news 2016

All objects in our solar system are build from matter synthesized in previous generations of stars. Using high-precision isotope measurements of neodymium and samarium, scientists from Münster (Germany), Chicago and Livermore (USA) have now found that Earth contains more material from red giant stars than primitive meteorites (chondrites) located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The dusty disk surrounding the star TW Hydrae exhibits circular features that may signal the formation of protoplanets. LMU astrophysicist Barbara Ercolano argues, however, that the innermost actually points to the impending dispersal of the disk. When the maps appeared at the end of March, experts were electrified.

In 2015 the Dawn spacecraft reached the asteroid Ceres, the largest celestial body in the so-called asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The data collected by Dawn will make it possible for scientists to analyse the geological properties of Ceres and understand its origins. The latest issue of the "Science" journal contains reports by several international teams of researchers on their findings.

A research group led by LMU physicist Nico Hamaus is calculating the dynamics of cosmic voids and deriving new insights into our entire universe. Much of our universe is taken up by vast, hollow regions of empty space, which we call cosmic voids. They are forever expanding as the tiny amounts of matter they contain are striving to reach the outer edges, attracted by the gravity of the denser regions surrounding them.

After a ten-year design and construction period, a new universal device for astronomical observation at the world's largest single telescope, the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona (USA) has been finalised and tested successfully. The highly complex instrument named LUCI allows astronomers to record images and spectra in the infrared with outstanding quality.

Planets of the 'super-Earth? category lose their atmosphere through too great proximity to their star. That is the result of an international research project coordinated by astronomer Dr. Mia Lundkvist, who is doing post-doc research at the Königstuhl observatory of Heidelberg University's Centre for Astronomy (ZAH).

Approximately two million years ago a star exploded in a supernova close to our solar system: Its traces can still be found today in the form of an iron isotope found on the ocean floor. Now scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), together with colleagues from the USA, have found increased concentrations of this supernova-iron in lunar samples as well.

The Cosmic Dust Analyser on the international Cassini spacecraft has detected the faint but distinct signature of dust coming from outside our Solar System, from the local interstellar cloud: an almost empty bubble of gas and dust we are travelling through with a distinct direction and speed. This graphic summarises the location of Saturn, and the Solar System, with respect to the local interstellar cloud, and our place in the Milky Way galaxy.