#Planetary_systems

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On October 29, the INFUSE mission launched, designed to study the formation of star systems through the study of data on supernova explosions On October 29, 2023, the INFUSE mission will launch, designed to explore the mysteries of the emergence of new star systems through the study of supernova explosions. The sounding rocket launches from the White Sands Range in New Mexico. Every year, the constellation Cygnus attracts astronomers in the northern hemisphere. A special artifact of the night sky directly above this constellation is the Veil Nebula, which has become a favorite object of observation for both amateur astronomers and scientific researchers. It is the remnant of a star whose size in the past exceeded the mass of our Sun by 20 times. About 20,000 years ago, this giant star underwent gravitational collapse, resulting in a brilliant supernova explosion. Even at a distance of 2,600 light years, the brightness of this event was sufficient that it could be observed from Earth even in daylight. [caption id="attachment_76772" align="aligncenter" width="727"] star systems[/caption] Supernova explosions are an integral part of the life cycle of a star. They eject into the surrounding space heavy elements formed in the core of the star, which subsequently becomes a source of chemical elements that exceed the mass of iron. As a result, planets, stars, and new star systems gradually form over time from the dispersed clouds of dust and gas left after the flare. The Veil Nebula provides a unique opportunity to observe a recent supernova explosion in its active stage. This huge cloud, more than 120 light years in size, continues to expand at a speed of about 1.5 million kilometers per hour. The INFUSE mission is the key to understanding the formation of star systems What astronomers detect with telescopes is not the explosion itself, but the dust and gas superheated by the shock wave and manifesting itself as a glow as it cools. To study the shock wave, Professor Brian Fleming and his team developed a telescope capable of detecting ultraviolet radiation, which has too high an energy for human vision to perceive. This light will help reveal the glow of dust and gas that has been hit by the shock waves and is still at a high temperature after the process. The INFUSE mission is an innovative spectrograph that is the first instrument of its kind to go into space. This tool combines the advantages of two techniques: optical imaging and spectroscopy. Modern optical telescopes have excellent cameras that allow them to accurately determine the direction of light and its spatial location. But they can't separate the light into its different wavelengths, and the resulting image ends up with different spectra superimposed on each other. In turn, spectroscopy divides a light beam into its components - certain spectra, similar to the division of a light beam by a prism into a rainbow. This procedure will help reveal a lot of additional information about the composition of the light source, its temperature, and the dynamics of the processes occurring. However, spectroscopy can help analyze only a narrow strip of light at a time, similar to looking at the night sky through a narrow keyhole. The INFUSE instrument creates an image and then “cuts” it—the spectrometer separates each strip into a spectrum. This data can be reconstructed into a three-dimensional "data cube" - a stack of images where each layer reveals a specific wavelength of light. Using data obtained from INFUSE, Professor Fleming and his team will be able to not only identify specific elements and their temperatures but also analyze the location of these elements along the shock wave. INFUSE will be launched into space aboard a sounding rocket. These are miniature rockets that fly into space for a few minutes to collect scientific data. The mission will launch a two-stage Black Brant 9 rocket to a peak altitude of about 240 kilometers before parachuting down to the ground for recovery. The team has already planned to upgrade the tool and relaunch. Moreover, some parts of the rocket are already being reused from the previous launch of the DEUCE mission, which took place in Australia in 2022.

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China prepping for mission to bring back material from moon#stockmarkets#aerospace_and_defense_industry #aerospace_technology #astronomy #bring #business #china #general_news #industrial_products_and_services #industrial_technology #mars #material #mission #moon #planetary_systems #planets #prepping #science #solar_system #space_exploration #space_industry #space_launches #space_technology #technology

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Scientists from Italy and Germany have discovered exoplanet GJ 367b, which is likely composed entirely of iron. Using the HARPS spectrograph and TESS observations, they found that more than 90% of the planet's mass is made up of its iron core. Researchers from the University of Turin in Italy and the State Star Observatory of Thuringia in Germany have made an interesting discovery: the exoplanet GJ 367b is most likely composed entirely of iron.  This makes it the densest known planet with a short orbital period. GJ 367b was first spotted in 2015 by NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) space telescope and has a density 1.85 times that of Earth. [caption id="attachment_69273" align="aligncenter" width="780"] GJ 367b[/caption] Using the European Southern Observatory's HARPS spectrograph and TESS observations, scientists determined that more than 90% of the planet's mass is made up of its iron core. The origin story of GJ 367b remains a mystery, but it may have once been a rocky planet like Earth or Mars. Its two neighboring planets, orbiting further out, are also rocky, indicating that they all formed in a similar way. GJ 367b is an exoplanet consisting only of an iron core However, GJ 367b likely went through a unique series of events that led it to lose its outer rocky layers, leaving only the core. Possible explanations include collisions with another planet closer to the host star. Another possibility is that GJ 367b was intensely irradiated by its star, causing its outer layer to burn away leaving only an iron core. The outer material could turn into gas and then be dispersed into space. It is also possible that GJ 367b underwent a combination of collisions and irradiation to form the metallic planet that astronomers observe today. The question still remains: how did GJ 367b get so close to its star? It is unlikely that it formed there. Scientists believe that gravitational interactions with other planets could have caused it to move away from its original formation site. Further study of GJ 367b could provide valuable insights into the formation and evolution of rocky and short-period planets.

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New research shows how comets could be the source of life on planets outside our solar system Scientists theorize that comets may have spread the organic ingredients necessary for the emergence of life on Earth. New research suggests that comets may also deliver these elements to exoplanets. During the formation of the solar system, the Earth was bombarded by asteroids, comets and other space objects. How the planet obtained the water and molecules necessary for life is still controversial, but comets are considered the most likely sources of these substances. [caption id="attachment_83089" align="aligncenter" width="650"] planet[/caption] But if comets could potentially bring the seeds of life to Earth, could they serve a similar function for exoplanets in other parts of the universe? To explore this question, a team of researchers from the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge developed mathematical models that helped reveal how comets could transfer similar vital elements to other planets in our galaxy. While the study's findings do not yet provide a definitive answer about the presence of life on other planets, they may help narrow the search for exoplanets that may support life. “wandering” from planet to planet, spread life throughout the Universe? “We continue to learn more about the atmospheres of exoplanets, so our goal was to find out whether there were planets where complex organic molecules could also be delivered by comets. It's possible that the molecules that enabled life on Earth were brought in by comets, and the same may be true for planets in other galaxies,” said Richard Enslow, one of the study's authors, who works at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. Over the past decades, scientists have learned more about the prebiotic molecules found in comets. For example, NASA's Stardust mission discovered samples of glycine, an amino acid and building block of proteins, in Comet Wild 2 (81P/Wild), and the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission discovered organic molecules in the coma of Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P). However, these organic molecules can be destroyed by strong comet impacts on the planet. So Enslow and his colleagues had to find scenarios in which a comet-planet collision occurs slowly enough to preserve the ingredients of life intact. The study, based on simulations, found that the slowest impact velocities occur in solar systems where planets are densely packed. Comets moving through such systems are slowed down by the gravitational influence of the planets. The simulations also showed that conditions for the emergence of life may be suitable on rocky planets orbiting red dwarfs. They are the most common type of star in the galaxy and are of interest to astronomers searching for exoplanets. However, planets in such systems are subject to more frequent high-speed collisions with comets and the likelihood of life appearing there is low, especially if the planets are located at significant distances from each other. “We can identify the types of systems that could be the subject of research to test different models for the origin of life. And this is another way to look at the amazing diversity of life on Earth and look for its analogues on other planets,” Anslow commented.

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The MIRI instrument on board JWST helped study one particularly interesting star system, HR 8799. The observations provided data for analyzing the chemical composition of the atmospheres of four exoplanets in this young star system When the JWST space telescope first saw the light in July 2022, it was witnessing a huge research program put together by members of the International Astronomical Union. This list included distant early galaxies, forming planets in gas and dust protoplanetary disks, as well as the end of the “dark ages of the Universe” and the first light. Among the numerous targets, exoplanets could not be absent from the list. One distant star system has particularly fascinated scientists. 15 years ago, astronomers discovered three exoplanets around the star HR 8799, located approximately 133 light years from Earth. Later, a fourth exoplanet was discovered, all planets were found by direct detection. These are massive planets with wide orbits, which is rare. Also, the HR 8799 system is attractive for observations because it belongs to young stellar systems. [caption id="attachment_76878" align="aligncenter" width="780"] HR 8799 system[/caption] That's why JWST recently observed this system. Thanks to its instruments, including the MIRI infrared instrument and the coronagraph, it was able to provide data that allowed it to study the star system in more detail. The mass of HR 8799 exceeds 1.5 solar masses, and the luminosity of this star is almost five times that of the Sun. A dust disk has formed around it, and it is a fairly young star - its age is only about 30 million years. Young solar systems are of particular interest because they reveal details about the formation of planets. A new study, authored by Anthony Bocaletti from the Observatory of Paris, was aimed at studying these details. The HR 8799 system includes four planets: HR 8799 b, c, d, and e. They are all massive giants with masses ranging from 5.7 to 9.1 Jupiter masses—the mass boundaries of brown dwarfs—objects that have characteristics between planets and stars. The planets' orbits range from 16 to 71 astronomical units, and their orbital periods range from 45 to 460 years. The fact that they were discovered 15 years ago is also significant because astronomers have an accumulated history of observations of the HR 8799 system. The discovery of massive giant planets with orbits greater than 5 astronomical units is rare. Therefore, every discovery of such systems is important. Thanks to the capabilities provided by the MIRI instrument, JWST can shed light on unknown aspects of such systems and allow scientists to more fully characterize them. Until recently, technical difficulties in mid-infrared observations have made the detailed study of the HR 8799 system challenging. JWST helped study exoplanets of the HR 8799 system [caption id="attachment_76879" align="aligncenter" width="388"] HR 8799 system[/caption] With JWST, scientists were able to refine information obtained from previous observations and gain a clearer understanding of various aspects of the system. The main focus has been on more accurately characterizing the atmospheres of exoplanets. Despite some uncertainty about their composition and the open question of whether they are brown dwarfs, the JWST observations were able to remove doubts. With planetary temperatures ranging from 900 K to 1300 K, new measurements show that the temperature of planet HR 8799 b is lower than previous measurements suggested. Also, the MIRI instrument was able to unambiguously detect the presence of two chemical compounds in the atmospheres of exoplanets: water and carbon monoxide. In addition, according to the data, scientists have controversial evidence of methane detection, which is additional evidence that these objects are planets and not brown dwarfs, since the latter always clearly exhibit methane content at such temperatures. The MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) instrument was designed with the potential to apply various filters. Some of them were specifically designed to detect ammonia, as this could be an indicator of the presence of precursors to life on exoplanets. However, data from the four planets in the HR 8799 system showed that they were slightly hotter than the temperature at which ammonia would be expected to be present. [caption id="attachment_76880" align="aligncenter" width="326"] HR 8799 system[/caption] In addition, the HR 8799 system is notable for the presence of a dust disk that has two belts. Researchers wondered whether the inner edge of the outer belt could indicate the presence of a fifth planet with a mass between Jupiter and Saturn, or whether it was simply a collection of dust. This led to a debate that was resolved by JWST observations. The researchers concluded that the inner edge of the outer belt is a background object unrelated to HR 8799. This was JWST's first opportunity to study a young exoplanet system using the MIRI instrument, its filters, and its coronagraph. JWST's MIRI instrument opens up new opportunities for high-contrast imaging in the mid-infrared and provides new avenues for the study of young exoplanetary systems. The main goal of the work was to conduct observations and test various algorithms to determine the best scenario for using the instruments and interpreting the results of future observations. The data obtained will help optimize tool settings. Due to the high sensitivity of the MIRI coronagraph, it may be difficult to study young star systems with its help. This is only the first use of the instrument, and the extreme sensitivity of the coronagraph can make detecting and interpreting observations of young systems challenging, including potential confusion due to the appearance of background galaxy data. The authors of the work note that ways for improvements have already been outlined, and their results will be useful for further improving observations and research.