Futuristic Photons’ Post

Five reasons why astronomy is important to our future in space.

The future of astronomy lies in artificial intelligence

Why scientists are making space data into sounds, Histogram showing the relative amount of BLV and sighted participants. Red (blue) bars represent sighted (BLV) participants. The x-axis shows the participant counts and the y-axis shows the self-reported level of astronomy knowledge from novice to expert. Note the significant difference between BLV and sighted participants. Thirteen participants omitted astronomical knowledge or BLV status and were omitted from this figure., : Histogram showing the relative

More #MAGPISurvey results!

📃Scientific paper: An Observational View of Structure in Protostellar Systems Abstract: The envelopes and disks that surround protostars reflect the initial conditions of star and planet formation and govern the assembly of stellar masses. Characterizing these structures requires observations that span the near-infrared to centimeter wavelengths. Consequently, the past two decades have seen progress driven by numerous advances in observational facilities across this spectrum, including the \textit\{Spitzer Space Telescope\}, \textit\{Herschel Space Observatory\}, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, and a host of other ground-based interferometers and single-dish radio telescopes. Nearly all protostars appear to have well-formed circumstellar disks that are likely to be rotationally-supported; the ability to detect a disk around a protostar is more a question of spatial resolution than whether or not a disk is present. The disks around protostars have inherently higher millimeter/submillimeter luminosities as compared to disks around more-evolved pre-main sequence stars, though there may be systematic variations between star forming regions. The envelopes around protostars are inherently asymmetric and streamers emphasize that mass flow through the envelopes to the disks may not be homogeneous. The current mass distribution of protostars may be impacted by selection bias given that it is skewed toward solar-mass protostars, inconsistent with the stellar initial mass function. ;Comment: To appear in Annual Reviews in Astronomy and Astrophysics; ... Continued on ES/IODE ➡️ https://etcse.fr/wyJgq ------- If you find this interesting, feel free to follow, comment and share. We need your help to enhance our visibility, so that our platform continues to serve you.

Three iron rings in a planet-forming disk Astronomers have detected a three-ringed structure in the nursery of planets in the inner planet-forming disk of a young star. This configuration suggests two Jupiter-mass planets are forming in the gaps between the rings. The detailed analysis is consistent with abundant solid iron grains complementing the dust composition. As a result, the disk likely harbors metals and minerals akin to those in the Solar System's terrestrial planets. It offers a glimpse into conditions resembling the early Solar System over four billion years ago during the formation of rocky planets such as Mercury, Venus, and Earth. The origin of Earth and the Solar System inspires scientists and the public alike. By studying the present state of our home planet and other objects in the Solar System, researchers have developed a detailed picture of the conditions when they evolved from a disk made of dust and gas surrounding the infant sun some 4.5 billion years ago. Three rings hinting at two planets With the breathtaking progress made in star and planet formation research aiming at far-away celestial objects, we can now investigate the conditions in environments around young stars and compare them to the ones derived for the early Solar System. Using the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), an international team of researchers led by József Varga from the Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, Hungary, did just that. They observed the planet-forming disk of the young star HD 144432, approximately 500 light-years away. "When studying the dust distribution in the disk's innermost region, we detected for the first time a complex structure in which dust piles up in three concentric rings in such an environment," says Roy van Boekel. He is a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg, Germany and a co-author of the underlying research article to appear in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. "That region corresponds to the zone where the rocky planets formed in the Solar System," van Boekel adds. Compared to the Solar System, the first ring around HD 144432 lies within Mercury's orbit, and the second is close to Mars's trajectory. Moreover, the third ring roughly corresponds to Jupiter's orbit. Up to now, astronomers have found such configurations predominantly on larger scales corresponding to the realms beyond where Saturn circles the Sun. Ring systems in the disks around young stars generally point to planets forming within the gaps as they accumulate dust and gas on their way. However, HD 144432 is the first example of such a complex ring system so close to its host star. It occurs in a zone rich in dust, the building block of rocky planets like Earth. Assuming the rings indicate the presence of two planets forming within the gaps, the astronomers estimated their masses to resemble roughly that of Jupiter. #unitofbharat #earth #ironrings #rings #Astronomers

If you like astronomy, you will have seen the famous image of a black hole. Well, it is actually a composition, not a real image. Now there are more updates: https://buff.ly/3S5LVRD #BlackHoleDiscovery #AstronomyUpdates #GalacticExploration

Congratulations to Dr Michelle Lochner, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Astronomy, University of the Western Cape and Staff Scientist at SARAO - South African Radio Astronomy Observatory for being selected as a finalist for the TW Kambule-NSTF Researcher Award. Dr Lochner works on developing cutting edge artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to interrogate massive astronomical datasets sourced from millions of galaxies, hunting for new scientific discoveries in data gathered from radio telescopes such as Meer KAT and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), as well as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, an optical telescope under construction in Chile. She used her algorithm, called Astronomaly, to discover a new radio source called “SAURON”, found in Meer KAT data, which could be the remnant of a massive explosion as two supermassive black holes merged. See the full list of the Award finalists here: https://lnkd.in/dQeqBmVC #NSTFawards2024 #ScienceOscars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Innovation #STEMrolemodels #Research #Development #4IR #Fourthindustrialrevolution #4IRtechnology

Astronomers Witness a Supermassive Black Hole Roaring to Life Five years ago, a postulation 300 cardinal light-years distant got a batch brighter successful telescopes, radiating ultraviolet, optical, and infrared airy retired into space. This year, the resurgent postulation started emitting X-rays, indicating that its archetypal brightening was truly conscionable a warmup. First Full-Color Images From Webb Space Telescope For the 2 decades earlier 2019, the postulation was the aforesaid level of faintness successful the nighttime sky. According to a squad of astronomers, the caller wind-up could beryllium owed to a supermassive achromatic spread coming to beingness astatine the galaxy’s core. The team’s probe is accepted for publication successful Astronomy & Astrophysics. “This behaviour is unprecedented,” said Paula Sánchez Sáez, a researcher with the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics successful Chile and pb writer of the paper, successful a European Southern Observatory release. “Regardless of the quality of the variations, [this galaxy] provides invaluable accusation connected however achromatic holes turn and evolve.” The postulation is SDSS1335+0728 (and that’s conscionable its nickname—seriously!). Its archetypal brightening was spotted by the Zwicky Transient Facility telescope, which puts retired an alert connected an entity erstwhile a five-sigma detection is made of a source’s quality image. The researchers concluded that the brightness variations bespeak a achromatic hole, astir 1 cardinal times the wide of the Sun, is becoming active, brightening its surroundings arsenic it consumes material. The entity lone began emitting X-rays successful February, indicating that the achromatic spread is adjacent much awake present than erstwhile it began to stir. “These elephantine monsters usually are sleeping and not straight visible,” said survey co-author Claudio Ricci, from the Diego Portales University, successful the aforesaid release. “In the lawsuit of SDSS1335+0728, we were capable to observe the awakening of the monolithic achromatic hole, [which] abruptly started to feast connected state disposable successful its surroundings, becoming precise bright.” The squad has yet to behaviour follow-up observations to clarify the quality of the event. While the information powerfully suggests the squad saw the achromatic hole’s activation, it’s imaginable that the lawsuit is simply a rare benignant of tidal disruption, successful which a adjacent passing entity is pulled isolated by the achromatic hole’s gravitational force, lighting up the surrounding cosmos. If it is simply a tidal disruption, it’s the longest and faintest yet seen. Instruments similar the Very Large Telescope and its successor, the Extremely Large Telescope, could spot much airy from these rare, adaptable events. At the ...