Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 163

A new study has identified a planetary system that is relatively close to Earth and may have the right conditions to support life.

The new study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics puts forward evidence of planets orbiting the star L 98-59 located just 35 light-years from Earth, possibly having the right atmospheric conditions for life. The planetary system contains three planets, one is an ocean world, another is half the mass of Venus, and the last is located in what researchers call the star's "habitable zone" - where it's not too hot or cold (like Earth).

Maria Rosa Zapatero Osorio, an astronomer at the Centre for Astrobiology in Madrid and co-author of the study, said in an ESO that the planet located in the habitable zone "may have an atmosphere that could protect and support life." The researchers used European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) in Chile to observe the planets.

The core of the Earth has remained a mystery to researchers for quite some time, and for one simple reason, we can't drill down to the core to collect a sample.

Some of the most basic questions, such as 'how and when did the core form?' and the answers to those questions are currently being worked on by numerous seismologists and geodynamicists. In the new study, the researchers used seismic observations and geodynamic modeling with estimations of how iron alloys conduct themselves at high pressure and found that the Earth's inner core was growing faster on one side.

It should be noted that this study has its limitations, and the model that was created by the authors only works if it's if Earth's inner core consists "of one specific crystalline phase of iron", per Inverse. The created model allowed researchers to estimate that the Earth's inner core is between 500 million and 1.5 billion years old. Relatively speaking, that would make Earth's inner core quite young, as it would only be between a ninth and a third as old as Earth itself.

Mexico is no stranger to dumping human waste into the ocean, but now the country has forced the closure of a US beach due to contamination.

A new report from KUSI has revealed that Mexico has dumped human sewage into the ocean, causing the water in Imperial Beach to be seriously contaminated and the beach to be closed. According to KUSi's Dan Planete, who has been reporting on this problem that has been occurring for the last forty years, the increase in visitors to the Playas de Tijuana beach in Mexico has caused the increase in the amount of dumping into the ocean.

The closure of the US beach comes just two days after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that they were on their way to help the situation in Mexico. The dumping in the ocean is a result of a lack of sewage system, hence EPA's announcement of coming to the country's assistance. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

A newly published study has caused researchers to rethink their theory of the moon and update it with new information.

The first humans landed on the moon 52 years ago, and when the astronauts were on the surface of the moon, they collected samples to be studied. From the samples, researchers found they had magnetization, leading to the theory that the moon, at some stage, had a protective magnetic field throughout its 4.53 billion-year history. Researchers believed this magnetization could be coming from the mingling of liquid iron deep in the moon's core. However, that isn't the case.

According to John Tarduno, a geophysics professor at the University of Rochester in New York, the previous experiments that have resulted in this long-standing theory about the moon may have provided inaccurate results. Tarduno and colleagues inspected the samples acquired from the Apollo missions with advanced carbon dioxide lasers and highly sensitive magnetometers. What the researchers found was that the moon never had a magnetic field.

NASA has come out and said that due to delays, the space agency won't be able to put humans back on the moon by 2024.

The original plan from NASA was to get the next man and the first woman on the moon by 2024, but now according to a new audit released by NASA, it doesn't seem that is going to happen. According to the audit, the delays in development for the new lunar lander that were caused by the dispute between Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Elon Musk's SpaceX, and the Government Accountability Office contributed to the now delayed launch.

The audit reads as follows, "These delays - attributable to funding shortfalls, COVID-19 impacts, and technical challenges - have left no schedule margin for delivery of the two flight-ready xEMUs. Given the integration requirements, the suits would not be ready for flight until April 2025 at the earliest".

Researchers have located a very strange structure in the outer regions of our Milky Way galaxy, according to a recent study.

The study has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters and details what is called Cattail, a filament of gas that "appears to be so far the furthest and largest giant filament in the galaxy," said the team of astronomers at Nanjing University. Astronomers are yet to find out the origin of this large filament of gas, but speculation points towards it being a section of a spiral arm that has gone unnoticed until now.

The astronomers said, "Alternatively, Cattail might be part of a new arm ... though it is puzzling that the structure does not fully follow the warp of the galactic disk." The team of astronomers behind the paper used the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) to search for clouds containing neutral atomic hydrogen. By observing the extremely subtle patterns of hydrogen light, the astronomers are able to map the position of the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Australia was once home to what is now known as the largest known flying reptile, according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of Queensland, Australia, have published a new study detailing a newly discovered species of pterosaur that is described as a "fearsome dragon" that once took to the skies in the Australian outback. Tim Richards, a Ph.D. candidate that led the study said that the new pterosaur is named Thapunngaka shawi and is "the closest thing we have to a real life dragon."

The researchers explained that the new pterosaur is the largest known flying reptile and that it would have been a "fearsome beast, with a spear-like mouth and a wingspan around seven meters", says Richards. Additionally, Richards said that the skull of the new species would have had more than 40 teeth in it, which would have been perfect for it swooping down to catch fish located in inland seas. It's believed Thapunngaka shawi populated the Earth as late as 66 million years ago and as early as 228 million years ago.

A new study published in the November 2021 issue of the journal Icarus has changed the way we think about the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.

The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs caused the 90-mile-wide Chicxulub crater located in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The size of the asteroid that caused that crater is estimated to be around 6 miles in diameter, but its origin has been something of debate for quite some time. Now, in the newly published study, researchers used computer models over hundreds of millions of years to find the origin, and according to the researchers, the dinosaur-killing asteroid came from the solar system's outer asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter.

The computer models revealed to the researchers that an asteroid from the outer asteroid belt is expected to collide with Earth once every 250 million years and that this calculation lined up with the dinosaur-killing asteroid impacting Earth 66 million years ago. Additionally, the researchers found that a meteor colliding with Earth once every 250 million years is five times more common than researchers previously thought.

Researchers believe that they have found the location of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

The asteroid that resulted in the catastrophic event 66 million years ago is estimated to be 6 miles wide, and now researchers believe that it came from the dark region outside of our solar system. The asteroid caused a 90-mile-wide in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula called the Chicxulub crater, and now according to a new study, the origin of that asteroid has been traced back using computer model simulations over millions of years.

Researchers simulated an asteroid being flung from the outer region of our solar system's main asteroid belt and found that an asteroid would collide with Earth once every 250 million years. Researchers found that this calculation lined up with the asteroid that caused the Chicxulub crater just 66 million years ago and that the computer model showed that half of the meteors located in the solar system's outer asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter are dark carbonaceous chondrites - a primitive type of meteor that researchers believe was the type that killed off the dinosaurs.

NASA is currently accepting applications from people who want to assist the space agency in simulating a Mars mission.

According to a new post on the NASA website, the space agency is currently seeking applications for the first one-year long analog mission that will simulate life on Mars. NASA will be conducting three one-year Mars surface simulations at NASA's Johnson Space Center, and each of the missions will consist of four crew members that will be living and working within a 1,700-square-foot 3D-printed module named the Mars Dune Alpha.

This large 3D printed model by ICON will simulate the environment on Mars, and come with all of the limitations NASA expects astronauts to face when they are actually colonizing the Red Planet. The missions will range objectives, but applicants are expected to undertake "simulated spacewalks, scientific research, use of virtual reality and robotic controls, and exchanging communications", according to NASA.

Next month, NASA is expected to launch the telescope that is poised to replace the famous Hubble Space Telescope.

The new telescope is dubbed the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and due to its upgraded hardware, the telescope is expected to usher in a slew of new cosmic discoveries. The New Yorker described the JWST as a "potentially revolutionary instrument" as it will be able to see further into space than any other space telescope currently available, allowing astronomers to peer further back in time than ever before.

While being able to see the infancy of the universe has its own uses, it may not be the most exciting aspect of the telescope. David Helfland, an astronomer at Columbia University, spoke to The New Yorker and said that the JWST will be able to see "very far away" and "very close", and the latter of the two "in some ways may be the most exciting" because "it's about looking at planets that are not too different from Earth."

Kirsten Banks, an Australian astrophysicist that graduated from the University of New South Wales, has shown off what is renowned as the least spherical star studied to date.

In a recent video posted to Banks' TikTok account, the Australian astrophysicist replied to a question from a fan who asked, "Show us the most irregular star shape!". Banks goes on to highlight the star Achernar, the primary star of the binary system designated Alpha Eridani and is the 9th brightest star in the night sky. View video here.

Achernar is the least spherical star researchers have studied to date, and that is because of how fast it spins. Banks explains that the strange shape of the star is a result of its spinning 155 miles every second, causing its equatorial diameter to be 56% greater than its polar diameter. This extreme rotate speed has forced the star into an oblate shape and has caused it to be described as a "cosmic football". For more quick astronomy facts, check out Banks' TikTok account here.

A new video on the Guinness World Records TikTok account has shown off Donald Gorske, the world record holder for most Big Macs eaten in a lifetime.

The Guinness World Record TikTok account has amassed more than 14 million followers since it first started posting back in 2019, and one of the more viral videos on the account is about Donald Gorske, a nearly 50-year-old who has eaten a shocking 32,340 Big Macs in his lifetime. Gorske explains that he currently eats two Big Macs a day and will probably continue to for the rest of his life. Video here.

The Guinness World Record TikTok commented on the video and said that the Don has said that "he still has a great blood sugar level, an exceptionally good cholesterol, and walks about six miles per day to maintain his health". The price of Big Macs has gone up over the years, but considering how many Big Macs Gorske has eaten, the price increases, and added drinks, it's most likely safe to assume that he has spent over his lifetime tens if not one hundred thousand dollars on his favorite meal.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is known for how active he is on his Twitter account, and in-between his posts about Tesla and SpaceX he can be quite the humorous troll.

At the end of last month, space enthusiast Rebecca thanked Musk for him supposedly following her on Twitter, saying that she's "delighted and honored" to receive a follow. Musk replied back to Rebecca with a very short and humorous message, saying, "Sorry, accidental tap", referring to how he must of "accidentally" followed Rebecca.

In some follow-up Tweets, fans of Musk said that it must have been his child named X who followed Rebecca, and Musk replied by saying, "He does like to play with my phone. There are many confusing videos he has taken." In other news about Elon Musk, SpaceX recently broke the world record for the tallest rocket ever constructed, more on that story here.

Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, astronomers have detected incredibly large rings around a black hole.

Astronomers observed the black hole which is part of the binary system dubbed V404 Cygni that's located around 7,800 light-years from Earth. What the astronomers discovered was that the black hole was drawing material away from its local star, and using Swift Observatory, astronomers discovered a burst of X-rays from V404 Cygni back in 2015.

This burst from the black hole created high-energy rings from a phenomenon known as light echoes, which is when a burst of X-rays bounce off dust clouds between V404 Cygni and Earth. Below is an image that shows the X-rays in light blue overlayed on optical data (stars seen in the image) acquired by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii. The team of researchers looked at observations made by Swift in 2015, and found that they the distance between each of the intervening dust cloud could be measured with the diameter of each ring.

A procedure that is uncomfortable, but can be life-saving, is a colonoscopy, but it's not everyday doctors manage to find an insect inside someone's colon.

Gastroenterologists Keith Siau of The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust found something "particularly eye-catching" inside a 59-year-old man's colon. A colonoscopy is a procedure where a camera is placed in the colon of a man to check for any health abnormalities inside of the large intestine, and while the procedure is uncomfortable for many, it can "sometimes be life-saving" if a health abnormality is found before it becomes life-threatening.

Before a colonoscopy is conducted, doctors tell patients not to eat anything 24 hours before the procedure and to drink 1 gallon of polyethylene glycol, an osmotic laxative used to treat constipation, during the evening of the day before the colonoscopy. Researchers suspect that the colonoscopy preparation may have assisted the ladybug in escaping from digestive enzymes.

A team of marine archaeologists has unearthed some rare archaeological "treasures" that date back to a now sunken Egyptian city.

The team of marine archeologists from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM) teamed up with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt to conduct a mission in the site of Thonis-Heracleion in the Bay of Aboukir. IEASM said that the entrance to Egypt is at the mouth of the Canopic branch of the Nile, and that it was once controlled by Thonis-Heracleion. However, due to tidal waves and earthquakes, parts of the Nile collapsed into the sea, including the cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus.

Researchers rediscovered both cities in 1999 and 2000, and in 2021 a mission to discover more about cities went underway. Researchers uncovered "a Greek funerary area" that was "covered with sumptuous funerary offerings" that dated back to the start of the fourth century. Additionally, researchers also found that "imported luxury Greek ceramics" and "wicker baskets that were still filled with grape seeds and doum fruit...the fruit of an African palm tree, which is often found in tombs."

At the end of April, NASA released a high-resolution video of its Ingenuity helicopter taking flight off the martian surface.

The video was captured by NASA's Perseverance rover that is currently stationed in the Jezero Crater. Perseverance is searching for ancient signs of life on Mars, and Ingenuity is being used as a scout to map efficient pathways for Perseverance and locate landmarks in the area. As NASA states in the description of the video, the first flight Ingenuity ever took on April 19, 2021, marking a milestone in human space exploration.

Since April, Ingenuity has taken more flights and has blown past the NASA engineers' expectations. If you are wondering the total distance Ingenuity has flown since it first took flight at the end of April, the calculations have already been done for you - here. In other space news, Elon Musk's SpaceX has recently taken the crown for having created the tallest rocket ever, and Perseverance has begun collecting its first samples.

Astronomers have used NASA's exoplanet-hunting satellite to detect an unprecedented collection of pulsating red giant stars.

Astronomers from the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy have used observations from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to detect what is called stellar oscillations or material from inside stars. NASA designed TESS to primarily hunt for exoplanets out in the cosmos, but due to the nature of TESS's sensitive instruments that detect and measure stellar brightness, researchers can also use the satellite to discover stars.

Not only can astronomers find new stars, but they can also measure their mass and size with high precision. Marc Hon, a NASA Hubble Fellow at IfA, said, "Our initial result, using only a month of stellar measurements from TESS's first two years, shows that we can determine the masses and sizes of these oscillating giants with high precision that will only improve as TESS goes on. What's really unparalleled is that TESS's broad coverage allows us to make these measurements uniformly across almost the entire sky."

So, why was everyone on Earth stretched and compressed by an event that happened in space on January 5, 2020? An astrophysicist has answered that question.

Kirsten Banks, an Australian astrophysicist that graduated from the University of New South Wales, has replied to this question on her TikTok account, where she posts lots of digestible astronomy and space-related content. Banks explains that on January 5, 2020, gravitational waves traveled through the entire Earth and that these gravitational waves were caused by a black hole engulfing a neutron star. Video here.

Banks continues and says that these gravitational waves affect all of spacetime, and when the gravitational waves passed through Earth, for a fraction of a second, all human bodies were stretched and compressed by 1/10,000th of the size of a proton, or about 30% of the size of human sperm (if the cosmic event happened one-light year away from Earth). Additionally, Banks explains that this isn't the first time researchers have detected these gravitational waves, as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has "detected more than 50 gravitational waves since the first detection in 2015."