solar system – आवारा मुसाफिर

Astronomers find missing link for water in the Solar System

March 9, 2023923 Views

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected gaseous water in the planet-forming disc around the star V883 Orionis. This water carries a chemical signature that explains the journey of water from star-forming gas clouds to planets, and supports the idea that water on Earth is even older than our Sun. “We can now trace the origins of water in our Solar System to before the formation of the Sun,” says John J. Tobin, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, USA and lead author of the study published today in Nature. This artist’s impression shows the planet-forming disc around the star V883 Orionis. In the outermost part of the disc water is frozen out as ice and therefore can’t be easily detected. An outburst of energy from...

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Jupiter’s moon count jumps to 92, most in solar system

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

February 4, 20231010 Views

Astronomers have discovered 12 new moons around Jupiter, putting the total count at a record-breaking 92. That’s more than any other planet in our solar system. Saturn, the one-time leader, comes in a close second with 83 confirmed moons. The Jupiter moons were added recently to a list kept by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, said Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution, who was part of the team. They were discovered using telescopes in Hawaii and Chile in 2021 and 2022, and their orbits were confirmed with follow-up observations. This photo made available by NASA shows the planet Jupiter, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, on June 27, 2019. On Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, scientists said they have discovered 12 new moons around the gas giant, putti...

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Towering ice volcanoes identified on surprisingly vibrant Pluto

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

March 30, 2022464 Views

Could hint towards possibility of life on the dwarf planet A batch of dome-shaped ice volcanoes that look unlike anything else known in our solar system and may still be active have been identified on Pluto using data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, showing that this remote frigid world is more dynamic than previously known. Scientists said on Tuesday that these cryovolcanoes - numbering perhaps 10 or more - stand anywhere from six-tenths of a mile (1 km) to 4-1/2 miles (7 km) tall. Unlike Earth volcanoes that spew gases and molten rock, this dwarf planet's cryovolcanoes extrude large amounts of ice - apparently frozen water rather than some other frozen material - that may have the consistency of toothpaste, they said. A heart shaped region named Sputnik Planum is seen in a...

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New planet detected around star closest to the Sun

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

February 12, 2022750 Views

A team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile have found evidence of another planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Solar System. This candidate planet is the third detected in the system and the lightest yet discovered orbiting this star. At just a quarter of Earth’s mass, the planet is also one of the lightest exoplanets ever found. “The discovery shows that our closest stellar neighbour seems to be packed with interesting new worlds, within reach of further study and future exploration,” explains João Faria, a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Portugal and lead author of the study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Su...

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Second alien moon identified is much like the first: big and strange

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

January 13, 2022529 Views

For only the second time, astronomers have detected what appears to be a moon orbiting a planet in another solar system. Just like the first time, this one has traits suggesting that such moons may differ greatly from those populating our solar system. Data obtained by NASA's Kepler space telescope before it was retired in 2018 indicated the presence of a moon 2.6 times the diameter of Earth orbiting a Jupiter-sized gas giant about 5,700 light-years away from our solar system in the direction of the Cygnus and Lyra constellations, scientists said on Thursday. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). An artist's rendering shows a moon with a diameter roughly 2.6 times that of Earth orbiting a large gas giant planet in another sola...