Tag: sun

Comet K2 Makes Closest Approach to Earth, but the Celestial Show Is Not Over Yet

The comet C/2017 K2 has offered a spectacular celestial show for stargazers and astronomers as it hurtled past Earth this week. In its closest approach to our planet, which was on July 14, the comet was about 270 million kilometres away. Now, while the comet may have crossed its closest point to Earth, the celestial show is not over yet. It is expected that the comet is now on its journey towards the Sun and may appear brighter when it gets closer to the star in December this year.

The comet named C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) or K2, was first spotted by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (PanSTARRS) in 2017 when it was in the outer reaches of the solar system. When the comet went past Earth this week, it could be seen through large amateur telescopes, as revealed by EarthSky. However, considering its distance from us, it did not offer a bright show despite its massive size.

But, as per another report, it is expected that we may still have a chance to catch a brighter glimpse of the comet later this year. The K2 comet is headed towards the Sun and will get closest to the star or the perihelion point in December. As it will near the Sun, the comet is likely to get heated up and become more brilliant. This might bring the comet in the range of even the average binoculars which you can use to observe it.

The perihelion is slated to happen on December 19 but there is still uncertainty if it will react the way as it is expected. It is not clear how the Sun’s heat will affect the comet and if it will even make it to the point. So far, the comet has been observed to grow brighter as it moves toward the inner solar system.

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Masaba Masaba Season 2 Trailer: Mother-Daughter Duo Struggle to Balance Hustle, Heart

Huawei, ZTE Gear Removal From US Telecom Network Will Need Additional $3 Billion, Says FCC



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Supermassive Black Holes Formed in Rare Regions of Gas Behind the Earliest Quasars: Study

Scientists have managed to determine one of the biggest mysteries in recent astrophysics – the formation of quasars in the early universe. These cosmic entities were first spotted in 2003, and soon after, over 200 quasars were identified by supermassive black holes. These 200 quasars had formed within the first billion years after the formation of the universe. Scientists had never managed to conclusively determine how these quasars formed so early in the universe. Now, a team of researchers has found out that these primordial quasars naturally formed in chaotic conditions of rare gas reservoirs of the early universe.

“The first supermassive black holes were simply a natural consequence of structure formation in cold dark matter cosmologies – children of the cosmic web,” said Dr Daniel Whalen from the University of Portsmouth.

Dr Whalen led the team of researchers behind the study that determined the origin of the quasars. The study was published on July 6 in the Nature.

The researchers used a supercomputer model to run simulations about where these quasars could form. Scientists found that the quasars managed to form when supermassive black holes, with a mass at least 1,00,000 times that of our Sun, in areas of space where cold powerful streams of gasses were found in strong concentrations. These gaseous streams were only found in about a dozen or so regions across a region of space 1 billion light-years across.

“Consequently, the only primordial clouds that could form a quasar just after cosmic dawn — when the first stars in the universe formed — also conveniently created their own massive seeds. This simple, beautiful result not only explains the origin of the first quasars but also their demographics – their numbers at early times,” Dr Whalen said.

Quasars are some of the most powerful and energetic objects in the universe. Found in the centre of distant galaxies, quasars are powered by supermassive black holes whose mass ranges from millions to tens of billions of solar masses. These black holes accrete nearby matter that heats up due to friction and pressure as they fall towards the black hole. The heat and electromagnetic energy created in this way are then released by the quasars in the form of electromagnetic energy.

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Dead Star Caught Ripping Apart Planetary System in a Rare Incidence of Cosmic Cannibilism

In a rare cosmic observation, a sun-like star destroyed its planetary system while dying, leaving behind a white dwarf star. The dead star is now consuming both icy and rocky-metallic material which forms the planets. The discovery was made by analysing archival data from NASA’s Hubble Telescope and other observatories of the American space agency. Termed cosmic cannibalism, the observation helped shed light on the violent nature of the evolved planetary system and can help astronomers in understanding the makeup of newly forming systems.

Researchers have examined the material captured by the atmosphere of a white dwarf star called G238-44. It was the remnant of a Sun-like star that got destroyed, stopped burning fuel through nuclear fusion and shed off its outer layers.

“We have never seen both of these kinds of objects accreting onto a white dwarf at the same time,” said Ted Johnson, lead researcher and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) bachelor’s graduate. Johnson added that studying the white dwarf can lead to a better understanding of the existing planetary systems.

According to Benjamin Zuckerman, UCLA professor and co-author of the study, elements that are in abundance on the white dwarf seem to require both a volatile-rich and rocky parent body. “The first example we’ve found among studies of hundreds of white dwarfs,” he added.

During the death of a planetary system, a star like ours usually expands into a bloated red giant and begins to shed mass, puffing off its outer layers. Johnson explained that after this phase, a white dwarf is left which is not bigger than Earth. “The wayward planets end up getting very close to the star and experience powerful tidal forces that tear them apart,” he added. This, in turn, forms a gaseous and dusty disk that lands on the white dwarf star’s surface.

Now, the researchers are aiming to examine the white dwarf star and use the information to get a better grip on understanding planetary systems.

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Facebook Plans to Alter Its Algorithm to Mimic TikTok’s Feed, Leaked Internal Memo Reveals: Report

UPI, RuPay Cards to Soon Be Accepted in France as NPCI’s Overseas Arm Entered the European Country



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Building Blocks of Life Discovered on Asteroid Located 200 Million Miles Away From Earth

Scientists have discovered the building ingredients of life on an asteroid in space for the first time. More than 20 amino acids have been identified on the space rock Ryugu, which is more than 200 million miles from Earth. Scientists studied materials taken from the asteroid by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hayabusa2 probe, which landed on Ryugu in 2018. The spacecraft retrieved 0.2 ounces (5.4 grams) of material from the asteroid’s surface and subsurface in 2019, stored it in an airtight container, and returned it to Earth. Ryugu is made up of several small boulders rather than a single huge boulder.

Ryugu is rich in carbon-rich organic stuff, much of which is thought to have come from the same nebula that gave birth to the Sun and the Solar System around 4.6 billion years ago. Water has also been found on the asteroid, according to previous sample research.

The pitch-black asteroid samples, which only reflect 2 to 3 percent of the light that touches them, have not been modified by interactions with Earth‘s environment, giving them a chemical makeup far closer to that of the early Solar System.

Geochemist Nicolas Dauphas, one of the three University of Chicago researchers who worked with the Japan-led team of scientists, said that they only had a few of these rocks to analyse earlier, and they were all meteorites that had been housed in museums for decades to centuries, changing their compositions. So, Dauphas added, it was remarkable to have immaculate samples from outer space because they are eyewitnesses from places of the solar system nobody has visited before.

Hiroshi Naraoka, a planetary scientist at Kyushu University and the leader of the team that looked for organic matter in the samples, said while outlining the findings at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in March that they found a variety of prebiotic chemical molecules in the samples, including proteinogenic amino acids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons akin to terrestrial petroleum, and a variety of nitrogen compounds.

Sample analysis initially found 10 amino acid kinds, but the number has already risen to more than 20. Amino acids are the basic building blocks of all proteins and are required for life to exist on our planet.

The first collection of these findings, published in Science, reveals Ryugu’s makeup.

For now, the researchers are analysing Ryugu samples, and additional information about the asteroid’s makeup will be released soon.

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Five Planets to Line Up in Sky This Month in Rare Conjunction, Will Be Visible With Naked Eyes: How to Watch

There’s a treat lined up for skywatchers this June as they will be able to watch five planets, visible with naked eyes, arranged in their natural order from the Sun – from left to right as you scan the horizon. These five planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The spectacular celestial show will be visible towards the eastern horizon just before the Sun rises and obscures the view. Those living in the Northern Hemisphere will have to look towards the east and the south. Those in the Southern Hemisphere should look towards the east and the north for the delightful view.

Seeing two or three planets close together in a conjunction is a rather common occurrence. However, it is extremely to observe a conjunction of five planets. The last time when the five naked-eye planets were lined up together was in December 2004. However, this sequence will place Mercury and Saturn much closer to each other.

While this arrangement should be visible throughout this month, some dates are particularly important, according to Sky & Telescope.

June 3 – 4: On these two mornings, the separation between Mercury and Saturn will be at its smallest: only 91 degrees. Skygazers will have less than half an hour – from Mercury first appearing above the horizon to essentially getting lost in the glare of the rising Sun.

June 24: The planetary lineup this morning is set to be even more compelling. Skygazers will have an hour to enjoy this parade. Though the separation of Mercury and Saturn will increase to 107 degrees, the real spectacle would be the waning crescent Moon between Venus and Mars, serving as a proxy for Earth.

Astronomers have said that there should be plenty of opportunities for everyone to see the five planets even if it’s cloudy in their regions on some days of the month. So, make sure to wake up early and head towards a location from where you have an unhindered view of the horizon.

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