Latest news with #SolarSystem
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Jaw-Dropping Explosions on The Sun Captured in First NASA PUNCH Images
A NASA mission to observe the activity of the solar wind has returned its first images of giant coronal mass ejections (CMEs) billowing out from the Sun. Images from the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) were presented at the 246th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, showing these giant events on an unprecedented scale. "I promise you you have never seen anything quite like this," heliophysicist and PUNCH principal investigator Craig DeForest of the Southwest Research Institute said in his presentation. CMEs are huge expulsions of billions of tons of solar plasma and magnetic fields that are blasted out from the Sun, a massive release of energy and solar particles that occurs when the Sun's magnetic field lines tangle, snap, and reconnect. They often, but don't always, occur with solar flares. A halo CME is what we call it when the CME blasts right in the direction of Earth. From our perspective, the expanding ejecta looks to surround the Sun like a halo, before barreling through the Solar System at tremendous speed. "That halo CME is something you have never seen before. I'd like to call your attention to the white circle near the center of the field of view here. That circle represents the LASCO field of view; that is the largest coronagraph currently used to forecast space weather. "You've seen halo CME movies before, if you've paid attention to the science press. But you have never seen one 30 to 40 degrees from the Sun … you're seeing something that is literally washing across the entire sky of the inner Solar System as it comes toward the Earth." In this case, they were able to track a CME as it blasted through the Solar System at 4 million miles an hour until about two hours before it collided with Earth's magnetic field. These events often produce the aurora that light up Earth's polar skies, but can also interrupt communications and damage satellites, so scientists are keen to develop better space weather tracking and prediction tools. PUNCH is just beginning its planned two-year mission to record solar events in 3D, in an attempt to better understand space weather. The four probes aren't quite yet in their final positions, but the team here on Earth is testing the instruments and taking observations. "These are preliminary data. They look good now, but they are going to look fabulous once we are done with calibration later this summer," DeForest said. "This is the first of many, I'm sure, and the best is still to come." SpaceX Starship Explodes in Towering Fireball Astronomers Uncover a Massive Shaft of Missing Matter Our Galaxy's Monster Black Hole Is Spinning Almost as Fast as Physics Allows
eNCA
8 hours ago
- Science
- eNCA
How did life survive 'Snowball Earth'? In ponds, study suggests
Earth has not always been so hospitable to live. During several ice ages, the planet's surface was almost completely frozen over, creating what has been dubbed "Snowball Earth". Liquid water appears to be the most important ingredient for life on any planet, raising the question: how did anything survive such frosty, brutal times? A group of scientists said Thursday that they had found an astonishing diversity of micro-organisms in tiny pools of melted ice in Antarctica, suggesting that life could have ridden out Snowball Earth in similar ponds. During the Cryogenian Period between 635 and 720 million years ago, the average global temperature did not rise above -50 degrees Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit). The climate near the equator at the time resembled modern-day Antarctica. Yet even in such extreme conditions, life found a way to keep evolving. Fatima Husain, the lead author of a new study published in Nature Communications, told AFP there was evidence of complex life forms "before and after the Cryogenian in the fossil record". "There are multiple hypotheses regarding possible places life may have persisted," said Husain, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Perhaps it found shelter in patches of open ocean, or in deep-sea hydrothermal vents, or under vast sheets of ice. The tiny melted ice pools that dotted the equator were another proposed refuge. These ponds could have been oases for eukaryotes, complex organisms that eventually evolved into multicellular life forms that would rise to dominate Earth, including humans. - Could aliens be hiding in ponds? - Melted ice ponds still exist today in Antarctica, at the edges of ice sheets. In 2018, members of a New Zealand research team visited the McMurdo ice shelf in east Antarctica, home to several such pools, which are only a few metres wide and less a metre deep. The bottom of the ponds are lined with a mat of microbes that have accumulated over the years to form slimy layers. "These mats can be a few centimetres thick, colourful, and they can be very clearly layered," Husain said. They are made up of single-celled organisms called cyanobacteria that are known to be able to survive extreme conditions. But the researchers also found signs indicating there were eukaryotes such as algae or microscopic animals. This suggests there was surprising diversity in the ponds, which appears to have been influenced by the amount of salt each contained. "No two ponds were alike," Husain said. "We found diverse assemblages of eukaryotes from all the major groups in all the ponds studied." "They demonstrate that these unique environments are capable of sheltering diverse assemblages of life, even in close proximity," she added. This could have implications in the search for extraterrestrial life. "Studies of life within these special environments on Earth can help inform our understanding of potential habitable environments on icy worlds, including icy moons in our Solar System," Husain said. Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's Europa are covered in ice, but scientists increasingly suspect they could be home to simple forms of life, and several space missions have been launched to find out more about them. By Bénédicte Rey
France 24
a day ago
- Science
- France 24
How did life survive 'Snowball Earth'? In ponds, study suggests
Liquid water appears to be the most important ingredient for life on any planet, raising the question: how did anything survive such frosty, brutal times? A group of scientists said Thursday that they had found an astonishing diversity of micro-organisms in tiny pools of melted ice in Antarctica, suggesting that life could have ridden out Snowball Earth in similar ponds. During the Cryogenian Period between 635 and 720 million years ago, the average global temperature did not rise above -50 degrees Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit). The climate near the equator at the time resembled modern-day Antarctica. Yet even in such extreme conditions, life found a way to keep evolving. Fatima Husain, the lead author of a new study published in Nature Communications, told AFP there was evidence of complex life forms "before and after the Cryogenian in the fossil record". "There are multiple hypotheses regarding possible places life may have persisted," said Husain, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Perhaps it found shelter in patches of open ocean, or in deep-sea hydrothermal vents, or under vast sheets of ice. The tiny melted ice pools that dotted the equator were another proposed refuge. These ponds could have been oases for eukaryotes, complex organisms that eventually evolved into multicellular life forms that would rise to dominate Earth, including humans. Could aliens be hiding in ponds? Melted ice ponds still exist today in Antarctica, at the edges of ice sheets. In 2018, members of a New Zealand research team visited the McMurdo ice shelf in east Antarctica, home to several such pools, which are only a few metres wide and less a metre deep. The bottom of the ponds are lined with a mat of microbes that have accumulated over the years to form slimy layers. "These mats can be a few centimetres thick, colourful, and they can be very clearly layered," Husain said. They are made up of single-celled organisms called cyanobacteria that are known to be able to survive extreme conditions. But the researchers also found signs indicating there were eukaryotes such as algae or microscopic animals. This suggests there was surprising diversity in the ponds, which appears to have been influenced by the amount of salt each contained. "No two ponds were alike," Husain said. "We found diverse assemblages of eukaryotes from all the major groups in all the ponds studied." "They demonstrate that these unique environments are capable of sheltering diverse assemblages of life, even in close proximity," she added. This could have implications in the search for extraterrestrial life. "Studies of life within these special environments on Earth can help inform our understanding of potential habitable environments on icy worlds, including icy moons in our Solar System," Husain said. Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's Europa are covered in ice, but scientists increasingly suspect they could be home to simple forms of life, and several space missions have been launched to find out more about them.
Economic Times
5 days ago
- Science
- Economic Times
Pluto-like planet discovered: How big is it and how far is it from Earth?
Researchers believe that 2017 OF201's highly eccentric orbit points to a chaotic origin, possibly caused by a gravitational push from one of the solar system's gas giants in its early days, sending the object as far as the distant Oort Cloud. Pluto-like planet discovered: How big is it and how far is it from Earth? Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Pluto Like Planet With an Extraordinary Orbit A Decade's Largest Solar System Discovery Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Possibly Ejected from the Oort Cloud Solar System May Host Hundreds More A Renewed Push for Outer Solar System Exploration FAQs What is 2017 OF201? Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The object is estimated to be around 700 kilometers (435 miles) in diameter, which is approximately half the size of Pluto. In a significant breakthrough, astronomers have detected a Pluto-like planet situated far beyond the known boundaries of the solar system. Identified as 2017 OF201 , the icy celestial body may represent the largest object discovered in the outer solar system in over a decade, reigniting interest in the unexplored expanses beyond as an extreme trans-Neptunian object (TNO), 2017 OF201 is believed to be around 700 kilometers (435 miles) in diameter—about half the size of Pluto. Though smaller than the famous dwarf planet, its location and orbital characteristics have startled researchers. The object's aphelion, or farthest distance from the Sun, is more than 1,600 times Earth's orbital distance, while its perihelion, the nearest point to the Sun, is roughly 44.5 times that of Earth—comparable to Pluto's orbital reach.'This suggests a highly elliptical and unusual orbit,' noted Dr. Sihao Cheng from the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, which led the discovery, as mentioned in a report by planet takes approximately 25,000 years to complete one revolution around the Sun, hinting at a dramatic cosmic using a combination of data from the Dark Energy Camera in Chile and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, the celestial body was captured over seven years and 19 different exposures. Astronomers suggest that if the object's size is verified via radio telescopes, it will earn the title of the largest newly discovered planetary body in the outer solar system since the early 2010s.2017 OF201 joins a short but significant list of massive TNOs, which includes Eris, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Gonggong. It further challenges previous assumptions about the sparsity of large bodies in the far-flung regions of the solar to the researchers, the extreme orbit of 2017 OF201 suggests a tumultuous past. It may have been gravitationally ejected by one of the gas giants early in solar system history, potentially reaching the Oort Cloud—a distant shell believed to host countless icy bodies—before being pulled back inward.'This is a classic case of a planetary body that didn't just form where it now resides. Its path tells the story of encounters, ejections, and returns,' said Dr. Yifan Yang, a collaborator on the study, as mentioned in a report by Kuiper Belt , the donut-shaped region beyond Neptune, was once thought to be relatively empty. However, the discovery of 2017 OF201 raises fresh questions about what lies beyond.'The fact that 2017 OF201 was detectable while spending just 1% of its orbital period near the inner solar system implies that there could be hundreds of similar-sized objects we simply haven't detected yet,' Dr. Cheng discovery provides renewed impetus for studying the Pluto-like planet category and the solar system's unexplored boundaries. It may also guide future missions akin to NASA's New Horizons, which flew past Pluto in 2015 before entering deeper Kuiper Belt emphasize that while humanity has explored deep space with cutting-edge instruments, the very edges of our own cosmic neighborhood remain largely uncharted territory.2017 OF201 is an icy, Pluto-like celestial body classified as an extreme trans-Neptunian object (TNO). It was recently discovered in the far outer regions of the solar system and could be the largest such object found in over a decade.
The National
7 days ago
- Science
- The National
China's asteroid mission aims to uncover Solar System's oldest secrets
China 's latest deep space mission aims to investigate whether rocky debris ejected from planetary surfaces in the early Solar System could have helped distribute life's key ingredients across space. The Tianwen -2 spacecraft, launched on May 29, is on its way to collect material from a small near-Earth asteroid that may be a piece of the Moon. After that, it will travel even farther to study a mysterious object in the asteroid belt that behaves like a comet. Researchers hope the samples will offer fresh clues about how planets like Earth were formed, and whether rocks could have travelled between worlds, carrying water, organic molecules or even microbes with them. 'We selected two targets for this mission: the asteroid 2016 HO3 and the main-belt comet 311P,' said Chen Chunliang from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. 'Both targets hold significant scientific value. The mission allows us to develop new asteroid exploration technologies while collecting data that could help us better understand how the Solar System began.' The asteroid, also known as Kamoʻoalewa, is a strange little object just 40 metres wide. It orbits the Sun in sync with Earth, making it a 'quasi-moon', an asteroid that stays close to our planet but does not orbit it directly. Its exact origin is uncertain, but one leading theory suggests it may be a chunk of the Moon that was blasted into space by an ancient impact. Prof Erik Asphaug, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, said the asteroid is a perfect example of the mix of space rocks that circle near Earth, including pieces of the Moon, dead comets, broken-up asteroids and leftovers from the early Solar System. 'By studying samples from what may be a fragment of the Moon, scientists can figure out how intense the impact was that launched it into space, and whether those conditions could have been survivable for tiny life forms on a planet like Mars,' he said. That idea ties into a scientific theory known as panspermia, the possibility that life, or the ingredients for it, may have travelled between planets inside rocks ejected by powerful impacts. Scientists are also interested in the asteroid's size and spin rate. It completes one rotation every 28 minutes, which is too fast for loosely held-together pile of rocks to stay intact. Mr Asphaug said this could suggest that the asteroid is a single solid piece of rock, or a monolith. 'But how do you eject a 40 metre intact chunk of rock from the Moon, when to escape it has to be accelerated to lunar escape velocity, which is about 2 kilometres a second? This is five times faster than a high-powered rifle bullet,' he said. 'That is the geophysical adventure of Tianwen-2. The compositional adventure may be less stunning, if indeed it is a fragment of the lunar crust, but there's a great deal to learn from its process of ejection,' said Mr Asphaug. 'And I guess there's a small chance that we'll be completely surprised, that it's not a fragment of the Moon at all, in which case there is a lot of explaining to do.' Tianwen-2 will attempt to return samples from the asteroid to Earth by 2027. After completing that phase, the spacecraft will use an Earth gravity assist to journey to comet 311P/PANSTARRS, an object in the asteroid belt that occasionally shoots comet-like tails. The second part of the mission will take several more years, with the spacecraft studying the comet's surface and behaviour in detail. 'In space exploration it has become obvious that there is a most-bang-for-the-buck way of going about asteroid and comet exploration,' said Mr Asphaug. 'Consider Nasa's OSIRIS-REx asteroid rendezvous mission … having returned its sample, now it is heading to a second rendezvous, this time with asteroid Apophis. 'But this secondary mission was not part of the original mission so is subject to ongoing budgetary pressure.' Japan also has a similar mission, with the Hayabusa2 having successfully returning samples of the Ryugu asteroid in 2020, and is now heading towards another small asteroid. China's mission builds on the country's growing portfolio of successful robotic space flights. In 2020, Chang'e-5 returned samples from the Moon's near side. Two years later, Chang'e-6 brought back the first samples from the Moon's far side − another global first. The Tianwen-2 mission also comes at a time when Nasa is struggling with major budget cuts, forcing delays and downsizing across several of its flagship science programmes, including plans for Mars sample return. China is developing its own Mars sample return programme, potentially launching later this decade.
