Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2014

Uncovered the mystery of the Type II b SN After having waited patiently for twenty years for the glow of a supernova to fall below a certain limit, some astrono- mers were able to identify the presence of a companion star of the progenitor, thus validating the model describing that particular type of explosions. page 24 Mars One, to the limits of utopia One of the most ambitious projects of conquest of the Red Planet has proved to be, from an accurate analysis by the Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), much less reliable than claimed by its creators. The settlements that on Mars will host the first colonizers could easily turn into a death trap, unless... page 18 Is water older than the Sun? We live on a planet full of water and it is very likely that that liquid was transferred on Earth by countless comets, along with prebiotic organic matter. But where did all that water come from? Was it formed with the planetary system or did it exist billions of years before the Sun began to shine? The... page 12 The amazing case of the Benešov bolide The persistence of some astronomers has allowed to find the meteorites generated by a superbolide appeared in the skies of the Czech Republic more than twenty years ago. Despite being the best-documented event in history, until now it had been impossible to figure out where the only recoverable... page 4 Oceanus Procellarumwasn’t caused by an impact That all lunar maria were huge expanses of solidified lava flow- ed out on the surface as a result of asteroids falling on our satellite, seemed an established fact. Instead, the processing of data obtained from the GRAIL mission shows that the largest of those lunar maria formed in a totally different manner. page 40 The true nature of ultra-compact galaxies The recent study of an ultra-compact galaxy has shown that those very dense stellar systems are not an enlarged ver- sion of globular clusters, but rather the remnants of large galaxies stripped of their matter outside the nucleus by even bigger galaxies. page 32 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’ November-December 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.