#AstroMiniBR: A ​​new planet in Proxima Centauri!

Every Saturday, TecMundo and #AstroMiniBR bring together five related and fun astronomical curiosities produced by their collaborators. Twitter profile To spread the knowledge of this oldest science ever!

#1: An extrasolar planetary neighbor

A new planet has been discovered in Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System, only 4.2 light-years away! The discovery was made by a group of astronomers through observations very large telescope, located in Chile. Analysis of the data showed evidence of another planet around Proxima Centauri, the third discovered in this planetary system. The new planet, called Proxima d, is less massive than the others, has about 25% the mass of Earth and orbits its host star at a distance of about 4 million km. Interestingly, its orbital period is equivalent to only 5 Earth days. This discovery is important for planetary science studies because it allows for a detailed study of our nearest neighbor star and the group of planets with diverse characteristics, capable of aiding our understanding of how planets formed and evolved over millions of years. years and, in the end, improved studies and future investigations.

#2: A cosmic dance between different stars

The above image shows the remarkable effects of the interaction between two stars, the first of which, a white dwarf star, burns the rest of its fuel continuously and at a relatively low temperature; The second, a red giant star, is close to the last stages of its life and very unstable. While the difference in dimensions between them is impressive, this is a good example that size doesn’t say much: As these stars orbit each other, the white dwarf pulls material from the red giant to its surface. Given enough time, the withdrawn matter accumulates and adds to the mass of the white dwarf until the explosion occurs! In the image, the structures formed by this violent interaction can be seen in red and yellow. The purple region shows the effects of a highly energetic white dwarf jet hitting material around the stars, causing shock waves, similar to vapor cones generated by supersonic jets.

#3: The other side of the moon is not dark

Contrary to what many people think and what the famous British rock band Pink Floyd sang, the Dark Side of the Moon is not. Sure, the image above doesn’t look familiar, but it’s our good old familiar moon. However, this part of its surface can’t be seen with our eyes here on Earth. This is because the Moon, trapped in synchronous rotation, always displays the same face on Earth’s surface. But for the probe (as well as the astronauts) who were in orbit around the Moon, the far side of the Moon became known. The sharp image above shows the surface of this other side, showing characteristic impact craters and frosted rough patches which, with similarities, are lighter and less noticeable than the visible side covered in dark spots. A possible explanation for this is that the crust on the far side is thicker, making it more difficult for magma from the moon’s interior to flow to the surface.

#4: Is this a nebula or a galaxy out there?

Only 100 years ago, astronomers still did not know for sure whether those large, diffuse objects they observed in the sky were local or neighboring nebulae or whether they were distinct and distant galaxies from the Milky Way. One of the most famous episodes in the history of science, known as the Great Debate, or the Chapley-Kurtis Debate, attempted to solve this problem. Held in 1920 at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, it brought together astronomers Harlow Chapley and Heber Curtis, each defending one hypothesis about the nature of these celestial bodies. Shapley believed that the distant nebulae were relatively small and located on the fringes of the Milky Way, while Curtis asserted that they were in fact independent galaxies, meaning that they were very large and distant. Times after this public debate, scientists were able to verify individual evidence from both astronomers, but on the main topic of the existence of other galaxies, Curtis proved correct.

#5: The Weathervane Galaxy

Big, beautiful and shiny! So does the spiral galaxy M83, 12 million light-years away from us. Its prominent spiral arms feature dark dust streaks and clusters of bright blue stars! M83 is about 40 thousand light-years long, has a very strong and energetic core in the X-ray spectrum, a region with a high concentration of neutron stars and black holes!