Space History

It is still believed that planets are formed in disks of gas and dust surrounding young stars whose age by cosmic standards is only a few million years

Astronomers studied the resulting images of the environment of 44 young stars. The analysis of observations led to the discovery of a young exoplanet the size of Jupiter and another brown dwarf. Scientists were able to identify clear differences in protoplanetary disks orbiting stars with different masses.

“The main purpose of observations of young stars is to find an answer to the fundamental question: how planets are formed. In particular, our review is aimed at those that are more massive than the Sun,”

Planets are thought to form in disks of their gas and dust that surround young stars only a few million years old. Previous observations have shown that there are often gaps in them that form rings and are probably the result of the interaction of the emerging worlds with the environment.

In order to expand the understanding of the origin of these features, astronomers conducted observations of a sample of 44 young stars, 35 of which had a protoplanetary disk.

“It turned out that protoplanetary disks orbiting stars with a mass of less than three solar ones, as a rule, have rings, while the environment of more massive stars is devoid of them. The key result of the observations is that, perhaps, the formation of planets in these two groups of stars proceeds differently,”

said Evan Rich, lead author of the study from the University of Michigan, USA.

In September 2020, a group of American scientists allegedly reported the discovery of signs of phosphine in the upper atmosphere of Venus. Terrestrial microorganisms secrete this substance and hope seemed to be glimmering somewhere., These organisms do not need oxygen for life. This news became just a “bombshell” – a sensation, but only before another group of scientists did not point out an error in the study.
In the not too distant future, space probes will help us with some questions, including life in the clouds of Venus, but for now scientists are looking for an answer to this question in modeling chemical processes.

A group of scientists from the University of Cambridge investigated three possible metabolic schemes, during which microorganisms in the clouds of Venus could use the sulfur dioxide (SO2) found there with the release of by-products of vital activity. The chemical composition of the atmosphere of Venus has been studied more than once with the help of spectrometers and is approximately known. The simulation made it possible to calculate the volume of these putative metabolic products and compare them with the detected one. Calculations have shown that the actually observed concentrations of “metabolic” substances do not reach the level of probable microbial life in the clouds of Venus. There is no life there, British scientists say.

Oddly enough, the recently launched James Webb space telescope can help in the search for signs of microbial life in the clouds of Venus, it is still working in test mode, but it will be operational soon. This telescope “James Webb” is able to catch even an asteroid flying through the Solar system in its “eyes”, and its spectrometers will easily reveal the molecular composition of both distant stars and the atmosphere of Venus.
We are waiting impatiently for news from the near space

Two super-earths orbit one cold M-dwarf HD 260655, and the entire system is only 10 parsecs away, or about 33 light-years from us.

The first planet, HD 260655 b, orbits the star in 2.8 days and is about twice as massive as Earth. The second planet, HD 260655 c, is further away and orbits the star in 5.7 days, it is three times more massive than Earth.
Despite the fact that the dwarf star is much colder than our Sun, the planets are still very close to it, so they are hot, which means they are outside the habitable zone. According to experts, the temperature on the inner planet is 437 °C, on the outer – about 287 °C.

Therefore, liquid water is unlikely to exist on the surfaces of these planets, respectively, and life on these planets. Although the planets are uninhabitable, their relative proximity to the niche Earth and the brightness of the cold M-dwarf HD 260655, will allow scientists to thoroughly study the atmosphere of these planets.

The Curiosity spacecraft found strange shapes on Mars that look like sharp spikes

The SETI Research Institute has created a note that these spikes are most likely cemented fillings of ancient cracks in sedimentary rock. The rest of the Martian rock was of softer rock and therefore collapsed from erosion.

We present to you another interesting find provided by the Perseverance rover on Mars, Sol 467, Mastcam-Z camera.

Kevin Gill worked with the data.

Not a suitable description, but it needs to be sorted out.
This planet doesn’t have enough mass. Jupiter, like the stars, is rich in hydrogen and helium. But to cause thermonuclear reactions to occur in its core. This is exactly the process (fusion of hydrogen atoms) by which stars generate their energy, light and heat. This was made possible thanks to their huge mass. Jupiter needs to increase its mass at least 70 times in order to ignite the process of nuclear fusion and become a star. If there was such an opportunity and it would be possible to connect several planets like Jupiter together, then you would have a chance to create a new star, but this is just a fantasy.

However, unfortunately, our gas giant will always remain so without any hopes of becoming a star.