Kepler confirms more than 100 planets in single trove
http://phys.org/news/2016-07-kepler-planets-trove.html
An international team of astronomers have discovered and confirmed a treasure trove of new worlds. The researchers achieved this extraordinary discovery of exoplanets
by combining NASA's K2 mission data with follow-up observations by Earth-based telescopes including the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, the twin Gemini telescopes
on Maunakea and in Chile, the Automated Planet Finder of the University of California Observatories and the Large Binocular Telescope operated by the University of
Arizona. The team confirmed more than 100 planets, including the first planetary system comprising four planets potentially similar to Earth. The discoveries are
published online in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.

Ironically, the bounty was made possible when the Kepler space telescope's pointing system broke.

Featured Image: Supernova Remnants in the LMC
http://aasnova.org/2016/07/18/featured-image-supernova-remnants-in-the-lmc/
These vibrant images of supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) were created by mapping data from the Chandra X-ray Telescope into three colors:
red for 300–720 eV, green for 720–1100 eV, and blue for 1100–7000 eV. Three scientists at University of Texas at Arlington — Andrew Schenck, Sangwook Park, and
Seth Post — created these maps in order to probe the composition of the LMC’s interstellar medium. The forward shocks of supernova remnants sweep up the inter-
stellar medium as they expand, heating it and causing it to emit the X-rays that Chandra observes. Schenck, Park and Post used Chandra’s observations of these
remnants to make new measurements of the interstellar metallicities in the LMC. To find out more, check out the paper below!

http://physicsworld.com/...icle/news/2016/jul/18/nearby-supernovae-could-have-affected-life-on-earth
Earlier this year, two independent teams of astronomers published evidence that several supernovae had exploded
some 330 light-years from Earth. Each event showered the solar system in iron-60, an overabundance of which has been
found in core samples from the bottom of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans – and also in deposits on the Moon.

Black hole born without stellar parent, evidence suggests | Science News
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/black-hole-born-without-stellar-parent-evidence-suggests
The galaxy, known as CR7, is unusual (SN: 7/25/2015, p. 8). It blasts out more ultraviolet radiation than other galaxies that lived at the same time,
roughly 13 billion years ago (about 800 million years after the Big Bang). The gas in CR7 also appears to lack elements such as carbon and oxygen,
which are forged within stars and then ejected into space. One idea is that CR7 is giving birth to first-generation stars, similar to the first stars
ever created in the universe. Another hypothesis is that CR7 harbors the first known “direct collapse” black hole, one that forms when a blob of
interstellar gas collapses under its own weight without first forming stars.

ESA Science & Technology: What lies beneath: Venus' surface revealed through the clouds
http://sci.esa.int/venus-express/58085-what-lies-beneath-venus-surface-revealed-through-the-clouds/
Using observations from ESA's Venus Express satellite, scientists have shown for the first time how weather patterns
seen in Venus' thick cloud layers are directly linked to the topography of the surface below. Rather than acting as
a barrier to our observations, Venus' clouds may offer insight into what lies beneath.

VIRGO:
NASA Does Facebook Live Update on the Next Mars Rover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN9gGW3ovkU

Announcements - Effect of Mirror Hatch Incident on Open Use Observations of Subaru Telescope (Report 3) - Subaru Telescope
http://subarutelescope.org/Announce/2016/07/14/index.html
Subaru Telescope is planning works including the repair of the mirror hatch (Note) in multiple phases. Therefore, open use observations
at the Subaru Telescope will be suspended from August 15 to 21, 2016 in Hawaii Time for seven nights. There may be additional downtimes
between October 17 and November 6, 2016. These schedules might change according to the progress of the necessary work. The scheduled
work of the primary mirror recoating is moved from this summer 2016 to 2017 or later.

Temperate Earth-sized Planets Transiting a Nearby Ultracool Dwarf Star - Astrobiology
http://astrobiology.com/...mperate-earth-sized-planets-transiting-a-nearby-ultracool-dwarf-star.html
Star-like objects with effective temperatures of less than 2,700 kelvin are referred to as ultracool dwarfs.
This heterogeneous group includes stars of extremely low mass as well as brown dwarfs (substellar objects not
massive enough to sustain hydrogen fusion), and represents about 15 per cent of the population of astronomical
objects near the Sun.

Core-accretion theory predicts that, given the small masses of these ultracool dwarfs, and the small sizes of their protoplanetary disk, there should be a large
but hitherto undetected population of terrestrial planets orbiting them - ranging from metal-rich Mercury-sized planets to more hospitable volatile-rich Earth-
sized planets. Here we report observations of three short-period Earth-sized planets transiting an ultracool dwarf star only 12 parsecs away. The inner two planets
receive four times and two times the irradiation of Earth, respectively, placing them close to the inner edge of the habitable zone of the star.

Our data suggest that 11 orbits remain possible for the third planet, the most likely resulting in irradiation significantly less than that received by Earth.
The infrared brightness of the host star, combined with its Jupiter-like size, offers the possibility of thoroughly characterizing the components of this nearby
planetary system.

Night Side Cooling and Surface Friction Affect Climates of Tidally Locked Terrestrial Planets - Astrobiology
http://astrobiology.com/...rface-friction-affect-climates-of-tidally-locked-terrestrial-planets.html
Investigating how night side cooling and surface friction impact surface temperatures and large scale circulation for tidally locked Earth-like planets.

Some planets ripe for life may be doomed by billions of years of violent collisions | Astronomy.com
http://www.astronomy.com/...2016/07/some-planets-continue-to-collide-billions-of-years-after-forming
Crashing planets mean bad news for evolving life.

NASA's Dawn Mission
NASA's Dawn Mission, Original air date: July 14, 2016. 7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET, 0200 UTC)The Dawn mission launched in September 2007, and is one of NASA'...
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/89581110