The 3I Atlas Enigma: A Psychological, Sociological, and Scientific Exploration

By Seth H. Feinstein - MUFON State Director/ Photo analysis Team

Introduction

The discovery of 3I/Atlas on July 1, 2025, by the ATLAS telescope in Chile has opened one of the most intriguing chapters yet in the study of interstellar visitors. Only the third confirmed interstellar object ever observed—after ‘1I/ Oumuamua and 2/I Borisov—3I Atlas displays characteristics that are both comet-like and anomalous. Its hyperbolic trajectory confirms it came from outside the solar system, yet its composition and behavior challenge conventional expectations.

For the UFO/UAP research community, 3I Atlas has become a compelling case study. Not because it is alien, but because it highlights how scientific uncertainty intersects with public fascination, expert hypotheses, and the psychology of belief.

1. What We Know About 3I Atlas

3I Atlas exhibits a coma and a tail, suggesting active outgassing, though unusually high CO₂ levels dominate it. It's extremely fast, and an unbound orbit confirms its interstellar origin.

Most scientists interpret 3I Atlas as an icy body ejected from another star system, likely a fragment of a distant planetary system disrupted long ago.

Still, the combination of CO₂-dominance, high speed, and non-gravitational movement leaves room for debate—and curiosity.

This NASA image shows the trajectory as the 3I Atlas travels through the solar system

2. Why Speculation Has Flourished

Speculation thrives when:

 - The data is incomplete

 - The object is distant

 - Prior interstellar objects exhibited anomalies

 - Experts publicly entertain alternative possibilities

3I Atlas checks all four boxes.

Adding to the intrigue, Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has proposed that 3I Atlas could be an extraterrestrial artifact, though he emphasizes this as a hypothesis, not a conclusion. The UFO

community naturally pays attention when credible scientists discuss technological possibilities.

3. What the Experts Are Saying

• Avi Loeb

Loeb suggests that the object's unusual trajectory could be consistent with a reverse Solar Oberth maneuver, a technique advantageous for a probe using the Sun’s gravity for acceleration. He also notes that the jet-like features might be consistent with technological thrusters.

However, Loeb repeatedly clarifies:

“By far, the most likely explanation is that 3I Atlas is a natural interstellar comet.”

• Steven Greer

Greer urges caution. He suggests that 3I Atlas is more likely a stray asteroid or rock, though he does not rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial debris. He warns that narratives around the object could be leveraged to generate unnecessary fear.

• Richard Dolan

Dolan considers Loeb’s hypothesis plausible enough for serious inquiry, noting the object's alignment with the ecliptic plane and unusual trajectory. He stresses that while the object is not proven to be technological, the anomalies justify close study.

• Marc Dantonio (MUFON Chief Photo Analyst)

Dantonio’s analysis emphasizes solid data: high CO₂ content, water ice, carbon monoxide, carbonyl sulfide, and possible cyanogen. He urges against sensationalism, focusing on what is known, rather than speculation.

• Michio Kaku

Kaku shocked many when he stated the newest images show:

- No tail or outgassing, despite a close approach to the Sun

- Apparent acceleration

- No visible mass loss

-An unexplained orbital shift

These observations have prompted some astronomers to ask whether 3I Atlas might be something constructed, not natural.

4. Why People Want 3I Atlas to Be Manufactured

Curiosity about 3I Atlas reveals deep psychological dynamics:

-Humans seek patterns and threat detection—a survival instinct.

-Uncertainty creates discomfort, pushing people toward definitive explanations.

- Believing in non-human intelligence gives life meaning, wonder, and purpose.

 -Conspiracy narratives offer order in a chaotic world.

 -UAPs fill a cultural space once occupied by traditional belief systems.

= Witnessing or believing in anomalies gives individuals a sense of belonging to a select group.

3I Atlas becomes a symbol - of mystery, potential, and our collective desire to understand our place in the cosmos.

5. Group Dynamics and the Pull Toward Negativity

UAP communities often form around high-intensity, ambiguous subjects. This fosters:

- Group bonding through shared threat narratives

 -Polarization, where groups amplify their dominant emotion

 -Worst-case thinking fueled by uncertainty

 -Rumor and mistrust in the absence of transparent data

These patterns are natural—but they must be recognized and managed to maintain scientific integrity.

6. Worst-Case Scenarios: Reality vs. Imagination

Hollywood has shaped public imagination for decades, presenting aliens as invaders. Films like Independence Day, Alien, The Thing, Signs, and War of the Worlds fuel fears that extraterrestrial technology equals danger.

In reality, the likelihood that 3I Atlas is:

- A piloted craft

-A deliberate probe

- Or a threat to Earth is extremely small.

A more grounded concern would be a close approach generating increased meteor activity.

The greater risks lie in public reaction—panic, misinformation, secrecy, or premature conclusions.

7. Final Thoughts: Why This Mystery Matters

My involvement began through the MUFON Photo Analysis Team. While others focus on the hard science, my contribution is more a psychological and sociological context surrounding our fascination with 3I Atlas.

This case reminds us that:

- Curiosity is healthy

- Speculation can inspire scientific breakthroughs

- Data, not fear, should guide us

- Wonder fuels discovery

Even if 3I Atlas turns out to be entirely natural, the process of studying it enriches astronomy, interdisciplinary sciences, and the UAP field.

The journey matters—and it moves humanity forward.

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{ Mufon.com }

14-12-2025 om 21:37 geschreven door peter  

Gemini was an American program in the 1960s, during which 12 launches of spacecraft of the same name were carried out. Its main goal was to teach people and technology to rendezvous and dock in space. In the future, this allowed the next important step to be taken – sending Apollo spacecraft to the Moon.

Why was the Gemini program created?

Exactly 60 years ago, on December 15, 1965, four astronauts were in Earth’s orbit at the same time for the first time. This happened during the flight of the Gemini-6 and Gemini-7 spacecraft. At one point, the ships were less than 2 meters apart, and the astronauts could clearly see each other through the portholes.

They did all this for a reason, but to understand the purpose and significance of that meeting in orbit, we need to go back to the first half of the 1960s. The space race is in full swing. The USSR won the first stage – the launch of the first satellite and the first man into orbit – but the US is hot on its heels. The Americans need to achieve something that their opponents can only dream of.

The next goal, the achievement of which will provide a reliable advantage, has already been defined – a flight to the Moon. A general flight plan for the Apollo program has already been approved, but it involves several things that NASA has not done before: maneuvers in orbit, rendezvous and docking of spacecraft in orbit, and extravehicular activities.

And all this had to be worked out in safer conditions. So, in parallel with the construction of Apollo spacecraft, landing modules, and giant Saturn 5 rockets, it was decided to implement a much simpler and less ambitious program called Gemini.

It was based on the ship of the same name, which was an enlarged version of the previous Mercury manned orbital vehicle. It differed from it in that it was a two-seater, had a docking hatch, and improved capabilities for orbital maneuvers. A modified Titan II ballistic missile was used for launches, which made it possible to minimize preparation time for the program’s implementation.

First flights

A separate selection of astronauts was conducted for the Gemini program in 1962. Initially, there were 508 pilots, whose number was gradually reduced until there were only seven left, who began to be trained for flights with the future goal that these same people might then fly to the Moon.

However, it all started with unmanned missions. The first one took place on April 8, 1964. The main goal was to check how the spacecraft would enter orbit and activate all its systems. This task was completed in 4 hours and 50 minutes, but the spacecraft remained in orbit for another four hours before burning up in the atmosphere. It simply did not have a heat shield.

It was tested along with the entire Earth return system during the subsequent Gemini-2 mission. It took place on January 19, 1965, and lasted only 18 minutes and 16 seconds. In fact, it was just a suborbital flight, during which the rocket left the atmosphere, the spacecraft separated, and landed.

Both flights were deemed successful, and two astronauts, Virgil Grissom and John Young, were sent into orbit on the next Gemini-3 mission. The latter died during ground tests for Apollo-1. The second flew to the Moon and on the shuttle, and left NASA in the 21st century. But back in March 1965, their mission was simple: to orbit our planet several times and land safely in a designated area. At that time, even that was not easy, but they did everything right.

Next was the Gemini-4 mission, which took place from June 3 to 7. The main event during this mission was the first American spacewalk. It was performed by Edward White while his colleague James McDivitt remained in the cabin. Soviet cosmonauts had made their first spacewalk just three months earlier, on March 18. The gap in the space race had narrowed to a minimum.

Record-breaking flights

The Americans managed to pull ahead during the next flight, which was carried out by the Gemini-5 spacecraft. Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad managed to break the flight duration record set in 1963 by Valery Bykovsky on Voskhod-5. The Americans spent 7 days, 22 hours, and 55 minutes in orbit. Also during this flight, fuel cells for providing electrical power were tested for the first time.

At the same time, astronauts attempted to perform a rendezvous maneuver with another spacecraft for the first time. For this purpose, an Agena rocket was launched from the ground – essentially just an empty upper stage of a launch vehicle. However, this task was not successful.

Then December 1965 arrived. Initially, two manned launches were planned, during the first of which (Gemini-6) Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford would again attempt to rendezvous with another Agena, but the launch of the latter, which was supposed to take place before their launch, was unsuccessful.

Therefore, plans had to be revised. Initially, on December 4, Gemini-7 was launched into space with Frank Borman and James Lovell on board. They had their own mission – to set a new record for flight duration and stay in space for 14 days. They accomplished it.

However, at the same time, it was decided that Gemini-6 would be launched into space on December 15, and shortly thereafter, the ships would attempt to rendezvous. They succeeded, demonstrating that NASA could handle one of the most difficult tasks during a flight to the Moon – the rendezvous of modules in space.

But getting close does not mean docking. That was the next big task, and it was accomplished by Neil Armstrong and David Scott aboard Gemini-8. The flight took place in March 1966, and this time, Agena successfully entered orbit, was successfully “caught”, and docked. The Apollo program was getting closer and closer.

Completion of the Gemini program

After that, there were four more flights under the Gemini-9 program. The flight was originally supposed to involve Elliot See and Charles Bassett, and was scheduled to take place in May 1966. However, on February 28, both pilots were killed in a T-38 training aircraft accident. Their places were taken by substitutes Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan.

But that was not the end of the trouble. Agena, whose docking was one of the main objectives of the mission, again failed to reach orbit, so they had to wait for a replacement. The launch was postponed, and this time the astronauts managed not only to approach it, but also to make two spacewalks.

Gemini-10, with John Young and Michael Collins on board, launched on July 18, 1966. This time, the astronauts managed to rendezvous with two target rockets. In addition, they performed two spacewalks.

Gemini-11, with Charles Conrad and Richard Gordon, launched in September of the same year, 1966. This time, the goal of the flight was to set a new record. The spacecraft traveled 1,374 km from Earth. In addition, the astronauts performed a spacewalk and conducted a series of experiments.

It was clear that everything that could be worked out on Gemini had already been worked out, and it was time to move on to Apollo. However, NASA management decided to work out the rendezvous, docking, and spacewalk procedures one more time. This is what the Gemini-12 crew did in November 1966.

The Gemini program ended, but not because it failed. On the contrary, it proved to be very successful, as American astronauts and engineers gained the most important thing – practical experience not only of flying in space, but also of purposeful work in it. This experience later came in handy not only during trips to the Moon, but also for the entire exploration of outer space.

Interestingly, when the Soviet Union learned about the Gemini and Apollo programs, it immediately perceived them as a threat to its leadership in space.

Soviet engineers attempted to implement a program very similar to Gemini, called Voskhod. And it even had some success. It was by stepping out of one of these spacecraft into open space that Alexei Leonov became the first person to do so. However, even in the Soviet Union, they understood that removing the ejection seat from the small Vostok to convert it from a single-seat spacecraft into a two- or even three-seat spacecraft was a very bad decision.

And most importantly, it is unclear why such risks were taken, since Gemini was valuable primarily as the first step toward Apollo, and by 1966-67, it was clear that the Soviet space program was not keeping up with it. In the end, Soviet cosmonauts did gain the same experience that allows them to feel at home in space. There, they reoriented their space program toward the exploration of Earth’s orbit.

But it is interesting in the Gemini program. These “basic orbital maneuvering exercises,” without which neither the station could be built, nor other planets could be reached, were completed by the USSR and the US back in the 1960s. But since then, despite the fact that many countries have declared themselves spacefaring nations, only one of them has been able to repeat this feat. We are talking about China, which in the 21st century was able to implement the Shenzhou and Tiangong programs. It seems that the Gemini “training” program is not so simple after all.

• Posted in Articles

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{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

14-12-2025 om 18:36 geschreven door peter  

(Image Credit: Brewbooks/CC BY-SA 2.0)

“At the end of their lives, massive stars (stars much bigger than our Sun) explode in a supernova,” said Grayce Brown, project lead and a SETI Institute intern, in an email to The Debrief. “During the explosion, the core collapses in on itself, becoming very dense and forming a neutron star.”

“Neutron stars are incredibly dense: think of something as massive as the Sun squeezed into a ball that’s as wide as Manhattan!” Brown said, adding that they spin extremely fast—sometimes up to 700 revolutions per second—on account of their angular momentum. 

According to Brown, this quality is “the same physics that causes figure skaters to spin faster when they pull their arms closer to themselves while they’re spinning.”

“The spinning of such a massive, dense object generates a powerful magnetic field, causing charged particles to accelerate to the magnetic poles and be thrown out into space as cones of light,” Brown told The Debrief. “If the magnetic poles are misaligned with the rotation axis, these beams of light sweep around the neutron star as it spins, kind of like a lighthouse.”

“If Earth is in the path of the beams, the star appears to pulse in brightness,” Brown explained. “Hence, we call them pulsars!”

Cosmic Clocks

Brown explains that because of their extreme density and speed of rotation, pulsars tend to rotate with a high degree of consistency.

“We know some pulsar spin periods all the way to 12 digits past zero; that’s a trillionth of a second,” Brown told The Debrief. “Since we know the spin periods should be incredibly consistent over time, we should expect the pulses to be evenly spaced. If they’re not, then we know something else is responsible; that something is affecting the arrival time of the pulse.”

“In this way, we consider them cosmic timekeepers,” Brown says. “If the ticks of a ticking clock weren’t evenly spaced, you’d know something weird was happening!”

Scientists use accurate measurements of these pulses to search for subtle phenomena, such as low-frequency gravitational waves. As the pulsar’s radio waves travel through space, they pass through clouds of charged particles that can bend and slow the signals just a little. 

“Just like starlight twinkles as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere, pulsar radio waves twinkle as they move through space,” explained Brown. “Monitoring these patterns helps us not only improve pulsar timing but also advance broader fields of astronomy, including SETI research.”

“Our research isn’t really about the pulsar itself—the pulsar is just a tool to learn more about the space between us and the pulsar,” adds Brown. “By seeing how much the pulsar pulse is scintillated/delayed, we can learn how much ‘stuff’ is in the way, causing the light to be scattered.”

“These same scattering effects will impact any radio waves passing through that area of space, not just those from the pulsar,” Brown said. 

As radio waves travel from a pulsar to Earth, they create bright and dim patches across different frequencies. By following these changes in their patterns almost daily over 10 months, the team was able to change the scintillation into detailed timing setbacks. 

The Research

Over roughly 300 days, the researchers measured the scintillation bandwidth and found changes on timescales from days to months, including a broader, long-term variation of 200 days. The study also introduced a new method for more accurately estimating how scintillation changes with frequency, leveraging the Allen Telescope Array’s capabilities.

“All radio signals passing through the interstellar medium experience scintillation,” noted Dr. Sofia Sheikh, co-author and Technosignature Research Scientist at the SETI Institute. “Understanding these effects helps distinguish natural signals from potential artificial transmissions, which is vital for SETI and other radio astronomy studies.”

By mapping how signals are delayed and distorted, astronomers can refine techniques for high-precision pulsar timing, which also helps to advance their efforts toward identifying any possible extraterrestrial technosignatures.

“If we receive a transmission from an intelligent civilization in another star system, that signal will have to pass through interstellar space,” says Brown. “Just as we have seen with pulsars, the signal will be scattered and scintillated.”

Still, one of the greatest challenges SETI investigations face involve the potential that a promising signal might turn out to have Earthly origins. 

“We need some way to differentiate between signals coming from Earth and signals coming from beyond our Solar System,” Brown told The Debrief. “Because of this research, we know how much scintillation to expect from a radio signal traveling through this pulsar’s region of interstellar space.”

“If we don’t see that scintillation,” Brown concludes, “then the signal is probably just interference from Earth.”

The team’s recent findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal.

• Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and the founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on YouTube and on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton, Instagram: @BeingChrissyNewton, and chrissynewton.com. To contact Chrissy with a story, please email chrissy @ thedebrief.org. 

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/space/ }

14-12-2025 om 18:13 geschreven door peter  

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Enhancing Cybersecurity for Space Missions: A Case Study of NASA Vulnerability Detection and Mitigation

AI Finds Vulnerability at NASA Allowing Takeover of Space Missions

Abstract
This essay examines a recent incident where an artificial intelligence (AI) system discovered a critical security flaw within NASA’s spacecraft communication infrastructure, preventing potential cyberattacks that could have jeopardized vital space missions. Through a detailed analysis of the incident, the underlying vulnerabilities, and the technological response, this paper underscores the transformative impact of AI on cybersecurity. It further explores the implications for safeguarding high-stakes aerospace operations and advocates for the broader adoption of automated AI-driven security tools.

Introduction
The current era of digital transformation has revolutionized the aerospace sector, augmenting communication, control, and data processing capabilities of space agencies like NASA. Yet, this technological advancement introduces new cybersecurity vulnerabilities, especially as systems become more interconnected. Traditional security assessments, relying primarily on manual reviews, often fall short in detecting sophisticated or overlooked flaws. The emergence of AI-driven security tools offers an innovative solution, capable of continuous, comprehensive, and rapid analysis. This essay investigates a specific incident in which AI identified and remedied a three-year vulnerability in NASA’s spacecraft communication software, highlighting the potential of such technologies to protect critical infrastructure from cyber threats.

Background: NASA’s Communications Infrastructure and the Vulnerability
NASA’s space missions rely heavily on secure and reliable communication systems to transmit commands, telemetry, and data between Earth and spacecraft. Central to this infrastructure is CryptoLib, a software library responsible for encrypting and authenticating exchanges between ground stations and spacecraft. The integrity of this software is paramount, as any breach could lead to unauthorized command issuance, mission sabotage, or data theft.

For over three years, NASA's cybersecurity team conducted manual audits and code reviews of its software systems. Despite these efforts, a significant flaw persisted unnoticed. The flaw was located in CryptoLib’s authentication mechanism and was not trivially exploitable remotely; instead, it required either physical access or vulnerabilities such as credential theft to activate. Nonetheless, its existence posed a critical threat, given that sophisticated attackers could leverage this bug to hijack or disrupt space missions, potentially causing catastrophic consequences and incurring financial losses over billions of dollars.

Nature of the Vulnerability

The vulnerability in CryptoLib was related to its authentication protocol, specifically a flaw in the implementation of cryptographic checks that could be bypassed under certain conditions. Although the vulnerability did not present an immediate remote exploit, it was still considered dangerous due to its exploitability via stolen credentials or malicious insiders. Attackers could potentially send malicious commands with high privileges, compromising sensitive operations like Mars rover instructions or satellite control.

The complex source code, extensive legacy components, and the rapidly evolving software environment contributed to the vulnerability's persistence. Human reviewers, constrained by the sheer volume of code and limited by cognitive biases, failed to detect this flaw during three years of manual checking. This persisted despite NASA’s rigorous security protocols, illustrating the limitations of traditional analytical techniques.

The Role of AI in Detection: AISLE’s Intervention
The turning point in identifying this vulnerability was the application of AISLE (Artificial Intelligence for Secure Logical Examination), an advanced cybersecurity algorithm developed by a California-based startup. AISLE leverages machine learning, pattern recognition, and anomaly detection to scrutinize large codebases automatically.

Unlike traditional methods that depend on predefined rules or human intuition, AISLE continuously scans the entire source code, learning from historical patterns to identify suspicious anomalies or deviations. When applied to NASA’s CryptoLib code, AISLE flagged numerous irregularities—potential warning signs that warranted further investigation.

Remarkably, AISLE’s analysis, performed within days, detected a subtle inconsistency in the cryptographic validation process. Although the specific flaw was not evident to human reviewers, the AI system’s anomaly detection capabilities highlighted the structural weakness of the authentication implementation. These findings prompted rapid assessment and verification by security engineers.

Rapid Remediation and Validation
In response, NASA’s cybersecurity team prioritized the patching process, updating the CryptoLib authentication protocol to eliminate the identified flaw. The automated AI-generated insights enabled a swift turnaround—entirely within four days—shortening what could have been a protracted manual review process.

Post-remediation validation confirmed the robustness of the revised code, and continuous monitoring was implemented to detect any future anomalies. This rapid response prevented potential exploitation, exemplifying the efficacy of AI-powered cybersecurity in high-stakes environments.

Implications of AI-Driven Security in Space Missions

This incident underscores several key implications for the future of space mission security:

1. Enhanced Detection Capabilities
   AI-based tools like AISLE significantly augment manual review processes by identifying vulnerabilities that may escape human detection. Their ability to analyze vast codebases rapidly ensures comprehensive coverage, reducing the risk of overlooked flaws.

2. Continuous and Adaptive Monitoring
   Unlike periodic manual audits, AI systems operate continuously, adapting to code changes and new threats in real time. This persistent vigilance is crucial for protecting sensitive infrastructure against evolving cyber threats.

3. Rapid Response and Mitigation
   Automated analysis accelerates the detection-to-remediation cycle, minimizing the window of vulnerability. As demonstrated in NASA’s case, this approach facilitates near real-time security responses, critical for mission-critical systems.

4. Proactive Security Frameworks
   AI’s predictive capabilities enable proactive identification of potential vulnerabilities during development stages, rather than reactive responses after exploitation occurs. This shifts cybersecurity from a defensive to a preventative paradigm.

Challenges and Considerations

Despite these advantages, deploying AI-driven cybersecurity tools faces challenges:

• False Positives and Alert Fatigue
  AI systems may generate false alarms, overwhelming security teams. Fine-tuning algorithms to balance sensitivity and specificity remains essential.

• Limited Context Understanding
  AI tools analyze code patterns but may lack contextual understanding of operational implications. Expert validation remains necessary for critical decisions.

• Privacy and Ethical Concerns
  The use of AI in security should adhere to strict privacy standards, ensuring that proprietary or sensitive information is protected.

• Integration with Existing Systems
  Seamless integration of AI tools into current cybersecurity workflows requires effort and investment, alongside adequate training.

Future Perspectives: AI as a Standard in Space Infrastructure Security
The NASA incident exemplifies the growing importance and effectiveness of AI in securing space missions. Moving forward, several developments are anticipated:

• Broader Adoption Across Agencies
  Other space agencies and private spaceflight companies are likely to adopt AI tools to fortify their cyber defenses, recognizing their proven efficacy.

• Evolution of AI Techniques
  Advances in explainable AI will improve transparency, enabling humans to understand AI decisions, thereby fostering trust and more effective collaboration.

• Robotics and Automated Response
  Integration of AI with autonomous systems could enable automatic threat mitigation, creating self-healing infrastructure capable of defending itself against cyber intrusions.

• Policy and Regulation Frameworks
  Regulatory bodies may develop standards for AI-based cybersecurity, ensuring consistent and stringent application across sectors.

Conclusion
The detection and mitigation of a three-year vulnerability in NASA’s communication system via AI exemplifies the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity. As space missions become increasingly complex and interconnected, the importance of automated, adaptive, and rapid security solutions cannot be overstated. While challenges remain, the NASA case vividly demonstrates that AI tools like AISLE are vital in safeguarding high-value, mission-critical infrastructure from cyber threats. Embracing these technologies promises a more resilient, secure future for space exploration and other sensitive industries.

{ PETER2011}

14-12-2025 om 17:45 geschreven door peter  

Comet 3I/ATLAS, only the third known object from interstellar space to pass through our solar system, is about to make its closest approach to Earth. On Friday, Dec. 19, it will come within about 170 million miles of the planet while moving on the far side of the Sun. The alignment should give Earth and space-based telescopes one of their best opportunities to study it, and NASA says it poses no threat.

Astronomers have followed 3I/ATLAS since its discovery on July 1. Hubble photographed it on July 21 from 277 million miles away, revealing a teardrop-shaped cloud of dust wrapped around its icy core. The comet stayed visible through September before slipping too close to the Sun to be observed. 

In early October, three NASA spacecraft at Mars-MRO, MAVEN, and Perseverance-picked it up again. MRO's HiRISE camera, usually aimed at the Martian surface, captured the clearest view: a tiny, pixel-like puff representing the coma, the dusty envelope created as sunlight warms the nucleus.

Ongoing observations will help scientists refine estimates of the comet's size and composition and better understand the dust particles in its coma. Current measurements suggest it could span anywhere from 1,444 feet to 3.5 miles.

3I/ATLAS follows two earlier interstellar objects, 1I/'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. Unlike 'Oumuamua, which behaved more like a rocky object, 3I/ATLAS displays classic comet activity. Even so, some of its traits have generated debate. Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who previously raised the possibility that 'Oumuamua might be artificial, has again questioned whether this object could have a technological origin, though most scientists continue to interpret it as a natural comet.

• Related video: Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is traveling at 130,000 mph (Space)

Loeb wrote that comets shed gas and dust when sunlight warms icy pockets on their surfaces, which produces a small push similar to a rocket. He noted that an artificial object could experience similar non-gravitational forces, either through propulsion or by collecting material as it moves through interstellar space, making it appear comet-like in low-resolution images. 

"Given these features, it may resemble a comet in unresolved images like the ones we have of 3I/ATLAS," he wrote. "However, a spacecraft could also display artificial lights, release excess heat from its engine or maneuver in unusual ways."

He highlighted several other features he considers unlikely for a natural object, including the comet's trajectory. Loeb wrote that its path is aligned with the plane of the planets to within five degrees, something he calculates as having only a 0.2 percent chance of occurring by accident.

He also pointed to a jet of material directed toward the Sun before and after perihelion, which he calls unusual for familiar comets. He argued that its timing placed it unusually close to Mars, Venus, and Jupiter while keeping it unobservable from Earth at perihelion. He also contends that the object's estimated mass and high speed make it unlikely to be a naturally occurring rock randomly entering the inner solar system.

Scientists will continue studying the comet after its closest approach. "Observations are expected to continue for several more months as 3I/ATLAS heads out of the solar system," NASA noted.

The European Space Agency's JUICE spacecraft also observed 3I/ATLAS last month and saw intense activity as sunlight heated the comet, causing its ices to sublimate. ESA expects most of JUICE's data to arrive in late February.

After passing Earth, 3I/ATLAS will move on toward Jupiter in spring 2026, providing another chance to examine this rare visitor from beyond the solar system.

More Space

• Wonder | NASA publishes long-awaited photos of interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS
• History | Earth has an unexpected new moon-and it's been here for decades
• Extraterrestrial | Harvard scientist tells Joe Rogan: 3I/ATLAS might be alien tech
• Close Encounter | Startling close call as undetected asteroid flies close to Earth

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{ chron.com }

14-12-2025 om 17:13 geschreven door peter  

There’s an electrifying new development in Mars science. NASA’s Perseverance rover has just captured proof of a weather phenomenon that was long suspected, but until now, never observed: electric discharges that brew within the dust devils that torment Mars’ surface.

The discovery, described in a new study in the journal Nature, confirms that lightning discharges occur in the Martian atmosphere. The dust devils that the discharges appear in are a common fixture on the Red Planet. Like on Earth, they’re whirlwinds created by rapidly rising columns of warm air heated by their proximity to the ground, shooting their way through the cool air which falls to take the rising warm air’s place. 

On Mars specifically, it was suspected that dust trapped in this whirlwind whips together to create a static charge through friction, a manifestation of the same so-called triboelectric effect that causes a spark after you shuffle across a carpet and touch a metal doorknob.

“Triboelectric charging of sand and snow particles is well documented on Earth, particularly in desert regions, but it rarely results in actual electrical discharges,” lead author Baptiste Chide, a member of the Perseverance science team and a planetary scientist at L’Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie in France, said in a NASA statement about the research. “On Mars, the thin atmosphere makes the phenomenon far more likely, as the amount of charge required to generate sparks is much lower than what is required in Earth’s near-surface atmosphere.”

That lightning on Mars had eluded detection until now was a long source of frustration to Mars scientists, as it had already been established to take place on other planets like Saturn and Jupiter, which are far more distant and aren’t observed up close by robots as we do the Red Planet.

The finding required some astonishing good luck. The detection was made by a microphone on the rover’s SuperCam instrument designed to analyze the acoustics of Martian rocks zapped by the SuperCam laser — or in other words, to record sound, not zips of static discharges. 

But the instrument kept picking up more and more electrical disturbances, in all logging 55 since its mission began in 2021, NASA said. Sixteen of them were recorded when a dust devil passed directly over the rover. Because the the number of discharges didn’t increase during the planet’s frequent dust storms, the scientists surmise that it must be coming from the dust devils instead — which, in another fortunate twist, happened to pass by the rover more often than anyone anticipated, allowing them to confirm the suspicion.

The discovery has exciting implications. Lightning can cause unique chemical reactions and affect the chemical balance of the planet’s surface, perhaps altering the odds of creating complex compounds — and possibly even organic molecules.

More on Mars: 

• Scientist Say They’ve Found Caves on Mars That May Contain Life

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13-12-2025 om 22:55 geschreven door peter  

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12-12-2025 om 21:35 geschreven door peter  

For billions of years since the formation of Earth and the Moon, solar radiation and our planet’s magnetic field have been driving a complex and invisible process. Parts of Earth’s atmosphere are transported to our moon and remain in its soil.

Transfer of Earth particles to the Moon

The surface of the Moon may not be just a barren, inhospitable place. Over billions of years, tiny particles from Earth’s atmosphere have settled on the lunar soil, creating a potential source of substances necessary for the survival of future astronauts. But it is only recently that scientists have begun to understand how these particles make their long journey from Earth to the Moon and how long this process takes.

New research from the University of Rochester, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, shows that Earth’s magnetic field may actually help guide atmospheric particles carried by the solar wind into space, rather than blocking them. Since Earth’s magnetic field has existed for billions of years, this process could have gradually moved particles from Earth to the Moon over a long period of time.

“By combining data on particles preserved in lunar soil with computer simulations of the interaction of solar wind with Earth’s atmosphere, we can trace the history of Earth’s atmosphere and its magnetic field,” says Eric Blackman, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester.

Research findings indicate that lunar soil may not only contain long-term data about Earth’s atmosphere, but may also be even more valuable than scientists had thought for future space explorers who will live and work on the Moon.

Hints on the lunar soil

Soil brought back to Earth by the Apollo missions in the 1970s provided scientists with important clues. Studies of these samples show that the dusty surface of the Moon, called regolith, contains volatile substances such as water, carbon dioxide, helium, argon, and nitrogen. Some of these volatiles came from the constant stream of charged particles from the Sun, known as the solar wind. But their abundance, especially nitrogen, is too great to be explained by the solar wind alone.

In 2005, a group of scientists led by researchers from the University of Tokyo hypothesized that some of the volatile substances could have come from Earth’s atmosphere. They argued that this could only have happened at a time when the Earth did not yet have a magnetic field, since, in their opinion, the magnetic field would have prevented atmospheric particles from escaping into space.

But researchers at the University of Rochester have discovered that this process may work differently.

Role of the magnetic field in particle transport to the Moon

The URochester team includes Shubhonkar Paramanick, a graduate student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and a Horton Fellow at LLE; John Tarduno, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences; and Jonathan Carroll-Nellenback, a computational scientist at the Center for Integrated Research and Computational Technologies and an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, used advanced computer simulations to model how and when regolith could have acquired the elements found in the Apollo samples.

The researchers tested two scenarios. One modeled the “early Earth” without a magnetic field and under the influence of a stronger solar wind. The other modeled the “modern Earth” with its strong magnetic field and weaker solar wind. The simulation showed that particle transport works best in the modern Earth scenario.

In this case, charged particles from Earth’s atmosphere are knocked out by solar wind and directed along Earth’s magnetic field lines. Some of these lines extend so far into space that they reach the Moon. Over billions of years, this funnel effect has caused small amounts of Earth’s atmosphere to settle on the Moon.

Preserving the past and supporting the future

The long-term exchange of particles means that the Moon can store chemical data about Earth’s atmosphere. Therefore, studying lunar soil can give scientists a rare opportunity to learn how the climate, oceans, and even life on Earth have evolved over billions of years.

The long-term, continuous transport of particles also indicates that lunar soil contains more volatile substances than previously thought. Elements such as water and nitrogen could enable humans to stay on the Moon for longer periods, reducing the need to transport supplies from Earth and making lunar exploration more feasible.

• According to phys.org

• Posted in News, Science

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

12-12-2025 om 21:22 geschreven door peter  

For decades, scientists have been baffled by two enormous structures buried deep inside Earth. These anomalies may retain geochemical signatures distinct from the surrounding mantle. Yet, their origin remains enigmatic. Rutgers University geodynamicist Yoshinori Miyazaki and colleagues offer a striking explanation for these anomalies and their role in shaping Earth’s ability to support life.

The illustration shows a cutaway revealing the interior of early Earth with a hot, melted layer above the boundary between the core and mantle.

Image credit: Yoshinori Miyazaki / Rutgers University.

The two enigmatic structures, known as large low-shear-velocity provinces and ultra-low-velocity zones, sit at the boundary between Earth’s mantle and its core, nearly 2,900 km (1,800 miles) beneath the surface.

Large low-shear-velocity provinces are continent-sized blobs of dense, hot rock.

One sits beneath Africa; the other is perched under the Pacific Ocean.

Ultra-low velocity zones are thin, molten patches clinging to the core like lava puddles.

Both types of structures slow seismic waves dramatically, signaling unusual composition.

“These are not random oddities,” said Dr. Miyazaki, co-author of a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

“They are fingerprints of Earth’s earliest history.”

“If we can understand why they exist, we can understand how our planet formed and why it became habitable.”

“Billions of years ago, Earth was covered by a global ocean of magma.”

“As it cooled, scientists expected the mantle to form distinct chemical layers, similar to frozen juice separating into sugary concentrate and watery ice.”

“But seismic studies show no such strong layering. Instead, large-low shear velocity provinces and ultra-low velocity zones form irregular piles at the planet’s base.”

“That contradiction was the starting point. If we start from the magma ocean and do the calculations, we don’t get what we see in Earth’s mantle today. Something was missing.”

The team’s model suggests that over billions of years, elements such as silicon and magnesium leaked from the core into the mantle, mixing with it and preventing strong chemical layering.

This infusion could explain the strange composition of large low-shear-velocity provinces and ultra-low-velocity zones, which can be seen as solidified remnants of what the scientists termed a basal magma ocean contaminated by core material.

“What we proposed was that it might be coming from material leaking out from the core,” Dr. Miyazaki said.

“If you add the core component, it could explain what we see right now.”

“The discovery is about more than deep-Earth chemistry.”

“Core-mantle interactions may have influenced how Earth cooled, how volcanic activity unfolded and even how the atmosphere evolved.”

“That could help explain why Earth has oceans and life, while Venus is a scorching greenhouse and Mars is a frozen desert.”

“Earth has water, life and a relatively stable atmosphere.”

“Venus’ atmosphere is 100 times thicker than Earth’s and is mostly carbon dioxide, and Mars has a very thin atmosphere.”

“We don’t fully understand why that is. But what happens inside a planet, that is, how it cools, how its layers evolve, could be a big part of the answer.”

By integrating seismic data, mineral physics and geodynamic modeling, the authors reconceived large low-shear velocity provinces and ultra-low-velocity zones as vital clues to Earth’s formative processes.

The structures may even feed volcanic hotspots such as Hawaii and Iceland, linking the deep Earth to its surface.

“This work is a great example of how combining planetary science, geodynamics and mineral physics can help us solve some of Earth’s oldest mysteries,” said study co-author Dr. Jie Deng, a researcher at Princeton University.

“The idea that the deep mantle could still carry the chemical memory of early core–mantle interactions opens up new ways to understand Earth’s unique evolution.”

“Each new piece of evidence helps fill in gaps in Earth’s early history, turning scattered clues into a clearer picture of its evolution.”

“Even with very few clues, we’re starting to build a story that makes sense,” Dr. Miyazaki said.

• “This study gives us a little more certainty about how Earth evolved, and why it’s so special.”
• J. Deng et al. 2025. Deep mantle heterogeneities formed through a basal magma ocean contaminated by core exsolution. Nat. Geosci 18, 1056-1062; doi: 10.1038/s41561-025-01797-y

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11-12-2025 om 22:18 geschreven door peter  

Maven, we have a problem: NASA has lost contact with a spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars for more than a DECADE

• READ MORE: NASA finds sugars essential for life on ancient asteroid Bennu

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

NASA has lost contact with a spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars for more than a decade.

The space agency last heard from the Maven (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft as it orbited behind the Red Planet on December 6.

But when Maven emerged, it had ceased all communications with NASA's ground stations.

All of the orbiter's systems were functioning as usual before it disappeared behind Mars as part of its normal orbit, according to NASA's telemetry.

NASA's scientists don't know what caused the disappearance, and it is currently not clear whether the spacecraft can be brought back online.

If Maven is unable to establish communications with Earth, it could put an end to over 10 years of critical scientific work from orbit around the Red Planet.

In a statement, the space agency said: 'The spacecraft and operations teams are investigating the anomaly to address the situation.

'More information will be shared once it becomes available.'

NASA has abruptly lost connection to the Maven spacecraft, which has been orbiting Mars for more than a decade 

Maven was launched from Earth in 2013 and arrived in Martian orbit on September 21, 2014.

The 800-kilogram (1,784 lbs) craft is equipped with eight pieces of sensitive equipment designed to collect images in the ultraviolet part of the light spectrum.

The mission's goal was to gather data about the planet's upper atmosphere, its interactions with the sun, and to explain how Mars lost its atmosphere to space.

Scientists believe that Mars was once a warm, wet world with lakes and oceans much like those found on Earth.

However, the planet's atmosphere was stripped away over millions of years, gradually transforming Mars into a barren desert.

Maven has been critical in showing that atmospheric loss was an escape route for Mars' water, revealing how it was lifted high into the atmosphere by dust storms, where it can be blown away by solar wind.

The spacecraft has also helped to map Mars' winds, categorise clouds on the red planet, and even discovered an invisible magnetic 'tail'.

More recently, NASA put Maven's equipment to an unexpected new use as the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS made its close pass of Mars.

Maven's ultraviolet images of Mars (pictured) have been critical in showing how the Red Planet lost its water and atmosphere over time 

In September, Maven captured the ultraviolet spectrum of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS (pictured), which could help scientists learn more about its origins and evolution 

Over the course of 10 days, starting on September 27, Maven used its Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph camera to create unique images of the passing comet.

Although these images didn't look like the high-resolution visible light shots from Earth-based telescopes, they were far more scientifically important.

By looking at the wavelengths of light emerging from the 'coma' of gases around the comet, scientists have been able to analyse its chemical composition.

Further study could reveal more about the comet's origins and evolution in another solar system billions of years away.

However, Maven's sudden disappearance following its encounter with the mysterious interstellar object has sparked a wave of online conspiracy theories.

On X, one paranoid commenter wrote: 'There could be a number of reasons for that, including intercession by an Extraterrestrial Alien Spacecraft to prevent NASA gaining any further information. Just my opinion.'

'3I/ATLAS took it,' another chimed in. 

While another conspiracy theorist added: 'Aliens got another one.'

With the disappearance coming so soon after the spacecraft's encounter with 3I/ATLAS, the news has sparked a wave of outlandish conspiracy theories 

On X, some commenters suggested that the craft could have been 'taken' by the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, reflecting a scientifically debunked theory that the interstellar object is an alien object 

Another conspiracy theorist on X suggested that Maven had been taken by aliens 

Read More

• A celestial oasis? NASA's Perseverance Rover discovers evidence of tropical rainfall on Mars 

In addition to its scientific work, Maven also played an important role in the data relay network between NASA's surface rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance, and Earth.

The spacecraft going offline could cause some disruptions for the space agencies' ongoing investigations on the Martian surface.

It will, therefore, be very critical for NASA to find out what went wrong with Maven and ensure it does not happen to any other Mars orbiters.

With Maven not responding to communications from Earth, NASA has only two active spacecraft in orbit: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in 2005, and Mars Odyssey, launched in 2001.

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) Orbiter 

Launch: November 18, 2013

Launch Location: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

Mars Orbit Insertion: September 21, 2014

Length: 11.4 metres

Width: 2.29 metres

Height: 3.47 metres

Weight (on Earth): 809 kilograms

Scientific Payload: Eight instruments for gathering data in the ultraviolet spectrum

Mission Objective:  To determine how much of the Martian atmosphere has been lost over time by measuring the current rate of escape to space and gathering enough information about the relevant processes to allow extrapolation backward in time.

Current Mission Status: Unresponsive  

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11-12-2025 om 21:20 geschreven door peter  

The new state of matter hiding beneath our feet: Earth's inner core hides a 'superionic state' that fuels our planet's magnetic heartbeat, study finds

• READ MORE: Priceless rock extracted from Scotland's Great Glen Fault

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Scientists have discovered a new state of matter hidden right beneath our feet – and it could explain the most mysterious properties of our planet.

A new study has found that Earth's innermost core isn't a conventional solid, but rather in a 'superionic state'.

In this strange state of matter, carbon atoms are free to flow like a liquid through a solid iron lattice.

This allows Earth's inner core to act like a dense solid, while remaining as pliable as molten metal.

According to a group of Chinese researchers, this matches the strange behaviour of the inner core that has been perplexing scientists for years.

Likewise, the flow of these liquid–like elements in the core could play a key role in maintaining Earth's magnetic fields.

Co–author Dr Yuqian Huang, of Sichuan University, says: 'Atomic diffusion within the inner core represents a previously overlooked energy source for the geodynamo.

'In addition to heat and compositional convection, the fluid–like motion of light elements may help power Earth's magnetic engine.'

Scientists have discovered that there is a new state of matter hidden beneath our feet, as they find that the inner core is in a 'superionic' state

The 102 quintillion–tonne sphere of iron alloy that makes up our planet's innermost core is one of the most extreme environments in the solar system.

More than 3,000 miles beneath the surface, the core is crushed by more than 3.3 million atmospheres of pressure and heated to temperatures close to the surface of the sun.

But the deepest depths of the Earth also exhibit some strange and contradictory behaviours.

Even though research has suggested the core is solid, it behaves in other ways as if it were a softened metal.

Seismic waves passing through the inner core are slowed, like sound moving through water, and it displays a level of malleability that is closer to butter than steel.

Scientists have spent years trying to work out how this part of the planet could be both solid and pliable at the same time.

One possible solution is that it combines the behaviour of both solids and liquids in one single state of matter.

Co–author Professor Youjun Zhang, of Sichuan University, says: 'In this state, carbon atoms become highly mobile, diffusing through the crystalline iron framework like children weaving through a square dance, while the iron itself remains solid and ordered.'

In a superionic state, carbon atoms are able to flow freely like a liquid through an iron lattice. This makes the material significantly more malleable, but this state only occurs under very extreme conditions 

Earth's 4 major layers

This superionic state would dramatically reduce the inner core's rigidity while still remaining solid.

In 2022, computer simulations showed that the inner core could enter this phase, but the required conditions are so extreme that this has been exceptionally difficult to test.

In their new study, the researchers exposed samples of iron–carbon to powerful shockwaves in order to recreate what it is like in the inner core.

They propelled the metal at 15,650 miles per hour (25,200 km/h), creating 1.38 million atmospheres of pressure and temperatures near 2,300°C (4,220°F).

By analysing the shockwaves produced by these impacts, the researchers found that the iron–carbon samples became significantly more malleable as they approached the conditions of the inner core.

This suggests that they had entered a superionic phase – and the metal in the core is likely the same.

These findings could represent a major change in how geologists think about the innermost depths of the planet.

It would not only help to explain why the inner core interferes with seismic waves, but it could also help us understand the planet's evolution.

Scientists believe that the superionic state of the inner core could explain why the deepest parts of the Earth act as if they are both solid and malleable 

The researchers believe that the movement of light elements could help to transport heat around the planet, and provide power for the magnetic fields.  

Professor Zhang says: 'We're moving away from a static, rigid model of the inner core toward a dynamic one.'

And, in the future, it could also help us to understand the magnetic fields and changes in temperature of distant exoplanets.

'Understanding this hidden state of matter brings us one step closer to unlocking the secrets of Earth–like planetary interiors,' Professor Zhang concludes.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

11-12-2025 om 18:40 geschreven door peter  

Scientists suspect that the surface of Mars was once teeming with water, a lush oasis full of river systems and lakes — until a dramatic change in the planet’s magnetic field caused it to lose most of its atmosphere, turning it into the arid hellscape we know it as today.

Now, an unusual new rock collection discovered by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover suggests the Red Planet’s ancient past was even wetter and more tropical than scientists previously thought, an intriguing new wrinkle in our efforts to figure out if the planet was once habitable.

As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, a team of researchers analyzed the rocks, which feature intriguing, light-colored dots and range in size from pebbles to boulders. They suspect it’s aluminum-rich kaolinite clay which on Earth forms after millions of years of wet, rain-filled weather leeches all other minerals from it.

“Elsewhere on Mars, rocks like these are probably some of the most important outcrops we’ve seen from orbit because they are just so hard to form,” said coauthor and Purdue University professor of planetary science and NASA Perseverance team member Briony Horgan in a statement. “You need so much water that we think these could be evidence of an ancient warmer and wetter climate where there was rain falling for millions of years.”

On Earth, kaolinite clay is most commonly found in tropical climates like rainforests, suggesting Mars may have once been home to a lush oasis. The team compared the rocks with samples from San Diego, California, and South Africa, and found intriguing similarities.

“So when you see kaolinite on a place like Mars, where it’s barren, cold and with certainly no liquid water at the surface, it tells us that there was once a lot more water than there is today,” lead author and Purdue University postdoctoral research associate Adrian Broz added.

The rover found fragments of kaolinite in a number of places along its path along the Jezero crater, which is suspected to be an enormous, dried-out lake bed — a finding that left scientists with a conundrum.

“They’re clearly recording an incredible water event, but where did they come from?” Horgan said in the statement. “Maybe they were washed into Jezero’s lake by the river that formed the delta, or maybe they were thrown into Jezero by an impact and they’re just scattered there. We’re not totally sure.”

Larger outcroppings of light-colored rocks could help them solve the mystery, but that’s something that will require Perseverance to have a much closer look.

“But until we can actually get to these large outcroppings with the rover, these small rocks are our only on-the-ground evidence for how these rocks could have formed,” Horgan said. “And right now the evidence in these rocks really points toward these kinds of ancient warmer and wetter environments.”

“All life uses water,” Broz added. “So when we think about the possibility of these rocks on Mars representing a rainfall-driven environment, that is a really incredible, habitable place where life could have thrived if it were ever on Mars.”

Besides painting a fascinating picture of an ancient tropical oasis on Mars, the researchers believe the rocks could allow us to glean new insights into how the Red Planet turned into a barren wasteland — an extreme shift that remains a mystery to this day.

More on Mars: 

• Scientists Say They’ve Found Caves on Mars That May Contain Life

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10-12-2025 om 22:19 geschreven door peter  

NASA under fire as its big reveal on the interstellar visitor ignites explosive cover-up accusations

• MORE: Strange signal detected from mysterious interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS as it moves closer to Earth 

By CHRIS MELORE, US ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR

NASA's big reveal of the mysterious interstellar object has been slammed as a joke, with many claiming the space agency is covering up what they really know.

The newest images of the visitor, known as 3I/ATLAS, were released by the space agency on Wednesday.

I/ATLAS (pictured) exhibits unique features, including an anti-tail, extreme color changes, an extremely unusual course, and a massive coma

In August, the Two-Meter Twin Telescope in the Canary Islands captured an image showing a faint jet extending roughly 3.7 miles from the object's nucleus, pointing toward the sun

NASA's James Webb Telescope spotted the interstellar visitor in August and the June spacecraft is scheduled to observe it in 2026

However, the pictures, taken on a rather sophisticated camera on Mars, were largely blurry and showed only a distant dot.

Moreover, NASA refuted any claims that the object, which had made unexpected maneuvers that dumbfounded experts, is anything other than a large space rock.

The agency's associate administrator Amit Kshatriya declared at a press conference on YouTube: '3I/ATLAS is a comet.'

Social media went into a frenzy, with many alleging the space agency was hiding what they actually knew and was withholding clearer images.

'What a waste of time! NASA is lying so bad. They are all so scripted. The gaslighting is off the charts,' one person posted on X.

'You have lost all credibility with this blurry hogwash photo. Anyone over there who cares about Earth should dump the entire unedited image archive to Wikileaks,' another social media user wrote.

NASA's sophisticated HiRISE camera was supposed to provide a detailed image of the interstellar object near Mars, but the photo shown on Wednesday was blurry and vague

Other images revealed by NASA showed 3I/ATLAS from great distances which made the object look like a dot among the stars

NASA's HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was expected to provide one of the best images of 3I/ATLAS to date, since it was able to view the object from just 19 million miles away.

However, the image shown on Wednesday was a fuzzy, black-and-white picture that did not have any definition.

In fact, the clearest and most detailed image presented by NASA did not actually show the interstellar object. Instead, it showed a color image of the chemical elements being released into space by 3I/ATLAS.

'It was a foggy London day when the NASA Mars orbiter took this photo haha,' one person joked on social media.

The space agency also pushed back on claims that 3I/ATLAS was displaying any behaviors that were unnatural for a typical comet.

Previously, Harvard professor Avi Loeb had already discovered at least 11 anomalies that scientists have yet to fully explain, including a cometary tail pointing in the wrong direction, the object turning blue near the sun, and course changes that defy gravity.

However, the NASA team dismissed any irregularities being recorded as a byproduct of the object coming from a distant solar system likely composed of a completely different chemical makeup than our own.

Nicky Fox, who works for NASA's science mission directorate, added: 'We certainly haven't seen any technosignatures [technological traces of intelligent life] or anything from it that would lead us to believe it was anything other than a comet.'

The only detailed image revealed by NASA did not include 3I/ATLAS, and only showed a trail of chemicals the object was supposedly emitting

NASA maintained that 3I/ATLAS was a comet with no signs of extraterrestrial life

'It's gonna look different because it didn't come from our solar system,' Fox added.

The quick dismissal of the alternative possibilities surrounding 3I/ATLAS only fueled the speculation online that NASA was trying to bury the subject of alien life.

'This is s***. Tell the truth once and for all to all mankind!!' one frustrated viewer posted.

'Seems like they are trying really hard to convince us that it's just a rock,' another person said.

When Fox was directly asked whether NASA scientists had investigated the possibility that 3I/ATLAS could be an alien craft, the associate administrator avoided giving a clear answer to the question. 

'We love all of the different science and all of the different hypotheses into what these things can be,' Fox replied.

'NASA= NEVER A STRAIGHT ANSWER,' an X user posted during the press event. 

'I should be mad about the NASA event being an absolute flop but I actually just can't stop laughing,' another viewer wrote.

Images of 3I/ATLAS taken by the Nordic Optical Telescope in Spain on November 11 showed the alleged comet has not broken apart as expected

Color-enhanced images shared by multiple social media users revealed 3I/ATLAS developed a strange green glow as it neared Mars and the sun last month

Since its discovery in July, the majority of scientists and astronomers have agreed with NASA's assessment, calling 3I/ATLAS a normal comet with a slightly different chemical arrangement than space rock which formed in this solar system.

Loeb, a physicist and head of the Galileo Project, a scientific research group looking for signs of extraterrestrial life, has been the most prominent voice disputing the comet theory.

He contended that those in the scientific community who have dismissed the more extraordinary possibilities are more concerned with being right and avoiding criticism than alerting the public to a potentially world-changing event.

'Here we are talking about a potential for something that could affect humanity in the future in a dramatic way, and so you shouldn't apply the same approach of being as conservative as possible,' Loeb told the Daily Mail in October.

'I don't want to be their therapist, but they're trying to obviously protect their reputation, not take risks, and also pretend that they know the answer in advance.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

09-12-2025 om 22:37 geschreven door peter  

A celestial oasis? NASA's Perseverance Rover discovers evidence of tropical rainfall on Mars

• READ MORE: Bizarre 'helmet' spotted on Mars likened to harry Potter sorting hat

By JONATHAN CHADWICK, ASSISTANT SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR 

Bizarre 'bleached' rocks on the surface of Mars suggest that the Red Planet was once a tropical oasis, a new study reveals. 

Scientists at Purdue University in Indiana have analysed photos of fragments of bleached clay, found by NASA's Perseverance rover. 

The fragments – which range from pebbles to boulders – suggest the Red Planet was warm and wet for millions of years. 

In fact, Mars may have been like the tropical regions of Earth such as the Amazon rainforest of South America and the Guinean Forests of West Africa.

And they offer further evidence that the planet once had the right conditions to support life. 

Briony Horgan, professor of planetary science at Purdue University, called the rocks 'probably some of the most important outcrops we’ve seen'. 

'We think these [rocks] could be evidence of an ancient warmer and wetter climate where there was rain falling for millions of years,' she said. 

NASA missions have already found evidence that Mars was much wetter and warmer billions of years ago, so the bright fragments could offer insight into how Mars came to its current barren state. 

'Bleached' rocks that stood out on the reddish-orange surface of Mars are evidence that areas of our neighbouring planet once supported wet oases with humid climates and heavy rainfall

According to the researchers, the rocks were found at the Jezero Crater, a 28-mile impact basin on Mars that held liquid water billions of years ago.

Initial examinations by the Mars rover’s SuperCam and Mastcam-Z instruments were used to compare the kaolinite to similar rocks found on Earth. 

The analysis shows the fragments are made of kaolinite, a white clay mineral that typically forms on Earth under tropical conditions. 

Kaolinite forms on Earth after rocks and sediment are leached of all other minerals by millions of years of a wet, rainy climate. 

So the fact they're on Mars suggests the red planet once supported wet oases much like those on Earth – humid with heavy rainfall. 

'Right now, the evidence in these rocks really points toward these kinds of ancient warmer and wetter environments,' said Professor Horgan. 

'When we think about the possibility of these rocks on Mars representing a rainfall-driven environment, that is a really incredible, habitable place where life could have thrived if it were ever on Mars.' 

There's no major kaolinite formation nearby where the fragments could have potentially originated and moved from, perhaps due to weather. 

The rocks are scattered throughout the mission path Perseverance has followed since landing at the Jezero crater nearly five years ago

Scattered kaolinite rocks on Mars’ surface shows the dry, dusty planet could have featured a rain-heavy climate billions of years ago

Is there water on Mars today? 

Today, Martian water ice is locked away underground throughout the planet's mid-latitudes.

On Earth, usually the ice is just water ice - i.e. frozen H2O. But on Mars, it's actually water ice and CO2 ice mixed with each other.

On Mars, it's just so cold that it gets frozen, so you actually have those mixed together both at the poles and underneath the surface as well.

There is also a very small amount of water vapour in the Martian atmosphere.

The rocks are scattered throughout the mission path Perseverance has followed since landing at the Jezero crater nearly five years ago. 

Jezero crater used to contain a lake about twice the size of Lake Tahoe – so the researchers think the rocks are 'clearly recording an incredible water event'. 

'Maybe they were washed into Jezero’s lake by the river that formed the delta,' said Professor Horgan.

'Or maybe they were thrown into Jezero by an impact and they’re just scattered there – we’re not totally sure.'   

Rocks like these are 'so hard to form because they need 'so much water', according to the researchers, which is paradoxical to how Mars looks now. 

Our neighbouring planet is of course a dry, dusty, cold and desert-like environment with a very thin atmosphere, around 95 per cent of which is made up of CO2. 

Today, water on Mars is found in the form of water-ice just under the surface in the polar regions as well as in briny water, which seasonally flows down some hillsides and crater walls. 

However, scientists are in agreement that liquid water was once far more ubiquitous on Mars – which could have once resembled Earth with blue oceans and lush green lands. 

The Red Planet (pictured) is an average of 140 million miles (225 million km) away from Earth. Jezero crater is located on the western edge of a flat plain called Isidis Planitia, just north of the Martian equator

About 4.3 billion years ago, the Red Planet had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 450 feet (137 meters) deep, according to NASA.

Read More

• Mars needs its own time zone! Clocks tick 477 microseconds quicker on the Red Planet than on Earth 

Fast forward to 3.5 billion years ago, and this water was more scarce – channeled around the planet between crater lakes via rivers, much like on Earth today.

Liquid water was last on Mars perhaps as recently as 2 billion years ago, before the Martian atmosphere was lost and the liquid water evaporated.

NASA says: 'Mars appears to have had a watery past, with ancient river valley networks, deltas, and lakebeds, as well as rocks and minerals on the surface that could only have formed in liquid water. 

'Some features suggest that Mars experienced huge floods about 3.5 billion years ago.' 

The new study has been published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. 

MARS: THE BASICS

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, with a 'near-dead' dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. 

Mars is also a dynamic planet with seasons, polar ice caps, canyons, extinct volcanoes, and evidence that it was even more active in the past. 

It is one of the most explored planets in the solar system and the only planet humans have sent rovers to explore.

One day on Mars takes a little over 24 hours and a year is 687 Earth days.

Facts and Figures 

Orbital period: 687 days

Surface area: 55.91 million mi²

Distance from Sun: 145 million miles

Gravity: 3.721 m/s²

Radius: 2,106 miles

Moons: Phobos, Deimos

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09-12-2025 om 21:51 geschreven door peter  

Scientists are baffled by a 'never–seen–before' blast from a supermassive black hole 130 million light–years away

• READ MORE: Terrifying simulation reveals how black holes generate light

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Scientists have been left baffled by a 'never–seen–before blast' from a supermassive black hole, 130 million light–years from Earth.

The colossal black hole sits at the centre of the spiral galaxy NCG 3783, and has a mass greater than 30 million suns.

Using a pair of powerful space telescopes, astronomers spotted a bright X–ray flare erupt from the black hole before vanishing.

Just hours later, the black hole whipped up cosmic winds that shot material into space at 37,280 miles per second (60,000 km/s) – one fifth of light speed.

This is the first time that scientists have been able to watch how an X–ray burst from a supermassive black hole triggers ultra–fast winds.

However, the process proved to be far more rapid than astronomers had previously anticipated.

Lead researcher Dr Liyi Gu, of the Space Research Organisation Netherlands, says: 'We've not watched a black hole create winds this speedily before.

'For the first time, we've seen how a rapid burst of X–ray light from a black hole immediately triggers ultra–fast winds, with these winds forming in just a single day.'

Scientists have been baffled to discover a 'never–seen–before blast' from a supermassive black hole, 130 million light–years from Earth (artist's impression), that sent material flying into space at a fifth of light speed 

The colossal black hole sits at the centre of the spiral galaxy NCG 3783 (pictured), and has a mass greater than 30 million suns

The largest and oldest of black holes are the so–called 'supermassive' black holes that sit in the hearts of most galaxies.

When a supermassive black hole, like the one in NCG 3783, starts to feed on nearby matter, it produces a vast amount of energy and becomes what scientists call an 'active galactic nucleus'.

Co–author Dr Matteo Guainazzi, an astronomer at the European Space Agency, told Daily Mail: 'If the black hole in our Galaxy would be active, it would be the strongest X–ray source in the sky.'

In fact, this X–ray radiation would be so strong that some scientists have even questioned whether it would affect Earth's habitability.

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) sometimes produce even more powerful bursts of X–ray radiation, and scientists still aren't entirely sure why.

Typically, astronomers have offered one of three explanations: pushes from the black hole's strong radiation field, pressure from extreme heat, and centrifugal forces in the surrounding disc of plasma.

However, in their new paper, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, the researchers propose an alternative suggestion.

Dr Guinazzi says: 'The winds around this black hole seem to have been created as the AGN's tangled magnetic field suddenly "untwisted".'

If Sagittarius A*, the black hole in the centre of our galaxy (pictured), produce similar radiation, it would be the brightest source of X–rays in the sky and could even affect the habitability of Earth

What are black holes?

Interestingly, this is an extremely similar process to events found on the sun that produce so–called 'coronal mass ejections'.

Coronal mass ejections occur when highly twisted magnetic fields known as 'flux ropes' tangle around sunspots and build up massive amounts of energy.

When the ropes eventually snap, the blast can shoot billions of tonnes of solar material into space.

These are the vast eruptions of charged particles and radiation which create the Northern Lights as they collide with our atmosphere.

Just in November, an intense solar flare was followed by a coronal mass ejection that shot material into space at 930 miles per second (1,500 km/s).

The researchers believe that a similar process could have created the flare and winds from the core of NCG 3783.

The initial 'untwisting' of the magnetic field would have triggered the initial fast–moving burst of X–ray radiation and sent the wave of wind in its wake.

Dr Guinazzi says these would be 'similar to the flares that erupt from the Sun, but on a scale almost too big to imagine.'

Scientists believe the burst of energy might have been created in a similar way to how the sun produces coronal mass ejections (pictured), which shoot billions of tonnes of solar material towards Earth 

If the researchers' theory is correct, this may mean that black holes and stars are more similar than scientists had thought.

Since 'windy' galactic nuclei are so important for shaping their host galaxies, this would be an important discovery.

Co–author Dr Erik Kuulkers, of the European Space Agency, says: 'By zeroing in on an active supermassive black hole, the two telescopes have found something we've not seen before: rapid, ultra–fast, flare–triggered winds reminiscent of those that form at the Sun.

'Excitingly, this suggests that solar and high–energy physics may work in surprisingly familiar ways throughout the Universe.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

09-12-2025 om 21:25 geschreven door peter  

In a statement detailing the discovery, the Kyoto team and colleagues from Meiji University noted that scientists have long considered chlorine and potassium to be key ingredients in planet formation and biological life. However, the exact origins of potassium and chlorine, dubbed odd-Z elements since they contain an odd number of electrons, have remained a mystery. That’s because current stellar formation models predict that stars create roughly one-tenth of the two life-supporting elements that astronomers have observed in the universe, leaving a deficit that scientists have struggled to explain.

Curious if exploding stars that have gone supernova could account for the remaining 90%, the Kyoto University-led team studied the remnant of a Milky Way supernova called Cassiopeia A. According to the researchers, the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite, launched in 2023, was the ideal tool to search for the missing life-supporting elements.

After aiming XRISM’s sensitive microcalorimeter Resolve device at Cassiopeia A, the researchers collected high-resolution X-ray spectrographic data on the remnant of an exploded star. The team said this tool provided high-energy resolution of the supernova remnant, “an order of magnitude better” than previously used X-ray detectors, offering an unprecedented glimpse into the heart of a dying star.

As hoped, the instrument’s increased resolution revealed emission lines from rare earth elements that had been created in the extreme environment of the exploding star. When the team compared the spectrum data with known signatures, they found that chlorine and potassium were produced by Cassiopeia A.

Next, the team compared the results with numerous supernova nucleosynthetic models. According to the press release, this analysis revealed the telltale spectral signatures of both life-supporting elements “at abundances higher than predicted” by generally accepted supernova models.

“When we saw the Resolve data for the first time, we detected elements I never expected to see before the launch,” explained corresponding author Toshiki Sato.

The team said that discovering the presence of chlorine and potassium at such high levels offers the “first observational evidence” that exploding stars could finally explain the mysterious origins of the key ingredients for life. The Kyoto-led team also said the data suggest that ‘strong’ mixing inside massive stars, which could be caused by fast rotation, binary interaction, or shell-merger events, “can significantly enhance the production” of these life-supporting elements.

Although the study examined only a single supernova remnant, the team said their findings show that chlorine and potassium can be produced in a star’s interior in sufficient quantities to account for the previously observed deficit. The data also indicates that ingredients that are considered critical for life can be created in an extreme, intense environment “far removed from anything resembling the conditions needed for life to emerge.”

“I am delighted that we have been able, even if only slightly, to begin to understand what is happening inside exploding stars,” said corresponding author Hiroyuki Uchida.

The team said the XRISM satellite’s ability to probe the deep interiors of stars, where elements critical for life are produced, demonstrated the power of high-precision X-ray spectroscopy. When discussing the impact of the findings, Sato said that making this type of crucial discovery with a satellite his team developed “is a true joy as a researcher.”

When discussing the following steps, the team said they plan to use the high-resolution capabilities of the XRISM satellite to determine if Cassiopeia A is an exception and the mysterious origin of the excess chlorine and potassium seen throughout the universe is still an open question, or do other dying stars also create an abundance of the critical for life elements needed to make up the previously observed difference.

If future observations reveal a similar signature of chlorine and potassium at the heart of other supernovae, the team said, it will show that such internal mixing processes “are a universal feature of stellar evolution.”

In the statement’s conclusion, corresponding author Kai Matsunaga noted that where life came from is an “eternal question everyone has pondered at least once.” So, helping solve such a longstanding mystery can also provide researchers with personal value.

“Our study reveals only a small part of that vast story, but I feel truly honored to have contributed to it,” Matsunaga said.

The study “Chlorine and Potassium Enrichment in the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant” was published in Nature Astronomy.

• Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/space/ }

09-12-2025 om 20:58 geschreven door peter  

The celebrity comet 3I/ATLAS is showing itself out of our solar system for good — but not before the cosmic paparazzi at Earth's space agencies snap some of the clearest photos of it yet.

Discovered in late June and confirmed to be the third known interstellar object in July, 3I/ATLAS has spent the past several months zooming through the inner solar system at an estimated 130,000 mph (210,000 km/h). The massive, jet-spewing snowball made its closest approaches to Mars and the sun in October. It is due for its closest encounter with Earth on Dec. 19, when it will be about 170 million miles (270 million kilometers) away — nearly twice the distance between our planet and the sun.

As the comet careens toward this astronomical milestone, spacecraft managed by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are snagging as many close-up observations as possible. This week, both agencies shared new images of the comet — proving that its recent flyby of the sun has left it very bright and active as it spews large amounts of sublimated gas and dust into space.

Hubble doubles down

On Thursday (Dec. 4), NASA shared the latest image of 3I/ATLAS taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The glowing white dot at the center of the image shows the comet's nucleus (its main body) and coma, the bright atmosphere of gas and dust that wraps around the comet before getting funneled into its tail. In the background, stars are stretched into long streaks as Hubble's camera stays fixed on the fast-moving comet.

Comets typically brighten as they approach the sun, when the ice within them heats up and sublimates. Solar radiation pushes this gas into a tail that stretches away from the sun. Meanwhile, the warmest, sun-facing side of the comet may erupt with jets of gas and dust angled toward our star. Both of these features are faintly visible in the new Hubble image.

NASA snapped this image on Nov. 30, when Hubble was about 178 million miles (286 million km) from the comet. This is considerably closer than when Hubble first imaged the comet in late July. Although that first view showed little more than a blue blur, it nevertheless allowed scientists to constrain 3I/ATLAS' size to somewhere between 1,400 feet (440 meters) and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) wide — likely the largest interstellar object seen to date.

New data from this image, including details of the coma's composition, has yet to be released but is likely on the way.

ESA juices up

Also on Thursday, ESA shared its latest view of the comet, taken by the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) orbiter on its way to study Jupiter's moons for signs of life. Juice snapped the image Nov. 2, just days after 3I/ATLAS' close approach to the sun.

Located even closer to its target than Hubble (only 41 million miles, or 66 million km, away), Juice shows us a comet brimming with activity.

"Not only do we clearly see the glowing halo of gas surrounding the comet known as its coma, we also see a hint of two tails," an ESA spokesperson wrote in a statement. "The comet's 'plasma tail' — made up of electrically charged gas, stretches out towards the top of the frame. We may also be able to see a fainter 'dust tail' — made up of tiny solid particles — stretching to the lower left of the frame."

Earth gets ready

Juice observed 3I/ATLAS with five scientific instruments on two days. But besides this teaser image, we don't yet know what those instruments saw; the full data set won't reach Earth until late February 2026, according to ESA. That's because Juice is currently using its main antenna as a heat shield to protect it during its close pass of the sun, and relying on its smaller, less efficient antenna to beam its observations back to us.

While there's little we can learn from NASA's and ESA's new images without the full complement of scientific data, it's a good reminder that human space exploration pays off in unexpected ways. Hubble and Juice number among a dozen spacecraft that have observed 3I/ATLAS from around the solar system, including Mars rovers, solar orbiters, asteroid trackers and space telescopes that were never intended to track comets.

And there's more to come: As 3I/ATLAS draws closer to Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope will take another look at it, while countless scientific observatories and amateur astronomers will have their chance to watch it as well. When you're dealing with a mysterious intruder from parts unknown, every observation matters.

{ Live Science }

08-12-2025 om 21:53 geschreven door peter  

Parts of the Lassen Volcanic National Park in California’s Cascade Range resemble the gateway to a hellish underworld, with pools of boiling water and bubbling mud where almost nothing can live, due to scalding temperatures that can reach a blistering 464 degrees Fahrenheit.

That’s enough to kill a human, obviously, which rangers and ample signage helpfully point out to visitors throughout the park. And yet: a team of scientists in America and Europe have discovered one remarkable organism that can survive and even thrive in these hellish waters: a tiny single-cell “fire amoeba.”

This humble critter, a gooey-looking blobunder the microscope, has set a “new record for the upper temperature limit” for all complex organisms on Earth because it can divide at a burning-hot 145.4 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the scientists who laid out their findings in a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed study published last week.

In reporting by Nature, the researchers said the existence of the once-unknown amoeba — now called Incendiamoeba cascadensis, meaning “fire amoeba from the cascades” — also challenges the notion that certain organisms called prokaryotes, which includes all bacteria, are the only lifeforms on Earth that can survive extreme temperatures that kill almost everything else.

Prokaryotes, which have no distinct nucleus, are still the reigning champs of biological toughness, as they can persist in temps between 149 and 221 degrees Fahrenheit — and they can theoretically be viable up to 392 degrees, above which nucleotides and amino acids start to break down.

Prokaryotes, which also includes a domain of microbes called archaeans, can be found in steaming compost piles, and places with volcanic activity and hot springs such as Lassen. The highest known temperature shrugged off by a prokaryote, an archaean called Methanopyrus kandleri, is 251.6 degrees Farenheit, a record for all organisms, prokaryotes or not.

In contrast to prokaryotes, the fire amoeba is an eukaryote — complex organisms that include every animal, plant, fungi, and also unicellular tiny lifeforms called protists, encompassing algae and other amoebae — and is composed of cells, or one cell in the case of the fire amoeba, that have a distinct nucleus bound by a membrane and interior organelles.

Eukaryotes such as mammals and us humans have an upper temperature limit of 109.4 degrees Farenheit, above which we die. Until now, the upper temperature limit for more hardy eukaryotic organisms, such as fungi and red algae, was thought to be 131 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, so this discovery of the fire amoeba is remarkable.

“We need to rethink what’s possible for a eukaryotic cell in a significant way,” Angela Oliverio, Syracuse University microbiologist and study co-author, told Nature.

The team found this tiny microorganism in a stream of hot spring water that was pH neutral, in contrast to the many acidic pools in Lassen.

“It’s the most uninteresting geothermal feature you’ll find in Lassen,” Syracuse microbiologist and study co-author Beryl Rappaport told Nature.

Studying the water from this stream yielded zero indication of life while under microscope, but something unexpected happened when the scientists added nutrients to the water and heated the samples to a temperature of 134.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the stream’s temp range; they noticed this then unknown amoeba moving and replicating.

When they slowly heated the samples up to 145.4 degrees, the hardly little amoeba again defied expectations and still kept on dividing and moving, according to the paper. At a degree higher, it was still active.

At 158 degrees, though, the amoeba went into dormancy in a process called encystment, in which it turns into a cyst-like ball; it develops a hard shell that protects it from harsh environmental conditions; cooler temperatures would allow for the amoeba to unwind form its cocoon to grow and reproduce again.

The team also decoded and analyzed the fire amoeba’s genome and “found an enrichment of genes related to proteostasis [process that regulates proteins], genome stability, and sensing the external environment,” the scientists wrote in the paper, showing the hidden mechanisms that allow the amoeba to survive.

The scientists said this discovery of the fire amoeba is exciting because it opens up the possibility of further research and discovery of new, undiscovered high-temperature loving eukaryotes; scientists have typically studied heat-loving prokaryotes called thermophiles.

“We looked in one stream,” Oliverio said. “Maybe we got extremely lucky and there’s nothing else out there, but we really don’t think that’s the case.”

Another exciting aspect of the discovery, according to the scientists, is that it could lead to better insight on how eukaryotes can survive such extreme temperatures while maintaining healthy cellular integrity and functionality. The proteins within the amoeba can also be a source for “thermostable proteins” that can find many applications in the biotechnology field, they said.

What’s also cool is that the discovery raises the possibility of life beyond Earth; researchers have speculated that microbes such as bacteria could lurk in the ancient riverbeds and lake shores of Mars or its ice caps.

Because like what actor Jeff Goldblum said in the first Jurassic Park movie: “Life finds a way.”

More on Microbes: 

• We’re Totally OK With This 48,500 Year Old “Zombie” Virus Being Resurrected
  

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07-12-2025 om 22:56 geschreven door peter  

Credit: © NASA/CSA/ESA, Rashi Jain (NCRA-TIFR)

The Milky Way’s Twin

Rashi Jauin and Yogesh Wadadekar of the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (NCRA-TIFR) in Pune, India, made the discovery, revealed in a recent paper published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Their sighting of the mature galaxy comes from light emitted when the universe was only one-tenth of its current age. Their name for the galaxy, Alaknanda, ties it to the Milky Way and to one of India’s most sacred features, the Ganges River. Before flowing through India, the Ganges originates from two headstreams in the Himalayas: Alaknanda and its twin, Mandakini, which is the Hindi name for the Milky Way.

The Milky Way and Alaknanda both feature grand design spirals, formed by two symmetric arms. Achieving this beautiful order from the irregular chaos of a new galaxy was believed to take billions of years, as the gas slowly accreted and was sculpted by slow-moving density waves into the ordered spiral shape.

Star Producing Power

At Alaknanda’s center is a bright, rounded bulge 30,000 light-years across. This central feature produces new stars at a rate 20 times that of the Milky Way, coming out to a combined mass of 60 times the Earth’s Sun annually. At this tremendous speed, half of Alaknanda’s stars were formed in just 200 million years.

“Alaknanda has the structural maturity we associate with galaxies that are billions of years older,” said lead author Rashi Jain. “Finding such a well-organised spiral disk at this epoch tells us that the physical processes driving galaxy formation—gas accretion, disk settling, and possibly the development of spiral density waves—can operate far more efficiently than current models predict.”

“It’s forcing us to rethink our theoretical framework,” he added.

James Webb Space Telescope Observations

Alaknanda’s location proved a boon for viewing the distant galaxy. Also in its direction is Pandora’s Cluster, a massive galaxy cluster that bends and magnifies light passing through, improving Webb’s ability to observe the spiral structure’s detail.

The pair behind the study broke the light down using 21 different filters to produce exact measurements of Alaknanda’s distance, dust content, star count, and star formation rate. Data for the project came from two different observational sets, acquired during the UNCOVER and MegaScience surveys.

As Webb allows researchers to peer not just farther out into the universe, but much further back in time, many preconceptions about our understanding of the cosmos are unraveling. Other types of advanced galaxies are being sighted from eras that should be far too early for them to exist based on our present understanding of galactic evolution.

“Alaknanda reveals that the early Universe was capable of far more rapid galaxy assembly than we anticipated,” said co-author Yogesh Wadadekar. “Somehow, this galaxy managed to pull together ten billion solar masses of stars and organise them into a beautiful spiral disk in just a few hundred million years.”

“That’s extraordinarily fast by cosmic standards,” Wadadekar said, “and it compels astronomers to rethink how galaxies form.”

James Webb and the Early Universe

This new data will require rethinking past ideas and developing new explanations, as scientists debate how these complex forms may have arisen so early. However, the researchers behind the recent study offered up some possibilities to help lead off that ongoing discussion. 

One is that cold gas infilled the galaxy, while density waves shaped it, but at a rapid pace. A more dramatic solution is that the galaxy collided with a small galaxy to form the arms, though in such an event, the spirals would be expected to fade rapidly. The researchers say that if subsequent observations can distinguish whether Alaknanda’s rotation is steady or turbulent, that will provide essential context for future debate on the matter.

Whatever the case, the James Webb Space Telescope is not just showing us more of the same that astronomers have already observed in our universe. Peering to greater distances, it is presenting unexpected discoveries that push against our most basic understandings of our universe, and continued exploration with NASA’s premier space observatory will only further test our scientific theories and lead to new insights into the cosmos.

The paper, “A Grand-design Spiral Galaxy 1.5 Billion Years After the Big Bang with JWST,” appeared in Astronomy and Astrophysics on November 10,W 2025.

• Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.

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07-12-2025 om 21:46 geschreven door peter  

China Outlines Future Plans in New Video, Including Finding Earth 2.0

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

05-12-2025 om 23:01 geschreven door peter