Discovery of a pulsating star that hosts a giant planet
2011-01-19
(Press-News.org) Recently published in an article of the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal, a group of researchers from the Institute of Space Sciences (IEEC-CSIC) at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona has discovered, for the first time, a delta Scuti pulsating star that hosts a hot giant transiting planet. The study was carried out by the PhD student, Enrique Herrero, the researcher Dr. Juan Carlos Morales, the exoplanet expert, Dr. Ignasi Ribas, and the amateur astronomer, Mr. Ramón Naves.
WASP-33 (also known as HD15082) is hotter, more massive than the Sun (1.5 Msun) and is located at a distance of 378 light years away, in the constellation of Andromeda. It has the peculiarity of being a star that pulsates radially, like a balloon that inflates and deflates continuously, and non-radially, like the tides in Earth's oceans caused by the presence of the moon, which deforms the bodies of water between the poles and the equator.
This star hosts a giant planet, WASP-33b, that was detected in 2006 through the transiting method. The planet's mass is four times the mass of Jupiter and it orbits the star at such a high speed that it only takes 1.2 days to complete its orbit. This very short orbital period indicates its extreme proximity to the star, 0.02 astronomical units (AU) when Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, is at 0.39 AU. This planet is quite particular because it has a retrograde orbit and, evenmore, its orbit is quite inclined in angle respect to the star's equator.
The study also suggests that the star's pulsations could be caused by the presence of the giant planet, something never seen before in any other planetary system. A small periodic signal, visible in the overall signal during the transit of the planet, called the attention of the researchers and through a thorough study, the pulsating modes of the star were determined and their possible relationship with the planet.
Apart from being a pioneering study in the field, it is noteworthy to mention that the observations have been obtained from professional and amateur observatories. For the first time in its recent activity history, the Montsec Astronomical Observatory (OAdM) has provided most of the observations used for this research. In addition, the amateur astronomer R. Naves, from the Montcabrer Observatory, has provided excellent data, revealing the great importance of Professional-Amateur collaborations in this field.
Therefore, the WASP-33 system represents a landmark in the world of exoplanets since it may provide vital information on pulsations modes that occur in stars, the effects of tides between stars and planets and the dynamical evolution of planetary systems.
INFORMATION:
1 UA= 149.597.870 km
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2011-01-19
People feel closer to businesses and nonprofits that solicit their advice, but soliciting expectations can distance potential customers, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"Marketers and nonprofits alike regularly solicit input from customers or donors for myriad reasons, most notably to measure consumers' preferences, expectations, and satisfaction," write authors Wendy Liu (USCD) and David Gal (Northwestern University). Interactive media such as Facebook and Twitter are providing even greater opportunities for interaction with customers.
The ...
2011-01-19
A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research explores why people reject things that can make them safer.
"People rely on airbags, smoke detectors, and vaccines to make them safe," write authors Andrew D. Gershoff (University of Texas at Austin) and Johnathan J. Koehler (Northwestern University School of Law). "Unfortunately, vaccines do sometimes cause disease and airbags sometimes injure or kill. But just because these devices aren't perfect doesn't mean consumers should reject them outright."
The authors found that people feel betrayed when they learn about the ...
2011-01-19
A Letter to the Editor entitled "What should we advise about alcohol consumption?" was recently published by Maurizio Ponz de Leon in Intern Emerg Med.1 Dr. de Leon argues that the message of health benefits of moderate drinking "seems to me hazardous and extremely dangerous to diffuse in the general population." His reasons included (1) many people may be unable to distinguish between low–moderate and high consumption of wine, beer or spirits, and alcohol metabolism may differ remarkably from one subject to another; (2) alcohol remains a frequent cause of car crash, ...
2011-01-19
After a rough day at the office, you might opt for a convenient, pretty restaurant over one with a top-notch menu, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"If you've had a tough day at work, how will that affect the decisions you make, like where to eat, what to do, and what to buy?" ask authors Echo Wen Wan (University of Hong Kong) and Nidhi Agrawal (Northwestern University). Their research revealed that people who are tired from a demanding task will tend to pass up the most desirable choices and go for options that seem to have attractive low-level ...
2011-01-19
CORVALLIS, Ore. – While monogamy is often touted as a way to protect against disease, young couples who say they have discussed monogamy can't seem to agree on what they decided. And a significant percentage of those couples who at least agreed that they would be monogamous weren't.
A new study of 434 young heterosexual couples ages 18-25 found that, in 40 percent of couples, only one partner says the couple agreed to be sexually exclusive. The other partner said there was no agreement.
Public health researchers Jocelyn Warren and Marie Harvey of Oregon State University ...
2011-01-19
CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new analysis of the Northern Hemisphere's "albedo feedback" over a 30-year period concludes that the region's loss of reflectivity due to snow and sea ice decline is more than double what state-of-the-art climate models estimate.
The findings are important, researchers say, because they suggest that Arctic warming amplified by the loss of reflectivity could be even more significant than previously thought.
The study was published online this week in Nature Geoscience. It was funded primarily by the National Science Foundation, with data also culled ...
2011-01-19
New technology providing the first view of DNA damage throughout the entire human genome developed by Cardiff University scientists could offer a valuable new insight into the development and treatment of conditions like cancer.
Professor Ray Waters, Dr Simon Reed and Dr Yumin Teng from Cardiff University's Department of Genetics, Haematology and Pathology have developed a unique way of measuring DNA damage frequency using tiny microarrays.
Using the new method Cardiff scientists can, for the first time, examine all 28,000 human genes where previous techniques have ...
2011-01-19
Soy protein's ability to lower total and LDL (low-density lipoprotein or "the bad") cholesterol has been extensively studied, but the mechanism whereby soy protein lowers cholesterol remains unresolved. A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology last month shows that soy protein lowers total cholesterol and non-HDL (non-high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol significantly more than milk protein in patients with moderately high cholesterol levels.
"Non-HDL cholesterol has been shown to be a somewhat stronger predictor of cardiovascular disease and mortality ...
2011-01-19
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Researchers have identified how the hormones progesterone and estrogen interact to increase cell growth in normal mammary cells and mammary cancers, a novel finding that may explain why postmenopausal women receiving hormone replacement therapy with estrogen plus progestin are at increased risk of breast cancer.
The discovery that both estrogen and progesterone must be present for the increased production of the protein amphiregulin, which binds to mammary cells and promotes cell growth, could lead to new treatment methods for the disease, said Sandra ...
2011-01-19
CINCINNATI--Emergency medicine researchers with the University of Cincinnati (UC) are advocating a new strategy for diagnosing a common but dangerous condition in the emergency room.
Pulmonary embolism, or PE, is a potentially lethal disease in which a blood clot, usually from the legs, travels to the lungs and becomes lodged in a pulmonary artery. But the most common way of testing for PEs, a computed tomography angiography (CTA), comes with so many side effects that researchers in emergency medicine are now looking for ways to reduce use of the test.
In a CTA, a contrast ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Discovery of a pulsating star that hosts a giant planet
