hidden magnetism

lots of new stories these days – yay!
this one's about a really curious object... enjoy :-)

Are most pulsars really magnetars in disguise?

Astronomers using XMM-Newton and other world-class X-ray telescopes have probed a curious source, which emits flares and bursts just like a magnetar but lacks the extremely high external magnetic field typical of these objects. The detection of this source, which could be powered by a strong, internal magnetic field hidden to observations, may mean that many 'ordinary' pulsars are dormant magnetars waiting to erupt. More...

Image credits: ESA

you rock — you rule!

here's a new story about rocks, I mean, asteroids :-)

Hubble and Rosetta unmask nature of recent asteroid wreck

High-resolution images from the Hubble Space Telescope and a rare view obtained, from a unique perspective, by the Rosetta spacecraft provide a comprehensive picture of P/2010 A2, a puzzling body in the asteroid main belt. Although similar in appearance to a comet, this object and its diffuse trail have been exposed as the remnant of an asteroid crash that happened only one and a half years ago. More...

Image credits: ESA – OSIRIS-Team; MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

Venus' draggin' and twistin' atmosphere

here's a new story I wrote in the last couple of days for ESA about some cool experiments to study the atmosphere of our sister planet Venus:

Venus Express probes the planet's atmosphere by flying through it

ESA's Venus Express is exploring the density of the Venusian upper atmosphere by measuring how much the planet's atmosphere itself slows down or twists the pointing of the spacecraft. New density measurements, centred on the Northern Pole and obtained during these atmospheric drag experiments, show an unexpected inhomogeneous pattern in the atmosphere of our neighbouring planet. More...

Image credit: ESA