Image
The total solar eclipse of August 21 will begin in the north of the Pacific Ocean, will cross the United States of America and end in Cape Verde, in the Atlantic Ocean.
A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the sun and Earth, blocking the sunlight and casting a shadow onto Earth. A solar eclipse is only visible in the zones that correspond to the trajectory of the shadow cone.
This eclipse will be seen as partial throughout USA, Centre of America, north of South America, a part of Western Europe, North Africa and a part of Northeast of Russia.
The eclipse can also be seen as partial from a part of the Iberian Peninsula. The Northwest, near Vigo will be the better place to view the eclipse, with a 14% of occultation.
Further information: Serviastro
A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the sun and Earth, blocking the sunlight and casting a shadow onto Earth. A solar eclipse is only visible in the zones that correspond to the trajectory of the shadow cone.
This eclipse will be seen as partial throughout USA, Centre of America, north of South America, a part of Western Europe, North Africa and a part of Northeast of Russia.
The eclipse can also be seen as partial from a part of the Iberian Peninsula. The Northwest, near Vigo will be the better place to view the eclipse, with a 14% of occultation.
Further information: Serviastro
News Type
Date
SEO Title
Total Solar Eclipse on August 21
The LHCb experiment has found intriguing anomalies in the way some particles decay. If confirmed, these would be a sign of new physics phenomena not predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. The observed signal is still of limited statistical significance, but strengthens similar indications from earlier studies. Forthcoming data and follow-up analyses will establish whether these hints are indeed cracks in the Standard Model or a statistical fluctuation.
On Tuesday 18 April the LHCb collaboration presented new long-awaited results on a particular decay of B0 mesons produced in collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. The Standard Model of particle physics predicts the probability of the many possible decay modes of B0 mesons, and possible discrepancies with the data would signal new physics.
In this study, the LHCb collaboration looked at the decays of B0 mesons to an excited kaon and a pair of electrons or muons. The muon is 200 times heavier than the electron, but in the Standard Model its interactions are otherwise identical to those of the electron, a property known as lepton universality. Lepton universality predicts that, up to a small and calculable effect due to the mass difference, electron and muons should be produced with the same probability in this specific B0 decay. LHCb finds instead that the decays involving muons occur less often.
The measurements discussed were obtained using the entire data sample of the first period of exploitation of the Large Hadron Collider (Run 1). If the new measurements indeed point to physics beyond the Standard Model, the larger data sample collected in Run 2 will be sufficient to confirm these effects.
ICCUB Contribution
Researchers and engineers at ICCUB have been part of the LHCb Collaboration since 1998, undertaking the design, production and installation of the electronics of the so-called Scintillator Pad Detector (SPD) and participating in the development of the Data-GRID computer network and the DIRAC software, which are essential in the data analysis and simulation processes. The SPD is part of the LHCb electromagnetic calorimeter, which has been crucial for the reconstruction of electron events involved in the above-mentioned B0 decays.
As experts in the study of flavor physics, especially in measuring rare B meson decays in LHCb, ICCUB researchers have also made important contributions to this kind of physics data analysis. Specifically, they have worked in the analysis of those B meson decays that require loop processes which are sensitive to possible contributions of new particles not considered by the Standard Model.
More information
News Type
Date
SEO Title
LHCb finds new hints of possible Standard Model deviations
Next 19 April asteroid 2014 JO25, discovered on 2014, with a diametre of 650 metres, will fly safely past Earth at a distance of about 4,6 times the distance from Earth to the moon. Although there is no possibility for the asteroid to collide with our planet, this will be a very close approach for an asteroid of this size.
The Minor Planet Centre considers this asteroid a "Potentially hazardous object" because its diameter is bigger than 100 metres and it will approaches less than 19'5 times the distance from Earth to the moon.
The ICCUB (IEEC-UB) researcher, J. M. Carrasco has said on Catalunya Ràdio, (Audio, news)07/04/2017:
"An object like this could be dangerous if it collided with the Earth. It has 650 metres and it could survive an entry to the atmosphere, but the distance is very large, it will pass at a distance of near 5 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon, and do not exist an impact risk. "
Small asteroids pass within this distance of Earth several times each week, but this upcoming close approach is the closest by any known asteroid of this size, or larger, since asteroid Toutatis, a five-kilometer asteroid, which approached within about four lunar distances in September 2004. The next known encounter of an asteroid of comparable size will occur in 2027 when the 800-meter-wide asteroid 1999 AN10 will fly by at one lunar distance, about 380,000 kilometers.
The asteroid will approach Earth from the direction of the sun and will become visible in the night sky after April 19. It is predicted to brighten to about magnitude 11, when it could be visible in small optical telescopes for one or two nights before it fades as the distance from Earth rapidly increases.
News Type
Date
SEO Title
2014 JO25 Asteroid will fly near The Earth
____________________________________________
The ICCUB researcher, J.M. Carrasco, talks about TRAPPIST system on:
"La república Santboiana", Ràdio Sant Boi. 23/02/2017
"Els matins de Ràdio 4" RNE, 23/02/2017
Link with the programme
Betevé, 23/02/2017
Link with the programme
"Código Nuevo", (23/02/2017)
Article PDF
Source
News Type
Date
SEO Title
TRAPPIST-1, Ultracool Dwarf and the Seven Planets
A Lunar Penumbral Eclipse will take place from Friday 10 to Saturday 11 February. It will last 4 hours and 19 minutes.
Lunar eclipses are celestial phenomena visible from a wide geographical area. There are different types of them: the most impressive are the Total ones, in which the Moon is completely covered by the shadow of the Earth, taking a reddish hue; a little less spectacular are the Partial ones, which take place when the Moon enters only partly into the shadow of the Earth, and which are seen with a part of the disk darkened and the other one still illuminated; and the most subtle ones are the Penumbral Eclipses, in which only a slight darkening of the disk can be appreciated.
The Eclipse from this month will be a Penumbral Eclipse. The last Total Lunar Eclipse we could see occurred in September 2015, and the next one will not take place until 31 January 2018. However. in Catalonia we will not be able to see any Total Eclipse until the 27-28 July 2018.
Visibility
When a Penumbral Eclipse takes place. the Moon, instead of plunging into the dark inner core of the Earth's shadow (called the umbra), passes deeply into the Earth's dusky outer shadow, the penumbra. Among Penumbral Eclipses, this will be one of the less subtle ones and you will be able to easily perceive some darkening on the Moon's surface.
| Phase | Instant (TU) | Latitud | Longitud |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penumbral Phase begins (P1) | 22:34 | 13º 20,6' N | 23º 36,6' E |
| Maximum | 00:44 | 13º 03,2' N | 07º39,7' W |
| Penumbral Phase ends (P4) | 02:53 | 12º 45,4' N | 38º 55,0' W |
Source
News Type
Date
SEO Title
Penumbral Lunar Eclipse from Friday to Saturday (10-11/02/20
Towards an important milestone in particle physics.
The LHCb collaboration has published today in Nature Physics the first evidence for the violation of the CP symmetry in baryon decays with statistical significance of 3.3 standard deviations (σ). CP violation has been observed in K and B meson decays, but not yet in any baryon decay. If the measurement is confirmed with a statistical significance of 5σ using a larger data sample, it will be the first time that an asymmetry in the decay rate of baryon and an anti-baryon is observed. In the quark model of particle physics mesons are composed of a quark and antiquark pair while baryons (anti-baryons) are composed of three quarks (anti-quarks).
ICCUB members have been involved in the LHCb experiment since the very beginning. The experimental particle physicists at ICCUB are specialized in the study of flavor physics, specifically in measuring CP violation effects and rare decays of particles containing b or c quaks. Aside from their participation at a scientific level, ICCUB researchers and engineers undertook the design, production and installation of the electronics of the SPD (Scintillator Pad Detector), part of the calorimeter. and they participated in the development of the Data-GRID computer network and the DIRAC software, which are essential in the data analysis and simulation processes.
More information can be found on the LHCb webpage: http://lhcb-public.web.cern.ch/lhcb-public/Welcome.html#BaryonCP
Source
News Type
Date
SEO Title
Measurement of matter-antimatter differences in beauty baryo
From January 23rd to 27th, the Hotel Melià de Sitges will host the second congress of the consortium DPAC (Data processing and analysis consortium) of the Gaia mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). The event will bring together some 170 scientists, members of the consortium, and will determine the next steps of the Gaia mission that aims to obtain the most accurate 3D map of our galaxy.
During these days, scientists will share and analyse the first Gaia mission data, made public last September 14, which allowed us to obtain the most accurate map of the sky so far with more than one billion stars. Scientists will review Gaia’s first scientific results as well as the preparation of the second data publication.
About Gaia mission
Gaia bases on the proven principles of ESA’s Hipparcos mission to help solve one of the most difficult but deeply fundamental challenges of modern astronomy: creating an extraordinarily accurate three-dimensional map of a billion stars throughout of our galaxy and beyond.
This massive stellar census will provide the basic observation data to address a huge range of important phenomena related to the origin, structure and evolutionary history of our galaxy.
The Gaia mission will deliver a catalogue and archive of astronomical data of unprecedented scope, accuracy and integrity.
Participation of the Barcelona team
The team of Institute of Cosmos Sciences (IEEC-UB), led by Professor Jordi Torra, from the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics and Director of the IEEC, has participated in the Gaia mission from the very beginning with an outstanding role. They contributed to the scientific and technologic design, plus the database prototypes and data simulation production during the preparation stages of the mission.
Regarding the first data released, the team from Barcelona leads the group that works on the creation of the mission archive. They are also in charge of launching the initial process for the treatment of the data that arrive daily to the satellite, the first step to obtain scientific results such as the ones published. The team is responsible for the matching of several observations in the same star and collaborates in the calibration of the stars brightness.
It is also worth mentioning that Barcelona is the headquarters of one of the data processing centres of the mission, in which there are Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya (Consortium for University Services of Catalonia; CSUC) and Barcelona Supercomupting Center (BSC). This centre provides with the resources to carry out a part of the operations during the mission and it was essential in the preparation and verification tasks, as well as data simulation.
Around twenty scientists and engineers make the Gaia-ICCUB/IEEC team. It is built into the Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC), which gathers more than 400 people from around twenty European countries.
You can see the program here: http://icc.ub.edu/congress/dpac2017/
During these days, scientists will share and analyse the first Gaia mission data, made public last September 14, which allowed us to obtain the most accurate map of the sky so far with more than one billion stars. Scientists will review Gaia’s first scientific results as well as the preparation of the second data publication.
About Gaia mission
Gaia bases on the proven principles of ESA’s Hipparcos mission to help solve one of the most difficult but deeply fundamental challenges of modern astronomy: creating an extraordinarily accurate three-dimensional map of a billion stars throughout of our galaxy and beyond.
This massive stellar census will provide the basic observation data to address a huge range of important phenomena related to the origin, structure and evolutionary history of our galaxy.
The Gaia mission will deliver a catalogue and archive of astronomical data of unprecedented scope, accuracy and integrity.
Participation of the Barcelona team
The team of Institute of Cosmos Sciences (IEEC-UB), led by Professor Jordi Torra, from the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics and Director of the IEEC, has participated in the Gaia mission from the very beginning with an outstanding role. They contributed to the scientific and technologic design, plus the database prototypes and data simulation production during the preparation stages of the mission.
Regarding the first data released, the team from Barcelona leads the group that works on the creation of the mission archive. They are also in charge of launching the initial process for the treatment of the data that arrive daily to the satellite, the first step to obtain scientific results such as the ones published. The team is responsible for the matching of several observations in the same star and collaborates in the calibration of the stars brightness.
It is also worth mentioning that Barcelona is the headquarters of one of the data processing centres of the mission, in which there are Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya (Consortium for University Services of Catalonia; CSUC) and Barcelona Supercomupting Center (BSC). This centre provides with the resources to carry out a part of the operations during the mission and it was essential in the preparation and verification tasks, as well as data simulation.
Around twenty scientists and engineers make the Gaia-ICCUB/IEEC team. It is built into the Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC), which gathers more than 400 people from around twenty European countries.
You can see the program here: http://icc.ub.edu/congress/dpac2017/
News Type
Date
SEO Title
Sitges brings together over a hundred scientists at the seco
A new theory has come out claiming that the formation of the Moon was the result of various collisions between several big bodies and the Earth. First emiting material which would have formed a disk around the Earth. Afterwards, it would have condensed to a celestial body. This process would have happened about twenty times, generating twenty celestial bodies which finally would have unified resulting in the current Moon.
This theory could be proven, according to Jose Manuel Carrasco, interviewed by TV3 last night, by testing different layers' depths, whose composition should be slightly different. In order to prove this theory, another space mission should be launched to the Moon. Anyone on board?
This theory could be proven, according to Jose Manuel Carrasco, interviewed by TV3 last night, by testing different layers' depths, whose composition should be slightly different. In order to prove this theory, another space mission should be launched to the Moon. Anyone on board?
Source
News Type
Date
SEO Title
New theory on the formation of the Moon
The new exoplanet, named XO-6b, is a hot Jupiter orbiting a rapidly rotating star
The three XO telescopes installed in the United States, the Canary Islands and the Montsec made the discovery
The Montsec Astronomical Observatory (OAdM) of the Institute of Spatial Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) has participated for the first time in the discovery of an exoplanet, a planet that orbits around a star different from the Sun and therefore outside the Solar System. This is the XO-6b. In 2012, the Hubble Space Telescope Institute included OAdM in the XO project that aims to discover giant exoplanets that revolve around bright stars. The discovery has been published in Astronomical Journal.
“XO instruments at Utah, in the United States, the Teide Observatory in the Canary Islands and the Montsec observatory in Catalonia act in a coordinated way as if it were a single telescope,” said Kike Herero, astronomer at IEEC.
“OAdM has not only participated in the discovery of the XO-6b with the XO instrument,” says Herrero, “but our Joan Oró telescope has also participated in the characterization of the new exoplanet.”
News Type
Date
SEO Title
The Montsec Astronomical Observatory discovers its first exo
Extreme space weather events have been at the press headlines lately as a consequence of an executive order from Obama for "Coordinating Efforts to Prepare for the Nation Space Weather Events".
Blai Sanahuja speaks to Ara newspaper about space weather and its prediction systems and warns that Obama's order has nothing to do with an imminent great solar storm.
Blai Sanahuja speaks to Ara newspaper about space weather and its prediction systems and warns that Obama's order has nothing to do with an imminent great solar storm.
Source
News Type
Date
SEO Title
Preventing solar storms