Next week’s night sky
The moon will reach its first quarter on July 27. Under some magnification, the sunlight striking the craters and the valleys along the terminator that separates the light and dark sides will be quite interesting! On Tuesday, July 28, the Southern Delta Aquariids meteor shower peaks at around 3 in the morning! This shower commonly drops around 15-20 meteor per hour, so 15 minutes of looking should get you to see at least 5 meteors! Meteors usually come in clouds, so they will appear to come from a common point to observers on earth. To see a meteor, locate the origin and then look towards it. Then wait. From time to time, you will see a streak of light across the sky!. That will be a meteor. To locate the center of this week’s meteor shower, look at the image below. The two topmost blue shapes are the origin points of the meteor shower.
First picture of an exoplanet
The VLT (Very Large Telescope) in the Atacama desert has taken the first direct image of an exoplanet! Stars are usually so bright that it is impossible to photograph anything around them. Scientists usually take photos of exoplanets by just taking a photo of the star when the planet passes in front. Using spectroscopy, astronomers can then obtain more information about the exoplanet. However, in this case, scientists were able to cover the star’s light to see the exoplanets! This photo is so interesting because it is living proof that planetary systems can look different than ours.
Martian Megaripples
Martian megaripples were revealed by long term telescope observations! Megaripples happen when the sand dunes of Mars are blown around by fierce winds, making the surface of Mars look like a heaving ocean. After ten years of careful observations, we finally have the complete image of how these megaripples move, opening a new window into our understanding of Mars. To learn more, go here: Mars shifting sands revealed by long-term observations.
A new way to take pictures
Astronomers have discovered a new way to take pictures of extremely dim stars. Often, only the biggest and the best telescopes can take pictures of stars, and these pictures often require days to take. Taking pictures with multiple telescopes usually does not work, because of the atmospheric noise.
However, with this new method, multiple telescopes can be used! This is because the atmospheric noise is calculated afterward and then correlated with the other images, allowing for a more accurate image. Scientists tested this out with the VERITAS telescope array, and came back with results that were 95% more accurate than previous results! With this new method, thousands of stars that were previously considered to dim to warrant a photo can now be studied. To learn more about this, go here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2007.10295.pdf.
Finally, a new understanding of sunspots has arisen! Sunspots are spots on the surface of a star that form when there is a break in the star’s magnetic field. It was previously thought that when these sunspots oscillated, they did so in long waves, for a long amount of time. However, new research shows that these oscillations are actually short and fast! This new information about sunspots could impact our knowledge of solar flares, and how they can impact the earth. If you want to read more, go here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2007.10471.pdf.
Do you have any interesting astronomy-related news from this week? Share it in the comments below!