The Search for Alien Life Beyond Our Solar System Space Just Got Easier
The William Herschel Telescope,a 4.2m refelctor at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma.
Astronomers using the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma have confirmed an effective way to search the atmospheres of planets for signs of life, vastly improving our chances of finding alien life outside our solar system.
The team from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) used the WHT and the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) to gather information about the chemical composition of the Earth’s atmosphere from sunlight that has passed through it. The research is published today (11th June) in Nature.
When a planet passes in front of its parent star, part of the starlight passes through the planet’s atmosphere and contains information about the constituents of the atmosphere, providing vital information about the planet itself. This is called a transmission spectrum and even though astronomers can’t use exactly the same method to look at the Earth’s atmosphere, they were able to gain a spectrum of our planet by observing light reflected from the Moon towards the Earth during a lunar eclipse. This is the first time the transmission spectrum of the Earth has been measured. (more…)
Dying Star May Shed Light on Earth’s Weather
From an international command center at Mt. Cuba Observatory in Wilmington, Del., University of Delaware astronomer Judi Provencal is coordinating the Whole Earth Telescope's latest observing run, which focuses on a dying star in the constellation Ophiuchus. (Photo by Kevin Quinlan/University of Delaware)
The Whole Earth Telescope (WET), a worldwide network of observatories coordinated by the University of Delaware, is synchronizing its lenses to provide round-the-clock coverage of a cooling star. As the star dims in the twilight of its life, scientists hope it will shed light on the workings of our own planet and other mysteries of the galaxy.
The dying star, a white dwarf identified as WDJ1524-0030, located in the constellation Ophiuchus in the southern sky, is losing its brightness as it cools, its nuclear fuel spent. It will be monitored continuously from May 15 to June 11 by WET, a global partnership of telescopes which was formed in 1986. (more…)
Big Bang Theory Challenged
Indiana University astronomer John Salzer has published research on his work uncovering the unique properties of 15 galaxies. (Courtesy of Indiana University)
A team led by an Indiana University astronomer has found a sample of massive galaxies with properties that suggest they may have formed relatively recently. This would run counter to the widely-held belief that massive, luminous galaxies (like our own Milky Way Galaxy) began their formation and evolution shortly after the Big Bang, some 13 billion years ago. Further research into the nature of these objects could open new windows into the study of the origin and early evolution of galaxies.
John Salzer, principal investigator for the study published today in Astrophysical Journal Letters, said that the 15 galaxies in the sample exhibit luminosities (a measure of their total light output) that indicate that they are massive systems like the Milky Way and other so-called “giant” galaxies. (more…)
India’s First National Astronomy Satellite
ASTROSAT - an artist's concept. (ISRO)
India’s first national Astronomy satellite — Astrosat — is to have key components assembled by the University of Leicester.
A team of engineers from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, has arrived at the University of Leicester’s Space Research Centre to progress work on the satellite which is due for launch in 2009.
The team, who will be in Leicester until Friday 6th February, will work on the next phase of the mission, when hardware manufactured in India arrives in Leicester for inspection, testing and assembly into a space qualified X-ray camera.
Guy Peters, Astrosat SXT Project Manager UK, said: “In several months, when the camera has been assembled and the Leicester built detector assembly and control electronics installed, it will be tested to space qualified standards and shipped back to India for integration into the spacecraft.” (more…)
Supercomputer Will Aid Deep Space Probes
Canada’s Nation Research Council (NRC) is playing a vital role in upgrading the world’s biggest radio telescope, the Very Large Array (VLA) at the U.S. National Radio Astronomy Observatory near Socorro, New Mexico. When its upgrade, begun in 2001, goes online in 2012, the radio telescope will be known as the Expanded VLA.
As part of this $100 million project, the NRC Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO) in Penticton, British Columbia, is designing and building a highly specialized supercomputer called a “correlator.” The correlator uses a unique, patented NRC technology called wideband digital architecture (WIDAR) to process the very wide bandwidth signals with far more efficiency and flexibility than possible with the VLA’s original correlator. (more…)
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