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Earth Is Pummeled by Stardust from a Dead Supernova

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"crab nebula"

When people say that we are made of star dust, they are in fact romanticizing. No, all of our composing atoms originated on Earth, even though the Earth is composed of two different planets – the original Earth and Theia. But the remnants of distant stars are far closer than you may even imagine.

While it’s true that any dying star that stops shining right now is too far away for its light to reach us within our lifetimes, that doesn’t mean that the stars we’re still seeing are still in existence. And it certainly doesn’t mean that there is nothing left of them even if they blew up.

Ancient star dust

As you might have surmised from the title, a team of researchers from the Washington University in Saint Louis managed to determine that Earth is pummeled by stardust from a dead supernova. This pummeling is done by specks of intergalactic dust propelled from the exploding star with speeds close to that of light.

The finding comes as a result of a team of researchers discovering tiny deposits of iron-60 isotopes in most of the world’s oceans. The specks of radioactive cosmic dust were very difficult to trace, primarily because of the many shifts in trajectory they suffered as they were slingshot by the gravity and magnetic fields of other celestial bodies.

Isotopes and dating

As for the iron-60 isotopes, the researchers realized that they didn’t come from Earth because iron-60 is only produced in dying stars. It is also with the help of isotopes that scientists were able to figure out that Earth as it is today, as well as the moon, resulted from the head-on collision with a forming planet that was part of our solar system.

Still, once they realized that the dust specks weren’t from Earth, as well that they were radioactive, the team used dating procedures to figure out exactly when the supernova that pushed dust with such force that it’s falling on Earth today exploded, as well as how close it was to our own floating space rock.

Seventeen years of data

By looking at seventeen years of cosmic ray data captured by spectrometers, satellites, and other very expensive imagers, the scientists managed to find fifteen atomic nuclei in the iron-60 or 60Fe particles. And it’s with their help that the team managed to pinpoint the time and place of the exploding supernova.

According to the findings, the supernova was actually pretty close to Earth, and it went up just a few million years ago. While it may seem like a lot, if we consider the distances and times in outer space, that’s quite recent. In fact, it is estimated that our Homo erectus ancestors probably witnessed the explosion in the sky, as it would have been close enough to see with the naked eye.

Image source: Wikimedia

Dawn Spacecraft: A Few Inches Away from Ceres Orbit

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Dawn Ceres mission

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is all set to touch the surface of Ceres on 6th March.  Presently, the space probe is only few inches away from the dwarf planet.

Robert Mase, project manager for the Dawn mission, discussed the current situation of the probe. He expresses that the spacecraft is all gears up to mark a new history in the arena of space.  Scientists cannot wait to investigate Ceres

The Ceres is the largest object present in the asteroid belt. The dwarf planet was first discovered in 1801. It is located between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars.  It is entirely composed of ice and rock particles.

Dawn has snapped new incredible images of Ceres. The images reveal presence of two mysterious craters with bright spots. However, astronomers believe that the craters are an outcome of changes in surface.  Nonetheless, it is too early to say anything with surety.

Jim Green, a scientist of NASA’s planetary department, informs that investigation of Ceres will permit scientist to carry out historical space research. The information will begin a new chapter in the history of solar system.

Up till now, the spacecraft has captured numerous navigational images of Ceres. This is the first time when scientists received such high resolution images from any spacecraft.

NASA Unveils an Incredible Video of Hidden Side of Moon

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dark side of moon

Recently, NASA released an incredible two minute long video of the dark side of the moon.

Generally, a large number of people believe that they are pretty familiar from the entire moon. Unfortunately, they are unaware of the fact that they merely view one side of the moon from Earth.  The lunar surface is tidally locked to Earth which makes it impossible to get a look of other sides of the moon. Thus, spacecrafts are the only way to get a closer view of other regions.

Scientists were quite eager to get a glimpse of the hidden side of lunar surface. Hence, they sent Lunar Reconnaissance specifically for this purpose in 1959. The orbiter of NASA passed each and every side of the moon. It used its accurate laser altimeter along with camera to accumulate data of every side.  It  captured a few detailed images of the far side of the moon as well. It was the first time when scientists got a chance to get a glimpse of the dark side.

The government space agency utilized the mapping data of Lunar Reconnaissance for the creation of video. Surprisingly, it reveals that the ‘dark side’ is covered with numerous dissimilar craters.

A spokesman of NASA explained the video in detail. He informs that the region is coated with several big and small craters. It also includes one of the biggest and oldest features of the solar system.

NASA Dawn Probe Gets Closer Look of Ceres, Sends Incredible Images

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Ceres image

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft safely reached near Ceres. The spacecraft captured some incredible images of the dwarf planet.

Ceres is the largest object present in the asteroid belt of Mars and Jupiter. It is made up of fragments of rock and ice. It covers a third of the mass of asteroid belt with a diameter of 950 kilometers

Scientists describe Ceres as an “embryonic planet” as it is an extremely complex task for the researchers to categorize the dwarf planet. The object is not a moon, not a planet or an asteroid. Scientists discovered that the dwarf planet is the combination of all these three things. Hence, the government space agency thinks that Ceres will offer significant information related to the formation of solar system.

In 2004, the Hubble Space telescope snapped a few images of the dwarf planet.  The images come with a resolution of 27 pixels from a long distance of nearly 383,000 kilometers.  Thus, those images were pretty rough in terms of quality.

Dawn Ceres images

Recently, dawn captured a few images of Ceres that are around 80 percent of the resolution of the Hubble Telescope. The images reveal that Ceres is nearly three times better than shown in all the previous images. However, the images published on the website of the space agency are grainy.

Andreas Nathues, head investigator at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research informs that these are first images which are merely captured to get help in navigation. They will be utilized for the direction guidance of the spacecraft. The images evidently display the surface structure of the planet.

Astronomers Claim: Two Other Dwarf Planets May Exist Beyond Pluto

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two new planets

A new study proposes that two more unknown dwarf planets are lurking near Pluto. These planets are relatively larger than the size of the Earth.

A group of astronomers from Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Cambridge analyzed the objects present beyond the Neptune. Generally, these objects fly randomly near the elliptical paths.

It is essential for ETNO to fulfill certain conditions. For instance, these ETNO orbits must contain semi-major axis or they should maintain an average distance of 150 AU from sun.

Astonishingly, scientists observed an alteration in the usual characterizes of ETNO. They discovered a group of objects which are located at a distance of 525 AU in the region of ETNO.  In comparison, the Earth is nearly one astronomical unit away from the sun.

Hence, astronomers are trying to figure out the exact number of these objects. Thus far, they confirmed the presence of two new planets.

Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, the lead author of the study states that the unexpected orbital parameters indicate the presence of two planets. The parameter revealed that some kind of force is changing the distribution of the orbital components of ETNO.

Earlier, scientists are aware of the fact that the Pluto’s region of the solar system is filled with nearly 1500 minute, cold worlds.  Recently they uncovered that there are still numerous other worlds that are not yet explored.

Researchers Claim: Meteorites are not the Elementary Units of Solar System

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Meteor and formation of planet

A new study proposes that space rocks are originated during the formation of planets.  These rocks were not involved in the process of development of planet.

Earlier, Researchers used to believe that meteorites played a vital role in the formation of the solar system. They considered space rocks as the important constituent of the planets. However, the latest research rejected all the previous misconceptions.

The experts of MIT along with researchers of the Prude University carried out the study.  The analysis shows that meteorites emerged when the gas and dust clashed during the creation of solar systems. Later on, these remnants joined together to form planets. In short,   the study shows that scientists attributed to meteorites more than they deserved.

Bradon Johnson, a scientist of MIT’s Earth and planetary Sciences department states that planets are not made up of meteorites components.  They appeared as a result of formation of solar system.

Additionally, the collision models prove that these bodies are formed earlier than the development of chondrules. In other words, models are evidence that these space rocks were not a part of the planet building.

Fred Ciesla, Associate professor of Planetary Sciences at University of Chicago states that if the study turns out true, then it would confirm that chondrites are not the elementary unit of Earth.

Moreover, the recent research indicates that the primitive solar system was more powerful than the expectations of scientists.  The emergence of these gigantic space rocks are the biggest proof of it.

Kepler Found Two Habitable Earth-Like Planets in “Goldilocks” Zone

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Kepler found two planets

Scientists found almost eight new Earth sized planets through NASA’s Kepler spacecraft. Theses extrasolar planets are located near the zone of their host stars. Two of these planets have a striking resemblance with Earth.

Researchers of Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have named these planets as Kepler-438b and Kepler-442 b. The two planets move around the red dwarf stars that are relatively cooler as compared to the sun. It signifies that the temperature of the area near these stars is extremely suitable for the existence of water.

Kepler 438b travels around its stars in 35 days, whereas Kepler-442b completes its orbit in a time period of 112 days. The particular time duration of rotation is quite similar to the Earth. However, sun provides comparatively more light to Kepler 438b than Earth.

In the report, Astronomers declares a novel influx of around 554 planets. The total number of planets in the solar system becomes 4,175, after the inclusion of theses planets. Thus far, scientists have verified the presence of minimum 1,000 planets.

Douglas Cladwell, a prominent member of the Kelper research team states that astronomers have incredibly ascended up the verification process of these small, Earth-like planets with the help of Kepler.

The outcome of the study is presented at the American Astronomical Society meeting.  The discovery is explained in detail in Astrophysical Journal.

Meteorite found in India explains how our Solar System came into existence

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meteorite-solar-system

How planetary systems developed so rapidly continues to be hard for researchers to reply to. Gravity isn’t enough to describe it.

In 1940, single.5-pound meteorite arrived in northern India. Today, exactly the same meteorite is giving researchers new experience in to the formation in our photo voltaic system.

They of researchers measured the magnetic fields trapped inside the primitive meteorite. These dimensions indicate shock waves traveling with the dusty gas around our freshly born sun like a significant element in the development of our photo voltaic system.

Durch graduate student Roger Fu was lead author from the paper released a week ago within the journal Science. Steve Desch at Arizona Condition University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration was co-author.

“The dimensions produced by Fu and Weiss (also area of the team) are astounding and unparalleled,” states Desch. “Not have only they measured small magnetic fields 1000’s of occasions less strong than the usual compass feels, they’ve planned the magnetic fields’ variation recorded through the meteorite, millimeter by millimeter.”

When studying the meteorite, Fu and the team checked out the maintained magnetic fields within olivine grains that contains iron-bearing material. These grains were built with a measured magnetic area of 54 microtesla. This is comparable to the Earth’s magnetic area, which could range between 24 and 65 microtesla.

Exactly what does this suggest? The first photo voltaic system’s “magnetic area is powerful enough to modify the motion of gas in a large-scale, in an exceedingly significant way,” based on Fu.

The magnetic fields could have been sufficiently strong to push gas toward the sun’s rays very fast. This could let you know that planetary systems evolve so rapidly.

This discovery may also create better models about how photo voltaic systems form.

Rosetta’s Philae Lander Shuts Down Due to Battery Drain

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Philae lander lost power

The Philae Lander has sent all the precious data to back the European Space Agency just before it ran out of power.  This week Rosetta’s Philae accomplished a really historic touchdown comet 67P on the 12th of November.

The lander stuck behind a shadow of the cliff from where it was unable to get enough light to recharge its system. Therefore, the batteries of the Rosetta’s comet lander drained after its long journey of nearly 57 hours.

On the other hand, the ESA informed that the lander is currently at an “idle mode”. Unfortunately, there are very less chances that the lander would be able to reinstate any time in future.  The basic reason is the insufficient amount of sunlight that falls on the surface of the comet. Presently, the lander can only get 1.5 hours of the sunshine in the long time period of 12 hours.

On the other hand, a few of the ESA’s researchers are still hopeful that Philae would again begin its research soon. However, the last time the Space Agency contacted the spacecraft at 6:36 pm ET on the 4th of November.

The scientists expect that the lander will run out of the battery on the weekend. Sadly, the event occurred a before the expectations of the experts.

The lander sent back all the incredible images to Earth before it went to sleep. However, the scientists hope that the recent data offers shed some light on regarding the creation of the solar system.

Primeval Meteorite’s Magnetic Fields Might Provide Clues on Solar System’s Formation

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Primeval-Meteorites-Magnetic-Fields-Might-Provide-Clues-on-Solar-System-Formation

Arizona State University researchers have recently conducted a series of laboratory examinations into the magnetic fields within the grains of an primeval, 1.5-pound meteorite. The team of researchers revealed that the meteorite, formed about 4.5 billion years ago, might provide clues how the solar system first created.

The study is published in the Science journal on 13th Nov. Roger Fu, the lead author of the study and a graduate student of MIT, working under Benjamin Weiss. Steve Desch is the co-author of the study from Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration.

“Shock waves moving with the cloud of dusty gas round the sun seemed to be a significant component in solar system’s formation.”

The Arizona State University press release states, “Even though the solar system is thought to become created around 4.5 billion years back, the development process left lots of construction debris behind.” One of the most helpful pieces of debris would be the earliest kinds of meteorites, known as the chondrites, which haven’t transformed much since they created at the birth of the solar system. Chondrites are made mainly from small stony grains, known as chondrules which are barely a millimeter in diameter.

“Chondrules themselves created through quick melting events within the dusty gas cloud — the solar nebula — that encircled the young sun. As chondrules cooled, iron-bearing minerals within them became magnetized like bits on the hard disk through the local magnetic field in the gas. These magnetic fields are maintained within the chondrules even down to the current day,” researchers said.

“The study authors plotted the magnetic fields of the chondrule grains that originated from a meteorite named Semarkona — a space rock weighing around 1 ½ pound that fell in India in 1940. Researchers discovered that the meteorite were built with a magnetic area, much like that at Earth’s surface,” as per the release.

Desch stated within the statement, “The recent experiments probe magnetic minerals in chondrules were never measured before. Moreover, they reveal that each chondrule is magnetized just like a little bar magnet, however, with ‘north’ pointing in random directions.”

This explains they became magnetized before these were built in the meteorite, not while located on Earth’s surface, Desch said.

“My modeling for the heating events shows that shock waves passing through the solar nebula is melted most chondrules. The background magnetic field could be amplified by up to 30 times, depending on the strength and size of the shock wave,” Desch explains.

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