Physicists capture rare illusion of an object moving at 99.9% the speed of light

Although previous models have worked with this illusion, now called the Terrell-Penrose effect, this is the first time it has been done in a lab setting. The team described their results in the journal Communications Physics.

"What I like most is the simplicity," Dominik Hornof, a quantum physicist at the Vienna University of Technology and first author of the study, told Live Science. "With the right idea, you can recreate relativistic effects in a small lab. It shows that even century-old predictions can be brought to life in a really intuitive way."

Re-creating the illusion

In the new study, physicists used ultra-fast laser pulses and gated cameras to produce snapshots of a cube and a sphere "moving" at nearly the speed of light. The results showed snapshots of rotated objects. This proved the Terrell-Penrose effect to be true.

But like every study, this one also had its difficulties. Moving any object at or near the speed of light is currently impossible. "In Einstein's theory, the faster something moves, the more its effective mass increases. As you get closer to the speed of light, the energy you need grows by a lot," Hornof said. We cannot generate enough energy to accelerate something like a cube, and "that's why we need huge particle accelerators, even just to move electrons close to that speed. It would take a huge amount of energy."

So the team used a clever substitute. "What we can do is mimic the visual effect," Hornof said. They started with a cube of about 3 feet (1 meter) on each side. Then, they fired ultra-short laser pulses — each just 300 picoseconds long, or about a tenth of a billionth of a second — at the object. They captured the reflected light with a gated camera that opened only for that instant and produced a thin "slice" each time.

After each slice, they moved the cube forward about 1.9 inches (4.8 cm). That is the distance it would have traveled if it were moving at 80% the speed of light during the delay between pulses. Then, the scientists put all of these slices together into a snapshot of the cube in motion.

"When you combine all the slices, the object looks like it's racing incredibly fast, even though it never moved at all," Hornof said. "At the end of the day, it's just geometry."

They repeated the process with a sphere, shifting it by 2.4 inches (6 cm) per step to mimic 99.9% light speed. When the slices were combined, the cube appeared rotated and the sphere looked as if you could peek around its sides.

"The rotation is not physical," Hornof said. "It's an optical illusion. The geometry of how light arrives at the same time tricks our eyes."

That is why the Terrell-Penrose effect does not contradict Einstein's special relativity. A fast-moving object is physically shortened along its direction of travel, but a camera doesn't capture that directly. Because light from the back takes longer to arrive than light from the front, the snapshot shifts in a way that makes the object appear rotated.

"When we did the calculations, we were surprised how beautifully the geometry worked out," Hornof said. "Seeing it appear in the images was really exciting."

{ https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics }

12-10-2025 om 18:41 geschreven door peter  

10 Dark Matter Facts That Will Surprise You

The following 10 facts are a summary of what scientists have learned about this invisible stuff.

{ https://curiosmos.com/category/unsolved-mysteries/ }

12-10-2025 om 17:59 geschreven door peter  

The cosmos is changing before our eyes — and astronomers can barely keep up. A never-before-seen supernova is rewriting ...

{https://www.youtube.com/ }

12-10-2025 om 17:25 geschreven door peter  

A strange tilt in the outer reaches of the Kuiper Belt has scientists wondering if the solar system is hiding another planet—a potential “Planet Y” that could soon join the family of known worlds.

The Kuiper Belt is an enormous ring of icy bodies that extends from the orbit of Neptune to a distance of close to 30 astronomical units (AU), or approximately 30 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. During recent investigations of this mysterious outer solar system region, a team of Princeton researchers uncovered a strange warp in its plane, which could mean that something is pulling on some of the icy objects beyond Neptune—possibly even an undiscovered planet.

Eying the Kuiper Belt

The Princeton team’s work began with a simple question: “Is the Kuiper Belt flat?” Despite some slight deviations, the planets in our solar system all lie on roughly the same plane, which should be reflected in the belt. However, the Kuiper Belt unexpectedly changes this orientation with a tilt of about 15 degrees. Despite the team’s best efforts, most potential explanations failed to account for the unusual warpage, save for one: the potential existence of an unknown body the researchers dub “Planet Y.”

While there has been no direct observation of this currently theoretical planet, the team believes that current data suggests the planet would be between the sizes of Earth and Mercury, positioned deep in the outer reaches of our solar system. 

“This paper is not a discovery of a planet, but it’s certainly the discovery of a puzzle for which a planet is a likely solution,”  the authors said when presenting their work in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.

A New Addition to the Solar System?

This isn’t the first time a theoretical planet has been suspected to lurk in the Kuiper Belt, which once held a recognized planet until one of its largest residents, Pluto, was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. The region remains mysterious due to difficulties in observing it at such great distances.

Earlier work sought what astronomer Percival Lowell dubbed “Planet X,” an attempt to explain away other anomalies by proposing a mysterious hidden planet. Those anomalies were in the orbits of the planets Neptune and Uranus, and even the 1930 discovery of Pluto didn’t prove to be enough to account for them. 

However, the mystery resolved itself in a less dramatic way than expected when Voyager 2 probe data revealed Neptune’s mass to be less than speculated in the 1990s. The recognition of a less massive Neptune seemingly resolved the question of the irregularities without requiring the pull of an unknown body.

Planet Y and the Search for Planet Nine

However, the search for a mysterious planet reignited with a 2016 paper speculating on what was now being called “Planet Nine” instead of “Planet X.” However, this long-suspected outer-solar system planetary body differs considerably from what the recent Princeton University research proposes, as this planet would be much larger and farther out beyond Pluto.

There is a great deal of debate over what an undiscovered planet in our solar system might look like, but the Princeton team says that they are not mutually exclusive. In theory, a pair of undiscovered planets could coexist beyond the range of our present observations.

Pentetrating the mysteries of the Kuiper Belt may soon be on the horizon, though, as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is about to launch its decade-long survey, which the researchers believe will likely detect any such planet in the Kuiper Belt within two to three years.

Hence, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory may soon be able to finally resolve the question of whether other worlds might exist in our planetary neighborhood, as well as which planetary category the Princeton team’s suspected “Planet Y” belongs to.

The paper, “Measuring the Mean Plane of the Distant Kuiper Belt,” appeared in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters on August 21, 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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{ https://thedebrief.org/category/astronomy/ }

12-10-2025 om 17:12 geschreven door peter  

Precise date interstellar visitor will reveal itself as 'alien mothership' or comet confirmed

• READ MORE: Interstellar object defies NASA's expectations as it nears Earth

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

The mysterious interstellar visitor streaking through our Solar System is just days away from revealing its true origins.

Harvard professor Avi Loeb told DailyMail.com that if the object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, is a comet, it should 'disintegrate into fragments' as it swings closest to the sun on October 29, 2025. 

The European Space Agency's Jupiter probe will have a front-row seat, capturing the moment it either breaks apart or, as Loeb speculated, 'releases mini-probes as a technological mothership.'

'When a comet gets close to the sun, solar radiation heats its icy nucleus,' Loeb explained. 

'Volatile ices like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, or water sublimate directly into gas, carrying away dust and small rocks. 

'This process can cause the comet to break apart if the mix of ice and dust cannot withstand the thermal stress.'

But if it does not, Loeb said, it could release 'a fleet of mini-probes to study multiple targets simultaneously.'

Loeb noted there is a 30 to 40 percent chance the object 'does not have a fully natural origin,' noting the possibility it is a 'Trojan Horse,' where a technological object masquerades as a comet.

Harvard professor Avi Loeb told DailyMail.com that if the object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, is a comet, it should 'disintegrate into fragments' as it swings closest to the sun on October 29, 2025

The ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) craft will have a view of the object when it comes 125 million miles from the planet and monitor it through November.

'During November and December, terrestrial observatories will also be able to monitor 3I/ATLAS and check whether it disintegrated like a natural comet or released mini-probes as a technological mothership,' Loeb explained.

While the professor believes there is a possibility it is of alien origin, NASA has long said the object is a natural comet.

The American space agency released images of 3I/ATLAS as it soared past Mars on October 3, showing it as cylindrical-shaped. 

Stargazers on social media shared color-enhanced images of the object, which showed the interstellar visitor having a green glow. 

Loeb and many other scientists are anticipating the visitor's journey to the sun as it will finally put the mystery to rest. 

3I/ATLAS will appear as a fuzzy ball of light in the blackness of space, and if it does disintegrate, the professor said it will break into independent, smaller dots of light. 

'Comets disintegrate primarily as a result of heating by the sun, but sometimes also by gravitational tides and rotational stress from outgassing,' Loeb explained.

NASA released images of 3I/ATLAS as it soared past Mars on October 3, showing it as cylindrical-shaped. Stargazers on social media shared color-enhanced images of the object, which showed the interstellar visitor having a green glow

'The catastrophic breakup of a comet into multiple fragments is difficult to forecast without knowing its detailed composition and material strength.' 

So far, ESA’s Mars orbiters have not spotted any verified fragments, only faint artifacts and noise, as 3I/ATLAS moves closer to the sun.

Some reports have claimed that mysterious objects have been spotted with 3I/ATLAS, but Loeb told Daily Mail that these are false.

'There are unrelated contemporary comets, background stars and images of the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, which appear in some images. But so far, no verified object branched off 3I/ATLAS,' the professor explained.

The object was first identified in July 2025 by the ATLAS telescope network, which looks for objects that might hit Earth.

Earlier images taken by the Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile this summer had unknowingly photographed the object as well, but no one realized it was there at the time.

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

11-10-2025 om 14:50 geschreven door peter  

Celestial standoff! Scientists capture an image of two black holes circling each other for the first time

• READ MORE: Scientists think we have received a signal from a parallel universe

By WILIAM HUNTER, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

An image of two black holes circling each other has been captured for the very first time.

Astronomers spotted the celestial standoff in the heart of the galaxy OJ287, around five billion light-years from Earth.

Previously, scientists have only been able to produce images of individual supermassive black holes, such as the one at the centre of our own Galaxy.

However, scientists from the University of Turku, Finland, have now produced the first direct proof that black holes can come in pairs.

For years, scientists have suspected that OJ287 might be hiding two black holes, but there hasn't been a telescope powerful enough to tell them apart.

By combining antennas on Earth with a satellite located halfway to the moon, the astronomers created a radio telescope effectively 15 times larger than Earth.

That allowed them to take an image with a resolution 100,000 times higher than anything that had been used to observe OJ287 in the past.

Lead researcher Professor Mauri Valtonen says: 'For the first time, we managed to get an image of two black holes circling each other.'

Scientists have captured an image of two black holes circling one another for the very first time, proving that black holes come in pairs 

The pair of black holes is located at the centre of the quasar OJ287, an extremely bright galactic core around five billion light-years from Earth.

Pictured: An artist's impression of OJ287

OJ287 is a type of object known as a quasar, which is an extremely bright galactic core holding a supermassive black hole.

The black hole itself doesn't give out any light, but the gas and dust falling into the singularity become so hot that they produce massive amounts of radiation.

Quasar OJ287 is actually so bright that, despite being five billion light-years away, even an amateur astronomer with a decent telescope should be able to see it.

However, in the 1980s, scientists realised that the quasar's light was fluctuating in a reliable 12-year pattern.

Professor Valtonen says: 'What is special about OJ287 is that it has been thought to harbour not one but two black holes circling each other in a twelve-year orbit, which produces an easily recognisable pattern of light variations in the same period.'

Even though scientists were pretty sure that there were two supermassive black holes hiding within the quasar, it still took decades to prove this.

Even when NASA's TESS satellite was able to detect light from both black holes in 2021, the resulting image still only showed a single object.

The problem was that normal light-based telescopes simply can't produce a high enough resolution to peel apart the signals from these extremely distant objects.

Until now, scientists have only ever been able to take images of single black holes such as the black hole at the centre of our own galaxy, Sagittarius A* (pictured)

Using a very large radio telescope, the scientists revealed that there are two black holes. A very large one at the centre, and a smaller one that orbits its neighbour once every 12 years 

To see more, the scientists used a technique called 'Very Long Baseline Interferometry'.

This essentially involves combining radio telescopes scattered across Earth and throughout space into a single enormous 'virtual' telescope.

By adding the RadioAstron satellite, which was halfway to the moon when the images were taken, researchers were finally able to take a radio image of the quasar.

In their new paper, published in the Astrophysical Journal, Professor Valtonen compared their images to theoretical calculations and found that the black holes were exactly where they were expected to be.

Professor Valtonen says: 'In the image, the black holes are identified by the intense particle jets they emit.

'The black holes themselves are perfectly black, but they can be detected by these particle jets or by the glowing gas surrounding the hole.'

These images revealed that one of the black holes was significantly larger than the other.

The bigger has a mass about 18.35 billion times that of the sun, while the smaller is around 150 million solar masses. 

By comparing these radio images (pictured) to the theoretical models (shown as stars), the researchers showed that the jets produced by the black holes followed the exact path scientists had predicted 

That means the smaller is constantly spun around by the intense gravity, slamming through the larger black hole's accretion disk with each pass.

Every time the black hole passes through this cloud of dust and gas, the researchers estimate that it pulls away about 16 solar masses of material.

However, the larger black hole's accretion disc is so large that this barely makes a difference to the overall system.

Read More

• 'Supermassive' black holes aren't as big as we thought, scientists say 

In addition to proving that black hole pairs exist, the researchers also made an interesting discovery about these particle jets.

They found that the jet emanating from the smaller black hole was twisted, much like the stream of water emerging from a spinning, out-of-control firehose.

Because this smaller black hole is moving so fast around its larger neighbour, its particle jet is diverted depending on where it is currently moving.

The researchers call this a 'wagging tail' jet and predict that it should be seen twisting in different directions in the coming years when the smaller black hole changes its speed and direction.

EINSTEIN'S GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY

Albert Einstein

In 1905, Albert Einstein determined that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers, and that the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the motion of all observers - known as the theory of special relativity.

This groundbreaking work introduced a new framework for all of physics, and proposed new concepts of space and time.

He then spent 10 years trying to include acceleration in the theory, finally publishing his theory of general relativity in 1915.

This determined that massive objects cause a distortion in space-time, which is felt as gravity.

At its simplest, it can be thought of as a giant rubber sheet with a bowling ball in the centre.

Pictured is the original historical documents related to Einstein's prediction of the existence of gravitational waves, shown at the Hebrew university in Jerusalem

As the ball warps the sheet, a planet bends the fabric of space-time, creating the force that we feel as gravity.

Any object that comes near to the body falls towards it because of the effect.

Einstein predicted that if two massive bodies came together it would create such a huge ripple in space time that it should be detectable on Earth.

It was most recently demonstrated in the hit film film Interstellar.

In a segment that saw the crew visit a planet which fell within the gravitational grasp of a huge black hole, the event caused time to slow down massively.

Crew members on the planet barely aged while those on the ship were decades older on their return.

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

10-10-2025 om 18:17 geschreven door peter  

3I/ATLAS, as seen by the Gemini South observatory in August 2025

(Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Shadow the Scientist).

Physicists have detected water activity during observations of the mysterious comet 3I/ATLAS, marking the first time hydroxyl gas, a chemical signature of water, has been detected from the interstellar visitor. 

Using NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the Auburn University team determined 3I/ATLAS is releasing water at a rate of roughly 40 kilograms per second, comparable to a fire hose running at full blast, while positioned nearly three times farther from the Sun than Earth.

What makes this finding particularly remarkable is the distance at which this activity was observed: 2.90 astronomical units, well beyond the region where most solar system comets show any significant signs of such activity.

“When we detect water—or even its faint ultraviolet echo, OH—from an interstellar comet, we’re reading a note from another planetary system,” explained Dennis Bodewits, professor of physics at Auburn University and principal investigator of the study, in a press release. “It tells us that the ingredients for life’s chemistry are not unique to our own.”

According to their paper, the scientists used ultraviolet light to detect water molecules coming off the comet. The team found that there is a specific signal water gives off as it breaks apart in space, and the water the comet was releasing grew significantly between late July and mid-August 2025.

To make this discovery, they relied on NASA’s Swift telescope, which orbits high above Earth. Even though Swift only has a 12-inch mirror, it can see ultraviolet light much better than telescopes on the ground because it’s beyond our atmosphere, which normally blocks most ultraviolet light from reaching telescopes on the surface. From its location in space, Swift has the same power as a much larger 13-foot telescope would have on Earth for this type of observation.

Since its discovery on July 1, 2025, by the NASA-funded ATLAS survey telescope in Chile, 3I/ATLAS has consistently defied expectations. Previous research reported by The Debrief has revealed that this interstellar visitor is “anomalously massive” compared to its predecessors, with recent studies suggesting a minimum nucleus diameter of roughly five kilometers and a mass of at least 33 billion tons.

This extraordinary size places 3I/ATLAS several orders of magnitude more massive than the first two known interstellar objects, 1I/’Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. As Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb noted in previous correspondence with The Debrief, “We should have detected an order of 100,000 ‘Oumuamuas before discovering an object as big as 3I/ATLAS”.

The comet’s massive nature helps explain its ability to maintain course despite significant outgassing activity. Unlike smaller objects that would be deflected by gas jets from their sun-facing surfaces, 3I/ATLAS has shown remarkable orbital stability, with non-gravitational acceleration measured at less than 15 meters per day squared.

The discovery of water emanating from the comet only adds to its complexity and mystique.

Rather than simple nuclear sublimation, the research suggests water production originates from extended sources, most likely large icy grains in the comet’s coma that sublimate as they’re heated by sunlight. This mechanism, observed in only a handful of distant comets, points to complex, layered ice structures that preserve their ancient formation clues.

The water detection adds another chapter to the evolving story of interstellar objects in our solar system. As lead researcher Zexi Xing noted, “Every interstellar comet so far has been a surprise. ‘Oumuamua was dry, Borisov was rich in carbon monoxide, and now ATLAS is giving up water at a distance where we didn’t expect it.”

“Each one is rewriting what we thought we knew about how planets and comets form around stars,” Xing said. 

Moreover, recent observations by ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter during 3I/ATLAS’s close approach to Mars provided additional imaging opportunities. While the challenging observation conditions highlighted the technical difficulties of studying these rare visitors, it was still considered a unique opportunity to use the orbiter for something outside of its mission parameters.

“Though our Mars orbiters continue to make impressive contributions to Mars science,” ESA project scientist Colin Wilson said at the time. “It’s always extra exciting to see them responding to unexpected situations like this one.”

3I/ATLAS will become observable again after mid-November 2025, offering additional opportunities to track its evolution as it approaches perihelion on October 30. The comet’s trajectory will take it within 1.4 astronomical units of the Sun, just inside Mars’s orbit, before it exits our solar system forever, traveling at a speedy 130,000 miles per hour.

The discovery has profound implications for our understanding of planetary system formation across the galaxy. The presence of water activity in an interstellar comet demonstrates that the basic chemical ingredients for life are not unique to our solar system. Moreover, the complex ice structures indicated by extended water sources preserve information about formation conditions in distant stellar environments billions of years ago.

As 3I/ATLAS continues on its journey through our solar system, astronomers worldwide are seizing this rare opportunity to study material that has drifted through interstellar space for potentially billions of years. Each observation brings new insights into the diversity of planetary systems and the cosmic processes that shape the building blocks of life throughout our galaxy.

• MJ Banias covers space, security, and technology with The Debrief. You can email him at mj@thedebrief.org or follow him on Twitter @mjbanias.

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

10-10-2025 om 17:11 geschreven door peter  

Soar through a 1,000-mile-long maze on Mars in this mesmerizing new satellite video

Watch OIf you've ever wanted to get lost on Mars, now's your chance: You can fly over a maze-like canyon on the Red Planet in a stunning new video from the European Space Agency (ESA).

The animation, based on data from ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, brings viewers on a "mesmerising flight over curving channels carved by water, islands that have resisted erosion, and a maze of hilly terrain," using images from the spacecraft's high-resolution stereo camera, ESA officials said in a statement.

"Central to the tour is a 1300 km [808-mile]-long outflow channel called Shalbatana Vallis," they explained. "It cascades down from the highland region of Xanthe Terra to the smoother lowlands of Chryse Planitia. Billions of years ago, water surged through this channel, creating many of the features we see today. The tour culminates in a spectacular view of a 100 km [62-mile]-wide impact crater, smashed out of Mars's surface when it collided with a space rock."

Xanthe Terra was the name the International Astronomical Union gave to this region in 1979, following high-resolution mapping of Mars by spacecraft of that era. The name means something like "golden-yellow land," according to DLR, the German space agency, which funded the camera equipment.

Keen-eyed video viewers will see the flight cross the "Martian dichotomy boundary," where the craters of the southern highlands gradually smooth into flatter plains in the northern lowlands, DLR stated in a separate statement. Researchers are still not sure why this dichotomy exists.

The video also features outflow channels that "are wide, deeply incised valley structures that likely formed in Mars' geological past during catastrophic flood events involving enormous quantities of water," DLR officials said. This carving may have happened as volcanoes melted underground ice deposits.

The Mars Express camera scours Mars' geology as part of the larger mission's search for life, DLR officials added the statement.

Mars Express has been at the Red Planet since 2003, for what was supposed to be a two-year mission. The spacecraft is still healthy after more than 20 years of service, and it has received multiple mission extensions based on its scientific return.

"While it may be feeling its age, it continues to lift the lid on the Red Planet, with implications for our understanding of our own home," ESA officials wrote of the long-running mission in 2023.

{ https://www.livescience.com/space }

09-10-2025 om 22:20 geschreven door peter  

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

09-10-2025 om 20:29 geschreven door peter  

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

09-10-2025 om 20:19 geschreven door peter  

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

09-10-2025 om 20:12 geschreven door peter  

Mysterious interstellar visitor heading towards Earth dubbed a 'Trojan Horse' for alien tech

• READ MORE: Space agency breaks silence on 'foreign' interstellar object soaring past Mars: 'A rare visitor'

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

A scientist has warned that the interstellar visitor moving closer to Earth could be a 'Trojan Horse,' where a technological object masquerades as a comet.

The Harvard professor, who has been monitoring 3I/ATLAS since its discovery in July, said Wednesday that there is a 30 to 40 percent chance the object 'does not have a fully natural origin.'

Avi Loeb admitted that his ranking could change after new data comes in over the next few months, including observations next month from a spacecraft en route to Jupiter and when 3I/ATLAS comes 167 miles within Earth in December.

'We have no idea of the amount of traffic of extraterrestrial probes in the vicinity of the Solar system,' he said in a blog post.

'Given the uncertainty, it would be prudent to collect as much data as possible on interstellar objects from all directions and assess the level of risk based on that data.'

The object, a rare visitor from beyond the solar system, is unusually large and closely aligned with the plane of the planets, making it visible to orbiters around Mars over the weekend.

NASA's rover on the Martian planet snapped images of 3I/ATLAS, which captured it as a massive cylindrical object, sparking fresh theories about alien technology.

Stargazers on social media shared color-enhanced images of the object, which showed the interstellar visitor having a green glow. 

A Harvard scientists said there is a possibility that the interstellar visitor moving closer to Earth could be a 'Trojan Horse,' where a technological object masquerades as a comet

Loeb analyzed the Perseverance rover's photos by calculating its distance, speed, and camera settings.

According to his initial study, Loeb was not convinced that 3I/ATLAS is actually a massive cylindrical object, noting that the strange shape might have been a trick of the rover's camera stretching the object out.

He explained that the apparent cylinder from the rover's 'Navcam' was likely caused by the camera stacking hundreds of images of 3I/ATLAS over a period of about 10 minutes, making it look more like a log than a ball.

The professor added that 3I/ATLAS is likely smaller and rounder, but still massive, with a potential diameter of more than 28 miles across.

Dr Horace Drew, a retired senior researcher at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), noted that the mysterious green glow seen in some images could be a result of the object being an interstellar spacecraft coated in nickel.

He explained that humans use the same practice on Earth-made space technology on a much smaller scale.

'It is not a "comet,"' Drew shared in a post on X.

Drew disagreed with Loeb's conclusion that the cylindrical shape was a result of the Mars rover sending back a stretched image over several minutes, claiming that an amateur astronomer on Earth captured a similar shape with their telescope.

+1

View gallery

The Perseverance rover on Mars captured new images of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS as it passed by the planet this weekend

Read More

• Interstellar object caught emitting mysterious metal that suggests 'technological origin' 

'We can see an extended white shape, with a green coma outside. Not a small white ball,' Drew explained in a post about the astronomer's photograph.

However, Loeb recently cited the findings from the Very Large Telescope, highlighting how it detected an unusual nickel plume from the object.

Unlike natural comets, which always emit nickel alongside iron, 3I/ATLAS shows the metallic element without any detectable iron.

Loeb explained that this nickel signature is a hallmark of industrial production of nickel alloys.

'Is this anomaly another clue for a possible technological origin of 3I/ATLAS?' Loeb wrote in a blog post.

'The paper suggests that chemical formation occurs through the nickel carbonyl channel, an extremely rare process in comets, but a standard technique in industrial nickel refining,' he added.

The new study, published by astrophysicists in Chile in late August, found that 3I/ATLAS is shedding nickel at roughly five grams per second and cyanide at 20 grams per second, with both rising sharply as the object moves closer to the sun.

Researchers noted that the mechanisms driving these emissions are not typical of natural cometary processes.

They hypothesized that nickel might be released from dust through gentle processes, such as sunlight, causing it to evaporate or breaking down small nickel-containing compounds.

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

09-10-2025 om 16:50 geschreven door peter  

Even the smallest details of the Martian landscape can hide incredible phenomena. It turns out that dust whirlwinds, also known as “dust devils” on the Red Planet, move at incredible speeds that significantly exceed scientists’ previous estimates.

Researchers from the University of Bern in Switzerland analyzed archives of images from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft. Using artificial intelligence models, they were able to track more than a thousand dust devils recorded over the past two decades. 

The result is impressive: these whirlwinds can reach speeds of up to 158 km/h, making them much more powerful than previously thought. This discovery radically changes our understanding of the dynamics of the Martian atmosphere.

Turning artifacts into scientific data

The most ingenious aspect of this study was the method. None of the orbital vehicles were specifically designed to measure wind. However, the team found a way. They noticed slight color shifts in the images caused by split-second delays between the camera channels. These shifts are usually considered technical noise. But everything that moves across the surface of Mars — clouds or dust whirlwinds — leaves its mark in these shifts. By analyzing these tiny shifts between frames, scientists were able to calculate the speed and direction of each whirlwind.

As research leader Valentin Bickel noted, they literally “turned image artifacts into valuable scientific measurements.” 

This fundamental discovery has direct practical significance for the exploration of Mars. A dust devil is a kind of visualizer of invisible wind. By measuring it, we obtain a map of winds across the entire surface of the planet.

This information will be invaluable for planning future landings. Scientists will be able to more accurately assess wind conditions at the landing site, predict how much dust will settle on the rovers’ solar panels, and determine the optimal frequency of self-cleaning to maintain viability. 

Rhythms of Martian weather

The new catalog also confirms that dust devils have their “favorite” places and times. They most often occur on dust plains such as Amazonis Planitia during the warm seasons of spring and summer. Their activity peaks between late morning and early afternoon, which is very similar to patterns on Earth.

However, there is a key difference on Mars. Since no rain falls there, dust can remain in the atmosphere for months. Understanding how and when it enters the atmosphere is key to unraveling the planet’s long-term climate cycles and accurately predicting Martian weather. As ESA scientist Colin Wilson noted: “Dust on Mars affects absolutely everything.” 

Earlier, we reported on how robots on Mars would quickly turn into scrap metal.

• According to ESA

• Posted in News, Science

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09-10-2025 om 14:27 geschreven door peter  

Apollo Sample Preservation

Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt collected these samples of volcanic material from the Taurus Littrow region, after pushing a hollow metal cylinder 60 centimeters into the regolith. Upon their return, the NASA Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) program preserved the entire tube full of material in a helium chamber for future scientists to study.

After fifty years on the shelf, NASA has finally begun allowing researchers to apply modern scientific tools to ANGSA samples. Gaining access to the precious samples is no easy feat, though. A rigorous and competitive application process is in place to ensure that ANGSA releases materials only to the most deserving projects.

One of the recipients of the lunar samples was James Dottin of Brown University, whose work proposed using ion mass spectrometry on the lunar soil for the first time, in an effort to explore the sulfur in what resembled mantle-derived volcanic rock.

“I was targeting sulfur that had a texture that would suggest it was erupted with the rock and not added through a different process,” Dottin explained.

Sulfur-33

The unexpected sulfur compounds found in the samples were strange for their high depletion of sulfur-33, which is among the four most radioactively stable sulfur isotopes. Compared to sulfur-33 samples recovered on Earth, the lunar samples are far different, as terrestrial sulfur-33 is typically far less depleted.

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

08-10-2025 om 21:19 geschreven door peter  

Scientists observed the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using the Swift ultraviolet space telescope. With the help of this instrument, they found hydroxyl ions, indicating the presence of water on the comet. This allows us to compare it to the “cosmic icebergs” that are constantly present in our Solar System.

Water on comet 3I/ATLAS

Scientists have published a study of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using NASA’s Swift space telescope. This orbital observatory operates in ultraviolet light and is capable of performing spectral analysis for this wavelength range. As a result, scientists learned something interesting about its chemical composition.

In particular, water was found on it. More precisely, the telescope captured ultraviolet light from the hydroxyl ion OH, but it cannot be anything other than the decay product of a water molecule. Thus, a safe assumption is that it is present there.

• Posted in News, Science

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08-10-2025 om 21:02 geschreven door peter  

A new study has refuted the popular theory about the unexpected shortening of Dimorphos’ orbital period. Scientists have discovered that the proposed mechanism would actually have the opposite effect. 

In 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) vehicle deliberately collided with Dimorphos, a small satellite of the near-Earth asteroid Didymos. The mission was dedicated to protecting our planet. Scientists wanted to test whether the space ram technique could be used to change the orbit of a celestial body threatening Earth.

The demonstration was quite impressive. The period of Dimorphos’s orbit around Didymos after the impact was reduced by as much as 33 minutes, which far exceeded the scientists’ expectations. However, in the following weeks, something unusual happened: observations revealed an additional reduction in the orbital period of another 30 seconds. This situation has left researchers perplexed as to its causes.

The initial hypothesis suggested a scenario known as binary system hardening. It involves debris ejected as a result of the collision interacting with Dimorphos’ gravity and ultimately being ejected from the system, causing it to lose angular momentum and acquire a tighter orbit. 

However, the results of a recent study conducted by scientists from Université Côte d’Azur have cast doubt on this scenario. Simulation showed that Dimorphos was too weak a “scatterer” to affect the angular momentum of the system. 

If the ejected particles do not disperse, the most likely consequence will be re-accretion, in which the debris falls back onto one of the components of the binary system. Since the collision between DART and Dimorphos was head-on, most of the ejected material entered prograde orbits. This means that they are moving in the same direction as Dimorphos and Didymos in their mutual motion around the Sun. In turn, when material moving in the prograde direction re-accretes, it increases the angular momentum of the binary system. This leads not to a decrease, but to an increase in the orbital period, which contradicts the observed pattern.

• Posted in News, Science

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/news-en/science-en/ }

08-10-2025 om 20:52 geschreven door peter  

Space agency breaks silence on 'foreign' interstellar object soaring past Mars: 'A rare visitor'

• READ MORE: Mysterious interstellar visitor spotted above Mars appears as 'massive cylindrical craft'

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

The European Space Agency (ESA) has finally shared new details about the mysterious interstellar visitor days after its closest approach to Mars.

The object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, came within 18.6 million miles of the Red Planet on October 3, and while NASA quickly uploaded images captured by its Perseverance rover on the Martian surface, ESA had remained quiet until now. 

The ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) captured images of the object, appearing as a tiny, blurry white dot in a series of images.

The object's icy nucleus and its surrounding halo of gas and dust, called a coma, could not be distinguished separately, but the faint glow was clearly visible against the blackness of space. 

Scientists were initially unsure whether either orbiter's cameras would detect the comet at all. Both are designed to photograph Mars' bright, rocky surface from just a few hundred to a few thousand miles away, not to capture a dim object tens of millions of miles distant.

'This was a very challenging observation for the instrument,' said Nick Thomas, principal investigator of the CaSSIS camera. 

'The comet is around 10,000 to 100,000 times fainter than our usual targets.'

The visible coma suggested that 3I/ATLAS is beginning to heat up as sunlight reaches its surface, causing ice to vaporize and release dust, which gives comets their ghostly appearance. 

The European Space Agency finally released images 3I/ATLAS, captured by a Mars orbiter 

Originating from outside our Solar System, 3I/ATLAS is only the third interstellar comet ever seen, following 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.

'These comets are absolutely foreign,' the ESA shared on Tuesday, referring to 3I/ATLAS as a 'rare visitor.'

'Every planet, moon, asteroid, comet and lifeform in our Solar System shares a common origin. 

'But interstellar comets are true outsiders, carrying clues about the formation of worlds far beyond our own.'

ExoMars TGO captured the series of images with its Color and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS), which was unable to distinguish the nucleus from the coma due to 3I/ATLAS being too far away.

However, the device was able to image the coma that spanned thousands of miles across. 

'The full size of the coma could not be measured by CaSSIS because the brightness of the dust decreases quickly with distance from the nucleus,' the ESA report shared.

'This means that the coma fades into the noise in the image.'

3I/ATLAS made its closest approach to Mars on October 3 and is set to continue through our Solar System

NASA was quick to release images of the object snapped by its Perseverance rover on Mars. The agency uploaded them over the weekend 

Typically, material from the coma is swept into a long tail that can stretch for millions of miles as the comet moves closer to the sun. 

'The tail is much dimmer than the coma. We can’t see the tail in the CaSSIS images, but it may become more visible in future observations as the comet continues to heat up and release more ice,' shared the ESA. 

The images have flooded X, where one user posted: 'ESA Finally Releases Images of 3I/ATLAS. After days of silence, ESA finally broke the blackout.'

The ESA's report comes days after NASA released its view of the visitor.

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who has been convinced that the object could be an alien craft or probe, analyzed the Perseverance rover's photos by calculating its distance, speed, and camera settings.

According to his initial study, Loeb was not convinced 3I/ATLAS is actually a massive cylindrical object, noting that the strange shape might have been a trick of the rover's camera stretching out its shape.

He explained that the apparent cylinder from the rover's 'Navcam' was likely caused by the camera stacking hundreds of images of 3I/ATLAS over a period of about 10 minutes, making it look more like a log than a ball.

The professor added that 3I/ATLAS is likely smaller and rounder, but still massive, with a potential diameter of more than 28 miles across.

Dr Horace Drew, a retired senior researcher at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), noted that the mysterious green glow seen in some images could be a result of the object being an interstellar spacecraft coated in nickel.

Color-enhanced images shared by multiple social media users revealed a strange green glow around 3I/ATLAS

Drew explained that humans use the same practice on Earth-made space technology on a much smaller scale.

'It is not a 'comet,'' Drew declared on a post on X Monday morning.

Read More

• Scientists issue the clearest image yet of mysterious object racing through our solar system 

Drew disagreed with Loeb's conclusion that the cylindrical shape was a result of the Mars rover sending back a stretched image over several minutes, claiming that an amateur astronomer on Earth captured a similar shape with their telescope.

'We can see an extended white shape, with a green coma outside. Not a small white ball,' Drew explained in a post about the astronomer's photograph.

Drew, who earned his PhD in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, added that previous images of the interstellar object were allegedly from a 'head-on view' and didn't capture its shape from the side, like the new photos from Mars.

Loeb said he's excited about another image taken by a different Mars camera, called HiRISE, which has better resolution and could show 3I/ATLAS more clearly.

That image is being sent back to Earth by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and has yet to be released by NASA.

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

08-10-2025 om 18:27 geschreven door peter  

Brits have been left in awe after spotting what is believed to be a 'meteor' glowing through the night sky. 

Lucky stargazers in Northfields and Ealing, west London, have reported seeing a blue-ish green blob race through the city's sky on Tuesday. 

One onlooker described seeing the 'streak' of light dash through the clouds at around 8.10pm to 8.30pm, and initially believed it was fireworks.  

'I'm used to seeing planes coming and going to Heathrow, and also helicopters coming and going; this was not that,' they wrote on Reddit. 

'My next thought was fireworks but I'm 90% sure it wasn't that, and there was no explosion.

'For reference it was about the same size as the full-ish moon tonight, visible through the clouds, but as a much brighter blue-green color and, again, moving quite fast.

'It was a very odd combination of speed, size and brightness and didn't look like anything I've ever seen in the sky here before.'

Others claimed to have seen the unusual sighting from Wimbledon and Hampstead Heath, with some even catching a glimpse as far afield as Brighton and Grantham.

Lucky stargazers in Northfields and West Ealing, west London, and further afield, have reported seeing a blue-ish green blob race through the city's sky on Tuesday night

It has not yet been confirmed what the colourful 'streak' in Tuesday's sky was, however, the Daily Mail has approached the Met Office for comment. 

It comes as earlier this week Jessica Lee, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich also said sky gazers could expect the Draconid meteor shower today. 

But, the meteor shower, which is expected to peak Wednesday night may be difficult to see due to the moonlight, Ms Lee warned. 

'The Draconids meteor shower is named after the constellation of Draco the dragon,' Ms Lee said.

'This is because, although meteors appear all over the sky, they all appear to emerge or radiate from a single point that lies within this constellation.

'The meteor shower is visible from the 6th until the 10th of October this year.

'The best time will be from around 8pm on the 8th of October.

'At this time, that radiant point within Draco will be in the north-west of the sky, slowly getting lower in the sky until sunrise.

'The moon will be almost full on this night, however, so it could make the meteors tricky to see.'

The Draconids are caused when debris from the comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner burns up in the Earth's atmosphere, Ms Lee added.

Read More

• Mysterious tentacles emerging from a 'meteorite' spark frenzied reaction 

'Most of this debris will burn up at a height of around 80km above the ground, so this is not a dangerous event,' she said.

'For the best chances to spot them, find a dark area of clear sky and allow around 20 minutes to let your eyes adapt to the dark.

'It may also be advisable to lie down as you may be looking up for a long time.'

In September, walkers were urged to keep an eye out for meteorite fragments scattered over Scotland after a shooting star was spotted in the early hours of July 3. 

The meteor is believed to have exploded over northern Scotland, with the 'fall zone' straddling Loch Treig in Lochaber, Highland. 

The aerial event was captured on some cameras and shared on social media, showing a big yellow spark soaring through the dark sky.

Members of the public have since been tasked to look for the fragments, which should appear 'black, glassy and shiny'.

Meteorites – rocks from outer space and have fallen to the surface of a planet – may have delivered essential compounds facilitating the evolution of life as we know it.

Professor Luke Daly, a planetary geoscientist and space rock hunter at the University of Glasgow, called them 'time capsules of the early solar system'.

'They hold a wealth of information about how our solar system formed and developed,' he said.

'This is a very exciting opportunity to learn more about where this rock came from and where it has been and fill in a bit more of the jigsaw of our solar system's history.' 

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08-10-2025 om 18:14 geschreven door peter  

Sneaky asteroid zooms past Antarctica closer than a satellite — and astronomers didn't catch it until hours after

A small asteroid zoomed past Earth closer than most satellites last week — and astronomers didn't notice it until hours later.

The surprise asteroid encounter occurred at 8:47 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 30 (Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 0047 GMT) when the roughly giraffe-size space rock flew over Antarctica at just 265 miles (428 kilometers) above Earth's surface, according to newly released data from the European Space Agency (ESA). Astronomers first spotted the sneaky space rock — now officially named 2025 TF — a few hours later, using observations from the Catalina Sky Survey, a NASA-funded mission to track near-Earth objects.

Measuring an estimated 3.3 to 9.8 feet wide (1 to 3 meters), the asteroid posed no serious threat to Earth, ESA added, and likely would have burned up as a bright fireball had it reached Earth's atmosphere. However, even small asteroids can cause big problems for spacecraft — and this one happened to whip by at around the same altitude where the International Space Station usually orbits. Fortunately, no spacecraft were in the space rock's path.

Space agencies like NASA and ESA track thousands of known near-Earth objects, carefully monitoring which ones pose the greatest risk of colliding with Earth. (Currently, no known objects pose a significant threat to our planet for at least 100 years). For an asteroid to be considered "potentially hazardous," it must measure at least 460 feet (140 m) in diameter, and follow an orbit that comes within 4.65 million miles (7.48 million km) of Earth — or roughly 20 times the average distance between Earth and the moon. Asteroid 2025 TF falls far short of that size threshold, which may also explain why it evaded detection until after it had passed.

Astronomers at ESA's Planetary Defence Office observed the asteroid shortly after it was discovered, ESA officials reported. NASA, which has paused all public communications during the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, did not make any announcements about the asteroid — however, an entry for the asteroid has been updated on NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies website. The tiny space rock is not expected to fly by our planet again until April of 2087, according to NASA.

Earth may have dodged a "fireball" with this near-miss asteroid encounter, but skywatchers can expect more fiery lights this week. The Draconid meteor shower peaks on Wednesday (Oct. 8) — and while the display of shooting stars will be somewhat dampened by the light of the full Harvest Moon, the appearance of bright fireball meteors is possible. No asteroids play a part in this annual sky show; the Draconids come from icy debris left by the comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, which blazes through the inner solar system every 6.5 years.

{ https://www.livescience.com/space }

07-10-2025 om 20:14 geschreven door peter  

That was close! Huge asteroid comes within 300 miles of hitting Earth – and NASA only noticed AFTER the close encounter

• READ MORE: British walkers are urged to look out for meteorite fragments

By WILIAM HUNTER, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

A huge asteroid came within 300 miles of hitting Earth, and scientists only noticed after it had already skimmed past the planet.

The 9.8-foot (three metre) space rock, dubbed 2025 TF, flew over Antarctica in the early hours of October 1.

Passing at an altitude of just 265 miles (428 kilometres), the rock came closer to the Earth's surface than the orbit of the International Space Station.

However, space agencies only realised the near-miss had occurred when the asteroid was detected by the Catalina Sky Survey a few hours later.

While a miss this close might sound alarming, the European Space Agency (ESA) claims there was never any serious danger.

Based on its estimated size, 2025 TF would have most likely burned up or exploded in the atmosphere rather than slamming into the surface.

ESA said in a statement: 'Objects of this size pose no significant danger.

'They can produce fireballs if they strike Earth’s atmosphere, and may result in the discovery of small meteorites on the ground.'

A huge asteroid passed within 300 miles of Earth, but astronomers only realised the close encounter had happened when telescopes picked up the asteroid hours later. Pictured: Image of the asteroid taken by the Las Cumbres Observatory

After the asteroid passed, astronomers at the ESA's Planetary Defence Office observed it using the Las Cumbres Observatory in Australia.

This allowed for a more accurate estimate of the object's size and worked out that it had reached its closest point to Earth at exactly 01:47:26 BST.

ESA says: 'Tracking down a metre-scale object in the vast darkness of space at a time when its location is still uncertain is an impressive feat.

'This observation helped astronomers determine the close approach distance and time given above to such high precision.'

While it might not have done much damage to the planet, even a small space rock could have caused serious damage to a spacecraft.

This is particularly concerning since 2025 TF passed within the orbit of the ISS.

However, there were thankfully no spacecraft or satellites in the way as this asteroid passed.

Although NASA has paused all public communication during the government shutdown, the space agency has created an entry for 2025 TF on its Center for Near-Earth Object Studies website.

The asteroid, dubbed 2025 TF, passed 265 miles (428 kilometres) above Antarctica in the early hours of October 1. This put it at roughly the same altitude as the International Space Station (stock image) 

According to this entry, the asteroid will next return to Earth in 2087 when it will pass within 3,710,795 miles (5,971,946 km) of the planet.

However, to be classed as a 'potentially hazardous' asteroid, a space rock must have a diameter of at least 460 feet (140 metres) and follow an orbit that will take it within 4.65 million miles (7.48 million km) of Earth.

Although 2025 TF's orbit takes it well within this distance, it is simply too small to be considered a hazard.

This small size also makes it extremely difficult to spot, which likely explains why it wasn't noticed until it had already passed Earth.

Each year, space agencies around the world discover thousands of so-called near-earth asteroids (NEAs).

These range from relatively harmless space rocks like 2025 TF to enormous 'city-killers' like the asteroid 99942 Apophis.

As of October 4, there were 39,585 known NEAs, including 11,453 asteroids larger than 460 feet (140 metres) in diameter.

Of these, about 2,500 are considered potentially hazardous, according to the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) Minor Planet Center.

2025 TF measures up to 9.8 feet (three metres) in diameter. Even though its orbit (illustrated) took it close to Earth, it is too small to be considered a potentially hazardous object 

Each year, astronomers find thousands of Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs), many of which are over 460 feet (140 metres) in diameter. However, there are currently no objects that pose a risk to Earth in the next 100 years 

These hazardous space rocks are subject to a much higher level of scrutiny, and their orbital paths are carefully calculated to see if they will hit Earth.

But, as this near miss demonstrates, even the world's most sophisticated planetary defence systems can't capture anything.

While scientists expect that almost all city or planet-killer asteroids will be detected long before they arrive, small but dangerous asteroids can still slip through.

In January last year, NASA's Scout impact hazard assessment system alerted authorities to a six-foot (two metre) asteroid heading towards Berlin just 95 minutes before it impacted.

Most famously, in 2013, residents of the Russian town of Chelyabinsk witnessed a 66-foot (20 metre) asteroid explode less than 19 miles (30 km) above the surface.

Scientists hadn't seen the asteroid at all since it was approaching from the direction of the sun and couldn't be seen during the day.

However, the blast released 30 times more energy than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, destroying 7,200 buildings and sending 1,500 people to the hospital.

Since this time, planetary defence systems have greatly improved, but many scientists still think more work needs to be done to ensure similar asteroids aren't missed in the future.

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

07-10-2025 om 17:51 geschreven door peter