Stellar Cartography Archives

In this illustration, a mosaic of several of Rubin Observatory’s observation footprints is projected upon some of the millions of asteroids that scientists will find in Rubin’s vast Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) dataset. A few of these asteroids may prove scientifically interesting enough to launch or redirect a spacecraft to investigate them. Before spacecraft missions can travel to small Solar System objects for detailed exploration, researchers first have to know which objects are worth visiting and where they are in the Solar System. Several spacecraft missions (including NASA’s Lucy, whose shape and orbit are represented in this image) are currently exploring the Solar System’s asteroid belt, Jupiter Trojans, and other nearby regions, with the potential to explore new objects detected by Rubin Observatory. -- NOIRLab

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

Stellar Cartography: Rubin Observatory: Inspiring A New Era In Space Missions

by Keith CowingFebruary 19, 2024February 19, 2024

Vera C. Rubin Observatory will help scientists identify intriguing targets to prioritize for future space missions by detecting millions of new Solar System objects, and by revealing — in more […]

Illustration of the uncertainty of Earth's orbit 56 million years ago due to a potential past passage of the Sun-like star HD7977 2.8 million years ago. Each point's distance from the center corresponds to the degree of ellipticity of Earth's orbit, and the angle corresponds to the direction pointing to Earth's perihelion, or closest approach distance to the Sun. 100 different simulations (each with a unique color) are sampled every 1,000 years for 600,000 years to construct this figure. Every simulation is consistent with the modern Solar System's conditions, and the differences in orbital predictions are primarily due to orbital chaos and the past encounter with HD 7977. Credit: N. Kaib/PSI.

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

Stellar Cartography: Passing Stars Altered Orbital Changes For Earth And Other Planets

by Keith CowingFebruary 15, 2024February 15, 2024

Stars that pass by our Solar System have altered the long-term orbital evolution of planets, including Earth, and by extension modified our climate.

Maps of distribution of planets for each planet Type in the HESTIA Milky Way–Analogue for stars with M‹ “ 1M@. The assignment is based on the NEmbryo “ 50 NGPPS population. (a) Face-on view. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

Populating The Milky Way: Characterising Planet Demographics by Combining Galaxy Formation Simulations and Planet Population Synthesis Models

by Keith CowingFebruary 15, 2024February 15, 2024

Stellar populations and their distribution differ widely across the Galaxy, which is likely to affect planet demographics.

Magnification: 160x, bright field (negative image), stacked image Fundort / Site: Barbados Alter / Age: approx. 32-35 million years (late Eocene - early Oligocene) Präparation / Preparation: Andreas Drews Radiolarians are unicellulars of diameter 0.1–0.2 mm that produce intricate mineral skeletons, typically with a central capsule dividing the cell into the inner and outer portions of endoplasm and ectoplasm.The elaborate mineral skeleton is usually made of silica. They are found as zooplankton throughout the ocean, and their skeletal remains make up a large part of the cover of the ocean floor as siliceous ooze. Due to their rapid turn-over of species, they represent an important diagnostic fossil found from the Cambrian onwards. -- Wikipedia

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report, Stellar Cartography, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Cosmic Radiation Drives Quasi-periodic Changes In The Diversity Of Siliceous Marine Microplankton

by Keith CowingFebruary 15, 2024

Radiolarians are significant contributors to the oceanic primary productivity and the global silica cycle in the last 500 Myr. Their diversity throughout the Phanerozoic shows periodic fluctuations.

The standard deviation of Earth’s orbital eccentricity is plotted against time for 100 back-integrations of solar system clones. Four batches of solar system simulations are run. Two only consider the Sun, its eight planets, and Pluto (blue lines), and the other two (orange lines) also include 5 large asteroids: Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, Iris, and Bamberga. Half of our batches also perturb the solar system with passing field stars (dashed lines), while the others do not include this perturbation (solid lines). -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

Passing Stars As An Important Driver of Paleoclimate And The Solar System’s Orbital Evolution

by Keith CowingFebruary 15, 2024February 15, 2024

Reconstructions of the paleoclimate indicate that ancient climatic fluctuations on Earth are often correlated with variations in its orbital elements.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

Predicting Interstellar Object Chemodynamics With Gaia

by Keith CowingFebruary 9, 2024July 12, 2025

The interstellar object population of the Milky Way is a product of its stars. However, what is in fact a complex structure in the Solar neighbourhood has traditionally in ISO […]

An international team of astronomers using the VIMOS instrument of ESO’s Very Large Telescope have uncovered a colossal structure in the early Universe. This galaxy proto-supercluster — which they nickname Hyperion — was unveiled by new measurements and a complex examination of archive data. This is the largest and most massive structure yet found at such a remote time and distance — merely 2 billion years after the Big Bang. This visualization shows Hyperion and is based on real data. -- ESO Larger image

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astronomy & Telescopes, Citizen Science / Open Science, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

Moving Toward Stellar Cartography: AstroInformatics Recommendations for Global Cooperation

by Keith CowingFebruary 5, 2024February 15, 2024

Policy Brief on “AstroInformatics, Recommendations for Global Collaboration”, distilled from panel discussions during S20 Policy Webinar on Astroinformatics for Sustainable Development held on 6-7 July 2023.

Map of normalized intensity, Ip/I∗, for the planet Kepler-7b based on orbital phase variations measured by the Kepler mission (adapted from Demory et al. 2013). The intensity is interpreted as reflected light, and hence is proportional to albedo, Ag = (Ip/I∗)(a/R∗) 2 , and the bright region on the planet’s western hemisphere has an albedo of 0.64, suggestive of reflective clouds (Sudarsky et al. 2000; Roman and Rauscher 2017). A possible explanation for the cloud pattern is that particles condense on the planet’s cooler nightside, are advected to the dayside by eastward winds, and sublimate when the star is overhead (Heng and Demory 2013; Parmentier et al. 2016). -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

Mapping Exoplanets

by Keith CowingDecember 27, 2023February 16, 2024

The varied surfaces and atmospheres of planets make them interesting places to live, explore, and study from afar.

Barnard's Star, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release

Prospects For Detecting The Astrometric Signature of Barnard's Star b

by Keith CowingNovember 15, 2018October 1, 2024

A low-amplitude periodic signal in the radial-velocity (RV) time-series of Barnard’s Star was recently attributed to a planetary companion with a minimum mass of ∼3.2 M⊕ at an orbital period […]

Stellar Cartography

Stellar Cartography: Rubin Observatory: Inspiring A New Era In Space Missions

Stellar Cartography: Passing Stars Altered Orbital Changes For Earth And Other Planets

Populating The Milky Way: Characterising Planet Demographics by Combining Galaxy Formation Simulations and Planet Population Synthesis Models

Cosmic Radiation Drives Quasi-periodic Changes In The Diversity Of Siliceous Marine Microplankton

Passing Stars As An Important Driver of Paleoclimate And The Solar System’s Orbital Evolution

Predicting Interstellar Object Chemodynamics With Gaia

Moving Toward Stellar Cartography: AstroInformatics Recommendations for Global Cooperation

Mapping Exoplanets

Prospects For Detecting The Astrometric Signature of Barnard's Star b

Thousands Of Planets Are Hidden In This Photo

Nearby “Super Earth” May Be A Better Candidate For Life Than Previously Thought

How A Giant Planet Survived Its Star’s Death

Improving Exoplanet Mass Characterisation With Bayesian Model Selection Using The Learned Harmonic Mean Estimator

Unveiling Complex Chemistry In Planet-forming Disks With The SKAO