Bug-eyed telescope ready to find Earth-smashing asteroids
It's only a matter of time before a catastrophically sized asteroid barrels towards Earth again. Until very recently in human history, there was no way of knowing if one was hurtling towards us, much less do anything to alter its path. Now, international space agencies and disaster preparedness experts have powerful tools to keep watch over the skies—and the newest aide just opened its bug-inspired compound 'eye.'
According to the European Space Agency, the Flyeye-1 telescope recently completed its 'first light' test at the Italian Space Agency's Space Geodesy Center, located about 160 miles east of Naples. Soon, it and as many as three other similar installations around the world will work in tandem to provide comprehensive, automated surveys of space every night to scan for cosmic threats.
'The earlier we spot potentially hazardous asteroids, the more time we have to assess them and, if necessary, prepare a response,' explains Richard Moissl, Head of ESA's Planetary Defence Office. 'ESA's Flyeye telescopes will be an early-warning system, and their discoveries will be shared with the global planetary defence community.'
Similar to an insect's vision (hence its name), Flyeye captures incoming light through its 3.3-foot-wide primary mirror. That light is divided into 16 independent channels, all equipped with their own secondary lens and detector cameras designed to flag extremely faint objects. Flyeye's automated observation schedule is designed to factor in variables such as lunar brightness along with other survey telescopes like NASA's ATLAS, the Zwicky Transient Facility, and the forthcoming Vera Rubin Telescope.
So what happens if Flyeye spies a suspicious space rock out there in deep space? The plan is for experts at ESA's Near-Earth Object Coordination Center (NEOCC) to review and verify any potential concerns. If the situation warrants further investigation, the NEOCC will then forward their report to the Minor Planet Center, a global hub for asteroid data. Subsequent research will lead to international contingency planning, which could involve any number of solutions, such as smacking the asteroid off course with a targeted spacecraft launch.
Before that can happen, Flyeye needed to demonstrate its up to the task. For its first light test, Flyeye focused on multiple known asteroids, including 2025 KQ. Astronomers discovered the space rock only two days earlier, offering direct proof that the telescope is already capable of rapid follow-up observations.
'These images of the sky above the ancient stone hills of Matera, Italy, are more than just a test—they are proof that Flyeye is ready to begin its mission,' ESA said in its announcement.
Flyeye-1 is now on its way for installation on Monte Mulfara in Sicily. If all goes according to plan, the telescope's first sibling will be up and running sometime in 2028.
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Boston Globe
a day ago
- Boston Globe
It turns out weather on other planets is a lot like on Earth
Related : Advertisement But by leveraging the sheer amount of knowledge and data about our planet, scientists can get a head start on understanding the inner workings of storms or vortexes on other planetary bodies. In some cases, the models provide almost everything we know about some otherworldly atmospheric processes. 'Our planetary atmosphere models are derived almost exclusively from these Earth models,' said Scot Rafkin, a planetary meteorologist at the Southwest Research Institute. 'Studying the weather on other planets helps us with Earth and vice versa.' Satellite photo of the Baltic Sea surrounding Gotland, Sweden, with algae bloom swirling in the water. The churning clouds near Jupiter's pole appear like ocean currents on Earth — as if you're looking at small edges and meandering fronts in the Baltic Sea. European Space Agency Vortexes on Jupiter If you looked at the churning clouds near Jupiter's pole, they appear like ocean currents on Earth - as if you're looking at small edges and meandering fronts in the Baltic Sea. 'This looks so much like turbulence I'm seeing in our own ocean. They must be covered by at least some similar dynamics,' Lia Siegelman, a physical oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, recalled the first time she saw images of vortexes from NASA's Juno mission, which entered Jupiter's orbit in 2016. Advertisement Working with planetary scientists, she applied her understanding of the ocean physics on Earth to the gas giant in computer models. Whether it's in air or water on any planet, she found the laws of physics that govern turbulent fluids is the same (even though the vortex on Jupiter is about 10 times larger than one on Earth). When cyclones and anticyclones (which spin in the opposite direction) interact in the ocean, they create a boundary of different water masses and characteristics - known as a front. She and her colleagues found the same phenomenon occurs in cyclones at Jupiter's poles, showing similar swirls. 'By studying convection on Earth, we were also able to spot that phenomenon occurring on Jupiter,' Siegelman said, even though Jupiter has relatively little data compared to Earth. Related : She and her colleagues also found a pattern never seen on Earth before: a cluster of cyclones in a symmetrical, repeating pattern near the poles of Jupiter. These 'polar vortex crystals' were observed in 2016 and have remained in place since. Despite never seeing them on Earth, she and other planetary scientists collaborated to reproduce these swirls in computer models - relying on 'just very simple physics.' 'Planetary scientists use a lot of the weather models that have been developed to study either the ocean or the atmosphere,' Siegelman said. 'By just knowing so much about the ocean and the atmosphere, we can just guide our analysis.' Advertisement This NASA handout photo shows beds of sandstone inclined to the southwest toward Mount Sharp and away from the Gale Crater rim on Mars. HANDOUT Dust storms on Mars If you plan to move to Mars, be prepared to face the dust storms. At their most intense, they can engulf the entire planet and last from days to months. The dirt can block sunlight and coat infrastructure. While scientists have observed many of these storms, they still don't know how to predict them. Dust storms operate similarly on Earth and Mars. Dust is lifted and heated, and rises like a hot-air balloon, Rafkin said. The rising air will suck in air from below to replace it. Air pressure drops near the surface, sucking in more wind that lifts the dust. As Mars spins, the angular momentum causes the dust storm to rotate. In reality, Martian dust storms are more similar to hurricanes on Earth in terms of their scale and circulation, said planetary scientist Claire Newman. She said the sources are different (Mars is a dust planet, whereas Earth is a water planet), but they have a similar effect on temperature and winds. But it's still unknown how these Martian dust storms form. On Earth, a winter storm with a cold front can lift the dust; scientists sometimes see similar dust lifting along cold fronts on Mars, but many storms just seem to pop up. Related : To predict a dust storm, scientists need to understand the circulation patterns on Mars - forecasting the cold front that can lift the dust, for instance. But it's something researchers don't yet understand. Wind measurements are scarce on Mars, aside from a few scattered measurement sites on its surface. With adjustments, Earth-based models can simulate the conditions that can lead to the uplifting winds and dust storms. 'Almost everything that we know about the circulation patterns on Mars come from models,' said Rafkin, adding that scientists 'have effectively no observations of the movement of the air on Mars.' Advertisement In this photo, sand blowing off fields creates a dust storm near Morton, Texas, in May 2021. Dust storms operate similarly on Earth and Mars. Jude Smith/Associated Press The models currently serve as the best way to understand dust storms on the Red Planet, unless more dedicated studies and stations are added, similar to Earth. 'We're basically applying these models to try and get a sense of what the environment is,' said Newman, 'before we send robots or potentially people there.' Rain on Titan The second-largest moon in our solar system, Titan is the only other known world besides Earth that has standing bodies of rivers, lakes and seas on its surface - consisting of liquid methane instead of water. That's partly why some scientists think it could be a future home for Earthlings, if we can just figure out the 750-million-mile journey and learn how to survive the minus-179 degree Celsius surface temperatures. But how did those lakes and oceans fill up? Even though it rains methane, the precipitation on Titan is very similar to that on Earth, Rafkin said. On Earth, take a chunk of air with water vapor, cool it off and the air becomes saturated to form a cloud. Those small cloud droplets can bump into one another or take in more water vapor to grow bigger. But eventually, the water vapor starts to condense into a liquid and brings rain. We've seen this process take place on Earth both naturally in the atmosphere and in labs enough times to understand the physics. But limited observations on Titan - effectively only visiting its atmosphere a handful of times - have caused scientists to turn to models. Using the same underlying physics, scientists can model the cloud-making process on this foreign body. And, the modeled clouds look a lot like the few they have observed in real life on Titan. Advertisement This November 2015 composite image made available by NASA shows an infrared view of Saturn's moon, Titan, as seen by the Cassini spacecraft. Titan is the only other known world besides Earth that has standing bodies of rivers, lakes and seas on its surface. AP 'If we try to model them and we get clouds, but they look totally bizarre and different than what we're observing, then that's an indication that maybe we're not representing the cloud processes correctly,' Rafkin said. 'But as it turns out, for the most part, when we model these things, we can produce clouds that look reasonably close to what we've observed.' Because of its incredibly dense atmosphere, Titan has storm clouds - two to four times taller than those on Earth - that are able to produce feet of methane rain. While scientists haven't observed such huge volumes, they have modeled the deluges based on the surface darkening as a storm passed - similar to how rain on soil or pavement darkens the surface on Earth. It's still a mystery where the methane comes from. But at least we know to bring a very, very sturdy raincoat if we ever visit Titan.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Forbes
ESA's Solar Orbiter Should Solve Mystery Of Sun's Outermost Atmosphere
ESA's Solar Orbiter mission will face the Sun from within the orbit of Mercury at its closest ... More approach. The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter mission recently stunned the world with the first-ever full images of our Sun's South pole, proving that this was going to be a mission like no other. Using an orbital gravity assist from the planet Venus, the Solar Orbiter mission spacecraft was able to maneuver into an orbit that has taken it to an angle 17 degrees below the Sun's equator. Over the coming years, the spacecraft will tilt its orbit even further, so the best views are yet to come, says ESA. The 1.2-billion-euro Solar Orbiter mission, with NASA participation, should finally help us understand the origin of the Sun's solar winds as well as our understanding of the Sun's poles. And arguably most importantly, it should solve the puzzle of why our star's outermost atmosphere, or corona, is heated to millions of degrees Kelvin and is thus so much hotter than the Sun's own surface. By contrast, our Sun's visible photosphere, or surface, averages only 5,500 degrees K. With Solar Orbiter, we are clearly seeing energy releases on the nano-flare scale, Daniel Mueller, a solar physicist and ESA project scientist for both ESA's SOHO and Solar Orbiter missions to the Sun, tells me in his office in The Netherlands. But the question is, would these nano-flares continue like that infinitely, or is there a certain lower limit to the production of these nano-flares, Mueller wonders. The puzzle is whether these nano-flares are enough to heat up the Sun's corona to the temperatures with which it is routinely measured. A Unique View Launched in 2020, from its highly elliptical orbit just inside Mercury's perihelion, the closest point in our innermost planet's solar orbit, the ESA spacecraft offers the best views yet of our own yellow dwarf star. We can see on scales down to about 200 kilometers on the Sun, which shows us a lot of dynamics of our star, says Mueller. And thanks to its newly tilted orbit around the Sun, the European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft is the first to image the Sun's poles from outside the ecliptic plane (the imaginary geometric plane in which our Earth orbits the Sun), says ESA. We observed the Sun's North pole at the end of this past April, says Mueller. But we passed the Southern pole first and then the Northern pole six weeks later, he says. At the moment, as seen from Earth, the Solar Orbiter is almost behind the Sun, so the data downlink has slowed to a trickle. But by early October, Mueller expects to have downloaded all the data from Solar Orbiter's Spring polar observations of the Sun. And within a matter of two to three months after the data is on the ground, the first scientific results will have been written up and submitted to journals for publication, says Mueller. These observations are also key to understanding the Sun's magnetic field and why it flips roughly every 11 years, coinciding with a peak in solar activity, says ESA. The spacecraft's instruments show that the Sun's South pole is a bit of a magnetic mess now, with both North and South polarity magnetic fields present, ESA notes. Ready To Flip Right now, there is not a clear dominant magnetic polarity, but a mix of the two, says Mueller. And that is exactly what you would expect to find during the maximum of the Sun's activity cycle, when the magnetic field is about to flip, he says. The real applications are for space weather predictions. Case in point, better space weather forecasting may have saved many of Elon Musk's 523 Starlink satellites that reentered Earth's atmosphere between 2020 and 2024. This period coincides with the rising phase of solar cycle 25, which has shown itself to be more intense than the previous solar cycle, the authors of a 2025 paper appearing in the journal Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences write. Our results indisputably show that satellites reenter faster with higher geomagnetic activity, the authors note. There was a big solar storm that caused the earth's upper Earth atmosphere to expand, so, the satellites experienced more drag, and therefore didn't make it to orbit, says Mueller. One option may have been simply to hold off on launches until this increased period of solar activity enabled a less risky geomagnetic environment in Earth's upper atmosphere. The hope is that the Solar Orbiter mission and other missions like it will lead to better and more reliable space weather predictions that could potentially save hundreds of millions of dollars in the commercial satellite industry. Solar Orbiter should do its share in solving both pure solar physics conundrums as well as in more practical applications like space weather. The good news is that the spacecraft still has plenty of fuel left. Our current funding goes until the end of 2026, but because we had a picture-perfect launch provided by United Launch Alliance and NASA, we saved a lot of fuel, says Mueller. So, the onboard fuel reserves are so large that we can keep going for a long time, he says.
Business Upturn
2 days ago
- Business Upturn
Novo Nordisk's subcutaneous and oral amycretin data published in The Lancet and presented at ADA 2025
By GlobeNewswire Published on June 21, 2025, 04:34 IST Subcutaneous amycretin phase 1b/2a data on the safety, tolerability and weight loss potential in people with overweight or obesity was published in The Lancet and presented at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Scientific Sessions. 1,2 and presented at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Scientific Sessions. Oral amycretin phase 1 data on the safety, tolerability and weight loss potential in people with overweight or obesity was also published in The Lancet. 3 Findings from the clinical trials indicate amycretin appeared tolerable with a safety profile consistent with other GLP-1 and amylin receptor agonists.1,2,3 Bagsværd, Denmark, 20 June 2025 – Novo Nordisk announces subcutaneous amycretin data being presented at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 85 th Scientific Sessions in Chicago, US.1 Full results of two clinical trials evaluating the safety, tolerability and weight loss potential of subcutaneous and oral amycretin in people with overweight or obesity were published today in The Lancet medical journal.1,3 Amycretin is the first treatment that combines GLP-1 and amylin receptor agonism biology in a single molecule. The published and presented results from the once-weekly subcutaneous amycretin phase 1b/2a clinical trial showed that participants who received the treatment demonstrated significantly greater weight loss across the full range of doses investigated compared to placebo. Data being presented at ADA were collected from two parts of the trial; dose escalation (amycretin 60 mg), and dose escalation and maintenance (amycretin 20 mg, 5 mg and 1.25 mg).1,2 No plateauing in weight reduction was observed at the end of treatment (ranging from 20 to 36 weeks) with all tested doses, suggesting that a longer treatment duration may potentially contribute to additional weight loss.1,2 Estimated mean change in body weight from baseline with once-weekly subcutaneous (SC) amycretin: 1,2 * Dose Treatment % Weight change % Weight change duration (SC amycretin) (placebo) 60 mg 36 weeks -24.3% -1.1%20 mg** 36 weeks -22.0% 1.9%5 mg** 28 weeks -16.2% 2.3% 1.25 mg** 20 weeks -9.7% 2.0% * If all people adhered to treatment i.e. if all people followed the planned dosing schedule for the full trial period without any treatment discontinuations. ** Administered during a 12-week maintenance period. Once-weekly subcutaneous amycretin treatment escalated up to 60 mg appeared tolerable with a safety profile consistent with other GLP-1 and amylin receptor agonists.1,2 The number of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) increased in a dose-dependent manner, were mostly gastrointestinal, and were comparable to the rate and profile of TEAEs reported in early-phase studies of GLP-1 receptor, GLP-1 receptor/gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) receptor, and amylin receptor agonists.1,2 The majority of TEAEs were mild to moderate in severity and resolved by the end of the study period.1,2 Of the participants who discontinued the trial, the majority were due to non-TEAE reasons.1,2 'As pioneers in obesity innovation, we are exploring multiple biological pathways to develop potentially transformative medicines that support the individual needs and preferences of people with obesity on their weight loss journey towards overall improved health,' said Martin Holst Lange, executive vice president for Development at Novo Nordisk . 'Amycretin is the first investigational treatment that combines GLP-1 and amylin receptor agonism biology in one molecule, working on distinct pathways and offering complementary effects on appetite control. The findings published and presented today are encouraging. We are excited to advance the clinical development of subcutaneous and oral amycretin into phase 3 to assess its potential as a therapeutic option for weight management.' The published once-daily oral amycretin phase 1 clinical trial data showed that participants receiving amycretin achieved greater weight loss compared to placebo.3 After 12 weeks of treatment with amycretin up to 50 mg and up to 2 times 50 mg, participants achieved a mean change in body weight of -10.4% and -13.1% respectively, compared to -1.2% with placebo.3 There were no apparent signs of weight loss plateauing within the 12 weeks of treatment in either of these amycretin-treated groups.3 Once-daily oral amycretin appeared to have an acceptable safety profile and was tolerable in all tested doses, with TEAEs in line with what was expected from targeting GLP-1 and amylin receptors.3 All reported TEAEs occurred in a dose-proportional manner, were mild to moderate in severity, and mostly gastrointestinal. No new safety signals appeared during the study.3 Based on the findings from the oral and subcutaneous amycretin trials, Novo Nordisk recently announced it will advance amycretin into phase 3 trials to further investigate the treatment as a potential new therapeutic option for weight management.4 About amycretin Amycretin is a unimolecular long-acting GLP-1 and amylin receptor agonist under development by Novo Nordisk, to provide an efficacious and convenient treatment for adults with overweight or obesity and for adults with type 2 diabetes. Amycretin is developed for subcutaneous and oral administration. Oral amycretin Phase 1 trial – The trial evaluated the single-ascending dose and multiple ascending doses for oral amycretin, up to 2 times 50 mg, in 144 people with overweight or obesity, with a total treatment duration of up to 12 weeks. Subcutaneous amycretin Phase 1b/2a trial – The trial investigated the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and proof-of-concept of once-weekly subcutaneous amycretin in 125 people with overweight or obesity. The trial was a combined single ascending dose, multiple ascending dose and dose-response trial investigating three different maintenance doses with a total treatment duration of up to 36 weeks. About Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk is a leading global healthcare company founded in 1923 and headquartered in Denmark. Our purpose is to drive change to defeat serious chronic diseases built upon our heritage in diabetes. We do so by pioneering scientific breakthroughs, expanding access to our medicines, and working to prevent and ultimately cure disease. Novo Nordisk employs about 77,400 people in 80 countries and markets its products in around 170 countries. For more information, visit , Facebook , Instagram , X , LinkedIn and YouTube . Contacts for further information _______________________ References The Lancet: Dahl K, Toubro, S, Dey S, et al. Amycretin, a novel, unimolecular GLP-1 and amylin receptor agonist administered subcutaneously: Results of a randomised, controlled, phase 1b/2a study. Dahl, K, et al. (2025). Amycretin, a Novel, Unimolecular GLP-1 and Amylin Receptor Agonist: Results of a Phase 1b/2a Clinical Trial. Poster 2002-LB. American Diabetes Association (ADA) 85th Scientific Sessions, Chicago, US, June 20 – 23, 2025. The Lancet: Gasiorek A, Heydorn A, Gabery S, et al. Safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of the first-in-class GLP-1 and amylin receptor agonist, amycretin: a first-in-human, phase 1, randomised, placebo-controlled study. Novo Nordisk Company Announcement. Novo Nordisk to advance subcutaneous and oral amycretin for weight management into phase 3 clinical development. Available at: Attachment Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Ahmedabad Plane Crash GlobeNewswire provides press release distribution services globally, with substantial operations in North America and Europe.
