At the centre of this image is the young star V960 Mon, located over 5000 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros. Dusty material with potential to form planets surrounds the star. Observations obtained using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on ESO’s VLT, represented in yellow in this image, show that the dusty material orbiting the young star is assembling together in a series of intricate spiral arms extending to distances greater than the entire Solar System. Meanwhile, the blue regions represent data obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner. The ALMA data peers deeper into the structure of the spiral arms, revealing large dusty clumps that could contract and collapse to form giant planets roughly the size of Jupiter via a process known as “gravitational instability”.

A spectacular new image released today by the European Southern Observatory gives us clues about how planets as massive as Jupiter could form. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), researchers have detected large dusty clumps, close to a young star, that could collapse to create giant planets.

“This discovery is truly captivating as it marks the very first detection of clumps around a young star that have the potential to give rise to giant planets,”

says Alice Zurlo, a researcher at the Universidad Diego Portales, Chile, involved in the observations.

This image of the young star V960 Mon and surrounding dusty material was obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner. Large dusty clumps with masses similar to that of planets are visible here as blue blobs. These clumps could contract and collapse via a process known as “gravitational instability” to form giant planets roughly the size of Jupiter.

The work is based on a mesmerising picture obtained with the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on ESO’s VLT that features fascinating detail of the material around the star V960 Mon. This young star is located over 5000 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros and attracted astronomers’ attention when it suddenly increased its brightness more than twenty times in 2014. SPHERE observations taken shortly after the onset of this brightness ‘outburst’ revealed that the material orbiting V960 Mon is assembling together in a series of intricate spiral arms extending over distances bigger than the entire Solar System.

This finding then motivated astronomers to analyse archive observations of the same system made with ALMA, in which ESO is a partner. The VLT observations probe the surface of the dusty material around the star, while ALMA can peer deeper into its structure.

“With ALMA, it became apparent that the spiral arms are undergoing fragmentation, resulting in the formation of clumps with masses akin to those of planets,”

says Zurlo.

Astronomers believe that giant planets form either by ‘core accretion’, when dust grains come together, or by ‘gravitational instability’, when large fragments of the material around a star contract and collapse. While researchers have previously found evidence for the first of these scenarios, support for the latter has been scant.

“No one had ever seen a real observation of gravitational instability happening at planetary scales — until now,”

says Philipp Weber, a researcher at the University of Santiago, Chile, who led the study published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

“Our group has been searching for signs of how planets form for over ten years, and we couldn’t be more thrilled about this incredible discovery,”

says team-member Sebastián Pérez from the University of Santiago, Chile.

ESO instruments will help astronomers unveil more details of this captivating planetary system in the making, and ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will play a key role. Currently under construction in Chile’s Atacama Desert, the ELT will be able to observe the system in greater detail than ever before, collecting crucial information about it.

“The ELT will enable the exploration of the chemical complexity surrounding these clumps, helping us find out more about the composition of the material from which potential planets are forming,”

concludes Weber.

Links

Research paper
Photos of the VLT
Photos of ALMA
Find out more about ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope
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In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Systems

Videos: “Space to Ground” & other space habitat reports – July.24.2023

July 24, 2023 TopSpacer

Here is the latest episode in NASA’s Space to Ground weekly report on activities related to the International Space Station:

** Astronaut Answers Wyoming Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Space Grant Student Questions July 19, 2023 – NASA Video

Aboard the International Space Station, NASA Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen answered pre-recorded questions about life and work on the orbiting laboratory during an in-flight event July 19 with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Wyoming students. Bowen is in the midst of a science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars.

** NG-19 Research: Axonis Therapeutics – ISS National Lab

Researchers from biomedical startup Axonis will launch an investigation on Northrop Grumman’s 19th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the space station seeking to improve treatments for patients suffering from neurological disorders. This video highlights how the space-based environment of the orbiting laboratory may facilitate the development of more effective treatments for patients on Earth.

** NG-19 Research: Emory University – ISS National Lab

Heart disease may be the leading cause of death in the United States, but researchers from Emory University are working toward a solution. Researchers from Emory will continue research on the space station to examine how microgravity affects the growth and function of cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells) as they mature into tissue-like structures. This video provides insight into their investigation launching on Northrop Grumman’s 19th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the space station.

** Northrop Grumman’s CRS-19 mission to space station – What experiments are onboard? – VideoFromSpace

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft will carry several experiments to the International Space Station. The CRS-19 mission is scheduled to launch in August 2023.

** ISS crew plays ‘Space Dart’ game with ping pong ball and hoops – VideoFromSpace

The International Space Station enjoys their down time with a few rounds of “Space Dart.” The game uses a pair of hoops and a ping pong ball.

** Jettisoned equipment seen floating away from space station in cupola view – VideoFromSpace

An FSE (Flight Support Equipment) was jettisioned using the International Space Station’s robotic arm in July 2023. NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg explains and watches it float away from the orbital laboratory.

** China’s Shenzhou-16 astronauts conduct spacewalk outside Tiangong space station – VideoFromSpace

See footage of a spacewalk conducted outside the Tiangong space station by Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng and Zhu Yangzhu on July 20, 2023.

** Targeted Training, Tacit Cooperation Behind Success of Shenzhou-16 Crew’s First Spacewalk: Expert – CCTV Video News Agency

Expert said behind the success of Shenzhou-16 crew’s first extravehicular activities (EVAs) on Thursday is professional and targeted training, and tacit cooperation.

** Shenzhou-16 Fulfilling Diverse Missions Smoothly in Orbit – CCTV Video News Agency

The Shenzhou-16 astronaut crew is conducting diverse missions in an orderly manner on China’s Tiangong space station.

** China’s Tiangong Open for Space Science Project Submissions – CCTV Video News Agency

China is inviting scientists to submit space science and application projects that they want to conduct at China’s Tiangong space station.

** Live Video from the International Space Station (Official NASA Stream) – NASA

Watch live video from the International Space Station, including inside views when the crew aboard the space station is on duty. Views of Earth are also streamed from an external camera located outside of the space station. During periods of signal loss due to handover between communications satellites, a blue screen is displayed.

The space station orbits Earth about 250 miles (425 kilometers) above the surface. An international partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries operates the station, and it has been continuously occupied since November 2000. It’s a microgravity laboratory where science, research, and human innovation make way for new technologies and research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. More: https://go.nasa.gov/3CkVtC8

Did you know you can spot the station without a telescope? It looks like a fast-moving star, but you have to know when to look up. Sign up for text messages or email alerts to let you know when (and where) to spot the station and wave to the crew: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov

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Astronomy, Education, Exoplanets

ESO: Two exoplanets may share same orbit

July 19, 2023 TopSpacer

A new report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO):

Does this exoplanet have a sibling sharing the same orbit?

This image, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, shows the young planetary system PDS 70, located nearly 400 light-years away from Earth. The system features a star at its centre, around which the planet PDS 70 b (highlighted with a solid yellow circle) is orbiting. On the same orbit as PDS 70b, indicated by a solid yellow ellipse, astronomers have detected a cloud of debris (circled by a yellow dotted line) that could be the building blocks of a new planet or the remnants of one already formed. The ring-like structure that dominates the image is a circumstellar disc of material, out of which planets are forming. There is in fact another planet in this system: PDS 70c, seen at 3 o’clock right next to the inner rim of the disc.

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have found the possible ‘sibling’ of a planet orbiting a distant star. The team has detected a cloud of debris that might be sharing this planet’s orbit and which, they believe, could be the building blocks of a new planet or the remnants of one already formed. If confirmed, this discovery would be the strongest evidence yet that two exoplanets can share one orbit.

“Two decades ago it was predicted in theory that pairs of planets of similar mass may share the same orbit around their star, the so-called Trojan or co-orbital planets. For the first time, we have found evidence in favour of that idea,”

says Olga Balsalobre-Ruza, a student at the Centre for Astrobiology in Madrid, Spain who led the paper published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Trojans, rocky bodies in the same orbit as a planet, are common in our own Solar System [1], the most famous example being the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter — more than 12 000 rocky bodies that are in the same orbit around the Sun as the gas giant. Astronomers have predicted that Trojans, in particular Trojan planets, could also exist around a star other than our Sun, but evidence for them is scant.

“Exotrojans [Trojan planets outside the Solar System] have so far been like unicorns: they are allowed to exist by theory but no one has ever detected them,”

says co-author Jorge Lillo-Box, a senior researcher at the Centre for Astrobiology.

Now, an international team of scientists have used ALMA, in which ESO is a partner, to find the strongest observational evidence yet that Trojan planets could exist — in the PDS 70 system. This young star is known to host two giant, Jupiter-like planets, PDS 70b and PDS 70c. By analysing archival ALMA observations of this system, the team spotted a cloud of debris at the location in PDS 70b’s orbit where Trojans are expected to exist.

Trojans occupy the so-called Lagrangian zones, two extended regions in a planet’s orbit where the combined gravitational pull of the star and the planet can trap material. Studying these two regions of PDS 70b’s orbit, astronomers detected a faint signal from one of them, indicating that a cloud of debris with a mass up to roughly two times that of our Moon might reside there.

The team believes this cloud of debris could point to an existing Trojan world in this system, or a planet in the process of forming.

“Who could imagine two worlds that share the duration of the year and the habitability conditions? Our work is the first evidence that this kind of world could exist,” […] “We can imagine that a planet can share its orbit with thousands of asteroids as in the case of Jupiter, but it is mind blowing to me that planets could share the same orbit.”

[says Balsalobre-Ruza.]

“Our research is a first step to look for co-orbital planets very early in their formation,”

says co-author Nuria Huélamo, a senior researcher at the Centre for Astrobiology.

“It opens up new questions on the formation of Trojans, how they evolve and how frequent they are in different planetary systems,”

adds Itziar De Gregorio-Monsalvo, ESO Head of the Office for Science in Chile, who also contributed to this research.

To fully confirm their detection, the team will need to wait until after 2026, when they will aim to use ALMA to see if both PDS 70b and its sibling cloud of debris move significantly along their orbit together around the star.

“This would be a breakthrough in the exoplanetary field,”

says Balsalobre-Ruza.

“The future of this topic is very exciting and we look forward to the extended ALMA capabilities, planned for 2030, which will dramatically improve the array’s ability to characterise Trojans in many other stars,”

concludes De Gregorio-Monsalvo.

Notes

[1] When asteroids in Jupiter’s orbit were first discovered, they were named after heroes of the Trojan war , giving rise to the name Trojans to refer to these objects.

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Activism, Space industry, Space Policy

The Space Show this week – July.18.2023

July 18, 2023 TopSpacer

The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week:

1. Tuesday, July. 18, 2023; 7 pm PST (9 pm CST, 10 pm EST): We welcome back Dr. John Brandenburg with new information. See his reviewed published paper on our blog for this program.

2. Hotel Mars – Wednesday, July. 19, 2023; 1:00 pm PST (3:00 pm CST, 4:00 pm EST): Stephanie Thomas of Princeton Satellite Systems will speak with John Batchelor and Dr. David Livingston about fusion energy and its commercial development progress

3. Thursday, July.20, 2023; 7:00 – 9:00 pm PST (9:00 – 11:00 pm CST, 10:00 pm-12:00 am EST): We welcome back Rand Simberg for a special July 20th [Apollo 11 lunar landing anniversary day] Space Show program.

4. Friday, July.21, 2023; 9:30-11 am PST (11:30 am-1 pm CST, 12:30-2 pm EST): We welcome Patrick O’Neill, public affairs and outreach lead for the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory, for an update on ISS news and plans.

5. Sunday, July.23, 2023; 12-1:30 pm PST (2-3:30 pm CST, 3-4:30 pm EST): We welcome John Strickland to discuss energy and lots more.

Some recent shows:

** Sunday, July.16.2023 – Dr. Arun Sharma of Cedars Sinai in Los Angles

explained current stem cell research, the different types of stem cells and why the use of space for this research. We talked many related issues including Mars, Moon, settlement, human reproduction, the need for 1 g and more. The stem cell technology is very advanced and exciting. The excitement sure came across with Dr. Sharma in this interview.

** Friday, July.14.2023 – Manuel Cuba of Helix Space in Luxembourg was interviewed.

Helix Space is also a new sponsor for The Space Show and is very much appreciated for its sponsorship. Manuel talked about space and Luxembourg, Helix Space, European satellite ventures and companies, markets, both the public sector and the commercial sector, public space attitude in Luxembourg and medical R&D for profit in space.

** Hotel Mars – Wednesday, July.12.2023 – Anatoly Zak of RussianSpaceWeb.com spoke with John Batchelor and Dr. David Livingston about “Roscomos recruiting and training soldiers for the Ukraine war“.

** Tuesday, July.11.2023 – Matt Bille with Kerri Westburg discussed

ideas for rapid turnaround and response with Space Force launches, smaller satellites and much more. This was an excellent discussion on a topic we don’t hear about that often on The Space Show. Don’t miss this one!

** Sunday, July.9.2023 – Stephanie Thomas of Princeton Satellite Systems gave

fusion industry updates plus the latest on the fusion Princeton Satellite is working on. We talked about fusion in general, the government and fusion, other private companies, fusion in space and more.

** Friday, July.7.2023 – Jean-Francois Gauthier of the GHGSat (Green House Gas Satellite) project discussed

methane and other gas detection satellites, the industry seeking such leak detection, data usage including for climate change purposes and much more. Other topics of interest also discussed.

** Hotel Mars – Friday, July.7.2023 – Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman of MIT talked with John Batchelor and Dr. David Livingston about

… MOXIE, the experiment making O2 on Mars. Our two segment discussion was wide ranging regarding O2 and its needs on Mars, plus timing for possible commercial Mars operations and humans to Mars.

** Sunday, July.2.2023 – Open lines program covered

Lots of different topics, many callers, several program emails. Great discussions on a variety of space subjects and events.

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation .

The Space Show - David Livingston — The Space Show – Dr. David Livingston

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In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Systems

Videos: “Space to Ground” & other space habitat reports – July.17.2023

July 17, 2023 TopSpacer

Here is the latest episode in NASA’s Space to Ground weekly report on activities related to the International Space Station:

** Expedition 69 Astronaut Frank Rubio Talks with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus – July 13, 2023 – NASA Video

Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio of NASA discussed life and work aboard the International Space Station during an in-flight interview July 13 with the Congressional Hispanic caucus on Capitol Hill. Rubio is in the midst of a record breaking long-duration mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars. When Rubio returns to Earth in September. he will have spent a total of 371 days in space, the longest single spaceflight by a US astronaut.

** Expedition 69 Astronaut Steve Bowen Talks with WCVB-TV Boston – NASA Video

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Steve Bowen of NASA discussed life and work aboard the orbital outpost during an in-flight interview July 12 WCVB-TV Boston. Bowen is in the midst of a long-duration mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars.

** Shenzhou-16 Crew Do Experiments in Tiangong Space Station – CCTV Video News Agency

The Shenzhou-16 mission crew, stationed on China’s Tiangong space station, has carried out experiments in cutting-edge fields since their entry at the end of May.

** Building the First Space Docks! – Gateway Spaceport LLC

If you want to join our effort to build big stations in orbit or work in space then please join our Crew membership at the following address.
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