James Webb Space Telescope has captured data on “winds” coming from a planet-forming disk around a young star.
Explore the fascinating process of planet formation and the role of the James Webb Space Telescope in capturing groundbreaking images.
The ice-covered Jovian moon generates 1,000 tons of oxygen every 24 hours – enough to keep a million humans breathing for a day.
Scientists with NASA ’s Juno mission to Jupiter have calculated the rate of oxygen being produced at the Jovian moon Europa to be substantially less than most previous studies. Published on March 4 in Nature Astronomy, the findings were derived by measuring hydrogen outgassing from the icy moon’s surface using data collected by the spacecraft’s Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE) instrument.
The paper’s authors estimate the amount of oxygen produced to be around 26 pounds every second (12 kilograms per second). Previous estimates range from a few pounds to over 2,000 pounds per second (over 1,000 kilograms per second). Scientists believe that some of the oxygen produced in this manner could work its way into the moon’s subsurface ocean as a possible source of metabolic energy.
Scientists have revealed why some white dwarfs mysteriously stop cooling—changing ideas on just how old stars really are and what happens to them when they die.
White dwarf stars are universally believed to be ‘dead stars’ that continuously cool down over time. However, in 2019, data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Gaia satellite discovered a population of white dwarf stars that have stopped cooling for more than eight billion years. This suggested that some white dwarfs can generate significant extra energy, at odds with the classical ‘dead star’ picture, and astronomers initially were not sure how this could happen.
Today, new research published in Nature, led by Dr. Antoine Bédard from the University of Warwick and Dr. Simon Blouin from the University of Victoria (Canada), unveils the mechanism behind this baffling observation.
Throughout many branches of physics, a connection can be drawn between geometry and dynamics. In general relativity, for example, the motion of stars and planets is governed by the geometry of spacetime. In condensed matter, the motion of electrons in solids is influenced by the so-called quantum geometry, which describes how the electronic wave function evolves in momentum space. The quantum geometry can explain a wide range of observed phenomena, such as topological phases and quantum Hall effects, but it can also lead researchers to new electromagnetic responses. Guided by quantum-geometry predictions, Lujunyu Wang from Peking University and colleagues present experimental evidence of a new Hall effect, the magneto-nonlinear Hall effect, which is proportional to both an in-plane electric field and an in-plane magnetic field [1] (Fig. 1). The effect, which was isolated in a magnet with triangular symmetry, offers a new way to probe in the quantum geometry of materials.
Quantum geometry is a representation of the phase of the Bloch wave functions, which describe electronic behavior in a periodic potential. In the case of a two-level system, this phase can be represented by a unit vector in the momentum space of the electrons. In certain materials, this vector rotates as the momentum changes, an effect that can be characterized by two fundamental geometrical properties: the “quantum metric” and the “Berry curvature.” These two aspects of quantum geometry can describe many phenomena including surface currents in topological insulator and anomalous Hall effects in which the transverse Hall current occurs in the absence of an external magnetic field.
Recently, researchers have uncovered a connection between quantum geometry and nonlinear electromagnetic effects [2– 10]. Here, the nonlinearity is a higher-order response to the input electromagnetic fields. Nonlinear electrical transport is the foundation of applications such as rectification and wave mixing. Classically, the most well-known nonlinear device is a p-n junction. In quantum materials, nonlinear transport suggests novel device applications but also provides a powerful probe of the quantum geometry of the conduction electrons.
In a series of studies, a team of astronomers has shed new light on the fascinating and complex process of planet formation. The stunning images, captured using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile, represent one of the largest ever surveys of planet-forming discs. The research brings together observations of more than 80 young stars that might have planets forming around them, providing astronomers with a wealth of data and unique insights into how planets arise in different regions of our galaxy.
“This is really a shift in our field of study,” says Christian Ginski, a lecturer at the University of Galway, Ireland, and lead author of one of three new papers published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics. “We’ve gone from the intense study of individual star systems to this huge overview of entire star-forming regions.”
To date more than 5,000 planets have been discovered orbiting stars other than the Sun, often within systems markedly different from our own Solar System. To understand where and how this diversity arises, astronomers must observe the dust-and gas-rich discs that envelop young stars — the very cradles of planet formation. These are best found in huge gas clouds where the stars themselves are forming.
Correcting 50-year-old errors in the math used to understand how electromagnetic waves scatter electrons trapped in Earth’s magnetic fields will lead to better protection for technology in space.
“The discovery of these errors will help scientists improve their models of artificial radiation belts produced by high-altitude nuclear explosions and how an event like that would impact our space technology,” said Greg Cunningham, a space scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “This allows us to make better predictions of what that threat could be and the efficacy of radiation belt remediation strategies.”
Heliophysics models are important tools researchers use to understand phenomena around the Earth, such as how electrons can become trapped in the near-Earth space environment and damage electronics on space assets, or how Earth’s magnetic field shields us from both cosmic rays and particles in solar wind.
Under the proposal, Lockheed would pay $1 per share of Terran Orbital stock it does not currently own, valuing the company at a little under $200 million. Lockheed would pay more than $70 million to buy outstanding stock warrants and assume or repay $313 million in Terran Orbital debt.
“Terran represents an attractive opportunity for Lockheed Martin, and we are treating the potential Transaction as a strategic priority,” Lockheed stated in the letter. “Terran’s superior capabilities and business momentum align with one of Lockheed Martin Space’s strategic growth priorities and the Transaction would accelerate that strategy.”
This month, the International Space Station (ISS) has seen a flurry of activity, from experiments to vehicle arrivals and departures. Multiple resupply missions by Cygnus and Progress have kept the crew of Expedition 70 healthy onboard the Station. Meanwhile, a private mission from Axiom headed back to Earth with the first-ever all-European commercial crew, and SpaceX Crew-8 prepares to launch to the ISS in the coming days.
Northrop Grumman’s 20th Cygnus mission (NG-20) was berthed to the Station’s Unity module on Feb. 1, beginning the month off with a strong start. NG-20 was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 on Jan. 30 at 12:07 PM EST (17:07 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Experiments on the ISS are actively gaining new insight into possibilities that were never attainable on Earth. Cargo resupply vehicles like Cygnus help carry new experiments and supplies to the Station, supporting these advancements.
NASA’s Odysseus lander kept moving sideways after making it down to the lunar surface. Then, the tall and top-heavy lander tripped.
Plate tectonics is not something most people would associate with Mars. In fact, the planet’s dead core is one of the primary reasons for its famous lack of a magnetic field. And since active planetary cores are one of the primary driving factors of plate tectonics, it seems obvious why that general conception holds.
However, Mars has some features that we think of as corresponding with plate tectonics—volcanoes. A new paper from researchers at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) looks at how different types of plate tectonics could have formed different types of volcanoes on the surface of Mars.
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