Page 27 - Space

Astronomers discover heaviest element in an exoplanet atmosphere barium

Astronomers have discovered the heaviest element ever found in an exoplanet atmosphere barium. They were surprised to discover barium at high altitudes in the atmospheres of the ultra-hot gas giants WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b two exoplanets, planets which orbit stars outside our Solar System. This unexpected discovery raises questions about what these exotic atmospheres may be like."The puzzling and counterintuitive part is: why is there such a heavy element in the upper layers of the atmosphere of these planets?" says Tomas Azevedo Silva, a PhD student at the University of Porto and the Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciencias do Espaco (IA) in Portugal who led the study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b are no ordinary exoplanets. Both are known as ultra-hot Jupiters as they are comparable in size to Jupiter whilst having extremely high surface temperatures soaring above 1000°C. This is due to their close proximity to their host stars, which also ...

Bubble Nebula: All you need to know about Nasa's Cosmic Bubble wrap

In a post on its social media handle on Instagram, Nasa shared another one of its mesmerising discoveries-The Cosmic Bubble wrap

NASA's James Webb, Hubble capture DART impact after asteroid strike

For the first time, Webb and Hubble have simultaneously captured imagery from the same target in the cosmos

Saving the world

DART can reduce risks from meteors

Earth aims DART to knock asteroid off course; now all eyes are on the sky

Scientists will be watching through the next several weeks to see how effective the impact was

NASA spacecraft rams distant asteroid to test Earth's defence abilities

The mission is NASA's first demonstration of the agency's planetary-defense initiative to protect Earth from the possibility of a hazardous collision with an asteroid

Astronomers detect hot gas bubbles swirling around supermassive black hole

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have spotted signs of a 'hot spot' orbiting Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the centre of our galaxy. The finding helps us better understand the enigmatic and dynamic environment of our supermassive black hole."We think we're looking at a hot bubble of gas zipping around Sagittarius A* on an orbit similar in size to that of the planet Mercury, but making a full loop in just around 70 minutes. This requires a mind blowing velocity of about 30% of the speed of light!" says Maciek Wielgus of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, who led the study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.The observations were made with ALMA in the Chilean Andes -- a radio telescope co-owned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) -- during a campaign by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration to image black holes. In April 2017 the EHT linked together eight existing radio telescopes ...

India to launch maiden human space-flight mission 'Gaganyaan' in 2024

India's maiden human space-flight mission 'Gaganyaan' is expected to be launched in 2024, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh said.

Why India's first high-throughput satellite broadband service is a big deal

The resulting explosion of bandwidth would provide a big boost to commerce in underserved areas

NASA Artemis I: Fuel seals repaired, likely to launch moon rocket on Sep 23

NASA had to scrub two launch attempts as the rocket experienced technical glitches, including a fuel leak

No Gamma rays from a dwarf galaxy solve a decade old astronomical puzzle

No Gamma rays from a dwarf galaxy solve an astronomical puzzle

The many questions Artemis will answer as humans look to Mars via moon

Parked near the moon, how do they eat, breathe, cope with isolation, radiation?

James Webb telescope captures 'incredible' images of Jupiter: See photos

The latest photos show Jupiter's signature elements, such as northern and southern lights, swirling polar haze, and regions of extreme temperature

Researchers discover how impact causes a new planet to 'break up'

Impacts affect the porosity and structure of moons and planets more dramatically than scientists suspected, increasing their potential habitability for life.

India has 2% share in global space economy: Govt informs Lok Sabha

Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh said India has acquired indigenous capabilities in the space sector across all domains, including space transportation systems

Earth records shortest day, completes rotation in less than 24 hours

Before this, Earth had recorded its shortest day on July 19, 2020

India to send 'Gaganauts' to space soon; two trials by the end of 2022

In a reply in Parliament, MoS Space Jitendra Singh said an unmanned flight would be sent to space in the first trial. While in the second, a robot named Vyomitra will be sent to space

Solar storm hits Earth amid global outage fear, aurora shows at many places

A solar storm hit the Earth on Tuesday amid fear of global outages that could have impacted radio and GPS signal and aurora were witnessed at high-latitude regions

How James Webb Space Telescope lets us see first galaxies in the universe

It has been an exciting week with the release of breathtaking photos of our Universe by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Images such as the one below give us a chance to see distant galaxies

James Webb telescope captures images of universe: How astronomy will change

Unveiled by US president Joe Biden, the stunning image of SMACS 0723, a cluster of thousands of galaxies, was released on July 11