Intense solar activity, rockets, new explanations for 1I/ʻOumuamua and black holes are among the astronomical subjects that have drawn the most attention. In addition, scientists updated the chances of an asteroid presenting us with some danger and… well, the conclusion was not exactly positive.
Check out these and other news of the week.
The tornado on the Sun 14 times larger than Earth
A “tornado” of plasma filaments appeared at the north pole of the Sun and was recorded by NASA probes and even by solar telescopes of amateur astronomers. The formation grew for three days and, on Saturday (18), reached a height equivalent to 14 times the size of the Earth.
Tornadoes like this form by means of magnetic fields twisted into large spirals, driving charged particles from the plasma, which takes on the shape of the fields. The images above were composited using Solar Dynamics imagery.
The new explanation for ‘Oumuamua
One of the most mysterious and controversial objects of recent years, ‘Oumuamua has gained a new explanation. By the way, it is the simplest explanation of all, as it involves only water and sunlight. This, in theory, can discard the most far-fetched (and apparently unfeasible) proposals, such as blocks of nitrogen ice.
The new explanation is that the object would be similar to a comet, with a lot of ice inside. When bombarded by cosmic rays, a good part of that ice would sublimate, becoming gas, which would come out through holes and serve as a propellant for the interstellar rock.
The new calculations for risks of asteroids hitting Earth
A new study has used the discovery of possible gigantic new impact craters on our planet to a new estimate on the chances of an asteroid causing problems for Earth. While there is still no certainty that the observed crater was actually caused by a meteor, it does suggest a frightening prospect for the distant future.
Scientists estimate that asteroids and comets at least a kilometer in diameter hit Earth every 600,000 to 700,000 years. However, the new study suggests that four kilometer-wide objects have sunk into continents only in the last few million years. Each of these impacts would have caused an explosion at least 10 times larger than the largest nuclear bomb in history.
Video of Earth taken by SpaceX rocket
While flying into space to bring some satellites into Earth orbit, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took an amazing video of Earth. Considering that the vehicle was in a geosynchronous transfer, the images were probably captured 35.7 km away from the Earth’s surface.
The galaxy killer black hole
A galaxy had its formation of new stars interrupted, that is, it was “dead” and the culprit is probably the activity of a supermassive black hole in its core.
The galaxy is located about 12.5 billion light years away; its explosive production of stars began 600 million years after the Big Bang and ended 200 million years later.
The damage that satellites can cause to humanity
A series of studies has put on paper some of the damage that satellite constellations can cause to astronomy. One of the main concerns is the luminosity of these objects when reflecting sunlight. In the next decade, the night sky could be 7.5% brighter, according to the researchers.
In addition to this light pollution, which will reduce observation capabilities on Earth, astronomical images with scratches made by satellites are becoming more and more frequent. An estimated loss of US$21.8 million for the observatories also worries astronomers. Finally, they state: the damage impossible to calculate is that some celestial events humanity will never be able to observe because of the satellites.
Hibernation for space travel
Research on hibernation, or torpor as some scientists prefer to call it, could start to take place during the 2030s, with the first human trials within 10 years. Drowsiness is a state in which a person can remain in low energy consumption, consuming less oxygen and without needing to eat.
On a trip to Mars, astronauts would spend about a year inside a spacecraft, but they would not need to eat daily, nor face the boredom that could affect them in a waking state. More importantly, it must rid astronauts of the effects of prolonged exposure to microgravity.
The absence of diamond rain on Uranus
Contrary to what scientists thought, Uranus may not have the rain of diamonds proposed after the passage of the Voyager 2 probe, in the 1980s. A new study has revealed that the planet does not have the ideal conditions to transform the material of its gases into Diamond. On the other hand, Neptune is still a candidate for the “rich cousin” of the Solar System.
If Neptune is the only planet in the pair to have a diamond shower, it could be the key to answering a question that has troubled scientists for years: why are the two planets so identical, but do they shine through different mechanisms?
The galaxy that pointed a jet in our direction
The first shocking thing about galaxy PBC J2333.9-2343 is its size of 4 million light-years across. The second is that it simply changed position, rotated 90 degrees, and pointed its relativistic jet in our direction. The jet is formed by the activity of a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.
As a result, scientists had to change their classification: before it was a radio galaxy, now it is a blazar, that is, it is part of the group of the most energetic phenomena in the universe.
