Science, Space, Health & Robotics News - Page 224

All the latest Science, Space, Health & Robotics news with plenty of coverage on space launches, discoveries, rockets & plenty more - Page 224.

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Alien world discovered, pushes the scientific understanding of planets

Jak Connor | Dec 9, 2021 12:02 AM CST

A team of astronomers has located a planet in a star system that previously wasn't thought to be able to host stars.

Alien world discovered, pushes the scientific understanding of planets

The two-star system is located approximately 325 light-years away from Earth within the constellation Centaurus. The system is called b Centauri and measures in at six times the mass of our Sun, which makes it the largest star system to have a planet orbiting it. Up until now, astronomers only found planets orbiting stars that were maximum three times the mass of our Sun. The discovery of this planet has expanded astronomers' knowledge of where its possible planets can form.

"B-type stars are generally considered as quite destructive and dangerous environments, so it was believed that it should be exceedingly difficult to form large planets around them," said Markus Janson, an astronomer at Stockholm University, Sweden and first author of the new study.

Continue reading: Alien world discovered, pushes the scientific understanding of planets (full post)

Scientists have made rigid crystals stretchy in a new study

Adam Hunt | Dec 8, 2021 6:30 AM CST

In a new study published in the journal Chem, researchers have modified crystalline structures to make them stretchy.

Scientists have made rigid crystals stretchy in a new study

Chenfeng Ke, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Dartmouth College, and his research team have designed carbon-based, porous crystals that can stretch to more than double their length.

"Picture a diamond that behaves like a rubber band," said Ke.

Continue reading: Scientists have made rigid crystals stretchy in a new study (full post)

Watch this billionaire's private expedition to the ISS, live from NASA

Adam Hunt | Dec 8, 2021 6:00 AM CST

NASA will be live-streaming the launch of two Japanese private citizens accompanied by a veteran Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 8th, 2021.

Watch this billionaire's private expedition to the ISS, live from NASA

A Soyuz MS-20 will carry the Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and private citizens Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, launching at 12:38 p.m. local time (07:38 UTC). Maezawa is a billionaire entrepreneur joined by his production assistant Hirano, both going for an eleven-day visit to the ISS.

The flight will take six hours, with NASA's covering the launch and the docking sequence. On NASA TV, launch coverage begins at 2 a.m. EST, docking coverage at 8 a.m. EST, and hatch opening and welcoming remarks at 10:15 a.m. EST.

Continue reading: Watch this billionaire's private expedition to the ISS, live from NASA (full post)

Radio signals detected from distant stars may indicate hidden planets

Adam Hunt | Dec 8, 2021 5:30 AM CST

With the most powerful radio antenna on Earth, researchers from the University of Queensland have detected radio signals from distant stars.

Radio signals detected from distant stars may indicate hidden planets

Dr. Benjamin Pope of the University of Queensland and colleagues from the Dutch national observatory ASTRON have been using the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) in the Netherlands to observe radio waves emanating from distant stars. These waves suggest the existence of unknown planets orbiting these stars.

"We've discovered signals from 19 distant red dwarf stars, four of which are best explained by the existence of planets orbiting them. We've long known that the planets of our own solar system emit powerful radio waves as their magnetic fields interact with the solar wind, but radio signals from planets outside our solar system had yet to be picked up. This discovery is an important step for radio astronomy and could potentially lead to the discovery of planets throughout the galaxy," said Dr. Pope.

Continue reading: Radio signals detected from distant stars may indicate hidden planets (full post)

NASA's new Sentry-II near-Earth asteroid monitoring system goes live

Adam Hunt | Dec 8, 2021 5:00 AM CST

NASA has developed a new near-Earth asteroid impact monitoring algorithm dubbed Sentry-II to help defend Earth against future asteroid threats.

NASA's new Sentry-II near-Earth asteroid monitoring system goes live

Survey telescopes have identified nearly 28,000 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) to date, with additional NEAs expected to be discovered and added at a rate of roughly 3,000 per year. With advances in survey telescope technology, this rate will likely increase. In response to the potential threat posed by these asteroids to Earth, NASA has developed Sentry-II, an asteroid impact monitoring algorithm that has just gone online.

The Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, calculates the orbit of every known NEA, creating impact hazard assessments for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). To do so, CNEOS has used Sentry software developed by JPL in 2002.

Continue reading: NASA's new Sentry-II near-Earth asteroid monitoring system goes live (full post)

Hubble gets green-lit to return to full operation

Adam Hunt | Dec 8, 2021 4:30 AM CST

After being put in safe mode to protect the scientific instruments aboard, the Hubble Space Telescope returns to full scientific operations.

Hubble gets green-lit to return to full operation

On December 6th, NASA recovered the final instrument aboard Hubble, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. The previous instrument to be recovered was the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on November 28th, and before that the Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys on November 22rd and November 7th respectively.

Hubble initially went into safe mode on October 25th in response to the loss of internal synchronization messages. As NASA has worked to bring the scientific instruments back online, no synchronization message issues have been detected since November 1st.

Continue reading: Hubble gets green-lit to return to full operation (full post)

Mysterious 'house' on far side of the Moon photographed by rover

Jak Connor | Dec 8, 2021 3:02 AM CST

A rover exploring the surface of the Moon has snapped an image of what appears to be a mysterious "house", or "hut" object.

Mysterious 'house' on far side of the Moon photographed by rover

The image comes from an affiliated Chinese media channel called "Our Space", that details the rover Yutu 2 that first landed on the far side of the Moon back in January 2019. According to the post, the Yutu 2 rover spotted the object on the horizon while it was driving across the Von Karman crater last month, and sent back images of the object to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

Space.com reports that the name "mystery hut" or "house" is currently being used as a placeholder name until the rover can identify what the object is. Additionally, the publication also points out that the object is most likely not a hut of any kind, and is more likely to be a large boulder that has been created from an impact event such as an asteroid. Yutu 2 is only 262 feet away from the object and will make its way over to inspect it over the next two to three months.

Continue reading: Mysterious 'house' on far side of the Moon photographed by rover (full post)

Elon Musk says this may threaten human civilization

Jak Connor | Dec 8, 2021 2:34 AM CST

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said during an interview that global birthrates could threaten human civilization.

Elon Musk says this may threaten human civilization

Musk, who is a father of six, spoke at Wall Street Journal's annual CEO Council and said brought up birthrates being a possible threat towards the existence of human civilization, saying that there is "not enough people" and called for people to have more children. The Tesla CEO went on to say that there is "smart people" who believe that there is too many people, and that Earth is overpopulated, but according to Musk this isn't the case, "It's completely the opposite".

"I think one of the biggest risks to civilization is the low birth rate and the rapidly declining birthrate. And yet, so many people, including smart people, think that there are too many people in the world and think that the population is growing out of control. It's completely the opposite. Please look at the numbers - if people don't have more children, civilization is going to crumble, mark my words", said Elon Musk.

Continue reading: Elon Musk says this may threaten human civilization (full post)

NASA is going to find the universes most violent objects with this

Jak Connor | Dec 8, 2021 2:06 AM CST

NASA is currently gearing up for the launch of its new telescope that will be used to find the most violent objects in the universe.

NASA is going to find the universes most violent objects with this

The new telescope is called the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft and will be used by the agency and astrophysicists to observe the magnetic field of cosmic objects such as neutron stars and black holes. IXPE will be able to read the polarization between different X-rays that come from the environments of violent celestial objects (black holes, neutron stars). These readings will be able to teach researchers about the environment in the past and future of these objects.

NASA is planning on launching the IXPE spacecraft on the back of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday after 1 a.m. EDT. As always, the event will be live-streamed by NASA on its website and social media channels, with the livestream beginning on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. If you are interested in reading more about this new telescope, check out this link here.

Continue reading: NASA is going to find the universes most violent objects with this (full post)

Watch 2021's only total solar eclipse in just 1 minute with this video

Jak Connor | Dec 8, 2021 1:02 AM CST

The only solar eclipse to happen for 2021 recently occurred, but unfortunately, the totality was only visible in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

Watch 2021's only total solar eclipse in just 1 minute with this video

The extreme conditions of Antarctica didn't stop some photographers and scientists that were determined to see the total solar eclipse, and to everyone else's enjoyment, they have shared video footage of the event. The footage, which is about 1 minute in length, showcases a stunning time-lapse view of the Sun reappearing and disappearing, with only a few seconds of totality. If you find the video too fast, you can slow in down in the settings, which can be found in the bottom right-hand corner of the video.

The video was captured from Union Glacier on Saturday, December 4, by the JM Pasachoff Antarctic Expedition, who also live-streamed the event. The reason the total solar eclipse was only visible at certain locations on Earth is due to the Moon's shadow being very narrow. Antarctica was the best viewing angle of the total solar eclipse, while places such as Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and South Africa could only see a partial eclipse.

Continue reading: Watch 2021's only total solar eclipse in just 1 minute with this video (full post)