Double black hole powers nearby quasar

View larger. | Artist’s concept of a double black hole, at the heart of a quasar. Image via NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

Moons orbit planets, planets orbit suns, little asteroids orbit each other, and mighty stars and galaxies orbit each other. So it’s not surprising that enigmatic black holes can orbit each other, too. Binary black holes may be the remnants of high-mass binary star systems, or – if the black holes are the super-sized, galactic-center variety – they may be the result of two galaxies that met and merged in space. Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope announced on August 27, 2015 that Markarian 231 (Mrk 231) – the nearest galaxy to Earth that hosts a quasar – is powered by two central black holes.

Since it’s relatively nearby, only about 600 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major the Greater Bear, Markarian 231 has been studied for years for astronomers. They believed already that Mrk 231 had previously merged with another galaxy. Evidence of that recent merger comes from the host galaxy’s asymmetry, and its long tidal tails of young blue stars.

What’s more, Mrk 231 was already believed to contain one supermassive black hole at its core. Now, new evidence suggests there are two.

This Hubble image shows Markarian 231 in visible light. Image via NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / Hubble Collaboration / A. Evans, University of Virginia, Charlottesville / NRAO / Stony Brook University.

The recent study showing two black holes looked at Hubble archival observations of ultraviolet radiation emitted from the center of Mrk 231. The astronomers said in their statement on August 27:

If only one black hole were present in the center of the quasar, the whole accretion disk made of surrounding hot gas would glow in ultraviolet rays. Instead, the ultraviolet glow of the dusty disk abruptly drops off towards the center. This provides observational evidence that the disk has a big donut hole encircling the central black hole.

The best explanation for the observational data, based on dynamical models, is that the center of the disk is carved out by the action of two black holes orbiting each other.

The second, smaller black hole orbits in the inner edge of the accretion disk, and has its own mini-disk with an ultraviolet glow.

They now estimate the mass of the central black hole to be 150 million times the mass of our sun. Meanwhile, the companion black hole is thought to weigh in at 4 million solar masses, about the same mass as the black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. The double black hole in Mrk 231 completes a mutual orbit every 1.2 years.

The lower-mass black hole is believed to be the remnant of a smaller galaxy that merged with Mrk 231.

The binary black holes are predicted to spiral together and collide within a few hundred thousand years.

These astronomers say that their finding suggests that quasars — the brilliant cores of active galaxies — may commonly host two central supermassive black holes that fall into orbit about one another as a result of the merger between two galaxies. Youjun Lu of the National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said:

We are extremely excited about this finding because it not only shows the existence of a close binary black hole in Mrk 231, but also paves a new way to systematically search binary black holes via the nature of their ultraviolet light emission.

Co-investigator Xinyu Dai of the University of Oklahoma added:

The structure of our universe, such as those giant galaxies and clusters of galaxies, grows by merging smaller systems into larger ones, and binary black holes are natural consequences of these mergers of galaxies.

These astronomers say that the result of the merger has been to make Mrk 231 an energetic starburst galaxy with a star-formation rate 100 times greater than that of our Milky Way galaxy. The infalling gas is thought to fuel the black hole “engine,” triggering outflows and gas turbulence that incites a firestorm of star birth.

The results were published in the August 14, 2015, edition of The Astrophysical Journal.

Artist’s depiction of two black holes merging, via Wikipedia

Bottom line: A study shows that Markarian 231 (Mrk 231) – the nearest galaxy to Earth that hosts a quasar – is powered by two central black holes.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1UhFoC6

View larger. | Artist’s concept of a double black hole, at the heart of a quasar. Image via NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

Moons orbit planets, planets orbit suns, little asteroids orbit each other, and mighty stars and galaxies orbit each other. So it’s not surprising that enigmatic black holes can orbit each other, too. Binary black holes may be the remnants of high-mass binary star systems, or – if the black holes are the super-sized, galactic-center variety – they may be the result of two galaxies that met and merged in space. Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope announced on August 27, 2015 that Markarian 231 (Mrk 231) – the nearest galaxy to Earth that hosts a quasar – is powered by two central black holes.

Since it’s relatively nearby, only about 600 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major the Greater Bear, Markarian 231 has been studied for years for astronomers. They believed already that Mrk 231 had previously merged with another galaxy. Evidence of that recent merger comes from the host galaxy’s asymmetry, and its long tidal tails of young blue stars.

What’s more, Mrk 231 was already believed to contain one supermassive black hole at its core. Now, new evidence suggests there are two.

This Hubble image shows Markarian 231 in visible light. Image via NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / Hubble Collaboration / A. Evans, University of Virginia, Charlottesville / NRAO / Stony Brook University.

The recent study showing two black holes looked at Hubble archival observations of ultraviolet radiation emitted from the center of Mrk 231. The astronomers said in their statement on August 27:

If only one black hole were present in the center of the quasar, the whole accretion disk made of surrounding hot gas would glow in ultraviolet rays. Instead, the ultraviolet glow of the dusty disk abruptly drops off towards the center. This provides observational evidence that the disk has a big donut hole encircling the central black hole.

The best explanation for the observational data, based on dynamical models, is that the center of the disk is carved out by the action of two black holes orbiting each other.

The second, smaller black hole orbits in the inner edge of the accretion disk, and has its own mini-disk with an ultraviolet glow.

They now estimate the mass of the central black hole to be 150 million times the mass of our sun. Meanwhile, the companion black hole is thought to weigh in at 4 million solar masses, about the same mass as the black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. The double black hole in Mrk 231 completes a mutual orbit every 1.2 years.

The lower-mass black hole is believed to be the remnant of a smaller galaxy that merged with Mrk 231.

The binary black holes are predicted to spiral together and collide within a few hundred thousand years.

These astronomers say that their finding suggests that quasars — the brilliant cores of active galaxies — may commonly host two central supermassive black holes that fall into orbit about one another as a result of the merger between two galaxies. Youjun Lu of the National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said:

We are extremely excited about this finding because it not only shows the existence of a close binary black hole in Mrk 231, but also paves a new way to systematically search binary black holes via the nature of their ultraviolet light emission.

Co-investigator Xinyu Dai of the University of Oklahoma added:

The structure of our universe, such as those giant galaxies and clusters of galaxies, grows by merging smaller systems into larger ones, and binary black holes are natural consequences of these mergers of galaxies.

These astronomers say that the result of the merger has been to make Mrk 231 an energetic starburst galaxy with a star-formation rate 100 times greater than that of our Milky Way galaxy. The infalling gas is thought to fuel the black hole “engine,” triggering outflows and gas turbulence that incites a firestorm of star birth.

The results were published in the August 14, 2015, edition of The Astrophysical Journal.

Artist’s depiction of two black holes merging, via Wikipedia

Bottom line: A study shows that Markarian 231 (Mrk 231) – the nearest galaxy to Earth that hosts a quasar – is powered by two central black holes.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1UhFoC6

Mostly Mute Monday: See Inside The Swirling Storms Of Saturn (Synopsis) [Starts With A Bang]

“It is marvelous indeed to watch on television the rings of Saturn close; and to speculate on what we may yet find at galaxy’s edge. But in the process, we have lost the human element; not to mention the high hope of those quaint days when flight would create ‘one world.’ Instead of one world, we have ‘star wars,’ and a future in which dumb dented human toys will drift mindlessly about the cosmos long after our small planet’s dead.” –Gore Vidal

And yet, it isn’t just the rings of Saturn that fascinate us, nor can we simply “watch them on television,” as Gore Vidal sadly declared. Every twenty years or so, Saturn develops a tremendous storm, streaking white across its surface and eventually encircling the entire globe, lapping itself.

Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute, of Saturn (during its storm) in false-color.

The 2010-2011 storm outdid itself, lasting more than eight months and becoming the largest storm since telescope technology advanced to the point where we could view them. Four years after it ended, we finally figured out the secret to what causes them, and why they only emerge every 20-to-30 years.

Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute, of a one-day difference in Saturn’s great 2011 storm.

Come find out the story and the secret in pictures and no more than 200 words on Mostly Mute Monday!

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1hrvfAU

“It is marvelous indeed to watch on television the rings of Saturn close; and to speculate on what we may yet find at galaxy’s edge. But in the process, we have lost the human element; not to mention the high hope of those quaint days when flight would create ‘one world.’ Instead of one world, we have ‘star wars,’ and a future in which dumb dented human toys will drift mindlessly about the cosmos long after our small planet’s dead.” –Gore Vidal

And yet, it isn’t just the rings of Saturn that fascinate us, nor can we simply “watch them on television,” as Gore Vidal sadly declared. Every twenty years or so, Saturn develops a tremendous storm, streaking white across its surface and eventually encircling the entire globe, lapping itself.

Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute, of Saturn (during its storm) in false-color.

The 2010-2011 storm outdid itself, lasting more than eight months and becoming the largest storm since telescope technology advanced to the point where we could view them. Four years after it ended, we finally figured out the secret to what causes them, and why they only emerge every 20-to-30 years.

Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute, of a one-day difference in Saturn’s great 2011 storm.

Come find out the story and the secret in pictures and no more than 200 words on Mostly Mute Monday!

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1hrvfAU

Bjorn Lomborg’s Academic Credentials Examined [Greg Laden's Blog]

I don’t care that the director or CEO of an advocacy organization concerned with poverty is an active academic. Indeed, my view of active academics is that many are largely incompetent in areas of life other than their specialized field. If that. So really, if you told me there is this great advocacy organization out there run by a well established active academic I’d figure you had that wrong, or I’d worry a little about the organization. On the other hand, everyone should care that university positions be given to active academics with credentials. So, when the University of Western Australia got paid off (apparently) to give Bjørn Lomborg a faculty position everyone looked at the UWA and said, “WUT?”

That was a situation up with which the members of that university community would not put, to coin a phrase, and the public outcry put a quick end to it. This is appropriate, because according to a new post by Stefan Rahmstorf at RealClimate, “… apart from one paper in 1996, Lomborg has never published anything in any field of science that was interesting or useful to other scientists, or even just worth the bother of contradicting in the scientific literature.”

I’ve talked about Lomborg here before. Here I noted,

There is currently a twitter argument happening, along with a bit of a blogging swarm, over a chimera of a remark made by John Stossle and Bjorn Lomborg. They made the claim that a million electric cars would have no benefit with resect to Carbon emissions. The crux of the argument is that there is a Carbon cost to manufacturing and running electric cars. When we manufacture anything, we emit Carbon, and when we make electricity to run the cars, we emit Carbon, etc. etc.

Lomborg is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. But here I want to focus on one aspect of why he is wrong that applies generally to this sort of topic….

We also talked about how Lomborg is wrong on electric cars here. Lomborg has been stunningly wrong on climate change, which is mainly what he is known for these days (being wrong on climate change, that is). And his wrongness on sea level rise and Bangladesh is not only stunning as well, but also, downright dangerous.

Stefan’s post looks in detail at two things (and in less detail at many other things). First, is the question of whether or not Lomborg is an actual practicing academic with a good publication record and all that. He is not. Stefan’s analysis is clear.

Second, is a more detailed look at Lomborg, sea level rise, Bangladesh, and all that. This is especially interesting because Stefan is one of the world’s leading experts on sea level rise. He has two peer reviewed papers on the “top ten most cited” on the Web of Science (which has well ove 40,000 sea level rise related papers), which are heavily cited. Stefan’s post is a must-read because of Stefan’s overview of sea level rise, aside from the stuff about Lomborg. Go read it.

So go read the post, learn about Bjørn Lomborg’s academic qualifications, how wrong he has been about sea level rise, and some other good stuff.

I suspect we are not going to see much more about Bjørn going forward.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1PGMZDj

I don’t care that the director or CEO of an advocacy organization concerned with poverty is an active academic. Indeed, my view of active academics is that many are largely incompetent in areas of life other than their specialized field. If that. So really, if you told me there is this great advocacy organization out there run by a well established active academic I’d figure you had that wrong, or I’d worry a little about the organization. On the other hand, everyone should care that university positions be given to active academics with credentials. So, when the University of Western Australia got paid off (apparently) to give Bjørn Lomborg a faculty position everyone looked at the UWA and said, “WUT?”

That was a situation up with which the members of that university community would not put, to coin a phrase, and the public outcry put a quick end to it. This is appropriate, because according to a new post by Stefan Rahmstorf at RealClimate, “… apart from one paper in 1996, Lomborg has never published anything in any field of science that was interesting or useful to other scientists, or even just worth the bother of contradicting in the scientific literature.”

I’ve talked about Lomborg here before. Here I noted,

There is currently a twitter argument happening, along with a bit of a blogging swarm, over a chimera of a remark made by John Stossle and Bjorn Lomborg. They made the claim that a million electric cars would have no benefit with resect to Carbon emissions. The crux of the argument is that there is a Carbon cost to manufacturing and running electric cars. When we manufacture anything, we emit Carbon, and when we make electricity to run the cars, we emit Carbon, etc. etc.

Lomborg is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. But here I want to focus on one aspect of why he is wrong that applies generally to this sort of topic….

We also talked about how Lomborg is wrong on electric cars here. Lomborg has been stunningly wrong on climate change, which is mainly what he is known for these days (being wrong on climate change, that is). And his wrongness on sea level rise and Bangladesh is not only stunning as well, but also, downright dangerous.

Stefan’s post looks in detail at two things (and in less detail at many other things). First, is the question of whether or not Lomborg is an actual practicing academic with a good publication record and all that. He is not. Stefan’s analysis is clear.

Second, is a more detailed look at Lomborg, sea level rise, Bangladesh, and all that. This is especially interesting because Stefan is one of the world’s leading experts on sea level rise. He has two peer reviewed papers on the “top ten most cited” on the Web of Science (which has well ove 40,000 sea level rise related papers), which are heavily cited. Stefan’s post is a must-read because of Stefan’s overview of sea level rise, aside from the stuff about Lomborg. Go read it.

So go read the post, learn about Bjørn Lomborg’s academic qualifications, how wrong he has been about sea level rise, and some other good stuff.

I suspect we are not going to see much more about Bjørn going forward.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1PGMZDj

Danish Castle Road Trip [Aardvarchaeology]

I spent last week in Denmark at a friendly, informative and rather unusual conference. The thirteenth Castella Maris Baltici conference (“castles of the Baltic Sea”) was a moveable feast. In five days we slept in three different towns on Zealand and Funen and spent a sum of only two days presenting our research indoors. The rest of the time we rode a bus around the area and looked at castle sites and at fortifications, secular buildings, churches and a monastery in four towns. Our Danish hosts had planned all of this so well that the schedule never broke down. Add to this that the food and accommodation were excellent, and the price very humane, and you will understand that I was very happy with the conference.

This was my second CMB. Last year in May I attended the twelfth one in Lodz, Poland. It’s an excellent education for me as I delve into High Medieval castle studies with my ongoing project about castles in Östergötland.

You might think that within such a specialised field there would be lots of debate at the conference, but actually participants present work that is mainly of local or national relevance. Your audience takes a polite interest in what you’re doing, but nobody presents any results or methods that change the game for everybody else. I imagine that this has to do with written history’s specificity. These scholars aren’t dealing with large generalised prehistoric cultural categories. They’re dealing with specific people and events at specific castle sites. If someone has found out new stuff about the architectural phasing of a certain castle in Lithuania, then this will not change the way someone in south Jutland thinks about her subject much. But every specific case presented, and every site visited, offers a wealth of details that add up to help castle scholars contextualise their work at home.

The presentation that I found the most interesting was Christofer Herrmann’s and Felix Biermann’s about recent fieldwork at Barczewko / Alt-Wartenburg in northern Poland. This wooded area, Warmia, saw a planned colonisation effort sponsored by German lords in the 14th century. Written sources document that a settlement was founded at Barczewko in 1326 and razed to the ground by Lithuanian raiders in 1354. Attracted by a long-known but undated defensive bank-and-moat, my colleagues have now mapped the site with geophys and excavated key buildings. The geophys showed a neatly planned mini-town, with a main street, a town square and a town hall. The cellars are still full of the debris from the fires set by the attackers, on top of the goods stored in the cellars, and a few bodies of murdered inhabitants. Almost a little Pompeii, and very painstakingly excavated. The pottery is dominated by Silesian designs (from the south-west part of modern Poland), giving an idea of whence the colonists came.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1KyiHDu

I spent last week in Denmark at a friendly, informative and rather unusual conference. The thirteenth Castella Maris Baltici conference (“castles of the Baltic Sea”) was a moveable feast. In five days we slept in three different towns on Zealand and Funen and spent a sum of only two days presenting our research indoors. The rest of the time we rode a bus around the area and looked at castle sites and at fortifications, secular buildings, churches and a monastery in four towns. Our Danish hosts had planned all of this so well that the schedule never broke down. Add to this that the food and accommodation were excellent, and the price very humane, and you will understand that I was very happy with the conference.

This was my second CMB. Last year in May I attended the twelfth one in Lodz, Poland. It’s an excellent education for me as I delve into High Medieval castle studies with my ongoing project about castles in Östergötland.

You might think that within such a specialised field there would be lots of debate at the conference, but actually participants present work that is mainly of local or national relevance. Your audience takes a polite interest in what you’re doing, but nobody presents any results or methods that change the game for everybody else. I imagine that this has to do with written history’s specificity. These scholars aren’t dealing with large generalised prehistoric cultural categories. They’re dealing with specific people and events at specific castle sites. If someone has found out new stuff about the architectural phasing of a certain castle in Lithuania, then this will not change the way someone in south Jutland thinks about her subject much. But every specific case presented, and every site visited, offers a wealth of details that add up to help castle scholars contextualise their work at home.

The presentation that I found the most interesting was Christofer Herrmann’s and Felix Biermann’s about recent fieldwork at Barczewko / Alt-Wartenburg in northern Poland. This wooded area, Warmia, saw a planned colonisation effort sponsored by German lords in the 14th century. Written sources document that a settlement was founded at Barczewko in 1326 and razed to the ground by Lithuanian raiders in 1354. Attracted by a long-known but undated defensive bank-and-moat, my colleagues have now mapped the site with geophys and excavated key buildings. The geophys showed a neatly planned mini-town, with a main street, a town square and a town hall. The cellars are still full of the debris from the fires set by the attackers, on top of the goods stored in the cellars, and a few bodies of murdered inhabitants. Almost a little Pompeii, and very painstakingly excavated. The pottery is dominated by Silesian designs (from the south-west part of modern Poland), giving an idea of whence the colonists came.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1KyiHDu

September 2015 guide to the five visible planets

Use Venus to find Mars in September. Read more.

No double moon on August 27, 2015, or ever

At mid-northern latitudes, Saturn lords over the evening sky all by himself all month long! And that’s very unusual, because Saturn is the faintest and least noticeable of the bright planets. So why is Saturn top dog at northerly latitudes in September, 2015? Only because Mercury is hiding in the evening twilight for the Northern Hemisphere. Meanwhile, at southerly latitudes, two planets are visible in the evening, as Mercury presents its finest evening apparition of the year. The other three visible planets – Venus, Mars and Jupiter – are in the east before sunrise, with Venus pointing the way to Mars and Jupiter appearing in mid-month in predawn twilight. Follow the links below to learn more about September planets.

Evening planets in September 2015

Mercury in evening twilight, best from Southern Hemisphere

Saturn easily visible from nightfall until mid-to-late evening

Morning planets in September 2015

Brilliant Venus in the east before sunrise

Mars in vicinity of Venus before sunrise

Bright Jupiter appears in mid-month below Venus and Mars at dawn

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Astronomy events, star parties, festivals, workshops for September-December, 2015

Live in the Southern Hemisphere or the northern tropics? Then look for the moon and planet Mercury after sunset for several days, centered around September 15. At northerly latitudes, Mercury sits too close to the glare of sunset to be visible. The green line depicts the ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane projected onto the dome of sky.

Mercury in evening twilight, best from Southern Hemisphere. Mercury is our solar system’s innermost planet and always stays near the sun in our sky. This planet passed out of the morning sky and into the evening sky in July, 2015. It’ll remain an evening object for an unusually long time, until the very end of September, 2015.

It’s a real challenge to catch Mercury from northerly latitudes, however.

For the Southern Hemisphere, September presents Mercury’s best appearance in the evening sky for all 2015. In the first week of September, Mercury sets a whopping two hours after sunset, and the innermost planet’s great evening apparition will continue throughout the most of the month – in the Southern Hemisphere and the northern tropics.

At temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, this world actually sets after the end of evening twilight till around September 20. Look for Mercury over the sunset point on the horizon as dusk gives way to darkness. Click here for recommended almanacs. They can help you find Mercury’s setting time in your sky, and for the time at which astronomical twilight ends.

Read more: Mercury’s evening apparition in September favors Southern Hemisphere

Those residing at northerly latitudes aren’t as lucky this month. At mid-northern latitudes in early September, Mercury sets less than one hour after the sun. That’s the best it gets for us in this hemisphere this month. From northerly latitudes, the innermost planet will be hard to catch even with binoculars in the glare of evening dusk. However, binoculars are always recommended to enhance sky views!

Click here for recommended almanacs. They can help you know when Mercury sets in your sky.

Mercury will stay in the evening sky until September 30, 2015. Then it’ll pass into the morning sky, to give the Northern Hemisphere its best morning apparition of Mercury for the year in October.

Distances of the planets from the sun

Photo taken June 13, 2015 by John Nelson at Puget Sound, Washington. Thanks, John!

Look for the waxing crescent moon near Saturn and the star Antares as darkness falls for several days centered on September 18. The green line depicts the ecliptic or sun’s path in front of the constellations of the Zodiac.

Saturn easily visible from nightfall until mid-to-late evening. Throughout September 2015, the golden planet Saturn pops into view at nightfall. At northerly latitudes, Saturn sets around mid-evening. At temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, Saturn sets at late evening or after midnight.

How can you recognize this wonderful planet? It’s golden in color, to the eye. It shines with a steady light. Check the chart above for dates when Saturn will appear near the moon this month. If you can identify Saturn, near the moon, and notice the stars around it, you’ll be able to spot it when the moon has moved away.

Binoculars don’t reveal Saturn’s gorgeous rings, by the way. For that, you need a small telescope. But binoculars will enhance Saturn’s golden color.

Saturn’s rings are inclined at about 24^o from edge-on in September 2015, exhibiting their northern face. A few years from now, in October 2017, the rings will open most widely, displaying a maximum inclination of 27^o. As with so much in space (and on Earth), the appearance of Saturn’s rings from Earth is cyclical. In the year 2025, the rings will appear edge-on as seen from Earth. After that, we’ll begin to see the south side of Saturn’s rings, to increase to a maximum inclination of 27^o by May, 2032.

Use the waning crescent moon to locate the planets Venus, Mars and Jupiter on September 9, September 10 and September 11. The green line depicts the ecliptic – the sun’s path in front of the constellations of the Zodiac.

Brilliant Venus in the east before sunrise. Here’s a very fun observation to make this month: Venus before dawn. Venus is the brightest planet and third-brightest sky object overall, after the sun and moon. When it’s visible, it’s very, very prominent in our sky.

This month, Venus will exhibit its greatest brilliancy as the morning “star” for approximately one week, centered on September 21, 2015.

But don’t wait until then to spot the queen planet Venus. She’ll be in good view all month long, rising before dawn’s first light.

Moreover, this dazzling world will enable you to locate the fainter yet relatively nearby planet Mars in the morning sky. Be sure to use the waning crescent moon to locate Venus (plus Mars and Jupiter) in the morning sky on September 9, September 10 and September 11.

Use Venus to find Mars in September. Read more.

Mars in vicinity of Venus before sunrise. Mars officially passed into the morning sky on June 14, 2015. Earth and Mars travel in orbit at similar speeds (Earth at 18 miles per second, Mars at 15 miles per second). So it takes awhile for Mars to climb away from the glare of sunrise, and, when it finally does so, Mars tends to linger in the predawn sky. That has been especially the case in the Southern Hemisphere for these last few months.

But now that Venus is returning to the morning sky, Mars will be easier to see in September, 2015. As September progresses, Mars will rise sooner before sunrise and be higher up at dawn. Plus the dazzling planet Venus will be fairly close to Mars throughout the month, and Venus can serve as your guide to the Red Planet.

Unfortunately, this chart isn’t for September, 2015. But it is for October! It’s centered around October 26, when Venus, Mars and Jupiter will appear as a planetary trio in the predawn sky. Mark your calendars!

Bright Jupiter appears in mid-month below Venus and Mars at dawn. Jupiter shines more brilliantly than any star. It’s the second-brightest planet after Venus. Both Venus and Jupiter transitioned over into the morning sky in August, 2015. However, Jupiter lurks much closer to the glare of sunrise than does either Venus or Mars in September, 2015.

Keep watching, though, as Jupiter climbs upward, toward Mars and Venus, in September and October. It should appear in your predawn sky, very low in the east before dawn, around the middle of September. Then keep watching. Jupiter will catch up with Mars on October 17, to exhibit their closest and only conjunction until January 7, 2018.

Jupiter will finally catch up with Venus on October 26, 2015, to stage the year’s third and final conjunction of these two brilliant worlds.

In late June and early July of 2015, when Venus and Jupiter were shining in the evening sky, these two blazing beauties showcased their closest conjunction until August 27, 2016, and displayed a second – though less close – conjunction in the evening sky on July 31 – the same date as this year’s Blue Moon.

Now these two brilliant worlds are heading for their third and final conjunction of the year in the morning sky on October 26, 2015.

By a wonderful coincidence, as Venus and Jupiter show off their final conjunction of the year – on October 26 – Venus will reach its greatest western (morning) elongation from the sun.

Moreover, the year’s closest grouping of three planets – Venus, Mars and Jupiter – will also take place on October 26. That’s a big deal because the next planetary trio won’t occur again until January, 2021!

Normally, if you have binoculars or a telescope, it’s fairly easy to see Jupiter’s four major moons, which look like pinpricks of light on or near the same plane. They are often called the Galilean moons to honor Galileo, who discovered these great Jovian moons in 1610. In their order from Jupiter, these moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. In September of 2015, however, Jupiter’s moons will have a hard time competing with the sun’s glare in the morning sky.

These moons circle Jupiter around the Jovian equator. In cycles of six years, we view Jupiter’s equator edge-on. So, in 2015, we get to view a number of mutual events involving Jupiter’s moons through a high-powered telescope. Click here or here or here for more details.

Click here for a Jupiter’s moons almanac, courtesy of Sky & Telescope.

What do we mean by visible planet? By visible planet, we mean any solar system planet that is easily visible without an optical aid and that has been watched by our ancestors since time immemorial. In their outward order from the sun, the five visible planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These planets are visible in our sky because their disks reflect sunlight, and these relatively nearby worlds tend to shine with a steadier light than the distant, twinkling stars. They tend to be bright! You can spot them, and come to know them as faithful friends, if you try.

Bottom line: In September 2015, Saturn can be seen at evening from around the world. Mercury visible at nightfall at southerly latitudes. Venus and Mars east before dawn. Jupiter still obscured in the glow of dawn.

View larger. Evening dusk on August 5: Venus at left. Mercury is climbing higher, toward Regulus (at top) and Jupiter (beneath Regulus).

By the evening of July 12, Venus and Jupiter were farther apart and lower in the western sky after sunset. Photo by Robert Kelly. Thanks, Robert!

View larger. | Photo taken in early June, 2015 by Göran Strand in Sweden. He wrote: “One of the last nights during the spring when the stars were still visible … ” Follow Fotograf Göran Strand on Facebook, or @astrofotografen on Instagram. Or visit his website.

View larger.| Venus near the setting sun on November 18, 2014 by Helio de Carvalho Vital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He wrote, “I managed to capture Venus as it is starting its return to dusk, despite the fact that it is still at a mere 6.2° distance from the sun. The photos show it a few minutes before setting behind the northern side of the 1,021-meter high Tijuca Peak, located some 6.5 km away. It was deeply immersed in the intense glare of the sun, that would set some 13 minutes later.”

Lunar eclipse on the night of October 8, 2014. The object to the left is the planet Uranus! This beautiful photo is by Janey Wing Kenyon of Story, Wyoming.

Debra Fryar in Calobreves, Texas captured this photo of the moon and Jupiter on May 31, 2014. Jupiter was close to the twilight then.

With only a modest backyard telescope, you can easily see Jupiter’s four largest moons. Here they are through a 10″ (25 cm) Meade LX200 telescope. Image credit: Jan Sandberg

Jupiter was rivaling the streetlights, when Mohamed Laaifat Photographies captured this photo in Normandy, France. Visit his page on Facebook.

Venus by Danny Crocker-Jensen

These are called star trails. It’s a long-exposure photo, which shows you how Earth is turning under the stars. The brightest object here is Jupiter, which is the second-brightest planet, after Venus. This awesome photo by EarthSky Facebook friend Mohamed Laaifat in Normandy, France. Thank you, Mohamed.

Skywatcher, by Predrag Agatonovic.

Easily locate stars and constellations with EarthSky’s planisphere.

Don’t miss anything. Subscribe to EarthSky News by email

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/IJfHCr

Use Venus to find Mars in September. Read more.

No double moon on August 27, 2015, or ever

At mid-northern latitudes, Saturn lords over the evening sky all by himself all month long! And that’s very unusual, because Saturn is the faintest and least noticeable of the bright planets. So why is Saturn top dog at northerly latitudes in September, 2015? Only because Mercury is hiding in the evening twilight for the Northern Hemisphere. Meanwhile, at southerly latitudes, two planets are visible in the evening, as Mercury presents its finest evening apparition of the year. The other three visible planets – Venus, Mars and Jupiter – are in the east before sunrise, with Venus pointing the way to Mars and Jupiter appearing in mid-month in predawn twilight. Follow the links below to learn more about September planets.

Evening planets in September 2015

Mercury in evening twilight, best from Southern Hemisphere

Saturn easily visible from nightfall until mid-to-late evening

Morning planets in September 2015

Brilliant Venus in the east before sunrise

Mars in vicinity of Venus before sunrise

Bright Jupiter appears in mid-month below Venus and Mars at dawn

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Astronomy events, star parties, festivals, workshops for September-December, 2015

Live in the Southern Hemisphere or the northern tropics? Then look for the moon and planet Mercury after sunset for several days, centered around September 15. At northerly latitudes, Mercury sits too close to the glare of sunset to be visible. The green line depicts the ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane projected onto the dome of sky.

Mercury in evening twilight, best from Southern Hemisphere. Mercury is our solar system’s innermost planet and always stays near the sun in our sky. This planet passed out of the morning sky and into the evening sky in July, 2015. It’ll remain an evening object for an unusually long time, until the very end of September, 2015.

It’s a real challenge to catch Mercury from northerly latitudes, however.

For the Southern Hemisphere, September presents Mercury’s best appearance in the evening sky for all 2015. In the first week of September, Mercury sets a whopping two hours after sunset, and the innermost planet’s great evening apparition will continue throughout the most of the month – in the Southern Hemisphere and the northern tropics.

At temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, this world actually sets after the end of evening twilight till around September 20. Look for Mercury over the sunset point on the horizon as dusk gives way to darkness. Click here for recommended almanacs. They can help you find Mercury’s setting time in your sky, and for the time at which astronomical twilight ends.

Read more: Mercury’s evening apparition in September favors Southern Hemisphere

Those residing at northerly latitudes aren’t as lucky this month. At mid-northern latitudes in early September, Mercury sets less than one hour after the sun. That’s the best it gets for us in this hemisphere this month. From northerly latitudes, the innermost planet will be hard to catch even with binoculars in the glare of evening dusk. However, binoculars are always recommended to enhance sky views!

Click here for recommended almanacs. They can help you know when Mercury sets in your sky.

Mercury will stay in the evening sky until September 30, 2015. Then it’ll pass into the morning sky, to give the Northern Hemisphere its best morning apparition of Mercury for the year in October.

Distances of the planets from the sun

Photo taken June 13, 2015 by John Nelson at Puget Sound, Washington. Thanks, John!

Look for the waxing crescent moon near Saturn and the star Antares as darkness falls for several days centered on September 18. The green line depicts the ecliptic or sun’s path in front of the constellations of the Zodiac.

Saturn easily visible from nightfall until mid-to-late evening. Throughout September 2015, the golden planet Saturn pops into view at nightfall. At northerly latitudes, Saturn sets around mid-evening. At temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, Saturn sets at late evening or after midnight.

How can you recognize this wonderful planet? It’s golden in color, to the eye. It shines with a steady light. Check the chart above for dates when Saturn will appear near the moon this month. If you can identify Saturn, near the moon, and notice the stars around it, you’ll be able to spot it when the moon has moved away.

Binoculars don’t reveal Saturn’s gorgeous rings, by the way. For that, you need a small telescope. But binoculars will enhance Saturn’s golden color.

Saturn’s rings are inclined at about 24^o from edge-on in September 2015, exhibiting their northern face. A few years from now, in October 2017, the rings will open most widely, displaying a maximum inclination of 27^o. As with so much in space (and on Earth), the appearance of Saturn’s rings from Earth is cyclical. In the year 2025, the rings will appear edge-on as seen from Earth. After that, we’ll begin to see the south side of Saturn’s rings, to increase to a maximum inclination of 27^o by May, 2032.

Use the waning crescent moon to locate the planets Venus, Mars and Jupiter on September 9, September 10 and September 11. The green line depicts the ecliptic – the sun’s path in front of the constellations of the Zodiac.

Brilliant Venus in the east before sunrise. Here’s a very fun observation to make this month: Venus before dawn. Venus is the brightest planet and third-brightest sky object overall, after the sun and moon. When it’s visible, it’s very, very prominent in our sky.

This month, Venus will exhibit its greatest brilliancy as the morning “star” for approximately one week, centered on September 21, 2015.

But don’t wait until then to spot the queen planet Venus. She’ll be in good view all month long, rising before dawn’s first light.

Moreover, this dazzling world will enable you to locate the fainter yet relatively nearby planet Mars in the morning sky. Be sure to use the waning crescent moon to locate Venus (plus Mars and Jupiter) in the morning sky on September 9, September 10 and September 11.

Use Venus to find Mars in September. Read more.

Mars in vicinity of Venus before sunrise. Mars officially passed into the morning sky on June 14, 2015. Earth and Mars travel in orbit at similar speeds (Earth at 18 miles per second, Mars at 15 miles per second). So it takes awhile for Mars to climb away from the glare of sunrise, and, when it finally does so, Mars tends to linger in the predawn sky. That has been especially the case in the Southern Hemisphere for these last few months.

But now that Venus is returning to the morning sky, Mars will be easier to see in September, 2015. As September progresses, Mars will rise sooner before sunrise and be higher up at dawn. Plus the dazzling planet Venus will be fairly close to Mars throughout the month, and Venus can serve as your guide to the Red Planet.

Unfortunately, this chart isn’t for September, 2015. But it is for October! It’s centered around October 26, when Venus, Mars and Jupiter will appear as a planetary trio in the predawn sky. Mark your calendars!

Bright Jupiter appears in mid-month below Venus and Mars at dawn. Jupiter shines more brilliantly than any star. It’s the second-brightest planet after Venus. Both Venus and Jupiter transitioned over into the morning sky in August, 2015. However, Jupiter lurks much closer to the glare of sunrise than does either Venus or Mars in September, 2015.

Keep watching, though, as Jupiter climbs upward, toward Mars and Venus, in September and October. It should appear in your predawn sky, very low in the east before dawn, around the middle of September. Then keep watching. Jupiter will catch up with Mars on October 17, to exhibit their closest and only conjunction until January 7, 2018.

Jupiter will finally catch up with Venus on October 26, 2015, to stage the year’s third and final conjunction of these two brilliant worlds.

In late June and early July of 2015, when Venus and Jupiter were shining in the evening sky, these two blazing beauties showcased their closest conjunction until August 27, 2016, and displayed a second – though less close – conjunction in the evening sky on July 31 – the same date as this year’s Blue Moon.

Now these two brilliant worlds are heading for their third and final conjunction of the year in the morning sky on October 26, 2015.

By a wonderful coincidence, as Venus and Jupiter show off their final conjunction of the year – on October 26 – Venus will reach its greatest western (morning) elongation from the sun.

Moreover, the year’s closest grouping of three planets – Venus, Mars and Jupiter – will also take place on October 26. That’s a big deal because the next planetary trio won’t occur again until January, 2021!

Normally, if you have binoculars or a telescope, it’s fairly easy to see Jupiter’s four major moons, which look like pinpricks of light on or near the same plane. They are often called the Galilean moons to honor Galileo, who discovered these great Jovian moons in 1610. In their order from Jupiter, these moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. In September of 2015, however, Jupiter’s moons will have a hard time competing with the sun’s glare in the morning sky.

These moons circle Jupiter around the Jovian equator. In cycles of six years, we view Jupiter’s equator edge-on. So, in 2015, we get to view a number of mutual events involving Jupiter’s moons through a high-powered telescope. Click here or here or here for more details.

Click here for a Jupiter’s moons almanac, courtesy of Sky & Telescope.

What do we mean by visible planet? By visible planet, we mean any solar system planet that is easily visible without an optical aid and that has been watched by our ancestors since time immemorial. In their outward order from the sun, the five visible planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These planets are visible in our sky because their disks reflect sunlight, and these relatively nearby worlds tend to shine with a steadier light than the distant, twinkling stars. They tend to be bright! You can spot them, and come to know them as faithful friends, if you try.

Bottom line: In September 2015, Saturn can be seen at evening from around the world. Mercury visible at nightfall at southerly latitudes. Venus and Mars east before dawn. Jupiter still obscured in the glow of dawn.

View larger. Evening dusk on August 5: Venus at left. Mercury is climbing higher, toward Regulus (at top) and Jupiter (beneath Regulus).

By the evening of July 12, Venus and Jupiter were farther apart and lower in the western sky after sunset. Photo by Robert Kelly. Thanks, Robert!

View larger. | Photo taken in early June, 2015 by Göran Strand in Sweden. He wrote: “One of the last nights during the spring when the stars were still visible … ” Follow Fotograf Göran Strand on Facebook, or @astrofotografen on Instagram. Or visit his website.

View larger.| Venus near the setting sun on November 18, 2014 by Helio de Carvalho Vital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He wrote, “I managed to capture Venus as it is starting its return to dusk, despite the fact that it is still at a mere 6.2° distance from the sun. The photos show it a few minutes before setting behind the northern side of the 1,021-meter high Tijuca Peak, located some 6.5 km away. It was deeply immersed in the intense glare of the sun, that would set some 13 minutes later.”

Lunar eclipse on the night of October 8, 2014. The object to the left is the planet Uranus! This beautiful photo is by Janey Wing Kenyon of Story, Wyoming.

Debra Fryar in Calobreves, Texas captured this photo of the moon and Jupiter on May 31, 2014. Jupiter was close to the twilight then.

With only a modest backyard telescope, you can easily see Jupiter’s four largest moons. Here they are through a 10″ (25 cm) Meade LX200 telescope. Image credit: Jan Sandberg

Jupiter was rivaling the streetlights, when Mohamed Laaifat Photographies captured this photo in Normandy, France. Visit his page on Facebook.

Venus by Danny Crocker-Jensen

These are called star trails. It’s a long-exposure photo, which shows you how Earth is turning under the stars. The brightest object here is Jupiter, which is the second-brightest planet, after Venus. This awesome photo by EarthSky Facebook friend Mohamed Laaifat in Normandy, France. Thank you, Mohamed.

Skywatcher, by Predrag Agatonovic.

Easily locate stars and constellations with EarthSky’s planisphere.

Don’t miss anything. Subscribe to EarthSky News by email

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/IJfHCr

Linked: Amazon wildfires, Atlantic hurricanes

This map of ocean surface temperatures shows how warm waters in the North Atlantic fueled Hurricane Katrina. NASA and UCI researchers have found that the same conditions heighten fire risk in the Amazon basin. Image credit: Scientific Visualization Studio, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA announced on August 24, 2015 that researchers have uncovered a remarkably strong link between high wildfire risk in the Amazon basin and devastating North Atlantic hurricanes. They say that, in addition to the well-understood east-west influence of El Niño on the Amazon, there is also a north-south control on fire activity that is set by the state of the tropical North Atlantic Ocean.

According to these researchers – from the University of California, Irvine and NASA – in years of high numbers of hurricanes and high fire risk, warm waters in the North Atlantic help hurricanes develop and gather strength and speed on their way to North American shores. They also tend to pull a large belt of tropical rainfall – known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone – to the north, the researchers said, drawing moisture away from the southern Amazon.

As a consequence, the researcher explained, ground water is not fully replenished by the end of rainy season, so coming into the next dry spell, when there is less water stored away in the soils, the plants can’t evaporate and transpire as much water out through their stems and leaves into the atmosphere. The atmosphere gets drier and drier, creating conditions where fires can spread rapidly three to six months later. Ground-clearing fires set by farmers for agriculture or new deforestation can easily jump from fields to dense forests under these conditions.

The climate scientists’ findings appeared in the journal Geophysical Research Letters on August 12, 2015, near the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s calamitous August 25, 2005 landfall at New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. James Randerson is an Earth system scientist at University of California, Irvine and senior author on the paper. Randerson said:

Hurricane Katrina is, indeed, part of this story. The ocean conditions that led to a severe hurricane season in 2005 also reduced atmospheric moisture flow to South America, contributing to a once in a century dry spell in the Amazon. The timing of these events is perfectly consistent with our research findings.

The team pored over years of historical storm and sea surface temperature data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and fire data gathered by NASA satellites. The results showed a striking pattern, a progression over the course of several months from a warm condition in the tropical North Atlantic to a dry and fire-prone southern Amazon, and more destructive hurricane landfalls in North and Central America.

According to Randerson, the importance of this study is that it may help meteorologists develop better seasonal outlooks for drought and fire risk in the Amazon, leveraging large investments by NOAA and other agencies in understanding hurricanes. Randerson said:

The fires we see in the U.S. West are generally lightning-ignited, whereas they are mostly human-ignited in the Amazon, but climate change can have really large effects on the fire situation in both regions. Keeping fire out of the Amazon basin is critical from a carbon cycle perspective. There’s a huge amount of carbon stored in tropical forests. We really want to keep the forests intact.

Enjoying EarthSky? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

Bottom line: A study in Geophysical Research Letters on August 12, 2015 suggests that there is a strong link between high wildfire risk in the Amazon basin and hurricanes that ravage North Atlantic shorelines.

Via NASA

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1LNBoVf

This map of ocean surface temperatures shows how warm waters in the North Atlantic fueled Hurricane Katrina. NASA and UCI researchers have found that the same conditions heighten fire risk in the Amazon basin. Image credit: Scientific Visualization Studio, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA announced on August 24, 2015 that researchers have uncovered a remarkably strong link between high wildfire risk in the Amazon basin and devastating North Atlantic hurricanes. They say that, in addition to the well-understood east-west influence of El Niño on the Amazon, there is also a north-south control on fire activity that is set by the state of the tropical North Atlantic Ocean.

According to these researchers – from the University of California, Irvine and NASA – in years of high numbers of hurricanes and high fire risk, warm waters in the North Atlantic help hurricanes develop and gather strength and speed on their way to North American shores. They also tend to pull a large belt of tropical rainfall – known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone – to the north, the researchers said, drawing moisture away from the southern Amazon.

As a consequence, the researcher explained, ground water is not fully replenished by the end of rainy season, so coming into the next dry spell, when there is less water stored away in the soils, the plants can’t evaporate and transpire as much water out through their stems and leaves into the atmosphere. The atmosphere gets drier and drier, creating conditions where fires can spread rapidly three to six months later. Ground-clearing fires set by farmers for agriculture or new deforestation can easily jump from fields to dense forests under these conditions.

The climate scientists’ findings appeared in the journal Geophysical Research Letters on August 12, 2015, near the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s calamitous August 25, 2005 landfall at New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. James Randerson is an Earth system scientist at University of California, Irvine and senior author on the paper. Randerson said:

Hurricane Katrina is, indeed, part of this story. The ocean conditions that led to a severe hurricane season in 2005 also reduced atmospheric moisture flow to South America, contributing to a once in a century dry spell in the Amazon. The timing of these events is perfectly consistent with our research findings.

The team pored over years of historical storm and sea surface temperature data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and fire data gathered by NASA satellites. The results showed a striking pattern, a progression over the course of several months from a warm condition in the tropical North Atlantic to a dry and fire-prone southern Amazon, and more destructive hurricane landfalls in North and Central America.

According to Randerson, the importance of this study is that it may help meteorologists develop better seasonal outlooks for drought and fire risk in the Amazon, leveraging large investments by NOAA and other agencies in understanding hurricanes. Randerson said:

The fires we see in the U.S. West are generally lightning-ignited, whereas they are mostly human-ignited in the Amazon, but climate change can have really large effects on the fire situation in both regions. Keeping fire out of the Amazon basin is critical from a carbon cycle perspective. There’s a huge amount of carbon stored in tropical forests. We really want to keep the forests intact.

Enjoying EarthSky? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

Bottom line: A study in Geophysical Research Letters on August 12, 2015 suggests that there is a strong link between high wildfire risk in the Amazon basin and hurricanes that ravage North Atlantic shorelines.

Via NASA

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1LNBoVf

Newly funded research – understanding cancer at the population level

Thanks to your support, we fund research into many different aspects of cancer.

To decide what to fund, we assemble panels of experts in different fields, who scrutinise applications for funds from the wider research community. And one of these committees oversees the funding of a type of science called ‘population research’.

Population research is the study of the patterns, causes and effects of cancer across large groups of people – instead of examining cells growing in a lab. The scientists are looking for things that affect our risk of developing cancer.

This ranges from invisible factors (genetics, or molecules found in our blood), to physical characteristics (like height, gender and ethnicity), our environment, lifestyle and behaviours, other health conditions or prescribed medicines, and even how well-off we are financially.

Understanding factors that contribute to cancer can influence the advice we offer, and make sure the right people have access to it. This can also determine which topics we campaign for and highlight to politicians.

It can give scientists new insights into the causes of cancer, and potential new avenues to treat it, which can translate back into laboratory research.

And it can unearth biological ‘signposts’ that could act as a warning sign that someone is at higher risk of cancer, or an early signal that cancer has developed, helping spot the disease when it’s easier to treat.

The committee meets twice a year, and is in charge of an annual budget of around £2m. Here are some of the highlights of the new population research projects we funded after the last meeting, in April 2015:

Keeping active and surviving bowel cancer

Dr Victoria Coyle

Dr Victoria Coyle, Queen’s University Belfast: applied for £750,000

Dr Coyle is leading the UK part of a large international clinical trial called CHALLENGE. The trial is finding out if taking part in a physical activity programme helps patients with bowel cancer reduce their risk of the disease coming back after treatment.

The trial is being led from Canada and will follow nearly 1000 patients – 160 from the UK – over three years.

Hormones in stomach and oesophageal cancers

Dr Amanda Cross

Dr Amanda Cross, Imperial College London: applied for £301,000

Dr Cross is looking at possible links between stomach and oesophageal cancers and hormones.  Both cancers are more common in men than women, and they’re more common among people who are obese. So Dr Cross wants to find out if differences in hormone levels are playing a role in how the diseases develop.

She is tracking information including lifestyle choices, physical factors (such as weight), and hormone levels in blood samples from more than a million people, to see if any of these factors increase peoples’ likelihood of developing stomach or oesophageal cancer.

Helping more people quit smoking

Prof Stephen Sutton

Professor Stephen Sutton, University of Cambridge applied for £408,000

Professor Sutton is studying the effectiveness of new support tools in helping people stop smoking. The new measures are web and text message based, and are tailored to people according to their needs – the trial will include 600 smokers trying to quit.

Professor Sutton aims to improve the support the NHS provides to smokers in helping thousands to quit smoking every year and consequently reduce smoking-related disease. And because so many adults in the UK smoke, even a small increase in the number of quit attempts could have a big impact.

Predicting breast cancer recurrence

Dr Charlotte Coles and Professor Judith Bliss, Institute of Cancer Research, London applied for £580,000

Dr Charlotte Coles

Dr Coles and Professor Bliss are leading a clinical trial to find out if testing for a molecule can identify women at very low risk of their breast cancer coming back after surgery. They want to find out if these women can safely avoid radiotherapy, potentially sparing them unnecessary treatment.

Around 2000 women aged 60 or under with early, very low risk breast cancer will be invited to take part in the trial.

You can see more of our recently funded population research here.

We look forward to seeing the findings from this latest batch of funded research, and how it helps us achieve our goal of preventing more cancers, and helping more people survive.

– Emma

NB: Figures given as ‘applied for’ because, although grants last for several years, the Population Research Committee funds its grants on an annual basis; subsequent funds are paid dependent on satisfactory research progress.

from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/1MX6bO6

Thanks to your support, we fund research into many different aspects of cancer.

To decide what to fund, we assemble panels of experts in different fields, who scrutinise applications for funds from the wider research community. And one of these committees oversees the funding of a type of science called ‘population research’.

Population research is the study of the patterns, causes and effects of cancer across large groups of people – instead of examining cells growing in a lab. The scientists are looking for things that affect our risk of developing cancer.

This ranges from invisible factors (genetics, or molecules found in our blood), to physical characteristics (like height, gender and ethnicity), our environment, lifestyle and behaviours, other health conditions or prescribed medicines, and even how well-off we are financially.

Understanding factors that contribute to cancer can influence the advice we offer, and make sure the right people have access to it. This can also determine which topics we campaign for and highlight to politicians.

It can give scientists new insights into the causes of cancer, and potential new avenues to treat it, which can translate back into laboratory research.

And it can unearth biological ‘signposts’ that could act as a warning sign that someone is at higher risk of cancer, or an early signal that cancer has developed, helping spot the disease when it’s easier to treat.

The committee meets twice a year, and is in charge of an annual budget of around £2m. Here are some of the highlights of the new population research projects we funded after the last meeting, in April 2015:

Keeping active and surviving bowel cancer

Dr Victoria Coyle

Dr Victoria Coyle, Queen’s University Belfast: applied for £750,000

Dr Coyle is leading the UK part of a large international clinical trial called CHALLENGE. The trial is finding out if taking part in a physical activity programme helps patients with bowel cancer reduce their risk of the disease coming back after treatment.

The trial is being led from Canada and will follow nearly 1000 patients – 160 from the UK – over three years.

Hormones in stomach and oesophageal cancers

Dr Amanda Cross

Dr Amanda Cross, Imperial College London: applied for £301,000

Dr Cross is looking at possible links between stomach and oesophageal cancers and hormones.  Both cancers are more common in men than women, and they’re more common among people who are obese. So Dr Cross wants to find out if differences in hormone levels are playing a role in how the diseases develop.

She is tracking information including lifestyle choices, physical factors (such as weight), and hormone levels in blood samples from more than a million people, to see if any of these factors increase peoples’ likelihood of developing stomach or oesophageal cancer.

Helping more people quit smoking

Prof Stephen Sutton

Professor Stephen Sutton, University of Cambridge applied for £408,000

Professor Sutton is studying the effectiveness of new support tools in helping people stop smoking. The new measures are web and text message based, and are tailored to people according to their needs – the trial will include 600 smokers trying to quit.

Professor Sutton aims to improve the support the NHS provides to smokers in helping thousands to quit smoking every year and consequently reduce smoking-related disease. And because so many adults in the UK smoke, even a small increase in the number of quit attempts could have a big impact.

Predicting breast cancer recurrence

Dr Charlotte Coles and Professor Judith Bliss, Institute of Cancer Research, London applied for £580,000

Dr Charlotte Coles

Dr Coles and Professor Bliss are leading a clinical trial to find out if testing for a molecule can identify women at very low risk of their breast cancer coming back after surgery. They want to find out if these women can safely avoid radiotherapy, potentially sparing them unnecessary treatment.

Around 2000 women aged 60 or under with early, very low risk breast cancer will be invited to take part in the trial.

You can see more of our recently funded population research here.

We look forward to seeing the findings from this latest batch of funded research, and how it helps us achieve our goal of preventing more cancers, and helping more people survive.

– Emma

NB: Figures given as ‘applied for’ because, although grants last for several years, the Population Research Committee funds its grants on an annual basis; subsequent funds are paid dependent on satisfactory research progress.

from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/1MX6bO6