Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2014

Found the very first Thorne-Zytkow object What would happen if a neutron star sank into a red super- giant right down to its core? Apparently nothing, but in that extreme environment it would start off an atypical ther- monuclear engine which would confer to the supergiant atmosphere a rather unusual composition. page 34 JWST will detect ET polluters The notorious chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs for short, included among those responsible for the depletion of the Earth's ozone layer, could turn out to be the key in the discovery of advanced alien civilizations such as our own, or even older by a few tens of thousands of years. To verify this possibility it will be sufficient... page 26 The phantom planets of Gliese 581 The planetary system of a red dwarf rather close to the Sun has been literally halved by the re-examination of the material that enabled its discovery. Two of the three planets that vanished into thin air were considered very interesting from the habitability point of view. page 18 RosettafinallycatchesChuryumov-Gerasimenko It took 10 and half years and 6.4 billion kilometres, but in the end the ESA's Rosetta spacecraft has reached its final destination, the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Now astronomers will have the opportunity to learn about the chemical and physical conditions of the primordial cloud from which our solar system... page 4 An extraordinary stellar superclusters nursery For the first time, it has been possible to observe a group of stellar superclusters created by the encounter between two large elliptical galaxies, located at the centre of a cluster of gal- axies that is among the most interesting in terms of gravita- tional lensing. A most unique scenario whose existence was... page 46 HK Tauri and the weird planetary orbits A large number of stars, perhaps more than half the existing ones, belongs to binary systems, and contrary to what believed in the past they too can host planets. Now it has been shown that precisely those environments are at the origin of the most odd planetary orbits. page 40 Editor in chief Michele Ferrara Scientific advisor Prof. Enrico Maria Corsini Publisher Astro Publishing di Pirlo L. Via Bonomelli, 106 25049 Iseo - BS - ITALY email info@astropublishing.com Internet Service Provider Aruba S.p.A. Loc. Palazzetto, 4 52011 Bibbiena - AR - ITALY Copyright All material in this magazine is, unless otherwise stated, property of Astro Publishing di Pirlo L. or included with permission of its author. Reproduction or retransmission of the materials, in whole or in part, in any manner, with- out the prior written consent of the copyright holder, is a violation of copyright law. A single copy of the materials available through this course may be made, solely for personal, non- commercial use. Users may not distrib- ute such copies to others, whether or not in electronic form, whether or not for a charge or other consideration, without prior written consent of the copyright holder of the materials. The publisher makes available itself with having rights for possible not characterized iconographic sources. Advertising - Administration Astro Publishing di Pirlo L. Via Bonomelli, 106 25049 Iseo - BS - ITALY email admin@astropublishing.com ASTROFILO l’ September-October 2014 BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION FREELY AVAILABLE THROUGH THE INTERNET English edition of the magazine S U M M A R Y Where not otherwise specified, all contributions have to be considered works by the team of the magazine l’Astrofilo. Contents subject to copyrights. ●