There’ll be an eclipse this summer across the US, and we’ll have more on that tomorrow, on Sunday Kos. But for now, finally, perhaps Tabby’s Star isn’t quite as rare an occurrence as it appears:
Osborn and co-authors discovered that every 808 days, the light from PDS 110 is reduced to 30% for about two to three weeks. Two notable eclipses observed were in November 2008 and January 2011.
“What’s exciting is that during both eclipses we see the light from the star change rapidly, and that suggests that there are rings in the eclipsing object, but these rings are many times larger than the rings around Saturn,” said Dr. Matthew Kenworthy, an astronomer at Leiden Observatory.
NASA will be sending a spacecraft to skim close by the sun, through it’s upper corona in fact, next year:
“Parker Solar Probe is going to answer questions about solar physics that we’ve puzzled over for more than six decades,” said Parker Solar Probe Project Scientist Nicola Fox, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. “It’s a spacecraft loaded with technological breakthroughs that will solve many of the largest mysteries about our star, including finding out why the sun’s corona is so much hotter than its surface. And we’re very proud to be able to carry Gene’s name with us on this amazing voyage of discovery.”
Stratolaunch -- which is designed to release rockets that will carry satellites into space -- has a 385-foot wingspan, features six engines used by the Boeing 747, stands 50 feet tall and can carry more than 500,000 pounds of payload. And it has those 28 wheels.