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Searching for Habitable Planets in Our Galaxy

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"Planets surrounding a red dwarf"

Red dwarf stars may hold the key to finding habitable planets in our solar system.

Humankind has always been fascinated by the concept of alien life. Researchers are searching for habitable planets in our galaxy in an effort to discover at least a cluster of bacteria that evolved outside our planet, a clue that we are not the only ones in this corner of the universe and that our planet is not the only place where lifeforms can flourish.

Why Are We Searching for New Homes?

One of the main reason for which scientists are constantly searching for habitable planets in our galaxy is the fact that Earth may not remain habitable forever. Our sun will not always be kind to us, and the natural resources are depleting faster than they can be replaced.

What Will We Do When Our Sun Goes Supernova?

There are various stages in a star’s long life. Throughout the billions of years of its existence, a sun goes from young to yellow, to red. The latter will cease to be compatible with life on Earth.

When our sun turns into a red star, the amount of light and heat it emits will exponentially increase, making our oceans boil and turning Earth into a burning wasteland where not even microbes will survive.

However, such a heat wave will start warming up the frozen waters of other planets or moons. Satellites like Jupiter’s Enceladus will transform in watery paradises where life will prosper for an additional few millions of years before the Sun goes Supernova and destroys our solar system.

What Did Scientists Find So Far?

It seems that astronomers managed to find 23 red dwarves in our galaxy, each surrounded by a number of planets. In every solar system in the center of which there is an aforementioned red star, there is something called a “habitable zone.” This is the area in which the light and heat emanated by the sun affects the planets.

However, not all planets that are located in the habitable zone can actually harbor life. Take Venus for example. While the planet receives light and warmth from our sun, life cannot flourish on its surface due to acid rain and high amounts of space radiation.

The answer lies in the balance between the energy that a planet receives from a star and the thickness of its atmosphere.

Regarding the life forms that scientists are frantically searching for, Arthur C. Clarke, the author of the Space Odyssey once said “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”

Image source: Wikipedia

NASA’s NuStar Snaps First-Ever Dazzling Portrait Of Our Sun

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NuSTAR-captures-portrait-Home-Star

NASA released a phenomenal and first-ever picture taken by Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array or NuStar on Monday.

NuStar was made in 2012 to view high-energy phenomena like supernovas and black holes. Though, by snapping sun’s picture, the super-sensitive telescope is demonstrated that it could resolve a long-standing anonymity of coronal heating dilemma.

Sun is excessively vivid for other telescopes, in the same way as NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Though, NuStar’s mirrors and detectors blot out a significant part of the glare.

Fiona Harrison, NuStar’s lead researcher, said, “from the beginning I expect the entire thought was insane. Why would we have the most susceptible high-energy X-ray telescope ever made, intended to gaze deep into the universe, look at something in our own particular back yard?”

The distinctive shades in the sun’s picture uncover the anecdotal high-energy emanations. The green shades delineate energies somewhere around 2 and 3 kilo-electron volts, while blue show energies somewhere around 3 and 5 kilo-electron volts. These high-energy X-rays that stream off the sun originate from gas heated to over 3 million degrees.

The red symbolize ultraviolet light and lower-temperature material at 1 million degrees caught by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.

As indicated by NASA, the NuStar’s green and blue picture was then enclosed onto the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s red.

Researchers expect that the space telescope’s high-energy perspectives could at last resolve how the sun’s corona was an average of 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit, while the sun’s surface heats to a sheer 10,800 degrees. Corona is the slight,  gleaming atmosphere that environs the star.

As per research by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, small solar flares or nano-flares bouncing off the sun’s surface may be the cause behind it.

NASA’s Telescope Caught Gigantic Solar Flare

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solar-flare

A very active part of the sun, which is known as Active Region 2242, emitted a gigantic solar flare late on Friday evening (19 December) and this was caught by NASA.

This is the most delicate picture of the star that NASA has ever taken. Typically NASA’s NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscpic Telescope Array) looks at black holes and other objects put far away in the earth’s planetary group. However, this time, the telescope has effectively caught a picture of the sun’s high-energy X-ray flashes.

Since NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recognized the massive solar flare, it has kept a close and consistent watch on it.

The flare was powerful to the point that it created power blackouts in different parts of the Earth including South Pacific and Australia.

Specialists say that the region is vast and complex, and more radio power outages could about to happen. The flare was a part of an active week of sun storms. One more active sunspot area had made two moderate-sized flares a week ago before the latest flare.

As per NASA, the less intense sun storms come under the category of Class M, while the stronger ones like the one noticed on Friday are categorized as Class X. M-class flares are around a 10th 0f the size of X-class flares, however they can make stunning displays of the Northern Lights. With more M-class flares expected this weekend, individuals in a few areas may get a dynamite Christmas light show from geomagnetic storms activated by the flares.

The majority of the radio blackout that happened from Friday’s X1.8 solar flare was in Australia and the South Pacific.

The sun is on an 11-year space weather cycle that has its tops. We are at present in the crest period of Solar Cycle 24.

Sunspots are momentary phenomena on the sun that seem darker than encompassing areas, which needs to do with amassing of the magnetic field that result in a lower surface temperature. They frequently show up in sets, with one sunspot having the inverse magnetic polarity as the other. They are ordinarily liable of lunar flares because of their extremely magnetically active areas.

A solar flare is an expansive energy release that can be equal to 160,000,000,000 megatons of TNT. In contrast, the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were identical to only three megatons.

Electrons, ions, and molecules are catapulted by means of the flare from the corona of the sun into the breadths of space, ordinarily arriving at the Earth a day or two later.

NASA’s Telescope Captured Gigantic Solar Flare Blasted From Sun’s Surface

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Massive-solar-flares

A gigantic solar flare blasted from the surface of the sun late Friday after days of powerful storms from the sun.

Named as an X1.8 event — one of the most intense possible — the enormous solar flare brought about a power outage on parts of the Earth when it topped Friday evening at 7:28 p.m. EST. It was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.

It originated from an area of the sun that is named Active Region 2242. Further sun storms could happen in that area, as indicated by a Space.com report.

Specialists say that the region is vast and complex, and more radio power outages could about to happen. The flare was a part of an active week of sun storms. One more active sunspot area had made two moderate-sized flares a week ago before the latest flare.

X-class lunar flares are tremendously powerful events that, when pointed at Earth, can upset communications and GPS frameworks on Earth, and even debilitate satellites and space travelers outside the atmosphere.

M-class flares are around a 10th 0f the size of X-class flares, however they can make stunning displays of the Northern Lights. With more M-class flares expected this weekend, individuals in a few areas may get a dynamite Christmas light show from geomagnetic storms activated by the flares.

The majority of the radio blackout that happened from Friday’s X1.8 lunar flare was in Australia and the South Pacific.

The sun is on an 11-year space weather cycle that has its peaks. We are at present in the crest period of Solar Cycle 24.

Sunspots are momentary phenomena on the sun that seem darker than encompassing areas, which needs to do with amassing of the magnetic field that result in a lower surface temperature. They frequently show up in sets, with one sunspot having the inverse magnetic polarity as the other. They are ordinarily liable of lunar flares because of their extremely magnetically active areas.

A lunar flare is an expansive energy release that can be equal to 160,000,000,000 megatons of TNT. In contrast, the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were identical to only three megatons.

Electrons, ions, and molecules are catapulted by means of the flare from the corona of the sun into the breadths of space, ordinarily arriving at the Earth a day or two later.

Lunar/solar flares were initially seen in 1859.

NuSTAR of NASA sends a colossal image of our Sun

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nustar-of-nasa-sun

NuSTAR sends a gargantuan image of our Sun. NASA called it “most sensitive solar portrait ever taken in high-energy X-rays”. The image was caught by Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and is now available for the people to place it as their wallpapers.

NuSTAR, short for Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, a space-based X-ray telescope that uses a Wolter telescope to focus high energy X-rays from astrophysical sources, especially for nuclear spectroscopy.

NuSTAR was built by a consortium including Caltech; JPL; the University of California, Berkeley; Columbia University, New York; the Danish Technical University in Denmark; ATK Aerospace Systems, Goleta, California; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland – and with support from the (ASI) Italian Space Agency Science Data Center.

The craft was actually constructed by Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, Virginia. NuSTAR is hosted by an operation centre at UC Berkeley.

These high high-energy X-Rays are generated from a gas heated above 3 million degrees. The presence of non-red bits in the picture shows the availability of lower-temperature material whose temperature is near 1 million degrees. The Green color represents the energies between 2-3 kiloelectron volts while the Blue color represents the energies between 3-5 kiloelectron volts.

The image was sent as a TIFF file but NASA placed a JPEG version of the file for the people. For much better quality one can have the TIFF file of the image available at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

NASA’s NuSTAR Captures Most Delicate Pictures Of Our Sun

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NASA's-NuStar-snaps

NASA’s NuSTAR has enjoyed a reprieve from peering into the far-away Universe and utilized its high-energy X-rays to snap the most delicate and shocking pictures of our Sun to date, putting any Christmas shows on Earth to disgrace.

The NuSTAR, or Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, mission was sent into space in 2012, intended to recognize black holes and other space articles found outside our earth’s planetary group. So why would researchers utilize the most delicate high-energy X-ray telescope ever constructed to take a picture of the Sun? Well, the Sun may be well-studied on and near and dear, generally talking, yet it still has its coverts.

Moreover, NuSTAR, which can manage the strong intensity of the Sun without being harmed, contrasting to various other telescopes, may be the way to opening some of those mysteries. For instance, specialists expect to increase understanding into the amazingly high temperatures found above sunspots – cool, dark patches on the Sun.

However, maybe most charming is the thing that they may find out nanoflares – little versions of the Sun’s monster flares that emit with charged particles and high-energy radiation. Nanoflares are just a theoretical thought, however if they do certainly exist, they may help clarify the “coronal warming issue.” The corona, or the Sun’s external environment, on average is 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit (1 million degrees Celsius), while the surface of the Sun is “just” 10,800 Fahrenheit (6,000 Celsius). The scorching hot corona contrasted with the generally cooler surface has been a long-standing riddle among researchers, and NuSTAR could help figure out if nanoflares are the cause of this severe heat.

“NuSTAR will provide us an exclusive gaze at the Sun, from the deepest to the most astounding parts of its environment,” David Smith, a solar physicist and part of the NuSTAR group at University of California, Santa Cruz, said in an announcement.

Additionally, the telescope’s accurate X-rays may have the capacity to spot another hypothetical riddle – dark matter. Particularly, the dark matter particles called axions, which would show up as a spot of X-rays in the heart of the Sun.

A partial solar eclipse in Canada; The sun will look like a finger nail.

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partial-solar-eclipse

On Thursday, there will be a partial solar eclipse in Canada. Due to this lunar Eclipse, the sun will look like a fingernail, as it sets in the west for most of the country and Canada.

According to NASA’s statement:

“The show will reach its height at 5:45 p.m. ET, meaning the Eastern half of the country should get a view before the backdrop of golden twilight hues. People living in the Central Time zone will have the best view. New England and Hawaii will unfortunately miss out on this one.”

Moreover it has also been told that the eclipse will stay for around more than two hours.

Furthermore NASA warns the public to protect their eyes. Explaining the matter, NASA told that: “Overlapping leaves create a myriad of natural little pinhole cameras, each one casting an image of the crescent-sun onto the ground beneath the canopy. Don’t stare directly. Even at maximum eclipse, a sliver of sun peeking out from behind the Moon can still cause pain and eye damage. Direct viewing should only be attempted with the aid of a safe solar filter. There are some old tricks to viewing indirectly, like punching a hole in cardboard and projecting the light seeping through it onto a surface away from the sun. Or let a tree do the work for you.”

Additionally NASA also reported that the next solar eclipse will occur after almost three years and that eclipse will be more dramatic and erratic total eclipse.

Black Hole Swallowing Gas Faster Than Previously Thought Possible

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black-hole-more-gas

Space scientists and researchers belonging to University of Strasbourg recently made an attempt to observe a black hole named as P13. This black hole is present in NGC7793- a galaxy which has been estimated at almost 12 Million light years from our planet. They suggest that this black hole would be really large in size as its brightness is 100 times greater than that of the sun. Further these scientists have joined their heads because of the latest finding about this black hole. These findings suggest that the black hole P13 is ingesting the surrounding gases much faster than the expected rate. This research by Dr Soria has been published in journal Nature.

According to the statement by Dr Roberto Soria from ICRAR- International Centre for Radio Astronomy research, “It was generally believed the maximum speed at which a black hole could swallow gas and produce light was tightly determined by its size. So it made sense to assume that P13 was bigger than the ordinary, less bright black holes we see in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.”

Nevertheless, It has also been reported that the amount of gases a black hole can eat is not fixed and there is no hard and fast rule for that. The star which is behaving as donor to P13 is 20 times heavier than our sun having one side always larger than the other. Through these observations and findings, Dr Soria thinks that we can measure the time the black hole and the donor star takes to rotate around each other. It was found to be 64 days. Moreover findings also helped to identify the shapes of the orbits along with the velocity of their rotations. Through these calculations the fact was established that the black hole would be 15 times less than the mass of the sun.

The interesting point of this research is that scientist estimated the amounts of gases being ingested through Hotdogs because it was the humorous choice for measurement of matter because they don’t possess any standard weight. Nevertheless the Self Nutrition Data suggests that their approximate weight is one tenth of one pound.

The researchers identified that P13 is eating up the gases from its donor 10 times larger than what was expected. It is eating up almost around the weight of 100billion billion hotdogs per minute. Through this it can be assumed that black hole P13 is taking up 5 quadrillion gas each minute.

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