Pěkný render. Srovnání velikostí některých kosmických roverů, sond a nosičů. Autor: Álvaro Gracia Montoya

Space vehicles size Comparison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiCreWWkDiI

Star predicted to explode in 2022 | Space | EarthSky
http://earthsky.org/space/star-predicted-to-explode-in-2022

Astronomer Larry Molnar and his colleagues and students have made an unprecedented prediction of a star explosion – due in the year 2022, or thereabouts, they say –
that’ll become visible from Earth, even to those without telescopes. The star system is an eclipsing binary system (one star passes in front of the other as seen
from Earth) called known as KIC 9832227. New evidence suggests that these two very close stars are getting closer and will merge explosively, soon. Molnar is
presenting his findings today (January 6, 2017) at the 229th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Texas.

He said the prediction, originally made in 2015, of the merging of the two stars in the KIC 9832227 system is “progressing from theory to reality” and he added:

It’s a one-in-a-million chance that you can predict an explosion. It’s never been done before.

MUSE zkoumá neprobádaná zákoutí Hubbleova ultrahlubohého pole | ESO Česko
http://www.eso.org/public/czechrepublic/news/eso1738/

Astronomové dokončili dosud nejhlubší spektroskopickou přehlídku

Astronomové využívající přístroj MUSE na dalekohledu ESO/VLT v Chile provedli dosud nejhlubší spektroskopickou přehlídku vybrané části oblohy.
Zaměřili se na oblast známou jako Hubbleovo ultrahluboké pole (Hubble Ultra Deep Field, HUDF), ve které změřili vzdálenost a zkoumali vlastnosti
pro 1 600 velmi slabých dalekých galaxií. Nalezli také 72 dosud nepozorovaných objektů – galaxií, které nebyly zaznamenány ani na originálním
snímku HUDF. Na základě těchto průlomových pozorování bylo vypracováno deset vědeckých prací, které budou publikovány ve speciálním vydání
odborného časopisu Astronomy & Astrophysics. Tato studnice informací astronomům poskytuje nový pohled na průběh formování hvězd v raném vesmíru
a umožňuje jim zkoumat pohyby i další vlastnosti mladých galaxií – vše díky mimořádnému spektroskopickému výkonu přístroje MUSE.

Tým projektu MUSE HUDF Survey pod vedením Rolanda Bacona (Centre de recherche astrophysique de Lyon, CNRS/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1/
ENS de Lyon, France) využil přístroj MUSE (Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer) k pozorování oblasti známé jako Hubbleovo ultrahluboké pole (Ultra
Deep Field, heic0406), což je jedno z nejdůkladněji prozkoumaných míst na jižní obloze v souhvězdí Pec (Fornax). Výsledkem provedených pozorování
je nejhlubší spektroskopická přehlídka, jaká byla dosud provedena. Detailní informace byly získány pro celkem 1 600 vzdálených galaxií, což je
desetkrát více objektů, než v tomto poli s obtížemi napozorovali všechny dalekohledy na povrchu Země během celé poslední dekády.

ESOcast 140 Light: MUSE Dives into the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jIyoYZ2Lr4

Traces of life on nearest exoplanets may be hidden in equatorial trap
http://www.ras.org.uk/.../3074-traces-of-life-on-nearest-exoplanets-may-be-hidden-in-equatorial-trap

New simulations show that the search for life on other planets may well be more difficult than previously assumed, in research published today in the journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The study indicates that unusual air flow patterns could hide atmospheric components from telescopic
observations, with direct consequences for formulating the optimal strategy for searching for (oxygen-producing) life such as bacteria or plants on exoplanets.

Current hopes of detecting life on planets outside of our own Solar System rest on examining the planet’s atmosphere to identify chemical compounds that may be
produced by living beings. Ozone – a variety of oxygen – is one such molecule, and is seen as one of the possible tracers that may allow us to detect life on
another planet from afar.

In Earth's atmosphere, this compound forms the ozone layer that protects us from the Sun's harmful UV radiation. On an alien planet, ozone could be one piece
in the puzzle that indicates the presence of oxygen-producing bacteria or plants.

But now researchers, led by Ludmila Carone of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, have found that these tracers might be better hidden than we
previously thought. Carone and her team considered some of the nearest exoplanets that have the potential to be Earth-like: Proxima b, which is orbiting the star
nearest to the Sun (Proxima Centauri), and the most promising of the TRAPPIST-1 family of planets, TRAPPIST-1d.

These are examples of planets that orbit their host star in 25 days or fewer, and as a side effect have one side permanently facing their star, and the other side
permanently facing away. Modelling the flow of air within the atmospheres of these planets, Carone and her colleagues found that this unusual day-night divide can
have a marked effect on the distribution of ozone across the atmosphere: at least for these planets, the major air flow may lead from the poles to the equator,
systematically trapping the ozone in the equatorial region.

News | NASA Builds its Next Mars Rover Mission
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7011

At a glance, it looks a lot like its predecessor, the Curiosity Mars rover. But there's no doubt it's a souped-up science machine:
It has seven new instruments, redesigned wheels and more autonomy. A drill will capture rock cores, while a caching system with a miniature
robotic arm will seal up these samples. Then, they'll be deposited on the Martian surface for possible pickup by a future mission.

This new hardware is being developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, which manages the mission for the agency.
It includes the Mars 2020 mission's cruise stage, which will fly the rover through space, and the descent stage, a rocket-powered "sky crane"
that will lower it to the planet's surface. Both of these stages have recently moved into JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility.

NASA Begins Building Next Mars Rover Mission
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s595S1Vf3PE

Astronomers create most detailed radio image of nearby dwarf galaxy - ANU
http://www.anu.edu.au/...ll-news/astronomers-create-most-detailed-radio-image-of-nearby-dwarf-galaxy

Astronomers at ANU have created the most detailed radio image of nearby dwarf galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud,
revealing secrets of how it formed and how it is likely to evolve.

This image was taken by CSIRO's powerful new radio telescope, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder
(ASKAP), and its innovative radio camera technology, known as phased array feeds.

ALMA Discovers Infant Stars Surprisingly Near Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole - National Radio Astronomy Observatory
https://public.nrao.edu/news/2017-alma-lmstars/

Earliest phase of star formation ever observed in highly hostile environment

At the center of our galaxy, in the immediate vicinity of its supermassive black hole, is a region wracked by powerful tidal forces
and bathed in intense ultraviolet light and X-ray radiation. These harsh conditions, astronomers surmise, do not favor star formation,
especially low-mass stars like our sun. Surprisingly, new observations from ALMA suggest otherwise.

ALMA has revealed the telltale signs of eleven low-mass stars forming perilously close — within three light-years — to the Milky Way’s
supermassive black hole, known to astronomers as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). At this distance, tidal forces driven by the supermassive
black hole should be energetic enough to rip apart clouds of dust and gas before they can form stars.

The presence of these newly discovered protostars (the formative stage between a dense cloud of gas and a young, shining star) suggests
that the conditions necessary to birth low-mass stars may exist even in one of the most turbulent regions of our galaxy and possibly in
similar locales throughout the universe.