Next week’s night sky:
On Monday, August 3rd, the moon will be a green corn full moon. This means that the moon is near the Aquarius or Capricorn stars, which always happens in August. On Thursday, August 6th, NEOWISE will pass Messier 53. This is a great photo opportunity if you have a good telescope!
A destroyed cluster
Scientists have recently discovered the long-lost remnants of a globular cluster ripped apart by the Milky Way! A globular cluster is a huge, spherical collection of more than a million stars. In a project known as S5, the star stream was located in the Phoenix constellation by the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Although this globular cluster was ripped apart billions of years ago, it still retains the image of its formation in the chemical composition of the stars. The milky way has 150 globular clusters, with an abundance of heavy elements. However, this cluster has less heavy elements, indicating that this cluster is much, much older than any of the other clusters. With this new data, we can further our understanding of how these clusters form in the Milky Way! To learn more, go here: Globular cluster’s remnants suggest a ‘lost generation’ – Astronomy Now.
Telescopes on balloons
Innovative balloon telescopes will help researchers see further into the universe. For four weeks at a time, this telescope will be hovering above Antarctica dangling on a 400-foot balloon. Even though we are taking a risk laughing this expense telescope from the most remote and harsh place in the world, we expect the risk to be well worth it!
Probability of Life
A new study helps estimate the survival probability using earth data. This study will be of great help in scientist’s search for extraterrestrial life. Using data from the earth, researchers tried to model the probability that life would survive from the beginning of the earth to the present. Their estimated probability: 15%. This value can be used with the Drake equation, which helps researchers estimate the number of life-bearing exoplanets. To learn more, go here: Estimating survival probability using the terrestrial extinction history for the search for extraterrestrial life.
Do you have any cool astronomy research news from this week? Share it in the comments below!