Category: Planets

Venus, or rather its surface is always hidden behind a curtain of thick clouds, which makes it difficult to observe the second planet from the sun. Due to the density of clouds, it is inaccessible by any powerful ground-based telescope. However, using radar technology, the launches of automatic stations to this planet have long received a detailed image of the surface of this planet.

Mapping revealed vast elevations on Venus. The largest mountains of them are “The Land of Ishtar” and “The Land of Aphrodite”, comparable in size to terrestrial continents. There are relatively few impact craters on Venus. Most of the planet’s surface is geologically young (about 500 million years old). 90% of the planet’s surface is covered with frozen basalt lava.

Since it is not yet possible to directly penetrate very deep into the bowels of the Earth, some indirect methods are used to study the contents of the Earth’s interior.

The study of volcanic eruptions, emissions of incandescent gases and molten rock to the surface indicates that it is very hot inside the Earth.

During earthquakes, waves arise, they create a kind of X-ray image of the inner parts of the Earth. What does it look like? When an earthquake occurs, different types of vibrations propagate in all directions passing through the rocks. Such waves are called seismic. Waves travel through different materials at different speeds. The direction of the waves changes when they go from one type of rock to another. When studying seismic waves with the help of very sensitive instruments, they create an assumption about what is inside the Earth.
What do we know presumably?
Today: the upper layer, a kara with a thickness of up to 48 km, consisting of solid rocks. Further at a depth of up to 2880 km is the Earth’s mantle, which also consists of hard rocks. The inner part of the Earth — the core consists of an outer liquid part (molten iron and nickel), inside which there is an inner solid metal core with a diameter of about 2560 km.

In astronomy, metals are elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. Researchers have built a number of theoretical models describing the structure of Jupiter’s gas envelope.

It turned out that in the direction of the center of the planet, the metal content increases dramatically. A gas giant like Jupiter can acquire metals in two ways during its formation: accretion of either small fragments (at an early stage) or larger bodies — planetesimals, also called “planet embryos”.

In the case of Jupiter, the unusual concentration of metals in the gas shell is explained by the second scenario, since any planet, becoming large enough, begins to repel small objects from itself.

The discovered exoplanets, called Teegarden b and Teegarden c, are only slightly larger than our Earth, but in general they resemble it very much. Teegarden b even took first place in the list of potentially habitable exoplanets, scoring the highest score on the Earth similarity index. This index is used to approximate the suitability of exoplanets and their satellites for life. Scientists claim that the “Earth similarity index” of the planet Teegarden b is 0.95, and Teegarden c has 0.68, which is about the same as Mars.

The surface temperature of Teegarden b varies from zero to +50 degrees Celsius, and the average is about 28 degrees. Teegarden c is located farther from the star, so the climate on it is cooler and more similar to that of Mars. The average temperature on its surface is about -47 degrees Celsius.

Given that both planets have a rocky, partially iron or water composition, they should have radii similar to Earth’s. These two planets resemble the inner planets of the Solar System. They are located in the so-called habitable zone, where water may be present, which is why they are included in the list of potentially habitable exoplanets. If these planets have an atmosphere, then they may well be habitable.

Before the astronauts landed on the moon, there was an opinion that the first people on the satellite should leave there not an American flag, but a flag representing all of humanity. And although these few voices were not heard, in 1970 they pushed James Cadle, who lived on a farm in Illinois, to create the flag of the Earth.

According to Cadle, the flag should be used to represent humanity as a whole, without dividing into countries, organizations or individuals. James Cadle devoted his life to the popularization of the flag and sent it to everyone (in exchange for compensation for the costs of manufacturing and delivery of the flag). Before his death, he transferred the flag of the Earth to the public domain, so that now it can be freely used and, for example, hung outside the window on public holidays.

YouTube uses mini-images of this flag next to the user’s name when the site cannot determine its location.

The answer, in fact, is simple: there is no radio communication with Earth on the other side.

This problem can be solved by grouping satellites that will forward the signal, but it is expensive and difficult. And without constant communication, putting people on the moon is an excessive risk.

Of course, now I’m talking about manned missions. Automatic stations, of course, have been working from the “back” side of the moon for a long time. For example, the Soviet automatic station Luna-3 was the first to receive her pictures.

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.

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.

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 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”.