Space Scan

The satellite data as observed by XMM-Newton and NASA’s Chandra X-ray had led Renato Dupke and his colleagues from the University of Michigan witness the merger of two galaxies at speed of more than 2,000 miles per second. This collective observation of Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray satellite has given cosmologists an interesting fact regarding the conception of collision of galaxies. Until today, such high speed with which these two are merging thought to be impossible, as observed from the previous computer models for celestial objects. XMM-Newton (Multi Mirror Mission) is the biggest European satellite having the most sensitive telescope mirrors and with its advanced detector, it can detect more X-ray activities going around. It has proved its worth before, as it was the first satellite, which helped the scientists to observe the influence of gravitational field on a neutron star on the light it emits. This detection provides hints to solve the puzzle of Abell 576. The only explanation for this was to take bullet collision, in which one galaxy passes through other one – like a bullet traveling through an apple. However, moving gas in the cluster was colder by astronomical parameters. Previous assumption says that if gas moves at such high velocity, it should have temperature double the measured 50 million degree Celsius. In the words of Renato Dukpke: The job of explaining these high speeds now rests with the cosmologists. Major cluster-cluster collisions are expected to be rare, with estimates of their frequency ranging from less than one in a thousand clusters to one in a hundred. On collision, their internal gas is thrown out of equilibrium and if unrecognized, causes underestimation of its mass by between 5 and 20 percent. ESA consider it as an important event as it will help the cosmologists to describe how the Universe expands. Study of mass and velocity of a gas cluster provide scientists an excellent opportunity to estimate the cosmological parameters. Considering this merger as an important event, Astrophysical journal has accepted it for publication.

Over the past week, Comet Holmes is lighting the northern sky with its magnificent light drawing thousands of professional and amateur sky watchers on rooftops. The Comet named after Edwin Holmes, who discovered it in 1892, was visible to the astronomers only through the telescope until 23 October. Since then it had suddenly exploded and expanded making it visible also to naked eye. Comet Holmes is exploding and its coma has grown to become larger than Jupiter. The coma is made of dust and gas and is illuminated by the sun that makes it bright in the night sky. Unlike most other comets, Comet Holmes lacks a tail. Scientists speculate that the comet exploded owing to the presence of sinkholes in its nucleus giving it a honey-comb-like structure. The collapse exposed the comet ice to the sun transforming the ice into gas. For those interested to catch a glimpse of this celestial spectacle, Comet Holmes can be seen in the northern sky in the constellation Perseus. The show is expected to last for weeks if not for months.

Scientists and common person alike have always wondered whether there is life elsewhere in the universe. Discovery of a new planet orbiting a star beyond the solar system might help scientists to discover alien life. Scientists of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena discovered a new planet orbiting 55 Cancri, star located 41 light years from Earth in the Cancer constellation. The discovery of a quintuple planetary system raises hope that there are planetary systems similar to our solar system in the outer space. The planet discovered is the fourth planet in its planetary system. The new planet is about 45 times the mass of Earth and appears to be similar to Saturn in its composition and appearance. The planet is fourth from 55 Cancri and completes one orbit in 260 days. Its location puts the planet in the habitable zone where temperatures would allow water formation. The planet was discovered using Shane telescope at the Lick Observatory in San Jose and WM Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

The cosmos never ceases to amaze us with its sheer size and splendor. The star studded sky above us and the vast unexplored eternity that lay beyond us have always captured both human mind and human heart. While the glitz and shine of the stars and the spectacular celestial aura have drawn us towards them, it is impossible to deny that our space programs are barely at a stage of infancy, with 99.9% of the universe still left unexplored. It is this magic of finding something new each day, each moment, each time you point your telescope in to the sky that hold our imagination and ignites our senses. The universe around us is so kind that you can randomly look at any part of it and it still will give you a surprise or two. You can call that either our luck or our sheer ignorance. But since ages, the question that has intrigued us the most is, ‘Are we alone in the universe?’ This one question has always baffled our thoughts, challenged our imagination and of course made Spielberg in to a movie making icon. But off late scientists are starting to believe more and more that the answer to that question is ‘No’. The discovery of Gliese 581 was one of the most exciting moments in extra-solar planetary researcher. The star is said to be having a planetary system and now researchers claim that they have found two planets that might be conducive to existence of life on them. Astronomers have found an Earth-massed planet orbiting within the habitable zone of a distant star. This would mean that liquid water could be on its surface – and maybe even life! Any planet needs to be at a right distance from its own sun, so as to be able to maintain conditions that help the sustenance of life on it. If it is too close to the star, it looses the water on its surface due to excessive heat and if it is too far, it might be too cold to harbor life. Two separate teams of astronomers have found out in two different ways that the system of Gliese 581 has planets in the habitable zone. They did this by calculating and comparing the position of Earth and the planet on which they believe life could exist. The first team lead by Franck Selsis calculated that the inner boundary of this habitable zone around Gliese 581 should be somewhere between 0.7 and 0.9 astronomical units and the outer zone should be between 1.7 and 2.4 AU. At least one planet orbiting Gliese 581 falls within this range. Now that is indeed exciting news. I always thought that we would find life beyond earth first on Titan- Saturn’s largest moon. But I still think the problem is that we look for life that is organic-similar to ourselves in nature. Why can’t life have evolved out of Platinum and gold somewhere else in the cosmos? Now that would be ‘Rich life’, if not intelligent.

The cosmos never ceases to amaze us with its sheer size and splendor. The star studded sky above us and the vast unexplored eternity that lay beyond us have always captured both human mind and human heart. While the glitz and shine of the stars and the spectacular celestial aura have drawn us towards them, it is impossible to deny that our space programs are barely at a stage of infancy, with 99.9% of the universe still left unexplored. It is this magic of finding something new each day, each moment, each time you point your telescope in to the sky that hold our imagination and ignites our senses. The universe around us is so kind that you can randomly look at any part of it and it still will give you a surprise or two. You can call that either our luck or our sheer ignorance. But since ages, the question that has intrigued us the most is, ‘Are we alone in the universe?’ This one question has always baffled our thoughts, challenged our imagination and of course made Spielberg in to a movie making icon. But off late scientists are starting to believe more and more that the answer to that question is ‘No’. The discovery of Gliese 581 was one of the most exciting moments in extra-solar planetary researcher. The star is said to be having a planetary system and now researchers claim that they have found two planets that might be conducive to existence of life on them. Astronomers have found an Earth-massed planet orbiting within the habitable zone of a distant star. This would mean that liquid water could be on its surface – and maybe even life! Any planet needs to be at a right distance from its own sun, so as to be able to maintain conditions that help the sustenance of life on it. If it is too close to the star, it looses the water on its surface due to excessive heat and if it is too far, it might be too cold to harbor life. Two separate teams of astronomers have found out in two different ways that the system of Gliese 581 has planets in the habitable zone. They did this by calculating and comparing the position of Earth and the planet on which they believe life could exist. The first team lead by Franck Selsis calculated that the inner boundary of this habitable zone around Gliese 581 should be somewhere between 0.7 and 0.9 astronomical units and the outer zone should be between 1.7 and 2.4 AU. At least one planet orbiting Gliese 581 falls within this range. Now that is indeed exciting news. I always thought that we would find life beyond earth first on Titan- Saturn’s largest moon. But I still think the problem is that we look for life that is organic-similar to ourselves in nature. Why can’t life have evolved out of Platinum and gold somewhere else in the cosmos? Now that would be ‘Rich life’,