Jamie Samuelson

PHYS 1040-005: Elementary Astronomy

August 6, 2015
Jonathan Barnes
Science in the News Journal
Week #1:
Humankinds Existentially Lucky Numbers
Source: George Johnson - New York Timeshttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/science/humankinds-existentially-lucky-numbers.html?
rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&_r=0

This is an article about the reopening of The Large Hadron Collider in Europe this month and
the new missions that scientists, who work with the collider, plan to embark on. This is the same
collider where the Higgs Boson particle was discovered, proving some age old questions about
the universe, its mass, and how it is held together. To be perfectly honest, much of what is
discussed in the article is outside of my area of understanding, however, the idea that these
scientists are going to begin to look for signs of new unknown particles in hopes of finding proof
to some sort of multidimensional theories was incredibly fascinating. As these new experiments
unfold new discoveries could and quite possibly will challenge many of our conceptions of the
known real world. As far as them finding parallel universes with living beings and alternate

realities? I do not believe that this is the objective but I do not feel that this is outside of the
realm of possibilities. It will be interesting to see what comes to be in future years.

Week #2:

Falcon rocket explosion leaves SpaceX launch schedule in tatters

Source: Irene Klotz Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/falcon-rocket-explosion-leaves-spacex-launch-schedule-tatters214142310-finance.html;_ylt=A86.JyPD1ZFVswkAmX4nnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTEzOWlpMXBsBGNvbG8D
Z3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDRkZHRTAyXzEEc2VjA3Nj

One Sunday, June 29, 2015, an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket carrying supplies bound for
the International Space Station (ISS) blew up shortly after lift-off. This is the first failed launch
for SpaceX, a privately owned and operated U.S. company, who prior to Sundays failure has had
18 successful unmanned launches. At the time of the article the cause is still unknown, however
preliminary analysis points to an over pressure in the rockets second-stage motors liquid oxygen
tank. SpaceX is the first U.S. privately owned space rocket service able to launch anything from
supplies to satellites into orbit and with prices being 25-30% less than that of any competitor
they have quickly become the world-wide preferred method of launching into orbit. So
successful that they are booked out 50 scheduled launches in advance. The success of SpaceX
has also caught the eyes off The United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint-venture between

Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who plans to add commercial launches to its current military
programs.
What struck me most about this article was not the fact that a Falcon 9 rocket exploded,
but more so the fact that this is a privately owned company with a notable amount of future
launches, the plans for other companies to follow SpaceXs lead, and that there are multiple other
companies already in operation outside of the U.S. I know there is a lot of room out in Earths
orbit, however with multiple countries having both manned and unmanned space programs what
could be the implications for these regulated programs. In concern with manned operations and
the fact that a small piece of space debris could be the difference between making it back to earth
alive or not, what sort of regulations are being placed on these private launches. Lastly, who is
verifying what cargo is being launched into our orbit, is there a world organization or some other
means of policing these launches or do launches simply go to the highest bidder? These things
may not be a current problem but what about 5, 10 or even 30 years in the future. I wonder about
the impact private companies may have on the future of space exploration.

Week #3:

Universe's hidden supermassive black holes revealed

Source: Royal Astronomical Society Astronomy Magazine
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/07/universes-hidden-supermassive-black-holes-revealed

A group of scientist based mainly at Durham University in the United Kingdom have
recently reported that they have been able to confirm the existence of what is considered to be a

large population of super massive black holes. The black holes that they were able to observe
have been suspected as being the center of several galaxies but until recently there was no way to
observe these super massive giants due to dust clouds and debris. In order to peer into the center
of these galaxies and through the vast amounts of gases and debris the scientists used NASAs
Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) satellite observatory. NuSTAR was launched
into orbit in 2012 and utilizes high-energy x-rays, making it able to detect much high energy Xrays than previous satellite observations. For this experiment scientist choose 9 target galaxies,
suspected of containing super massive black holes, when the experiment concluded they were
able to image and confirm 5 out of the 9 as positive black holes. The reason that scientist were
finally able to confirm what they suspected was due to advances in telescope technology and the
mechanics of the black holes themselves. Black holes devour surrounding materials and emit
large quantities of radiation in return. The problem with confirming these black holes was that
they are tucked deep inside of clouds of gas and debris which absorbs many of the x-rays being
emitted. Technology that we had when it was originally assumed that these black holes existed
needed to advance and that is where NuSTAR became the key to lock that opened the door to
this solved mystery.

Week #4 :
Fermi sees record flare from a black hole in a distant galaxy
Source: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center- Astronomy Magazine
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/07/fermi-sees-record-flare-from-a-black-hole-in-adistant-galaxy

According to NASA scientist an unusual event was recently observed in our night sky.
One of the interesting things about this event is that it was not observable by the naked eye and
the event happened around 5 billion years ago.
On June 14, 2015 the gamma ray lights were detected from galaxy 3C 279. in a region of
space that is believed to be 5 billion light years from our own system. This event only lasted
from June 14 to june 18 but while it was taking place it was the brightest object I the gamma ray
spectrum. During this flare, scientist from around the world turned there telescopes toward
galaxy 3C 279.and began collecting as much information as they could before the event ceased.
The reason I chose this article was due to our recent discussions in class about how data is
collected and analyzed in regard to celestial events. The article stated that little to no information
had been derived as of yet due to the large volume of collected data. When events as this happen
it is more important to observe and collect data while you can and crunch the collected data at a
later date. This article also lends to the Pluto mission in the way that the New Horizon probe took
so many pictures and collected so much data that it may take up till the middle of next year for
all the data to be transmitted back to earth and even longer for the data to be analyzed.
On an interesting side not I found it interesting that an event that was just observable to
us last month actually occurred over 5 billion years ago. When thinking about light and time I am
amazed at how objects in our night sky may be long gone yet shinning brightly.yet shinning
brightly.

Week #5:

Buckyballs Solve Interstellar Mystery

Source: Monica Young, Sky and Telescope

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/buckyballs-solve-interstellar-mystery0720201564/
What is being considered a breakthrough in terms of celestial spectroscopy has recently
been published. For many years now scientist have been trying to understand and expain the
absorption lines that make up the diffuse interstellar band. By analyzing spectral light or the
absorption of that light scientist are able to gather information about the composition of stars as
well as other objects floating around out there in space much too far away for us to send probes
to in order to gather information. It was discovered about one hundred years ago that there was a
problem with this method, there are about 400 spectral lines missing in the spectrum, making
accurate analysis difficult and less reliable. It was recently discovered that a molecule known as
the buckyball (Buckminsterfullerene) is partially responsible for the absorption of this missing
star light. The buckyball is a spherical molecule made up of 60 carbon molecules and normally
holds a neutral charge. In this state this molecule does not absorb the right wavelengths of light
to explain diffuse interstellar bands, however, if you ionize the buckyball it changes shape
slightly and becomes the missing link. It has been found that buckyball are responsible for 2 of
the missing spectral lines, leaving only 400 or so left to discover.

Week #6:

New Horizons team finds haze, flowing ice on Pluto

Source: NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, Maryland

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/07/new-horizons-team-finds-haze-flowing-ice-on-pluto

Just 7 hours after New Horizons closest flyby of the planet Pluto the satellite captured
some amazing images of the planets atmosphere at just a little over 1.25 million miles away. The
images were taken with the sun directly behind the planet in order to produce a silhouette of the
icy celestial body and highlight the dwarf planets atmosphere. Preliminary analysis of the image
has reveal two distinct layers around the planet. One that stretches about 30 miles above the
surface of Pluto and a second that stretches another 20 miles beyond the inner layer. This comes
as a big shock to the astronomy community due to previous calculations that suggested that
temperatures would be too warm for hazes to form at anything higher than 20 miles above the
surface of Pluto. The outer layer is suspected of being large quantities of methane gas which are
broken down by ultraviolet sunlight into ethylene and acetylene. Once broken down the heavier
molecules settle closer to the surface at which time they begin to clump together and eventually
rain back to the surface. This discovery in conjunction with the discovery of possible flowing
ice on the planets surface lend to fuel speculation that the planet is much more active than
previously believed.

Week: 7

Microlensing Exoplanet Confirmed

Source: Camille Carlisle, Sky & Telescope
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/microlensing-exoplanet-confirmed0731201523/

Microlensing is a natural phenomenon where one star passes in front of another and
amplifies the light from the farther star. From this amplified light their a several things that can
be inferred about the farther star as well as the star responsible for the lensing. If the magnifying
star happens to have objects orbiting it, a distortion (or blip) will appear in observations.
Astronomers can use the blips characteristics, such as its timing and magnitude, to calculate how
far the planet is from its star and its mass. Using this method scientist have discovered and
finally confirmed an exoplanet orbiting around OGLE-2005-BLG-169. The analysis shows that
the star is a K5 main-sequence star (still fusing hydrogen in its core, like the Sun), with a mass
about two-thirds that of our star. It also confirms that the planet is 12 to 15 Earth masses (about
Uranuss mass) and orbits its star roughly 4 Earth-Sun distances out that would put it on the
outer edge of the main asteroid belt in our system. This is not the first time that an object has
been discovered by use of this method, however, the extent of the use of this method in
compiling the information need to make such a detailed analysis has never been seen before.

Week: 8

Galaxy star birth regulated by black-hole fountain

Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Science daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150806144657.htm

NASA scientist have imaged the birth of stars forming in elliptical galaxies by way of
high resolution and ultra-violet images. It has long been a mystery as to the formation of new
stars in these types of galaxies due to the theory that these galaxies are way past their prime and
no longer contain cold molecular clouds sufficient for star formation. These new images captured
by NASA actually shows the formation of new stars in a region just offset from the jets of active
black holes. Due to these new finding scientist are beginning to feel that there is a process of
heating and cooling which keeps star formation in check throughout the known universe. It is
also widely accepted that elliptical galaxies were formed due to the collision of two separate
spiral galaxies, at one point and time, which scattered the stars and eventually locked everything
into new elliptical orbits. This new discovery is evidence that this is not the case. Elliptical
galaxies may, in fact, be the bi-product of a highly active supermassive black hole. More
computer simulation is needed, however, I found this fascinating none the less.