Event Horizon telescope detects Magnetic Field in Milky Way's Central Black Hole

On December 3rd, released to the public, the Event Horizon telescope is one of the first telescope to ever show us what is occurring near the event horizon of a black hole. Most people would say black holes are enormous vacuums which suck in everything around it, but in reality black holes consume matter to release out intense radiation, and for the first time, researchers have detected magnetic fields on the just outsides of the Milky Way black hole's event horizon.

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is able to resolve images down to 15 micro-arcseconds which allows the telescope to be able to achieve a resolution that is able to view a black hole. The Milky Way's Central Black hole, the Sagittarius A-Star, a black hole that has the mass of 4 million  M_sun, radius of 13 million kilometers, and located 25,000 light years away. And when everything is calculated, the size of resolution comes out to roughly 8 micro-arcseconds, but due to the way gravitational lensing affects it, it boosts the size to roughly 50 micro-arcseconds which allows the EHT  to be able to detect it.

The EHT was able to detect the magnetic fields of Sagittarius A-Star at roughly 1.3mm, and compared to how the light was measured polarized. And on the Sagittarius A-Star, the polarized light was being emitted by electrons traveling on the magnetic fields, but the data reveals that the magnetic fields were disorderly with some parts chaotic in pattern, and others in a more organized formation. Researchers are hoping that in the future, more upgrades will be added to gather more data and hopefully be able to image an event horizon for the first time.

Sources : https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2015-28

Sgr A*Sgr

Sagittarius A-starSa

Sagittarius A-star

Earth's water new origin

It has been commonly believed by many that Earth's water origin came from asteroids or comets. But research has shown that the Earth may have absorbed more than what we know after the impact that hit the young Earth than also formed the moon. It is believed that the Earth at that time had absorbed easily vaporized materials known as volatiles, including water and other minerals. As the moon began to form and spun, it spurned the remaining materials back into the Earth. Thus why the idea that the moon does not have any water because it was sent back to Earth.

Scientists hypothesized that when Earth was collided with a mars-sized object named Theia, it was that moment that created our moon. As such that is why we can explain that rocks on the moon are similar to those found on Earth. Same composition, but missing one thing, volatiles, which are things such as water, zinc, sodium, and potassium. The current theory is that during the collision, most of these materials were vaporized due to the immense heat and the volatiles escaped out of the system. However it is argued that the amount of material that escape would be very little due to Earth's gravity and thus be stuck around in orbit. And thus that as both of the planets are forming, they would be sharing the materials. But the problem is that the moon is constantly moving away at a rate of 4cm per year, and thus eventually be unable to accrete the materials, and thus they fall back onto the Earth.

So in the end, a new hypothosized theory of how water was formed on Earth is that it was not carried by an asteroid or comet. But rather when the collision with Theia occured, the materials within Earth was flung out, creating the moon as well as redepositing the materials back onto Earth's surface after the moon was slowly moving out of Earth's gravity field.

Sources : http://www.space.com/31115-earth-stole-moon-water.html
Sources for Theia : http://www.space.com/29047-how-moon-formed-earth-collision-theory.html

Planetary Resources

November 10, 2015, marked the day that the US congress recognizes the Asteroid Resource Property Right. The US congress has recognized H.R. 2262, which approves of the right that U.S. citizen could own asteroid resources that they obtained and to encourages the active exploration and recovery of resources from asteroid. Somewhat equivalent to the Homestead act of 1862, which was to allow the exploration to find gold and timber, H.R. 2262 allows people to use asteroids as a new growth to the economy.

Asteroids that hit earth generally contains rare minerals and common composition. Most of the asteroids that hit the Earth composes of 3 types. C-Type, S-Type, and M-Type.

C-Type are carbonaceous and very common, with a small trace of metal, they often tend to contain water which is then used in rocket fuel. Normally a darker color, they tend to blend into our Earth, making it a good estimation that there are several around.

S-Type are stony asteroids, primarily composed of magnesium - silicate, and less common than C-types. S-types are bright in color, making them easier to identify and their silicate component can be used in space building and radiation coverings.

M-Types/X-Types are metal asteroids, and are fairly uncommon, but their composed of primarily metals, containing a large quantity of nickel and iron.

Sources : http://www.planetaryresources.com/asteroids/composition/
http://www.planetaryresources.com/2015/11/planetary-resources-applauds-u-s-congress-in-recognizing-asteroid-resource-property-rights/

Nasa flies by Enceladus

On October 28th, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has begun transmitting  the latest images of Saturn's icy moon. Passing about 30 kilometers above the moon, the craft will be transmitting its data for several days. Researchers had begun studying the data that was collected from the Cassini's dust & gas detector instruments. While the analysis will take several weeks, scientist hope to be able to deduce what hydro-thermal activity is occurring, and what composition the ocean is like.

On December 19th, Cassini will be making its final flyby at the closest it could be at approximately 5000 km.


Source : http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/saturns-geyser-moon-shines-in-close-flyby-views

Hottest, heaviest touching double star

ESO's view of the Tarantula Nebula

On October 21st, an international team of scientist reported that a star system designated VFTS - 352 has the current most hottest and massive stars touching each other. They speculate that these two stars will only lead to catastrophe, either combining into one singular massive star, or collapse into a double hole.

By using the ESO (European Southern Observatory) they were able to locate VFTS -352 at nearly 50kpc located in the Tarantula Nebula, which is then located in the Large Magnellec Cloud that can be seen in our southern hemisphere. While the distance from the center of the stars are 12 million kilometers apart, their surfaces are almost nearly touching each other. However unlike typical binary stars where the smaller planet tends to absorb the materials from its larger partner. VFTS - 352's stars are speculated to have formed at approximately the same time and that the materials to form them are being consumed by one, but instead shared by both.

The lead scientist of the projects are giving speculation what would happen to the stars. One is that they will form one giant rapidly rotating star, and thus eventually exploding to what is called as a long-duration gamma burst. The other is that they will cause a supernova and form a close-by double black hole.

Source : http://earthsky.org/space/hottest-heaviest-touching-double-star-vfts-352

Without any data about the size or angular size of the two suns, I don't believe there is a way for us to properly found out the actual distance between the two stars, unless the complete detailed report is released for us to see. And wouldn't the double black holes consume one another?

Nasa releases Pluto flyby results

In July, New Horizon reached its intended target Pluto after a nine year voyage. Now that its mission was complete, it was off towards the Kuiper Belt, but as it does that NASA is currently obtaining the information from New Horizon.

Data reveals that Pluto alongside its moon Charon reveals dynamic geology and diverse terrain. Data showed that Pluto has presence of  a water ice-rich crust, a geologically young surface, tectonic extension, possible wind streaks, and glacial flow. Pluto atmosphere reveals that it has a pressure of 10 microbar,  trace hydrocarbon, and is heavily extended. And the densities between Charon and Pluto are found to differ by less than 10%, which more or less implies that both bodies were undifferentiated when they collided in the Kuiper belt.

Furthur data proved that Pluto's other two moons, Nix and Hydra unlike most other moons, actually does not face Pluto when they are orbiting. Which is most likely caused due to the interaction of Pluto and Charon, where their orbits resembles more of a binary star (facing towards each other).

Source : https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/09/24/pluto-shows-off-snakeskin-textures-in-highest-resolution-pictures-yet/
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/350/6258/aad1815

Pluto's blue sky and Pluto most recent picture

An image and link to see the Milky Way in multiple spectrums

This is our galaxy taken in infrared. Normally, we are unable to see this much into our own galaxy due to the presence of so much galactic dust floating all around. But as you can see, the blue straight line that we see in the middle is actually our sky, which is seen around the 3.5 μm which more or less transparent, which thus allows us to be able to see the light from the stars without obstruction. The green and red lights in this picture are around the 12 and 22μm respectfully.

Here is also an awesome site that lets you view the galaxy in several other spectrums, and not to mention it proved the coordinates to the spots you look at.
http://www.chromoscope.net/

NASA to confirm active brine on Mars

Recently with the discovery of flowing water on Mars, research has shown that it would only be possible for a solution to exist on Mars due to the lower evaporation and freezing point compared to pure water. Various salts such as chlorides, sulfates, and percolate had been found on the surface on Mars. RSL (recurring slope lineae) which are seasonal flows on the warmer parts of Mars have been hypothesized that they were created from flowing water. Due to the location and properties of Mars, it has been researched that the temperature exceeds that of 250 kelvins. The composition of the RSLs can be detected via an orbital spectrometer that can detect the absorption bands.

Pure water and hydrated salts absorption band tends to be  ~1.4μm, ~1.9μm, ~3.0μm.
Just hydrated salts tend to be between 1.7~2.4μm


What has been found is that the gathered data shows that the in the Paliker crater, the absorption bands were near 1.48μm, 1.91μm, 2.15μm and 3.0μm. This data shows that while pure water could be present, it also shows that hydrated salts could also be present within the same location. A spectrum of Mar's soil, Mg-perchlrate and Mg-chlorate closely resembles that of the RSL taken from the Paliker. This more or less confirms that there are some forms of salts located in the water that created the RSLs on Mars.

Source : http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC2015/EPSC2015-838-1.pdf