Astro Wonders

2022-06-08 14:51:13 Jupiter turns out to be inhomogeneous metallicity gives clues about origin

An international team of astronomers led by Yamila Miguel (Leiden Observatory) has found that Jupiter's gaseous envelope doesn't have a homogeneous distribution. The inner part has more metals than the outer parts adding up to a total of between 11 and 30 earth masses meaning 3–9% of Jupiter's total mass. This is a high enough metallicity to conclude that kilometer-sized bodies—planetesimals—must have played a role in Jupiter's formation.

There are two mechanisms for a gas giant like Jupiter to acquire metals during its formation: through the accretion of small pebbles or larger planetesimals. We know that once a baby planet is big enough it starts pushing out pebbles. The richness of metals inside Jupiter that we see now is impossible to achieve before that. So we can exclude the scenario with only pebbles as solids during Jupiter's formation. Planetesimals are too big to be blocked so they must have played a role.
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2022-06-05 12:43:40 Unlocking One of the Most Profound Cosmological Mysteries: How the Universe Got Its Magnetic Field

By studying the dynamics of plasma turbulence, MIT researchers are helping to solve one of the mysteries of the origins of cosmological magnetic fields.

One of the most profound mysteries in cosmology is the origin of vast cosmic magnetic fields, which have a dramatic effect on the dynamics of the universe, despite being relatively weak. Now, new research may have finally found the basic processes at the origin of these mysterious cosmological magnetic fields.

For full article, please visit the below link.

https://scitechdaily.com/unlocking-one-of-the-most-profound-cosmological-mysteries-how-the-universe-got-its-magnetic-field/amp/

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2022-06-05 12:34:12 China launches 3 astronauts to oversee construction of new Tiangong space station

China has sent its third crew to the nation's new Tiangong space station.

A Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou 14 spacecraft lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert today (June 4) at 10:44 p.m. EDT (0244 GMT; 10:44 June 5 local time).

The three Shenzhou 14 crewmembers — commander Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe — were officially revealed as the crew earlier on Saturday. They are now heading for Tianhe, the core module of the still-under-construction Tiangong, with Shenzhou 14 expected to dock around six hours after launch.

The three spaceflyers are expected to spend six months aboard Tianhe. The 43-year-old Chen, a veteran of the 2016 Shenzhou 11 mission, is embarking on his second mission and first as commander. Liu, 43, became China's first woman in space aboard Shenzhou 9 in 2012 and is making her second flight, while Cai, 46, is making his first trip to space.
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2022-06-05 05:53:52 Open / Comment

2022-06-05 05:52:13 Open / Comment

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2022-06-05 05:50:23 Open / Comment

2022-06-04 16:02:37 High Contrast Imaging Reveals Unknown Structure in Galaxy

Astronomers have just discovered an unknown structure in a galaxy that had been hidden in the “shadows.” They accomplished this by extending the dynamic range of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in order to detect the faint radio emission.

This faint radio emission, which has constant brightness irrespective of the radio frequency, extends for tens of thousands of light-years across the host galaxy of quasar 3C 273, an iconic cosmic lighthouse. This discovery may help unlock secrets of galaxy evolution and star formation.

The radio emission is released from gas created directly by the central black hole. 3C 273, which lies at a distance of 2.4 billion light-years from Earth, is a quasar. A quasar is the nucleus of a galaxy believed to house a massive black hole at its center, which swallows its surrounding material, giving off enormous radiation. 3C273 is the first quasar ever discovered, and the brightest.
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2022-06-04 07:04:02 NASA-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar mission (NISAR)





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2022-06-04 06:57:32 Payload integration of NASA-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar mission completed in US

The payload integration of the NASA-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar mission (NISAR) has been completed in the US and the same is expected to be shipped to India later this year for integration with the satellite and eventually the launch vehicle, senior NASA officials said.

A dual synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mission, NISAR is a first-of-its-kind endeavour that will be able to operate in two frequencies, both in bands lower than KU-Band or AA-Band. While Isro will develop and provide the S-band radar, expected to have a 10-cm wavelength, Nasa will supply the 24-cm wavelength L-band radar. Isro will also provide the launch vehicle.

This dedicated US and Indian SAR mission will be optimised for studying hazards and global environmental change and is the biggest cooperation between Isro and NASA.

As per NASA, NISAR will measure Earth’s changing ecosystems, dynamic surfaces, and ice masses providing information about biomass, natural hazards, sea level rise, and groundwater, and will support a host of other applications. It will observe land and ice-covered surfaces globally with 12-day regularity on ascending and descending passes, sampling Earth on average every six days for a baseline three-year mission.

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