Scientists Uncover Possible Explanation for Bizarre ‘Atmospheric Ghosts’ Phenomenon

To be clear, we’re talking about the afterglow from transient luminous events, not the specters of dead people.

by Doris Elín Urrutia

 

Thomas Ashcraft

Four years ago, a green “ghost” appeared over a thunderstorm cloud in the Mediterranean Sea. To the delight of Spanish scientists, this ephemeral sighting finally offered a rare window into a little-known phenomenon playing out high in Earth’s skies.

When lightning strikes, it sometimes triggers the release of a violent optical emission at altitudes between 50 and 90 km above the thunderstorm cloud. These millisecond-long events, called transient luminous events (TLEs), are mysterious.

They can be shaped like jellyfish. These are known as sprites. Other TLE forms exist, boasting playful names like halos and elves. Just a few years ago, thrill seekers and citizen scientists discovered a new TLE, hovering above a sprite, called a ghost. While sprites appear red owing to the nitrogen in Earth’s atmosphere, and blue at more shallow altitudes due to higher atmospheric pressure, ghosts are green. They appear during and after the sprites, like fuzz on top of the jellyfish.

This puzzling afterglow was the subject of a new paper published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday.

Finding a Good Ghost

Researcher María Passas Varo led a team to use a special instrument called the Granada Sprite Spectrograph and Polarimeter (GRASSP), located outside Barcelona, to make a clear ghost sighting.

She and other atmospheric researchers were intrigued when, in the early half of 2019, storm chaser Hank Schyma noticed something new: in the wake of a sprite over the skies of Oklahoma, there was a greenish afterglow. He called the emerald-colored splotch a ghost, short for Green emissions from excited Oxygen in Sprite Tops. The idea behind the name was that, since oxygen is associated with the verdant tones of auroras, that the gas creates the ghosts.

Passas Varo, a telecommunications engineer, spectroscopist, and surveyor of atmospheric electricity based at the Astrophysics Institute of Andalucía in Spain, searched relentlessly for a new ghost. But finding one that GRASSP could glean a lot of data from was hard.

“We have analyzed more than 2,000 spectra, one by one, with the naked eye. We only found one good spectrum of a ghost. So, it is a lot of work. It is tedious,” she tells Inverse.

Then they finally found a science-worthy ghost, radiating from a thunderstorm cloud in the Mediterranean Sea on September 21, 2019. It was their best candidate for spectrographic analysis, in which the team peered into light from the ghost for clues about its composition.

They found a surprise. Oxygen was present, as they expected. But the team also found evidence of iron.

Iron is present in Earth’s upper atmosphere. It comes from the interplanetary dust particles that enter our atmosphere. But according to Passas Varo, it’s usually found at much higher altitudes.

Approximately one in every 100 sprites have ghosts. These events sometimes happen, but aren’t consistent. What makes a ghost appear could be a combination of different phenomena, and iron might provide a special clue.

A Need for Harmony

Cumulonimbus clouds are towers made of water droplets and ice crystals. These tiny particles journey along the updraft from the hot base of the cloud higher and higher until they reach the chilly top. Sometimes, they become larger molecules. If they bang against one another, they produce static electricity. These charged particles create lightning.

What goes down must be balanced in another form, and this need for harmony could be what causes the sprites and jets and all the other TLE oddities.

“When the lightning occurs, when the lightning strikes the ground, then an electric field appears above the cloud because you have to maintain, somehow, the balance of the electric field of the global electrical circuit,” Passas Varo tells Inverse. “Once you have this big discharge in the form of huge lightning downwards, then an electric field develops upwards. And this electric field develops a transient luminous event.”

One possible explanation for ghosts is that the sonic boom we know as thunder is, in one way or another, disrupting the iron from its usual altitude. Gravity waves on Earth, which are vertical, could also be playing a role in producing ghosts.

But what is clear is that a plethora of new observations are necessary. Passas Varo and the team have one good spectrum of a ghost but say it will take 99 more to get a clearer picture of what’s really happening.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

15-02-2025 om 00:00 geschreven door peter  

Scientists pinpoint exactly WHERE the 'city-destroying' asteroid could strike Earth in 2032

• READ MORE: Video shows 'city-killer' asteroid hitting Earth in 2032

By WILIAM HUNTER

The terrifying prediction that a 'city-destroying' asteroid is hurtling towards Earth has set alarm bells ringing at the world's space agencies.

Now, a NASA scientist has predicted exactly where the asteroid 2024 YR4 could strike.

David Rankin, an engineer with the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey Project, has sketched the 'risk corridor' according to the asteroid's current trajectory.

If 2024 YR4 really does hit Earth in 2032, it should fall somewhere in a narrow band stretching from northern South America across the Pacific to sub-Saharan Africa and into Asia.

Worryingly, this path extends over several densely populated regions including Chennai, India and Hainan Island, China.

Currently, NASA estimates that the asteroid has a one in 48, or 2.1 per cent, chance of colliding with the planet on December 22, 2032.

And with a diameter of up to 90 metres (300ft), or roughly the size of the Statue of Liberty, it could cause devastating damage to any populated area along the risk corridor.

If it were to strike, experts suggest it could unleash a blast equal to eight megatons of TNT - more than 500 times the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Scientists have predicted the exact path (shown in red) where the city-destroying asteroid 2024 YR4 could hit Earth. It should fall somewhere in a narrow band stretching from northern South America across the Pacific to sub-Saharan Africa and into Asia 

2024 YR4 was first detected in December last year but has quickly shot to the top of NASA's and the European Space Agency's (ESA) impact risk tables.

The asteroid is currently the only large asteroid with an impact probability greater than one per cent and has been awarded the rare rating of three on the Torino Scale, a scale for measuring the danger posed by asteroids.

The 'God of Chaos' asteroid 99942 Apophis is the only other object in the history of astronomy to be given a rating of three or higher on this scale.

While the odds of 2024 YR4 hitting Earth are still slim, Dr Rankin was able to use data about its orbit to predict where it might hit.

In the scenario where the asteroid does indeed collide with Earth, the 'risk corridor' threatens countries including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Sudan, Nigeria, Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador.

Where it lands will also determine just how powerful the impact is, with regions at the end of the corridor more likely to receive a glancing blow. 

However, there currently isn't enough information to say where along this risk corridor the asteroid is most likely to hit.

Dr Rankin told Space.com: 'Size and are big players in possible damage, along with impact location.

NASA predicts that the asteroid 2024 YR4 currently has a one in 48, or 2.1 per cent, chance of hitting Earth on December 22, 2032 (stock image)

'It's hard to constrain size and composition with the current orbital situation, as it's outbound. Typically, the best way to constrain size is with radar observations and those are not possible right now.'

It is currently estimated that the blast would be similar in size to the Tunguska asteroid which detonated in an air-burst explosion in 1908.

While this blast hit an unpopulated area, the shockwave still flattened an estimated 80 million trees over 830 square miles (2,150 square kilometres) - more than twice the land area of New York.

At the higher end of estimates, scientists suggest this explosion could have been equivalent to 15 megatons of TNT.

A blast this powerful would topple residential buildings and cause fatalities up to 12 miles (18.9 km) in any direction from the epicentre.

In the coming months, NASA and ESA hope to use Earth's most powerful telescopes to further refine their predictions about the asteroid's orbit.

This includes a rare emergency decision to grant an international team of scientists the use of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study 2024 YR4.

This team will use the JWST's infrared sensors to measure the heat radiating from the asteroid to make a better prediction of its size and orbit.

With an estimated size of up to 90 metres (300 ft), or roughly the size of the Statue of Liberty, 2024 YR4 could hit Earth with a blast equal to eight megatons of TNT (artist's impression)

Asteroid 2024 YR4 is about the same size as the Tunguska asteroid, which caused the largest impact event in recorded history when it shot through Earth's atmosphere in 1908, flattening 830 square miles (2,150 square km) of forest (pictured)

Scientists will also have a good opportunity to learn more about the asteroid when it makes its first close pass of Earth in March at a distance of around 5 million miles (8 million kilometres).

The world's space agencies currently predict that the impact probability will drop towards zero as they learn more, but an impact cannot currently be ruled out.

A new simulation of the asteroid's path also presents a slim possibility that it could hit the moon instead of Earth.

Dr Rankin's calculations suggest that there is a one in 333 chance that 2024 YR4 will collide with the lunar surface, creating a brilliant but otherwise harmless explosion that could be seen from Earth with the naked eye. 

However, for the countries along this predicted risk corridor, these predictions raise the chilling possibility that they may face a devastating collision within the next eight years.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

14-02-2025 om 22:00 geschreven door peter  

It’s a familiar sight to see astronauts on board ISS on exercise equipment to minimise muscle and bone loss from weightlessness. A new study suggests that jumping workouts could help astronauts prevent cartilage damage during long missions to the Moon and Mars. They found that the knee cartilage in mice seems to grow stronger after jumping exercises, potentially counteracting the effects of low gravity on joint health. If effective in humans, this approach could be included in pre-flight routines or adapted for space missions.

In space, astronauts experience significant loss of bone and muscle mass due to microgravity. Without Earth’s gravitational pull, bones lose density, increasing fracture risk, while muscles, especially in the lower body and spine, weaken from reduced use. This deterioration can impair mobility when back on Earth and effect overall health. To combat this, astronauts follow rigorous exercise routines, including resistance and cardiovascular training, to maintain strength and bone integrity. 

The next obvious step as we reach out into the Solar System is the red planet Mars. Heading that far out into space will demand long periods of time in space since its a 9 month journey there. Permanent bases on the Moon too will test our physiology to its limits so managing the slow degradation is a big challenge to space agencies. A paper published by lead author Marco Chiaberge from the John Hopkins University has explored the knee joints of mice and how their cartilage grows thicker if they jump! They suggest astronauts should embed jumping activities into their exercise regiment. 

Cartilage cushions the joints between bones and decreases friction allowing for pain free movement. Unlike many other tissues in the body, cartilage does not regenerate as quickly so it is important to protect it. Prolonged periods of inactivity, even from bed rest but especially long duration space flight can accelerate the degradation. It’s also been shown that radiation from space can accelerate the effect too. 

To maintain a strong healthy body, astronauts spend a lot of time, up to 2 hours a day running on treadmills. This has previously shown to slow the breakdown of cartilage but the new study has shown that jumping based movements is particularly effective. 

(Credit: Merlin74/Shutterstock)

The team of researchers found that, over a nine week program of reduced movement, mice experienced a 14% reduction in cartilage thickness in joints. Other mice performed jumping movements three times a week and their cartilage was found to be show a 26% increase compared to a control group of mice. Compared to the group that had restricted movement, the jumping mice had 110% thicker cartilage. The study also showed that jumping activities increased bone strength too with the jumping mice having a 15% higher density than the control.

An interesting piece of research but further work is needed to see whether jumping would herald in the same benefits to humans but the study is promising. If so, then jumping exercises are likely to be a part of pre-flight and inflight exercise programs for astronauts. It is likely that for this to be a reality in the micro-gravitational environment, astronauts will be attached to strong elasticated material to simulate the pull of gravity. 

Source : 

• Jumping Workouts Could Help Astronauts on the Moon and Mars, Study in Mice Suggests.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

14-02-2025 om 18:22 geschreven door peter  

via GIPHY

Earth has noctilucent clouds, too. They form in the upper atmosphere and are only visible during twilight when the atmosphere’s lower layers are in the shade and the upper atmosphere is sunlit. They form from water ice crystals between 76 to 85 km altitude and are the highest clouds in the atmosphere.

Mars’ noctilucent clouds are similar, but the main difference is that they contain carbon dioxide ice. They form at an altitude of around 60 to 80 km and are also classified as mesospheric clouds. On Mars, they occur in the Fall over the southern hemisphere. Only Mars’ high-altitude clouds containing carbon dioxide ice display iridescent colours.

This is the fourth year in succession that Curiosity has seen these noctilucent clouds. Its Mastcam instrument has different filters that let it see different wavelengths of light, and some of those filters are used to study the composition and particle size in clouds. It also has stereo vision, which helps scientists determine cloud height, shape, and the speed at which they’re moving. It can also observe the Sun through filters and determine how much sunlight the atmosphere is blocking. That tells scientists how much dust and ice is in the atmosphere and how it changes over time.

A November 2024 paper titled “Iridescence Reveals the Formation and Growth of Ice Aerosols in Martian Noctilucent Clouds” summarized Curiosity’s images and findings. The lead author is Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

“I’ll always remember the first time I saw those iridescent clouds and was sure at first it was some color artifact,” he said in a press release. “Now it’s become so predictable that we can plan our shots in advance; the clouds show up at exactly the same time of year.”

These clouds form only in early Martian fall and only in the southern hemisphere. Their iridescence is from uniform particle size, which indicates that the clouds had a brief evolution in a uniform environment. When clouds are both noctilucent and iridescent, they’re called nacreous clouds. It’s interesting to note that these colours would be easily seen by an astronaut on the Martian surface.

One of the mysteries behind these clouds concerns their location. They’re only seen in Mars’ southern hemisphere, and the Perseverance rover, which is in the Jezero Crater in the northern hemisphere, has never seen them. It seems pretty clear that they only form in certain locations, but the reasons why are unknown.

Lemmon says that gravity waves, which are atmospheric phenomena separate from astrophysical gravitational waves, could be responsible. They cool the atmosphere and could give rise to clouds of frozen CO2. “Carbon dioxide was not expected to be condensing into ice here, so something is cooling it to the point that it could happen. But Martian gravity waves are not fully understood, and we’re not entirely sure what is causing twilight clouds to form in one place but not another,” Lemmon said.

Scientists need more data to better understand these clouds. Curiosity wasn’t the only one to see them; the InSight lander did, too. But they could only see for a few hundred kilometres around their landing sites and their data is incomplete. “Orbiters capable of sunset and twilight times could constrain the cloud altitude,” Lemmon and his co-authors write in their paper.

There are unanswered questions about these clouds. Scientists would like to understand how quickly particles in these clouds evolve. They’d also like to know what the nature of the corona-forming layer is. A larger data sample could help answer these questions, as could more time-lapse imagery.

• Press Release: A Rainbow-colored “Feather” in the Martian Sky
• Press Release: NASA’s Curiosity Rover Captures Colorful Clouds Drifting Over Mars
• Published Research: Iridescence Reveals the Formation and Growth of Ice Aerosols in Martian Noctilucent Clouds

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

14-02-2025 om 18:01 geschreven door peter  

Alien life breakthrough as astronomers detect 'coherent' radio signal from distant planet

Astronomers have detected a 'coherent' radio signal from a distant planet, reigniting hope for the existence of extraterrestrial life.

The signal is thought to originate from a far-off, Earth-sized planet, suggesting it might possess a magnetic field similar to our own.

Scientists regularly monitor exoplanets and their potential to carry life. 85 new exoplanets were discovered outside our solar system, which could unlock secrets of the universe.

American astronomers have christened this rocky exoplanet 'YZ Ceti b,' asserting that it's a prime candidate for an Earth-like magnetic field, which could be crucial in humanity's quest for alien life.

The discovery has been hailed as significant for identifying a planet likely to have a magnetic field and offering a future technique to discover more such planets.

Using a radio telescope, the scientists detected a recurring radio signal from exoplanet YZ Ceti b, located approximately 70.5 trillion miles from Earth.

They speculate that these waves could be produced by interactions between the exoplanet's magnetic field and its host star, a small red dwarf named YZ Ceti.

This finding is essential for pinpointing a planet likely to have a magnetic field and establishing a foundation to discover similar planets in the future.

The researchers further suggested that this could mean witnessing the Northern Lights phenomenon - a result of interactions between magnetic fields and solar weather - on distant planets and stars could be possible.

Magnetic fields are vital in preventing a planet's atmospheric erosion caused by stellar emissions over time.

Drs. Sebastian Pineda and Jackie Villadsen have recently identified a repetitive radio signal from YC Ceti, a red dwarf star located 12 light years away. For context, one light year is nearly 5.88 trillion miles.

The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, a prominent radio telescope managed by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory under the US National Science Foundation, was the instrument that allowed them to gain deeper insights into the magnetic dynamics between distant stars and their planets.

This groundbreaking work, outlined in Nature Astronomy, was also funded by the independent federal agency, the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Joe Pesce from NSF, who works as the program director for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, hails these discoveries as key in the ongoing quest to find life on other worlds, emphasizing, "The search for potentially habitable or life-bearing worlds in other solar systems depends in part on being able to determine if rocky, Earth-like exoplanets actually have magnetic fields."

Recent research marks a significant advancement in exoplanet studies, indicating that some rocky planets beyond our solar system may have magnetic fields. This discovery was achieved through a novel technique that could help identify more of these intriguing worlds.

Dr. Pineda of the University of Colorado, located on America's west coast, expressed the team's elation at detecting planetary radio emissions similar to those Earth emits: "We saw the initial burst, and it looked beautiful," he said enthusiastically.

Moments of scientific triumph followed as Pineda recounted: "When we saw it again, it was very indicative that, OK - maybe we really have something here."

Dr. Pineda noted that a sturdy magnetic field can be pivotal for a planet's ability to retain its atmosphere.

From the other side of the country, Assistant Professor Villadsen of Bucknell University remarked on the distinctiveness of their findings: "I witnessed something that no one has observed before."

Prior detections of exoplanetary magnetic fields were mainly limited to gas giants resembling Jupiter. However, unearthing Earth-sized counterparts calls for different, refined methods.

Since magnetic fields are inherently intangible, detecting their presence around distant planets poses a significant astronomical challenge that Assistant Prof Villadsen and her team are committed to addressing.

She explained their strategy: "We're looking for planets that are really close to their stars and are a similar size to Earth."

"These planets are way too close to their stars to be somewhere you could live, but because they are so close the planet is kind of ploughing through a bunch of stuff coming off the star."

"If the planet has a magnetic field and it ploughs through enough star stuff, it will cause the star to emit bright radio waves."

{ https://www.the-express.com/ }

14-02-2025 om 17:05 geschreven door peter  

Strange Rock Found on Mars with Zebra Markings Has NASA Scientists ...

NASA Discovers New Substances on Mars: Implications for Future Exploration and Understanding of the Red Planet

Introduction

The quest to understand Mars has captivated scientists and enthusiasts alike for decades. With its striking similarities to Earth and its potential to harbor life, the Red Planet has been a focal point of exploration for NASA and other space agencies around the globe. Recent discoveries of new substances on Mars have opened up exciting avenues for research and exploration. This article delves into the significance of these findings, the methods used to uncover them, and what they mean for the future of Mars exploration.

The Historical Context of Mars Exploration

Mars, often referred to as the "Red Planet" due to its reddish appearance from iron oxide (rust) on its surface, has been a subject of human fascination for centuries. The first observations of Mars were made through telescopes in the 1600s, but it wasn't until the 20th century that space missions began to provide detailed information about its atmosphere, surface, and potential for life.

NASA's Viking missions in the 1970s were pivotal, providing the first close-up images and data about the Martian surface. Subsequent missions, including the Mars Pathfinder, Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity), and the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity), have progressively advanced our understanding of the planet.

The Curiosity rover, which landed in Gale Crater in 2012, has been a key player in Mars exploration. It has analyzed various rocks and soil samples, providing evidence of past water flows and organic molecules, which are crucial for understanding the planet's potential for life.

NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane on Mars - This low-angle self-portrait of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the site from which it reached down to drill into a rock target called “Buckskin” on lower Mount Sharp. 

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Recent Discoveries: New Substances on Mars

NASA's ongoing missions have recently reported the discovery of new substances on Mars, particularly through the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter. Perseverance, which landed on Mars in February 2021, has been tasked with seeking signs of ancient life and collecting rock and soil samples for future return to Earth.

1. Organic Molecules and Their Significance

One of the most groundbreaking discoveries from Perseverance has been the identification of organic molecules in Martian rocks. Organic molecules are carbon-based compounds that are often associated with life. Their presence does not confirm life on Mars but suggests that the building blocks of life may exist on the planet.

NASA scientists have detected these molecules using the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument, which utilizes advanced spectroscopy techniques to analyze the composition of rock samples. This discovery has revived discussions about the potential for past microbial life on Mars.

2. Salts and Their Geological Implications

Another significant finding from Perseverance is the presence of various salts in the Martian soil. These salts, including perchlorates, are of particular interest because they can provide insights into the planet's past climate and potential for habitability. Salts can indicate the presence of liquid water in the past, as they often form in evaporative environments.

The discovery of salts raises questions about the history of water on Mars. Understanding the distribution and concentration of these salts can help scientists reconstruct the planet's climatic history and assess whether conditions were ever suitable for life.

3. Unusual Rock Formations and Their Composition

Perseverance has also encountered unusual rock formations that suggest a complex geological history. These formations, characterized by unique textures and mineral compositions, may tell a story of past volcanic activity, sedimentation, and erosion.

Researchers are employing a variety of analytical techniques to understand the mineralogy of these rocks. The ChemCam instrument, which uses laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, has been instrumental in identifying the elemental composition of Martian rocks, revealing a diverse geological landscape.

The Role of Ingenuity in Exploration

The Ingenuity helicopter, accompanying Perseverance, has demonstrated the feasibility of powered flight on another planet. Its successful flights have not only provided aerial perspectives of the Martian terrain but have also guided Perseverance to scientifically interesting locations.

Ingenuity's ability to scout the landscape has been invaluable in directing the rover to areas with promising geological features. This synergy between the two missions highlights the potential for innovative technologies in planetary exploration.

A photograph of a "Silver Mountain" rock sample collected by NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover as it explores the rim of Jezero Crater. 

(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Implications for Future Mars Missions

The discoveries made by Perseverance and Ingenuity have profound implications for future Mars exploration. As NASA plans for the Artemis program and aims to return humans to the Moon, the lessons learned from Mars missions will inform the agency's approach to exploring other celestial bodies.

1. Sample Return Missions

One of the most ambitious goals of the current Mars exploration program is the return of samples to Earth. The Mars Sample Return mission, a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), aims to bring back rock and soil samples collected by Perseverance. Analyzing these samples in terrestrial laboratories could yield insights that are currently beyond our reach with remote sensing and in-situ analysis.

2. Search for Life

The discoveries of organic molecules and salts have intensified the search for life on Mars. Future missions will likely focus on identifying biosignatures—chemical indicators of past or present biological activity. This search will involve more sophisticated instruments capable of detecting and analyzing potential life forms, including microbial life.

3. Human Exploration

As NASA prepares for the eventual human exploration of Mars, understanding the planet's geology, climate, and potential hazards will be crucial. The presence of resources, such as water in the form of ice or brines, will play a significant role in sustaining human life on Mars. Future missions will prioritize the identification and assessment of these resources.

Public Interest and International Collaboration

The discoveries on Mars have also sparked renewed public interest in space exploration. NASA's commitment to transparency and engagement with the public has fostered a sense of excitement and curiosity about the Red Planet. Educational outreach programs and interactive platforms have allowed people worldwide to participate in the journey of discovery.

Moreover, international collaboration in space exploration has become increasingly important. As countries like China, the United Arab Emirates, and India launch their Mars missions, the sharing of data and findings can enhance our collective understanding of the planet. Collaborative efforts can also help address the challenges of planetary exploration, including technology development and resource allocation.

Conclusion

The recent discoveries of new substances on Mars mark a significant milestone in our exploration of the Red Planet. The identification of organic molecules, salts, and unique geological formations has profound implications for our understanding of Mars' past and its potential to support life.

As NASA and other space agencies continue their missions, the integration of innovative technologies and international collaboration will be key to unlocking the mysteries of Mars. The quest for knowledge about our neighboring planet is not only a scientific endeavor but also an opportunity to inspire future generations to explore the cosmos.

In the coming years, as we await the return of samples from Mars and prepare for human exploration, the discoveries made today will shape our understanding of life beyond Earth and our place in the universe. The journey to Mars is just beginning, and the excitement of discovery continues to propel us forward into the unknown.

{ PETER2011 }

14-02-2025 om 16:46 geschreven door peter  

Astronomers Just Discovered a New Dwarf Planet Beyond Neptune

Scientists think there were once many more of these dwarf planets in our Solar System, but most were destroyed or ejected when the larger planets in our Solar System moved to their current positions. But now RR245 joins the ranks of other survivors from this period – such as Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris, which have all been recognised as dwarf planets by the International Astronomical Union – amidst the tens of thousands of much smaller objects beyond Neptune.

The researchers first spotted the dwarf planet in February, when astronomer JJ Kavelaars from the National Research Council of Canada was sifting through OSSOS data recorded in September 2015.

"There it was on the screen," said Bannister, "this dot of light moving so slowly that it had to be at least twice as far as Neptune from the Sun."

The team suggests it's possible that RR245 may be one of the last large worlds detected beyond Neptune with today's telescopes, as the brightest dwarf planets have already been mapped – although the debut of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope next decade could turn up new discoveries we haven't been able to detect so far.

"OSSOS was designed to map the orbital structure of the outer Solar System to decipher its history," said one of the researchers, Brett Gladman of the University of British Columbia in Canada. "While not designed to efficiently detect dwarf planets, we're delighted to have found one on such an interesting orbit."

But beyond helping us map the outer reaches of our Solar System, the discovery of these dwarf planets – and their unique geological composition – helps us understand more about the cosmic past in our corner of the galaxy.

"They are the closest thing to a time capsule that transports us to the birth of the Solar System," astrophysicist Pedro Lacerda from Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland, who wasn't involved with the discovery, told Ian Sample at The Guardian. "You can make an analogy with fossils, which tell us about creatures long gone."

The discovery hasn't been published yet, so we're still waiting on further details from the researchers for now, but RR245 has been formally noted by the International Astronomical Union.

{ https://www.sciencealert.com/ }

13-02-2025 om 23:57 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE: NASA makes 'emergency' decision as asteroid approaches Earth 

By WILIAM HUNTER

A terrifying new animation has revealed the projected path of the 'city-destroying' asteroid heading towards Earth. 

And it suggests that Earth isn't the only object in the firing line. 

According to Dr David Rankin, operations engineer for the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey, the moon is also at risk of being hit. 

Dr Rankin calculated the route that the asteroid, 2024 YR4, is most likely to take.

His calculations indicate that 2024 YR4 currently has a 2.1 per cent, or one in 48, chance of colliding with Earth on December 22, 2032.

This is actually slightly less than previous estimates, which suggested there was a 2.3 per cent (one in 43) chance of impact.

Meanwhile, the scientist predicts there's a roughly 0.3 per cent (one in 333) chance of 2024 YR4 hitting the moon.

If the asteroid does hit Earth, the impact could release a blast of energy equivalent to 15 megatons of TNT - 100 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II.

David Rankin, operations engineer for the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey, calculated the route 2024 YR4 is most likely to take (white line). Showing the precise collision course which could lead to a deadly impact 

A terrifying new simulation reveals the path of the city-killer asteroid 2024 YR4 which has a 2.1 per cent probability of colliding with Earth in 2032

(stock image)

The asteroid was first detected by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) station in December last year.

It soon set alarm bells ringing as NASA almost doubled the probability of an impact with Earth from 1.2 per cent to 2.3 per cent.

Although that probability has now slightly decreased, 2024 YR4 is still the only large asteroid with an impact probability greater than one per cent - making it by far Earth's biggest threat.

However, Dr Rankin's calculations present a chilling new possibility that the asteroid could collide with the moon instead.

In a post on BlueSky, Dr Rankin revealed that there was a roughly 0.3 per cent chance of 2024 YR4 hitting the moon.

Without any atmosphere to slow its approach, the asteroid would slam into the lunar surface at a staggering speed of 31,000 miles per hour (50,000 kilometres per hour).

The collision would unleash an explosion 343 times the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and carve out a crater up to 1.2 miles (2km) across.

Should it hit the moon, it is most likely to land in the region stretching south from the Mare Crisium, a large plain of solidified lava, to the crater Tycho.

Asteroid 2024 YR4 is about the same size as the Tunguska asteroid, which caused the largest impact event in recorded history when it shot through Earth's atmosphere in 1908, flattening 830 square miles (2,150 square km) of forest (pictured)

Analysis of 2024 YR4's orbit indicates that the asteroid will most likely pass by Earth on December 22, 2032. However, new calculations suggest that it could also collide with the moon 

This could be concerning since this would place the impact on the side of the moon facing Earth, potentially exposing us to a shower of lunar shrapnel.

Thankfully, experts say that the Earth likely wouldn't be harmed by any impact which occurs on the moon.

Dr Rankin told New Scientist: 'There is the possibility this would eject some material back out that could hit the Earth, but I highly doubt it would cause any major threat.'

Unlike a large object such as 2024 YR4, these smaller pieces of debris should burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere creating nothing more than a particularly bright meteor shower.

In fact, some experts suggest that the collision between the asteroid and the moon could create a truly spectacular display.

Gareth Collins, a professor of planetary science at Imperial College London, told New Scientist: 'The impact flash of vaporised rock would be visible from Earth, even in the daytime.'

That means any keen stargazers on Earth could see the moment the asteroid detonates on the lunar surface with the naked eye.

However, it is currently seven times more likely to hit Earth rather than the moon. 

Without any atmosphere to slow it down, the asteroid would hit the moon at 31,000 miles per hour (50,000 kilometres per hour), creating an explosion bright enough to see from Earth with the naked eye 

These probabilities are likely to change in the future as scientists gather more information about the asteroid's orbit.

The current estimates for 2024 YR4's orbital path, speed, and size come from hundreds of images taken by powerful telescopes all around the world.

However, over such a short period of time, it is difficult to precisely predict where the asteroid will travel.

While astronomers hope that the probability of an impact will rapidly fall towards zero, a direct collision with Earth cannot be ruled out.  

Recently, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) made the emergency decision to use the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to take more accurate measurements.

The JWST will record the heat emitted by the asteroid using its infrared sensors which will give a more accurate estimate for its size.

A team of ESA scientists will make one observation in March when the asteroid reaches its peak brightness and another in May as it travels away from Earth.

This will be the last chance to observe 2024 YR4 before it becomes too dim to see from Earth until it returns again in 2028.

The European Space Agency has been given emergency access to the James Webb Space Telescope (pictured) to measure the asteroid's size more accurately 

Already, NASA has reached a hugely-important milestone with the DART asteroid deflection mission. In September 2022, the DART spacecraft was intentionally crashed into Dimorphos, an asteroid 6.8 million miles away. A similar method could be used to deflect asteroid 2024 YR4 before it reaches Earth 

Those observations will be critical for determining whether the world's space agencies need to take action to divert its course.

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission demonstrated how a space rock could potentially be thrown off a collision course with Earth by crashing a spacecraft into it.

Using a similar strategy to knock 2024 YR4 off its predicted orbit is one possible way that planetary defence organisations could protect Earth.  

However, with only eight years until the asteroid arrives, some scientists have cast doubt on the plan to deflect the killer asteroid.

In a post on X, Dr Robin George Andrews, a volcanologist and author based in London, points out that we 'have less than eight years to potentially deal with it'.

'You need 10 years or more to build, plan and execute an asteroid deflection mission,' he said.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

13-02-2025 om 21:04 geschreven door peter  

'Stranded' Starliner astronauts finally have a return date — and it's sooner than expected

Related: 

• Boeing Starliner astronauts could spend nearly 300 days stuck in space — is that a new record?

As for the stranded pair, they have made the most of their time in orbit: Williams recently broke the record for the most nonconsecutive hours of spacewalking by a female astronaut.

A long-awaited homecoming

In December 2024, NASA announced that Williams and Wilmore would return on a newly designed SpaceX Dragon capsule in late March 2025 at the earliest. But now, the astronauts and the rest of Crew-9 will come home on a previously flown Dragon capsule, the Endurance. This will allow the swap between Crew-9 and Crew-10 to happen sooner while SpaceX continues to finalize the interior and final integration of the new Dragon capsule, according to NASA.

Along with Wilmore and Williams, astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will leave the ISS in March. They'll be replaced by NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. The precise day of the return will be determined by weather conditions near Florida, where Endurance will splash down.

{ https://www.livescience.com/space }

13-02-2025 om 18:43 geschreven door peter  

Uranus’s Moon Ariel is Probably Hiding a Vast Ocean

"The size of Ariel's possible ocean and its depth beneath the surface can only be estimated..."

A photograph of Ariel.

Credit: NASA.

Unlike other surface features, these chasms appear to be the only structures facilitating material movement from Ariel’s interior, making them particularly valuable for future study.

Earth-Like Geological Processes at Work?

Scientists analyzing Ariel’s terrain have found striking similarities to a geological process observed on Earth known as spreading. This occurs along volcanic ridges where the seafloor slowly separates, allowing molten material to rise and form new crust.

On Ariel, a similar process could be unfolding as warmer material from the moon’s interior forces its way up, splitting the icy surface before filling the cracks. Researchers tested this theory by digitally aligning the two sides of Ariel’s chasms as if “zipping them back up,” and found a perfect match. The presence of parallel grooves along some chasm floors further supports the idea that material has been accumulating over time through repeated geological activity.

Could a Hidden Ocean Be Driving These Changes?

Another factor influencing Ariel’s surface could be gravitational interactions between Uranus and its moons. These interactions, known as orbital resonance, create internal heating that can melt ice and sustain liquid water beneath the crust.

Recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) provide compelling evidence that a hidden ocean may exist beneath Ariel’s surface. If so, this ocean might be responsible for the carbon dioxide deposits seen within the moon’s deep chasms. However, current data is insufficient to determine the exact size and depth of this possible ocean.

“The size of Ariel’s possible ocean and its depth beneath the surface can only be estimated, but it may be too isolated to interact with spreading centers,” Beddingfield explains.

Despite significant advancements in planetary exploration, much about Ariel remains unknown. While the Voyager 2 spacecraft provided valuable data during its 1986 flyby, it lacked the instruments needed to map the precise distribution of ices on the moon’s surface. Future missions with more advanced sensors will be crucial in determining whether Ariel is truly home to a hidden ocean—and what that might mean for our understanding of ocean worlds beyond Earth.

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{ https://curiosmos.com/category/space/ }

13-02-2025 om 18:07 geschreven door peter  

An illustration of a planet-killer asteroid.

Depositphotos.

Although further tracking will likely lower the impact probability, 2024 YR4 is a top priority for planetary defense experts.

2. Bennu

• Potential Impact Date: September 24, 2182
• Estimated Size: 490 meters
• Impact Probability: 1 in 2,700 (0.037%)
• Energy Release Upon Impact: Equivalent to 1.4 billion tons of TNT

Bennu is one of the most well-studied potentially hazardous asteroids, thanks to NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which returned samples in 2023.

Although the impact probability is low, a collision would be catastrophic—releasing enough energy to cause continent-wide destruction and severe climate disruptions. NASA scientists continue to monitor Bennu to determine if future deflection strategies will be necessary.

3. 1950 DA

• Potential Impact Date: March 16, 2880
• Estimated Size: 1,300 meters
• Impact Probability: 1 in 34,500 (0.0029%)
• Energy Release Upon Impact: Equivalent to 75 billion tons of TNT

1950 DA is a massive asteroid that, despite its low impact probability, remains a serious long-term threat. If it were to hit Earth, it would cause global devastation—triggering tsunamis, firestorms, and potentially a planet-wide climate crisis.

Although the impact risk is expected to decrease with further observations, planetary defense programs continue to monitor this colossal object.

4. 2023 VD3

• Potential Impact Date: November 8, 2034
• Estimated Size: 11–24 meters
• Impact Probability: 1 in 387 (0.26%)
• Energy Release Upon Impact: Comparable to the Chelyabinsk meteor event

Although 2023 VD3 is much smaller than the other asteroids on this list, its relatively high impact probability makes it a major concern. With a 1 in 387 chance of impact in 2034, it has one of the highest statistical risks currently known.

While it wouldn’t cause a global disaster, an asteroid of this size could explode in the atmosphere, producing a shockwave strong enough to damage buildings and injure thousands—similar to the Chelyabinsk event in 2013, where a 20-meter asteroid caused widespread damage.

Further observations will determine whether 2023 VD3 will safely pass Earth or require further attention.

5. 1979 XB

• Potential Impact Date: December 14, 2113
• Estimated Size: 400–900 meters
• Impact Probability: 1 in 1.8 million (0.000055%)
• Energy Release Upon Impact: Equivalent to 30 billion tons of TNT

First observed in 1979, 1979 XB is one of the largest asteroids on the risk list. Because of its size, a collision with Earth would have severe global consequences, similar to the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.

However, 1979 XB is classified as a lost asteroid, meaning its exact orbit is uncertain. Scientists are working to relocate it and refine its trajectory to confirm whether it poses a real long-term risk.

Can We Stop an Asteroid Impact?

While none of these asteroids pose an imminent danger, scientists are working on planetary defense strategies to ensure Earth’s safety.

• NASA’s DART Mission – Successfully altered an asteroid’s trajectory in 2022, proving that impact deflection is possible.
• Upcoming Space Missions – Future missions will explore gravity tractors, nuclear deflection, and other techniques to steer dangerous asteroids away from Earth.
• Advanced Tracking Systems – Telescopes like ATLAS, Pan-STARRS, and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory are improving our ability to detect threats decades in advance.

The likelihood of a catastrophic asteroid impact remains low, but continuous tracking is critical for ensuring early detection and possible deflection efforts.

Among all the asteroids being monitored, 2024 YR4 is the most immediate concern due to its relatively high impact probability in 2032. While ongoing observations will likely refine its trajectory, planetary defense experts are paying close attention—ensuring that if an asteroid ever truly threatens Earth, we’ll be ready.

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{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

13-02-2025 om 17:43 geschreven door peter  

Surprisingly, the lack of outside air pressure actually makes it easier to form a sphere than it would be on Earth since less pressure would be necessary to expand the sphere outwards. There are some nuances in the glass as well, with it being more like a glass lattice with embedded titanium or aluminum to make it stronger. Specific kinds of glass, such as borosilicate glass, could potentially add to the strength of the glass itself.

Most of the materials required to create such a structure could already be found on the lunar surface. Lunar regolith is full of the raw building materials required to make the structure work. Some of it has already been blasted into glass-like structures called agglutinates when micrometeoroids hit the lunar surface.

Those micrometeoroid impacts pose another risk to the glass sphere. Dr. Bermudez suggests having multiple layers of glass protecting the habitat, each with a layer of argon between them, like modern-day double-glazed windows. He suggests that spinning the outer layer might also provide some advantage, as will the spherical shape itself, as the impact force will dissipate better into the structure than it would on a flat surface.

Dr. Bermudez’s dreams don’t stop at the Moon, though. He suggests such a glass-blown structure could be useful on Mars or asteroids, where the microgravity would make it even easier to create these structures. On Mars, such a habitat might be limited to the top of Olympus Mons, where the atmosphere is thinner, and there isn’t as much wind and dust that could erode away the outer layers.

Many use cases exist for a structure like this, though many technical challenges remain. NIAC is the place for novel ideas that could potentially impact space exploration, and this one certainly fits that bill. As Dr. Bermudez works through de-risking his design, we get closer than ever to a future of aesthetically pleasing habitats on the Moon and everywhere else in the solar system.

Learn More:

• NASA / Martin Bermudez – Lunar Glass Structure (LUNGS): Enabling Construction of Monolithic Habitats in Low-Gravity
• UT – Glass Fibers in Lunar Regolith Could Help Build Structures on the Moon
• UT – Recreating the Extreme Forces of an Asteroid Impact in the Lab
• UT – Conceptual Design for a Lunar Habitat

Lead Image:

• Artist’s concept of a lunar sphere on the lunar surface.
• Credit – NASA / Martin Bermudez

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

13-02-2025 om 17:14 geschreven door peter  

Image of the most recent Orientale basin geologic map at 1:200,000-scale, which improves upon past geologic maps of the region that were 1:5,000,000-scale. The project focused on impact melt (depicted in red), which was created from the extreme heat of the high-speed impact and has been preserved for potentially billions of years. The stars represent potential landing sites for future sample return missions that scientists can analyze back on Earth to determine the absolute age of Oriental basin.

(Credit: Runyon et al.)

The goal of the study is to not only create an improved geologic map of Orientale basin, but to provide a foundation for future missions to potentially obtain surface samples of the impact melt and return them to Earth for analysis. Such analyses would reveal absolute ages of the impact melt through radiometric dating since these samples have been frozen in time for potentially billions of years. These results could help scientists unravel the Earth’s impact history, as both the Earth and Moon were potentially formed around the same period.

Along with the targeted impact melt, the team successfully identified and mapped a myriad of geologic features within Orientale basin as part of the new geologic map, including smaller craters within Orientale, fractures, fault lines, calderas, crater ejecta, and mare (volcanic basalt deposits), while also constructing a top-to-bottom map of Orientale basin, also called a stratigraphic map, that shows the most recent layers on top with the oldest layers on the bottom.

Unlike Earth, whose surface processes like plate tectonics and multitude of weather processes have erased impacts from billions of years ago, the preserved lunar geologic record could provide incredible insight into not only Earth’s impact history, but both how and when life first emerged on our planet. This is due to Orientale basin’s crater size and age, as such a large impact on Earth billions of years ago could have postponed or reset how and when life first emerged on the Earth.

“Giant impacts – like the one that formed Orientale – can vaporize an ocean and kill any life that had already started,” said Dr. Runyon. “Some recent modeling has shown that we probably never totally sterilized Earth during these big impacts, but we don’t know for sure. At some point our oceans could have been vaporized from impacts, then recondensed and rained out repeatedly. If that happened a number of times, it’s only after the last time that life could have gotten a foothold.”

While Orientale basin is one of the most striking features on the lunar surface, more than approximately 75 percent of it is not visible from Earth due to its location at the lunar nearside and farside boundary on the western limb of the Moon as observed from the Earth. Therefore, studying the Orientale basin is only possible with spacecraft. Despite this, Orientale basin was first suggested to be an impact crater during the 1960s when scientists at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory used groundbreaking techniques to “image” the sides of the Moon not visible to Earth using telescopic images taken from the Earth.

While NASA is focused on returning astronauts to the lunar surface with its Artemis program with the goal of establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon, returning scientific samples from Orientale basin could provide enormous scientific benefits for helping us better understand both the age of the Moon but also how and when life emerged on Earth billions of years ago.

How will the Orientale basin geologic map help us better understand the Moon’s and Earth’s history in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!

As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

13-02-2025 om 17:00 geschreven door peter  

PREMIUM

De asteroïde in de afbeelding is ter illustratie en geen echte representatie van de grootte van 2024 YR4 

© PN/GETTY

Kans dat asteroïde aarde raakt in 2032 is bijna verdubbeld: moeten we ons zorgen maken om 2024 YR4?

Er is een kleine kans dat in 2032 een asteroïde zal inslaan op onze planeet. Tot die conclusie kwamen astronomen recent na het bestuderen van de baan van 2024 YR4 rond de zon. Volgens nieuwe berekeningen is die kans inmiddels net niet verdubbeld. Moeten we ons zorgen maken? Waar en hoe hard kan ze inslaan? En kunnen we daar iets tegen ondernemen? HLN-wetenschapsexpert Martijn Peters stelt gerust en licht de situatie toe.

Martijn Peters

Hoe bereken je die kans?

De rode lijn bestaat uit 500 punten waarop de asteroïde de aarde zou kunnen passeren op 22 december 2032. Zo’n lijn kan links of rechts van de aarde liggen of onze planeet kruisen. Dat laatste is momenteel het geval. Dan kan je de kans van impact berekenen door de lengte te nemen van de rode lijn en te kijken hoeveel procent daarvan de breedte van de aarde is (zo’n 12.756 km). In dit geval is dat 2,1 procent.

{ https://www.hln.be/weer-en-wetenschap/ }

13-02-2025 om 16:39 geschreven door peter  

Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are icy bodies ranging in size from Pluto and Eris (dwarf planets with diameters of about 1,500 miles) down to tens of miles (Arrokoth) and even smaller. TNOs are on orbits comparable in size, or even much larger than, that of Neptune. The existence of TNOs was postulated by Kenneth Edgeworth, and later by Gerard Kuiper, in the 1950s; the region of space occupied by TNOs is usually referred to as the Kuiper Belt, and TNOs themselves, sometimes referred to as Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs).

The orbits of TNOs are extremely diverse but fall into groupings that reflect the outward migration of Uranus and Neptune early in the history of the formation of the solar system. As such, TNOs hold the keys to understanding that early history. However, it took NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and its unparalleled ability to study the materials on the surfaces of TNOs to fully begin to grasp what they can tell us about our origins. Here Bryan Holler and John Stansberry from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore describe how Webb is expanding our knowledge of these objects.

Pluto was the first TNO discovered, in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory. It wasn’t until 1992 that the second TNO (1992 QB₁, now named Albion) was discovered, by Dave Jewitt at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Jane Luu at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Now over 5,000 TNOs have been identified. The orbits of TNOs reveal an “architecture” that records the history of how the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune evolved early in solar system history. Computer models indicate that as Uranus and Neptune migrated outward into the primordial disk of TNOs, they ejected many objects and shepherded the remaining TNOs onto the orbits we see today. These present-day orbits are classified based on their orbital distances, eccentricity (ellipticity of the orbit), and inclination (tilt with respect to the plane that the planets orbit in). Of particular interest are objects on dynamically “cold” classical orbits, with very low inclination and eccentricity. The computer models indicate that these cold-classical objects still occupy their primordial orbits, and so represent an undisturbed remnant of the original protoplanetary disk. These TNOs truly represent the pristine building blocks of the planets, and one of them, Arrokoth, was visited and studied up-close by the New Horizons spacecraft in January 2019.

Of the TNOs whose orbits were perturbed during giant-planet migration, it is difficult to trace them back to where they formed. Yet it is only by studying the composition of individual TNOs that we can hope to map out the composition of the primordial outer disk. TNOs are on very distant orbits from the Sun, and are very cold, below minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit (about minus 170 degrees  Celsius), so their surfaces could provide information about the original composition of planetesimals within the disk. Webb is the first observatory able to provide detailed compositional information about typical TNOs (with diameters less than about 500 miles, or 800 kilometers) because of its large primary mirror and highly sensitive instruments. In particular, the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) has for the first time revealed TNO compositions in exquisite detail.

Webb’s NIRSpec divides light at wavelengths between about 1 and 5 microns into hundreds or thousands of individual colors. The relative brightness of those colors as a function of wavelength is a spectrum. Different materials exhibit different spectra that help identify the composition of the object observed. Because the TNOs formed in the cold, outer portions of the protoplanetary disk, it has long been expected that they would have surfaces dominated by ices of molecules that are gases or liquids at Earth’s surface, e.g. water (H₂O), carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrogen (N₂), and methane (CH₄), among others. Further, radiation from the Sun and outside the solar system alters the chemistry, creating new, more complex hydrocarbon (organic) molecules such as methanol (CH₃OH), acetylene (C₂H₂), and ethane (C₂H₆). Webb data has confirmed this, but in unexpected ways, and in unprecedented detail.

Within the first two years of science operations, Webb has taken high-quality spectra of over 75 TNOs and provided the first comprehensive look at what they are made of, including nearly 60 objects from the Large Cycle 1 program called “DiSCo-TNOs” (program ID #2418, PI: Noemí Pinilla-Alonso). The major result from the large dataset from the DiSCo-TNOs program is the identification of three spectral classes, which is the first evidence for distinct surface compositions, that was completely unexpected based on earlier studies. These classifications are named based on the spectral shape in the 2.5–4 micron region, with the deepest band centered at 3.0 microns generated by molecules that contain an oxygen-hydrogen bond, such as water. Bowl-type spectra are dominated by the absorption features of water ice, with some carbon dioxide ice, and indications of silicate-rich dust. Double-dip spectra have absorption features due to complex organic molecules, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide ices. Cliff spectra have even more complex organic materials and carbon dioxide than Double-dips, and also include features due to CH₃OH. Double-dip spectra indicate very abundant and pure carbon dioxide ice, as evidenced by the two reflectance peaks (never observed outside of a laboratory) bounding the 4.27 micron band. The three spectral types are also distinct in their color at the shortest visible wavelengths, with bowls being least red, double-dips intermediate, and cliffs reddest.

The DiSCo-TNOs team hypothesizes in Pinilla-Alonso et al. (2024) that these different spectral types are the result of higher temperatures closer to the Sun, and colder temperatures farther out. Specifically, the Bowl types formed closer to the Sun and were subject to higher temperatures that essentially baked off the carbon dioxide and methane. These compounds were more stable on Double-dips and Cliffs, which formed farther out. An important clue leading to that hypothesis is that all of the objects on undisturbed cold-classical orbits are Cliffs. TNOs on other orbits include objects from all three compositional types, as would be expected due to the dynamical reshuffling as Neptune migrated outward, as described above.

Looking ahead, Webb continues to carry out a robust program of TNO observations each year, with new and exciting programs selected by the community for execution. Cycle 3 will see imaging and spectroscopy of a handful of TNOs and their satellites, including the first-ever spectral observations of the “extreme” TNOs, with orbits that take them well into interstellar space. Another program aims to circle back to targets observed in the first year of science operations to get an even more detailed look at the materials that led to the formation of TNOs in the protosolar nebula. Two other programs focus on imaging and spectroscopy of TNO binary systems to better understand the origins of TNO satellites, either via giant impacts or co-formation via gravitational collapse. Who knows what new ideas and exciting discoveries the next year will bring?

  Editor’s Note: These findings have been published in Nature Astronomy.                        

Related Links:

The full list of team members for General Observers program 2418.

Unveiling New Planets Beyond Neptune: Unknown Worlds Discovered!

3 MINUTES AGO: NASA Revealed Unexpected Discovery on Neptune!

{ https://www.nasa.gov/ }

13-02-2025 om 00:00 geschreven door peter  

Scientist gives chilling update on the 'city-destroying' asteroid heading towards Earth - and warns NASA has left it too late to deflect it

• READ MORE: Map shows what will happen if 2024 YR4 asteroid hits UK in 2032

By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE 

Being wiped out by a massive space rock that hits Earth at thousands of miles an hour may sound like a plot worthy of a Hollywood film. 

But a newly-discovered space rock, called 2024 YR4, really is heading our way. 

Only discovered at the end of last year, 2024 YR4 is somewhere between 130 to 300 ft (40 to 90 metres) in diameter – so likely bigger than the Statue of Liberty. 

Last week, scientists upgraded the risk that 2024 YR4 will hit Earth to 1-in-43 (2.3 per cent), with an impact date of December 22, 2032. 

Now, in a chilling update on X, a scientist says 'we might not be able to stop 2024 YR4' from hitting Earth, even with a deflection mission. 

Dr Robin George Andrews, a volcanologist and author based in London, points out that we 'have less than eight years to potentially deal with it'. 

'You need 10 years or more to build, plan and execute an asteroid deflection mission,' he said.

'We don't have much time.'  

Scientists currently predict that the 90-metre-wide (300 feet) asteroid 2024 YR4 has a one in 43 chance of hitting Earth in 2032. If it does it would cause widespread damage to a populated area 

Dr Robin George Andrews, a volcanologist and author based in London, says 'we might not be able to stop 2024 YR4'

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, surely one of its greatest feats ever, demonstrated how a space rock could potentially be thrown off a collision course with Earth by crashing a spacecraft into it. 

The DART spacecraft launched from California in November 2021 and completed its 10-month journey when it hit the asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, 2022.

Dimorphos, around 560 feet in diameter, orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos, both of which are around 6.8 million miles away from our planet. 

The collision shortened Dimorphos' orbit by more than half an hour – making it an even greater success than NASA had anticipated. 

However, neither Dimorphos nor its Didymos posed any danger to Earth; instead, DART was rehearsal of what may be required if a space rock does one day threaten our planet. 

Although he acknowledged DART 'worked wonders', Dr Andrews said we 'might not be able to stop 2024 YR4' in a similar way. 

'It doesn't mean we can use kinetic impactors like it to deflect any asteroid whenever we want,' he said. 

'So much could go wrong if we try and hit it with something like DART.' 

On average, Earth is hit by a football pitch-sized rock every 5,000 years, and a civilisation-ending asteroid every one million years, according to NASA's Near-Earth Object Program

Already, NASA has reached a hugely-important milestone with the DART asteroid deflection mission. In September 2022, the DART spacecraft was intentionally crashed into Dimorphos, an asteroid 6.8 million miles away

The Dimorphos space rock is pictured here as seen by the DART spacecraft 11 seconds before impact 

What is 2024 YR4? 

2024 YR4 is a 'city killer' asteroid determined to have a low chance of impacting Earth on December 2, 2032. 

It was first spotted in late December last year by astronomers at the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System station in Chile. 

Since then, this rock has become a growing matter of concern as the probability of an impact rises. 

When first spotted, NASA assigned the asteroid an impact probability of 1.2 per cent that it would hit Earth, but that has since increased to 2.3 per cent. 

Most asteroids are not solid rock but 'rubble piles' – clusters of loose boulders, stones and sand held together by the weak mutual gravity of space. 

At the moment, we don’t know the exact size of 2024 YR4, or even if it's a rubble pile asteroid too – but hitting rubble pile asteroids with a spacecraft like DART could potentially generate a cloud of debris that could head towards Earth anyway.

'Nobody wants to accidentally "disrupt" an asteroid, because those components can still head for Earth,' Dr Andrews said. 

There's also the chance that a mammoth space effort akin to DART wouldn't even sufficiently alter the asteroid's path.  

'With only a few years down the line, we could accidentally deflect it – but not enough to make it avoid the planet,' the expert added. 

'Then, it still hits Earth, just somewhere else that wasn't going to be hit.' 

He added: 'I'm not saying a kinetic impactor mission, or missions, couldn't work.

'But we don't have much time, and we don't have enough info about this rapidly fading asteroid to properly inform our planetary defense decisions yet.'

It's worth remembering that 2024 YR4 has a 1-in-43 (2.3 per cent) chance of impacting Earth on December 2032. 

Dr Andrews stressed 'the odds of an impact remain low', likening the situation to having 43 buttons in front of you and being asked to press one of them. 

'I don’t think you should be concerned,' he said in an accompanying blog post. 

'When more observations come in, it’s probable that the impact odds will plummet to a zero as the orbit of the asteroid is more precisely defined.' 

If its point of impact is in the middle of a desert, or in the ocean, it will 'harm nobody', but if it hits a town or city, it will 'destroy much of it'. 

On average, Earth is hit by a football pitch-sized rock every 5,000 years, and a civilisation-ending asteroid every one million years, according to NASA's Near-Earth Object Program. 

Last year, a NASA report found we're poorly-prepared for an asteroid collision, even if we detected the object 14 years in advance. 

Asteroid 2024 YR4 is thought to be at least the same size as the Tunguska asteroid – which had an estimated diameter of 130 feet, according to NASA. 

Tunguska caused the largest impact event in recorded history when it shot through Earth's atmosphere in 1908, flattening 830 square miles (2,150 square km) of forest. 

Many lost consciousness and at least three people passed away as a direct consequence of the Tunguska event, according to a 2019 study. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

12-02-2025 om 23:07 geschreven door peter  

According to an update that appeared this week on NASA’s blog devoted to solar activity, The Sun Spot, engineers have been attempting to resolve a problem occurring with one of the three computers onboard the Voyager 1 probe.

Since late 1977, Voyager 1 has been carrying out its mission to study the outer Solar System and interstellar space. Presently, the distant space probe remains in communication from its position several billions of miles from Earth through NASA’s Deep Space Network.

However, an issue affecting the probe’s flight data system (FDS) is now impacting its ability to communicate with its telemetry modulation unit (TMU), one of the spacecraft’s subsystems, which is preventing it from relaying any science or engineering data back to Earth.

Voyager 1 is still receiving information NASA engineers are transmitting to it, and the probe does appear to still be attempting to execute commands, wrote Miles Hatfield from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on December 12

Voyager 1’s FDS is primarily equipped to monitor the spacecraft’s instrumentation and retrieve data from these systems, along with the collection of engineering data that conveys the probe’s overall vitals. Periodically, this information is combined into data packages that the spacecraft’s TMU dispatches back to NASA.

Generated in binary code, these messages normally appear in a standard series of 1s and 0s. However, NASA engineers were perplexed recently when the decoded data packages Voyager 1 was sending appeared to be repetitive, as though some functions of the TMU were “stuck.”

Troubleshooting by NASA engineers revealed that the problem appears to be originating further up the chain from within the FDS, rather than the TMU itself.

Last weekend, Voyager team engineers attempted a restart of the FDS—a feat that, presumably, would be at least mildly complicated for any system that requires communication across a 15 billion-mile distance. However, current attempts to restore the FDS have remained unsuccessful, and they are expected to continue. While NASA remains optimistic that they will be able to reinstate proper communications from the spacecraft, doing so may require days or even as much as several weeks.

One of the problems the Voyager team faces, in addition to working across incredible distances to communicate with an Earthly spacecraft drifting at a solid 38,210 miles per hour on its way through interstellar space, has to do with technology that is now several decades old.

Infographic showing Voyager 1’s progress since it was launched in 1977

(Credit: NASA).

“Finding solutions to challenges the probes encounter often entails consulting original, decades-old documents written by engineers who didn’t anticipate the issues that are arising today,” Hatfield wrote this week. “As a result, it takes time for the team to understand how a new command will affect the spacecraft’s operations to avoid unintended consequences.”

Once commands are finally determined to be safe to send to Voyager 1, engineers have to wait almost a full day for the messages to reach the spacecraft. Add to that the response time for the spacecraft to send its replies, and a total of close to 45 hours are required just to determine whether any single command has successfully initiated a correct response from the spacecraft.

One of the most iconic NASA spacecraft, Voyager 1 crossed into interstellar space in 2012, and its likeness has spawned several pop cultural portrayals, which include the appearance of a fictional Voyager 6 probe enhanced by alien artificial intelligence in the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.

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

12-02-2025 om 18:39 geschreven door peter  

Dit is hoe het leven op Mars eruit zou zien!

Je hebt waarschijnlijk wel eens gehoord van Mars als het volgende grote avontuur van de mensheid. Maar hoe zou het leven op de rode planeet er werkelijk uitzien? Vergeet de clichés van sciencefictionfilms waarin iedereen chromen ruimtepakken draagt en tegen groene buitenaardse wezens vecht.

Hier zijn enkele sleutelelementen, gegeven door kunstmatige intelligentie, om je voor te stellen hoe het leven op Mars eruit zou kunnen zien:

1. Onder druk staande en luchtdichte habitats

2. Overlevingssystemen en middelen

3. Lokale voedselproductie

4. Milieu en gezondheid

5. Dagelijks leven en sociale organisatie

6. Sleuteltechnologieën

Over het geheel genomen zou het leven op Mars een combinatie van geavanceerde technologieën, fysiologische en psychologische aanpassingen en ultra-efficiënt beheer van hulpbronnen vereisen. De leefgebieden zouden heel anders zijn dan onze aardse huizen, maar wie weet? Over een paar decennia zal misschien een van onze nakomelingen dit artikel lezen vanuit een koepel op Mars.

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12-02-2025 om 17:53 geschreven door peter  

In a groundbreaking discovery, a NASA CubeSat has detected new radiation belts around Earth following a powerful solar storm in May 2024. This discovery reshapes our understanding of how solar activity interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, creating new zones of trapped particles. CubeSat, which was designed to study space weather, has captured data that could have major benefits for satellite operations, astronaut safety, and future space missions. As solar activity intensifies in the coming years, this discovery highlights the need for continued monitoring of the interactions between the Earth and Sun.

The radiation belts around Earth, known as the Van Allen Belts, are doughnut-shaped regions of charged particles trapped by Earth’s magnetic field. The belts that were discovered in 1958 by the Explorer 1 mission consist mostly of high-energy electrons and protons originating from the Sun. The inner belt, located about 600 to 6,000 kilometres above Earth, contains highly energetic protons, while the outer belt, extending from 13,500 to 60,000 kilometres is mostly made up of electrons. These radiation zones pose risks to satellites, astronauts, and space missions, requiring shielding and careful navigation. 

Something largely unexpected happened back in May 2024 when a large solar storm hit Earth. In the days that followed, high energy particles from the Sun bathed the Earth sparking auroral displays and disrupting GPS communications. A NASA satellite has since discovered this storm created two new but temporary radiation belts that circle the Earth. The two belts sit between the other two existing belts and form concentric rings above the equator. 

The discovery was made by the Colorado Inner Radiation Belt Experiment Satellite (bit of a mouthful so it’s shortened to CIRBE) on 6 February this year. The announcement was made in the Journal of Geophysical Research : Space and Physics. The CubeSat had been in space for about a year before it experienced what NASA reported as an anomaly and the satellite went quiet on 15 April. The satellite was out of action during the storm in May last year but it unexpectedly leapt back to life on 15 June. It then resumed taking measurements and it was this that led to the discovery of the new belts. Understanding them is of crucial importance since satellites heading into geostationary orbits have to travel through the radiation belts. 

It’s not unusual for temporary belts to be identified following large solar storms but these new belts seem to last much longer. Previously the temporary belts were sustained for around four weeks but the new belts seem to have lasted for more than three months.  They are composed mostly of electrons like the outer belt but with the new innermost belt hosting a substantial quantity of protons too. 

Quite how long the new belts will last will depend on solar storms that follow and how strong they are. Larger storms tend to have more energy and are more likely to destroy the particles in the belts, knocking them out of their orbit. A solar storm in June reduced the size of one of the new belts and another storm in August of last year almost completely destroyed it. 

Source : 

• NASA CubeSat Finds New Radiation Belts After May 2024 Solar Storm

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12-02-2025 om 16:21 geschreven door peter  

Why astronauts swear by a breakfast that's linked to cancer and heart attacks

• READ MORE: NASA gives major update on stranded astronauts' rescue mission

By EMILY JOSHU STERNE HEALTH REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day - especially if you're headed into space. 

However, astronauts have revealed why their Breakfast of Champions is an American classic high in fat, low in fiber, and consistently linked to heart disease. 

In 1961, Alan Shepard made history as the first American in space, orbiting partly around the Earth. 

As the first US astronaut to go into outer space, he was also responsible for starting traditions, even when it came to his breakfast. 

Instead of traditionally healthier options like fruit and whole-grain toast, Shepard chose steak and eggs before launch.

Shortly after, in 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins all followed suit before staking America's claim on the moon. 

But American tradition isn't the main reason astronauts pick steak and eggs. 

NASA picked the meal due because it's high in protein and low in fiber, which helps astronauts stay full longer without needing to go to the bathroom during a flight.

Alan Shepard, pictured here, made history in 1961 as the first American in space. He also pioneered the astronaut tradition of eating steak and eggs for breakfast

Astronauts have historically chosen steak and eggs because the dish is high in protein but low in fiber. This keeps them full for longer but limits bowel movements

Steak and eggs are two of the most protein-rich foods. 

One serving of steak, about three and a half ounces, contains 25 grams of protein, and one large eggs has an extra six grams.

Health officials recommend consuming 0.36 grams of protein per pound of weight. 

This means a person who weighs 140 pounds should eat about 53 grams of protein every day. 

Protein helps reduce levels of ghrelin, a hormone that controls hunger, and boosts levels of peptide YY, a hormone that increases satiety or fullness. 

This means protein-rich foods are more likely to keep people full for longer amounts of time.  

Astronauts have limited storage space for food in their aircrafts, so being able to eat fewer meals to stay full is likely ideal for them.

Additionally, neither steak nor eggs contain any fiber.

Fiber normally adds bulk to stools, making them easier to pass and leading to more frequent bowel movements. 

Not getting enough fiber leads to difficulty passing bowel movements.

This is ideal for astronauts not only because they may need to sit for long periods of time, but bathroom breaks are far from simple in space.

Pictured above are astronauts currently stranded on the International Space Station sharing a meal

On the International Space Station, for example, there are only three specialized toilets, which use a vacuum system to suck waste away. 

The ISS usually has anywhere from three to 13 astronauts on board at any given time, meaning there short and limited bathroom breaks can keep bathrooms from getting backed up. 

Steak and eggs have notoriously been linked to chronic diseases like heart disease due to high saturated fat content potentially blocking arteries. 

One study from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for example, found eating red meat every day truples the amount of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) in the gut, a chemical thought to increase cholesterol. 

However, astronauts largely rely on rehydrated and pantry foods while in space, so it's unlikely steak and eggs is everyday cuisine. 

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11-02-2025 om 21:39 geschreven door peter