Scientists may have identified one of the Solar System’s most important “planet factories” hidden just beyond Jupiter.
Category: space – Page 10
China’s Human Artificial Embryo Experiment Progressing Well in Space
China has begun the world’s first space experiment on human artificial embryos, with samples now aboard its space station and the study progressing smoothly, scientists announced Wednesday.
Delivered by the Tianzhou-10 cargo craft launched earlier this week, the human artificial embryo samples have been installed in the space station’s experimental module by the orbiting taikonauts, according to the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is in charge of the experiment.
“The experiment is going very well,” said Yu Leqian, the project leader for the artificial embryo space science experiment. “A pre-set automated system changes the culture medium for the samples every day.” According to Yu, through this study, scientists aim to conduct preliminary research on issues related to long-term human habitation, survival and reproduction in space.
Mercury’s water ice may have been deposited by a larger, slower impactor than previously thought—in only one day
The source of the significant water ice deposits hidden in Mercury’s polar regions has been a topic of debate among researchers. A new study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, suggests that these deposits were accumulated in only one Mercurian day (176 Earth days) by a large impactor, such as a comet or asteroid. While previous studies have suggested a similar scenario, this is the first study to fully model the impact. Furthermore, these new models suggest that the impactor may have been larger and slower than previously suggested.
Being the closest planet to the sun, Mercury sees daytime temperatures of up to 430°C (806°F). On top of that, Mercury doesn’t have a true atmosphere. Instead, it has an ultra-thin, tenuous layer of gas, called an exosphere, in which gases are constantly blown into space and then replenished by the solar wind. While these aspects of Mercury should make water retention extremely difficult, both Earth-based and orbital observations have found reflective areas that indicate the presence of water ice hidden in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) near Mercury’s north and south poles.
Scientists have suggested several potential sources of the ice found in PSRs. Some hypotheses include steady delivery by micrometeoroids, solar wind, or a single large, volatile-rich impact. Some studies have found that the ice appears to be relatively pure and “young” (at only a few 100 million years). These findings suggest a rapid, episodic delivery rather than slow accumulation, according to more recent studies.
Triply-eclipsing triple star system discovered with TESS
Using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have discovered a triply-eclipsing star system. The newfound system, designated TIC 295741342, consists of two sun-like stars in an eclipsing binary and a giant tertiary companion, which orbits the binary. The finding was reported in a paper published May 19 on the arXiv pre-print server.
Super Jupiters Expose a Long Standing Space Mystery
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have uncovered surprising evidence about how enormous “super Jupiter” planets are born.
The discovery blurs the line between massive planets and brown dwarfs, the objects often called failed stars.
Giant gas planets push the limits of planet formation.
Wristwatch-like device enables assessment of health risks for astronauts on mission to the moon
Just a few hours before the Orion spacecraft crossed the sky en route to the moon on April 1, mechatronics engineer Rodrigo Trevisan Okamoto received confirmation he had been waiting for since the Artemis 2 mission was announced in 2023. The email from NASA stated that the crew of the first crewed mission to orbit the moon in half a century would carry a device developed by Okamoto and his team at Condor Instruments, a São Paulo-based startup.
“The NASA announcement was sudden and caught us by surprise. And it was only after the mission concluded that we learned the astronauts had been using the equipment in tests for the past two years,” Okamoto told Agência FAPESP.
The device, called an actigraph, is shaped like a wristwatch and incorporates accelerometers, as well as light and temperature sensors, to precisely map the user’s sleep and wake patterns over the course of days or weeks.