Temporary 'minimoon' discovered orbiting Earth

A tiny natural satellite that may have been in orbit for as long as three years has been spotted by scientists.

There's no denying that our planet's orbit has become an increasingly busy place over the last few decades with as many as 5,000 satellites and several million pieces of space debris circling high above our heads.

Not everything in orbit around the Earth is man-made however; also up there at any given time are one or more minimoons - tiny space rocks (at least relative to the actual Moon) that enter into orbit for a brief time before venturing back out into space.

Detecting these pint-sized visitors however has proven quite the challenge - so far only a single minimoon has ever been conclusively identified - a 3ft-long object known as 2006 RH120 which arrived back in 2006 and left orbit again a mere 18 months later.

Now astronomers at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory believe that they may have discovered a second minimoon - an object named 2020 CD3.

Thought to be up to 11.5ft long, this temporary natural satellite may have been in orbit for up to three years, however there are indications that it could be making its escape within the next few months.

According to Kacper Wierzchos, a senior research specialist for the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS), the object's brightness is typical of most carbon-rich asteroids.

Assuming it maintains its current orbit, it will likely depart again sometime in April.  

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First ever black hole image released

First ever black hole image released

 

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Hubble Captures Formation of a Giant Storm On Neptune

Hubble Captures Formation of a Giant Storm On Neptune:

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NASA is planning to return to the moon.

NASA is planning to return to the moon.

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Tachyon: A faster than light particle

A tachyon or tachyonic particle is a hypothetical particle that always travels faster than light. Most physicists believe that faster-than-light particles cannot exist because they are not consistent with the known laws of physics.

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Multiple realities can exist at the same time

A mind-boggling quantum physics experiment has seemingly confirmed the existence of multiple realities.

The research sought to answer a decades-old physics question first posed by physicist Eugene Wigner in the 1960s. Known as "Wigner's friend", the idea puts forward a situation in which an observer in an isolated laboratory measures the polarization of a photon.

Initially, the photon is in a state of superposition - meaning that its polarization is both horizontal and vertical at the same time. When the laboratory observer measures the polarization, the particle assumes a fixed state, however for someone outside the laboratory who doesn't know the result of the measurements, the photon is still in a state of superposition.

The reality of both these individuals, therefore, differs - even though both are technically correct.

Now, several decades on, scientists have finally been able to conduct an experiment to actually test this concept and demonstrate that, in quantum physics at least, multiple realities can exist.

"Theoretical advances were needed to formulate the problem in a way that is testable," said study co-author Martin Ringbauer from the University of Innsbruck in Austria. "Then, the experimental side needed developments on the control of quantum systems to implement something like that."

The findings seemed to confirm that Wigner's observations held up in practice.

"It seems that, in contrast to classical physics, measurement results cannot be considered absolute truth but must be understood relative to the observer who performed the measurement," said Ringbauer.

Source: Live Science

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Top Ten Amazing Facts About Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein is a name synonymous with genius.Here are top ten amazing facts about one of the greatest physicists of 20th century.

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28,000 years old Mammoth cells brought back to life

A team of scientists in Japan has successfully coaxed activity from 28,000-year-old cells from a frozen mammoth implanted into mouse cells, but the woolly mammal is unlikely to be walking among us soon.

The project by an international team took cell nuclei from a well-preserved mammoth discovered in 2011 in Siberian permafrost and placed them into several dozen mouse egg cells.

Of those, five displayed the biological reactions that happen just before cell division begins, said Kei Miyamoto, a member of the team at Kindai University in western Japan.

None, however, produced the actual cell division needed for a mammoth rebirth, the researcher told AFP.

"This suggests that, despite the years that have passed, cell activity can still happen and parts of it can be recreated," he told AFP.

"Until now many studies have focused on analysing fossil DNA and not whether they still function," he added.

The research — published Monday in the journal Scientific Reports — doesn't provide much hope for Jurassic Park-style resurrection of long-extinct species just yet, he cautioned.

"We have also learned that damage to cells was very profound."

"We are yet to see even cell divisions. I have to say we are very far from recreating a mammoth."

The university has worked with other Japanese and Russian institutes to study and to possibly clone the mammoth and plans to study alternative methods to bring the prehistoric giant back to life.

"We need new technology, we want to try various approaches," Miyamoto said.

Source:The Daily Sabah

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Top 5 Ambitious Future Space Missions

Here are the top 5 space missions which show the curiosity of human beings to explore the last frontier.

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NASA InSight lander heads for "7 minutes of terror"

 NASA's InSight lander will be descending 80 miles through the Martian atmosphere in a few hours.

Having traveled more than 89 million miles since its launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base back in May, the ambitious spacecraft is currently on track to reach Mars on November 26th.

Just like the previous surface missions, InSight must survive the '7 minutes of terror' - the time it takes for a probe entering Mars' thin atmosphere at hypersonic speed to slow to walking pace and gently put itself on the ground.

"Landing on Mars is hard. It takes skill, focus and years of preparation," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

"Keeping in mind our ambitious goal to eventually send humans to the surface of the Moon and then Mars, I know that our incredible science and engineering team - the only in the world to have successfully landed spacecraft on the Martian surface - will do everything they can to successfully land InSight on the Red Planet."

If InSight survives the descent, the $1 billion lander will attempt to learn more about what lies beneath the surface of the Red Planet using an array of sensitive instruments including a burrowing temperature sensor and a seismometer designed to detect Marsquakes. Its mission is to determine the red planet's internal structure.

"This mission will probe the interior of another terrestrial planet, giving us an idea of the size of the core, the mantle, the crust and our ability then to compare that with the Earth," said NASA Chief Scientist Jim Green.

"This is of fundamental importance to understand the origin of our solar system and how it became the way it is today."


For the team, touching down on the surface of Mars will represent years of hard work and preparation ending in a single event.

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Giant Swan

Giant Swan also known as Cygnus falconeri is an extinct specie of very large swan from the Middle Pleistocene period of Sicily and Malta.

 It had a wingspan of 3 metres and weighed about 16 pounds. Research suggests it was well adapted for walking but had little or no flying ability. 

It would have been taller than the dwarf elephants that roamed the region. It became extinct before the arrival of humans in the region. 

The reason behind its disappearance may have been climate change or predation.

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Kepler 186-f is more habitable than previously thought.

An extrasolar world 500 light years away could be the most promising place yet to look for alien life.

In a recent study, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology used computer simulations to analyze the planet's spin-axis dynamics and to determine how much its tilt changes over time.

The findings indicated that Kepler-186f's tilt is actually stable like that of the Earth, meaning that it has seasons and climates, just like our own planet does.

Discovered back in 2014, this intriguing extrasolar world is also situated in its star's habitable zone, meaning that the temperature is 'just right' for liquid water to pool on its surface.

As a possible place to look for alien life, it is certainly a tantalizing target for future observations.

"Our study is among the first to investigate climate stability of exoplanets and adds to the growing understanding of these potentially habitable nearby worlds," said study leader Gongjie Li.

"I don't think we understand enough about the origin of life to rule out the possibility of their presence on planets with irregular seasons," co-author Yutong Shan added. "Even on Earth, life is remarkably diverse and has shown incredible resilience in extraordinarily hostile environments."

"But a climatically stable planet might be a more comfortable place to start."

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Fish with a bird-like head caught in Chinese river

A fish with a head resembling that of a bird has been caught in a river in China's Guizhou Province.

Recently released footage of the peculiar creature, which looks like an amalgamation of two different types of animals, went viral after it was uploaded on to Chinese social media platform Weibo.

Since then, thousands of Internet users have been attempting to figure out what it is.

According to fish expert Yang Xing from the Guizhou Fisheries Research Institute, the most likely explanation is that the creature is a carp with a prominent head deformity.

"One possibility is that the embryo was damaged when it was growing," he said.

"Another possibility is that the lack of oxygen in [the] water - due to over-crowded fishing farming - caused the fish's head to be deformed."

According to reports, the fish was later released back in to the river.

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Curiosity discovers Organic material on Mars

NASA has announced this week that complex organic matter has been found in an ancient lake bed on Mars.

The material was found after the rover drilled into the surface of a 3.5 billion-year-old mudstone at the bottom of the Gale crater.

Researchers have been quick to point out that the discovery does not necessarily mean that there is, or has been, life on the red planet.

The groundbreaking discovery represents the best evidence yet that Mars was once home to lakes filled with the carbon-based compounds necessary for primitive life forms to develop.

Intriguingly, NASA scientists have been unable to determine how this organic matter originally formed, meaning that there is a chance that it was the byproduct of ancient organisms.

It may have also been deposited on Mars by comets or asteroids in the distant past.

Certainly, the presence of these compounds would have helped to sustain any life that did arise.

"We know that on Earth microorganisms eat all sorts of organics. It's a valuable food source for them," said NASA biogeochemist Jennifer Eigenbrode.

"While we don't know the source of the material, the amazing consistency of the results makes me think we have a slam-dunk signal for organics on Mars."

"It is not telling us that life was there, but it is saying that everything organisms really needed to live in that kind of environment, all of that was there."

“To me it is amazing that we can show we have organic matter preserved for more than 3bn years in these rocks,” said Kirsten Siebach, a planetary geologist who was not involved in the work at Rice University in Houston, Texas. “This is very promising for the preservation of potential ancient life on the planet.”

“These molecules could have been part of life, but they could also have been food for life,” Siebach added. “To know that the water really was full of organic molecules really opens up the different ways that life could have existed on Mars.”

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$17B 'holy grail of shipwrecks' discovered

The long-lost 300-year-old Spanish galleon was found with the help of an autonomous underwater vehicle.

Discovered in 2015 off the coast of Colombia by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the wreck had been kept under wraps for the last three years out of respect for the Colombian government.

Known as the San Jose, the 62-gun galleon went down on June 8, 1708 along with 600 members of its crew while engaged in a battle with the British during the War of Spanish Succession.

Incredibly, the wreck is thought to contain a treasure trove which today is worth over $17 billion.

Now new information has been released indicating that the ship, which lies 2,000ft beneath the ocean's surface, was found using an autonomous underwater vehicle known as REMUS 6000.

"The wreck was partially sediment-covered, but with the camera images from the lower altitude missions, we were able to see new details in the wreckage and the resolution was good enough to make out the decorative carving on the cannons," said expedition leader Mike Purcell.

"During that November expedition, we got the first indications of the find from side scan sonar images of the wreck," WHOI expedition leader Mike Purcell explains in a statement.

"From those images, we could see strong sonar signal returns, so we sent REMUS back down for a closer look to collect camera images."

Photographs taken just 9 metres (30 ft) above the wreck identified the vessel's cannons, and later dives uncovered details like engraved dolphins carved into the cannons' bronze, in addition to scattered teacups on the seabed, plus ceramics and other artefacts.

There's no official word yet on when or how these objects will be recovered – not to mention the San José's other considerable riches, which have not yet been detailed.

It remains unclear who will end up with the vessel's vast riches however there have already been several tense legal battles over the matter and the precise location of the vessel is still a secret.

UNESCO has since called on Colombia not to exploit the wreck for commercial purposes.

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Moon mission 'a step towards Mars', NASA boss says.

The US space agency has emphasized that its Moon ambitions will not distract from its efforts to reach Mars.

In December, instructing Nasa to send astronauts back to the moon, half a century after Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot there. Last week, Nasa issued a draft request for a proposal encouraging the US commercial space industry to help it deliver payloads to the moon.

Last week, NASA seemed to be doubling down on the Moon as a target for future missions when it published a draft request for a proposal encouraging the commercial space industry to assist in its upcoming efforts to land payloads on the lunar surface.

Now though, new administrator Jim Bridenstine has reiterated that Mars is still the main objective.

"If some of you are concerned that our focus in the coming years is the Moon, don't be," he said during a speech at the annual Humans to Mars summit in Washington.

"The president's vision has emphasized that our exploration campaign will establish American leadership in the human exploration of Mars."

"We are doing both the moon and Mars in tandem and the missions are supportive of each other."

"In fact, our return to the surface of the moon will allow us to prove and advance technologies that will feed forward to Mars: precision landing systems, methane engines, orbital habitation, surface habitation, surface mobility, long duration life support operations and much more that will enable us to land the first Americans on the red planet."

According to space subcommittee chairman Senator Ted Cruz, the US is particularly committed to not only landing humans on Mars but to also being the first nation on Earth to do so.

"The first foot that sets foot on Mars will be an American foot, and an American explorer," he said. "That's leadership that I think this country needs and values."

"Restoring America's leadership in space I think is incredibly important."

Source:The Guardian

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Asteroid mining could be worth trillions

According to Goldman Sachs, asteroid mining has the potential to produce the world's first trillionaires.

The asteroids that pass us by on a regular basis might not seem particularly valuable, but inside many of these spacefaring rocks there lies a fortune in gold, platinum and other minerals that could actually make space mining an extremely viable commercial venture.

Last year, investment banking firm Goldman Sachs published a 98-page report advocating asteroid mining as a potentially lucrative money-making opportunity for those willing to make the investment.

"While the psychological barrier to mining asteroids is high, the actual financial and technological barriers are far lower," wrote aerospace and materials analyst Noah Poponak.

"Prospecting probes can likely be built for tens of millions of dollars each and Caltech has suggested an asteroid-grabbing spacecraft could cost $2.6 billion."

Professor Michio Kaku has also commented on the opportunities of asteroid mining, noting that asteroids are essentially "a flying gold mine in outer space" filled with valuable resources.

Given that a single 3,000ft asteroid could contain as much as $5.4 trillion worth of platinum, anyone who succeeds in tapping in to this plentiful new resource could become very wealthy indeed.Smaller asteroids that don’t exceed 100 feet across are estimated to have precious metal contents of around $50 billion

Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson agrees with Kaku’s prediction.

“The first trillionaire there will ever be is the person who exploits the natural resources on asteroids.”

Tyson believes that asteroid mining, which opens up a whole new, wider horizon, would help prevent future conflicts over resource access.

“There’s this vast universe of limitless energy and limitless resources. I look at wars fought over access to resources. That could be a thing of the past, once space becomes our backyard,” he said in a statement.

We may even see an asteroid 'gold rush' take place within the not-too-distant future.

Source: Inquisitr.com

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Hawaii 'lava dome' revealed in throwback image

This remarkable dome of churning molten magma was photographed in Hawaii by the US Geological Survey.

The incredible spectacle, which climbed as high as 65ft over a period of three days, was captured on camera during the 5-year-long Mauna Ulu eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano back in 1969.

Lava fountains like this one occur when gas bubbles from vents, fissures and lava tubes rapidly form and cause a huge jet of lava to shoot up in to the air.

Incredibly, the largest of them can grow to over 500 meters.

"A remarkably symmetrical dome fountain occasionally 20m high but usually half that, often welled from the eastern compartment [of the vents] for periods of several hours," the researchers wrote.

"Most of the lava from this fountain flowed away from the vent, but some formed a narrow river that poured back into the western compartment."

"Every few seconds, gases burst explosively from the western compartment, carrying spatter possibly derived from the lava drainback." This remarkable dome of churning molten magma was photographed in Hawaii by the US Geological Survey.

The incredible spectacle, which climbed as high as 65ft over a period of three days, was captured on camera during the 5-year-long Mauna Ulu eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano back in 1969.

Lava fountains like this one occur when gas bubbles from vents, fissures and lava tubes rapidly form and cause a huge jet of lava to shoot up in to the air.

Incredibly, the largest of them can grow to over 500 meters.

"A remarkably symmetrical dome fountain occasionally 20m high but usually half that, often welled from the eastern compartment [of the vents] for periods of several hours," the researchers wrote.

"Most of the lava from this fountain flowed away from the vent, but some formed a narrow river that poured back into the western compartment."

"Every few seconds, gases burst explosively from the western compartment, carrying spatter possibly derived from the lava drainback." 

Of course, Kīlauea is far from done. Only nine years later, the Pu'u 'Ō'ō eruption began - and it is still active today, producing regular spectacles of lava explosions.

What's particularly crazy is that's not even the longest continually active volcano on our planet. According to Guinness World Records, this honour belongs to Mt Stromboli in Italy.

Source: Sciencealert

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Stephen Hawking, Famed physicist, Dies at 76.

One of the greatest scientific minds of our age, Hawking passed away in the early hours of this morning.

Recognized around the world as both a scientific genius and pop-culture icon, Hawking's work in the field of cosmology, as well as his distinctive computer-generated voice, made him one of the most respected and recognizable people on the face of the planet.

Diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and given just two years to live at the age of 21, Hawking went on to defy all the odds by living a long and eventful life.

His best-selling book, 'A Brief History of Time', sold over 100 million copies and he made several appearances in TV shows such as Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Simpsons.

Most of all however, he will be remembered for his extensive contributions to science, his keen sense of humor and his indomitable determination in the face of his life-long illness.

"My goal is simple," he was quoted as saying in 'Stephen Hawking's Universe'. "It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all."

In a statement today, his three children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, paid tribute to him.

"We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today," they said. "He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years."

"His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world."

"He once said, 'It would not be much of a universe if it wasn't home to the people you love.'"

"We will miss him forever." 

Source: BBC News

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Mysterious "Disease X" could be next global pandemic

The World Health Organization has highlighted the potential danger of a deadly, as-yet-unknown pathogen.

Each year, the global health body convenes a meeting of senior scientists in an effort to put together a concise list of the most likely diseases to cause a major international public health emergency.

While it isn't surprising to see viruses such as Zika and Ebola make it on to the list, this time around something unexpected has been added - a mysterious malady referred to only as 'Disease X'.

As it turns out however, this unspecified disease is actually a placeholder.

"Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease," WHO said in a statement.

With the potential for gene editing to produce a disease far deadlier than anything ever seen before, it is not difficult to see why health authorities are being advised to expect the unexpected.

"History tells us that it is likely the next big outbreak will be something we have not seen before," said John-Arne Rottingen, chief executive of the Research Council of Norway.

"It may seem strange to be adding an 'X' but the point is make sure we prepare and plan flexibly in terms of vaccines and diagnostic tests."

"As the ecosystem and human habitats change there is always the risk of disease jumping from animals to humans," Rottingen said.

"It's a natural process and it is vital that we are aware and prepare. It is probably the greatest risk."

"We want to see 'plug and play' platforms developed which will work for any, or a wide number of diseases; systems that will allow us to create countermeasures at speed." 

While we can be thankful Disease X probably doesn't exist yet, the likelihood of it appearing in the future is definitely something we should be aware of, in the hopes we can stay one step ahead of any future threats – especially as we continue to encounter and take over what remains of the natural environment.

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