New Delhi: Using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have for the first time detected the heaviest element ever found in an exoplanet’s atmosphere – barium.
The element has been detected at high altitudes in the atmospheres of ultra-hot gas giants WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b — two exoplanets, or planets orbiting stars outside our solar system.
Scientists were surprised to find barium, which is 2.5 times heavier than iron, in the upper atmospheres of WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b.
This unexpected discovery raises questions about what these exotic atmospheres might look like.
The finding is counterintuitive, since such a heavy element has never been detected in the upper atmospheres of planets with such high gravity. The heavier elements should ideally fall into the lower layers of the atmosphere.
WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b are both known as ultra-hot Jupiters because they are comparable in size to Jupiter, but have extremely high surface temperatures in excess of 1,000 degrees Celsius. This is due to their close proximity to their host stars, which also means that an orbit around each star only takes a day or two.
This gives these planets quite exotic traits. In WASP-76 b, for example, astronomers suspect that it is raining iron.
The fact that barium has been detected in the atmospheres of these two ultra-hot Jupiters suggests that this category of planets may be even stranger than previously thought. Continue reading.
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Asteroid develops new tail after NASA DART impact
Just a month after NASA successfully conducted an impact mission to throw the asteroid moon Dimorphos off course, two dust tails were discovered ejecting from the asteroid system.
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was conducted on September 26 on Dimorphos, a small moon of Didymos. Recent data show that DART shortened Dimorphos’ original orbit of 11 hours and 55 minutes around Didymos by about 32 minutes.
In recent weeks, observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have allowed scientists to paint a more complete picture of how the system’s debris cloud has evolved over time.
The observations show that the ejected material, or ‘ejecta’, expanded and dimmed much as expected over time after impact. The double tail is an unexpected development, although similar behavior is often seen in comets and active asteroids.
The Hubble observations provide the best image of the double tail to date.
The relationship between the comet-like tail and other ejecta features seen in images from Hubble and other telescopes at different times is still unclear and the investigation team is working to understand them. Continue reading.
Scientists discover excerpts from a lost astronomical catalogue
Scientists, including CNRS and the Sorbonne Université, have found fragments of the star catalog published by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus in the 2nd century BC. was written.
These texts, erased from a manuscript in the Middle Ages in order to reuse the pages, were uncovered using multispectral imaging technologies.
It was built between 170 and 120 BC. Written by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus, it is the oldest known attempt to determine the exact position of fixed stars by assigning them numerical coordinates.
Previously, this text was known only through the writings of Claudius Ptolemy, another ancient astronomer who wrote his own catalog almost 400 years after Hipparchus.
This discovery comes from Codex Climaci Rescriptus – a book made up of parchments that have been erased and then rewritten, also known as a palimpsest. In the past this Code contained an astronomical poem in ancient Greek with fragments of the Hipparchus catalogue, alongside elements of the commentary on the poem. Erased in the Middle Ages, this palimpsest text was revealed through multispectral imaging by teams at the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library, the Lazarus Project and the Rochester Institute of Technology.
The fragments of the star catalog are the oldest known so far and bring great progress in its reconstruction. First, they refute a popular notion that Claudius Ptolemy’s star catalog is merely a “copy” of Hipparchus, since the observations of the four constellations are different. Furthermore, Hipparchus’ dates are verified in minute detail, which would make his catalog much more accurate than Ptolemy’s, even though it was compiled several centuries earlier.
For the research team, this significant discovery sheds new light on the history of ancient astronomy and the beginnings of the history of science. Continue reading.
Methane-eating microbes assimilate microbes from other organisms
Researchers have found that a methane-consuming microbe is called methanoperedens has assimilated genes from many organisms that allow them to consume methane and greenhouse gases at an increased metabolic rate.
In a study published in Naturethe researchers describe the strange collection of genes within these microbes, which they call Borgs
methanoperedens are a type of archaea — single-celled organisms that resemble bacteria but represent a distinct branch of life — that break down methane in soil, groundwater, and the atmosphere to help cellular metabolism.
Along with other methane-consuming microbes, methanoperedens live in diverse ecosystems around the world but are believed to be less common than microbes that use photosynthesis, oxygen, or fermentation for energy.
Yet they play an outsized role in Earth system processes by removing methane – the most potent greenhouse gas – from the atmosphere.
Methane stores 30 times more heat than carbon dioxide and is estimated to be responsible for about 30 percent of human-caused global warming.
The gas is released naturally by geological processes and by methane-producing archaea; however, industrial processes release stored methane back into the atmosphere in worrying amounts. Continue reading.
Ostrich-like dinosaurs roamed ancient North America
Scientists at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences have discovered fossils of an ostrich-like dinosaur called the ornithomimosaur that grew to enormous size in ancient eastern North America.
During the Late Cretaceous, North America was divided into two land masses by a seaway: Laramidia to the west and Appalachian Mountains to the east. However, fossils from the Appalachian Mountains are rare, and as a result ancient ecosystems from this region are poorly understood.
In this study, the team described new ornithomisaurian dinosaur fossils from the late Cretaceous Eutaw Formation in Mississippi.
Ornithomimosaurs, the so-called “birdmimic” dinosaurs, were superficially ostrich-shaped with small heads, long arms, and powerful legs. The new fossils, including foot bones, are approximately 85 million years old, making them our rare glimpse into a little-known period of North American dinosaur evolution.
By comparing the proportions of these fossils and the growth patterns within the bones, the team determined that the fossils likely represent two different species of ornithomimosaurs, one relatively small and one very large.
They estimate that the larger species weighed over 800 kg, and the individual studied was probably still growing when it died. This makes it one of the largest known ornithomimosaurs.
These fossils provide valuable insight into the otherwise poorly understood dinosaur ecosystems of late Cretaceous eastern North America. They also shed light on the evolution of ornithomisaurs. Huge body sizes and multiple coexisting species are recurring trends for these dinosaurs in North America and Asia. Continue reading.
Also read: Scientists identify molecule that may have been key to the origin of life on Earth
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