We report the discovery of VVV-WIT-07, an unique and intriguing variable source presenting a sequence of recurrent dips with a likely deep eclipse in July 2012. The object was found serendipitously in the near-IR data obtained by the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) ESO Public Survey. Our analysis is based on VVV variability, multicolor, and proper motion (PM) data. Complementary data from the VVV eXtended survey (VVVX) as well as archive data and spectroscopic follow-up observations aided in the analysis and interpretation of VVV-WIT-07. A search for periodicity in the VVV Ks-band light curve of VVV-WIT-07 results in two tentative periods at P~322 days and P~170 days. Colors and PM are consistent either with a reddened MS star or a pre-MS star in the foreground disk. The near-IR spectra of VVV-WIT-07 appear featureless, having no prominent lines in emission or absorption. Features found in the light curve of VVV-WIT-07 are similar to those seen in J1407 (Mamajek's object), a pre-MS K5 dwarf with a ring system eclipsing the star or, alternatively, to KIC 8462852 (Boyajian's star), an F3 IV/V star showing irregular and aperiodic dips in its light curve. Alternative scenarios, none of which is fully consistent with the available data, are also briefly discussed, including a young stellar object, a T Tauri star surrounded by clumpy dust structure, a main sequence star eclipsed by a nearby extended object, a self-eclipsing R CrB variable star, and even a long-period, high-inclination X-ray binary.
Some of the world's oldest cave paintings have revealed how ancient people had relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy.The artworks, at sites across Europe, are not simply depictions of wild animals, as was previously thought. Instead, the animal symbols represent star constellations in the night sky, and are used to represent dates and mark events such as comet strikes, analysis suggests.They reveal that, perhaps as far back as 40,000 years ago, humans kept track of time using knowledge of how the position of the stars slowly changes over thousands of years.The findings suggest that ancient people understood an effect caused by the gradual shift of Earth's rotational axis. Discovery of this phenomenon, called precession of the equinoxes, was previously credited to the ancient Greeks.
Dr Martin Sweatman, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering, who led the study, said: "Early cave art shows that people had advanced knowledge of the night sky within the last ice age. Intellectually, they were hardly any different to us today."These findings support a theory of multiple comet impacts over the course of human development, and will probably revolutionise how prehistoric populations are seen."
When tiny particles strike a metal surface at high speed — for example, as coatings being sprayed or as micrometeorites pummeling a space station — the moment of impact happens so fast that the details of process haven’t been clearly understood, until now.A team of researchers at MIT has just accomplished the first detailed high-speed imaging and analysis of the microparticle impact process, and used that data to predict when the particles will bounce away, stick, or knock material off the surface and weaken it. The new findings are described in a paper appearing today in the journal Nature Communications.
StarOne, just so you know, this thread and your efforts are very much appreciated! For Astronomy, I follow this daily, as well as Astro Blogs.
Prehistoric cave art reveals ancient use of complex astronomyQuoteSome of the world's oldest cave paintings have revealed how ancient people had relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy.The artworks, at sites across Europe, are not simply depictions of wild animals, as was previously thought. Instead, the animal symbols represent star constellations in the night sky, and are used to represent dates and mark events such as comet strikes, analysis suggests.They reveal that, perhaps as far back as 40,000 years ago, humans kept track of time using knowledge of how the position of the stars slowly changes over thousands of years.The findings suggest that ancient people understood an effect caused by the gradual shift of Earth's rotational axis. Discovery of this phenomenon, called precession of the equinoxes, was previously credited to the ancient Greeks.QuoteDr Martin Sweatman, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering, who led the study, said: "Early cave art shows that people had advanced knowledge of the night sky within the last ice age. Intellectually, they were hardly any different to us today."These findings support a theory of multiple comet impacts over the course of human development, and will probably revolutionise how prehistoric populations are seen."
Using detailed computer models of asteroidal-type objects between the Sun and Jupiter, two Harvard University researchers find that at least four known objects are likely to have origins from outside our solar system.
An international research team involving researchers at the University of Tokyo and Astrobiology Center of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences investigated 227 K2 exoplanet candidates using other space telescopes and ground-based telescopes. They confirmed that 104 of them are really exoplanets. Seven of the confirmed exoplanets have ultra-short orbital periods less than 24 hours. The formation process of exoplanets with such short orbital periods is still unclear. Further study of these ultra-short period planets will help to advance research into the processes behind their formation. They also confirmed many low-mass rocky exoplanets with masses less than twice that of the Earth as well as some planetary systems with multiple exoplanets.
Galileo spacecraft data suggests fault lines that shear against one another horizontally, like the San Andreas fault found in California.
A galaxy a third the size of our own, but extremely faint, has been observed orbiting around the Milky Way.
About 2.6 million years ago, an oddly bright light arrived in the prehistoric sky and lingered there for weeks or months. It was a supernova some 150 light years away from Earth. Within a few hundred years, long after the strange light in the sky had dwindled, a tsunami of cosmic energy from that same shattering star explosion could have reached our planet and pummeled the atmosphere, touching off climate change and triggering mass extinctions of large ocean animals, including a shark species that was the size of a school bus.
Quote from: Star One on 11/29/2018 08:30 pmPrehistoric cave art reveals ancient use of complex astronomyQuoteSome of the world's oldest cave paintings have revealed how ancient people had relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy.The artworks, at sites across Europe, are not simply depictions of wild animals, as was previously thought. Instead, the animal symbols represent star constellations in the night sky, and are used to represent dates and mark events such as comet strikes, analysis suggests.They reveal that, perhaps as far back as 40,000 years ago, humans kept track of time using knowledge of how the position of the stars slowly changes over thousands of years.The findings suggest that ancient people understood an effect caused by the gradual shift of Earth's rotational axis. Discovery of this phenomenon, called precession of the equinoxes, was previously credited to the ancient Greeks.QuoteDr Martin Sweatman, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering, who led the study, said: "Early cave art shows that people had advanced knowledge of the night sky within the last ice age. Intellectually, they were hardly any different to us today."These findings support a theory of multiple comet impacts over the course of human development, and will probably revolutionise how prehistoric populations are seen."I haven't read the actual article, but the press release doesn't sound very credible.
Apparently, comparing cave paintings and other artwork at several sites indicates some correspond to the constellations as they appeared at the time. That could just be a coincidence, but the dates of the artwork also seem to correspond to known cometary impacts. They conclude the two may be linked, that the art is something like a memorial to major astronomical events.
When a blazing fireball from space exploded over Earth on July 25, scientists captured the first-ever seismic recordings of a meteor impact on ice in Greenland.At approximately 8 p.m. local time on that day, residents of the town of Qaanaaq on Greenland's northwestern coast reported seeing a bright light in the sky and feeling the ground shake as a meteor combusted over the nearby Thule Air Base.But the fleeting event was detected by more than just human observers, according to unpublished research presented Dec. 12 here at the annual conference of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
A team of astronomers has discovered the most-distant body ever observed in our Solar System. It is the first known Solar System object that has been detected at a distance that is more than 100 times farther than Earth is from the Sun. The new object was announced on Monday, December 17, 2018 by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center and has been given the provisional designation 2018 VG18. The discovery was made by Carnegie’s Scott S. Sheppard, the University of Hawaii’s David Tholen, and Northern Arizona University’s Chad Trujillo. 2018 VG18, nicknamed “Farout” by the discovery team for its extremely distant location, is at about 120 astronomical units (AU), where 1 AU is defined as the distance between the Earth and Sun. The second-most-distant observed Solar System object is Eris, at about 96 AU. Pluto is currently at about 34 AU, making 2018 VG18 more than three-and-a-half times more distant than the Solar System’s most-famous dwarf planet.
The paper, published in the Journal of High Energy Physics in May, puts forward that the Universe is far less complex than current multiverse theories suggest.It's based around a concept called eternal inflation, first introduced in 1979 and published in 1981.