Astrobites at ASA: Astronomy Down Under!
The annual meeting of the Astronomical Society of Australia happened last week; here’s a short summary of some of the incredible science happening Down Under!
New Frontiers in CCD Systematics
CCDs have been the workhorse of astronomy since the 1970s, but today’s paper shows that we’re still learning about ways they can systematically affect the results of our data.
A Naked-Eye Superflare Detected from Proxima Centauri
The Sun’s closest neighbor star Proxima Centauri—normally invisible to the naked eye—may have briefly become visible by increasing in brightness over 100 times for a few minutes back in 2016 in the largest flare ever seen from it.
Accidentally Finding a Solar Twin
After accidentally observing the wrong star this paper’s authors discovered a previously-unknown solar twin, a type of star which can help shed light on a number of questions in astronomy.