Hubble Steals a Look at a Hungry Giant
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/hubble-steals-a-look-at-a-hungry-giant

NGC 1222, seen in this image taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is a galaxy with a rather
eventful story to tell. NGC 1222 has been described as a peculiar example of a type of galaxy known as a lenticular galaxy.

Astronomers think that NGC 1222 is in the process of swallowing up two much smaller dwarf galaxies that strayed too close to it. It is likely that
the encounter was the trigger for the starburst in NGC 1222, bringing in fresh supplies of gas that are now fueling the burst of star formation.

Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond our Solar System: NASA space telescopes pinpoint elusive brown dwarf
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1396/nasa-space-telescopes-pinpoint-elusive-brown-dwarf/

In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, NASA's Spitzer and Swift space telescopes joined forces to observe a microlensing event, when a distant star brightens
due to the gravitational field of at least one foreground cosmic object. This technique is useful for finding low-mass bodies orbiting stars, such as planets.
In this case, the observations revealed a brown dwarf.

Brown dwarfs are thought to be the missing link between planets and stars, with masses up to 80 times that of Jupiter. But their centers are not hot or dense
enough to generate energy through nuclear fusion the way stars do. Curiously, scientists have found that, for stars roughly the mass of our sun, less than
1 percent have a brown dwarf orbiting within 3 AU (1 AU is the distance between Earth and the sun). This phenomenon is called the "brown dwarf desert."

The newly discovered brown dwarf, which orbits a host star, may inhabit this desert. Spitzer and Swift observed the microlensing event after being tipped off
by ground-based microlensing surveys, including the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE). The discovery of this brown dwarf, with the unwieldy name
OGLE-2015-BLG-1319, marks the first time two space telescopes have collaborated to observe a microlensing event.

Impostor planet exposed by astronomers
http://phys.org/news/2016-11-impostor-planet-exposed-astronomers.html

Don't be fooled by its light curve exhibiting anomalies like those caused by planets—one microlensing event with a fancy name OGLE-2016-BLG-0733
is doing a really good job of mimicking an extrasolar world. This case of a binary-source event masquerading as a planet could have further
implications for the search of exoplanets using the gravitational microlensing method.

In contrast to other methods, microlensing is most sensitive for detecting planets around one to 10 AU away from their host stars. This method
is also used to find new exoworlds around faint and dark objects at or beyond the snow line, and those not gravitationally bound to their parent
stars. However, the correct interpretation of the signal provided by the microlensing method is often difficult due to various scenarios that
can mimic planetary signals.

http://phys.org/news/2016-11-comet-67pchuryumov-gerasimenko-younger-previously-thought.html

Based on computer simulations, astrophysicists at the University of Bern, Switzerland, conclude that the comet Chury
did not obtain its duck-like form during the formation of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Although it does contain
primordial material, they are able to show that the comet in its present form is hardly more than a billion years old.

Starvation Diet for Black Hole Dims Brilliant Galaxy | NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/...sion_pages/chandra/starvation-diet-for-black-hole-dims-brilliant-galaxy.html

Astronomers may have solved the mystery of the peculiar volatile behavior of a supermassive black hole
at the center of a galaxy. Combined data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other observatories
suggest that the black hole is no longer being fed enough fuel to make its surroundings shine brightly.

New theory of gravity might explain dark matter
http://phys.org/news/2016-11-theory-gravity-dark.html

Is Earth Our Solar System's Missing 'Super-Earth?'
http://www.forbes.com/...ang/2016/11/08/is-earth-our-solar-systems-missing-super-earth/#6fcca5477161

It wasn’t that long ago that we thought our Solar System was the prototype for how planetary systems ought to be configured.
We thought that there were two classes of planets: the rocky worlds, that we’d find clustered in the inner regions, and the
gas giants, located farther out. Starting in the 1990s, we finally began discovering planets around stars other than our own,
and we were in for not just one but two rude awakenings, and we discovered our Solar System was not normal. In a new paper
just accepted for publication this week, two Columbia University astrophysicists might have just explained why.

Modest Chaos in the Early Solar System
http://aasnova.org/2016/11/08/modest-chaos-in-the-early-solar-system/

The puzzling architecture of the Solar system has long been a headache for planetary dynamicists. We can sort of divide its structure
(cover image, not to scale) into several zones. First, the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, which are divided from
the gas and ice giant planets by the asteroid belt. Beyond the ice giants there is the Kuiper belt, which spans out to very large
distances from the Sun. One longstanding conundrum in this ordering is the relatively small mass of Mars and existence of the asteroid
belt in between Mars and Jupiter. It shouldn’t be there, and Mars should be way bigger. In fact, Mars is only 10% of the mass of Earth
and therefore seems to have never accreted enough material to become a fully fledged planet. In planet formation, Mars-sized objects
are usually termed “planetary embryos”, as we think this is the intermediate stage of a planet’s growth.

A Brief History of Halley’s Comet Sightings - History in the Headlines
http://www.history.com/news/a-brief-history-of-halleys-comet-sightings

Roughly every 76 years, Halley’s comet passes close enough to the Earth to be viewed with the naked eye.
Astronomer Edmond Halley first predicted the comet’s recurrence in the early 1700s, but sightings of it
date back to at least the third century B.C., and it’s often taken a starring role in historical events.
From ancient omens to a 1910 apocalyptic panic, take a look back at how astronomy’s most famous comet
has been interpreted over the years.

Yes, Dark Energy Exists - COSI Science Now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxkglzjI-Iw


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http://www.forbes.com/.../solution-to-dark-matter-proposes-that-gravity-is-an-illusion/#4699d6693058

Exoplanet hunters are missing 75 per cent of two-star worlds | New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/...112005-exoplanet-hunters-are-missing-75-per-cent-of-two-star-worlds/

Binaries are twice the trouble. The shifty geometry of planets that orbit two stars
means we’ve missed about 75 per cent of these worlds – but we are playing catch-up.

Planets that orbit two stars are truly, intriguingly alien – they have varied seasons,
and formed under different circumstances from planets in our own solar system. They are
also trickier to discover and study: unlike planets around single stars, they shift
their orbital paths over just a few years.

The Kepler telescope has spotted 10 of these worlds by watching them transit, or cross
in front of their stars from our point of view. Transits around just one star run like
clockwork: once you know how long the planet’s year is, you can predict exactly when it
should next pass in front of the star.