Week Two - Task #09. - “Astronomical Adventures”

[Katherine Laurier]

All you want to do now is get out of there with the bride, but Peeves had certainly planned out this haunted hallway to stump whoever went in, and you're beginning to get frustrated and afraid you'll get stuck there too.

However, there is no way to go but wherever you are led, and it leads you to the portrait of George von Rheticus, a certainly famous name in Astronomy.

"Password?" he speaks.

You begin to worry. You know nothing of any password for his portrait, and it would be a one in a million chance to spit out a random phrase which so happens to be the password. However, there is no other way. "Oh," you purse your lips and clear your throat, "I... don't know it. But, um, could you kindly let me pass? I just- I can't be stuck here forever, and I--" You try to find a way to convince him to let you go, but you are interrupted.

"Ah," he looks pitiful as he speaks, "I unfortunately cannot let you pass without the password."

You're at a loss. What are you going to do now? You pout, and there's a moment of silence before he sighs and adds, "Alright. Prove to me you are trustworthy and I shall let you pass. As a portrait, it's a bit hard to keep myself up-to-date with what's happening in the sky recently. Tell me about a recent event or discovery in astronomy."

Task:
In at least 100 words, write about an interesting astronomical discovery/event that happened in the last 10 years.

Alternatively, answer this riddle related to astronomy:
I have a twin but we are quite different - oh, where to begin? I am yellow and hot, while my twin is not. A day there is, for me, a year. My twin has many living things, while for me, no one would dare to come cling. What am I?
If you choose to go with the riddle, please send your answer in a Private Message to me, Katherine Laurier, and Prof. Sindor Aloyarc.

Correct Answers to the Riddle From:
Prof. Scarlet Leslie-Lewis
Prof. Will Lestrange
Amy Smith
Dibyarup James-Potter
Uma Daurka
Ellie Vernez

This task is worth 15 beans. If you submit all Week 2 tasks before the deadline, September 30, 11:59 PM, you can earn an additional 15 beans.

[Janne Halla]

In 2021, a graduate student discovered what is thought to be the largest-known comet to date. It's named Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein after the people who discovered it, Pedro Bernardinelli and his advisor Gary Bernstein.

The comet was discovered with the help of Dark Energy Survey data when Bernardinelli wanted to find objects that live beyond Neptune's orbit. He saw an object that was farther than other objects Dark Energy Survey pointed to and wanted to originally study.

This comet is 10 times wider and 1,000 times more massive than a typical comet but not much is known of its composition. It'll be closest to Earth in 2031 and we'll know more about its size, composition, and any other details then.

[Penelope Friar]

In 2019 we got to see the first image of Sagittarius A* ( Sgr A* for short), the supermassive black hole at the centre of our Galaxy.

The image was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a network of eight existing radio observatiories around the world that have been combined into a single ‘Earth-sized’ virtual telescope. The telescope takes its name from the “event horizon”, the boundary around the black from which light cannot escape.

While the event horizon itself remains invisible due to its inability to emit light, the presence of glowing gas swirling around the black hole provides a distinctive indicator: a dark central region called the “shadow”, surrounded by a luminous ring-like structure. This new perspective captures the bending of light caused by the immense gravitational pull of the black hole, which is an astonishing four million times more massive than our Sun.

[Dawn Diya]

On August 24th, 2023 scientists shared that they found new exoplanets beyond our solar system. One of these planets was named MWC 758.

MWC 758 is a large planet that orbits a young star. Scientists found MWC 758 by using direct imaging, which involves using wavelengths to locate and observe planets.

MWC 758 takes 817 years to complete an orbit around its star. MWC 758 is a significant discovery because it is one of the first planets to be discovered in a system that has a star with a protoplanetary disk. A protoplanetary disk is a rotating disc that is made up of gas and dust and surrounds young stars. When MWC 758 was discovered, it was carving spiral arms, or the main way young stars are produced, into its star's protoplanetary disk.

[Alexandra Rosier]

One of the most significant astronomical revelations in the past decade pertains to the detection of gravitational waves, which are undulations in the fabric of spacetime resulting from the rapid motion of massive celestial bodies.

What rendered this discovery profoundly compelling was the observation, in 2017, of not only these gravitational waves but also a corresponding burst of electromagnetic radiation—essentially, light—from the same cosmic occurrence. In essence, it was akin to both hearing a resonant sound and witnessing the source simultaneously.

This milestone held immense scientific import as it advanced our comprehension of the mechanisms underpinning the collision of neutron stars, exceptionally dense cosmic entities. It shed light on the genesis of precious elements like gold and platinum. Furthermore, it underscored the transformative potential of gravitational wave astronomy, augmenting traditional optical observations with a novel mode of perceiving and understanding the universe. This discovery inaugurated a new epoch of celestial exploration and knowledge.

[Scarlet Robloutain]

In 2018, astronomers witnessed a cosmic phenomenon known as a kilonova, providing a wealth of information about the origin of heavy elements in the universe. The event, designated AT2017gfo, occurred in a galaxy 130 million light-years away and was the aftermath of the merger of two neutron stars. This collision not only generated gravitational waves, detected by LIGO and Virgo, but also produced a brilliant burst of light across the electromagnetic spectrum. The observations revealed the creation of elements like gold, platinum, and uranium, solving a long-standing mystery about the cosmic origins of these precious materials. The kilonova marked another triumph for multi-messenger astronomy, combining gravitational wave and traditional observations to unravel the intricacies of the cosmos.