Where is Proxima Centauri?

View larger. | Stars within 12 light-years of our sun. The lines on the grid are 4 light-years apart. Proxima is part of the triple star system we see as the single star Alpha Centauri. Diagram published originally in Guy Ottewell’s beloved Astronomical Companion. Do click in to view larger; Guy commented, “It’s quite vivid when it fills the screen.”

Editor’s Note: Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to Earth. It’s part of the triple Alpha Centauri star system, visible as a single star from very southerly latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere and best seen from the Southern Hemisphere. Generally speaking, the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system are 4.4 light-years away. Proxima is the closest of the three at 4.2 light-years.

The diagram above shows you where Alpha Centauri is, with respect to other nearby stars. Included are stars within 12 light-years from the sun. The glows of light representing the stars are millions of times larger than the stars themselves, which would be microscopically small on this scale.

The grid serves to show the equatorial plane, and also the scale, the lines being 4 light-years apart. The slightly thicker line is the vernal equinox direction (the Earth-sun direction around every March 20).

Imaginary stalks from the plane to the stars show how far north or south they are. I’ve cropped the picture so that some of the stars are off the top or bottom, but they are obscure stars you may not have heard of, with designations such as Lalande 21185, Luyten 726-8, DX Cancri. Most stars, including most of those near to us, are smaller than our sun: red dwarfs.

The exceptions near to us are Sirius, Procyon, and Alpha Centauri.

Alpha Centauri is the third-brightest star (that is, as seen from our place in space, and not counting the sun). Like the first- and second-brightest – Sirius and Canopus – it is a southern star. Indeed it’s much farther south than either of those, which is why it has no traditional name in our culture (except a rather faux-traditional one, Rigil Kentaurus).

The space diagram shows it at a steep southward angle from the sun. This angle (its declination -61°) means it doesn’t peep above the horizon until you go down to the latitude of northern Florida; to see it properly you might go south of Earth’s equator.

Then you would see in your telescope that it is a double star – one of the widest and easiest to “split.” Here is part of my diagram of the pair with which I used to fill a space in Astronomical Calendar 2016:

The double star of Alpha Centauri. Astronomers call them Alpha Centauri A and B. Image via Astronomical Calendar 2016 by Guy Ottewell.

Again, the symbols for the stars are vastly larger than the bodies of the stars would be. It isn’t really that the B star revolves around the A one: they both revolve around their common center of gravity. You can see that this year, 2016, is the year when B appears closest to A, though in the true (untilted) orbit it will reach periastron in 2035. The blue lines are one second of arc apart – that’s the apparent size of a tennis ball 10 miles away.

Alpha Centauri A is a star much like the sun, slightly larger and of about the same 4.6-billion-year age or slightly older; B is slightly smaller and cooler. In their elliptical orbits around their common center of gravity, they range from about 11 Astronomical Units (sun-Earth distances) apart when closest, to 36 when farthest apart – in other words, from something like the sun-Saturn to something like the sun-Pluto distance.

And the distance of this star system from us is only 4.4 light-years: nearer than all other stars … except for one, Proxima, discovered in 1915 (by Robert Jones in South Africa).

Proxima is one of those numerous dwarfs whose surfaces are reddish, meaning cooler and dimmer. Only about 1/7 as wide as the sun, and at a magnitude (brightness) of 11, it is about 100 times too dim to be seen with the unaided eye. Proxima is more than 2 degrees away from the Alpha Centauri pair; on observatory photographs, there are thousands of background stars in between. Yet studies of it found that it is only 4.24 light-years away from us, closer than the other two stars in the Alpha Centauri system.

Hence it is dubbed Proxima Centauri, with the word Proxima having the same root as the word proximity, meaning near.

The nearest stars not only have the largest parallax (apparent angular shift as we go around the sun) but are liable to have large proper motion (travel across the starry background from year to year). Proxima is found to be still coming gradually toward us; it will be nearest, at only about 3 light-years, about 27,000 years into the future. And it is probably, though not quite certainly, gravitationally bound to the Alpha Centauri pair 0.2 light-year away from it, in an enormous, slow orbit of something like 500,000 years. So it can be called Alpha Centauri C.

Yes, these are humiliating numbers, and I hesitate to crush you further with the reminder that a light-year is nearly 6,000,000,000,000 miles, and the distance across the Milky Way galaxy is something like 30,000 times greater than the distance to these our nearest neighbors in it.

Thus – even if there is a Proximan with a telephone, and one day you receive a call from her asking, “What is your name, how many legs do you have, and how many sexes are there in your world?” – it will be more than four years before she receives your reply and more than eight before you know what she thinks of it.

Bottom line: Diagram and explanation from astronomer Guy Ottewell, showing the location in space of the Alpha Centauri system and, in particular, the star Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to Earth.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2BcQSVe

View larger. | Stars within 12 light-years of our sun. The lines on the grid are 4 light-years apart. Proxima is part of the triple star system we see as the single star Alpha Centauri. Diagram published originally in Guy Ottewell’s beloved Astronomical Companion. Do click in to view larger; Guy commented, “It’s quite vivid when it fills the screen.”

Editor’s Note: Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to Earth. It’s part of the triple Alpha Centauri star system, visible as a single star from very southerly latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere and best seen from the Southern Hemisphere. Generally speaking, the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system are 4.4 light-years away. Proxima is the closest of the three at 4.2 light-years.

The diagram above shows you where Alpha Centauri is, with respect to other nearby stars. Included are stars within 12 light-years from the sun. The glows of light representing the stars are millions of times larger than the stars themselves, which would be microscopically small on this scale.

The grid serves to show the equatorial plane, and also the scale, the lines being 4 light-years apart. The slightly thicker line is the vernal equinox direction (the Earth-sun direction around every March 20).

Imaginary stalks from the plane to the stars show how far north or south they are. I’ve cropped the picture so that some of the stars are off the top or bottom, but they are obscure stars you may not have heard of, with designations such as Lalande 21185, Luyten 726-8, DX Cancri. Most stars, including most of those near to us, are smaller than our sun: red dwarfs.

The exceptions near to us are Sirius, Procyon, and Alpha Centauri.

Alpha Centauri is the third-brightest star (that is, as seen from our place in space, and not counting the sun). Like the first- and second-brightest – Sirius and Canopus – it is a southern star. Indeed it’s much farther south than either of those, which is why it has no traditional name in our culture (except a rather faux-traditional one, Rigil Kentaurus).

The space diagram shows it at a steep southward angle from the sun. This angle (its declination -61°) means it doesn’t peep above the horizon until you go down to the latitude of northern Florida; to see it properly you might go south of Earth’s equator.

Then you would see in your telescope that it is a double star – one of the widest and easiest to “split.” Here is part of my diagram of the pair with which I used to fill a space in Astronomical Calendar 2016:

The double star of Alpha Centauri. Astronomers call them Alpha Centauri A and B. Image via Astronomical Calendar 2016 by Guy Ottewell.

Again, the symbols for the stars are vastly larger than the bodies of the stars would be. It isn’t really that the B star revolves around the A one: they both revolve around their common center of gravity. You can see that this year, 2016, is the year when B appears closest to A, though in the true (untilted) orbit it will reach periastron in 2035. The blue lines are one second of arc apart – that’s the apparent size of a tennis ball 10 miles away.

Alpha Centauri A is a star much like the sun, slightly larger and of about the same 4.6-billion-year age or slightly older; B is slightly smaller and cooler. In their elliptical orbits around their common center of gravity, they range from about 11 Astronomical Units (sun-Earth distances) apart when closest, to 36 when farthest apart – in other words, from something like the sun-Saturn to something like the sun-Pluto distance.

And the distance of this star system from us is only 4.4 light-years: nearer than all other stars … except for one, Proxima, discovered in 1915 (by Robert Jones in South Africa).

Proxima is one of those numerous dwarfs whose surfaces are reddish, meaning cooler and dimmer. Only about 1/7 as wide as the sun, and at a magnitude (brightness) of 11, it is about 100 times too dim to be seen with the unaided eye. Proxima is more than 2 degrees away from the Alpha Centauri pair; on observatory photographs, there are thousands of background stars in between. Yet studies of it found that it is only 4.24 light-years away from us, closer than the other two stars in the Alpha Centauri system.

Hence it is dubbed Proxima Centauri, with the word Proxima having the same root as the word proximity, meaning near.

The nearest stars not only have the largest parallax (apparent angular shift as we go around the sun) but are liable to have large proper motion (travel across the starry background from year to year). Proxima is found to be still coming gradually toward us; it will be nearest, at only about 3 light-years, about 27,000 years into the future. And it is probably, though not quite certainly, gravitationally bound to the Alpha Centauri pair 0.2 light-year away from it, in an enormous, slow orbit of something like 500,000 years. So it can be called Alpha Centauri C.

Yes, these are humiliating numbers, and I hesitate to crush you further with the reminder that a light-year is nearly 6,000,000,000,000 miles, and the distance across the Milky Way galaxy is something like 30,000 times greater than the distance to these our nearest neighbors in it.

Thus – even if there is a Proximan with a telephone, and one day you receive a call from her asking, “What is your name, how many legs do you have, and how many sexes are there in your world?” – it will be more than four years before she receives your reply and more than eight before you know what she thinks of it.

Bottom line: Diagram and explanation from astronomer Guy Ottewell, showing the location in space of the Alpha Centauri system and, in particular, the star Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to Earth.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2BcQSVe

COVID-19: Keeping patients on cancer clinical trials

When the country went into lockdown in March, hospital trusts began to make difficult decisions as to which clinical trials they could safely keep open, and which had to close.

One key consideration was how to protect trial participants, as many cancer medicines – including experimental therapies – can compromise the immune system, putting people at an increased risk of severe effects should they develop COVID-19. Balancing these risks against the risks of cancer has been a huge challenge.

Anne Croudass, lead research nurse at Cancer Research UK, manages a team of 15 senior research nurses across the country, who support their colleagues to look after people with cancer on clinical trials and carry out clinical research in hospitals.

And although a lot of what her team does has been affected, with many trials either put on hold, not able to recruit patients or, in the case of new trials, not being able to start, some of their work has been able to continue in the face of the pandemic.

Prioritising safety

“After the lockdown, some hospital trusts decided to go to the extreme of suspending all trials and all recruitment, including taking patients off trial entirely,” says Croudass. Others have taken a moderate approach, “keeping some studies open and keeping people on treatment”.

Croudass says a key concern was how to keep people on vital treatments through clinical trials, and how to do it safely. A particular issue was advanced treatments like CAR T cell therapies, which involve modifying a patient’s own immune system, so it targets their cancer.

“Early on, CAR T cell therapies and advanced therapeutics had to be stopped, because these treatments require there to be an intensive therapy unit (ITU) bed on standby, as patients can get very sick, and these treatments were too risky to carry out,” she says.

“ITU beds and staff were hard to come by, with many trusts redeploying staff to frontline COVID-19 care.”

These decisions – made with patient safety front of mind – led to difficult and often heart-breaking conversations for Croudass’ team with their patients on trials.

“Delivering bad news is always hard, but lockdown meant telling patients over the phone or sat 2 metres away they could no longer start on a clinical trial, you couldn’t even offer them a tissue or a hug.”

But despite the chaos of COVID-19, every effort has been made to ensure that people with cancer have options. “Many hospitals found ways to move research facilities off site, or found COVID-19 protected hospitals, known as green sites, to treat cancer patients.”

Croudass says that although recruitment to many late-stage (phase 3) clinical trials has been paused, many patients in the middle of treatment were able to see it through , by having video consultations and remote collection of trial data. And in cases where trial treatments have had to stop, people have been switched onto the current standard of care where possible.

But some of the most intense effort has been made for early-stage trials, which look at experimental treatments for patients who often have no other options aside from palliative care.

Keeping patients on early stage trials

Cancer Research UK’s Centre for Drug Development (CDD) is the world’s only charity-funded drug development facility, operating like a biotech company embedded within the organisation. It funds, sponsors and manages its own portfolio of around 20 early-phase (phase 1), clinical trials, 6 of which were operational when the coronavirus outbreak began in the UK.

When the lockdown started, everyone on a CDD trial was classed as ‘extremely vulnerable’ by the COVID-19 Government guidance and required to self-isolate for 12 weeks – posing problems for their continued participation.

Stephen Nabarro, Head of Clinical Operations and Data Management says that as soon as the Government guidance was issued, they knew they had to think radically about how to keep patients on treatments.

“Early-phase trials are very intensive and ask a lot of patients: for example, they usually need to go to clinic regularly for bloods tests and scans.”

Nabarro said the team had to come up with ideas that were home-based, with patients only coming into hospital when absolutely necessary. They worked closely with hospital staff to keep all their active trials open and ensure that all patients could safely stay on trial.

“We did everything in our power to make sure all patients could continue to receive their treatment, and we’re very proud the Centre for Drug Development managed to achieve this for the trials it runs,” says Nabarro.

Adapting protocols

Ann from Lincolnshire was taking part in a clinical trial run by the CDD in Newcastle. She had no treatment options left when she was offered the chance to participate in an early-stage trial.

“I was accepted onto the trial and it was amazing – previously I’d had no hope.”

Normally Ann would have to travel to Newcastle for blood tests, blood pressure checks and scans, and she would be given medication to take home.

“The last time I went up, the COVID-19 situation was starting to kick off and they said there might be changes to the system. They arranged for me to have my tests done at my local GP – they were given a list of what to cover by the team at Newcastle University, and they sent me my next batch of medication.”

From replacing clinic visits with phone calls, to couriering the drug from the hospital pharmacy to patient’s homes directly, the CDD have ensured all patients on this trial will keep receiving their treatment. And even though the pandemic has forced the University of Strathclyde – where the Cancer Research UK Formulation Unit that stores the drug is based – to close, the team found a way to label and send enough medication to last patients until August.

Ann says it’s difficult not being able to see the team in Newcastle, but they are in touch regularly. “COVID-19 is causing such disruption, but they are doing everything they can to make me feel looked after. I have never felt like I am just a number – the staff at the Bobby Robson Cancer Research Centre are always fully committed to my wellbeing. They are amazing.”

Shifting heaven and earth

Alongside this work to keep patients on clinical trials, the team have also been working to reopen trials, including Ann’s. “We’re pleased to say this clinical trial is open once again to recruitment,” says Nabarro. And we hope to follow by opening some of the other clinical trials that we run once we can ensure the safety of patients.”

It’s clear that the impact of COVID-19 on cancer trials will be felt for many years to come. Data collection has been affected, which means that clinical trials that have been paused will take a while to get back on their feet. There also may be some trials that it’s no longer feasible to continue, for example where standard treatment used in the control arm has changed.

But through the uncertainty, and whatever the impact of the pandemic on our income, and ability to fund new trials in the immediate future, Cancer Research UK will keep striving to continue current trials and ensure the impact of COVID-19 on their findings is minimised wherever possible. There may even be positives to emerge, says Nabarro .

“It is important that we find a positive legacy from this difficult time,” says Nabarro. “And one that will come, or we’re certainly hoping will, is a shift in our trials becoming more patient-centric. So much of what we do has historically been focussed around the idea that patients must go into the clinic regularly .”

Changes could include reducing the number of hospital visits during trials by minimising the number of tests a patient needs to undergo, implementing virtual visits where patients take their own measurements such as temperature and more efficient scheduling of hospital visits where required.

Croudass agrees. “The pandemic has understandably caused a lot of worry and anxiety for patients. But we’re shifting heaven and earth to keep as many patients on trial as possible.

“And what we’ve learned from this is, in a time of crisis, a lot of bureaucracy and red tape can be moved aside – perhaps offering hope of how we could work more efficiently in the future and hopefully get new cancer treatments to patients quicker.”

Angharad Kolator Baldwin is a science media officer at Cancer Research UK

from Cancer Research UK – Science blog https://ift.tt/3d3I156

When the country went into lockdown in March, hospital trusts began to make difficult decisions as to which clinical trials they could safely keep open, and which had to close.

One key consideration was how to protect trial participants, as many cancer medicines – including experimental therapies – can compromise the immune system, putting people at an increased risk of severe effects should they develop COVID-19. Balancing these risks against the risks of cancer has been a huge challenge.

Anne Croudass, lead research nurse at Cancer Research UK, manages a team of 15 senior research nurses across the country, who support their colleagues to look after people with cancer on clinical trials and carry out clinical research in hospitals.

And although a lot of what her team does has been affected, with many trials either put on hold, not able to recruit patients or, in the case of new trials, not being able to start, some of their work has been able to continue in the face of the pandemic.

Prioritising safety

“After the lockdown, some hospital trusts decided to go to the extreme of suspending all trials and all recruitment, including taking patients off trial entirely,” says Croudass. Others have taken a moderate approach, “keeping some studies open and keeping people on treatment”.

Croudass says a key concern was how to keep people on vital treatments through clinical trials, and how to do it safely. A particular issue was advanced treatments like CAR T cell therapies, which involve modifying a patient’s own immune system, so it targets their cancer.

“Early on, CAR T cell therapies and advanced therapeutics had to be stopped, because these treatments require there to be an intensive therapy unit (ITU) bed on standby, as patients can get very sick, and these treatments were too risky to carry out,” she says.

“ITU beds and staff were hard to come by, with many trusts redeploying staff to frontline COVID-19 care.”

These decisions – made with patient safety front of mind – led to difficult and often heart-breaking conversations for Croudass’ team with their patients on trials.

“Delivering bad news is always hard, but lockdown meant telling patients over the phone or sat 2 metres away they could no longer start on a clinical trial, you couldn’t even offer them a tissue or a hug.”

But despite the chaos of COVID-19, every effort has been made to ensure that people with cancer have options. “Many hospitals found ways to move research facilities off site, or found COVID-19 protected hospitals, known as green sites, to treat cancer patients.”

Croudass says that although recruitment to many late-stage (phase 3) clinical trials has been paused, many patients in the middle of treatment were able to see it through , by having video consultations and remote collection of trial data. And in cases where trial treatments have had to stop, people have been switched onto the current standard of care where possible.

But some of the most intense effort has been made for early-stage trials, which look at experimental treatments for patients who often have no other options aside from palliative care.

Keeping patients on early stage trials

Cancer Research UK’s Centre for Drug Development (CDD) is the world’s only charity-funded drug development facility, operating like a biotech company embedded within the organisation. It funds, sponsors and manages its own portfolio of around 20 early-phase (phase 1), clinical trials, 6 of which were operational when the coronavirus outbreak began in the UK.

When the lockdown started, everyone on a CDD trial was classed as ‘extremely vulnerable’ by the COVID-19 Government guidance and required to self-isolate for 12 weeks – posing problems for their continued participation.

Stephen Nabarro, Head of Clinical Operations and Data Management says that as soon as the Government guidance was issued, they knew they had to think radically about how to keep patients on treatments.

“Early-phase trials are very intensive and ask a lot of patients: for example, they usually need to go to clinic regularly for bloods tests and scans.”

Nabarro said the team had to come up with ideas that were home-based, with patients only coming into hospital when absolutely necessary. They worked closely with hospital staff to keep all their active trials open and ensure that all patients could safely stay on trial.

“We did everything in our power to make sure all patients could continue to receive their treatment, and we’re very proud the Centre for Drug Development managed to achieve this for the trials it runs,” says Nabarro.

Adapting protocols

Ann from Lincolnshire was taking part in a clinical trial run by the CDD in Newcastle. She had no treatment options left when she was offered the chance to participate in an early-stage trial.

“I was accepted onto the trial and it was amazing – previously I’d had no hope.”

Normally Ann would have to travel to Newcastle for blood tests, blood pressure checks and scans, and she would be given medication to take home.

“The last time I went up, the COVID-19 situation was starting to kick off and they said there might be changes to the system. They arranged for me to have my tests done at my local GP – they were given a list of what to cover by the team at Newcastle University, and they sent me my next batch of medication.”

From replacing clinic visits with phone calls, to couriering the drug from the hospital pharmacy to patient’s homes directly, the CDD have ensured all patients on this trial will keep receiving their treatment. And even though the pandemic has forced the University of Strathclyde – where the Cancer Research UK Formulation Unit that stores the drug is based – to close, the team found a way to label and send enough medication to last patients until August.

Ann says it’s difficult not being able to see the team in Newcastle, but they are in touch regularly. “COVID-19 is causing such disruption, but they are doing everything they can to make me feel looked after. I have never felt like I am just a number – the staff at the Bobby Robson Cancer Research Centre are always fully committed to my wellbeing. They are amazing.”

Shifting heaven and earth

Alongside this work to keep patients on clinical trials, the team have also been working to reopen trials, including Ann’s. “We’re pleased to say this clinical trial is open once again to recruitment,” says Nabarro. And we hope to follow by opening some of the other clinical trials that we run once we can ensure the safety of patients.”

It’s clear that the impact of COVID-19 on cancer trials will be felt for many years to come. Data collection has been affected, which means that clinical trials that have been paused will take a while to get back on their feet. There also may be some trials that it’s no longer feasible to continue, for example where standard treatment used in the control arm has changed.

But through the uncertainty, and whatever the impact of the pandemic on our income, and ability to fund new trials in the immediate future, Cancer Research UK will keep striving to continue current trials and ensure the impact of COVID-19 on their findings is minimised wherever possible. There may even be positives to emerge, says Nabarro .

“It is important that we find a positive legacy from this difficult time,” says Nabarro. “And one that will come, or we’re certainly hoping will, is a shift in our trials becoming more patient-centric. So much of what we do has historically been focussed around the idea that patients must go into the clinic regularly .”

Changes could include reducing the number of hospital visits during trials by minimising the number of tests a patient needs to undergo, implementing virtual visits where patients take their own measurements such as temperature and more efficient scheduling of hospital visits where required.

Croudass agrees. “The pandemic has understandably caused a lot of worry and anxiety for patients. But we’re shifting heaven and earth to keep as many patients on trial as possible.

“And what we’ve learned from this is, in a time of crisis, a lot of bureaucracy and red tape can be moved aside – perhaps offering hope of how we could work more efficiently in the future and hopefully get new cancer treatments to patients quicker.”

Angharad Kolator Baldwin is a science media officer at Cancer Research UK

from Cancer Research UK – Science blog https://ift.tt/3d3I156

See Dragon’s Eyes on summer evenings

Tonight, find the Dragon’s Eyes. For years, I’ve glanced up in the north at this time of year and spied the two stars marked on today’s chart, Rastaban and Eltanin in the constellation Draco. They’re noticeable because they’re relatively bright and near each other. There’s always that split-second when I ask myself with some excitement what two stars are those? It’s then that my eyes drift to blue-white Vega nearby … and I know, by Vega’s nearness, that they are the stars Rastaban and Eltanin.

These two stars represent the fiery Eyes of the constellation Draco the Dragon. Moreover, these stars nearly mark the radiant point for the annual October Draconid meteor shower.

Because the stars stay fixed relative to each other, Vega is always near these stars. Vega, by the way, lodges at the apex of the Summer Triangle, a famous pattern consisting of three bright stars in three separate constellations, also prominent at this time of year.

Draco the Dragon. Image via Old Book Image Art Gallery.

From tropical and subtropical latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, the stars Rastaban and Eltanin shine quite low in the northern sky (below Vega). In either hemisphere, at all time zones, the Dragon’s eyes climb highest up in the sky around midnight (1 a.m. daylight saving time) in mid-June, 11 p.m. (midnight daylight saving time) in early July, and 9 p.m. (10 p.m. daylight saving time) in early August. But from temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere (southern Australia and New Zealand), the Dragon’s eyes never climb above your horizon. However, you can catch the star Vega way low in your northern sky.

People at mid-northern latitudes get to view the Dragon’s eyes all night long!

Speaking of Rastaban and Eltanin, one of you asked:

What are constellations?

The answer is that they’re just patterns of stars on the sky’s dome. The Greeks and Romans, for example, named them for their gods and goddesses, and also for many sorts of animals. In the 20th century, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formalized the names and boundaries of the constellations. Now every star in the sky belongs to one or another constellation.

The stars within constellations aren’t connected, except in the mind’s eye of stargazers. The stars in general lie at vastly different distances from Earth. It’s by finding juxtaposed patterns on the sky’s dome that you’ll come to know the constellations – much as I identify Rastaban and Eltanin at this time of year by looking for the star Vega.

Read more: A Dragon and a former pole star

Bottom line: Look in the northeast on these June evenings – near the star Vega. You’ll see Rastaban and Eltanin, two stars that are bright and close together.

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

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

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2xenGYI

Tonight, find the Dragon’s Eyes. For years, I’ve glanced up in the north at this time of year and spied the two stars marked on today’s chart, Rastaban and Eltanin in the constellation Draco. They’re noticeable because they’re relatively bright and near each other. There’s always that split-second when I ask myself with some excitement what two stars are those? It’s then that my eyes drift to blue-white Vega nearby … and I know, by Vega’s nearness, that they are the stars Rastaban and Eltanin.

These two stars represent the fiery Eyes of the constellation Draco the Dragon. Moreover, these stars nearly mark the radiant point for the annual October Draconid meteor shower.

Because the stars stay fixed relative to each other, Vega is always near these stars. Vega, by the way, lodges at the apex of the Summer Triangle, a famous pattern consisting of three bright stars in three separate constellations, also prominent at this time of year.

Draco the Dragon. Image via Old Book Image Art Gallery.

From tropical and subtropical latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, the stars Rastaban and Eltanin shine quite low in the northern sky (below Vega). In either hemisphere, at all time zones, the Dragon’s eyes climb highest up in the sky around midnight (1 a.m. daylight saving time) in mid-June, 11 p.m. (midnight daylight saving time) in early July, and 9 p.m. (10 p.m. daylight saving time) in early August. But from temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere (southern Australia and New Zealand), the Dragon’s eyes never climb above your horizon. However, you can catch the star Vega way low in your northern sky.

People at mid-northern latitudes get to view the Dragon’s eyes all night long!

Speaking of Rastaban and Eltanin, one of you asked:

What are constellations?

The answer is that they’re just patterns of stars on the sky’s dome. The Greeks and Romans, for example, named them for their gods and goddesses, and also for many sorts of animals. In the 20th century, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formalized the names and boundaries of the constellations. Now every star in the sky belongs to one or another constellation.

The stars within constellations aren’t connected, except in the mind’s eye of stargazers. The stars in general lie at vastly different distances from Earth. It’s by finding juxtaposed patterns on the sky’s dome that you’ll come to know the constellations – much as I identify Rastaban and Eltanin at this time of year by looking for the star Vega.

Read more: A Dragon and a former pole star

Bottom line: Look in the northeast on these June evenings – near the star Vega. You’ll see Rastaban and Eltanin, two stars that are bright and close together.

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

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

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2xenGYI

New exoplanet system is ‘mirror image’ of Earth and sun

Diagram depicting how KOI-456.04 orbits in the habitable zone of its star, Kepler-160, at about the same distance Earth is from the sun. The planet, less than twice the size of Earth, therefore receives about the same amount of solar energy as Earth does. This is the closest Earth-sun analog discovered so far among exoplanets. Image via MPS/ René Heller.

The number of potentially habitable exoplanets keeps growing, as more and more worlds orbiting distant stars are discovered. So far, most of those planets have been found orbiting red dwarf stars, since they are dimmer, and planets are easier to detect around them (and also are the most common stars in our galaxy). But now, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen, Germany, and others from the U.S., have announced that they have found a new exoworld, less than twice the size of Earth, which orbits a sunlike star, Kepler-160, just over 3,000 light-years from our solar system.

What makes this discovery of particular interest is that the planet appears to be orbiting its star at a similar distance as Earth’s from the sun, and receives almost the same amount of energy from its star as Earth does. This would make it the most similar to the Earth-sun system of any exoplanetary system discovered so far, almost a mirror image.

The peer-reviewed findings were published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 638, id. A10 and submitted to arXiv on June 3, 2020. The research also includes scientists from the Sonneberg Observatory, the University of Göttingen, the University of California in Santa Cruz and NASA.

Fuller diagram showing how the KOI-456.04 system compares to that of Earth-sun, other stars from the Kepler mission and red dwarf stars. Image via MPS/ René Heller.

While the new planet – provisionally named KOI-456.04 – hasn’t been fully confirmed yet, the paper states that the probability of it being a real planet and not a false alarm is 85%. By far, most planetary candidates found do end up being confirmed later with more observations. From the paper:

The vespa software predicts that this signal has an astrophysical false-positive probability of FPP_3 = 1.8e-3 when the multiplicity of the system is taken into account. Kepler vetting diagnostics yield a multiple event statistic of MES = 10.7, which corresponds to an ~85 % reliability against false alarms due to instrumental artifacts such as rolling bands.

So what is this probable new world like?

From what we know so far, it transits its star as seen from Earth. It is estimated to have a radius of 1.9 Earth radii, making it a super-Earth, and orbits its star in 378 days. Since the star is similar to our sun, the planet receives a similar amount of energy and radiation as Earth does, about 93%. This also means that the planet resides in a similar spot in the habitable zone around the star – where temperatures could allow liquid water to exist – as Earth does in the habitable zone around our sun. The lead author of the new study, René Heller, said in a statement:

KOI-456.01 is relatively large compared to many other planets that are considered potentially habitable. But it’s the combination of this less-than-double the size of the Earth planet and its solar type host star that make it so special and familiar.

Comparison of the amount of planetary illumination – solar energy – that KOI-456.04 receives from its star as compared to Earth and the sun. Image via René Heller et al./ Astronomy & Astrophysics/ arXiv.

If KOI-456.01’s atmosphere isn’t too dense or non-Earth-like, then there’s a good chance it could have similar surface conditions to Earth. The researchers calculated that if the planet’s atmosphere is moderate, like Earth’s, then the average temperature should be about 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius). Not too bad! There are, of course, still a lot of unknowns, such as the composition of the atmosphere and the planet itself and whether there is any surface water.

Kepler-160 was already known to have at least two planets, Kepler-160 b and Kepler-160 c. KOI-456.04, would be the newest, and it turns out there may actually be four planets in total. Heller said:

Our analysis suggests that Kepler-160 is orbited not by two but by a total of four planets.

The other two already known planets, Kepler-160 b and Kepler-160 c, are both larger than Earth and orbit much closer to the star. This makes them a lot less likely to be habitable. Kepler-160 c has an oddly distorted orbit, leading some scientists to theorize that another third planet, Kepler-160 d, was waiting to be discovered. Heller and his colleagues found evidence for its existence indirectly, since it doesn’t transit in front of the star as seen from Earth.

Heller and his co-author, Michael Hippke, developed a new technique for searching for exoplanets in old data from the Kepler Space Telescope (the mission ended in 2017). They decided to use a detailed physical model of stellar brightness variation instead of just looking for a step-like jump-to-dimming and then jump-back-to-normal brightness pattern in stellar light curves, as had been done previously for almost two decades. Heller explained:

Our improvement is particularly important in the search for small, Earth-sized planets. The planetary signal is so faint that it’s almost entirely hidden in the noise of the data. Our new search mask is slightly better in separating a true exoplanetary signal from the noise in the critical cases.

Artist’s concept of Kepler-160b, another world in the Kepler-160 system. It has a radius about 1.54 times that of Earth, but orbits very close to the star, making it unlikely to be habitable. Image via NASA.

If KOI-456.01 is any indication, then the process seems to be working. Heller and his colleagues had also been able to find 18 other new exoplanets, so far, in the old Kepler data.

Kepler-160 was observed continuously by Kepler from 2009 to 2013. It is very similar to our sun, with a radius of 1.1 solar radii, a surface temperature of 9,392 degrees Fahrenheit (5200 degrees Celsius, only 300 degrees C less than the sun), and a sun-like stellar luminosity.

While KOI-456.01 is still regarded as a planetary candidate, the odds are very good that it is the real deal. But of course, scientists want to know for certain, and it’s possible that one of the more powerful ground-based telescopes will be able to fully confirm it, since it transits its star and is therefore easier to detect than with some other planet-hunting methods. Also, the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) upcoming PLATO space telescope will be able to do that as well. One of PLATO’s primary goals is to search for Earth-sized exoplanets around sun-like stars, and is scheduled to launch in 2026. PLATO would be able to study KOI-456.01 a bit more closely, and, hopefully, reveal more about what this tantalizing world is really like.

René Heller at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), lead author of the new study. Image via MPS.

Although red dwarfs are the most common type of star, the discovery of KOI-456.01 bodes well for the possibility that many rocky worlds like Earth also orbit sun-like stars. That in turn increases the chances of eventually finding habitable exoworlds around stars just like our own sun.

Bottom line: Researchers have discovered a new exoplanet orbiting the sun-like star Kepler-160. It is less than twice the size of Earth and orbits at about the same distance as Earth does from the sun.

Source: Transit least-squares survey — III. A 1.9 R+ transit candidate in the habitable zone of Kepler-160 and a nontransiting planet characterized by transit-timing variations

Via Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research

 

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3d6YQfS

Diagram depicting how KOI-456.04 orbits in the habitable zone of its star, Kepler-160, at about the same distance Earth is from the sun. The planet, less than twice the size of Earth, therefore receives about the same amount of solar energy as Earth does. This is the closest Earth-sun analog discovered so far among exoplanets. Image via MPS/ René Heller.

The number of potentially habitable exoplanets keeps growing, as more and more worlds orbiting distant stars are discovered. So far, most of those planets have been found orbiting red dwarf stars, since they are dimmer, and planets are easier to detect around them (and also are the most common stars in our galaxy). But now, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen, Germany, and others from the U.S., have announced that they have found a new exoworld, less than twice the size of Earth, which orbits a sunlike star, Kepler-160, just over 3,000 light-years from our solar system.

What makes this discovery of particular interest is that the planet appears to be orbiting its star at a similar distance as Earth’s from the sun, and receives almost the same amount of energy from its star as Earth does. This would make it the most similar to the Earth-sun system of any exoplanetary system discovered so far, almost a mirror image.

The peer-reviewed findings were published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 638, id. A10 and submitted to arXiv on June 3, 2020. The research also includes scientists from the Sonneberg Observatory, the University of Göttingen, the University of California in Santa Cruz and NASA.

Fuller diagram showing how the KOI-456.04 system compares to that of Earth-sun, other stars from the Kepler mission and red dwarf stars. Image via MPS/ René Heller.

While the new planet – provisionally named KOI-456.04 – hasn’t been fully confirmed yet, the paper states that the probability of it being a real planet and not a false alarm is 85%. By far, most planetary candidates found do end up being confirmed later with more observations. From the paper:

The vespa software predicts that this signal has an astrophysical false-positive probability of FPP_3 = 1.8e-3 when the multiplicity of the system is taken into account. Kepler vetting diagnostics yield a multiple event statistic of MES = 10.7, which corresponds to an ~85 % reliability against false alarms due to instrumental artifacts such as rolling bands.

So what is this probable new world like?

From what we know so far, it transits its star as seen from Earth. It is estimated to have a radius of 1.9 Earth radii, making it a super-Earth, and orbits its star in 378 days. Since the star is similar to our sun, the planet receives a similar amount of energy and radiation as Earth does, about 93%. This also means that the planet resides in a similar spot in the habitable zone around the star – where temperatures could allow liquid water to exist – as Earth does in the habitable zone around our sun. The lead author of the new study, René Heller, said in a statement:

KOI-456.01 is relatively large compared to many other planets that are considered potentially habitable. But it’s the combination of this less-than-double the size of the Earth planet and its solar type host star that make it so special and familiar.

Comparison of the amount of planetary illumination – solar energy – that KOI-456.04 receives from its star as compared to Earth and the sun. Image via René Heller et al./ Astronomy & Astrophysics/ arXiv.

If KOI-456.01’s atmosphere isn’t too dense or non-Earth-like, then there’s a good chance it could have similar surface conditions to Earth. The researchers calculated that if the planet’s atmosphere is moderate, like Earth’s, then the average temperature should be about 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius). Not too bad! There are, of course, still a lot of unknowns, such as the composition of the atmosphere and the planet itself and whether there is any surface water.

Kepler-160 was already known to have at least two planets, Kepler-160 b and Kepler-160 c. KOI-456.04, would be the newest, and it turns out there may actually be four planets in total. Heller said:

Our analysis suggests that Kepler-160 is orbited not by two but by a total of four planets.

The other two already known planets, Kepler-160 b and Kepler-160 c, are both larger than Earth and orbit much closer to the star. This makes them a lot less likely to be habitable. Kepler-160 c has an oddly distorted orbit, leading some scientists to theorize that another third planet, Kepler-160 d, was waiting to be discovered. Heller and his colleagues found evidence for its existence indirectly, since it doesn’t transit in front of the star as seen from Earth.

Heller and his co-author, Michael Hippke, developed a new technique for searching for exoplanets in old data from the Kepler Space Telescope (the mission ended in 2017). They decided to use a detailed physical model of stellar brightness variation instead of just looking for a step-like jump-to-dimming and then jump-back-to-normal brightness pattern in stellar light curves, as had been done previously for almost two decades. Heller explained:

Our improvement is particularly important in the search for small, Earth-sized planets. The planetary signal is so faint that it’s almost entirely hidden in the noise of the data. Our new search mask is slightly better in separating a true exoplanetary signal from the noise in the critical cases.

Artist’s concept of Kepler-160b, another world in the Kepler-160 system. It has a radius about 1.54 times that of Earth, but orbits very close to the star, making it unlikely to be habitable. Image via NASA.

If KOI-456.01 is any indication, then the process seems to be working. Heller and his colleagues had also been able to find 18 other new exoplanets, so far, in the old Kepler data.

Kepler-160 was observed continuously by Kepler from 2009 to 2013. It is very similar to our sun, with a radius of 1.1 solar radii, a surface temperature of 9,392 degrees Fahrenheit (5200 degrees Celsius, only 300 degrees C less than the sun), and a sun-like stellar luminosity.

While KOI-456.01 is still regarded as a planetary candidate, the odds are very good that it is the real deal. But of course, scientists want to know for certain, and it’s possible that one of the more powerful ground-based telescopes will be able to fully confirm it, since it transits its star and is therefore easier to detect than with some other planet-hunting methods. Also, the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) upcoming PLATO space telescope will be able to do that as well. One of PLATO’s primary goals is to search for Earth-sized exoplanets around sun-like stars, and is scheduled to launch in 2026. PLATO would be able to study KOI-456.01 a bit more closely, and, hopefully, reveal more about what this tantalizing world is really like.

René Heller at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), lead author of the new study. Image via MPS.

Although red dwarfs are the most common type of star, the discovery of KOI-456.01 bodes well for the possibility that many rocky worlds like Earth also orbit sun-like stars. That in turn increases the chances of eventually finding habitable exoworlds around stars just like our own sun.

Bottom line: Researchers have discovered a new exoplanet orbiting the sun-like star Kepler-160. It is less than twice the size of Earth and orbits at about the same distance as Earth does from the sun.

Source: Transit least-squares survey — III. A 1.9 R+ transit candidate in the habitable zone of Kepler-160 and a nontransiting planet characterized by transit-timing variations

Via Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research

 

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3d6YQfS

Come to know the Summer Triangle

We in the Northern Hemisphere can see the Summer Triangle for part of the night at any time of the year. But seeing it in summer is the most fun! As suggested by its name, the Summer Triangle is most prominent in northern summer. Seeing it again and again on summer nights is a deep pleasure that adds to the enjoyment of this season. So, as dusk deepens into night on a warm June or July night, look eastward for this great star pattern. It’s not a constellation, but instead an asterism made of three bright stars – Vega, Deneb and Altair – in three different constellations.

It’s difficult to convey the huge size of the Summer Triangle. At nightfall in northern summer, look for the brightest star in your eastern sky. That’s Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra the Harp.

Look to the lower left of Vega for another bright star – Deneb, the brightest in the constellation Cygnus the Swan and the third brightest in the Summer Triangle. An outstretched hand at arm’s length approximates the distance from Vega to Deneb.

Look to the lower right of Vega to locate the Summer Triangle’s second brightest star. That’s Altair, the brightest star in the constellation Aquila the Eagle. A ruler held at arm’s length fills the gap between these two stars.

The Summer Triangle, as captured and composed by our friend Susan Gies Jensen in Odessa, Washington.

Summer Triangle as a road map to the Milky Way. If you’re lucky enough to be under a dark starry sky on a moonless night, you’ll see the great swath of stars known as the Milky Way passing in between the Summer Triangle stars Vega and Altair. The star Deneb bobs in the middle of this river of stars that passes through the Summer Triangle, and arcs across the sky. Although every star that you see with the unaided eye is actually a member of our Milky Way galaxy, often the term Milky Way refers to the cross-sectional view of the galactic disk, whereby innumerable far-off suns congregate into a cloudy trail of stars.

Once you master the Summer Triangle, you can always locate the Milky Way on a clear, dark night. How about making the most of a dark summer night to explore this band of stars – this starlit boulevard abounding with celestial delights? Use binoculars to reel in the gossamer beauty of it all, the haunting nebulae and star clusters of a midsummer night’s dream!

Some see the Summer Triangle as a great big “V” for vacation, with Altair marking the point of the “V.” In summer, the Summer Triangle appears in the east at nightfall, high overhead after midnight and in the west at dawn. All night long on a summer night, the stars of the Summer Triangle – as if school kids on vacation – waltz amidst the streetlights of the Milky Way galaxy.

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

View larger. | Great Rift of Milky Way passes through the constellation Cassiopeia and the Summer Triangle.

Summer Triangle as nature’s seasonal calendar. The Summer Triangle serves as a stellar calendar, marking the seasons. When the stars of the Summer Triangle light up the eastern twilight dusk in middle to late June, it’s a sure sign of the change of seasons, of spring giving way to summer. However, when the Summer Triangle is seen high in the south to overhead at dusk and early evening, the Summer Triangle’s change of position indicates that summer has ebbed into fall.

Bottom line: How to find the Summer Triangle – an asterism, or noticeble pattern of stars – consisting of the three bright stars Vega, Deneb and Altair.

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

Donate: Your support means the world to us

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2YwXAgG

We in the Northern Hemisphere can see the Summer Triangle for part of the night at any time of the year. But seeing it in summer is the most fun! As suggested by its name, the Summer Triangle is most prominent in northern summer. Seeing it again and again on summer nights is a deep pleasure that adds to the enjoyment of this season. So, as dusk deepens into night on a warm June or July night, look eastward for this great star pattern. It’s not a constellation, but instead an asterism made of three bright stars – Vega, Deneb and Altair – in three different constellations.

It’s difficult to convey the huge size of the Summer Triangle. At nightfall in northern summer, look for the brightest star in your eastern sky. That’s Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra the Harp.

Look to the lower left of Vega for another bright star – Deneb, the brightest in the constellation Cygnus the Swan and the third brightest in the Summer Triangle. An outstretched hand at arm’s length approximates the distance from Vega to Deneb.

Look to the lower right of Vega to locate the Summer Triangle’s second brightest star. That’s Altair, the brightest star in the constellation Aquila the Eagle. A ruler held at arm’s length fills the gap between these two stars.

The Summer Triangle, as captured and composed by our friend Susan Gies Jensen in Odessa, Washington.

Summer Triangle as a road map to the Milky Way. If you’re lucky enough to be under a dark starry sky on a moonless night, you’ll see the great swath of stars known as the Milky Way passing in between the Summer Triangle stars Vega and Altair. The star Deneb bobs in the middle of this river of stars that passes through the Summer Triangle, and arcs across the sky. Although every star that you see with the unaided eye is actually a member of our Milky Way galaxy, often the term Milky Way refers to the cross-sectional view of the galactic disk, whereby innumerable far-off suns congregate into a cloudy trail of stars.

Once you master the Summer Triangle, you can always locate the Milky Way on a clear, dark night. How about making the most of a dark summer night to explore this band of stars – this starlit boulevard abounding with celestial delights? Use binoculars to reel in the gossamer beauty of it all, the haunting nebulae and star clusters of a midsummer night’s dream!

Some see the Summer Triangle as a great big “V” for vacation, with Altair marking the point of the “V.” In summer, the Summer Triangle appears in the east at nightfall, high overhead after midnight and in the west at dawn. All night long on a summer night, the stars of the Summer Triangle – as if school kids on vacation – waltz amidst the streetlights of the Milky Way galaxy.

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

View larger. | Great Rift of Milky Way passes through the constellation Cassiopeia and the Summer Triangle.

Summer Triangle as nature’s seasonal calendar. The Summer Triangle serves as a stellar calendar, marking the seasons. When the stars of the Summer Triangle light up the eastern twilight dusk in middle to late June, it’s a sure sign of the change of seasons, of spring giving way to summer. However, when the Summer Triangle is seen high in the south to overhead at dusk and early evening, the Summer Triangle’s change of position indicates that summer has ebbed into fall.

Bottom line: How to find the Summer Triangle – an asterism, or noticeble pattern of stars – consisting of the three bright stars Vega, Deneb and Altair.

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

Donate: Your support means the world to us

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2YwXAgG

The fire and the fireball

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eliot Herman captured this image on June 9, 2020. The bright streak is a fireball, or particularly bright meteor: a bit of space debris entering Earth’s atmosphere and vaporizing as it falls. The “clouds” are smoke from the Bighorn fire, which is still raging.

Eliot Herman wrote:

The fire and the fireball! Bright Earth-grazing fireball in Tucson, Arizona during Bighorn forest fire.

The ‘clouds’ to the north are really smoke form the Bighorn fire that was lit by lightning on June 5 and is still underway. The gap in the middle is the click of the camera which is under 0.5 seconds; a calculation of line flight makes this at least a 6-second transit across the field of view. This is a stack of 2 images. 2:11 a.m. A bright moon lights the smoke.

Thank you, Eliot!

See more about this meteor via the American Meteor Society

Check out the Bighorn fire images.

Read about the Bighorn fire on Inciweb.

Botton line: A bright meteor – also known as a fireball – captured in Tucson, Arizona on June 5. The “clouds” are smoke from the Bighorn fire.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3flhEt3

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eliot Herman captured this image on June 9, 2020. The bright streak is a fireball, or particularly bright meteor: a bit of space debris entering Earth’s atmosphere and vaporizing as it falls. The “clouds” are smoke from the Bighorn fire, which is still raging.

Eliot Herman wrote:

The fire and the fireball! Bright Earth-grazing fireball in Tucson, Arizona during Bighorn forest fire.

The ‘clouds’ to the north are really smoke form the Bighorn fire that was lit by lightning on June 5 and is still underway. The gap in the middle is the click of the camera which is under 0.5 seconds; a calculation of line flight makes this at least a 6-second transit across the field of view. This is a stack of 2 images. 2:11 a.m. A bright moon lights the smoke.

Thank you, Eliot!

See more about this meteor via the American Meteor Society

Check out the Bighorn fire images.

Read about the Bighorn fire on Inciweb.

Botton line: A bright meteor – also known as a fireball – captured in Tucson, Arizona on June 5. The “clouds” are smoke from the Bighorn fire.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3flhEt3

News digest – SABR, ‘chemo buses’, junk food marketing and 3D printed pills

With news about the coronavirus pandemic developing daily, we want to make sure everyone affected by cancer gets the information they need during this time. 

We’re pulling together the latest government and NHS health updates from across the UK in a separate blog post, which we’re updating regularly. 

Innovative radiotherapy treatment rolled out in England  

Sky News reports on an innovative type of radiotherapy being rolled out to all cancer centres across England in the next year. Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) treatment is a more precise form of radiotherapy that uses higher doses to offer patients a faster treatment period with fewer hospital visits. NHS England has also announced it will be ramping up the use of ‘chemo buses’ in London and Yorkshire to help deal with the backlog of people waiting for treatment due to COVID-19. The Telegraph has more.  

Scientists developing 3D printed ‘magnetic’ pills to help drug delivery 

Researchers in the UK and US are developing 3D printed magnetic pills that could provide a new way to target treatments to cancer cells. The technology could enable treatment to be delivered directly into the required area of the body, by using external magnets to trigger the release of cancer drugs. Read more on this at The Engineer.  

And finally… 

A new bill to restrict the promotion of junk food in Scotland has been temporarily paused by Scottish Government. As a direct result of our Scale Down Cancer campaign, the Scottish Government had committed to introduce legislation that would restrict how brands and stores could promote junk food products, including measures to ban multi-buy offers on foods high fat, salt and sugar, as well as their promotion at checkouts. The Scottish Government has now said that it will pause to consider if a more wide-ranging plan is needed in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Find the full story at BBC News.

Scarlett Sangster is a writer for PA Media Group

from Cancer Research UK – Science blog https://ift.tt/3cYHthd

With news about the coronavirus pandemic developing daily, we want to make sure everyone affected by cancer gets the information they need during this time. 

We’re pulling together the latest government and NHS health updates from across the UK in a separate blog post, which we’re updating regularly. 

Innovative radiotherapy treatment rolled out in England  

Sky News reports on an innovative type of radiotherapy being rolled out to all cancer centres across England in the next year. Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) treatment is a more precise form of radiotherapy that uses higher doses to offer patients a faster treatment period with fewer hospital visits. NHS England has also announced it will be ramping up the use of ‘chemo buses’ in London and Yorkshire to help deal with the backlog of people waiting for treatment due to COVID-19. The Telegraph has more.  

Scientists developing 3D printed ‘magnetic’ pills to help drug delivery 

Researchers in the UK and US are developing 3D printed magnetic pills that could provide a new way to target treatments to cancer cells. The technology could enable treatment to be delivered directly into the required area of the body, by using external magnets to trigger the release of cancer drugs. Read more on this at The Engineer.  

And finally… 

A new bill to restrict the promotion of junk food in Scotland has been temporarily paused by Scottish Government. As a direct result of our Scale Down Cancer campaign, the Scottish Government had committed to introduce legislation that would restrict how brands and stores could promote junk food products, including measures to ban multi-buy offers on foods high fat, salt and sugar, as well as their promotion at checkouts. The Scottish Government has now said that it will pause to consider if a more wide-ranging plan is needed in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Find the full story at BBC News.

Scarlett Sangster is a writer for PA Media Group

from Cancer Research UK – Science blog https://ift.tt/3cYHthd