Fossil or inorganic structure? Scientists dig into early life forms
https://phys.org/news/2017-03-fossil-inorganic-scientists-early-life.html

An international team of researchers discovered that inorganic chemicals can self-organize into complex structures that mimic primitive life on Earth.

Florida State University Professor of Chemistry Oliver Steinbock and Professor Juan Manuel Garcia-Ruiz of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas
(Spanish National Research Council) in Granada, Spain published an article in Wednesday's edition of Science Advances that shows fossil-like objects grew in
natural spring water abundant in the early stages of the planet. But they were inorganic materials that resulted from simple chemical reactions.

This complicates the identification of Earth's earliest microfossils and redefines the search for life on other planets and moons.

"Inorganic microstructures can potentially be indistinguishable from ancient traces of life both in morphology and chemical composition," Garcia-Ruiz said.

Scientists had seen hints of this in past lab work, but now through Steinbock and Garcia-Ruiz's research, it is clear that this also happened in nature.

VIRGO:
Dark Matter Less Influential in Galaxies in Early Universe | ESO United Kingdom
http://www.eso.org/public/unitedkingdom/news/eso1709/?lang

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2017/nasas-webb-telescope-ghostly-lights-out-inspection

What happens when the lights are turned out in the enormous clean room that currently houses NASA's James Webb Space Telescope? The technicians who are inspecting
the telescope and its expansive golden mirrors look like ghostly wraiths in this image as they conduct a "lights out inspection" in the Spacecraft Systems Development
and Integration Facility (SSDIF) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The clean room lights were turned off to inspect the telescope after it experienced vibration and acoustic testing. The contamination control engineer used a bright
flashlight and special ultraviolet flashlights to inspect for contamination because it's easier to find in the dark.

NASA photographer Chris Gunn said "The people have a ghostly appearance because it's a long exposure." He left the camera's shutter open for a longer than normal time
so the movement of the technicians appear as a blur. He also used a special light "painting" technique to light up the primary mirror.

Scientists identify a black hole choking on stardust | MIT News
http://news.mit.edu/2017/black-hole-choking-stardust-0315
Data suggest black holes swallow stellar debris in bursts.

In the center of a distant galaxy, almost 300 million light years from Earth, scientists have discovered a supermassive black hole
that is “choking” on a sudden influx of stellar debris.

In a paper published today in Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers from MIT, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and elsewhere
report on a “tidal disruption flare” — a dramatic burst of electromagnetic activity that occurs when a black hole obliterates a nearby
star. The flare was first discovered on Nov. 11, 2014, and scientists have since trained a variety of telescopes on the event to learn
more about how black holes grow and evolve.

The MIT-led team looked through data collected by two different telescopes and identified a curious pattern in the energy emitted by
the flare: As the obliterated star’s dust fell into the black hole, the researchers observed small fluctuations in the optical and UV bands
of the electromagnetic spectrum. This very same pattern repeated itself 32 days later, this time in the X-ray band.

Astrobiologie: Přístroje pro sondy JUICE a ExoMars 2020 - Kalendář akcí | Přírodovědci.cz
https://www.prirodovedci.cz/kalendar-akci/astrobiologie-pristroje-pro-sondy-juice-a-exomars-2020

Prof. Aharon Oren přednese na naší fakultě dvě přednášky — Přírodovědecká fakulta UK
https://www.natur.cuni.cz/...ulta/aktuality/prof-aharon-ohren-prednese-na-nasi-fakulte-dve-prednasky

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia17213/farewell-to-mimas
In its season of "lasts," NASA's Cassini spacecraft made its final close approach to Saturn's moon Mimas on January 30, 2017. At closest approach,
Cassini passed 25,620 miles (41,230 kilometers) from Mimas. All future observations of Mimas will be from more than twice this distance.

This mosaic is one of the highest resolution views ever captured of the icy moon. Close approaches to Mimas have been somewhat rare during Cassini's
mission, with only seven flybys at distances of less than 50 000 kilometers.