News by Subject Space & Planetary

Evgenij Zubko of Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) in collaboration with other team members has developed a comprehensive model to explain the results of a photometric study of the Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 (29P) which was successfully accomplished recently. The findings came as a real surprise revealed that the dust environment of 29P predominantly consists of only one type of material -- magnesium-rich silicate particles with presumably a small amount of iron (Fe-Mg silicates).

An international team of astronomers has discovered a titanic structure in the early universe, just two billion years after the Big Bang. This galaxy proto-supercluster, nicknamed Hyperion, is the largest and most massive structure yet found at such a remote time and distance.

The Moon may be the key to unlocking how the first stars and galaxies shaped the early Universe. A team of astronomers led by Dr Benjamin McKinley at Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) observed the Moon with a radio telescope to help search for the faint signal from hydrogen atoms in the infant Universe.

According to new research, an object named GRB150101B -- first reported as a gamma-ray burst in 2015 -- shares remarkable similarities with GW170817, the neutron star merger discovered by LIGO and observed by multiple light-gathering telescopes in 2017. The new analysis, published on Oct. 16, 2018 in the journal Nature Communications, suggests that these two separate objects may in fact be directly related.

Researchers have identified a young star with four Jupiter and Saturn-sized planets in orbit around it, the first time that so many massive planets have been detected in such a young system. The system has also set a new record for the most extreme range of orbits yet observed: the outermost planet is more than a thousand times further from the star than the innermost one, which raises interesting questions about how such a system might have formed.

An international research team discovered the first recorded 'ultra-stripped supernova,' a rare, faint type of supernova that is believed to play a role in the formation of binary neutron star systems. These findings will advance our understanding of a wide variety of topics ranging from gravitational waves to the origin of precious metals like gold and platinum.