Daily Archives: August 14, 2021

Gold, silver and bronze medals, as well as honorary awards for more than 40 students from the Capivari municipal educational network. Sixth to ninth grade primary school students were awarded at the Brazilian Olympiad in Astronomy and Astronautics (OBA) and at the 2020 National Science Olympiad (ONC). Medals and certificates were awarded at Prof Augusto Brown, this Thursday. twelveth.

This years edition of OBA, held on May 27 and 28, had a different format than previous years. Students took the tests in person and online. ONC, which is part of the schools science programme, is implemented by five scientific societies: the Brazilian Society of Physics (SBF), the Brazilian Society of Chemistry (ABQ), the Butantan Institute, the Brazilian Astronomical Society, and the State University of Campinas. . (UNICAM).

The National Science Olympiad is promoted by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and aims to awaken and stimulate interest in the study of natural sciences; In addition to identifying talented people and encouraging their entry into scientific and technological fields.

Because of the pandemic, the 2020 competition included one stage, where the exams were divided into levels, and objective and theoretical questions were asked including biology, physics and chemistry. Students are awarded at two levels: national and state, where up to 400 gold, silver, bronze, and honors medals will be awarded.

I want to congratulate our heroes. This moment is much more than just gratitude, it is an act of encouragement to all the students, schools and teachers in our network. I want to leave here my sincere words of support and encouragement to everyone who participated in the Olympiad. The Minister of Education, Rafael Silvera dos Santos, said, You, we all came out victorious.

In Capivari, at the Augusto Castanho School, the educational coordination was in charge of teacher Giuliana Toledo Pisa Fonseca, in collaboration with Rosemary Armeln Roque, Luciana Pasqualini Chincariol Ventura, Giulio Sergio Santos, Evangelina de Fatima Teixeira and Alaide Bonagorio. OBA collaborated with geography professors, highlighting Rafael and Gabriele. At the School of Professor Laura Quagliato Pacheco, Professor Karen Christine Manoel Pastrello coordinates with the support of Professor Giulio.

Watch the full award:

both of themAlessandra Martino de Limasilver medal

Alice Figoreto de SousaMedal: gold

Anna Caroline Anacleto Martinssilver medal

Anna Clara Bressemsilver medal

Annabelle AgarMedal: gold

Queiroz Araujo Perinosilver medal

Emily Fernanda Lopez Galvosilver medal

Gabriel Rodriguez da Rocha Fortesilver medal

Giovanna is still Ulitskasilver medal

Isabella Vega StucciBronze Medal

Isabel Fonseca pensilver medal

Joao Vitor BombonatiBronze Medal

Leonardo Jacques FrancoMedal: gold

Photo by Lorena Prado SilvaMedal: gold

Photography by Lucas Luis RosadaBronze Medal

Lirel Kimi da Fonseca dos Santossilver medal

Maria Beatriz Barroso VincentineBronze Medal

Maria Clara SantarinaMedal: gold

Maria Gabriella Bressemsilver medal

Maria LuisaBronze Medal

Maristella Campanhol Anastasiosilver medal

Natalia Caron dos SantosMedal: gold

Osiris Bueno Baptista Alvessilver medal

Petra Ten AsalenBronze Medal

Rebecca Lamari de OliveiraBronze Medal

Richard Bianchi FrancoMedal: gold

Saulo Henrique Tunin RicominiBronze Medal

Vinicius Lima Crocosilver medal

ONC

gold medalIsabel Fonseca pen

silver medalLeonardo Jacques Franco

Maria Luisa

Dandara Beatrice defeated Pinto de Oliveira

Leticia Artur Ferreira

Otavio Antunes Benevides

Bronze MedalYasmine Cario Bonfa

honoraryCamila Eduarda Tavares

Mariana Moraes dos Santos

Lucas Luis Rosadas photo

Saulo Henrique Tunin Ricomini

Richard Bianchi Franco

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Municipal Network students receive prizes in the Olympiad of Science, Astronomy and Astronautics - Sunday Vision

Red dwarf stars frequently erupt with powerful superflares, spewing torrents of high-energy particles into space that can alter or strip away planetary atmosphere. New research indicates such flares more tend to occur at high latitudes, sparing planets orbiting a stars equator. Image: AIP/J. Fohlmeister

Young red dwarf stars are among the most common in the galaxy, hosting numerous exoplanets that could be abodes for life. But red dwarf stars also produce powerful superflares, extreme bursts of radiation that would wreak havoc with exoplanet atmospheres, possibly preventing life as we know it from gaining a foothold.

But maybe not.

Based on observations from NASAs Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam, working with astronomers in the United States and Spain, were able to track down where such superflares originate.

We discovered that extremely large flares are launched from near the poles of red dwarf stars, rather than from their equator, as is typically the case on the Sun, said Ekaterina Ilin, a Ph.D. student at AIP. Exoplanets that orbit in the same plane as the equator of the star, like the planets in our own solar system, could therefore be largely protected from such superflares, as these are directed upwards or downwards out of the exoplanet system.

This could improve the prospects for the habitability of exoplanets around small host stars, which would otherwise be much more endangered by the energetic radiation and particles associated with flares compared to planets in the solar system.

The researchers analysed the light of more than 3,000 red dwarf stars looking for the tell-tale brightness changes indicating large flares. They developed a technique for determining the latitude of a flare region and found four stars well suited for analysis. All four featured large flares above about 55 degrees latitude, much closer to the pole than more typical solar flares and sunspots.

While the sample size is small, it is significant, the researchers say. If the flares were spread out evenly, the odds of finding four in a row at high latitudes would be about 1-in-1,000.

Read the rest here:

Superflares may be less threatening than originally thought Astronomy Now - Astronomy Now Online

Not terribly long after Id pestered the Central Arkansas Astronomical Societys admin email for advice on how best to see the Perseids meteor shower this year, an invitation appeared in my inbox. Would I like to come set up a lawnchair and watch the Perseids from River Ridge Observatory, where the society observes the cosmos with fancy telescopes from the middle of nowhere in Perry County? Yes, I would. And was I fully vaccinated, by the way? And willing to wear a mask if entering one of the facilities? Even better, I thought.

So it was that I ended up booking it to Bigelow around sunset last night, my car loaded with a companion, a picnic blanket, a pillow, a cooler full of the fanciest snacks I could conjure from the contents of my pantry (stargazing deserved raspberry seltzer water and hunks of mozzarella with Kroger-brand prosciutto, I determined), two bottom-shelf headlamps that emitted low-power red light, plenty of mosquito repellent and the pair of camp chairs that have taken up permanent residence in the back hatch of my car since I forget when.

A few observations, astronomical and otherwise:

Adjusting your eyes to the dark and keeping them there is way more important than Id realized. I know, I know, every set of guidelines about stargazing tells you exactly this. Problem is, its really hard to do unless youre pretty intentional about it, or unless youre surrounded, as I was, by a handful of folks who know what theyre doing. Maybe youre watching from your backyard, and find yourself going inside for bathroom breaks, where harsh white lights undo any adjustments to the dark youve taken time to make. Or youre camping out and need to turn on your flashlight to find your Off! Deep Woods. Or, more likely, youre picking up your cell phone to google where in the sky do i look for the Perseids or when do the Perseids peak, and unless youve made some adjustments to your devices brightness, youre not doing yourself any favors. Should you ever make it out to the Society-owned River Ridge Observatory for a StarBQ or to one of the state parks where the Society holds (or held prior to the pandemic, and will again when it subsides) skywatching events, itll be crucial that you park your car in such a way as not to flood observers fields of vision with your bright headlights. Do some research beforehand on where in the sky to look for a particular astronomical event so you dont have to pick up that phone. Adjusting your eyes takes a while, and youll see a lot more if you can keep the light around you at an absolute minimum. River Ridges clubhouse and bathroom facilities have low red overhead lighting for this very reason.

The astronomers at Central Arkansas Astronomical Society consider what theyre doing amateur astronomy, which to true novices like me just means Were not NASA. It may be, technically, amateur astronomy, but make no mistake about it, the members of this group are pretty dang serious about it. Our brief tour of the grounds, courtesy of longtime member and tech guru Jim Dixon, came complete with definitions of the three types of telescopes, all of which are represented among the individual members equipment. One of those is a robotic research-class telescope that the group operates at River Ridge in partnership with Arkansas Tech University. At the Zoom meeting I attended last year, much of the camera and telescope jargon was way over my head. Dont let a lack of tech savvy or science background dissuade you. The stars belong to everyone, and intimate knowledge of fish-eye lenses and sky-tracking software is not a prerequisite for getting into astronomy.

Those time-lapse photos you see of hundreds of meteors streaking across the sky at the same time? Theyre absolutely gorgeous, but Im convinced they might be destructive to a skywatching experience. At one point, my companion leaned over and asked only half in jest, And theyre sure this thing is tonight? Real meteor shower watching is slow stuff, and the frenetic juxtapositions of hundreds of meteors in those photos doesnt prepare you well for the real deal. Two meteors might strut their stuff within a few seconds of each other, only to be followed by a quarter hour of pretty much nothing. You might miss a few in a row because youre not looking at that part of the sky. You might see nothing at all. Find other stuff to look at. And at the risk of sounding preachy, youre far better filling those in-between moments without the help of your phone.

Every single person has a breathless, involuntary response to seeing a bright meteor blaze across the sky, and its worth discovering what yours is. Dixons, endearingly, was a pragmatic There went one, followed by a location: right between Jupiter and Saturn, or right through Hercules. Another member somewhere in the dark would say, That was pretty. Mine is Whoa!

The demands of watching a meteor shower or even picking out constellations are antithetical to the way we live in 2021, and it is simultaneously one of the most humanity-affirming things you can do in the middle of an abysmal year. Meteor shower watching is not, generally speaking, productive. In fact, staying up until 3 a.m. to do it might well wreck your next work day. It doesnt produce any tangible commodity and it doesnt grow the economy or create a lot of jobs or directly solve any of our current social ills. When I arrived at River Ridge, longtime member Bruce McMath was giving his family and a couple of us within earshot a constellation tour using a tiny laser pointer to point out stars in the sky. First, Lyra. Then, gargantuan Scorpio and Sagittarius little teapot, with the steam of the Milky Way emerging from its spout and spilling across the ether. Because it was dark, the laser pointer he held was imperceptible, and it seemed for all the world like his extended hand was connected to the sky itself by a thin, perfectly straight green string. He showed us the hazy M-13 and the Ring Nebula star clusters on a telescope and told us the story of Cassiopeia and Andromeda. One of the familys younger subset asked earnestly, after an explanation of the life cycles of stars, Why doesnt the sun blow up, too? Because its not old enough, McMath replied. If he knew how poetic that reply was, he didnt show it (or, more accurately, his expression couldnt be seen in the dark) but it was a dose of perspective that kid probably needed. (And by that kid, I mean me.) Theres still a chance to go and get some for yourself, too. The Perseids peaked on Aug. 12, but theyll continue their nightly appearances until Aug. 18. Meteors or no, though, if you can find a time to recline on a blanket and stare at the night sky for a few hours tonight, next week, two months from now I doubt youll be sorry you did.

Keep up with the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society (and other skywatching groups across the state, linked under the New Observers page) at caasastro.org.

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Perseids and perspective: A trip to the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society's River Ridge Observatory - Arkansas Times

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Filipp Romanov in Yuzhno-Morskoy, Russia, captured this photo of RS Ophiuchi a rare nova visible to the eye on August 10, 2021. He wrote: Recurrent nova RS Oph in outburst. I observed it with the unaided eye and estimated it at +4.6 mag. I took photos from my small hometown on August 9, 2021, from 15:19 to 15:22 UTC. I had been waiting for several hours, and the sky cleared for a few minutes. Thank you, Filipp.A rare nova visible to the eye

On August 8, 2021, the star RS Ophiuchi burst into view in Earths sky as what astronomers call a nova. Its a rare nova visible to the unaided eye. Its nowhere near as bright as the brightest stars. But, in a dark sky, you can see it shining in the constellation Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer. Earlier this week, the nova was said to have brightened to magnitude 4.3. If true, that would be huge amount of brightness increase for this star. RS Oph normally shines at around a magnitude of 12. Its usually much too dim to see with the eye or even most backyard telescopes. But a sudden thermonuclear explosion on this stars surface has increased its brightness several hundredfold.

This isnt the first time RS Oph has gone nova. RS Oph is part of a recurrent nova star system. That is, the system has regular explosions. RS Oph is part of a two-star system. One is a white dwarf, a highly compact, evolved star. The other is a red giant. The explosions happen when the white dwarf accretes or pulls too much mass from its red giant companion. The excess mass triggers a thermonuclear explosion in a hydrogen layer on the white dwarfs surface. You might see that this can happen periodically, as the two stars orbit each other, and one keeps pulling from the other. The systems most recent nova was in 2006, but known explosions of the star go back to 1898.

The explosions of RS Oph are spaced out approximately every 15 years. That means we can expect a future nova from RS Oph too. A system like RS Oph whose outbursts recur on the order of decades are rare. So the current outburst of this star is a special treat.

The nova brightened this week, but now may be beginning to fade. Over the past day yesterday (August 10, 2021), we didnt see any brightness estimates from the American Association of Variable Star Observers any brighter than 5th magnitude. Thats still within the limit of seeing it with the eye alone, but just barely. See it while you can.

The constellation Ophiuchus is currently in the south after sunset. It lies above the better-known constellation Sagittarius and its familiar Teapot asterism, which is closer to the horizon. If you look above the spout of the Teapot and cross the cloudy swath of the Milky Way, youll come to the region of sky where RS Oph lies.

The brightest star in Ophiuchus is Rasalhague, located near the top of the constellation, and the second-brightest is Sabik, located near the bottom. RS Oph lies about midway between the two stars but farther to the left (east). You can use the photo above as a star chart to get you to the right area, then use the photo below to narrow down the field. You can also find a star chart at SpaceWeather.com.

Observers took to Twitter to share their reports of RS Oph.

Bottom line: RS Ophiuchi is a stellar system that undergoes recurrent novas, and on August 8, 2021, a nova appeared to observers with the unaided eye. Is it still visible? The only way to know is to look.

Kelly Kizer Whitt has been a science writer specializing in astronomy for more than two decades. She began her career at Astronomy Magazine, and she has made regular contributions to AstronomyToday and the Sierra Club, among other outlets. Her childrens picture book, Solar System Forecast, was published in 2012. She has also written a young adult dystopian novel titled A Different Sky. When she is not reading or writing about astronomy and staring up at the stars, she enjoys traveling to the national parks, creating crossword puzzles, running, tennis, and paddleboarding. Kelly lives with her family in Wisconsin.

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A rare nova visible to the eye. See it while you can! - EarthSky

For the first time, scientists have detected light emanating from a black hole, and CNN writes that it executes a prediction based on Albert Einsteins general theory of relativity.

Stanford University astronomer Dan Wilkins and colleagues observed X-rays emitted by a high-velocity black hole at the center of a galaxy 800 million light-years from Earth.

Black hole closest to Earth / NASA photo

This bright glow of light is not uncommon because although light cannot escape from a black hole, the massive gravitational field around it heats up to millions of degrees. It emits radio waves and X-rays. Sometimes this very hot material is released into space in rapid explosions including X-rays and gamma rays.

However, d. Wilkins then noticed small X-ray flashes that appeared and were of different colors they spread from a distance of the black hole.

No light entering the black hole will come out of it, so we should not see anything behind the black hole, said Wilkins, author and researcher at the Cowley Institute for Particle Astronomy and Astronomy at Stanford University. .

However, the peculiarity of the black hole allowed such an event to occur. The reason we see this is because that black hole distorts space, bends light, and rotates the magnetic fields around itself, he said.

Fifty years ago, when astronomers began to speculate about how a magnetic field could act near a black hole, they did not know that one day we might have direct mechanisms to see how Einsteins theory of relativity works, said Roger Plantford. , Co-author.

A. Einsteins theory has not lost its relevance for hundreds of years, and new astronomical discoveries have been made in support of it. The general theory of relativity describes how massive objects decompose the fabric of the universe known as space-time. A. Einstein discovered that gravity was not created by an invisible force, but that we simply experience it in the decay of space-time.

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A wonderful moment in the history of astronomy - the first capture of light emanating from a black hole - The Press Stories