Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2017

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. Via San Clemente, 53 24036 Ponte San Pietro - BG - 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 copy- right law. A single copy of the materi- als available through this course may be made, solely for personal, noncom- mercial use. Users may not distribute such copies to others, whether or not in electronic form, whether or not for a charge or other consideration, with- out prior written consent of the copy- right holder of the materials. The publisher makes available itself with having rights for possible not charac- terized iconographic sources. Advertising - Administration Astro Publishing di Pirlo L. Via Bonomelli, 106 25049 Iseo - BS - ITALY email admin@astropublishing.com ASTROFILO l’ November-December 2017 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 4 14 22 32 36 38 40 48 52 18 Another origin for the asteroid belt Even in astronomy, many things are taken for granted, except that later they have to be thought through again, proving that a theory that seemed to explain something so well is quite open to discussion, when it isn’t downright wrong. Are we sure that the asteroids in the main belt have been there since the birth... ESO telescopes observe first light from gravitational wave source For the first time ever, astronomers have observed both gravitational waves and light (electromagnetic radiation) from the same event, thanks to a global collaborative effort and the quick reactions of both ESO’s facilities and others around the world. On 17 August 2017 the NSF's Laser Interferometer... See you soon Saturn! Last September, after a 7 years travel and 13 years of zooming around Saturn and its many moons, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft crashed into Saturn, ending a successful two-decade mission. NASA currently has no missions on the books to return to Saturn, although three proposals late this year are expected... European Solar Telescope: first light in 2027 Although it will be installed in the Canary Islands (Spain), the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome has hosted on Oct. 5, 2017 the first European presentation of the European Solar Telescope (EST) in the frame of the preparatory phase for its construction. This infrastructure will be the largest European... The strange structures of the Saturn Nebula The Saturn Nebula is located approximately 5000 light years away in the constellation of Aquarius (The Water Bearer). Its name derives from its odd shape, which resembles everyone’s favourite ringed planet seen edge-on. But in fact, planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets. The Saturn Nebula was... ALMA and Rosetta detect Freon-40 in space Using data captured by ALMA in Chile and from the ROSINA instrument on ESA’s Rosetta mission, a team of astronomers has found faint traces of the chemical compound Freon-40 (CH 3 Cl), also known as methyl chloride and chloromethane, around both the infant star system IRAS 16293-2422, about... Deep Space Gateway, starting again from the Moon A new NASA project, shared with Roscosmos at least in concept, aims to bring people to the Moon and as far as Mars. The agreement between the two space agencies, which may expand to include other players, will remain a dead letter if the US government continues changing NASA’s programmes... Hubble observes pitch black planet Using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, an international team led by astronomers at McGill University, Canada, and the University of Exeter, UK, have measured how much light the exoplanet WASP-12b reflects — its albedo — in order to learn more... Inferno world with titanium skies A team of astronomers led by Elyar Sedaghati, an ESO fellow and recent graduate of TU Berlin, has ex- amined the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-19b in greater detail than ever before. This remarkable planet has about the same mass as Jupiter, but is so close to its parent star that it completes an orbit... Hubble discovers a unique type of object in the Solar System With the help of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, a German-led group of astronomers have ob- served the intriguing characteristics of an unusual type of object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter: two asteroids orbiting each other and exhibiting comet-like features, including a bright coma...