The Young Astronomers Newsletter

The Young Astronomers Newsletter Volume 26 Number 10 October 2018

By Bob Patsiga

In this month’s edition of the newsletter Bob discusses:

• Two research teams at the Large Hadron Collider have discovered bottom quarks, which are significant decay products of Higgs bosons. This represents filling in a major missing piece in the Standard Model of elementary particles.
• Researchers are using computer modeling to see if the moon of our closest star, Proxima Centauri could maintain liquid water, and possibly living organisms.
• Some theories about the earliest universe propose that dark matter was very prevalent and through its component particles, called WIMPS lead to unusual stars, called dark stars.
• Examination of the Cassini probe analysis of the icy geysers sprouting from Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, indicate that the plumes are rich in inorganic and organic fragments and molecules that should be capable of supporting life.
• Astronomical birthdays for October.
• Celestial happenings for the month.
• A constellation – nickname matching challenge.
• Forsyth Astronomical events and happenings for the upcoming month.