Astronomy and Planetary Science Thread

This video zooms into HD 135344B, a young star located around 440 light-years away. The star is surrounded by a disc of dust and gas with prominent spiral features. New observations obtained with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) may have unveiled a planet that could be sculping these features.

The video combines images taken with different telescopes at different times and various wavelengths. The journey begins with a wide view of the night sky in visible light. As we approach HD 135344B we see three images of the immediate vicinity of the star. First, an image of the star’s dusty disc taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Then, an infrared view of the spiral arms within the disc, captured with the SPHERE instrument at the VLT. Finally, a new infrared image revealing a candidate planet, taken with the VLT’s new ERIS instrument.
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View: https://youtu.be/J6SgH5LsG2I
 
New Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting nearby star detected

Using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has detected a new exoplanet orbiting a nearby star. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-2431 b, is comparable in size to Earth and has a very short orbital period. The finding was reported in a research paper published July 11 on the pre-print server arXiv.
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TOI-2431 b has a radius of about 1.53 Earth radii and is 6.2 times more massive than the Earth, which yields density at a level of 9.4 g/cm3. The planet orbits the host star every 5.4 hours, at a distance of some 0.0063 AU from it. The equilibrium temperature of TOI-2431 b was calculated to be approximately 2,000 K.
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The proximity of TOI-2431 b to its parent star and the relatively high equilibrium temperature, suggests that the surface of the planet is likely molten. Moreover, TOI-2431 b is likely tidally deformed, with its shortest axis being about 9 percent shorter than its longest axis.

The authors of the paper also estimated a tidal decay timescale for TOI-2431 b, which was found to be about 31 million years. This is the shortest tidal decay timescale compared to other known USPs.
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phys.org

New Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting nearby star detected

Using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has detected a new exoplanet orbiting a nearby star. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-2431 b, is comparable in size to Earth and has a very short orbital period. The finding was reported in a...
phys.org phys.org

Related paper:

An Earth-Sized Planet in a 5.4h Orbit Around a Nearby K dwarf

We present the discovery and confirmation of the ultra-short period (USP) planet TOI-2431 b orbiting a nearby ($d\sim36$ pc) late K star ($T_{\mathrm{eff}}$ = $4109 \pm 28 \, {\rm K}$) using observations from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), precise radial velocities with the...
arxiv.org arxiv.org
 
Gemini North discovers long-predicted stellar companion of Betelgeuse

Analysis of the companion star’s light allowed Howell and his team to determine the companion star’s characteristics. They found that it is six magnitudes fainter than Betelgeuse in the optical wavelength range, it has an estimated mass of around 1.5 times that of the Sun, and it appears to be an A- or B-type pre-main-sequence star — a hot, young, blue-white star that has not yet initiated hydrogen burning in its core.
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This discovery provides a clearer picture of this red supergiant’s life and future death. Betelgeuse and its companion star were likely born at the same time. However, the companion star will have a shortened lifespan as strong tidal forces will cause it to spiral into Betelgeuse and meet its demise, which scientists estimate will occur within the next 10,000 years.
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Related video:

View: https://youtu.be/zoiXPuEXZuM
 
So Alpha Orionis's companion star is 1.5 solar-masses? Well, when it goes boom in a type-II core-collapse supernova that companion star will have a sizeable portion of its' outer envelope stripped off it by the blast.
 
NMaude said:
So Alpha Orionis's companion star is 1.5 solar-masses? Well, when it goes boom in a type-II core-collapse supernova that companion star will have a sizeable portion of its' outer envelope stripped off it by the blast.
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It won’t get a chance as the article states in just 10,000 years time it will plunge into Betelgeuse.
 
Unusual Plasma Waves Above Jupiter’s North Pole

The Juno space probe has spent the past nine years observing Jupiter and its moons. As the spacecraft’s mission draws to a close, the precession of its orbit has caused its closest approach to the gas giant to shift toward the north pole, enabling it to uncover a surprise: an unusual pattern of plasma waves in the planet’s magnetosphere. Now Robert Lysak of the University of Minnesota and his colleagues describe these waves and propose a mechanism for generating them [1]. Their theory offers a new component to include in planetary magnetosphere models and opens a new plasma regime to further exploration.
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physics.aps.org

Unusual Plasma Waves Above Jupiter’s North Pole

A spacecraft observes a new oscillation mode in the low-density plasma.
physics.aps.org physics.aps.org

Related paper:

 
SwRI scientists contribute to uncovering ongoing surface modification on Jupiter’s moon Europa

A series of experiments led by Southwest Research Institute’s Dr. Ujjwal Raut support spectral data recently collected by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that found evidence that the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa is constantly changing. Europa’s surface ice is crystallizing at different rates in different places, which could point to a complex mix of external processes and geologic activity affecting the surface.
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Related paper:

 
Grey Havoc said:
"It is life Jim, but not as we know it."
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Yarnek, Hortas--that's about it :)

For SuperHeavy

Lunar Matters

Mars and more

Astronomy news

The worth of craters
 
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Flyaway said:
It won’t get a chance as the article states in just 10,000 years time it will plunge into Betelgeuse.
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That's assuming it hasn't gone boom already also IIRC Alpha Orionis is very near the end of its' carbon-fusing phase and once that happens it will proceed fairly quickly to the silicon-fusing phase (The fusion product of that is iron).
 
Even iron can fuse...now, it is a star-killer to be sure (red matter/decalithium need not apply).

While fusion might be useful for space propulsion--I have this idea of super thin iron tubes containing more easily fused materials--like how a fine cigar is rolled.

You need that for steady fusion power.

Now, might Betelgeuse's companion have off gassed in the dimming to become just the most massive brown dwarf there is?

If so--between the hydrogen it lost and the pull it exerted upon Betelgeuse proper--the latter's interior might be better mixed so as to last longer.

It could be that--without a companion--it might have exploded centuries ago.
 
publiusr said:
Even iron can fuse...now, it is a star-killer to be sure (red matter/decalithium need not apply).
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Yes, iron can fuse but it's an endothermic process, by fusing iron in the core it saps energy resulting in a catastrophic loss of internal core-pressure which results in the iron-plasma core (About the same diameter as the Earth) to catastrophically implode in a small fraction of a second to something about 12 miles in diameter (Depending on its' mass it either collapses into a neutron-star or a blackhole).
 
A couple of massive blobs deep inside Earth's mantle maybe responsible for past mass-extinctions, from Anton Petrov:


Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about new discoveries about LLSVP and their effects on life on Earth
Links:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4324...
https://theconversation.com/where-do-...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...-blobs-deep-within-earth-259804&v=_e_c0QcL6vE
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...com/articles/s41586-024-08322-y&v=_e_c0QcL6vE
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...com/articles/s41598-025-88931-3&v=_e_c0QcL6vE
Previous videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-EZjEJc8Bo&pp=0gcJCR0AztywvtLA
• Large Structures Inside Earth Seem to be R...

• Evidence That Planet Theia Formed Massive ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-7RvQU2s7Y

#llsvp #earth #blobshttps://www.youtube.com/hashtag/blobs
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0:00 LLSVP - Large Low Sheet Velocity Provinces
1:30 Could this be a result of Theia collision?
2:30 Studies of wave damping and unusual results
3:55 New study suggests they are made from continents
6:00 Major effects on Earth
6:40 Volcanic eruptions and superplumes
7:55 BLOBS - they move!
8:50 Extinctions
9:50 Predicting eruptions and findings diamonds
10:50 Conclusions
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Michel Van said:
The Universe is full of surprises

https://twitter.com/x/status/1947780246767386625
View: https://twitter.com/forallcurious/status/1947780246767386625
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Is somebody floating this image to see how many people bite?

I think we're being had.

Might that cast doubt on other stories like these?

--Or is sliming science perhaps the goal?

I know one group of folks who want less oversight:
 
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This star escaped a supermassive black hole's violent grips — then returned for round 2

A distant supermassive black hole may have bitten off more than it can chew! Not only did the star it selected for a stellar meal escape its clutches, but it came back for a second encounter!

Evidence of the death-defying star was spotted in the form of a flare that was followed by a near-identical second flare around two years later (700 days). The double-flare has been given the designation AT 2022dbl. The team behind this research ruled out the possibility that it was caused by two stars being devoured by this black hole, leaving them to conclude the flares came from two "bites" of the same stellar snack.

The discovery is the first evidence of a star escaping a destructive encounter with a supermassive black hole and then coming back to let it take a second bite. The big question is, did the star survive to return for a second rematch with the black hole?
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www.space.com

This star escaped a supermassive black hole's violent grips — then returned for round 2

"We'll have to rewrite our interpretation of these flares and what they can teach us about the monsters lying in the centers of galaxies."
www.space.com www.space.com

Related paper:

 
Missing Matter in Universe Found

Due to its diffuse nature, roughly half of ordinary matter in the universe went unaccounted for and had been considered "missing"—until now.

In a new study in Nature Astronomy, a team of astronomers at Caltech and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) has, for the first time, directly detected and accounted for all the missing matter. To do this, the team used brief, bright radio flashes in the distant cosmos, called fast radio bursts (FRBs), to illuminate the matter lying between the FRBs and us.
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The study looked at a total of 69 FRBs located at distances ranging from about 11.74 million to about 9.1 billion light-years away. The object 9.1 billion light-years away, named FRB 20230521B, now holds the record for the most distant FRB ever recorded. While more than a thousand FRBs have been detected, only about a hundred have been pinpointed to specific host galaxies; in other words, their origins and distances from Earth are known. These localized FRBs were needed for the current study.
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The results revealed that 76 percent of the universe's normal matter lies in the space between galaxies, also known as the intergalactic medium. About 15 percent resides in galaxy halos, and the remainder is concentrated within galaxies—in stars or in cold galactic gas. This distribution lines up with predictions from advanced cosmological simulations but has never been observationally confirmed until now.
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www.caltech.edu

Missing Matter in Universe Found

Using Caltech's DSA-110 radio telescope, astronomers pinpoint whereabouts of "fog" between galaxies.
www.caltech.edu www.caltech.edu

Related paper:

www.nature.com

A gas-rich cosmic web revealed by the partitioning of the missing baryons - Nature Astronomy

Using a large cosmological sample of FRBs, Connor et al. have located many of the Universe’s unseen baryons, finding that most reside in the diffuse intergalactic medium, not galaxies—confirming the strong astrophysical feedback seen in simulations.
www.nature.com www.nature.com
 
Anton Petrov has just uploaded video about Alpha Orionis's newly discovered companion:


Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about Betelgeuse!
Links:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.15749
https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...ttps://arxiv.org/abs/2507.15749&v=cKN4G4x04BM
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https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirl...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...u/public/news/noirlab2520/?lang&v=cKN4G4x04BM
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https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...rticle/10.3847/1538-4357/ad93c8&v=cKN4G4x04BM
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Additional Betelgeuse videos:
• Anomalies Around Betelgeuse May Have a Sim...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2WPVThTklo
• Betelgeuse Is Being Strange Again! But We ...

• One of the Largest Stars Known Dimmed Just...

• One of the Largest Stars Known Dimmed Just...

• Hubble Data Finally Explains What Happened...

• VY Canis Majoris Is Dimming Like Betelgeus...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plOd2cBedOE
#betelgeuse #solarsystem #siwarhahttps://www.youtube.com/hashtag/siwarha


Credit:
Adam Block/Steward Observatory/University of Arizona - CC BY-SA 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelge...
ESO/M. Montargès et al. - https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso...
H. Raab CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelge...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...euse#/media/File:Betelgeuse.jpg&v=cKN4G4x04BM
ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/E. O’Gorman/P. Kervella https://rasc-vancouver.com/2020/02/28...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...betelgeuse-is-big-and-variable/&v=cKN4G4x04BM
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0:00 Betelgeuse Betelgeuse Betelgeuse
0:40 What happened to the star in 2019
2:40 Explanation - it has a companion!
3:30 Red supergiants and variability
5:05 Strange patterns
6:00 Difficulties and non detections
6:45 How this was done
9:05 What is this companion Siwarha?
11:00 What this explains and how this will change the stars
12:50 What's next?
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Good for them.

Spain needs to use Javier Bardem as their Neil Tyson. He has a lovely speaking voice (read Borges' work on tape, please?)

Besides--if the Hawaiians start their crap again, he can use that captive bolt thing again.

A help for astronomers

A new study led by researchers from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a neural network-based method for large-scale celestial object classification, according to a paper recently published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.
 
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A team led by the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx) at the Université de Montréal has achieved the most precise study to date of the L 98-59 planetary system, and confirmed the existence of a fifth planet in the star’s habitable zone, where conditions could allow liquid water to exist.
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These results confirm L 98-59 as one of the most compelling nearby systems for exploring the diversity of rocky planets, and, eventually, searching for signs of life.

Its proximity, the small size of its star, and the range of planetary compositions and orbits make it an ideal candidate for atmospheric follow-up with the JWST, which the IREx team has already started.

“With these new results, L 98-59 joins the select group of nearby, compact planetary systems that we hope to understand in greater detail over the coming years,” says Alexandrine L’Heureux, co-author of the study and Ph.D. student at UdeM. “It’s exciting to see it stand alongside systems like TRAPPIST-1 in our quest to unlock the nature and formation of small planets orbiting red dwarf stars.”
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nouvelles.umontreal.ca

A diverse cast of rocky worlds around a small star revealed by Montreal astronomers

A team led by UdeM researchers confirms a fifth potentially habitable planet around L 98-59, a red dwarf 35 light-years away.
nouvelles.umontreal.ca

Related paper:

Detailed Architecture of the L 98-59 System and Confirmation of a Fifth Planet in the Habitable Zone

The L 98-59 system, identified by TESS in 2019, features three transiting exoplanets in compact orbits of 2.253, 3.691, and 7.451 days around an M3V star, with an outer 12.83-day non-transiting planet confirmed in 2021 using ESPRESSO. The planets exhibit a diverse range of sizes (0.8-1.6...
arxiv.org arxiv.org
 
publiusr said:
They took it down.
It's July--not April 1st
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23fa9f5bec59537f49018d85f96446d9.jpg
 
That's not your fault--had it been real--it could have been proof of a Kardy 4-5 civ' and or cosmic strings.

Space topics today
 
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David Kipping gives a twist on interstellar sailing.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDM1COWJ2Hc&ab_channel=CoolWorlds

Torqued Accelerator using Radiation from the Sun (TARS) for Interstellar Payloads

The concept of exploring space using solar power is energetically appealing, but interstellar solar sails typically require extremely low areal densities (~g/m^2). This work explores an alternative approach: storing solar energy as rotational kinetic energy, which is later released to propel a...
arxiv.org arxiv.org
 
A short but interesting video about the interior of the Sun:


What’s really happening inside the Sun?
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In this cinematic deep dive, we’ll journey inside the Sun, from its blinding core, where atoms fuse into light, to the outer corona, where temperatures defy the laws of physics. Along the way, you’ll discover how scientists have pieced together the Sun’s internal structure using sound waves, ghost particles, and decades of theoretical physics. We’re peeling back the layers of a star that’s shaped every second of your life, and still holds secrets we’re only just beginning to understand.​
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Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction
01:30 – Why the Sun Is Everything to Earth
02:08 – The Birth of Our Star
02:49 – The Six Layers of the Sun
06:46 – Solar Wind and the Auroras
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This one is a doozy, star eating planet, from Anton Petrov:


Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about a strange exoplanet that's causing its own demise
Links:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.00791https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbU92ZGw1VWs2aVUzYTIxMXhUb3dtZEs4RG0zZ3xBQ3Jtc0trTzc5OUtEUGw0QWRBal85VUFxZEVVQWItZjZlUDRCdUFjTGpidkRTeF9XTHZKb0NGX1ZOYU8zU2FsaDFCMTcwRjFET1c4aUQ1Y24tMWpzVE5mTUdLNHZBQk5JS0N0dXdYcDJfTXZBTjdiUnAxSmtydw&q=https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.00791&v=x5KM27ckZik
https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.16355
#exoplanet #star #galaxyhttps://www.youtube.com/hashtag/galaxy


0:00 Weird planet we've never seen before
1:30 Magnetic interactions and why this planet is so strange
4:20 New observations
5:10 New study - is this planet destroying itself?
7:00 Overall conclusions
8:05 What this means for astronomy
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I was thinking that the IAU could officially name the planet "Blowtorch" because that's what its' parent star is doing to it.
 
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Well the first direct collapse formation of a blackhole has apparently been observed, from Anton Petrov:


Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about a remarkable discovery of the first ever direct collapse black hole
Links:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...rticle/10.3847/2041-8213/addcfe&v=RDFZBoQOHcE
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/ea...
https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...ible-direct-collapse-black-hole&v=RDFZBoQOHcE
Cosmic owl: • This Galaxy Shouldn't Be Possible...Strang...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBehEWV4P8Q
0:00 Another unusual galaxy!
1:30 Supermassive black hole that shouldn't be there!
2:30 What type of galaxies is this?
3:30 Bizarre object in the middle
5:00 How did this form?
6:58 Why this is bizarre and model of SMBH formation
8:25 Direct collapse explanation
9:15 Formation history
9:50 Conclusions and why this is so important
11:10 What's next?

#blackhole #smbh #universe
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