Next week’s night sky:
On Monday the 16th, the Leonids Meteor shower peaks! The shower’s peak will occur at 6 PM, and will reach up to 20 meteors per hour!Also, the moon will be just a faint sliver, leaving the sky nicely dark for the meteors.
Saturday the 21st is the first quarter moon. Observe the terminator (the line separating dark and light) to find details on the surface of the moon!
Smoother Dark matter
Analysis of a giant new galaxy survey by VLT suggests that dark matter may be less dense and more smoothly distributed throughout space than previously thought. The results appear to be in disagreement with earlier results from the Planck satellite.
By exploiting the exquisite image quality available to the VST at the Paranal site, and using innovative computer software, researchers carried out one of the most precise measurements ever made of an effect known as cosmic shear.
Dark matter remains elusive to detection, its presence only inferred from its gravitational effects. Studies like these are the best current way to determine the shape, scale, and distribution of this invisible material.
The surprise result of this study also has implications for our wider understanding of the universe, and how it has evolved during its almost 14-billion-year history. Such an apparent disagreement with previously established results from Planck means that astronomers may now have to reformulate their understanding of some fundamental aspects of the development of the universe.
A new area of star formation
Located about 17,000 light-years from Earth, in the direction of the constellation Aquila in the night sky, W51 is about 350 light-years across. It is almost invisible to telescopes that collect visible light because that light is blocked by interstellar dust clouds that lie between W51 and Earth. But longer wavelengths of light, including radio and infrared, can pass unencumbered through the dust. When viewed in infrared by Spitzer, W51 is a spectacular sight: Its total infrared emission is the equivalent of 20 million Suns.
“Star factories” like this one can operate for millions of years. The cavernous red region on the right side of W51 is older. Winds from generations of massive stars (those at least 10 times the mass of our Sun) have carved it out. The dust and gas in the region are swept around even more when those stars die and explode as supernovas. On the nebula’s younger left side, many stars are just beginning to clear away the gas and dust in the same way the stars in the older region have done. Many of these young stars are in the process of forming bubbles of emptiness around themselves.
Researchers can’t observe star-forming regions in other galaxies anywhere near the level of detail that researchers can in our galaxy. Regions like W51 are really important for advancing our understanding of star formation in the Milky Way. Researchers can then extrapolate how star formation proceeds in other nearby galaxies.
Do you have any cool astronomy research news from this week? Share it in the comments below!