admin, Author at Space History

Meteors can be multicolored

Cameras can often capture colors in cases where the human eye does not distinguish them. The picture shows a meteor from the Quadrantid stream, photographed earlier this month in Missouri in the USA. It turned out to be not only very bright, but also multicolored.

A grain of sand, probably ejected from the asteroid 2003 EH1, left a trace in the earth’s atmosphere. The colors of meteors are usually caused by ionized elements evaporating during the destruction of meteors. Magnesium gives blue-green radiation, calcium – purple, and nickel – green.

The red glow is usually given by excited nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. The flash of this bright car lasted less than a second, but it left an ionization trail blown up by the wind, which was visible for several minutes.

On the exoplanet WASP-31b found a substance that is both liquid and gaseous

Researchers have found evidence of the presence of chromium hydride on the exoplanet WASP-31b, which at a certain temperature and pressure is at the boundary between liquid and gas. On Earth, it resembles clouds and rain. Chromium hydride can play a role in the formation of the weather system on this planet: clouds and rain may appear there. This is the first time chromium hydride has been detected on hot Jupiter.

The authors of the work believe that chromium hydride is in gaseous form during the day on the planet, and in liquid form at night.

Rock analysis has shown that Mars used to resemble Iceland

The ancient Martian Gale crater became the center of research by scientists who compared the data of the Curiosity rover with places on Earth where similar geological formations eroded in different climatic conditions. The basalt relief of Iceland and the cool weather with temperatures, as a rule, below 3 °C turned out to be the closest analogue of ancient Mars. The study showed that it was the temperature that had the greatest impact on how the ancient Martian rocks eroded.

Gale Crater once had a lake. However, scientists have long argued about what climate allowed water to fill it. Some argue that early Mars was warm and humid and that rivers and lakes were usually present on its surface. Others believe that it was cold and dry on the Red Planet, and glaciers and snow were more commonplace. The correct scenario is the third one. The ancient climate was probably cold, but also seems to have maintained liquid water in lakes for long periods of time. It also turned out that the ancient rocks of Mars are comparable to deposits in modern rivers and lakes of Iceland. The results also showed that the climate on the planet has changed over time from Antarctic conditions to a more Icelandic variant.

A unique neutron star was found in the “galactic cemetery”

The MeerKAT radio telescope has discovered a new type of neutron star. It rotates extremely slowly, making one revolution in 76 seconds. The authors believe that a new class of neutron stars has been found. The unique neutron star was named PSR J0901-4046.

A neutron star emits at least seven different types of pulses, some of which occur at regular intervals. The incoming bursts are similar to pulsars and magnetars with an ultra-long period at the same time. In addition, scientists have recorded fast radio bursts — short bursts of radio emission in random places in the sky.

Astrophysicists believe that PSR J0901-4046 may belong to the theoretical class of super—long-period magnetars – stars with extremely strong magnetic fields. Scientists note that the discovery was made in a region of the galaxy in which they did not expect to detect pulsation — in the “cemetery of neutron stars”.

China targets permanently shaded regions at the Moon’s south pole

China is seeking to land spacecraft near permanently shadowed regions near the moon’s south pole to investigate the potential presence of resources trapped in craters.

In such places, the temperature is about -230 degrees Celsius, colder than the surface of Pluto, which makes them potential traps for volatile substances, including water ice, as well as methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia and more.

Such resources can help researchers on the moon, because water ice turns into drinking water or is electrolyzed to produce rocket fuel.

The Chang’e-7 mission, which is expected to be launched in 2024 or 2025, will consist of several spacecraft, including an orbiter, a relay satellite, a lander, a rover and a “mini flying detector”.

The James Webb Space Telescope was used to track an asteroid

The telescope tracked the asteroid 6841 Tenzing from the main belt. There were no special tasks for the observatory, therefore, the sources do not publish any data. The main task of the telescope was precisely tracking the object. The bottom line is that, in general, “James Webb” was created to observe very remote objects. The telescope should allow astronomers to look as far into the vastness of the universe and as far back in time as no other instrument has allowed.

But the design of “James Webb” is such that it allows him to monitor objects that are very close by cosmic standards. This is exactly what the telescope team tested by tracking the asteroid.

Four supernovae erupted near Earth, changing its climate

According to a new study, supernova explosions occurring thousands of light-years from Earth could leave a mark on the biology and geology of our planet.

A supernova that erupts near Earth could wipe human civilization off the face of the planet. However, even stars born far out in space can cause catastrophic damage by plunging the Earth into dangerous radiation and damaging its protective ozone layer.

Scientists have drawn attention to the annual rings of trees, which are considered to be a kind of “prints” of such explosions. As a result, it turned out that relatively close supernovae could have disrupted the Earth’s climate at least four times in the last 40,000 years.

Scientists’ research is based on a curious atom – carbon-14. It is an isotope of carbon that is found on Earth only in tiny amounts. At the same time, it is formed as a result of the bombardment of the planet’s atmosphere by cosmic rays.

In the course of the work, experts found several cases when the concentration of this isotope inside the annual rings increases sharply – suddenly and for no apparent earthly reason. It is assumed that these “bursts” lasting several years could cause solar flares or supernova explosions.

To test it, the researchers compiled a list of supernovae that have appeared relatively close to Earth over the past 40,000 years. Then they compared their approximate age with the annual rings. As a result, eight candidates were selected, of which four suited the theory the most. One of the stars broke out at a distance of 815 light-years from Earth 13 thousand years ago. Shortly after that, the level of radiocarbon on the planet jumped by almost 3%.

What will happen to humanity, to the Earth, to the Solar system, the galaxy, and so on, if all gravity suddenly disappears?

All stars and planets retain their size and shape due to the balance between gravity, which tends to compress them, and pressure, which, on the contrary, tries to break them. If gravity disappears, then the balance between these two forces will be disrupted and the huge internal pressure will lead to the explosion of all stars and planets, only dwarf planets in which the pressure is not so great and does not exceed their own strength can survive in theory. Due to the disappearance of gravity, nothing will hold matter in star systems and galaxies, the debris will retain its momentum in space, as it was at the time of the disappearance of gravity and will scatter across the Universe. In a few tens of millions of years, galaxies will cease to exist as clusters of matter, and in a few billion years, superclusters will cease to exist.

When all the stars and planets explode at the same time, all life in star systems will stop, only those who will be away from the stars, on spaceships, will be able to survive, but this will not last long. With such an explosion, the universe will be illuminated by the brightest radiation in all ranges, sufficient to destroy all life in the galaxies, it’s only a matter of time before it reaches ships far from the stars.

“The “planets” may turn out to be the primary black hole

Astronomers have long suspected that there is a mysterious planet on the outskirts of the Solar System that has yet to be discovered. The authors of the new hypothesis are sure that this is not a planet, but a primary black hole that has survived since the Big Bang.

“Official science has not yet confirmed the existence of primary black holes in reality, but such objects can be extremely common in the universe. Some theoretical models indicate that primary black holes account for up to 80 percent of the mass of the universe. If this is the case, then the primary black holes may be the very dark matter that cosmologists are searching for,” the researchers say.

The strongest magnet in the universe gave unusual signals

Astronomers have revealed the strange behavior of the radio-loud magnetar Swift J1818.0-1607, which is a neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field. Such objects are known as the strongest magnets in the universe.

The magnetar was detected in March 2020 by a powerful X-ray flash. After that, the object gave unusual radio pulses, which differed from those of other radio-loud magnetars. Usually radio pulses have constant brightness over a wide range of observed frequencies, however, the pulses from J18 are much brighter at low frequencies than at high frequencies, which makes it look like a pulsar.

In May, the magnetar was still emitting unusual pulsar-like pulses, but by June it began to flicker, fluctuating between pulsar-like and magnetic radio pulses. This behavior is unique and has not been observed before in any such object.