<p>The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has shared a stunning image on its official Instagram handle, leaving the social media users in complete awe.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The image is so intriguing that one of the users wrote that it "looks like alien footprints on mars". Mars? Yes, the image is certainly from the Red Planet.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The image posted by NASA is a new image of a Mars crater.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>In the post, NASA wrote: "The Martian crater marks the spot. You’re looking at 0° longitude on Mars—the Greenwich Observatory equivalent on the Red Planet."&nbsp;</p>

<p>The post added that the Greenwich Observatory marks Earth’s Prime Meridian, which is a north-south line that defines where east meets west and is used as the zero reference line for astronomical observations.&nbsp;</p>

<p>NASA revealed that the larger crater that sits within this crater, called the Airy Crater, originally defined zero longitude for Mars.&nbsp;</p>

<p>However, as higher resolution photos became available, a smaller feature was needed. This crater, called Airy-0 (zero) was selected because it did not need to adjust existing maps.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The space agency noted that the image was captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimetres (19.7 inches) per pixel.&nbsp;</p>

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has shared a stunning image on its official Instagram handle, leaving the social media users in complete awe.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has shared a stunning image on its official Instagram handle, leaving the social media users in complete awe. The image is so intriguing that one of the users wrote that it "looks like alien footprints on mars". Mars? Yes, the image is certainly from the Red Planet. The image posted by NASA is a new image of a Mars crater. In the post, NASA wrote: "The Martian crater marks the spot. You’re looking at 0° longitude on Mars—the Greenwich Observatory equivalent on the Red Planet." The post added that the Greenwich Observatory marks Earth’s Prime Meridian, which is a north-south line that defines where east meets west and is used as the zero reference line for astronomical observations. NASA revealed that the larger crater that sits within this crater, called the Airy Crater, originally defined zero longitude for Mars. However, as higher resolution photos became available, a smaller feature was needed. This crater, called Airy-0 (zero) was selected because it did not need to adjust existing maps. The space agency noted that the image was captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimetres (19.7 inches) per pixel. View this post on Instagram A post shared by NASA (@nasa) ×

'Looks like alien footprints': NASA posts stunning image. Read details here

<p>The lunar samples collected by American astronaut Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 mission are heading to auction.</p>

<p>They are a part of a batch that contains five aluminum sample stubs. They are each 10 mm of carbon tape that contains moon dust.</p>

<p>Bonhams, an auction company in New York, said the one-of-a-kind pieces of space history are expected to fetch between $800,000 to $1.2 million.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/finally-ax-1-first-private-astronaut-mission-to-international-space-station-docks-after-45-minute-delay-469796" hreflang="en">Finally, Ax-1, first private astronaut mission to International Space Station, docks after 45-minute delay</a></strong></p>

<p>They were deemed “lost by NASA.” They had been stolen by Max Ary, a past curator of the Cosmosphere space museum in Hutchinson, Kansas.</p>

<p>But they were later confiscated by the US Marshal and Dr. Roy Christoffersen at NASA confirmed that they were the same samples.</p>

<p>To ensure they were a match, NASA scanned electron microscope (SEM) sample stubs containing the lunar dust.</p>

<p><strong>Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/why-has-space-business-has-become-the-final-profitable-frontier-452928" hreflang="en">Why has space business has become the final profitable frontier?</a></strong></p>

<p>Lunar expert and geologist Prof. Stephen J. Mojzsis said, &nbsp;“This suggests that the sampling protocol was different in orientation and technique (from) the other samples.”</p>

<p>Earlier, more than 70 original NASA photographs including a celebrated image of Buzz Aldrin's moonwalk taken by Neil Armstrong were sold at auction in Copenhagen on Wednesday for more than 155,000 euros ($172,000).</p>

<p>Apollo 11 was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon.</p>

<p>The last time man set foot on the Moon was in 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission, but NASA is planning to send astronauts again in 2025-2026.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


The lunar samples collected by American astronaut Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 mission are heading to auction. They are a part of a batch that contains five aluminum sample stubs.

The lunar samples collected by American astronaut Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 mission are heading to auction. They are a part of a batch that contains five aluminum sample stubs. They are each 10 mm of carbon tape that contains moon dust. Bonhams, an auction company in New York, said the one-of-a-kind pieces of space history are expected to fetch between $800,000 to $1.2 million. Also read | Finally, Ax-1, first private astronaut mission to International Space Station, docks after 45-minute delay They were deemed “lost by NASA.” They had been stolen by Max Ary, a past curator of the Cosmosphere space museum in Hutchinson, Kansas. But they were later confiscated by the US Marshal and Dr. Roy Christoffersen at NASA confirmed that they were the same samples. To ensure they were a match, NASA scanned electron microscope (SEM) sample stubs containing the lunar dust. Also see | Why has space business has become the final profitable frontier? Lunar expert and geologist Prof. Stephen J. Mojzsis said, “This suggests that the sampling protocol was different in orientation and technique (from) the other samples.” Earlier, more than 70 original NASA photographs including a celebrated image of Buzz Aldrin's moonwalk taken by Neil Armstrong were sold at auction in Copenhagen on Wednesday for more than 155,000 euros ($172,000). Apollo 11 was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. The last time man set foot on the Moon was in 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission, but NASA is planning to send astronauts again in 2025-2026. (With inputs from agencies)

Lunar samples collected by Neil Armstrong, first person to walk on the Moon, are heading to auction

<p>Images and videos of Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, keep mesmerising people across the world. But the latest photo shared by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows a completely "different perspective".&nbsp;</p>

<p>The space agency posted an image of the highest mountain on Earth taken from the vantage point of space.&nbsp;</p>

<p>NASA revealed that an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has taken this near-nadir (almost straight down) photo of Mount Everest, which towers approximately 8,848 meters above sea level.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/scientists-observe-stunning-formation-of-jupiter-like-planet-that-is-in-the-womb-468468">Jupiter-like planet in space? Scientists observe stunning formation of planet that is 'in the womb'</a></strong></p>

<p>In the post shared on its official Instagram account, NASA stated that Mt. Everest just keeps growing, approximately one centimetre per year due to the progressive uplift of the crust caused by the convergence of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>See the post here:&nbsp;</strong></p>

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<p><strong>ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/one-must-shout-to-have-conversation-nasa-finds-sound-travels-slower-on-mars-than-earth-468444">‘One must shout to have conversation’: NASA finds sound travels slower on Mars than Earth</a></strong></p>

<p>The image stunned the social media users as some expressed their astonishment in the comment section. One of the users wrote, "Mind blowing". Another user lauded the "amazing" quality of the image.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Some users compared the image to aluminium foil and painting. A user wrote, "This is crinkled up aluminum foil". Another user said, "Oh wow that looks like a paint".&nbsp;</p>

<p>For the unversed, Mount Everest is located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and the China–Nepal border runs across its summit point.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Chinese and Nepali authorities reportedly established its elevation (snow height) of 8,848.86 metres most recently in 2020.&nbsp;</p>


Images and videos of Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, keep mesmerising people across the world. But the latest photo shared by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows a completely "different perspective".

Images and videos of Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, keep mesmerising people across the world. But the latest photo shared by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows a completely "different perspective". The space agency posted an image of the highest mountain on Earth taken from the vantage point of space. NASA revealed that an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has taken this near-nadir (almost straight down) photo of Mount Everest, which towers approximately 8,848 meters above sea level. ALSO READ | Jupiter-like planet in space? Scientists observe stunning formation of planet that is 'in the womb' In the post shared on its official Instagram account, NASA stated that Mt. Everest just keeps growing, approximately one centimetre per year due to the progressive uplift of the crust caused by the convergence of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. See the post here: View this post on Instagram A post shared by NASA (@nasa) × ALSO READ | ‘One must shout to have conversation’: NASA finds sound travels slower on Mars than Earth The image stunned the social media users as some expressed their astonishment in the comment section. One of the users wrote, "Mind blowing". Another user lauded the "amazing" quality of the image. Some users compared the image to aluminium foil and painting. A user wrote, "This is crinkled up aluminum foil". Another user said, "Oh wow that looks like a paint". For the unversed, Mount Everest is located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and the China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. The Chinese and Nepali authorities reportedly established its elevation (snow height) of 8,848.86 metres most recently in 2020.

See this magnificent photo of Mount Everest from a completely 'different perspective'

The most distant star has been spotted by scientists. Known as Earendel, the star was spotted by scientists using NASA’s Hubble telescope. It is believed that the star existed during the dawn of the universe.

Earendel – most distant star spotted by scientist using NASA’s Hubble telescope

<p>NASA has found that the speed of sound on Mars is a lot slower than on Earth and a “deep silence prevails” over the red planet.</p>

<p>The scientists came to the conclusion after calculating the speed of sound on Mars dating back to February 19, 2021, the day after NASA's Perseverance rover landed on the planet.</p>

<p>They found out that sound travels 100 meters per second slower on Mars compared to Earth.</p>

<p>Moreover, the researchers discovered that there are two speeds of sound on Mars — one for high-pitched sounds and one for low-pitched sounds.</p>

<p>On Earth, sounds usually travel at 767 mph (343 meters per second). But on Mars, low-pitched sounds travel at about 537 mph (240 meters per second), while higher-pitched sounds move at 559 mph (250 meters per second), NASA said.</p>

<p>“This would make it difficult for two people standing only five meters apart to have a conversation," according to a press release on the findings.</p>

<p>This peculiar sound environment is due to the incredibly low atmospheric surface pressure on Mars, which is 170 times lower than Earth's pressure, the study published in Nature on Friday said.</p>

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<p>For example, if a high-pitched sound travels 213 feet on Earth, it will travel just 26 feet on Mars.</p>

<p>While sounds on Mars can be heard by human ears, they are incredibly soft.</p>

<p>"At some point, we thought the microphone was broken, it was so quiet," said Sylvestre Maurice, an astrophysicist at the University of Toulouse in France and lead author of the study, according to NASA.</p>

<p>Besides the wind, “natural sound sources are rare,” the press release said.</p>

<p>But NASA scientists believe that Mars may become more noisy in the autumn months, when there is higher atmospheric pressure.</p>

<p>"We are entering a high-pressure season," co-author of the study Baptiste Chide said in the press release. "Maybe the acoustic environment on Mars will be less quiet than it was when we landed."</p>


NASA has found that the speed of sound on Mars is a lot slower than on Earth and a “deep silence prevails” over the red planet. The scientists came to the conclusion after calculating the speed of sound on Mars dating back to February 19, 2021, the day after NASA's Perseverance rover landed on the planet.

NASA has found that the speed of sound on Mars is a lot slower than on Earth and a “deep silence prevails” over the red planet. The scientists came to the conclusion after calculating the speed of sound on Mars dating back to February 19, 2021, the day after NASA's Perseverance rover landed on the planet. They found out that sound travels 100 meters per second slower on Mars compared to Earth. Moreover, the researchers discovered that there are two speeds of sound on Mars — one for high-pitched sounds and one for low-pitched sounds. On Earth, sounds usually travel at 767 mph (343 meters per second). But on Mars, low-pitched sounds travel at about 537 mph (240 meters per second), while higher-pitched sounds move at 559 mph (250 meters per second), NASA said. “This would make it difficult for two people standing only five meters apart to have a conversation," according to a press release on the findings. This peculiar sound environment is due to the incredibly low atmospheric surface pressure on Mars, which is 170 times lower than Earth's pressure, the study published in Nature on Friday said. × For example, if a high-pitched sound travels 213 feet on Earth, it will travel just 26 feet on Mars. While sounds on Mars can be heard by human ears, they are incredibly soft. "At some point, we thought the microphone was broken, it was so quiet," said Sylvestre Maurice, an astrophysicist at the University of Toulouse in France and lead author of the study, according to NASA. Besides the wind, “natural sound sources are rare,” the press release said. But NASA scientists believe that Mars may become more noisy in the autumn months, when there is higher atmospheric pressure. "We are entering a high-pressure season," co-author of the study Baptiste Chide said in the press release. "Maybe the acoustic environment on Mars will be less quiet than it was when we landed."

‘One must shout to have conversation’: NASA finds sound travels slower on Mars than Earth

<p>On March 22, Sun emitted the most intense solar flares that are capable enough to impact radio communications,&nbsp;electric power grids and pose risks to astronauts.</p>

<p>It was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory which classified it as an “X-Class flare”—the most intense category of solar flares.</p>

<p>Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. They are capable of “impacting radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts,” NASA stated.</p>

<p>The mesmerising images were captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.</p>

<p>According to the US space agency, X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, and similarly X3 is three times as intense, etc.</p>

<p>Moreover, there were 17 of these solar flares that were caught exploding from Sun by NASA on Monday. At least two were fired towards the Earth’s direction, reports the New York Post.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Sun, we need to talk about your flare. 🌞<br />
<br />
The Sun emitted a significant solar flare on March 30, peaking at 1:35 p.m. ET (17:35 UTC). Our orbiting <a href="https://twitter.com/NASASun?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASASun</a> Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the action: <a href="https://t.co/8nIuyoSmOH">https://t.co/8nIuyoSmOH</a> <a href="https://t.co/JmtB8PuBvM">pic.twitter.com/JmtB8PuBvM</a></p>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1509279378202578945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p>Even though these solar flares are capable enough to cause geomagnetic storms that can disrupt the functioning of the satellite, the ones directed towards the Earth were of low intently and posed no threat.</p>

<p>In the past, large solar flares have wreaked havoc on our planet.</p>

<p>In March 1989, a solar flare and accompanying coronal mass ejections caused the entire power grid in Quebec, Canada to lose power. The event was later referred to as “the day the sun brought darkness.”</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">A huge X1.3 class solar flare flashed in center of the Sun on Mar. 30, 2022.<br />
<br />
This animated gif was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and shows a blend of light from the 171 and 131 angstrom wavelengths.<br />
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(Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO) <a href="https://t.co/vJ0KUKvqWo">pic.twitter.com/vJ0KUKvqWo</a></p>
— Universal-Sci (@universal_sci) <a href="https://twitter.com/universal_sci/status/1509937517839192065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p>Apart from harming our technologies, these solar flares can hinder astronauts working on the International Space Station, either through radiation exposure or by interfering with mission control communications.</p>

<p>The Earth’s magnetic field helps to protect us from the more extreme consequences of solar flares.</p>

<p>(With inputs from agencies)</p>


On March 22, Sun emitted the most intense solar flares that are capable enough to impact radio communications, electric power grids and pose risks to astronauts.

On March 22, Sun emitted the most intense solar flares that are capable enough to impact radio communications, electric power grids and pose risks to astronauts. It was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory which classified it as an “X-Class flare”—the most intense category of solar flares. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. They are capable of “impacting radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts,” NASA stated. The mesmerising images were captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. According to the US space agency, X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, and similarly X3 is three times as intense, etc. Moreover, there were 17 of these solar flares that were caught exploding from Sun by NASA on Monday. At least two were fired towards the Earth’s direction, reports the New York Post. Sun, we need to talk about your flare. 🌞 The Sun emitted a significant solar flare on March 30, peaking at 1:35 p.m. ET (17:35 UTC). Our orbiting @NASASun Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the action: https://t.co/8nIuyoSmOH pic.twitter.com/JmtB8PuBvM — NASA (@NASA) March 30, 2022 × Even though these solar flares are capable enough to cause geomagnetic storms that can disrupt the functioning of the satellite, the ones directed towards the Earth were of low intently and posed no threat. In the past, large solar flares have wreaked havoc on our planet. In March 1989, a solar flare and accompanying coronal mass ejections caused the entire power grid in Quebec, Canada to lose power. The event was later referred to as “the day the sun brought darkness.” A huge X1.3 class solar flare flashed in center of the Sun on Mar. 30, 2022. This animated gif was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and shows a blend of light from the 171 and 131 angstrom wavelengths. (Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO) pic.twitter.com/vJ0KUKvqWo — Universal-Sci (@universal_sci) April 1, 2022 × Apart from harming our technologies, these solar flares can hinder astronauts working on the International Space Station, either through radiation exposure or by interfering with mission control communications. The Earth’s magnetic field helps to protect us from the more extreme consequences of solar flares. (With inputs from agencies)

Watch: NASA captures ‘most intense’ solar flares exploding from Sun

<p>In January 1992, a pair of astronomers reported a discovery that changed the course of scientific history: They found planets outside our solar system.</p>

<p>The detection of the first confirmed exoplanets — the term for worlds that orbit other stars — validated dreamers who for centuries believed that “innumerable celestial bodies, stars, globes, suns and earths may be sensibly perceived therein by us,” in the words of the Renaissance polymath Giordano Bruno. One such detection — the world 51 Pegasi b in 1995 — led to the award of the 2019 Nobel Prize in physics to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz.</p>

<p>Now, 30 years later, the list of known exoplanets has just topped 5,000, according to NASA. This dazzling abundance and variety of worlds has come into view with the aid of ever-more sophisticated space telescopes. There are “hot Jupiters” that orbit scorchingly close to their stars and beefed-up versions of our planet known as “super-Earths.” Rogue planets, unmoored from their stars, wander interstellar space. And some worlds show signs of habitability, meaning they could host alien life.</p>

<p>To celebrate the milestone, experts and enthusiasts shared their favourite exoplanets or exoplanetary systems among the thousands of worlds to choose from.</p>

<p><b>A Dead Star’s Worlds</b></p>

<p>Poltergeist and Phobetor were the first confirmed exoplanets ever spotted. Alexander Wolszczan and Dale Frail detected the planets orbiting a neutron star, a type of dead star, using the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico.</p>

<p>“Not only did this discovery precede further confirmed exoplanet discoveries by three years, Poltergeist and Phobetor were the first exoplanets with Earth-like masses and the first multiplanet system,” said Frail, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.</p>

<p>“This discovery suggested that, if you can make planets around a neutron star, they should be common around all kinds of stars,” said Wolszczan, a professor at Pennsylvania State University.</p>

<p><b>No Doubt About It</b></p>

<p>Though Poltergeist and Phobetor were the first confirmed exoplanets in history, an absolutely humongous gas giant nicknamed Tadmor was spotted in 1988 by scientists based in British Columbia. The existence of Tadmor was disputed for years, even by its own discoverers, but was eventually confirmed in 2002.</p>

<p>Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut, said that “firsts” are always important to him, which is just one of the reasons that Tadmor is his favourite exoplanet.</p>

<p>“Part of the reason I like it is that it was detected by three Canadians,” said Hadfield, referring to Bruce Campbell, Gordon Walker and Stephenson Yang, “and they just couldn’t believe it.”</p>

<p>“To me, since it’s the first one, it’s the one I think ends up being the most historic and at this point, the most interesting,” he added.</p>

<p><b>Seven-in-One</b></p>

<p>With seven rocky planets and a location just 40 light-years from Earth, the TRAPPIST-1 system is a fan favourite.</p>

<p>Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University, noted that the system had four planets in the habitable zone — the region around a star where liquid water could potentially exist.</p>

<p>“Wouldn’t it be incredible to find more than one habitable world around one star?” Kaltenegger said.</p>

<p>(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.)</p>

<p>Tim Pyle, a multimedia producer who helped create some of the well-known visualizations of TRAPPIST-1 for NASA, noted that the view from these planets would be surreal.</p>

<p>“Having seven roughly Earth-sized planets around a single star excites my imagination,” Pyle said. “And they’re so close together that they would be looming fixtures in each other’s sky in a breathtaking way. Imagine lying on the deck of a boat on a TRAPPIST-1e ocean, looking above you, and seeing other planets as large as we see the full moon from Earth!”</p>

<p><b>Precocious Planets</b></p>

<p>TOI-1233, a sunlike star more than 200 light-years from Earth, contains five known exoplanets. Four of these worlds were spotted in 2020.</p>

<p>“TOI-1233 is an outstanding planetary system with its high number of transiting planets, sunlike host star and its proximity to the solar system,” said Tansu Daylan, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.</p>

<p>Daylan detected the system with Jasmine Wright and Kartik Pinglé, who were both high school students at the time.</p>

<p>“This system is dear to my heart because it represents my first hands-on research experience in astrophysics,” said Wright, who is now studying the subject and computer science at the University of Colorado Boulder. “Since I was 7 years old, it’s been my goal to become an astrophysicist and work for NASA, and discovering this system brought me that chance sooner than expected.”</p>

<p>Pinglé, a senior at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in Massachusetts, added that there was much still to be discovered at TOI-1233.</p>

<p>“It is a prime candidate for follow-up observation, particularly from the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope,” he said.</p>

<p><b>A Super-Saturn, Maybe</b></p>

<p>The possible exoplanet J1407b is nicknamed “super-Saturn” and “Lord of the Rings” because its ring system appears to stretch as far as Earth is from the sun.</p>

<p>Ann Druyan, who created the original television series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” with her husband, Carl Sagan, and is the creative force behind its two recent iterations, said this world made an impression on her.</p>

<p>“It was an indication of what the variety of worlds, similar to the variety of life, could be,” she said.</p>

<p>Doubts have been raised about the original detection of J1407b. That also appeals to Druyan.</p>

<p>“I love the idea that it might be there and it might not be there,” she said. “It’s a product of this relentless searching, this sacred searching, we’ve been doing for roughly 400 years.”</p>

<p><b>An Ancient Super-Earth</b></p>

<p>More than half of the 5,000 known exoplanets were spotted by Kepler, a workhorse NASA space telescope that retired in 2018. Out of them all, William Borucki, Kepler’s principal investigator, has a clear favorite: Kepler-62f, a super-Earth about 1,000 light-years from Earth.</p>

<p>“It is in the habitable zone. It is similar in size to the Earth. It could be a rocky world or a water world,” he said in an email. “It orbits a star similar to but older than our sun.”</p>

<p>He added, “Any life on the planet could be much more advanced because the planet and any life on it would/could be that much older than terrestrial life and therefore be of special interest.”</p>

<p><b>Crazy Ex-Lava Monster</b></p>

<p>Kepler-10b was the first rocky planet to be discovered by the Kepler telescope, in 2011. The planet is slightly larger in size than Earth, and about four times as massive. But its temperature exceeds 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit because of its close orbit around its star, making it a nightmarish world.</p>

<p>“I love Kepler-10b because it’s the size of Earth but with a lava ocean, so I like to imagine it’s an alternate version of Earth with an alternate version of myself living on that planet,” said actress Rachel Bloom. But instead of being the co-creator and star of the TV show “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” Bloom said the Kepler-10b version of herself would be “a fearsome lava monster who still likes show tunes.”</p>

<p><b>So Close, Yet So Far</b></p>

<p>Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf that is part of the three-star Alpha Centauri system, is our star’s closest neighbour, just 4 light-years away. Over the past few years, scientists have spotted three exoplanets, Proxima b, c and d — which are especially captivating to Sharon Xuesong Wang, a scientist at Tsinghua University in Beijing.</p>

<p>“I think within our lifetime, there’s a chance that we could see a mission actually flying somewhere closer to the system to study the planets in more detail,” Wang said. “It is not very likely there is life on any of these planets though, but who knows — the universe likes to surprise us.”</p>

<p>(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.)</p>

<p>Abel Méndez, director of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, chose Proxima Centauri b as his favorite.</p>

<p>Méndez said that with new telescopes, we should be able to see “land and ocean areas. Information about the atmosphere and surface properties would provide definitive evidence to confirm whether these are really habitable worlds.”</p>

<p><b>Two Hot Jupiters</b></p>

<p>Kelt-11b is a hot Jupiter that was first reported in 2017 with the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope. The planet is special to Kate Isaak, project scientist for the European Space Agency’s CHEOPS spacecraft, launched in 2019, because it was the first light curve, a measurement of a star’s brightness that reveals exoplanets<em>,</em>&nbsp;ever studied by the observatory.</p>

<p>“We were able to determine its size with an accuracy five times better than from Earth, setting the uncertainty in its size to around 4,200 kilometres,” Isaak said, adding that it proved the scientific potential of the CHEOPS space telescope.</p>

<p>Luis Calçada, a science visualization artist who works with the European Southern Observatory, chose another hot Jupiter: Vega b.</p>

<p>“This star, which is only 25 light-years away from us, is central to Carl Sagan’s novel ‘Contact,’ ” Calçada said. He said the book sparked an interest that led him “to pursue a university degree in astronomy. After that, I built a career as a science illustrator. So this book, Carl Sagan and Vega have been present in a defining moment of my life. So seeing a planet being discovered around it was very exciting.”</p>

<p><b>Small but Fascinating</b></p>

<p>During his years on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Wil Wheaton became familiar with fictional worlds and new forms of life. He picked YZ Ceti b, which is slightly smaller than Earth and orbits a red dwarf located 12 light-years away, making it tantalizingly close for further study.</p>

<p>“It doesn’t make sense that, in a universe as vast as ours, we are the only intelligent (sentient) species,” Wheaton said in an email. “So when I look out into the night sky, I don’t just imagine that someone else is looking back. I know they are.”</p>

<p>He added that proof was unlikely to come in our lifetimes, so “our most urgent challenge as a species right now is to take care of the only planet we can live on so that generations from now, in a future so far away we cannot imagine what it will look like, our descendants can make first contact.”</p>

<p><b>Puff Up Your Imagination</b></p>

<p>At just 500 million years old, Kepler-51 is among the youngest star systems on this list. But though it is still a baby in astronomical terms, the system is already home to multiple planets with enigmatic properties, said Peter Gao, a staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science.</p>

<p>Gao said the system’s three planets were nicknamed “super puffs,” with extremely low density that brings to mind Styrofoam or cotton candy and “challenge our understanding of how planets form and how they evolve.”</p>

<p>He added that, “I like them because I like a good mystery, and their existence has shown that the universe is always more imaginative than we are.”</p>


In January 1992, a pair of astronomers reported a discovery that changed the course of scientific history: They found planets outside our solar system. The detection of the first confirmed exoplanets — the term for worlds that orbit other stars — validated dreamers who for centuries believed that “innumerable celestial bodies, stars, globes, suns and earths may be sensibly perceived therein by us,” in the words of the Renaissance polymath Giordano Bruno.

In January 1992, a pair of astronomers reported a discovery that changed the course of scientific history: They found planets outside our solar system. The detection of the first confirmed exoplanets — the term for worlds that orbit other stars — validated dreamers who for centuries believed that “innumerable celestial bodies, stars, globes, suns and earths may be sensibly perceived therein by us,” in the words of the Renaissance polymath Giordano Bruno. One such detection — the world 51 Pegasi b in 1995 — led to the award of the 2019 Nobel Prize in physics to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. Now, 30 years later, the list of known exoplanets has just topped 5,000, according to NASA. This dazzling abundance and variety of worlds has come into view with the aid of ever-more sophisticated space telescopes. There are “hot Jupiters” that orbit scorchingly close to their stars and beefed-up versions of our planet known as “super-Earths.” Rogue planets, unmoored from their stars, wander interstellar space. And some worlds show signs of habitability, meaning they could host alien life. To celebrate the milestone, experts and enthusiasts shared their favourite exoplanets or exoplanetary systems among the thousands of worlds to choose from. A Dead Star’s Worlds Poltergeist and Phobetor were the first confirmed exoplanets ever spotted. Alexander Wolszczan and Dale Frail detected the planets orbiting a neutron star, a type of dead star, using the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico. “Not only did this discovery precede further confirmed exoplanet discoveries by three years, Poltergeist and Phobetor were the first exoplanets with Earth-like masses and the first multiplanet system,” said Frail, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. “This discovery suggested that, if you can make planets around a neutron star, they should be common around all kinds of stars,” said Wolszczan, a professor at Pennsylvania State University. No Doubt About It Though Poltergeist and Phobetor were the first confirmed exoplanets in history, an absolutely humongous gas giant nicknamed Tadmor was spotted in 1988 by scientists based in British Columbia. The existence of Tadmor was disputed for years, even by its own discoverers, but was eventually confirmed in 2002. Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut, said that “firsts” are always important to him, which is just one of the reasons that Tadmor is his favourite exoplanet. “Part of the reason I like it is that it was detected by three Canadians,” said Hadfield, referring to Bruce Campbell, Gordon Walker and Stephenson Yang, “and they just couldn’t believe it.” “To me, since it’s the first one, it’s the one I think ends up being the most historic and at this point, the most interesting,” he added. Seven-in-One With seven rocky planets and a location just 40 light-years from Earth, the TRAPPIST-1 system is a fan favourite. Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University, noted that the system had four planets in the habitable zone — the region around a star where liquid water could potentially exist. “Wouldn’t it be incredible to find more than one habitable world around one star?” Kaltenegger said. (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.) Tim Pyle, a multimedia producer who helped create some of the well-known visualizations of TRAPPIST-1 for NASA, noted that the view from these planets would be surreal. “Having seven roughly Earth-sized planets around a single star excites my imagination,” Pyle said. “And they’re so close together that they would be looming fixtures in each other’s sky in a breathtaking way. Imagine lying on the deck of a boat on a TRAPPIST-1e ocean, looking above you, and seeing other planets as large as we see the full moon from Earth!” Precocious Planets TOI-1233, a sunlike star more than 200 light-years from Earth, contains five known exoplanets. Four of these worlds were spotted in 2020. “TOI-1233 is an outstanding planetary system with its high number of transiting planets, sunlike host star and its proximity to the solar system,” said Tansu Daylan, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Daylan detected the system with Jasmine Wright and Kartik Pinglé, who were both high school students at the time. “This system is dear to my heart because it represents my first hands-on research experience in astrophysics,” said Wright, who is now studying the subject and computer science at the University of Colorado Boulder. “Since I was 7 years old, it’s been my goal to become an astrophysicist and work for NASA, and discovering this system brought me that chance sooner than expected.” Pinglé, a senior at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in Massachusetts, added that there was much still to be discovered at TOI-1233. “It is a prime candidate for follow-up observation, particularly from the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope,” he said. A Super-Saturn, Maybe The possible exoplanet J1407b is nicknamed “super-Saturn” and “Lord of the Rings” because its ring system appears to stretch as far as Earth is from the sun. Ann Druyan, who created the original television series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” with her husband, Carl Sagan, and is the creative force behind its two recent iterations, said this world made an impression on her. “It was an indication of what the variety of worlds, similar to the variety of life, could be,” she said. Doubts have been raised about the original detection of J1407b. That also appeals to Druyan. “I love the idea that it might be there and it might not be there,” she said. “It’s a product of this relentless searching, this sacred searching, we’ve been doing for roughly 400 years.” An Ancient Super-Earth More than half of the 5,000 known exoplanets were spotted by Kepler, a workhorse NASA space telescope that retired in 2018. Out of them all, William Borucki, Kepler’s principal investigator, has a clear favorite: Kepler-62f, a super-Earth about 1,000 light-years from Earth. “It is in the habitable zone. It is similar in size to the Earth. It could be a rocky world or a water world,” he said in an email. “It orbits a star similar to but older than our sun.” He added, “Any life on the planet could be much more advanced because the planet and any life on it would/could be that much older than terrestrial life and therefore be of special interest.” Crazy Ex-Lava Monster Kepler-10b was the first rocky planet to be discovered by the Kepler telescope, in 2011. The planet is slightly larger in size than Earth, and about four times as massive. But its temperature exceeds 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit because of its close orbit around its star, making it a nightmarish world. “I love Kepler-10b because it’s the size of Earth but with a lava ocean, so I like to imagine it’s an alternate version of Earth with an alternate version of myself living on that planet,” said actress Rachel Bloom. But instead of being the co-creator and star of the TV show “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” Bloom said the Kepler-10b version of herself would be “a fearsome lava monster who still likes show tunes.” So Close, Yet So Far Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf that is part of the three-star Alpha Centauri system, is our star’s closest neighbour, just 4 light-years away. Over the past few years, scientists have spotted three exoplanets, Proxima b, c and d — which are especially captivating to Sharon Xuesong Wang, a scientist at Tsinghua University in Beijing. “I think within our lifetime, there’s a chance that we could see a mission actually flying somewhere closer to the system to study the planets in more detail,” Wang said. “It is not very likely there is life on any of these planets though, but who knows — the universe likes to surprise us.” (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.) Abel Méndez, director of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, chose Proxima Centauri b as his favorite. Méndez said that with new telescopes, we should be able to see “land and ocean areas. Information about the atmosphere and surface properties would provide definitive evidence to confirm whether these are really habitable worlds.” Two Hot Jupiters Kelt-11b is a hot Jupiter that was first reported in 2017 with the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope. The planet is special to Kate Isaak, project scientist for the European Space Agency’s CHEOPS spacecraft, launched in 2019, because it was the first light curve, a measurement of a star’s brightness that reveals exoplanets, ever studied by the observatory. “We were able to determine its size with an accuracy five times better than from Earth, setting the uncertainty in its size to around 4,200 kilometres,” Isaak said, adding that it proved the scientific potential of the CHEOPS space telescope. Luis Calçada, a science visualization artist who works with the European Southern Observatory, chose another hot Jupiter: Vega b. “This star, which is only 25 light-years away from us, is central to Carl Sagan’s novel ‘Contact,’ ” Calçada said. He said the book sparked an interest that led him “to pursue a university degree in astronomy. After that, I built a career as a science illustrator. So this book, Carl Sagan and Vega have been present in a defining moment of my life. So seeing a planet being discovered around it was very exciting.” Small but Fascinating During his years on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Wil Wheaton became familiar with fictional worlds and new forms of life. He picked YZ Ceti b, which is slightly smaller than Earth and orbits a red dwarf located 12 light-years away, making it tantalizingly close for further study. “It doesn’t make sense that, in a universe as vast as ours, we are the only intelligent (sentient) species,” Wheaton said in an email. “So when I look out into the night sky, I don’t just imagine that someone else is looking back. I know they are.” He added that proof was unlikely to come in our lifetimes, so “our most urgent challenge as a species right now is to take care of the only planet we can live on so that generations from now, in a future so far away we cannot imagine what it will look like, our descendants can make first contact.” Puff Up Your Imagination At just 500 million years old, Kepler-51 is among the youngest star systems on this list. But though it is still a baby in astronomical terms, the system is already home to multiple planets with enigmatic properties, said Peter Gao, a staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science. Gao said the system’s three planets were nicknamed “super puffs,” with extremely low density that brings to mind Styrofoam or cotton candy and “challenge our understanding of how planets form and how they evolve.” He added that, “I like them because I like a good mystery, and their existence has shown that the universe is always more imaginative than we are.”

Imagine another world. Now imagine 5,000 more

<p>US space agency NASA has started the testing of its giant Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.</p>

<p>The critical two-day-long test comes as NASA gears up to return human beings to the Moon.</p>

<p>It is also known as the "wet dress rehearsal," due to the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will be loaded into the rocket.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">The countdown is now underway for the final prelaunch test for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Artemis?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Artemis</a> I.<br />
<br />
Teams will now begin practicing every step prior to liftoff for the launch of <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAArtemis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASAArtemis</a>. Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAGroundSys?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASAGroundSys</a> for real-time updates: <a href="https://t.co/pweviH8UUQ">https://t.co/pweviH8UUQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/63nEldwvW8">pic.twitter.com/63nEldwvW8</a></p>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1510000779675029509?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p>The test, which started at 5:00 pm Eastern Time (2100 GMT), will determine the launch date for Artemis 1.</p>

<p>At the beginning of the test, NASA said "The countdown is now underway."</p>

<p>The 322-foot (98-metre) rocket is expected to be the most powerful in history at the time it is operational.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/why-has-space-business-has-become-the-final-profitable-frontier-452928" hreflang="en">Why has space business has become the final profitable frontier?</a></strong></p>

<p>It was rolled out to Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida around two weeks ago.</p>

<p>Rollout of the 32-story-tall Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion crew capsule marks a key milestone in US plans for renewed lunar exploration after years of setbacks, and the public's first glimpse of a space vehicle more than a decade in development.</p>

<p>NASA has said it was reviewing potential Artemis I launch windows in April and May, but the timeline could slip depending on results of the dress rehearsal.</p>

<p>The SLS-Orion, which cost some $37 billion to develop including ground systems, constitutes the backbone of the NASA's Artemis programme, aimed at returning astronauts to the moon and establishing a long-term lunar colony as a precursor to eventual human exploration of Mars.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em><br />
&nbsp;</p>


US space agency NASA has started the testing of its giant Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The critical two-day-long test comes as NASA gears up to return human beings to the Moon.

US space agency NASA has started the testing of its giant Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The critical two-day-long test comes as NASA gears up to return human beings to the Moon. It is also known as the "wet dress rehearsal," due to the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will be loaded into the rocket. The countdown is now underway for the final prelaunch test for #Artemis I. Teams will now begin practicing every step prior to liftoff for the launch of @NASAArtemis. Follow @NASAGroundSys for real-time updates: https://t.co/pweviH8UUQ pic.twitter.com/63nEldwvW8 — NASA (@NASA) April 1, 2022 × The test, which started at 5:00 pm Eastern Time (2100 GMT), will determine the launch date for Artemis 1. At the beginning of the test, NASA said "The countdown is now underway." The 322-foot (98-metre) rocket is expected to be the most powerful in history at the time it is operational. Also read | Why has space business has become the final profitable frontier? It was rolled out to Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida around two weeks ago. Rollout of the 32-story-tall Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion crew capsule marks a key milestone in US plans for renewed lunar exploration after years of setbacks, and the public's first glimpse of a space vehicle more than a decade in development. NASA has said it was reviewing potential Artemis I launch windows in April and May, but the timeline could slip depending on results of the dress rehearsal. The SLS-Orion, which cost some $37 billion to develop including ground systems, constitutes the backbone of the NASA's Artemis programme, aimed at returning astronauts to the moon and establishing a long-term lunar colony as a precursor to eventual human exploration of Mars. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA begins testing of its giant Space Launch System rocket

NASA’s Artemis I moon mission explained

<p>NASA's Hubble space telescope has detected the light of a star that existed within the first billion years after the universe’s birth in the big bang, astronomers said on Wednesday (March 30). It is said to be the farthest individual star ever seen to date.&nbsp;</p>

<p>NASA informed that the newly discovered star, called "Earendel". Scientists have said that the star is so far away its light has taken 12.9 billion years to reach Earth, when the universe was seven per cent its current age.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"We almost didn’t believe it at first, it was so much farther than the previous most-distant, highest redshift star," said astronomer Brian Welch of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Welch is the lead author of the paper describing the discovery, which is published in the March 30 journal Nature.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/saturn-is-eating-its-own-rings-they-may-disappear-altogether-466925">Saturn is 'eating' its own rings, they may disappear altogether</a></strong></p>

<p>NASA has informed that the discovery was made from data collected during Hubble's RELICS (Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey) programme. The programme was led by co-author Dan Coe at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).&nbsp;</p>

<p>As per NASA, the previous single-star record holder was detected by Hubble in 2018. That star existed when the universe was about four billion years old, or 30 per cent of its current age. At a time that astronomers referred to as "redshift 1.5."&nbsp;</p>

<p>NASA revealed that scientists use the word "redshift" because as the universe expands, light from distant objects is stretched or "shifted" to longer and redder wavelengths as it travels toward us.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Meanwhile, talking about the newly-detected star, NASA said that Earendel's light came from an era called redshift 6.2.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Welch said, "Normally at these distances, entire galaxies look like small smudges, the light from millions of stars blending together."&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/a-dying-star-is-forming-rings-around-itself-confusing-scientists-466682">A dying star is forming rings around itself, confusing scientists</a></strong></p>

<p>The galaxy hosting the star has been naturally magnified and distorted by an effect called gravitational lensing.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"The galaxy hosting this star has been magnified and distorted by gravitational lensing into a long crescent that we named the Sunrise Arc," said Welch.&nbsp;</p>

<p>After he studied the galaxy in detail, Welch found that one feature is an extremely magnified star that he called Earendel, which means "morning star" in Old English.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Welch added that Earendel existed so long ago that it may not have had the same raw materials as the stars that exist today.</p>

<p>"It's like we've been reading a really interesting book, but we started with the second chapter, and now we will have a chance to see how it all got started," he said.</p>

<p>Astronomers intend to gaze at the star using the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble's successor, which is highly sensitive to infrared light from the oldest celestial bodies, in order to confirm Earendel's age, mass and radius.</p>

<p>It has been hypothesized that primordial stars were made solely from the elements forged after the Big Bang: hydrogen, helium and trace amounts of lithium, and should be more massive than stars that exist today.&nbsp;</p>

<p>It remains to be seen if Earendel belongs to these so-called "Population III" stars, but while the probability is small, it is enticing, said Welch.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>WATCH | Gravitas: Giant ice volcanoes spotted on Pluto</strong></p>

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<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;</em></p>


NASA's Hubble space telescope has detected the light of a star that existed within the first billion years after the universe’s birth in the big bang, astronomers said on Wednesday (March 30).

NASA's Hubble space telescope has detected the light of a star that existed within the first billion years after the universe’s birth in the big bang, astronomers said on Wednesday (March 30). It is said to be the farthest individual star ever seen to date. NASA informed that the newly discovered star, called "Earendel". Scientists have said that the star is so far away its light has taken 12.9 billion years to reach Earth, when the universe was seven per cent its current age. "We almost didn’t believe it at first, it was so much farther than the previous most-distant, highest redshift star," said astronomer Brian Welch of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Welch is the lead author of the paper describing the discovery, which is published in the March 30 journal Nature. ALSO READ | Saturn is 'eating' its own rings, they may disappear altogether NASA has informed that the discovery was made from data collected during Hubble's RELICS (Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey) programme. The programme was led by co-author Dan Coe at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). As per NASA, the previous single-star record holder was detected by Hubble in 2018. That star existed when the universe was about four billion years old, or 30 per cent of its current age. At a time that astronomers referred to as "redshift 1.5." NASA revealed that scientists use the word "redshift" because as the universe expands, light from distant objects is stretched or "shifted" to longer and redder wavelengths as it travels toward us. Meanwhile, talking about the newly-detected star, NASA said that Earendel's light came from an era called redshift 6.2. Welch said, "Normally at these distances, entire galaxies look like small smudges, the light from millions of stars blending together." ALSO READ | A dying star is forming rings around itself, confusing scientists The galaxy hosting the star has been naturally magnified and distorted by an effect called gravitational lensing. "The galaxy hosting this star has been magnified and distorted by gravitational lensing into a long crescent that we named the Sunrise Arc," said Welch. After he studied the galaxy in detail, Welch found that one feature is an extremely magnified star that he called Earendel, which means "morning star" in Old English. Welch added that Earendel existed so long ago that it may not have had the same raw materials as the stars that exist today. "It's like we've been reading a really interesting book, but we started with the second chapter, and now we will have a chance to see how it all got started," he said. Astronomers intend to gaze at the star using the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble's successor, which is highly sensitive to infrared light from the oldest celestial bodies, in order to confirm Earendel's age, mass and radius. It has been hypothesized that primordial stars were made solely from the elements forged after the Big Bang: hydrogen, helium and trace amounts of lithium, and should be more massive than stars that exist today. It remains to be seen if Earendel belongs to these so-called "Population III" stars, but while the probability is small, it is enticing, said Welch. WATCH | Gravitas: Giant ice volcanoes spotted on Pluto × (With inputs from agencies)

Extraordinary Earendel! NASA's Hubble sees most distant star ever

NASA published pictures of giant ice volcanoes on Pluto's surface, triggering speculation on the possibility of life on the dwarf planet. What does this discovery mean for life beyond Earth? Palki Sharma gets you a report.

Gravitas: Giant ice volcanoes spotted on Pluto

<p>A group of dome-shaped ice volcanoes that appear unlike anything else known in our solar system and may still be active have been spotted on Pluto. This discovery was made using data from NASA's New Horizons mission, and it indicates&nbsp;that this remote frozen world is more dynamic than previously thought.</p>

<p>According to scientists, the cryovolcanoes, which may number ten or more, range in height from six-tenths of a mile (1 km) to four and a half miles (7 km). Unlike Earth volcanoes, which spew gases and molten rock, the cryovolcanoes on this dwarf planet extrude vast amounts of ice - likely frozen water rather than some other frozen material - with the consistency of toothpaste, according to the researchers.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-esa-solar-orbiter-clicks-the-most-detailed-pictures-of-the-sun-take-a-look-465533" hreflang="en">NASA-ESA solar orbiter clicks the most detailed pictures of the Sun. Take a look!</a></strong></p>

<p>Cryovolcanoes have been also been&nbsp;identified on the asteroid belt dwarf planet Ceres, Saturn's moons Enceladus and Titan, Jupiter's moon Europa, and Neptune's moon Triton. However, their surface parameters, including&nbsp;temperature and atmospheric pressure, as well as diverse combinations of ice elements, all differ from Pluto's, according to the researchers.</p>

<p>"Finding these features does indicate that Pluto is more active, or geologically alive, than we previously thought it would be," &nbsp;said lead author and planetary scientist Kelsi Singer of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.</p>

<p>"The combination of these features being geologically recent, covering a vast area and most likely being made of water ice is surprising because it requires more internal heat than we thought Pluto would have at this stage of its history," Singer added.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-confirms-a-celestial-milestone-5000-exoplanets-confirmed-so-far-464644" hreflang="en">NASA confirms a 'celestial milestone', 5000 exoplanets confirmed so far</a></strong></p>

<p>Pluto, which is smaller than Earth's moon and has a diameter of about 1,400 miles (2,380 kilometres), circles the sun at a distance of around 3.6 billion miles (5.8 billion kilometres), roughly 40 times that of&nbsp;Earth. Plains, mountains, craters, and valleys can be found on its surface.</p>

<p>The latest study's images and data, which were retrieved by New Horizons in 2015, confirmed prior assumptions concerning cryovolcanism on Pluto.</p>

<p>According to Southwest Research Institute planetary scientist Alan Stern, the New Horizons principal investigator and research co-author, the study discovered not just widespread evidence for cryovolcanism, but also that it has been long-lived, and not a mere&nbsp;singular event.</p>

<p><strong>Watch |&nbsp;A new frontier in space exploration</strong></p>

<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/a-new-frontier-in-space-exploration-439824/embed" width="560"></iframe></p>

<p>What's most fascinating about Pluto is that it's so complicated - as complex as Earth or Mars despite its smaller size and greater&nbsp;distance from Sun, said Stern.</p>

<p>Pluto, like Earth and the other planets in our solar system, formed around 4.5 billion years ago. It appears that its cryovolcanoes are quite new, having formed in the last few hundred million years, based on the lack of impact craters that would ordinarily collect over time.</p>

<p>On a geologic timeline, that's quite recent&nbsp;said Singer, adding that because there are so few impact craters, it's plausible that these processes are still going on now.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


A group of dome-shaped ice volcanoes that appear unlike anything else known in our solar system and may still be active have been spotted on Pluto. This discovery was made using data from NASA's New Horizons mission, and it indicates that this remote frozen world is more dynamic than previously thought.

A group of dome-shaped ice volcanoes that appear unlike anything else known in our solar system and may still be active have been spotted on Pluto. This discovery was made using data from NASA's New Horizons mission, and it indicates that this remote frozen world is more dynamic than previously thought. According to scientists, the cryovolcanoes, which may number ten or more, range in height from six-tenths of a mile (1 km) to four and a half miles (7 km). Unlike Earth volcanoes, which spew gases and molten rock, the cryovolcanoes on this dwarf planet extrude vast amounts of ice - likely frozen water rather than some other frozen material - with the consistency of toothpaste, according to the researchers. Also read | NASA-ESA solar orbiter clicks the most detailed pictures of the Sun. Take a look! Cryovolcanoes have been also been identified on the asteroid belt dwarf planet Ceres, Saturn's moons Enceladus and Titan, Jupiter's moon Europa, and Neptune's moon Triton. However, their surface parameters, including temperature and atmospheric pressure, as well as diverse combinations of ice elements, all differ from Pluto's, according to the researchers. "Finding these features does indicate that Pluto is more active, or geologically alive, than we previously thought it would be," said lead author and planetary scientist Kelsi Singer of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "The combination of these features being geologically recent, covering a vast area and most likely being made of water ice is surprising because it requires more internal heat than we thought Pluto would have at this stage of its history," Singer added. Also read | NASA confirms a 'celestial milestone', 5000 exoplanets confirmed so far Pluto, which is smaller than Earth's moon and has a diameter of about 1,400 miles (2,380 kilometres), circles the sun at a distance of around 3.6 billion miles (5.8 billion kilometres), roughly 40 times that of Earth. Plains, mountains, craters, and valleys can be found on its surface. The latest study's images and data, which were retrieved by New Horizons in 2015, confirmed prior assumptions concerning cryovolcanism on Pluto. According to Southwest Research Institute planetary scientist Alan Stern, the New Horizons principal investigator and research co-author, the study discovered not just widespread evidence for cryovolcanism, but also that it has been long-lived, and not a mere singular event. Watch | A new frontier in space exploration What's most fascinating about Pluto is that it's so complicated - as complex as Earth or Mars despite its smaller size and greater distance from Sun, said Stern. Pluto, like Earth and the other planets in our solar system, formed around 4.5 billion years ago. It appears that its cryovolcanoes are quite new, having formed in the last few hundred million years, based on the lack of impact craters that would ordinarily collect over time. On a geologic timeline, that's quite recent said Singer, adding that because there are so few impact craters, it's plausible that these processes are still going on now. (With inputs from agencies)

Scientists discover ice volcanoes on dwarf-planet Pluto

<p>The White House has requested allocation of &nbsp;USD 26 billion for NASA in the year 2023. If passed, these funda will be USD 2 billion more than what NASA received in the current fiscal year.</p>

<p>The budget would enable NASA to fund Artemis moon landings, Earth science, address climate change, drive economic growth, and more as the agency aims to send people to Mars by 2040, NASA officials said.</p>

<p>"Greater than a number, statistic, or fact is what the President's budget request represents," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, in a statement.</p>

<p>"This budget reflects the Biden-Harris Administration's confidence in the extraordinary workforce that makes NASA the best place to work in the federal government.</p>

<p>"It's an investment in the businesses and universities that partner with NASA in all 50 states and the good-paying jobs they are creating. It's a signal of support for our missions in a new era of exploration and discovery," Nelson said.</p>

<p>As per the proposed budget, USD 7.6 billion have been allocated for deep space exploration. &nbsp;Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and person of colour on the lunar surface, deepen the US' scientific understanding of the Moon, and test technologies that will prepare for human exploration of Mars.</p>

<p>About $4.7 billion is for Common Exploration Systems Development to support lunar missions which includes funding for the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS). The budget's $1.5 billion for astronaut Moon landers will enable NASA to increase competition in the development of the final mode of transportation needed to take astronauts to the lunar surface.</p>

<p>With $2.4 billion allocated for Earth-observing satellites and related research, the budget will increase NASA's Earth science funding for climate and weather monitoring and measurement.</p>

<p>NASA also aims to support commercial space activities. The budget's $1.4 billion for space technology research and development will support new technologies to help the US commercial space industry grow, enhance mission capabilities, create good-paying jobs, and reduce costs.</p>

<p>About $970 million has been allocated for aeronautics research. This includes $500 million to reduce aviation's climate impact through efforts including a Sustainable Flight National Partnership to develop a next-generation passenger aircraft.</p>

<p>With $150 million for the Office of STEM Engagement for education and engagement activities, this budget would allow NASA to enhance its support for educational activities, including those that focus on historically underserved communities.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em><br />
&nbsp;</p>


The White House has requested allocation of USD 26 billion for NASA in the year 2023. If passed, these funda will be USD 2 billion more than what NASA received in the current fiscal year.

The White House has requested allocation of USD 26 billion for NASA in the year 2023. If passed, these funda will be USD 2 billion more than what NASA received in the current fiscal year. The budget would enable NASA to fund Artemis moon landings, Earth science, address climate change, drive economic growth, and more as the agency aims to send people to Mars by 2040, NASA officials said. "Greater than a number, statistic, or fact is what the President's budget request represents," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, in a statement. "This budget reflects the Biden-Harris Administration's confidence in the extraordinary workforce that makes NASA the best place to work in the federal government. "It's an investment in the businesses and universities that partner with NASA in all 50 states and the good-paying jobs they are creating. It's a signal of support for our missions in a new era of exploration and discovery," Nelson said. As per the proposed budget, USD 7.6 billion have been allocated for deep space exploration. Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and person of colour on the lunar surface, deepen the US' scientific understanding of the Moon, and test technologies that will prepare for human exploration of Mars. About $4.7 billion is for Common Exploration Systems Development to support lunar missions which includes funding for the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS). The budget's $1.5 billion for astronaut Moon landers will enable NASA to increase competition in the development of the final mode of transportation needed to take astronauts to the lunar surface. With $2.4 billion allocated for Earth-observing satellites and related research, the budget will increase NASA's Earth science funding for climate and weather monitoring and measurement. NASA also aims to support commercial space activities. The budget's $1.4 billion for space technology research and development will support new technologies to help the US commercial space industry grow, enhance mission capabilities, create good-paying jobs, and reduce costs. About $970 million has been allocated for aeronautics research. This includes $500 million to reduce aviation's climate impact through efforts including a Sustainable Flight National Partnership to develop a next-generation passenger aircraft. With $150 million for the Office of STEM Engagement for education and engagement activities, this budget would allow NASA to enhance its support for educational activities, including those that focus on historically underserved communities. (With inputs from agencies)

White House proposes budget of USD 26 billion for NASA in 2023 

<p>Despite heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine, a US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts left the International Space Station (ISS) together on Wednesday in a Soyuz capsule.</p>

<p>To begin the journey back to Earth, the trio will close the hatch of the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft. The Soyuz will detach from the Rassvet module and land assisted by&nbsp;parachutes&nbsp;on Kazakhstan's steppes, southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, on March 30.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/western-sanctions-could-cause-international-space-station-to-crash-russia-461606">Western sanctions could cause International space station to crash: Russia</a></strong></p>

<p>According to Russian space agency Roscosmos, the Russian Soyuz capsule carrying NASA's Mark Vande Hei and his cosmonaut colleagues Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov safely undocked from the International Space Station and is slated to make a parachute landing in central Kazakhstan at 1128 GMT.</p>

<p>The joint US-Russian return flight from the International Space Station is being closely scrutinised for signs that the escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington over Russia's invasion of Ukraine have spilled over into long-standing space cooperation between the two.</p>

<p><strong>Watch |&nbsp;Russian cosmonauts arrive at the International space station for 6-month long mission</strong></p>

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/russian-cosmonauts-arrive-at-the-international-space-station-for-6-month-long-mission-463660/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

<p>According to NASA, Vande Hei, who is 55 years old and is on his second ISS mission, would have achieved a US space endurance record of 355 days in orbit, breaking the previous 340-day record set by astronaut Scott Kelly in 2016.</p>

<p>On February 24, US President Joe Biden announced economic sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin's government, including high-tech export restrictions aimed at "degrading" Russia's aerospace industry, particularly its space programme.</p>

<p>The director-general of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, then responded with a series of Twitter tweets, claiming that the US penalties may "destroy" ISS teamwork and cause the space station to tumble out of orbit.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;Did Russian cosmonauts wear Ukrainian flag’s colours at ISS? Idea gets refuted</strong></p>

<p>Around the same time, Rogozin announced that Russia would no longer manufacture or service Russian-made rocket engines used by two US&nbsp;aerospace NASA suppliers, suggesting that American astronauts may reach orbit using "broomsticks."</p>

<p>According to NASA, US and Russian ISS crew members are aware of happenings on Earth, but are working together professionally and without friction.</p>

<p>Three cosmonauts travelled to orbit on March 18 to replace the three returning ISS crew members, joining Vande Hei's three remaining American colleagues and a German astronaut from the European Space Agency.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


Despite heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine, a US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts left the International Space Station (ISS) together on Wednesday in a Soyuz capsule.

Despite heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine, a US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts left the International Space Station (ISS) together on Wednesday in a Soyuz capsule. To begin the journey back to Earth, the trio will close the hatch of the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft. The Soyuz will detach from the Rassvet module and land assisted by parachutes on Kazakhstan's steppes, southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, on March 30. Also read | Western sanctions could cause International space station to crash: Russia According to Russian space agency Roscosmos, the Russian Soyuz capsule carrying NASA's Mark Vande Hei and his cosmonaut colleagues Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov safely undocked from the International Space Station and is slated to make a parachute landing in central Kazakhstan at 1128 GMT. The joint US-Russian return flight from the International Space Station is being closely scrutinised for signs that the escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington over Russia's invasion of Ukraine have spilled over into long-standing space cooperation between the two. Watch | Russian cosmonauts arrive at the International space station for 6-month long mission According to NASA, Vande Hei, who is 55 years old and is on his second ISS mission, would have achieved a US space endurance record of 355 days in orbit, breaking the previous 340-day record set by astronaut Scott Kelly in 2016. On February 24, US President Joe Biden announced economic sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin's government, including high-tech export restrictions aimed at "degrading" Russia's aerospace industry, particularly its space programme. The director-general of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, then responded with a series of Twitter tweets, claiming that the US penalties may "destroy" ISS teamwork and cause the space station to tumble out of orbit. Also read | Did Russian cosmonauts wear Ukrainian flag’s colours at ISS? Idea gets refuted Around the same time, Rogozin announced that Russia would no longer manufacture or service Russian-made rocket engines used by two US aerospace NASA suppliers, suggesting that American astronauts may reach orbit using "broomsticks." According to NASA, US and Russian ISS crew members are aware of happenings on Earth, but are working together professionally and without friction. Three cosmonauts travelled to orbit on March 18 to replace the three returning ISS crew members, joining Vande Hei's three remaining American colleagues and a German astronaut from the European Space Agency. (With inputs from agencies)

Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, US and Russian astronauts return to Earth together

<p>The concept of the spacewalk is fascinating, to say the least. Yes, its less of a walk and more of 'space-floating'. The idea of being outside the protective spacecraft with almost nothing between you and the stars is surreal to imagine. There is an element of thrill as well. There have been enough movies showing the tether connecting the astronaut and the spacecraft snapping and the hapless bro (or sis) doing all they can to prevent being drifted into unending space.</p>

<p>Till now we had to rely on videos shot by space agencies of astronauts as they spacewalked. It's almost unimaginable to look up from Earth and see astronauts doing their thing.</p>

<p>But a fascinating new development has enabled us to take a 'human's-eye view' of the recently concluded spacewalk.</p>

<p>On March 23, NASA astronaut Raja Chari and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer conducted a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS). The spacewalk lasted for 7 hours during which the astronauts performed maintenance work at the ISS.</p>

<p>An astrophotographer has captured what he says is a "once in a lifetime" photo of this spacewalk. He was on Earth, and incidentally in Maurer's hometown in Germany.</p>

<p>"Yesterday I witnessed the #spacewalk shortly after sunset. Here comes a first photo. #ESA #astronaut Matthias Maurer was just 'climbing' at this moment. The rod-shaped structure (Canadarm2) is the robot arm. Greetings from Matthias Maurer's hometown — it was very exciting. #iss," Dr Sebastian Voltmer, the astrophotographer tweeted.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Yesterday I witnessed the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/spacewalk?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#spacewalk</a> shortly after sunset. Here comes a first photo. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ESA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ESA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/astronaut?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#astronaut</a> Matthias Maurer was just "climbing" at this moment.<br />
The rod-shaped structure (Canadarm2) is the robot arm.<br />
Greetings from Matthias Maurers hometown - it was very exciting. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/iss?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#iss</a> <a href="https://t.co/39Q7YlG64u">pic.twitter.com/39Q7YlG64u</a></p>
— Dr. Sebastian Voltmer (@SeVoSpace) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeVoSpace/status/1506912147737088002?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Voltmer used Celestron 11-inch EdgeHD telescope on a GM2000 HPS mount and an ASI290 planetary camera to get the shot, as per his e-mail to Space.com</p>

<p>Voltmer analysed the photo and in an updated, indicated the positions of both astronauts.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Update: 2 Spacewalkers Imaged From The Ground<br />
<br />
During the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/spacewalk?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#spacewalk</a> of the two astronauts <a href="https://twitter.com/Astro_Raja?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Astro_Raja</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/astro_matthias?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@astro_matthias</a> the International Space Station appeared shortly after sunset in the bright evening sky over Germany. This image of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ISS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ISS</a> was taken on March 23, 2022. <a href="https://t.co/xkKJtSoZFc">pic.twitter.com/xkKJtSoZFc</a></p>
— Dr. Sebastian Voltmer (@SeVoSpace) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeVoSpace/status/1508239974893768712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p>"It's probably the first ground-based picture showing two spacewalkers on the ISS at the same time." he told spaceweather.com</p>

<p>The photos certainly don't show both astronauts discernibly but to point you camera at the sky and clicking image of spacewalking astronauts with clarity of this degree is a feat indeed!<br />
&nbsp;</p>


The concept of the spacewalk is fascinating, to say the least. Yes, its less of a walk and more of 'space-floating'. The idea of being outside the protective spacecraft with almost nothing between you and the stars is surreal to imagine.

The concept of the spacewalk is fascinating, to say the least. Yes, its less of a walk and more of 'space-floating'. The idea of being outside the protective spacecraft with almost nothing between you and the stars is surreal to imagine. There is an element of thrill as well. There have been enough movies showing the tether connecting the astronaut and the spacecraft snapping and the hapless bro (or sis) doing all they can to prevent being drifted into unending space. Till now we had to rely on videos shot by space agencies of astronauts as they spacewalked. It's almost unimaginable to look up from Earth and see astronauts doing their thing. But a fascinating new development has enabled us to take a 'human's-eye view' of the recently concluded spacewalk. On March 23, NASA astronaut Raja Chari and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer conducted a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS). The spacewalk lasted for 7 hours during which the astronauts performed maintenance work at the ISS. An astrophotographer has captured what he says is a "once in a lifetime" photo of this spacewalk. He was on Earth, and incidentally in Maurer's hometown in Germany. "Yesterday I witnessed the #spacewalk shortly after sunset. Here comes a first photo. #ESA #astronaut Matthias Maurer was just 'climbing' at this moment. The rod-shaped structure (Canadarm2) is the robot arm. Greetings from Matthias Maurer's hometown — it was very exciting. #iss," Dr Sebastian Voltmer, the astrophotographer tweeted. Yesterday I witnessed the #spacewalk shortly after sunset. Here comes a first photo. #ESA #astronaut Matthias Maurer was just "climbing" at this moment. The rod-shaped structure (Canadarm2) is the robot arm. Greetings from Matthias Maurers hometown - it was very exciting. #iss pic.twitter.com/39Q7YlG64u — Dr. Sebastian Voltmer (@SeVoSpace) March 24, 2022 × Voltmer used Celestron 11-inch EdgeHD telescope on a GM2000 HPS mount and an ASI290 planetary camera to get the shot, as per his e-mail to Space.com Voltmer analysed the photo and in an updated, indicated the positions of both astronauts. Update: 2 Spacewalkers Imaged From The Ground During the #spacewalk of the two astronauts @Astro_Raja and @astro_matthias the International Space Station appeared shortly after sunset in the bright evening sky over Germany. This image of the #ISS was taken on March 23, 2022. pic.twitter.com/xkKJtSoZFc — Dr. Sebastian Voltmer (@SeVoSpace) March 28, 2022 × "It's probably the first ground-based picture showing two spacewalkers on the ISS at the same time." he told spaceweather.com The photos certainly don't show both astronauts discernibly but to point you camera at the sky and clicking image of spacewalking astronauts with clarity of this degree is a feat indeed!

Astrophotographer takes photo of spacewalking astronauts, from Earth

<p>NASA has confirmed that there are now more than 5,000 confirmed planets beyond our solar system.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"It's not just a number," said Jessie Christiansen, science lead for the archive and a research scientist with the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, in a statement.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"Each one of them is a new world, a brand-new planet. I get excited about everyone because we don't know anything about them."</p>

<p>It's a groundbreaking moment for the fairly young field of exoplanet science and experts estimate that there are likely billions of exoplanets waiting to be found.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasas-spitzer-space-telescope-spots-star-sized-debris-cloud-from-distant-collision-465743" hreflang="en">NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spots star-sized debris cloud from distant collision</a></strong></p>

<p>In the 30 years that have passed since two planets were found orbiting pulsar PSR1257+12, the field of exoplanet science has exploded. New missions, instruments, and detection techniques have proliferated, and with them the discoveries of all sorts of alien worlds.</p>

<p>The 5,000-plus planets found so far include small, rocky worlds like Earth, gas giants many times larger than Jupiter, and “hot Jupiters” in scorchingly close orbits around their stars.&nbsp;</p>

<p>There are “super-Earths,” which are possible rocky worlds bigger than our own, and “mini-Neptunes,” smaller versions of our system’s Neptune. Add to the mix planets orbiting two stars at once and planets stubbornly orbiting the collapsed remnants of dead stars.</p>

<p>Our galaxy likely holds hundreds of billions of such planets. The steady drumbeat of discovery began in 1992 with strange new worlds orbiting an even stranger star. It was a type of neutron star known as a pulsar, a rapidly spinning stellar corpse that pulses with millisecond bursts of searing radiation. Measuring slight changes in the timing of the pulses allowed scientists to reveal planets in orbit around the pulsar.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-esa-solar-orbiter-clicks-the-most-detailed-pictures-of-the-sun-take-a-look-465533" hreflang="en">NASA-ESA solar orbiter clicks the most detailed pictures of the Sun. Take a look!</a></strong></p>

<p>Finding just three planets around this spinning star essentially opened the floodgates, said Alexander Wolszczan, the lead author on the paper that, 30 years ago, unveiled the first planets to be confirmed outside our solar system.</p>

<p>“If you can find planets around a neutron star, planets have to be basically everywhere,” Wolszczan said. “The planet production process has to be very robust.”</p>

<p>Wolszczan, who still searches for exoplanets as a professor at Penn State, says we’re opening an era of discovery that will go beyond simply adding new planets to the list.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/new-solar-physics-mysterious-vortex-waves-discovered-on-the-sun-travelling-faster-than-expected-465470" hreflang="en">New solar physics? Mysterious vortex waves discovered on the Sun travelling faster than expected</a></strong></p>

<p>The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), launched in 2018, continues to make new exoplanet discoveries. But soon powerful next-generation telescopes and their highly sensitive instruments, starting with the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope, will capture light from the atmospheres of exoplanets, reading which gases are present to potentially identify tell-tale signs of habitable conditions.</p>

<p>The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, expected to launch in 2027, will make new exoplanet discoveries using a variety of methods. The ESA (European Space Agency) mission ARIEL, launching in 2029, will observe exoplanet atmospheres; a piece of NASA technology aboard, called CASE, will help zero in on exoplanet clouds and hazes.</p>

<p>“To my thinking, it is inevitable that we’ll find some kind of life somewhere – most likely of some primitive kind,” Wolszczan said. The close connection between the chemistry of life on Earth and chemistry found throughout the universe, as well as the detection of widespread organic molecules, suggests detection of life itself is only a matter of time, he added.</p>

<p data-changed="false" data-paragraphid="80"><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


NASA has confirmed that there are now more than 5,000 confirmed planets beyond our solar system. "It's not just a number," said Jessie Christiansen, science lead for the archive and a research scientist with the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, in a statement.

NASA has confirmed that there are now more than 5,000 confirmed planets beyond our solar system. "It's not just a number," said Jessie Christiansen, science lead for the archive and a research scientist with the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, in a statement. "Each one of them is a new world, a brand-new planet. I get excited about everyone because we don't know anything about them." It's a groundbreaking moment for the fairly young field of exoplanet science and experts estimate that there are likely billions of exoplanets waiting to be found. Also read | NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spots star-sized debris cloud from distant collision In the 30 years that have passed since two planets were found orbiting pulsar PSR1257+12, the field of exoplanet science has exploded. New missions, instruments, and detection techniques have proliferated, and with them the discoveries of all sorts of alien worlds. The 5,000-plus planets found so far include small, rocky worlds like Earth, gas giants many times larger than Jupiter, and “hot Jupiters” in scorchingly close orbits around their stars. There are “super-Earths,” which are possible rocky worlds bigger than our own, and “mini-Neptunes,” smaller versions of our system’s Neptune. Add to the mix planets orbiting two stars at once and planets stubbornly orbiting the collapsed remnants of dead stars. Our galaxy likely holds hundreds of billions of such planets. The steady drumbeat of discovery began in 1992 with strange new worlds orbiting an even stranger star. It was a type of neutron star known as a pulsar, a rapidly spinning stellar corpse that pulses with millisecond bursts of searing radiation. Measuring slight changes in the timing of the pulses allowed scientists to reveal planets in orbit around the pulsar. Also read | NASA-ESA solar orbiter clicks the most detailed pictures of the Sun. Take a look! Finding just three planets around this spinning star essentially opened the floodgates, said Alexander Wolszczan, the lead author on the paper that, 30 years ago, unveiled the first planets to be confirmed outside our solar system. “If you can find planets around a neutron star, planets have to be basically everywhere,” Wolszczan said. “The planet production process has to be very robust.” Wolszczan, who still searches for exoplanets as a professor at Penn State, says we’re opening an era of discovery that will go beyond simply adding new planets to the list. Also read | New solar physics? Mysterious vortex waves discovered on the Sun travelling faster than expected The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), launched in 2018, continues to make new exoplanet discoveries. But soon powerful next-generation telescopes and their highly sensitive instruments, starting with the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope, will capture light from the atmospheres of exoplanets, reading which gases are present to potentially identify tell-tale signs of habitable conditions. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, expected to launch in 2027, will make new exoplanet discoveries using a variety of methods. The ESA (European Space Agency) mission ARIEL, launching in 2029, will observe exoplanet atmospheres; a piece of NASA technology aboard, called CASE, will help zero in on exoplanet clouds and hazes. “To my thinking, it is inevitable that we’ll find some kind of life somewhere – most likely of some primitive kind,” Wolszczan said. The close connection between the chemistry of life on Earth and chemistry found throughout the universe, as well as the detection of widespread organic molecules, suggests detection of life itself is only a matter of time, he added. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA confirms existence of more than 5,000 planets beyond our solar system

<p>NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted a star-sized debris cloud from a distant collision.</p>

<p>The research, published in The Astrophysical Journal, discusses in detail the major smashups between rocky bodies that shaped our solar system.</p>

<p>In the study, a group of astronomers led by Kate Su, a research professor in the University of Arizona Steward Observatory, report the first observations of a debris cloud from one of these collisions as it passed in front of its star and briefly blocked the starlight. They call this a transit.</p>

<p>Coupled with knowledge about the size and brightness of the star, this allowed researchers to directly determine the size of the cloud shortly after impact, estimate the size of the objects that collided, and watch the speed with which the cloud dispersed.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/new-solar-physics-mysterious-vortex-waves-discovered-on-the-sun-travelling-faster-than-expected-465470" hreflang="en">New solar physics? Mysterious vortex waves discovered on the Sun travelling faster than expected</a></strong></p>

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo">Beginning in 2015, Su's team started making routine observations of a 10-million-year-old star called HD 166191. Around this time in a star's life, dust leftover from its formation has clumped together to form rocky bodies called planetesimals.&nbsp;</div>

<p>Asteroids are leftover planetesimals from the formation of our own solar system, and around other stars they are the seeds of future planets. Once the gas that previously filled the space between those objects has dispersed, catastrophic collisions between them become common.</p>

<p>Anticipating they might see evidence of one of these collisions around HD 166191, the team conducted more than 100 observations of the system with Spitzer. While the objects would be too small and distant to resolve by telescope, their smashups produce large amounts of dust.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Spitzer detected infrared light, wavelengths slightly longer than what human eyes can see; it’s an ideal range for detecting dust, including the debris created by protoplanet collisions.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-is-collecting-names-to-send-into-space-aboard-orion-capsule-to-the-moon-461661" hreflang="en">NASA is collecting names to send into space aboard Orion capsule to the Moon</a></strong></p>

<p>"For the first time we captured both the infrared glow of the dust and the haziness that dust introduces when the cloud passes in front of the star," said astronomer Everett Schlawin of the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory.</p>

<p>Multi-wavelength transit data confirm that the transits were caused by a dust cloud passing in front of the star and evolving at a fast pace – as it grew wider and more opaque during the first two transits but showed very little hint of the cloud afterward.&nbsp;</p>

<p>These data allowed the team to determine the location, shape and size of the debris cloud. The team's work suggests the cloud was highly elongated, with a minimum estimated area of three times that of the star.&nbsp;</p>

<p>However, the amount of infrared brightening Spitzer saw suggests only a small portion of the cloud passed in front of the star and that the total amount of debris created by this violent event covered an area hundreds of times that of the star.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-is-cracking-open-a-50-year-old-vacuum-sealed-tube-of-lunar-gas-and-soil-461921" hreflang="en">NASA is cracking open a 50-year-old vacuum-sealed tube of lunar gas and soil</a></strong></p>

<p>"There is no substitute for being an eyewitness to an event," said George Rieke, study co-author and a Regents Professor of Astronomy at University of Arizona.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"All the cases reported to date from Spitzer have been unresolved, with only theoretical hypotheses about what the actual event and debris cloud might have looked like."</p>

<p>"By looking at dusty debris disks around young stars, we can essentially look back in time and see the processes that may have shaped our own Solar System," Su said.</p>

<p>"Learning about the outcome of collisions in these systems, we may also get a better idea of how frequently rocky planets form around other stars."</p>

<p>The team is continuing to keep an eye on the star with other NASA infrared facilities including the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy and the Infrared Telescope Facility. Such observations not only keep a record of overall infrared flux evolution, but also provide additional information on the dust composition of the freshly generated fine dust with spectroscopy.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Particularly, future observations with the Mid-InfraRed Instrument onboard NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will provide further insights into the physical condition of these large collisions by studying the dust mineralogy.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;</em></p>


NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted a star-sized debris cloud from a distant collision. The research, published in The Astrophysical Journal, discusses in detail the major smashups between rocky bodies that shaped our solar system.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted a star-sized debris cloud from a distant collision. The research, published in The Astrophysical Journal, discusses in detail the major smashups between rocky bodies that shaped our solar system. In the study, a group of astronomers led by Kate Su, a research professor in the University of Arizona Steward Observatory, report the first observations of a debris cloud from one of these collisions as it passed in front of its star and briefly blocked the starlight. They call this a transit. Coupled with knowledge about the size and brightness of the star, this allowed researchers to directly determine the size of the cloud shortly after impact, estimate the size of the objects that collided, and watch the speed with which the cloud dispersed. Also read | New solar physics? Mysterious vortex waves discovered on the Sun travelling faster than expected Beginning in 2015, Su's team started making routine observations of a 10-million-year-old star called HD 166191. Around this time in a star's life, dust leftover from its formation has clumped together to form rocky bodies called planetesimals. Asteroids are leftover planetesimals from the formation of our own solar system, and around other stars they are the seeds of future planets. Once the gas that previously filled the space between those objects has dispersed, catastrophic collisions between them become common. Anticipating they might see evidence of one of these collisions around HD 166191, the team conducted more than 100 observations of the system with Spitzer. While the objects would be too small and distant to resolve by telescope, their smashups produce large amounts of dust. Spitzer detected infrared light, wavelengths slightly longer than what human eyes can see; it’s an ideal range for detecting dust, including the debris created by protoplanet collisions. Also read | NASA is collecting names to send into space aboard Orion capsule to the Moon "For the first time we captured both the infrared glow of the dust and the haziness that dust introduces when the cloud passes in front of the star," said astronomer Everett Schlawin of the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory. Multi-wavelength transit data confirm that the transits were caused by a dust cloud passing in front of the star and evolving at a fast pace – as it grew wider and more opaque during the first two transits but showed very little hint of the cloud afterward. These data allowed the team to determine the location, shape and size of the debris cloud. The team's work suggests the cloud was highly elongated, with a minimum estimated area of three times that of the star. However, the amount of infrared brightening Spitzer saw suggests only a small portion of the cloud passed in front of the star and that the total amount of debris created by this violent event covered an area hundreds of times that of the star. Also read | NASA is cracking open a 50-year-old vacuum-sealed tube of lunar gas and soil "There is no substitute for being an eyewitness to an event," said George Rieke, study co-author and a Regents Professor of Astronomy at University of Arizona. "All the cases reported to date from Spitzer have been unresolved, with only theoretical hypotheses about what the actual event and debris cloud might have looked like." "By looking at dusty debris disks around young stars, we can essentially look back in time and see the processes that may have shaped our own Solar System," Su said. "Learning about the outcome of collisions in these systems, we may also get a better idea of how frequently rocky planets form around other stars." The team is continuing to keep an eye on the star with other NASA infrared facilities including the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy and the Infrared Telescope Facility. Such observations not only keep a record of overall infrared flux evolution, but also provide additional information on the dust composition of the freshly generated fine dust with spectroscopy. Particularly, future observations with the Mid-InfraRed Instrument onboard NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will provide further insights into the physical condition of these large collisions by studying the dust mineralogy. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spots star-sized debris cloud from distant collision

<p>The European Space Agency's (ESA) and NASA's Solar Orbiter have captured images of the Sun in unprecedented detail.</p>

<p>Spacecraft took the images on March 7, as it passed directly between the Earth and Sun at a distance of 75 million kilometres, on the halfway point between the Earth and its parent star, according to an ESA statement.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/new-solar-physics-mysterious-vortex-waves-discovered-on-the-sun-travelling-faster-than-expected-465470" hreflang="en">New solar physics? Mysterious vortex waves discovered on the Sun travelling faster than expected</a></strong></p>

<p>Among the images, taken by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), is the highest resolution image ever taken of the Sun's full disc and outer atmosphere, the corona.</p>

<p>The Spectral Imaging of Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument captured the first image of a full Sun -- the first of its kind in more than 50 years. Lyman-beta wavelength ultraviolet radiation emitted by hydrogen gas was used to capture the image.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-confirms-a-celestial-milestone-5000-exoplanets-confirmed-so-far-464644" hreflang="en">NASA confirms a 'celestial milestone', 5000 exoplanets confirmed so far</a></strong></p>

<p>To capture the entirety of the Sun with the high-resolution telescope at EUI, a mosaic of 25 individual pictures would need to be taken at that close distance. Since each tile takes about 10 minutes, including the time required for the spacecraft to move from one segment to the next, the full image was acquired over a period of more than four hours.</p>

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<p>EUI imaged the Sun at a wavelength of 17 nanometers, in the extreme ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The ESA said this reveals the Sun's upper atmosphere, the corona, which reaches a temperature of around a million degrees Celsius.</p>

<p><strong>Watch |&nbsp;A new frontier in space exploration</strong></p>

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<p>In the SPICE images, purple represents hydrogen gas at 10,000 degrees Celsius, blue represents carbon at 32,000 degrees Celsius, green represents oxygen at 320,000 degrees Celsius, and yellow represents neon at 630,000 degrees Celsius.</p>

<p><img alt="Sun" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="7d80413f-b429-44d8-9530-2e3b22468bcb" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/stories%20%2817%29_2.jpg" /></p>

<p><em><sup>Image&nbsp;Credit: ESA &amp; NASA/Solar Orbiter</sup></em></p>

<p>Using this, solar physicists will be able to track the eruptions that take place in the corona down into the lower atmospheric layers. Researchers will also be able to study one of the most puzzling observations about the Sun: how the temperature rises through ascending atmospheric layers.</p>

<p>Another milestone will be achieved by Solar Orbiter on March 26: its first close approach to perihelion. The spacecraft is now inside Mercury's orbit, where it is taking images of the Sun with the highest resolution possible. Furthermore, it is monitoring solar wind particles that flow outwards from the Sun.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


The European Space Agency's (ESA) and NASA's Solar Orbiter have captured images of the Sun in unprecedented detail. Spacecraft took the images on March 7, as it passed directly between the Earth and Sun at a distance of 75 million kilometres, on the halfway point between the Earth and its parent star, according to an ESA statement.

The European Space Agency's (ESA) and NASA's Solar Orbiter have captured images of the Sun in unprecedented detail. Spacecraft took the images on March 7, as it passed directly between the Earth and Sun at a distance of 75 million kilometres, on the halfway point between the Earth and its parent star, according to an ESA statement. Also read | New solar physics? Mysterious vortex waves discovered on the Sun travelling faster than expected Among the images, taken by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), is the highest resolution image ever taken of the Sun's full disc and outer atmosphere, the corona. The Spectral Imaging of Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument captured the first image of a full Sun -- the first of its kind in more than 50 years. Lyman-beta wavelength ultraviolet radiation emitted by hydrogen gas was used to capture the image. Also read | NASA confirms a 'celestial milestone', 5000 exoplanets confirmed so far To capture the entirety of the Sun with the high-resolution telescope at EUI, a mosaic of 25 individual pictures would need to be taken at that close distance. Since each tile takes about 10 minutes, including the time required for the spacecraft to move from one segment to the next, the full image was acquired over a period of more than four hours. View this post on Instagram A post shared by ESA - European Space Agency (@europeanspaceagency) × EUI imaged the Sun at a wavelength of 17 nanometers, in the extreme ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The ESA said this reveals the Sun's upper atmosphere, the corona, which reaches a temperature of around a million degrees Celsius. Watch | A new frontier in space exploration In the SPICE images, purple represents hydrogen gas at 10,000 degrees Celsius, blue represents carbon at 32,000 degrees Celsius, green represents oxygen at 320,000 degrees Celsius, and yellow represents neon at 630,000 degrees Celsius. Image Credit: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter Using this, solar physicists will be able to track the eruptions that take place in the corona down into the lower atmospheric layers. Researchers will also be able to study one of the most puzzling observations about the Sun: how the temperature rises through ascending atmospheric layers. Another milestone will be achieved by Solar Orbiter on March 26: its first close approach to perihelion. The spacecraft is now inside Mercury's orbit, where it is taking images of the Sun with the highest resolution possible. Furthermore, it is monitoring solar wind particles that flow outwards from the Sun. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA-ESA solar orbiter clicks the most detailed pictures of the Sun. Take a look!

<p>Mars is a busy place these days. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Chinese space agency both have heavy scientific activity going on and around the red planet. Though both agencies are carrying out their scientific observations independently, both expeditions often 'cross paths', so to speak.</p>

<p>China's Tianwen-1 lander and Zhurong rover touched down on Mars on March 14 last year. While NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is revolving around Mars and is making scientific observations.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Last week, the MRO clicked pics of China's Zhurong rover. What's interesting about these pics is that it clearly shows Zhurong's 'footprints' on the red planet. The tracks made by Zhurong's wheels are clearly visible in these pics. What's more? These tracks can be traced back to the lander.</p>

<p>In other words, Zhurong's entire journey on Mars is visible in these pics. These photos have been taken by the MRO using the onboard HiRise camera. NASA has also tweeted these pics. In order to see the tracks, it is necessary to zoom in on them in the pictures.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">In case you missed the other parts of today’s HiPOD observation (linked in the text). <a href="https://t.co/ZhuZxxmBGM">pic.twitter.com/ZhuZxxmBGM</a></p>
— HiRISE: Beautiful Mars (NASA) (@HiRISE) <a href="https://twitter.com/HiRISE/status/1504913260755095553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p>MRO is orbiting about 316 kilometers above the surface of Mars. At this height, it is able to take pictures in which objects just a foot away can be observed distinctly. This ability makes the MRO capable of spotting rovers on the Martian surface.</p>

<p>The HiRise camera has already spotted NASA's Opportunity, Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.</p>


Mars is a busy place these days. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Chinese space agency both have heavy scientific activity going on and around the red planet.

Mars is a busy place these days. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Chinese space agency both have heavy scientific activity going on and around the red planet. Though both agencies are carrying out their scientific observations independently, both expeditions often 'cross paths', so to speak. China's Tianwen-1 lander and Zhurong rover touched down on Mars on March 14 last year. While NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is revolving around Mars and is making scientific observations. Last week, the MRO clicked pics of China's Zhurong rover. What's interesting about these pics is that it clearly shows Zhurong's 'footprints' on the red planet. The tracks made by Zhurong's wheels are clearly visible in these pics. What's more? These tracks can be traced back to the lander. In other words, Zhurong's entire journey on Mars is visible in these pics. These photos have been taken by the MRO using the onboard HiRise camera. NASA has also tweeted these pics. In order to see the tracks, it is necessary to zoom in on them in the pictures. In case you missed the other parts of today’s HiPOD observation (linked in the text). pic.twitter.com/ZhuZxxmBGM — HiRISE: Beautiful Mars (NASA) (@HiRISE) March 18, 2022 × MRO is orbiting about 316 kilometers above the surface of Mars. At this height, it is able to take pictures in which objects just a foot away can be observed distinctly. This ability makes the MRO capable of spotting rovers on the Martian surface. The HiRise camera has already spotted NASA's Opportunity, Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.

NASA's Mars orbiter clicks photos of China's Zhurong rover

<p>A 'potentially hazardous'&nbsp;asteroid is on its way to come near Earth. The asteroid isn't exactly small. It is comparable to Empire State Building. If this asteroid hits the Earth, it packs more than enough punch to cause widespread destruction.</p>

<p>Asteroid 2013 BO76, as it has been named is 450 metres (Nearly a half kilometre) across. The size may seem small but the high speed with which it is travelling gives it enough potential to cause major damage on Earth if it hits. The asteroid is flying at a staggering speed of 49513.45 kilometres per hour.&nbsp;</p>

<p>NASA has categorised the asteroid to be 'potentially hazardous'. It is then perhaps a good thing that it will fly past Earth at a distance of 51,11,759 kilometres. It will zoom past Earth on Thursday (March 24).</p>

<p>This is not the first time this asteroid has come into our neighbourhood to say Hi.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In 2013, it zoomed past the Earth at a distance of 78,88,295 kilometres. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has said that after Thursday's flyby, the same asteroid will visit Earth on July 14, 2033. At that time, it is expected to be at a distance of 1,91,85,926 kilometres from the Earth.</p>

<p>NASA's JPL has also orbital parameters of the asteroid along with its orbital diagram around Earth.</p>

<p><img alt="NASA asteroid" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="56a74fd6-049b-44f3-828d-40b0bcb93980" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/asteroid.png" /></p>

<p>The intersecting orbits of the planets and the asteroid can clearly be seen in the picture above. Earth's orbit is visible in light blue colour while that of the asteroid has been depicted in white.</p>


A 'potentially hazardous' asteroid is on its way to come near Earth. The asteroid isn't exactly small. It is comparable to Empire State Building. If this asteroid hits the Earth, it packs more than enough punch to cause widespread destruction.

A 'potentially hazardous' asteroid is on its way to come near Earth. The asteroid isn't exactly small. It is comparable to Empire State Building. If this asteroid hits the Earth, it packs more than enough punch to cause widespread destruction. Asteroid 2013 BO76, as it has been named is 450 metres (Nearly a half kilometre) across. The size may seem small but the high speed with which it is travelling gives it enough potential to cause major damage on Earth if it hits. The asteroid is flying at a staggering speed of 49513.45 kilometres per hour. NASA has categorised the asteroid to be 'potentially hazardous'. It is then perhaps a good thing that it will fly past Earth at a distance of 51,11,759 kilometres. It will zoom past Earth on Thursday (March 24). This is not the first time this asteroid has come into our neighbourhood to say Hi. In 2013, it zoomed past the Earth at a distance of 78,88,295 kilometres. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has said that after Thursday's flyby, the same asteroid will visit Earth on July 14, 2033. At that time, it is expected to be at a distance of 1,91,85,926 kilometres from the Earth. NASA's JPL has also orbital parameters of the asteroid along with its orbital diagram around Earth. The intersecting orbits of the planets and the asteroid can clearly be seen in the picture above. Earth's orbit is visible in light blue colour while that of the asteroid has been depicted in white.

A 'potentially hazardous' asteroid is coming near Earth on Thursday: NASA

<p>We, on Earth, are saved by the planet's magnetosphere and atmosphere from the sun's harmful radiation and galactic cosmic rays which are coming from the exploding stars.&nbsp;</p>

<p>But what about the astronauts, who are at International Space Station (ISS)?&nbsp;</p>

<p>Astronauts in ISS are exposed to higher levels of ionizing radiation which increases the risk of developing cancer throughout their careers. They are protected by the magnetosphere but not the atmosphere.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As per the limit set by NASA, astronauts' radiation exposure limit is not to exceed 3 per cent of the risk of exposure-induced death (REID) from fatal cancer over their career.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/a-galaxy-with-split-personality-heres-what-we-mean-by-this-464411">NASA's Juno spacecraft snaps stunning images of Jupiter's moons Io and Europa</a></strong></p>

<p>Live Science reported that risk is evaluated with a sliding scale based on age and sex, ranging from a lower career limit of 180 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation for a 30-year-old woman to an upper career limit of 700 mSv for a 60-year-old man.&nbsp;</p>

<p>It is NASA's policy to ensure a 95 per cent confidence level (CL) that this limit is not exceeded. Important to note that these limits are applicable to all missions in low Earth orbit (LEO) as well as lunar missions that are less than 180 days in duration.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Meanwhile, there is a lower career limit for radiation exposure for female astronauts than for male astronauts. Live Science reported quoting R. Julian Preston, who is a special government employee with the US Environmental Protection Agency's Radiation Protection division, that NASA's lower radiation threshold for female astronauts was based on scientific findings.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/a-galaxy-with-split-personality-heres-what-we-mean-by-this-464411">A galaxy with split personality? Here's what we mean by this</a></strong></p>

<p>As per the report, women had more than twice the risk than men of developing lung cancer when both were exposed to high levels of radiation for similar periods.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Preston told Live Science that "it has been generally considered — based largely on the survivors from the atomic bombs in Japan — that, particularly for lung cancer, that women were more sensitive" to ionizing radiation than men were.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The limit has impacted careers also as for instance, former chief of NASA's astronaut corps Peggy Whitson had to retire in 2018 after she hit her career limit on radiation exposure at age 57. She had raised her voice over the radiation limits for female astronauts.&nbsp;</p>


We, on Earth, are saved by the planet's magnetosphere and atmosphere from the sun's harmful radiation and galactic cosmic rays which are coming from the exploding stars.

We, on Earth, are saved by the planet's magnetosphere and atmosphere from the sun's harmful radiation and galactic cosmic rays which are coming from the exploding stars. But what about the astronauts, who are at International Space Station (ISS)? Astronauts in ISS are exposed to higher levels of ionizing radiation which increases the risk of developing cancer throughout their careers. They are protected by the magnetosphere but not the atmosphere. As per the limit set by NASA, astronauts' radiation exposure limit is not to exceed 3 per cent of the risk of exposure-induced death (REID) from fatal cancer over their career. ALSO READ | NASA's Juno spacecraft snaps stunning images of Jupiter's moons Io and Europa Live Science reported that risk is evaluated with a sliding scale based on age and sex, ranging from a lower career limit of 180 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation for a 30-year-old woman to an upper career limit of 700 mSv for a 60-year-old man. It is NASA's policy to ensure a 95 per cent confidence level (CL) that this limit is not exceeded. Important to note that these limits are applicable to all missions in low Earth orbit (LEO) as well as lunar missions that are less than 180 days in duration. Meanwhile, there is a lower career limit for radiation exposure for female astronauts than for male astronauts. Live Science reported quoting R. Julian Preston, who is a special government employee with the US Environmental Protection Agency's Radiation Protection division, that NASA's lower radiation threshold for female astronauts was based on scientific findings. ALSO READ | A galaxy with split personality? Here's what we mean by this As per the report, women had more than twice the risk than men of developing lung cancer when both were exposed to high levels of radiation for similar periods. Preston told Live Science that "it has been generally considered — based largely on the survivors from the atomic bombs in Japan — that, particularly for lung cancer, that women were more sensitive" to ionizing radiation than men were. The limit has impacted careers also as for instance, former chief of NASA's astronaut corps Peggy Whitson had to retire in 2018 after she hit her career limit on radiation exposure at age 57. She had raised her voice over the radiation limits for female astronauts.

Male astronauts stay in space longer than females. Here's why

<p>The number of confirmed exoplanets just surpassed 5,000, marking the culmination of a 30-year journey. In a milestone celebration, NASA announced that its space telescopes helped confirm thousands of new exoplanets.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In the not-so-distant past, there were only a few known planets. However, a flurry of recent discoveries has marked a scientific high point: more than 5,000 planets are now confirmed to exist beyond our solar system.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/what-slows-down-star-formation-in-a-galaxy-this-is-the-answer-464620" hreflang="en">What slows down star-formation in a galaxy? This is the answer</a></strong></p>

<p>In March, the NASA Exoplanet Archive added 65 new exoplanets - <em>planets outside our solar system</em> - to the planetary odometer. The archive contains exoplanet discoveries that appeared in peer-reviewed scientific papers and have been confirmed through multiple detection methods or analytical methods.</p>

<p>Planets found to date range from small, rocky worlds like Earth to gas giants much larger than Jupiter and “hot Jupiters” that orbit in scorchingly close orbits around their stars. Additionally, there are "super-Earths," giant rocky worlds that might be larger than our own. As well as "mini-Neptunes" which are smaller versions of our solar system's Neptune.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Exoplanets" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="84fef865-f32c-4d6a-8661-1a548e7fea27" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Untitled%20design_181.jpg" /></p>

<p><em><sup>(Illustration Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech)</sup></em></p>

<p>As far as we know, our galaxy likely contains hundreds of billions of such planets.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/a-galaxy-with-split-personality-heres-what-we-mean-by-this-464411" hreflang="en">A galaxy with split personality? Here's what we mean by this</a></strong></p>

<p>Jessie Christiansen, science lead for the archive and a research scientist at Caltech's NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, explained that it is more than just a number.</p>

<p>“Each one of them is a new world, a brand-new planet. I get excited about every one because we don’t know anything about them.”</p>

<p>Alexander Wolszczan, a professor at Penn State who searches for exoplanets, believes we are entering a period of discovery that will go beyond simply adding new planets to the list.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Watch |&nbsp;A new frontier in space exploration</strong></p>

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/a-new-frontier-in-space-exploration-439824/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

<p>“To my thinking, it is inevitable that we’ll find some kind of life somewhere – most likely of some primitive kind,” Wolszczan said.</p>

<p>He pointed out the close relationship between the chemistry of life on Earth and chemistry found in the universe, together with widespread organic molecules, makes the discovery of the existence of life elsewhere only a matter of time.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


The number of confirmed exoplanets just surpassed 5,000, marking the culmination of a 30-year journey. In a milestone celebration, NASA announced that its space telescopes helped confirm thousands of new exoplanets.

The number of confirmed exoplanets just surpassed 5,000, marking the culmination of a 30-year journey. In a milestone celebration, NASA announced that its space telescopes helped confirm thousands of new exoplanets. In the not-so-distant past, there were only a few known planets. However, a flurry of recent discoveries has marked a scientific high point: more than 5,000 planets are now confirmed to exist beyond our solar system. Also read | What slows down star-formation in a galaxy? This is the answer In March, the NASA Exoplanet Archive added 65 new exoplanets - planets outside our solar system - to the planetary odometer. The archive contains exoplanet discoveries that appeared in peer-reviewed scientific papers and have been confirmed through multiple detection methods or analytical methods. Planets found to date range from small, rocky worlds like Earth to gas giants much larger than Jupiter and “hot Jupiters” that orbit in scorchingly close orbits around their stars. Additionally, there are "super-Earths," giant rocky worlds that might be larger than our own. As well as "mini-Neptunes" which are smaller versions of our solar system's Neptune. (Illustration Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech) As far as we know, our galaxy likely contains hundreds of billions of such planets. Also read | A galaxy with split personality? Here's what we mean by this Jessie Christiansen, science lead for the archive and a research scientist at Caltech's NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, explained that it is more than just a number. “Each one of them is a new world, a brand-new planet. I get excited about every one because we don’t know anything about them.” Alexander Wolszczan, a professor at Penn State who searches for exoplanets, believes we are entering a period of discovery that will go beyond simply adding new planets to the list. Watch | A new frontier in space exploration “To my thinking, it is inevitable that we’ll find some kind of life somewhere – most likely of some primitive kind,” Wolszczan said. He pointed out the close relationship between the chemistry of life on Earth and chemistry found in the universe, together with widespread organic molecules, makes the discovery of the existence of life elsewhere only a matter of time. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA confirms a 'celestial milestone', 5000 exoplanets confirmed so far

<p>The US-based space agency NASA has shared new images of Jupiter's moons Io and Europa which are beamed back by Juno spacecraft.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The space agency informed that the stunning view of Jupiter's southern hemisphere was captured during Juno mission's 39th close flyby of the planet on January 12, 2022.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The intriguing images of moons Io (left) and Europa (right) can be seen clearly after zooming in on the right portion of the image. The image looks like two more worlds have been revealed in the same frame.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>As informed by NASA, the image was taken when Juno spacecraft was about 61,000 kilometres from Jupiter's cloud tops, at a latitude of about 52 degrees south.&nbsp;</p>

<p>NASA said that the breathtaking image has been created by citizen scientist Andrea Luck using raw data from the JunoCam instrument.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Io is the solar system's most volcanic body, while Europa's icy surface hides a global ocean of liquid water beneath. NASA said that Juno will have an opportunity to capture much more detailed observations of Europa, using several scientific instruments, in September 2022.&nbsp;</p>

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<p><img alt="NASA" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c0f17689-38a4-48e0-89f2-886dc6599eed" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Nasa%20%2811%29.jpg" /></p>

<p><em>Image credit: NASA</em></p>

<p>At this time, the spacecraft makes the closest fly-by of the enigmatic moon in decades. The mission will also make close approaches to Io in late 2023 and early 2024.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The mission is currently expected to end in September 2025. The Juno mission will also make close approaches to Io in late 2023 and early 2024, according to the NASA statement.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Juno spacecraft, which entered Jupiter's orbit in 2016, made the last closest flyby to Jupiter's largest Moon Ganymede on June 7.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The flyby was the closest-known since NASA's Galileo spacecraft made its penultimate close approach back on May 20, 2000.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Besides Juno, the future missions to the Jovian system include NASA's Europa Clipper slated for a launch in October 2024 and expected to arrive in April 2030 and European Space Agency's JUpiter ICy moons Explorer [JUICE] mission.&nbsp;</p>

<p>JUICE is planned for launch in 2022 and arrival at Jupiter in 2029.&nbsp;</p>


The US-based space agency NASA has shared new images of Jupiter's moons Io and Europa which are beamed back by Juno spacecraft. The space agency informed that the stunning view of Jupiter's southern hemisphere was captured during Juno mission's 39th close flyby of the planet on January 12, 2022.

The US-based space agency NASA has shared new images of Jupiter's moons Io and Europa which are beamed back by Juno spacecraft. The space agency informed that the stunning view of Jupiter's southern hemisphere was captured during Juno mission's 39th close flyby of the planet on January 12, 2022. The intriguing images of moons Io (left) and Europa (right) can be seen clearly after zooming in on the right portion of the image. The image looks like two more worlds have been revealed in the same frame. ALSO READ | Lucky for now? Fridge-sized asteroid gets spotted just two hours before hitting Earth, says NASA As informed by NASA, the image was taken when Juno spacecraft was about 61,000 kilometres from Jupiter's cloud tops, at a latitude of about 52 degrees south. NASA said that the breathtaking image has been created by citizen scientist Andrea Luck using raw data from the JunoCam instrument. Io is the solar system's most volcanic body, while Europa's icy surface hides a global ocean of liquid water beneath. NASA said that Juno will have an opportunity to capture much more detailed observations of Europa, using several scientific instruments, in September 2022. ALSO READ | ‘Unprecedented’ heatwaves recorded at Earth’s poles, scientists warn of climate calamity Image credit: NASA At this time, the spacecraft makes the closest fly-by of the enigmatic moon in decades. The mission will also make close approaches to Io in late 2023 and early 2024. The mission is currently expected to end in September 2025. The Juno mission will also make close approaches to Io in late 2023 and early 2024, according to the NASA statement. Juno spacecraft, which entered Jupiter's orbit in 2016, made the last closest flyby to Jupiter's largest Moon Ganymede on June 7. The flyby was the closest-known since NASA's Galileo spacecraft made its penultimate close approach back on May 20, 2000. Besides Juno, the future missions to the Jovian system include NASA's Europa Clipper slated for a launch in October 2024 and expected to arrive in April 2030 and European Space Agency's JUpiter ICy moons Explorer [JUICE] mission. JUICE is planned for launch in 2022 and arrival at Jupiter in 2029.

NASA's Juno spacecraft snaps stunning images of Jupiter's moons Io and Europa

<p>Although late detection of asteroids can prove suicidal for Earth, it seems to have been lucky this time. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Well, we are not kidding. Recently, an asteroid, which was around the size of a refrigerator, struck Earth's atmosphere just hours after getting spotted, said NASA. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>This has happened for the fifth time that an asteroid was able to get detected right before it hit the planet. &nbsp;</p>

<p>As it was too small, it wasn't dangerous, but we may not be lucky all the time. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Astronomer Krisztian Sarneczky spotted an asteroid at the Piszkéstető Observatory in Hungary on March 11. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center was informed by Sarneczky, which also confirmed it. &nbsp;</p>

<p>In a statement, NASA said that luckily for Earth, the asteroid, which was named 2022 EB5, was around 6½-feet-long, a size "too small to pose a hazard to Earth." &nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/recycled-plastic-bottles-pass-more-harmful-chemicals-into-contents-than-new-ones-warn-researchers-463736" hreflang="en">Recycled plastic bottles pass more harmful chemicals into contents than new ones, warn researchers</a></strong></p>

<p>NASA's "Scout" system, which keeps an eye for any potential impacts by asteroids, calculated the orbit of the rock and confirmed that it would certainly hit the planet. It also notified the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and other asteroid impact systems. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>It also determined that the rock would enter atmosphere of Earth around Jan Mayen, a Norwegian island, which is roughly 300 miles northeast of Iceland. At 5:23 pm EDT, the asteroid hit Earth as "Scout" predicted. &nbsp;</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;</em></p>


Although late detection of asteroids can prove suicidal for Earth, it seems to have been lucky this time. Well, we are not kidding. Recently, an asteroid, which was around the size of a refrigerator, struck Earth's atmosphere just hours after getting spotted, said NASA.

Although late detection of asteroids can prove suicidal for Earth, it seems to have been lucky this time. Well, we are not kidding. Recently, an asteroid, which was around the size of a refrigerator, struck Earth's atmosphere just hours after getting spotted, said NASA. This has happened for the fifth time that an asteroid was able to get detected right before it hit the planet. As it was too small, it wasn't dangerous, but we may not be lucky all the time. Also Read: Chinese researchers claim to develop satellite-killing weapon Astronomer Krisztian Sarneczky spotted an asteroid at the Piszkéstető Observatory in Hungary on March 11. The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center was informed by Sarneczky, which also confirmed it. In a statement, NASA said that luckily for Earth, the asteroid, which was named 2022 EB5, was around 6½-feet-long, a size "too small to pose a hazard to Earth." Also Read: Recycled plastic bottles pass more harmful chemicals into contents than new ones, warn researchers NASA's "Scout" system, which keeps an eye for any potential impacts by asteroids, calculated the orbit of the rock and confirmed that it would certainly hit the planet. It also notified the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and other asteroid impact systems. It also determined that the rock would enter atmosphere of Earth around Jan Mayen, a Norwegian island, which is roughly 300 miles northeast of Iceland. At 5:23 pm EDT, the asteroid hit Earth as "Scout" predicted. (With inputs from agencies)

Lucky for now? Fridge-sized asteroid gets spotted just two hours before hitting Earth, says NASA   

'World's most powerful rocket ever': NASA rolls out its mega Moon rocket

<p>NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope completed its mirror alignment perfectly and according to the space agency, it was able to take a test shot of the surroundings. The image, which was released by NASA, was taken with the help of the 21.3-foot-wide (6.5 meters) mirror composed of 18 hexagonal segments and the officials believed that the technology has&nbsp;worked "better than expected".<o:p></o:p></p>

<p>The test shot, which was taken around 1.6 million kilometres away from earth, was proof that the mirrors on the telescope worked perfectly and over a month after taking its position at the second Lagrange Point (L2), this was the first time that it was able to take a test shot of star HD 84406.</p>

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<p>The shape of the mirrors and filters made the star look red and spiky and the image also captured a number of galaxies around the star. &nbsp;“You can’t help but see those thousands of galaxies behind it, really gorgeous,” said Jane Rigby, Webb operations project scientist according to AFP.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p>“Those galaxies are several billions of years old. Eventually, scientists hope Webb will see so far away and back in time that it will only be “a couple hundred million years after the Big Bang,” she added.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p>The alignment of the mirrors was an important achievement for the James Webb Space Telescope and NASA confirmed that no critical issues were found when it comes to its optical path.</p>

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<p>“More than 20 years ago, the Webb team set out to build the most powerful telescope that anyone has ever put in space and came up with an audacious optical design to meet demanding science goals. Today we can say that design is going to deliver,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate according to AFP.</p>

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<p>“We have fully aligned and focused the telescope on a star, and the performance is beating specifications. We are excited about what this means for science,” said Ritva Keski-Kuha, deputy optical telescope element manager for Webb.</p>

<p><o:p></o:p></p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope completed its mirror alignment perfectly and according to the space agency, it was able to take a test shot of the surroundings.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope completed its mirror alignment perfectly and according to the space agency, it was able to take a test shot of the surroundings. The image, which was released by NASA, was taken with the help of the 21.3-foot-wide (6.5 meters) mirror composed of 18 hexagonal segments and the officials believed that the technology has worked "better than expected". The test shot, which was taken around 1.6 million kilometres away from earth, was proof that the mirrors on the telescope worked perfectly and over a month after taking its position at the second Lagrange Point (L2), this was the first time that it was able to take a test shot of star HD 84406. Also read | Scientists present a theory on how 'otherworldly materials' helped in Earth's formation The shape of the mirrors and filters made the star look red and spiky and the image also captured a number of galaxies around the star. “You can’t help but see those thousands of galaxies behind it, really gorgeous,” said Jane Rigby, Webb operations project scientist according to AFP. “Those galaxies are several billions of years old. Eventually, scientists hope Webb will see so far away and back in time that it will only be “a couple hundred million years after the Big Bang,” she added. The alignment of the mirrors was an important achievement for the James Webb Space Telescope and NASA confirmed that no critical issues were found when it comes to its optical path. Also read | Israel reports new coronavirus variant “More than 20 years ago, the Webb team set out to build the most powerful telescope that anyone has ever put in space and came up with an audacious optical design to meet demanding science goals. Today we can say that design is going to deliver,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate according to AFP. × “We have fully aligned and focused the telescope on a star, and the performance is beating specifications. We are excited about what this means for science,” said Ritva Keski-Kuha, deputy optical telescope element manager for Webb. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captures test image of star and ancient galaxies

<p>The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is cracking open a 50-year-old vacuum-sealed tube of lunar gas and soil.</p>

<p>It was among one of the 2,196 rock samples collected during NASA's Apollo missions to Earth. Dubbed 73001, the sample in question was collected by astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in December 1972.</p>

<p>The tube, 35 cm long and 4 cm (13.8 inches by 1.6 inches) wide, had been hammered into the ground of the Moon's Taurus-Littrow valley to collect the rocks.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Of the only two samples to have been vacuum sealed on the Moon, this is the first to be opened. It could as such contain gases or volatile substances (water, carbon dioxide, etc.)</p>

<p>And the aim is to extract these gases, which are probably only present in very small quantities, to be able to analyze them using spectrometry techniques that have become extremely precise in recent years.&nbsp;</p>

<p>NASA knew "science and technology would evolve and allow scientists to study the material in new ways to address new questions in the future," Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement.</p>

<p>The US space agency has extended its target date for sending astronauts back to the moon to 2025 at the earliest, stretching out by at least a year the timeline pronounced under former President Donald Trump.</p>

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<p>Trump's administration had set the aggressive goal of returning humans to the lunar surface by 2024, an initiative named Artemis intended as a stepping stone toward the even-more-ambitious objective of sending astronauts to Mars.</p>

<p>NASA Administrator Bill Nelson cited delays from legal wrangling over the SpaceX contract to build the Artemis lunar landing vehicle as a major reason for extending the target date.</p>

<p>"We lost nearly seven months in litigation, and that likely has pushed the first human landing likely to no earlier than 2025," Nelson told a news conference. "We are estimating no earlier than 2025 for Artemis 3, which would be the human lander on the first demonstration landing."</p>

<p>Nelson, a former astronaut and US&nbsp;senator appointed by President Joe Biden to lead the space agency, said delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic also played a role.</p>

<p>NASA had previously aimed to return crewed spacecraft to the lunar surface by 2028, after putting a "Gateway" space station into orbit around the moon by 2024.</p>

<p>But the Trump administration, in a surprise 2019 pronouncement from then-Vice President Mike Pence, set a deadline for putting Americans back on the moon within five years "by any means necessary."</p>

<p>At the time, Pence said the United States was in a new "space race," borrowing vocabulary from the 1960s Cold War era, to counter the potential space weaponry capabilities of Russia and China.</p>

<p data-changed="false" data-paragraphid="27"><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is cracking open a 50-year-old vacuum-sealed tube of lunar gas and soil. It was among one of the 2,196 rock samples collected during NASA's Apollo missions to Earth.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is cracking open a 50-year-old vacuum-sealed tube of lunar gas and soil. It was among one of the 2,196 rock samples collected during NASA's Apollo missions to Earth. Dubbed 73001, the sample in question was collected by astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in December 1972. The tube, 35 cm long and 4 cm (13.8 inches by 1.6 inches) wide, had been hammered into the ground of the Moon's Taurus-Littrow valley to collect the rocks. Also read | NASA is collecting names to send into space aboard Orion capsule to the Moon Of the only two samples to have been vacuum sealed on the Moon, this is the first to be opened. It could as such contain gases or volatile substances (water, carbon dioxide, etc.) And the aim is to extract these gases, which are probably only present in very small quantities, to be able to analyze them using spectrometry techniques that have become extremely precise in recent years. NASA knew "science and technology would evolve and allow scientists to study the material in new ways to address new questions in the future," Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement. The US space agency has extended its target date for sending astronauts back to the moon to 2025 at the earliest, stretching out by at least a year the timeline pronounced under former President Donald Trump. Also read | Why has space business has become the final profitable frontier? Trump's administration had set the aggressive goal of returning humans to the lunar surface by 2024, an initiative named Artemis intended as a stepping stone toward the even-more-ambitious objective of sending astronauts to Mars. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson cited delays from legal wrangling over the SpaceX contract to build the Artemis lunar landing vehicle as a major reason for extending the target date. "We lost nearly seven months in litigation, and that likely has pushed the first human landing likely to no earlier than 2025," Nelson told a news conference. "We are estimating no earlier than 2025 for Artemis 3, which would be the human lander on the first demonstration landing." Nelson, a former astronaut and US senator appointed by President Joe Biden to lead the space agency, said delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic also played a role. NASA had previously aimed to return crewed spacecraft to the lunar surface by 2028, after putting a "Gateway" space station into orbit around the moon by 2024. But the Trump administration, in a surprise 2019 pronouncement from then-Vice President Mike Pence, set a deadline for putting Americans back on the moon within five years "by any means necessary." At the time, Pence said the United States was in a new "space race," borrowing vocabulary from the 1960s Cold War era, to counter the potential space weaponry capabilities of Russia and China. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA is cracking open a 50-year-old vacuum-sealed tube of lunar gas and soil

<p>A Los Angeles-area startup founded by a veteran spaceflight robotics engineer unveiled on Thursday its full-scale, working prototype for a next-generation lunar rover that is just as fast as NASA's old "moon buggy" but is designed to do much more.</p>

<p>The company, Venturi Astrolab Inc, released photos and video showing its Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) vehicle riding over the rugged California desert near Death Valley National Park during a five-day field test in December.</p>

<p>Astrolab executives say the four-wheeled, car-sized FLEX rover is designed for use in NASA's Artemis program, aimed at returning humans to the moon as early as 2025 and establishing a long-term lunar colony as a precursor to sending astronauts to Mars.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-finally-decides-to-open-moon-sample-sealed-since-1972-461389">&nbsp;NASA finally decides to open Moon sample sealed since 1972</a></strong></p>

<p>Unlike the 1970s Apollo-era moon buggies or the current generation of robotic Mars rovers tailored for specialized tasks and experiments, FLEX is designed as an all-purpose vehicle that can be driven by astronauts or by remote control.</p>

<p>Built around a modular payload system inspired by conventional containerized shipping, FLEX is versatile enough to be used for exploration, cargo delivery, site construction and other logistical work on the moon, the company says.</p>

<p>"For humanity to truly live and operate in a sustained way off Earth, there needs to exist an efficient and economical network all the way from the launch pad to the ultimate outpost," Astrolab founder and CEO Jaret Matthews said in a statement announcing the rover's development.</p>

<p>Other aerospace companies have announced new lunar rover design concepts, "but so far I believe, we're the only ones who have produced a working prototype of this scale and capability," Matthews told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.</p>

<p>If NASA adopts FLEX and its modular payload platform for Artemis, it would become the first passenger-capable rover to ply the lunar surface since Apollo 17, the last of six original U.S. manned missions to the moon, in December 1972.</p>

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<p>Apollo 17's lunar roving vehicle set a moon speed record of 11 miles per hour (17.7 km/h). FLEX can move just as swiftly.</p>

<p>Apollo astronauts found "they spent just as much time off the ground as on it at that speed, so it's kind of a practical limit for the moon," where gravity is one-sixth that of Earth, said Matthews, a former rover engineer for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.</p>

<p>While Apollo LRVs carried up to two astronauts seated at its controls like a car, FLEX passengers - one or two at a time - ride standing in the back, driving the vehicle with a joystick.</p>

<p>The rover itself, with a Jeep-like wheelbase, weighs just over 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) but has a 3,300-pound cargo capacity, about the same as a light-duty pickup truck.</p>

<p>With its solar-powered batteries fully charged, the vehicle can drive two astronauts for eight hours straight and has sufficient energy capacity to survive the extreme cold of a lunar night, up to 300 hours in total darkness, at the moon's south pole, Matthews said.</p>

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<p>During the field test at the Dumont Dunes Off-Highway Recreation Area, the rover was piloted by retired Canadian astronaut and Astrolab advisory board member Chris Hadfield and MIT aerospace graduate student Michelle Lin.</p>

<p>Video showed the pair dressed in mock spacesuits riding on the vehicle over a sand dune and using it to set up a large, vertical solar array.</p>

<p>"It was huge fun to drive the FLEX," Hadfield said in the video.</p>


A Los Angeles-area startup founded by a veteran spaceflight robotics engineer unveiled on Thursday its full-scale, working prototype for a next-generation lunar rover that is just as fast as NASA's old "moon buggy" but is designed to do much more.

A Los Angeles-area startup founded by a veteran spaceflight robotics engineer unveiled on Thursday its full-scale, working prototype for a next-generation lunar rover that is just as fast as NASA's old "moon buggy" but is designed to do much more. The company, Venturi Astrolab Inc, released photos and video showing its Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) vehicle riding over the rugged California desert near Death Valley National Park during a five-day field test in December. Astrolab executives say the four-wheeled, car-sized FLEX rover is designed for use in NASA's Artemis program, aimed at returning humans to the moon as early as 2025 and establishing a long-term lunar colony as a precursor to sending astronauts to Mars. Also read | NASA finally decides to open Moon sample sealed since 1972 Unlike the 1970s Apollo-era moon buggies or the current generation of robotic Mars rovers tailored for specialized tasks and experiments, FLEX is designed as an all-purpose vehicle that can be driven by astronauts or by remote control. Built around a modular payload system inspired by conventional containerized shipping, FLEX is versatile enough to be used for exploration, cargo delivery, site construction and other logistical work on the moon, the company says. "For humanity to truly live and operate in a sustained way off Earth, there needs to exist an efficient and economical network all the way from the launch pad to the ultimate outpost," Astrolab founder and CEO Jaret Matthews said in a statement announcing the rover's development. Other aerospace companies have announced new lunar rover design concepts, "but so far I believe, we're the only ones who have produced a working prototype of this scale and capability," Matthews told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. If NASA adopts FLEX and its modular payload platform for Artemis, it would become the first passenger-capable rover to ply the lunar surface since Apollo 17, the last of six original U.S. manned missions to the moon, in December 1972. Also read | Physicists say 'quantum gravity' could emerge from a holographic universe Apollo 17's lunar roving vehicle set a moon speed record of 11 miles per hour (17.7 km/h). FLEX can move just as swiftly. Apollo astronauts found "they spent just as much time off the ground as on it at that speed, so it's kind of a practical limit for the moon," where gravity is one-sixth that of Earth, said Matthews, a former rover engineer for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. While Apollo LRVs carried up to two astronauts seated at its controls like a car, FLEX passengers - one or two at a time - ride standing in the back, driving the vehicle with a joystick. The rover itself, with a Jeep-like wheelbase, weighs just over 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) but has a 3,300-pound cargo capacity, about the same as a light-duty pickup truck. With its solar-powered batteries fully charged, the vehicle can drive two astronauts for eight hours straight and has sufficient energy capacity to survive the extreme cold of a lunar night, up to 300 hours in total darkness, at the moon's south pole, Matthews said. Also read | On this day in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call. These were his first words During the field test at the Dumont Dunes Off-Highway Recreation Area, the rover was piloted by retired Canadian astronaut and Astrolab advisory board member Chris Hadfield and MIT aerospace graduate student Michelle Lin. Video showed the pair dressed in mock spacesuits riding on the vehicle over a sand dune and using it to set up a large, vertical solar array. "It was huge fun to drive the FLEX," Hadfield said in the video.

California startup Astrolab unveils space rover, more than a mere 'moon buggy'

<p>The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is collecting names to be put on a flash drive that will fly aboard Artemis I.</p>

<p>Artemis I will be the first uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The flight paves the way toward landing the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-finally-decides-to-open-moon-sample-sealed-since-1972-461389" hreflang="en">NASA finally decides to open Moon sample sealed since 1972</a></strong></p>

<p>''It's free to add your name to the flash drive,'' said NASA spokesperson Kathryn Hambleton.</p>

<p>"We hope this is a way to get people excited and to bring them along and inspire the next generation, the Artemis generation," Hambleton said.</p>

<p>Since opening the submissions earlier this month, NASA has already received over one million names, according to Hambleton.</p>

<p>"We're hoping to keep up this momentum of just a little over a week ago ... to gather many more names and generate more excitement from people around the globe that are going to ride along virtually," she said.</p>

<p><strong>Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/why-has-space-business-has-become-the-final-profitable-frontier-452928" hreflang="en">Why has space business has become the final profitable frontier?</a></strong></p>

<p>The US space agency is shooting for a date in May or June. All eyes will be on the historic Launch Complex 39B when Orion and the Space Launch System (SLS) lift off for the first time from NASA's modernized Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The 30-foot-tall, cone-shaped piece of hardware connects the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s upper and lower propulsion stages. The adapter also houses the RL10 engine that powers the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage that will send Orion on a precise trajectory to the Moon.</p>

<p>Artemis I will be the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to build a long-term human presence at the Moon for decades to come.</p>

<p>NASA plans to build lunar habitats and use lessons learned there for forward missions to Mars in the 2030s.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Observers are encouraged that the program launched by former President Donald Trump has continued under Joe Biden, even if he hasn't been as vocal in his support.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is collecting names to be put on a flash drive that will fly aboard Artemis I. Artemis I will be the first uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is collecting names to be put on a flash drive that will fly aboard Artemis I. Artemis I will be the first uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft. The flight paves the way toward landing the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon. Also read | NASA finally decides to open Moon sample sealed since 1972 ''It's free to add your name to the flash drive,'' said NASA spokesperson Kathryn Hambleton. "We hope this is a way to get people excited and to bring them along and inspire the next generation, the Artemis generation," Hambleton said. Since opening the submissions earlier this month, NASA has already received over one million names, according to Hambleton. "We're hoping to keep up this momentum of just a little over a week ago ... to gather many more names and generate more excitement from people around the globe that are going to ride along virtually," she said. Also see | Why has space business has become the final profitable frontier? The US space agency is shooting for a date in May or June. All eyes will be on the historic Launch Complex 39B when Orion and the Space Launch System (SLS) lift off for the first time from NASA's modernized Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The 30-foot-tall, cone-shaped piece of hardware connects the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s upper and lower propulsion stages. The adapter also houses the RL10 engine that powers the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage that will send Orion on a precise trajectory to the Moon. Artemis I will be the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to build a long-term human presence at the Moon for decades to come. NASA plans to build lunar habitats and use lessons learned there for forward missions to Mars in the 2030s. Observers are encouraged that the program launched by former President Donald Trump has continued under Joe Biden, even if he hasn't been as vocal in his support. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA is collecting names to send into space aboard Orion capsule to the Moon

<p>Among the 2,196 Moon rock samples collected over several Apollo missions (1968-72), NASA has decided to open one of the last pieces that was brought to Earth nearly 50 years ago.</p>

<p>Dubbed 73001, the rock sample was collected by US astronauts in December 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission—the last of the program.</p>

<p>Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt collected the sample by ploughing a 14-inch tube into the lunar surface.</p>

<p>Of the only two samples to have been vacuum sealed on the Moon, this is the first to be opened.</p>

<p>It is being said that these samples contain gases or volatile substances&nbsp;(water,&nbsp;carbon dioxide, etc.)</p>

<p>The rock sample was vacuum-sealed in a tube for later in order to take advantage of future scientific technologies. This is why it took them nearly 50 years to reach the last few pieces.</p>

<p><img alt="( Credit: NASA) One of the Apollo 17 astronauts used a metal pole to collect a sample on the surface of the Moon in 1972." data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ab677da3-2879-4ac7-9fce-b2bddd0fb3ab" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/NASA_1.jpg" /></p>

<p>NASA knew "science and technology would evolve and allow scientists to study the material in new ways to address new questions in the future," Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement.</p>

<p>In early February, the outer protective tube was first removed.</p>

<p>It was not itself revealed to contain any lunar gas, indicating that the sample it contained remained sealed.</p>

<p>Then on February 23, scientists began a week-long process aimed at piercing the main tube and harvesting the gas contained inside.</p>

<p>In the spring, the rock will then be carefully extracted and broken up so that it can be studied by different scientific teams.</p>

<p>The extraction site of this sample is particularly interesting because it is the site of a landslide.</p>

<p>"Now we don't have rain on the Moon," said Juliane Gross, deputy Apollo curator. "And so we don't quite understand how landslides happen on the Moon."</p>

<p>Gross said researchers hope to study the sample to understand what causes landslides.</p>

<p>(With inputs from agencies)</p>


Among the 2,196 Moon rock samples collected over several Apollo missions (1968-72), NASA has decided to open one of the last pieces that was brought to Earth nearly 50 years ago.

Among the 2,196 Moon rock samples collected over several Apollo missions (1968-72), NASA has decided to open one of the last pieces that was brought to Earth nearly 50 years ago. Dubbed 73001, the rock sample was collected by US astronauts in December 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission—the last of the program. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt collected the sample by ploughing a 14-inch tube into the lunar surface. Of the only two samples to have been vacuum sealed on the Moon, this is the first to be opened. It is being said that these samples contain gases or volatile substances (water, carbon dioxide, etc.) The rock sample was vacuum-sealed in a tube for later in order to take advantage of future scientific technologies. This is why it took them nearly 50 years to reach the last few pieces. NASA knew "science and technology would evolve and allow scientists to study the material in new ways to address new questions in the future," Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement. In early February, the outer protective tube was first removed. It was not itself revealed to contain any lunar gas, indicating that the sample it contained remained sealed. Then on February 23, scientists began a week-long process aimed at piercing the main tube and harvesting the gas contained inside. In the spring, the rock will then be carefully extracted and broken up so that it can be studied by different scientific teams. The extraction site of this sample is particularly interesting because it is the site of a landslide. "Now we don't have rain on the Moon," said Juliane Gross, deputy Apollo curator. "And so we don't quite understand how landslides happen on the Moon." Gross said researchers hope to study the sample to understand what causes landslides. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA finally decides to open Moon sample sealed since 1972

<p>Play of shadows in space causes a great many effects. The celestial bodies come between a star and another planet and cast their shadow on the latter. We are very well familiar with this play here on Earth as when Moon comes between the Sun and Earth, the shadow it casts causes a solar eclipse.</p>

<p>When it's time of Earth to come between Sun and Moon, we Earthlings get to witness a lunar eclipse.&nbsp;</p>

<p>With naked eyes, our ability is limited to watching only these two (but brilliantly beautiful) space events. Fortunately, we have enough telescopes and even spacecrafts looking at the void beyond the Earth's atmosphere to bring us brilliant pictures.</p>

<p>Take NASA's Juno spacecraft for example. The spacecraft is hovering around Jupiter for last five years. It has sent invaluable data and images our way and it continues to send more. These images have helped us to study the gas giant and its moons.</p>

<p>An interesting image taken by Juno spacecraft shows us the benefits of having eyes in the sky. The moment captured in this pic cannot possibly be witnessed from Earth</p>

<p>This image shows shadow of Jupiter's moon Ganymede falling on the gas giant. As per Space.com, this image was captured by Juno spacecraft during its 20th flyby.</p>


Play of shadows in space causes a great many effects. The celestial bodies come between a star and another planet and cast their shadow on the latter. We are very well familiar with this play here on Earth as when Moon comes between the Sun and Earth, the shadow it casts causes a solar eclipse.

Play of shadows in space causes a great many effects. The celestial bodies come between a star and another planet and cast their shadow on the latter. We are very well familiar with this play here on Earth as when Moon comes between the Sun and Earth, the shadow it casts causes a solar eclipse. When it's time of Earth to come between Sun and Moon, we Earthlings get to witness a lunar eclipse. With naked eyes, our ability is limited to watching only these two (but brilliantly beautiful) space events. Fortunately, we have enough telescopes and even spacecrafts looking at the void beyond the Earth's atmosphere to bring us brilliant pictures. Take NASA's Juno spacecraft for example. The spacecraft is hovering around Jupiter for last five years. It has sent invaluable data and images our way and it continues to send more. These images have helped us to study the gas giant and its moons. An interesting image taken by Juno spacecraft shows us the benefits of having eyes in the sky. The moment captured in this pic cannot possibly be witnessed from Earth This image shows shadow of Jupiter's moon Ganymede falling on the gas giant. As per Space.com, this image was captured by Juno spacecraft during its 20th flyby.

NASA's Juno spacecraft clicks Jupiter's moon casting shadow on the gas giant

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