Building an Unusual White-Dwarf Duo
http://aasnova.org/2016/09/19/building-an-unusual-white-dwarf-duo/

A new study has examined how the puzzling wide binary system HS 2220+2146 — which consists of two white dwarfs orbiting
each other — might have formed. This system may be an example of a new evolutionary pathway for wide white-dwarf binaries.

Next-generation space-weather model will map the danger facing power grids.
US sharpens surveillance of crippling solar storms : Nature News & Comment
http://www.nature.com/news/us-sharpens-surveillance-of-crippling-solar-storms-1.20630

Do Dolphins Dream of Space Travel? - Scientific American Blog Network
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/do-dolphins-dream-of-space-travel/
Little red stars pose big questions in the search for intelligent life

Astronomers discover five new Neptune trojans
http://phys.org/news/2016-09-astronomers-neptune-trojans.html

An international team of astronomers led by Hsing-Wen Lin of the National Central University in Taiwan has detected
five new so-called "Neptune trojans" – minor bodies sharing the same orbit as the planet Neptune. The discovery was
made by the Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) survey and is described in a paper published Sept. 15 on arXiv.org.

The PS1 survey, which utilizes the first Pan-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System) telescope
in Hawaii, designated PS1, is one of the best tools to search for Neptune trojans. The survey, lasting from May 2010
to May 2014, has made a strong contribution to knowledge of the solar system's minor bodies due to its very wide
survey area and its optimized cadence for searching moving objects.

ESAHangout: Preparing for Rosetta's grand finale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9lIPUjFe40

Back Alley Astronomy: A New Planet for Kepler-20
http://backalleyastronomy.blogspot.cz/2016/09/a-new-planet-for-kepler-20.html

[1609.05089] SIOUX project: a simultaneous multiband camera for exoplanet atmospheres studies
http://arxiv.org/abs/1609.05089

The exoplanet revolution is well underway. The last decade has seen order-of-magnitude increases in the number
of known planets beyond the Solar system. Detailed characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres provide the
best means for distinguishing the makeup of their outer layers, and the only hope for understanding the interplay
between initial composition chemistry, temperature-pressure atmospheric profiles, dynamics and circulation.

While pioneering work on the observational side has produced the first important detections of atmospheric
molecules for the class of transiting exoplanets, important limitations are still present due to the lack of systematic,
repeated measurements with optimized instrumentation at both visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR)
wavelengths. It is thus of fundamental importance to explore quantitatively possible avenues for improvements.
In this paper we report initial results of a feasibility study for the prototype of a versatile multi-band imaging
system for very high-precision differential photometry that exploits the choice of specifically selected narrow-band
filters and novel ideas for the execution of simultaneous VIS and NIR measurements.

A Terrestrial Exoplanet at Proxima Centauri - Guillem Anglada (SETI Talks 2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6eCF2FVcfo

Lightning on the moon? Yes, it might really happen.
Tiny lightning bolt explosions can vaporise the moon’s thin soil | New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/...423-tiny-lightning-bolt-explosions-can-vaporise-the-moons-thin-soil/

Mini-lightning may flash in the coldest craters on the moon, melting and vapourising soil. All that sparking
could have altered the surface as much as impacts from incoming rocks and dust. Andrew Jordan at the University
of New Hampshire in Durham and his colleagues suggest we keep an eye out for another cause: electrical sparks.

The lunar dust is normally an electrical insulator that can’t conduct much current. But high-energy particles
thrown off by the sun during solar storms might be able to collect in cold patches of lunar soil.

‘Alien megastructure’ star may be explained by interstellar junk | New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/...6335-alien-megastructure-star-may-be-explained-by-interstellar-junk/

Step aside, alien megastructure. It seems that the behaviour of an oddity known as Tabby’s star – which some have speculated
may be caused by a massive extraterrestrial construction project – might in reality be explained by interstellar junk.

Now Valeri Makarov at the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC and Alexey Goldin at Teza Technologies in Chicago, Illinois, have taken a closer look
at the smallest of the star’s dips in light – only to find that Tabby’s star isn’t responsible for them. Whenever the small dips occur, there is also
a slight jump in the position of the light, leading them to conclude that it is actually a different star along the line of sight that is dimming.

Tabby’s star is still responsible for the largest dips in light, however. If more than one star is dimming, say Makarov and Goldin, then the culprit
for the erratic behaviour can’t be an asteroid belt, debris from a smash-up between two larger bodies, or an alien megastructure around Tabby’s star.
In fact, it can’t be anything around Tabby’s star alone. Instead, it has to be something lying between us and them.

Mt.Rainier Lenticular Cloud Timelapse-2016.09.10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxfDnr3FN7g

Swift telescope detects slowest-spinning neutron star | Penn State University
http://news.psu.edu/...762/2016/09/13/research/swift-telescope-detects-slowest-spinning-neutron-star

A new record-holder for the slowest spinning neutron star has been found thanks to clues first detected by NASA's Swift space observatory,
whose science and flight operations are controlled by Penn State from the University Park campus. Spinning neutron stars are the class of
stars with the most powerful magnetic fields in the universe. Swift's X-Ray Telescope captured a short burst of unusual X-rays on June 22,
2016 coming from an object roughly 9,000 light-years from Earth.

More to US-Australian space relationship than The Dish, outgoing US Ambassador says - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
http://www.abc.net.au/...2016-09-16/us-ambassador-calls-for-reflection-on-space-relationship/7844446

The Dish - Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TAqXENo1rA

Supernova extraordinaire might actually be a black hole's lunch | New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/...6362-supernova-extraordinaire-might-actually-be-a-black-holes-lunch/

The brightest supernova ever seen has been confirmed, but it still has astronomers puzzling over what unknown type of star could have been
responsible. Supernovas mark the violent deaths of stars that collapse on themselves and blow up. They are some of the brightest and most
energetic objects in the universe.

This one, called ASASSN-15lh, is about 3.8 billion light years away, 200 times more powerful than most supernovas, and twice as bright as
the previous record holder. It shines 20 times brighter than the combined output of the Milky Way’s 100 billion stars, and in the last six
months, it has spewed as much energy as the sun would in 10 lifetimes, says Krzysztof Stanek of the Ohio State University, co-principal
investigator of the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) network that spotted the explosion.

Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer

NASA’s Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer, or PIPER, mission arrived in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, late last week and is gearing up for launch. The
balloon-borne observatory will look out in all directions, receiving light that is left over from the heat of the gigantic explosion that was the Big Bang.

Pictured here is the PIPER payload, stripped down for shipping. It will go up to 120,000 feet on a gigantic balloon that would fill a professional sports
stadium when fully inflated. The silvery cylinder in the middle is the dewar – the science name for vacuum wall thermos bottle. This one holds 5,000 liters,
which equals approximately 20,000 cups of coffee. The telescope and camera will go inside the dewar and operate at 1.6 degrees Kelvin, cooled by 3,000 liters
of liquid helium, the coldest liquid in the universe. The aluminum frame around it holds the dewar and other electronics up when it hangs from the balloon.

If scientists prove – or even disprove – the cosmological theory of accelerated, exponential expansion of space in the early universe with PIPER, it will be
a milestone achievement for three pioneering NASA-developed technologies.

Credit: Paul Mirel

http://www.nasa.gov/...sa-team-set-to-fly-balloon-mission-seeking-evidence-of-cosmological-inflation
http://www.nasa.gov/...piper-balloon-observatory-to-showcase-pioneering-nasa-developed-technologies

WFIRST: Uncovering the Mysteries of the Universe—Updated 4k version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu_ujtJ9VPc