

Link : https://www.popularmechanics.com/sci...a-aliens-exist

[sparky@home]

For Star Gazers...
An amazing comet that thrilled early-morning stargazers earlier this month is now visible in the evening sky, and it's a sight you won't want to miss. After all, this comet won't be back for 6,800 years, NASA says.

Comet NEOWISE can now be seen just after sunset for observers in the Northern Hemisphere, according to NASA. The comet made its closest approach to the sun July 3 but was only visible before dawn until now.

"If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, you can see it," said Joe Masiero, deputy principal investigator of NEOWISE, the NASA space telescope that discovered the comet, in a NASA Science Live webcast Wednesday (July 15). "As the next couple of days progress, it will get higher in the evening sky, so you're going to want to look northwest right under the Big Dipper." (The Big Dipper is a ladle-shaped star pattern that is part of the constellation Ursa Major, the Big Bear.)

Link : http://www.space.com/comet-neowise-v...-2020.html?fwa

https://youtu.be/Ejfy1tcAGG4

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by sparky@home

Comet NEOWISE can now be seen just after sunset for observers in the Northern Hemisphere, according to NASA.

Anyone who has tried to see this or has seen it, please put details regarding direction as well as the time as per IST. I've been trying to find it but I guess there is some error on my part.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Anyone who has tried to see this or has seen it, please put details regarding direction as well as the time as per IST. I've been trying to find it but I guess there is some error on my part.

Check out the north western direction after dusk. It should be visible there about. Got this image from an astronomy WhatsApp group that I am part of.



Here in Coimbatore, it has been cloudy last 2 weeks with absolutely no chance of getting a glimpse.

[sparky@home]

This is exciting news, the fact that we can actually photograph smaller alien worlds using the SPHERE instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory. The question is when will we find another "Pale Blue Dot", hopefully in our life time.

Link :

https://youtu.be/VtiFBwaiJx4

https://earthsky.org/space/1st-photo...tyc-8998-760-1

[caffeineAM]

I put together pictures of Orion into a video. Tried to make it look like we're zooming into Orion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_SL2ZJ7dyY

[Sudarshan_N]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Anyone who has tried to see this or has seen it, please put details regarding direction as well as the time as per IST. I've been trying to find it but I guess there is some error on my part.

Here in Chennai, the comet is difficult to see through naked eyes. I've tried to spot it for few days without any additional equipment and it was in vain.
I use this app https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...2Free&hl=en_IN for tracking it.

You will be able to spot it with binoculars or by setting up a digi cam. The pic provided here was taken from a Facebook group called "SPACE Chennai" and the person has used digi cam to capture it. He has also explained about the settings he has used to capture it.

[Sudarshan_N]

The most eye-catching sky event of the year – The Perseid meteor shower

The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift–Tuttle. Comet Swift-Tuttle is the largest object known to repeatedly pass by Earth; its nucleus is about 16 miles (26 kilometers) wide. It last passed nearby Earth during its orbit around the sun in 1992, and the next time will be in 2126. But it won't be forgotten in the meantime, because Earth passes through the dust and debris it leaves behind every year, creating the annual Perseid meteor shower.

The meteors are called the Perseids because the point from which they appear to hail (called the radiant) lies in the constellation Perseus. It is active from July 17- August 24 and peak in activity is August 11-14, during which the rate of meteors can reach 60 or more per hour.

The radiant point for the Perseid meteor shower is in the constellation Perseus. But you don’t have to find a shower’s radiant point to see meteors. Instead, the meteors will be flying in all parts of the sky.

Two years back, I was able to observe around 8-10 meteors every 5-10 mins. Let's see how our luck goes this time .

Info and pic gathered from : https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essen...-meteor-shower

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids

[BoneCollector]

NASA has found dent in the Earth's magnetic field and it is enlarging. As per NASA, this could cause damages to satellites and difficulties in navigation.

NASA

Magnetic Dent

A small but evolving dent in Earth’s magnetic field can cause big headaches for satellites.

Earth’s magnetic field acts like a protective shield around the planet, repelling and trapping charged particles from the Sun. But over South America and the southern Atlantic Ocean, an unusually weak spot in the field – called the South Atlantic Anomaly, or SAA – allows these particles to dip closer to the surface than normal. Particle radiation in this region can knock out onboard computers and interfere with the data collection of satellites that pass through it – a key reason why NASA scientists want to track and study the anomaly.

The South Atlantic Anomaly is also of interest to NASA’s Earth scientists who monitor the changes in magnetic field strength there, both for how such changes affect Earth's atmosphere and as an indicator of what's happening to Earth's magnetic fields, deep inside the globe.

[sparky@home]

Russian Cosmonaut Ivan Wagner captured this amazing video of Earth's auroras. Something else was also captured during the shoot, indeed, at the 9- to 12-second mark, a group of lights quickly shows in the video before disappearing. It is said that its most probably Elon Musk’s star link satellites ,which are reflecting the sunlight. But anyway stunning video.

https://www.space.com/russian-cosmon...m-station.html

[ds.raikkonen]

The Stephenson 2-18, a red supergiant has taken the place of MY Cephe/VY Canis Majoris/UY Scuti as the largest star in the known universe. Although the list is debatable, the sizes keep on varying due to tiny calculation errors. Apparently, there was a miscalculation regarding UY Scuti's distance from Earth and was downgraded (still enormous though).

But the Stephenson 2-18 is truly mega, its dimensions are difficult to comprehend. At 2150xSun, its large enough to engulf Saturn if placed instead of the Sun! To circle around it once, an SR-71 will need >500 years at its top speed.

[graaja]

Another interesting event is Mars approaching opposition that will be on October 13th. As it approaches opposition, it will become brighter than Jupiter and will be the 2nd brightest object. After many months of cloudy nights, got a clear sky today morning and managed to capture Venus and Mars early morning.

Equipment used:
Celestron 6SE telescope on Alt-Az goto mount
2x Barlow
ZWO ASI224 planetary CMOS camera

Software used:
Sharpcap for capturing video
PIPP, Autostakkert and Registax to process

[ds.raikkonen]

The ESA's 'CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite' or 'CHEOPS' has found a system, 322 light years away from Earth, which has a massive host star HD 133112 which is 730 mn years old and 2.4x the Sun and 2000 deg C hotter. It has a planet named Wasp 189b which is 50% larger than Jupiter but situated 20 times closer to HD 133112 than the Earth is to the Sun! That means surface temperature of 3,200 deg C!

The new findings immediately identify WASP-189b as one of the most extreme planets ever discovered. It has an orbit of just 2.7 days around its star, with one side seeing a permanent 'day' and the other side seeing a permanent 'night'. It's gigantic, too – about 1.6 times the size of Jupiter.

"WASP-189b is especially interesting because it is a gas giant that orbits very close to its host star," says astrophysicist Monika Lendl from the University of Geneva in Switzerland. "It takes less than three days for it to circle its star, and it is 20 times closer to it than Earth is to the Sun."

HD 133112 is the host star in question, 2,000 degrees Celsius (3,600 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than our Sun, and one of the hottest stars known to have a planetary system around it. CHEOPS made an interesting discovery about this celestial body too: it's spinning so fast that it's being pulled outwards at its equator.

Source: https://sci.esa.int/web/cheops/displ...ryId%3D2246717

https://www.sciencealert.com/astrono...ets-ever-found

[sparky@home]

Has anyone watched the movie / documentary called “The Phenomenon”? The Phenomenon is a UFO documentary that takes an expansive look at 70 years’ worth of history regarding investigations into the existence of aliens and UFOs
or UAP's as they are called now (Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon). It goes right up to the latest and most recent discoveries in Ufology. It’s directed by James Fox. I watched it and to say the least it’s an absolute eye opener. I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in this subject.