orbiting

We have so many satellites orbiting the Earth that they have become a barrier for someone: telescopes

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For years, the astronomical community has looked at the sky with considerable concern from Earth. And it’s normal. In recent years, the number of satellites that we have put into orbit has grown exponentially, highlighting above all starlinkwhich promised to bring the internet to the entire planet in exchange for fill our nights with “trains of lights”. But this is only hindering our ability to continue investigating the universe where we are immersed. Trapped in a cage. The telescopes that we now have closer to Earth to do their work logically have to look towards our sky. The problem, as the research points out led by Alejandro S. Borlaff, is that they are going blind. Specifically, the low orbit (LEO) space telescopes that are not only not safe, but they are trapped in a real cage that prevents them from seeing further. Until now, it was possible to think that satellite traces could only affect terrestrial observatories. However, orbital reality is pure geometry: most large space telescopes like Hubble They orbit at about 540 km high. A height at which the internet megaconstellations that are located above or in the layers that range from 340 km to 8,000 km. Because. Satellites do not emit any type of light and should not cause problems. But the problem comes when they reflect sunlight, and when this happens in the new coverage satellites that have a large size, we find that even if it is night on Earth (or wherever the telescope is), at a hundred kilometers high the Sun continues to illuminate the satellite. And the lighting and telescopes they get along very badly. Space telescopes are designed to look at objects that are “still” at infinity (stars, galaxies). To capture its faint light, the telescope must fix its gaze on an exact point and not move. However, satellites move at thousands of kilometers per hour in relation to the telescope and since the camera shutter is open for a long time (long exposures of minutes or even hours) to capture weak light, the satellite crosses the entire frame during the photo, being recorded not as a point, but as a continuous line or “scar” of light. A problem. In this way, if a telescope is 540 km high when pointed at the sky, it will encounter an increasingly dense network of space traffic in the form of satellites. Specifically, there are currently about 15,000 satellites in orbit, but requests to different regulators suggest that we could reach half a million satellites by the end of the 2030s. Something that would leave large space observatories unusable. To put specific cases, we have the NASA Hubble that right now 3–4% of the images it captures have satellite trails. A figure that will increase to almost 40%, causing one in every three photographs of the most famous telescope in history to have a ‘light scar’. We have another case in SPHEREx which is the future explorer of the origins of the universe and which will have almost 100% of its catchments contaminated. Its impact. It is undoubtedly incalculable. Missions like ARRAKIHS (of the European Space Agency, with strong Spanish participation) or SPHEREx depend on taking very wide-field images to map the structure of the universe. By having such a large field of view, the probability of dozens of satellites being “snuck in” in a single shot is 100%. For him Chinese Xuntian Telescopewhich orbits lower, the situation is much worse. Being “below” most of the Starlink, Kuiper constellations and the Chinese networks themselves such as Guangwang You’ll have a harder time dealing with nearly a hundred bright lines crossing every image you take. The solution. Orbiting telescopes were a solution to this problem that was occurring in terrestrial telescopes. Now history repeats itself. Experts point to the need to define precise orbits so that telescopes can avoid satellites in a simple way. But this requires great international coordination to share this information and, above all, to regulate the number of launches that are carried out. Images | NASA Hubble Space Telescope In Xataka | Which telescope to buy to enjoy the nights and stars: 20 telescopes, binoculars, gadgets, accessories and more

We have just discovered three Earth-like planets orbiting two very close suns

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The iconic scene of Luke Skywalker watching the double sunset on the planet where he was raised, Tatooine, is one of the most indelible images in science fiction. Now, thanks to NASA TESS Space Telescopewe believe there are three planets similar to Tatooine within 72 light years of Earth. A unique system. It’s called TOI-2267 and it challenges what we thought we knew about how planets form. According to research published in Astronomy & Astrophysicsthis binary star system hosts three planets similar in size to Earth. But what makes it extraordinary is not that it can have two-sun sunsets, but rather its compact architecture. Two very close suns. TOI-2267 is formed by two M dwarf stars (M5V and M6V) that orbit very close to each other, at a distance of only 8 astronomical units. To put it in context, in our solar system, Saturn orbits 9.5 astronomical units from the Sun. Until now, theoretical models suggested that such a close binary environment was too chaotic and gravitationally unstable to allow planets to form and maintain stable orbits. TOI-2267 proves us wrong. How it works. The analysis of the system, in which the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia had an important participation, reveals that the three planets cannot be orbiting the same star, since the system would be unstable. The most plausible configuration, and the one that excites scientistsis that two of the planets orbit the main star (TOI-2267A), while the third candidate orbits the companion star (TOI-2267B). This makes TOI-2267 the first known binary system to host planets transiting both of its stars. The next step. After discovering the system with the TESS space telescope and carrying out follow-up observations with the SPECULOOS observatory, from Chile and Tenerife, and the TRAPPIST telescope, the next step will be to use more powerful instruments, such as the James Webb Space Telescope to try to measure the masses, densities and even analyze the possible atmospheres of these worlds. This system not only proves that Tatooine exists, but that the universe is capable of forming planets in the most extreme and unexpected places we can imagine. In Xataka | How the solar system was formed: for the Earth to be born, a star had to die first

They are planets orbiting other stars to 130 light years

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One of the original purposes of the James Webb space telescope was the direct observation of exoplanets: distant worlds that orbit stellar systems other than the sun. The latest images of the 10,000 million dollars observatory demonstrate the level of detail that is capable of capturing. Young and gaseous. The Webb Telescope, operated by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), has been observing a planetary system to 130 light years from the Earth. At the tender age of 30 million years, this neighborhood called HR 8799 It is much younger than our solar system, which is 4.6 billion years old. The four planets in the photo that revolve around the star HR 8799 are gaseous giants similar to Jupiter and Saturn. Being so young, in addition to giants, they retain the residual heat of their formation, which makes them emit a large amount of infrared light. This light is what has allowed Webb Space Telescope Capture clear and direct images of exoplanets. An important finding. One of the most surprising aspects of these observations is the remarkable presence of carbon dioxide in the atmospheres of the four giant planets. A study published by The Astronomical Journal Associates CO2 to a large number of heavy elements such as carbon, oxygen and iron in the gaseous body of these exoplanets. The study supports the theory of core’s accretion training, which is the same mechanism proposed by astronomers for the formation of Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system. According to this theory, the giant planets begin forming solid nuclei that then attract large amounts of gas from the protoplanetary disk that surrounds a young star. Cooked over low heat. The Chemical composition observed by the Webb In the HR 8799 system it is a clue that the planets were formed by slow accumulation of heavy materials, instead of faster alternative processes. Scientists have also been able to analyze important differences between the planets. For example, HR 8799 B, the farthest from its star, shows greater carbon dioxide wealth, while HR 8799 E, the closest to its star, seems to have formed in very different conditions, in a warmer region and with a different composition. Another Nircam job. Thanks to the Nircam Chamber and its coronograph, which blocks the bright light of the central star, the Webb has not only been able to observe the HR 8799 system, but also 51 eri ba relatively cold and young planet located in the 51 Eridani system, 96 light years from the earth. This orbit planet at a considerable distance from its star, similar to a location between Saturn and Neptune of our solar system. In this case, the webb has also detected a rich atmosphere in carbon dioxide, which further supports the hypothesis of the solid nucleus as a training mechanism. Images | NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI, JHU In Xataka | We have just discovered a tiny planet where it is three days every year. Is orbiting the star closest to the sun

Now we have 74 images of exocomets orbiting nearby stars

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In recent years we have seen images of Supermasive black holes, Stars outside the Milky Way and planetary systems that orbit other solesthe famous exoplanets. Current astronomy allows us to see with a precision until recently unimaginable the environment that surrounds other stars, to the point that we now have 74 images – not exoplanets, but of exocomena. The news. An international astronomer team has published the most detailed images until the date of 74 different exocometa belts: Dust structures and countless icy bodies that orbit other star systems, in the same way as Kuiper’s belt surrounds our solar system. The images They are part of the Reasons surveywhich combines data from the powerful telescopes Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (soul) in Chile and Submillimeter Array (SMA) in Hawaii. The context. The exocometer are frozen bodies of at least one kilometer in diameter. Although they are too small to be observed directly from the earth, the collisions between them release dust and small fragments that form extensive rubble belts, exocometaries belts. It is not a new concept. Astronomers first intuited the presence of exocomets around the Beta Pictoris star in 1984, long before the discovery of the first exoplanet in 1995. Specifically, they detected the spectral firms of evaporated ice passing in front of the star. The details. Reasons images reveal a whole diversity of structures. Some form narrow rings, like our Kuiper belt. Others have multiple rings or are more elongated, suggesting that they have been molded by the severity of unknown exoplanets. The discs have ages ranging from 20 million to 2,000 million years, which covers from systems in the protoplanetary phase to mature systems. The astrophysicist Carlos del Burgo, from the University of La Laguna, highlights that this is “the biggest sample to date.” An opportunity to study them. Located in the outer regions of its systems (more than 10 astronomical units), these rings are at extremely low temperatures (between -250 ° C and -150 ° C), which allows volatile compounds such as water to remain frozen . The researcher Isabel Rebellido, of the European Space Astronomy Center, points out “the importance of being able to perform statistical analysis of these discs for the first time.” Especially its evolution. With the passage of time, the discs seem to lose mass and surface area. And those closest to their stars dissipate more quickly due to the impact of star radiation. Image | Alma (ESO / NaOJ / NRAO) / SMA / L. Matrà et al. In Xataka | We are finding galaxies that we didn’t even know that they existed, and all thanks to Einstein

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