Breaking News from the Outer Space

The mysterious FRBs:

Astronomers are baffled by the FRBs (short for Fast Radio Bursts), persistent high energy signals from somewhere  far away, way  beyond our Galaxy. Detected almost a decade ago by Duncan Larimer of West Virginia University, initially  these were shrugged off as random noises. It was only last year  that researchers realised that at least one of them is a repeater with  signals  few thousands of a second long. Roughly 200 such signals have so far been received  from this repeater. And astronomers  estimate  the source could be  roughly 2.5 billion light years away.  It is still being debated whether the source is a faint dwarf galaxy or a a super powerful magentar, or an active galactic nuclei  or some thing else. Scientists   are treading vey cautiously  widening their horizons and peeping into other galaxies, assessing the  frequencies, checking for polarisation effects etc. Raw data will eventually do the talking, not speculation.  

SciFi  world writers and readers alike are  thrilled: they have been hoping to hear from E.T. ever since  he made friends with us.

  

Seven more Earths:

Humans  have an unexplainable fixation with number 7. Now Spitzer Space Telescope of NASA has   espied   seven earthlike planets revolving round a rather smaller sun. Because the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope located in Chile, did this spy work,  the new planetary system goes by the same name TRAPPIST-1. Michael Gillon, leader of Team TRAPPIST  says "The seven wonders of TRAPPIST-1 are the first Earth-size planets that have been found orbiting this kind of star".

Trappist-1 planetary system :An illustration Courtesy Hubble site 

The TRAPPIST-1 system seem to be a close knit family. So close that  a NASA report adds   "If a person was standing on one of the planet's surface, they could gaze up and potentially see geological features or clouds of neighbouring worlds, which would sometimes appear larger than the moon in Earth's sky. " Their orbital periods 1.51, 2.42,4.04, 6.06, 9.1 and 12.35 days respectively. And most important of all  Gillon et al state "their equilibrium temperatures are low enough to make possible the presence of liquid water on their surface !" But there is one hitch: the  short orbital periods imply the planets might be presenting  the same face to the Sun  like our Moon. 

Lay man is obsessed with just one question: will it support life as we know it?  As of now  it is difficult  to commit either way.  However   Ignas Stellan  at the Leiden Observatory, Leiden University  is absolutely certain about one thing -  the TRAPPIST  Sun has a very very long life span. It  will last for another 10 trillion years even after our own Sun has become nuclear ash,  because it is burning at an  extremely slow  rate. And in 10 trillion years anything can happen !

Ceres goes Organic 

NASA's DAWN spacecraft  has detected organic matter  on Ceres, the largest asteroid (or a  dwarf planet if you prefer) in the solar system. Dawn is equipped with  visible and Infrared spectrometers which can read out the chemical signatures of organic compounds.  Analysing  Dawn's data, the research team  suggests that the organics , linear carbon compounds, are native to Ceres.  It is presumed that the axial tilt facilitated accumulation of frozen water in the surface pockets  of Ceres.  The presence of clay and carbonate and now organics suggests chemical activity on Ceres  facilitated by a moist,  warm ambience.  

Chris Russell, principal investigator of the Dawn mission, based at the University of California, Los Angeles states that  "Dawn has revealed that Ceres is a diverse world that clearly had geological activity in its recent past.” 

Tailpiece

It has been more than a decade  since we downgraded and de-recognised Pluto.  However  there were/are many upset with that decision.  Efforts are on to bring Pluto and along with it many other cosmic bodies into the fold by redefining  a PLANET. The new definition runs like this:   

“ A planet is a substellar mass body that has never undergone nuclear fusion and that has sufficient self gravitation to assume a spheroidal shape adequately described by a triaxial ellipsoid regardless of its orbital parameters.” 

Or to put it bluntly as Nature Magazine: “Round objects in space that are smaller than stars.”

Aha do we see our dear Moon and all other moons of the solar system feeling elated at the possible upgradation?

Referencs:

1. A repeating fast radio burst Spitler L,.G et al Nature 531, 202-205 (2016)

2. A direct localization of a fast radio burst and its host Chatterjee, S et al Nature 541 58-61 (2017)

3. Seven temperate terrestrial planets around the nearby ultra cool dwarf star                 

    TRAPPIST-1: Gillon, M et al Nature 542,456-460 (2017)

4. Earth's seven sisters: Snellen, I.A.G. Nature 542, 421-423 (2017)

5  For more info on trappist1 

7. Dawn discovers evidence for organic material on Ceres

6. Pluto's Revenge: Nature Vol.542,23 Februar 2017 pp392