Affascinante ....

[TT-1 Pinto]

Dalla NASA ....

 

The existence of a world with a double sunset, as portrayed in the film Star Wars more than 30 years ago, is now scientific fact.

NASA's Kepler mission has made the first unambiguous detection of a circumbinary planet -- a planet orbiting two stars -- 200 light-years from Earth.

 

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepler-16b.html

 

 

In the Light of Two Suns

 

This artist's concept illustrates Kepler-16b, the first planet known to definitively orbit two stars -- what's called a circumbinary planet. The planet, which can be seen in the foreground, was discovered by NASA's Kepler mission.

 

The two orbiting stars regularly eclipse each other, as seen from our point of view on Earth. The planet also eclipses, or transits, each star, and Kepler data from these planetary transits allowed the size, density and mass of the planet to be extremely well determined. The fact that the orbits of the stars and the planet align within a degree of each other indicate that the planet formed within the same circumbinary disk that the stars formed within, rather than being captured later by the two stars.

 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle

 

Where the Sun Sets Twice

 

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered a world where two suns set over the horizon instead of just one. The planet, called Kepler-16b, is the most "Tatooine-like" planet yet found in our galaxy and is depicted here in this artist's concept with its two stars. Tatooine is the name of Luke Skywalker's home world in the science fiction movie Star Wars. In this case, the planet it not thought to be habitable. It is a cold world, with a gaseous surface, but like Tatooine, it circles two stars. The largest of the two stars, a K dwarf, is about 69 percent the mass of our sun, and the smallest, a red dwarf, is about 20 percent the sun's mass.

 

Most of what we know about the size of stars comes from pairs of stars that are oriented toward Earth in such a way that they are seen to eclipse each other. These star pairs are called eclipsing binaries. In addition, virtually all that we know about the size of planets around other stars comes from their transits across their stars. The Kepler-16 system combines the best of both worlds with planetary transits across an eclipsing binary system. This makes Kepler-16b one of the best-measured planets outside our solar system.

 

Kepler-16 orbits a slowly rotating K-dwarf that is, nevertheless, very active with numerous star spots. Its other parent star is a small red dwarf. The planetary orbital plane is aligned within half a degree of the stellar binary orbital plane. All these features combine to make Kepler-16 of major interest to studies of planet formation as well as astrophysics.

 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

 

"Unlike Star Wars’ Tatooine, the planet is cold, gaseous and not thought to harbor life ...."

 

 

Tatooine .... il tramonto ....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEUGF3NGbPg

 

[Brando]

nell'immensità dell'universo chissa se esiste Kalgash (pianeta orbitante attorno a 6 soli) , lo di essere OT ma questa scoperta mi ha fatto pensare a Notturno di Isaac Asimov

 

« Cosa accadrebbe se gli uomini potessero vedere le stelle una sola volta ogni mille anni?» «Impazzirebbero »

 

(Isaac Asimov, Notturno)

[tornado4ever]

immagini davvero spettacolari...in ogni caso considerando che anche il sole è una stella...se si vedesse solo ogni mille anni direi che gli uomini morirebbero più che impazzire

[Tuccio14]

George Lucas genio.

[TT-1 Pinto]

Questo .... di soli ne ha addirittura .... TRE ....

 

 

Multiple Sunsets Like Tatooine

 

Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine in Star Wars had two suns, but that’s paltry compared to a Jupiter-like planet 149 light-years from Earth.

This planet has three suns, with the main star similar in mass to our own sun.

The triple-star system is known as HD 188753.

Like Tatooine, the planet there is likely pretty hot – it orbits very close to the main star, completing one orbit every 3.5 days.

 

(Credit: NASA/JPL's Planetquest/Caltech)

 

Queste immagini mi riportano alla mente quelle che furono dipinte decenni orsono da quel grande artista che fu Chesley Bonestell ....

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesley_Bonestell

Modificato 19 Settembre 2011 da TT-1 Pinto

[TT-1 Pinto]

Il filmato della NASA ....

 

 

NASA's Kepler mission has turned fiction into fact.

A world with a double sunset that was first imagined in "Star Wars" over 30 years ago in a galaxy far, far away has become scientific reality.

 

(Credit: NASA / Ames Research Center)

[-{-Legolas-}-]

Impressionante.

 

Succede spesso che nel mondo dello spettacolo, vengono immaginate cose che poi decenni dopo ritroviamo nel mondo della scienza e della tecnica.

[windsaber]

Non è una novità. Si è stimato che l'84 % delle stelle della nostra Galassia siano sistemi binari, tant'è che c'è chi cerca la compagna del Sole, battezzata Nemesis. Esiste anche un tipo di supernova che si origina solo nei sitemi binari, cosiddetta di 1° tipo:

(ovviamente è un'immagine in computer grafica)

Modificato 20 Settembre 2011 da windsaber

[eugy78 Fishbed]

che ne dite di NIBIRU??

 

e del fatto che si possa avere l'effetto di due soli?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8fWUPlqwlQ&feature=related

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy5hdbmHzhA

 

 

io tempo fa feci delle foto...e oggi riguardandole mi sono accorto che c'erano 2 soli..e non era un riflesso..

 

Modificato 20 Settembre 2011 da eugy78

[TT-1 Pinto]

A proposito del video cinese ....

 

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/chinese-two-suns-video-unexplained-1427/

 

.... quello sopra è lo stesso testo che appare quale didascalia del video medesimo su YouTube ....

[windsaber]

eugy78 è un effetto ottico, causato dalle nubi negli strati alti dell'atmosfera ... niente due soli ... ma pazienza forse tra un pò Betelgeuse diventa una nova e allora il Sole sembrerà un diodo LED al confronto ...

Modificato 22 Settembre 2011 da windsaber

[TT-1 Pinto]

Nuova scoperta da parte di un gruppo di astronomi dilettanti ....

 

This is the first system like this that has ever been found, and its discovery demonstrates the power of citizen scientists, as it was found by a joint effort of amateurs participating on the Planet Hunters website under the guidance of professional astronomers.

 

http://www.universetoday.com/97999/citizen-planet-hunters-find-planet-in-a-four-star-system/

 

 

.... un pianeta in un sistema a quattro stelle ....

 

PH1 : A planet in a four-star system ....

 

Today we’re pleased to announce the discovery of the first confirmed planet discovered by Planet Hunters, and it’s a fabulous and unusual world.

Labelled ‘Planet Hunters 1′ (or PH1) in a paper released today and submitted to the Astrophysical Journal, it is the first planet in a four-star system.

 

Fonte .... http://blog.planethunters.org/2012/10/15/ph1-a-planet-in-a-four-star-system/

 

 

The newly discovered PH1 planet is depicted in this artist's rendition transiting the larger of the two eclipsing stars it orbits.

In the distance are a second pair of stars bound to the planetary system.

 

 

Deep space discovery: An artist's illustration of PH1, orbiting its two 'parent' suns with its other two suns far off in the distance.

 

Fonte .... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2218301/Star-Wars-planet-discovered-orbiting-suns-orbited-suns.html

[-{-Legolas-}-]

Come si dice in inglese "mindblowing"!

[Scagnetti]

That's fok**' astonishing

[TT-1 Pinto]

Come si dice in inglese "mindblowing"!

 

[-{-Legolas-}-]

 

 

Proprio cosi.

Peró,è bello che si stia allungando la lista di corpi celesti scoperti da semi-professionisti,al di fuori dei ben noti ambienti scientifici.È come se il piacere della scoperta sia tornato ad essere universale,ed essendo così si apre una nuova via,c'è quasi solo il limite dell'immaginazione.

[TT-1 Pinto]

E ci sono novità anche da Alpha Centauri ....

 

Small, furry creatures from Alpha Centauri?

 

Sadly, no.

But one of Earth’s nearest stellar neighbours has an Earth-sized planet going round it

Fonte .... http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/10/exoplanets

[TT-1 Pinto]

E la NASA si congratula ....

 

NASA Statement On Alpha Centauri Planet Discovery ....

 

"We congratulate the European Southern Observatory team for making this exciting new exoplanet discovery" ....

 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/oct/HQ_12-366_NASA_Statement_Alpha_Centauri.html

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

Un "fantasma" cosmico per la notte di Halloween ....

 

A Ghost in Cepheus ....

 

Described as a "dusty curtain" or "ghostly apparition," mysterious reflection nebula VdB 152 really is very faint.

Far from your neighborhood on this Halloween Night, the cosmic phantom is nearly 1,400 light-years away.

Also catalogued as Ced 201, it lies along the northern Milky Way in the royal constellation Cepheus.

Near the edge of a large molecular cloud, pockets of interstellar dust in the region block light from background stars or scatter light from the embedded bright star giving parts of the nebula a characteristic blue color.

Ultraviolet light from the star is also thought to cause a dim reddish luminescence in the nebular dust.

Though stars do form in molecular clouds, this star seems to have only accidentally wandered into the area, as its measured velocity through space is very different from the cloud's velocity.

This deep telescopic image of the region spans about 7 light-years.

 

Image Credit: NASA/Stephen Leshin

[TT-1 Pinto]

Come il sole .... all'improvviso ....

 

The Sun's Innermost Atmosphere ....

 

This combined image from Nov. 8-9, 2012, shows the sun's innermost atmosphere as seen by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) inside a larger image provided by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

A coronal mass ejection can be seen traveling away from the sun in the upper right corner.

Scientists can compare the images to correlate what's happening close to the sun with what happens further away.

 

Image credit: ESA/NASA

[TT-1 Pinto]

A trenta milioni di anni luce dalla Terra ....

 

 

Spiral Galaxy NGC 3627

The spiral galaxy NGC 3627 is located about 30 million light years from Earth. This composite image includes X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope (red), and optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope (yellow). The inset shows the central region, which contains a bright X-ray source that is likely powered by material falling onto a supermassive black hole.

A search using archival data from previous Chandra observations of a sample of 62 nearby galaxies has shown that 37 of the galaxies, including NGC 3627, contain X-ray sources in their centers. Most of these sources are likely powered by central supermassive black holes. The survey, which also used data from the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxy Survey, found that seven of the 37 sources are new supermassive black hole candidates.

Confirming previous Chandra results, this study finds the fraction of galaxies found to be hosting supermassive black holes is much higher than found with optical searches. This shows the ability of X-ray observations to find black holes in galaxies where relatively low-level black hole activity has either been hidden by obscuring material or washed out by the bright optical light of the galaxy.

Credits: NASA/CXC/Ohio State Univ./C.Grier et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI, ESO/WFI; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

[TT-1 Pinto]

 

La Danza del "Vagabondo" ....

 

 

A Wanderer Dances the Dance of Stars and Space ....

 

The Hubble Space Telescope captured a spectacular image of the bright star-forming ring that surrounds the heart of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1097. In this image, the larger-scale structure of the galaxy is barely visible: its comparatively dim spiral arms, which surround its heart in a loose embrace, reach out beyond the edges of this frame.

 

This face-on galaxy, lying 45 million light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Fornax (The Furnace), is particularly attractive for astronomers. NGC 1097 is a Seyfert galaxy. Lurking at the very center of the galaxy, a supermassive black hole 100 million times the mass of our sun is gradually sucking in the matter around it. The area immediately around the black hole shines powerfully with radiation coming from the material falling in.

 

The distinctive ring around the black hole is bursting with new star formation due to an inflow of material toward the central bar of the galaxy. These star-forming regions are glowing brightly thanks to emission from clouds of ionized hydrogen. The ring is around 5000 light-years across, although the spiral arms of the galaxy extend tens of thousands of light-years beyond it.

 

Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble

Modificato 31 Dicembre 2012 da TT-1 Pinto

[TT-1 Pinto]

New York, New York ....

 

 

New York City at Night ....

 

One of the Expedition 35 crew members aboard the Earth-orbiting International Space Station exposed this 400 millimeter night image of the greater New York City metropolitan area on March 23, 2013.

For orientation purposes, note that Manhattan runs horizontal through the frame from left to the midpoint. Central Park is just a little to the left of frame center.

Image Credit: NASA

[TT-1 Pinto]

La "Rosa" ....

 

 

The Rose ....

 

The spinning vortex of Saturn's north polar storm resembles a deep red rose of giant proportions surrounded by green foliage in this false-color image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Measurements have sized the eye at a staggering 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) across with cloud speeds as fast as 330 miles per hour (150 meters per second).

This image is among the first sunlit views of Saturn's north pole captured by Cassini's imaging cameras. When the spacecraft arrived in the Saturnian system in 2004, it was northern winter and the north pole was in darkness. Saturn's north pole was last imaged under sunlight by NASA's Voyager 2 in 1981; however, the observation geometry did not allow for detailed views of the poles. Consequently, it is not known how long this newly discovered north-polar hurricane has been active.

The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 27, 2012, using a combination of spectral filters sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light. The images filtered at 890 nanometers are projected as blue. The images filtered at 728 nanometers are projected as green, and images filtered at 752 nanometers are projected as red. In this scheme, red indicates low clouds and green indicates high ones.

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 261,000 miles (419,000 kilometers) from Saturn and at a sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 94 degrees. Image scale is 1 mile (2 kilometers) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.

 

 

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

Una farfalla lontana 4000 anni luce ....

 

 

The Butterfly Nebula ....

 

The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth's night sky are often named for flowers or insects.

Though its wingspan covers over 3 light-years, NGC 6302 is no exception.

With an estimated surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the dying central star of this particular planetary nebula has become exceptionally hot, shining brightly in ultraviolet light but hidden from direct view by a dense torus of dust.

This sharp and colorful close-up of the dying star's nebula was recorded in 2009 by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, installed during the final shuttle servicing mission. Cutting across a bright cavity of ionized gas, the dust torus surrounding the central star is near the center of this view, almost edge-on to the line-of-sight. Molecular hydrogen has been detected in the hot star's dusty cosmic shroud.

NGC 6302 lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius).

Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble

 

 

Modificato 7 Giugno 2013 da TT-1 Pinto