Volcanoes are prevalent inside the Solar System - and not just on Earth. Venus has them, so do some of the moons of Jupiter, and Mars had them. But can we detect volcanoes outside our Solar System? According to this study, it is possible. Wow.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Volcanoes outside the Solar System
Posted by You'd Prefer an Astronaut at 9:00 AM 1 comments
Labels: extrasolar planets
Friday, December 3, 2010
The Everbrightening Supernova Remnant
Did you think that the light from explosions decreases with time? That makes sense, right? Think again. Recent optical (Hubble), radio, and X-ray images of SN1987a have found that is getting brighter with time. The reason why is that, as the material ejected in this explosion expands, it sweeps up more and more of the surrounding material, heating them up such that they emit light in these wavelengths. In fact, very recently the ejecta collided with dense gas released by the star about 20-30 years before it exploded, causing it to light up. Go here to read more. Enjoy!
Posted by You'd Prefer an Astronaut at 9:00 AM 1 comments
Labels: Hubble Space Telescope, supernova remnants
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Solar Flares and You
Solar flares are pretty much known to cause aurorae, power outages, satellite problems, etc. But they can change how elements decay? Really? Apparently so. Go here to read more. So weird....
Posted by You'd Prefer an Astronaut at 9:00 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The Age of the Solar System
Maybe a little bit higher than previously thought. Go here to read about the latest measurement.
Posted by You'd Prefer an Astronaut at 9:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: solar system