Solar flares pose risks to GPS systems and communication satellites
NASA/SDO/AIA
AI models developed with NASA satellite imagery are now capable of forecasting the sun’s appearance hours ahead.
“I envision this model as an AI telescope that enables us to observe the sun and grasp its ‘mood,'” states Juan Bernabe Moreno from IBM Research Europe.
The sun’s state is crucial because bursts of solar activity can bombard Earth with high-energy particles, X-rays, and extreme ultraviolet radiation. These events have the potential to disrupt GPS systems and communication satellites, as well as endanger astronauts and commercial flights. Solar flares may also be accompanied by coronal mass ejections, which can severely impact Earth’s magnetic field, leading to geomagnetic storms that could incapacitate power grids.
Bernabé-Moreno and his team at IBM and NASA created an AI model named Surya, derived from the Sanskrit word for ‘sun,’ by utilizing nine years of data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. This satellite captures ultra-high-resolution images of the sun across 13 wavelength channels. The AI models have learned to recognize patterns in this visual data and create forecasts of how the sun will appear from future observational stations.
When tested against historical solar flare data, the Surya model demonstrated a 16% improvement in accuracy for predicting flare occurrences within the next day compared to traditional machine learning models. There is also a possibility that the model could generate visualizations of flares observable for up to two hours in advance.
“The strength of AI lies in its capacity to comprehend physics in unconventional ways. It enhances our intuition regarding physical processes,” remarks Lisa Upton at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado.
Upton is especially eager to explore if the Surya model can aid in predicting solar activity across the sun and at its poles—areas where NASA instruments cannot directly observe. While Surya does not explicitly aim to model the far side of the sun, it has shown promise in forecasting what the sun will resemble for several hours ahead as sections rotate into view, according to Bernabe Moreno.
However, it remains uncertain whether AI models can overcome existing obstacles in accurately predicting how solar activity will influence Earth. Bernard Jackson from the University of California, San Diego, points out that there is currently no means to directly observe the magnetic field composition between the Sun and Earth, a crucial factor determining the direction of high-energy particles emanating from the star.
As stated by Bernabé-Moreno, this model is intended for scientific use now, but future collaborations with other AI systems that could leverage Surya’s capabilities may allow it to support power grid operators and satellite constellation owners as part of early warning frameworks.
The name Hadian Ion is derived from Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, and is used by geologists to describe Earth’s first 600 million years. While scientists initially believed that a sea of lava engulfed the Earth during the Hadean Eon, recent discoveries have revealed minerals from that era in newly formed rocks. These minerals, known as Zircon, indicate that Hadean Earth likely featured solid land, oceans, and possibly even an active water cycle.
Researchers from the United Arab Emirates, Australia, and China have been investigating whether freshwater existed on Hadean Earth. They collected sandstone samples from Jack Hills in Australia, which contained grains eroded from ancient rocks that housed weather-resistant zircon. Previous studies have shown that 7% of the zircon grains from Jack Hills date back to the Hadean Eon, making them among the oldest materials available today.
The team noted that zircon grains are ideal for this study because they retain the same chemical composition as crystallized Hadean magma. This allows researchers to analyze zircon grains to discern the original magma’s composition. To select the appropriate grains, researchers photographed the zircons and illuminated them with an electron beam using a method called Casodoriminesense.
The researchers focused on zircon particles that were structurally intact and exhibited homogeneous color and fluorescence. They measured uranium abundance and analyzed lead atoms with varying neutron counts. Using a technique called Mass analysis, they examined isotopes in the zircon. The ratio of these isotopes, 238U and 206Pb, provides insight into the age of the crystal and its origins.
The researchers also assessed the ratios of two oxygen isotopes, 18O and 16O, within the zircon. They explained that these oxygen isotope ratios are highly sensitive to interactions between liquids and rocks, allowing them to trace the variations in the Jack Hills Zircons’ O-isotope ratios to determine when the hydration cycle began. Their findings confirmed that the zircon grains originated from a primary magma source.
Next, the researchers analyzed how different oxygen isotope ratios in zircon were generated. They explained that 18O is heavier than 16O due to its additional two neutrons. Typically, zircon crystals formed in magma share oxygen isotope ratios similar to those in modern seawater. Higher heavy oxygen isotope ratios indicate the incorporation of more 18O fragments from the Earth’s crust rather than from seawater.
Meanwhile, interactions between magma and liquids produce distinct oxygen isotope ratios. Some zircons exhibited lighter oxygen isotope ratios of 18O, more than found in contemporary seawater. For such ratios to form, the magma must be at high temperatures and in contact with liquid. The researchers identified zircon crystals that crystallized with very light oxygen isotopic ratios between 200 million and 4 billion years ago, suggesting that the original melt interacted with surface water. These ratios imply that land emerged above the oceans, allowing water to accumulate on Earth’s surface.
To further investigate, the researchers employed computational models to determine the type of surface water that influenced the extreme oxygen isotope ratios in zircon particles. They tested whether the zircon oxygen isotope ratios result solely from interactions with seawater, freshwater, or a mix of both. Their findings indicated that magma interacting only with seawater could not account for the observed oxygen isotope ratios, suggesting a combination of influences. Consequently, researchers proposed that freshwater interacted with early Hadean crust over tens of millions of years to generate light oxygen isotopic ratios.
The researchers concluded that an active water cycle existed on early Earth. They noted that this revised timeline for the onset of the water cycle could significantly impact the emergence of life on Earth. The presence of land above sea level, freshwater, and an active water cycle implies that the building blocks for life may have been present just 550 million years after Earth’s formation. They theorized that life could have potentially originated in freshwater reservoirs in exposed crust. Ongoing research into geological materials from this period may yield further insights into the early processes that facilitated the emergence of life.
Apple has entered into a $500 million agreement with a US company specializing in rare earth magnets, crucial for the production of electronic devices, following China’s reduction in rare and essential material exports.
This support comes after MP Materials, which runs the only rare earth mine in the US, finalized a multi-billion dollar agreement with the US Department of Defense last week, making the Pentagon its largest shareholder. Both agreements aim to address supply chain vulnerabilities after China limited its rare earth exports earlier this year in response to Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
The deal, revealed on Tuesday, guarantees Apple a consistent supply of rare earth magnets from China, the world’s leading producer. Analysts noted that the cost of bolstering US magnet production is minimal compared to the long-term risk of completely losing access to vital components for Apple.
“We are currently in an era where executives are willing to invest significantly for a dependable supply chain. They want to avoid interruptions,” remarked Greserin Bascaran, director of the Centre for Strategic and International Research’s Centre for Key Mineral Security Program.
Rare earth elements, a collection of 17 metals, are vital for creating powerful magnets, which are found in devices that vibrate mobile phones, as well as in weaponry, electric vehicles, and numerous other electronic products.
China imposed export limitations on rare earths in April in reaction to Trump’s tariffs. In June, the US and China reached an accord that settled many disputes over rare earths, but broader trade tensions still emphasize the need for non-Chinese supplies.
Under the agreement, Apple will prepay $20 million to MP for magnets due to start delivery in 2027. The duration of the transaction and the quantity of magnets involved were not disclosed by the company.
The agreement stipulates that magnets will be produced from recycled materials, aligning with Apple’s longstanding commitment to reducing dependence on mining. The magnets will be processed using operations in Fort Worth, MP, Texas, and recycled at Mountain Pass, MP, California.
“Rare earth materials are critical for developing advanced technologies, and this collaboration will enhance the availability of these essential materials in the United States,” stated Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement.
Since the government announced its deal, MP Material’s stock price has nearly doubled. This is a notable turnaround from last year when CEO Jim Richinski expressed frustration over rare earth pricing that led to the merger with Australian competitors.
Bob O’Donnell, president of market research firm Technalysis Research, noted that Tuesday’s development is “entirely significant,” given Apple’s substantial requirement for rare earth magnets in its devices.
“Additionally, by prioritizing US-based suppliers, we will help position Apple more proactively within Washington,” he added.
Apple stated that this agreement forms part of a four-year, $500 million investment commitment towards the US, while facing threats from Trump regarding an iPhone not manufactured in the US. Nevertheless, many analysts argue creating an iPhone in the US is impractical, given labor costs and the existing smartphone supply chain.
While Apple did not specify which devices will utilize the magnets, MP mentioned that this deal will provide magnets for hundreds of millions of devices, significantly impacting Apple’s product lineup.
MP expects to start producing mined and processed rare earth materials and commercial magnet production at its Texas facility by the end of this year.
Today’s rotation is inexplicably accelerating, making it one of the shortest days of the year.
While summer days are certainly longer, July 9th, 2025, will be 1.3 ms shorter than the average.
This speed fluctuates slightly, but it generally takes 24 hours, or 86,400 seconds, for one complete rotation around the axis. To monitor these variations, International Earth Rotation and Reference System Services (IER) continuously tracks the length of the day with remarkable precision.
In 2020, the IER noted that our planet has been spinning faster and has continued this trend since then.
Their data suggests that the shortest days of the year will occur on July 9th, July 22nd, and August 5th, when the moon is at its farthest from the equator.
The moon subtly influences Earth’s rotation through tidal braking, where its gravitational pull slightly distorts our planet.
This phenomenon not only creates tides but also gradually siphons off angular momentum from Earth’s rotation, slowing it down by about 2 ms each century.
This means that during the Triassic period, around 200 million years ago, a day was just under 23 hours long. After another 200 million years, we can expect days to extend to 25 hours.
Days were shorter for Brachiosaurus
IERS may implement a second leap second to ensure that high-precision clocks remain accurate. The most recent leap second was added on December 31, 2016.
During times when the moon is far from the equator, the impact on Earth’s rotation is less pronounced, causing these days to be slightly longer. However, the duration seen in recent years is about half of what it was before 2020.
Several events can alter Earth’s rotation, such as the 2011 9.0 magnitude Japan earthquake, which shortened the day by 1.8 microseconds, but the cause of the current accelerating trend remains unknown.
A gradual slowdown is unlikely to have any catastrophic consequences for our planet. The time difference is too minimal for most to notice—you may need to consider skipping a leap second in 2025, with one potentially added again in 2029.
Regardless of the cause, this phenomenon is unlikely to be permanent, and our planet will eventually revert to its long-term rotation pattern.
Recent studies indicate that Earth and the rest of the Milky Way could be drifting through the universe’s voids for billions of years.
By analyzing the echoes left by the Big Bang’s “Soundwave,” a group of astronomers has uncovered that the universe’s voids may be more extensive than previously believed.
If validated, this theory could solve one of the major dilemmas in cosmology known as Hubble tension, which highlights the discrepancy in how quickly our universe is expanding based on various measurement methods.
Astronomers have grappled with this issue for quite some time, finding that the expansion rate measured from the distant universe is significantly slower than that determined from observations of local regions.
“The possible resolution to this discrepancy is that our galaxy resides near the center of a large, local void,” stated Dr. Indranil Banik from the University of Portsmouth at the National Astronomical Conference in Durham.
This situation arises because the area surrounding the void is densely packed with galaxies, and their gravitational influence gradually pulls in nearby galaxies, leading to the void’s slow emptying over time.
“Due to the void’s emptiness, the speed of objects receding from us is greater than if the void were absent,” Banik explained. Thus, it may appear that the local universe is expanding at a faster rate than it truly is.
For Hubble’s tension to hold, the empty void must exhibit a galactic density approximately 20% lower than the universe’s average and span about 1 billion light-years.
Life in the Void
The concept of living within a void is not new, but confirming its existence poses challenges.
For instance, it’s quite difficult to perceive the shape of your environment when you are immersed within it—like trying to analyze your home from inside a room.
Current cosmological theories suggest uniformity across large scales, implying the absence of significant voids within our vicinity.
Galaxies tend to cluster together like the Perseus clusters, separated by large voids. Yet, everything should appear uniform on a grand scale – credits: Image processing Cuillandre (Cea Paris-Saclay), G. by ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, J.-C. Anselmi
However, Banik’s team has gathered evidence supporting the existence of a local void by studying the acoustic vibrations known as baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). These fluctuations result from pressure waves produced during the primordial phase of the Big Bang.
Over billions of years, these oscillations have influenced the arrangement of galaxies in the broader universe. If our galaxy is positioned at the center of a void, it would distort the BAO patterns we observe nearby.
This research, drawing on data collected over the past 20 years, reinforces the idea that we genuinely inhabit a vast void.
Real challenges will emerge when examining how life within the void impacts other aspects of the surrounding universe, which may prove to be lonelier than we ever anticipated.
As a star exhausts its fuel, it succumbs to gravitational forces and collapses. When a star over eight times the mass of our sun collapses, it can result in asupernova, a tremendous explosion that releases more energy in just a few seconds than what the sun produces over 10 billion years.
During a supernova explosion, high-energy particles known as Cosmic Rays of Galaxy and a violent outpouring of electromagnetic waves, referred to as Gamma rays, are generated. These emissions are termed Ionizing radiation because they dislodge electrons from the molecules they encounter, resulting in ionization. This process can devastate everything from biomolecules like DNA to atmospheric particles like aerosol. Consequently, researchers believe that supernovae pose significant threats to nearby life forms.
While humans have not witnessed a supernova explosion close to Earth, our ancestors may have been less fortunate. A nearby supernova could eject radioactive elements encapsulated in interstellar dust grains, which can travel through the solar system and eventually reach Earth.Geologists have traced these grains in marine mud over the last 10 million years and estimate that a supernova has likely exploded within 100 parsecs of our planet in the last million years. The Earth is positioned about 8,000 parsecs from the center of the Milky Way, making these stellar explosions relatively close in cosmic terms.
Historically, scientists have speculated that nearby supernovae may have influenced animal diversity by contributing to mass extinction events over the past 500 million years. Some researchers propose that cosmic rays emitted from supernovae could potentially deplete the Earth’s ozone layer every hundred million years, exposing surface dwellers to harmful UV radiation. Others suggest that ionizing radiation can interact with aerosols to form clouds that block sunlight. However, scientists remain divided on the extent of ozone depletion, how severe a supernova’s impact could be, its effects on climate, and how catastrophic it might be for the biosphere.
Recently, researchers have revisited the potentially destructive impact of nearby supernovae using models that simulate interactions among planetary atmospheres, oceans, land, and biospheres. Earth system models employ atmospheric chemistry frameworks, such as EMAC, to capture complex processes previously overlooked, including air circulation and chemical reactions. Specifically, EMAC utilizes data from outdoor experiments conducted by CERN to calculate how ions interact with aerosol particles.
The research team modeled the Earth as it exists today, with 21% atmospheric oxygen, normal radiation levels, and an intact ozone layer. They simulated an explosion of ionizing radiation equivalent to a supernova 50 parsecs away, increasing the gamma rays in their model tenfold for a few seconds and boosting cosmic rays in the galaxy by a factor of ten per annum.
The team investigated the effects of ionizing radiation bursts on the ozone layer. Their findings confirmed that ionizing radiation strips electrons from atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen atoms, leading to the formation of highly reactive molecules known as radicals, which can destroy ozone. However, they discovered that certain reactions occurred at slower rates than anticipated, resulting in less ozone depletion than expected. They also found that ionizing radiation interacts with water vapor to produce hydroxyl radicals, which, when combined with nitrogen radicals, actually contribute to ozone formation.
Based on their findings, the team estimated that supernovae could potentially deplete up to 10% of Earth’s ozone layer. This level of ozone loss is comparable to the 6% depletion caused by human-made fluorocarbons and is far from lethal. They repeated the model to account for an Earth with just 2% atmospheric oxygen, simulating conditions around 500 million years ago when life transitioned to land. This modeling revealed repeated UV protection in the ocean, and they found that at this reduced oxygen concentration, only 10% to 25% of the ozone layer was lost.
The team then analyzed how radiation from the supernova influences cloud formation and climate. They calculated that ionizing radiation could increase the number of cloud-forming particles by about 10% to 20% globally. This alteration is quite similar in magnitude to recent anthropogenic warming and could cool the Earth by approximately 2.5 watts per square meter. While they acknowledged that these changes might disturb the environment, they believe it wouldn’t lead to sudden extinction.
The researchers concluded that radiation from nearby supernovae is unlikely to trigger mass extinction events on Earth. Since our early ancestors first emerged, the atmosphere has functioned as a protective barrier, safeguarding us from immediate harmful effects. Nevertheless, they cautioned that their model does not account for the risks associated with long-term exposure to elevated levels of ionizing radiation, which remains largely unexplored. They suggested that future research should seek safe methods to investigate the direct impacts of cosmic radiation on humans and animals.
Deep, resonating pulses and heartbeats are being revealed beneath East Africa, ripping the continent apart.
This unusual phenomenon is attributed to a rhythmic surge in melting mantle rocks that rise and fall beneath the Earth’s surface, as explained by recent research. Natural Earth Science. These forces are so intense that they’ve been capable of splitting Africa for millions of years, resulting in the formation of new oceans.
These geological pulses were identified in the AFAR triangle, the region where three tectonic plates (the African, Somali, and Arabian plates) converge beneath Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti. This area, known as a structural triple junction, is one of the rare locations on Earth where the crust is simultaneously pulled in three different directions.
As the plates shift, significant fissures, known as lifts, form. Here, the Earth’s crust thins until it eventually fractures. It is within these gaps that the discovery was made.
“We discovered that the mantle underneath was not stationary but rather uniformly dynamic,” said Dr. Emma Watts, a geologist at Swansea University who led the research.
To delve further, the research team gathered volcanic rock samples from the area and examined their chemical composition. What emerged was a type of “geological barcode,” showcasing a consistent pattern of chemical traits, which indicates that magma plumes have ascended over millions of years.
Geologists study layers of volcanic sediments to decipher the history of the rocks. Coset Volcano, the main Ethiopian rift. – Credit: Thomas Gernon, University of Southampton
At times, some barcodes were broader than others, hinting that the clefts channel pulse magma.
“The chemical patterns indicate that the plume behaves like a heartbeat,” stated Professor Tom Gernon, who also contributed to the study from the University of Southampton.
He elaborated that these pulses function differently based on the Earth’s crustal structure. Magma pulses can travel more freely, akin to the way blood flows through arteries along the Red Sea.
“Our findings reveal a close link between the evolution of deep mantle upwellings and the movement of the plates above,” said Derek Keir, co-author of the research at the University of Southampton.
“This significantly influences our understanding of surface volcanism, seismic activity, and continental fission.”
New findings from MIT indicate that early eukaryotes (complex life forms that eventually evolved into the diverse multicellular organisms we see today) may have thrived in meltwater ponds between 72 and 635 million years ago during a period referred to as Snowman Earth.
Impressions of the artist “Snowman Earth.” Image credit: NASA.
Snowman Earth is a colloquial term for a period in Earth’s history characterized by extensive ice coverage across the planet.
This term often refers to two consecutive glacial events that occurred during the Cleogen era, a timeframe geologists define as lasting from 635 million to 72,000 years ago.
The debate remains whether the Earth was akin to a solid snowball or a softer “slash ball.”
What is certain is that much of the planet experienced deep freeze conditions, with an average temperature of about 50 degrees Celsius.
The pressing question is how and where life managed to survive during this time.
“We aim to comprehend the essentials of complex life on Earth,” stated Fatima Hussain, a graduate student at MIT.
“We examine eukaryotic evidence before and after the Crazians in the Fossil Record, yet there’s limited direct evidence regarding their habitats.”
“The main mystery lies in how life persisted. We are working to uncover the specifics of how and where.”
Numerous theories suggest potential refuges for life during Snowman Earth, such as isolated areas of open ocean (if they existed), around deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and underneath ice sheets.
By examining meltwater ponds, Hussain and her team explored the idea that surface meltwater could have supported eukaryotic life during the planet’s early years.
“There are various hypotheses regarding potential survival habitats for life during the Crazians, but we lack comprehensive analogs,” Hussain remarked.
“Meltwater ponds are currently found on Earth, easily accessible, and provide a unique opportunity to focus on the eukaryotes inhabiting these environments.”
For their study, the researchers analyzed samples from meltwater ponds in Antarctica.
In 2018, scientists visited the McMurdo Ice Shelf region of East Antarctica, which is known for its small meltwater ponds.
In this area, water freezes all the way to the seabed, encompassing dark sediments and marine life.
The loss of wind-driven ice from the surface creates a conveyor belt effect, gradually bringing trapped debris to the surface, which absorbs solar warmth, melting surrounding ice and leading to the creation of shallow meltwater ponds.
Each pond is adorned with mats of microorganisms that have accumulated over time, forming sticky communities.
“These mats can be several centimeters thick and are vibrant, clearly demonstrating distinct layers,” Hussain explained.
These microbial mats consist of single-celled, photosynthetic organisms, such as cyanobacteria, which are prokaryotic and lack nuclei or other organelles.
While these ancient microorganisms are known to withstand extreme environments like meltwater ponds, researchers sought to determine if complex eukaryotic organisms—characterized by cell nuclei and membrane-bound organelles—could also survive in such harsh conditions.
To address this question, the researchers required more than just a microscope, as the defining traits of microscopic eukaryotes within microbial mats are often too subtle to discern visually.
The study involved analyzing specific lipids called sterols and a genetic component known as ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA). Both serve as identifiers for various organisms.
This dual analytical approach provided complementary fingerprints for distinct eukaryotic groups.
In their lipid analysis, the researchers uncovered numerous sterols and rRNA genes in microbial mats that align closely with certain types of algae, protists, and microscopic animals.
They were able to assess the diversity and relative abundance of lipid and rRNA genes across different ponds, suggesting that these ponds are home to a remarkable variety of eukaryotes.
“The two ponds exhibit differences. There’s a recurrent cast of organisms, but they manifest uniquely in different environments,” Hussain noted.
“We identified a diverse array of eukaryotic organisms spanning all major groups in every pond we studied.”
“These eukaryotes are descendants of those that managed to survive Snowman Earth.”
“This underscores how meltwater ponds during the Snowman period globally could have nurtured eukaryotic life, enabling the diversification and emergence of complex organisms, including ourselves, in later epochs.”
Study published in the journal Nature Communications.
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F. Hussain et al. 2025. Diverse eukaryotic biosignatures from the Earth-analogous environment of Antarctic Snowman. Nat Commun 16, 5315; doi:10.1038/s41467-025-60713-5
Asteroid 2024 YR4 may create the largest lunar impact in the past 5,000 years
Mark Garlic/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
Originally believed to be on a collision path with Earth, asteroid 2024 YR4 still poses some level of threat to our planet. There remains a chance that such celestial bodies could impact the moon, potentially resulting in a catastrophic explosion that could flood Earth with debris capable of damaging satellites.
Astronomers have been monitoring this building-sized asteroid since its detection in December 2024. Initial forecasts heightened the risk of a collision with Earth in 2032, suggesting the impact could unleash enough energy to obliterate a city; fortunately, it now appears 2024 YR4 will likely miss us.
Nonetheless, the likelihood of a lunar impact is gradually increasing, currently estimated at 4.3% based on observations made before the asteroid moved out of our telescopes’ view until 2028. Paul Wiegelt from the University of Western Ontario and his team suggest that such a collision could inflict significant damage on Earth’s satellites.
“We were somewhat taken aback by the amount of debris that could potentially reach Earth,” Wiegert remarked. “In reality, Earth is a surprisingly small target from the moon’s vantage point. Thus, while impacts on Earth are infrequent, gravitational forces can draw in that material under certain conditions.”
Wiegert and his colleagues calculated that 2024 YR4 could create a crater over a kilometer wide on the moon, marking the largest lunar impact in at least the last 5,000 years, albeit still small compared to typical craters. By ejecting debris into space and simulating their trajectories tens of thousands of times, they concluded that this event could lead to collision rates for Earth’s satellites comparable to those observed over years or even days.
While these collisions may not entirely disable a satellite, they could cause significant anomalies due to electrical disruptions. Accurately modeling their potential damage proves challenging, Wiegert noted.
If luck is not on our side, the impact of fragmented materials could be particularly severe, according to Mark Burchell at the University of Kent in the UK. “If they impact a spacecraft’s coolant pipe or an exposed sensor, the loss of critical functions occurs suddenly,” he explained. “Once damaged, satellites cannot be repaired. Even minor issues can lead to serious problems.”
Wiegert emphasized that this scenario should provoke global space agencies to consider deflecting asteroids on a collision course with the moon, similar to efforts aimed at protecting Earth. A NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Agency representative stated that while it is crucial to identify Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) posing potential risks, it is “premature to speculate on possible response options” for a potential 2024 collision.
Depending on how events unfold, swift action could be necessary. When 2024 YR4 reappears in Earth’s telescopic view in 2028, we should be able to refine the precision of its orbital path, Wiegert commented. As chances for a lunar impact rise, it offers a four-year window for decision-making on any necessary actions.
Though it might not be as well-known as the Hubble Space Telescope or the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s Landsat 7 has significantly enhanced our understanding of our planet. For over 25 years, it has been capturing the stunning landscapes of Earth from space, documenting remarkable details of the planet’s ever-changing environment.
Launched in 1999 with an expected mission duration of only five years, Landsat 7 has instead emerged as one of the longest-running Earth observation missions in history. While it doesn’t gaze into distant galaxies, its instruments are focused on the vibrant, living surfaces of Earth instead.
From an altitude of 700 km (about 435 miles), it has produced vital data for scientific research and conservation, showcasing stunning images of dynamic deserts, glaciers, forests, and coastlines.
“[Landsat 7 has] been essential in tracking environmental changes such as natural disasters, deforestation, and urban expansion,” said David Applegate, former director of the US Geological Survey.
“It documented significant events such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the Australian wildfires from 2019 to 2020, and rapid urban growth across the globe.”
The Landsat 7’s primary sensor, the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), captured in the clean room at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. Photo Credit: NASA/Raytheon
Landsat 7 is scheduled to retire this month after covering 6.1 billion km (3.8 billion miles) in space and capturing over 3 million images. A carefully planned shutdown will involve depleting its batteries, turning off the fuel line heater, and rendering the communications system silent permanently. For another 55 years, the satellite will drift silently above Earth before eventually re-entering the atmosphere and burning up.
As we bid farewell, we reflect on its lens and celebrate the beauty and complexity of our planet, revealing both the impacts of deforestation and the intricate patterns of continents.
Coral Reef Conservation
In the first year of the Landsat 7 mission, detailed images of coral reefs were gathered from around 900 locations worldwide. These vibrantly colored swirls depict atolls, enclosed coral reefs that typically surround a lagoon, often formed from eroded volcanic islands. Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Science Visualization Studio
Guinea-Bissau, West Africa
Guinea-Bissau, a small country in West Africa, showcases intricate patterns evident in the shallow waters along its coast, where silt from the Geba and other rivers is carried away by the Atlantic Ocean. Photo Credit: NASA/USGS
Siberia, Dragon Lake
Dragon Lake, formed by the Bratsk Reservoir along the Angara River in southern Siberia, Russia, is shown here frozen in winter. Photo Credit: NASA/USGS
Lena Delta, Siberia
The Lena River, approximately 4,500 km long, is among the largest rivers globally. The Lena Delta Reserve is the most extensive protected wilderness area in Russia, serving as a sanctuary and breeding ground for many Siberian wildlife species. Photo Credit: NASA/USGS
9/11, New York
This true-color image was captured on September 12, 2001, by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensor on the Landsat 7 satellite shortly after the Twin Towers fell. Photo Credit: USGS/EROS
Comprehensive Continental Mosaic of Antarctica
A complete continental mosaic of Antarctica was constructed using images from Landsat 7. Photo Credit: NASA/USGS
Bolivian Deforestation
Once a vast expanse of lush vegetation, the Amazon rainforest is rapidly changing. This image demonstrates the significant deforestation occurring in Bolivia’s portion of the Amazon Basin, where loggers have carved extensive paths while ranchers have cleared areas for grazing. The bright red areas indicate healthy vegetation. Photo Credit: NASA/USGS
Icefall, Lambert Glacier, Antarctica
Lambert Glacier, the largest glacier in the world, features an ice waterfall that nourishes the glacier from the expansive ice sheets covering the plateau. The ice flows slowly, resembling water, descending about 1,300 feet (400 meters) to the underlying glacier. Photo Credit: NASA/USGS
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
On April 20, 2010, a catastrophic oil spill followed an explosion at an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. Efforts to contain the expanding oil slick began immediately. Landsat imagery provided by the US Geological Survey reveals the extent of the spill, with Landsat data being vital for monitoring its range and movement. Photo Credit: NASA/USGS
Westfjords, Iceland
The Westfjords are a series of peninsulas located in northwestern Iceland. Though they comprise less than one-eighth of the country’s land area, their rugged coastlines account for over half of Iceland’s total coastline. Photo Credit: NASA/USGS
“Spilled Paint”: Iran’s Dasht-e Kavir
Resembling spilled paint, this image showcases a vibrant tapestry of landscapes in Iran’s largest desert, Dasht-e Kavir, or Great Salt Desert. It spans approximately 77,000 square kilometers (29,730 square miles) and consists of dry stream beds, desert plateaus, and salt marshes. Extreme temperatures and dramatic daily fluctuations, alongside severe storms, are characteristic of this harsh environment. Photo Credit: NASA/USGS
Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans
Following Hurricane Katrina, which led to severe flooding of up to 80% of New Orleans, Landsat 7 captured this image on September 15, 2005. Two and a half weeks post-hurricane, efforts were ongoing to siphon water back into Pontchartrain Lake, with pumps extracting approximately 380 cubic meters of water every second. Photo Credit: USGS/CEROS
Namib Naukluft National Park, Namibia
Namib Naukluft National Park is an ecological reserve in the Namib Desert, where coastal winds give rise to the world’s tallest dunes, which can reach 980 feet (300 meters). Photo Credit: NASA/USGS
Vatnajökull Glacier Ice Cap, Iceland
This image features blue ice fingers breaking away from the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland’s Skaftafell National Park, situated at the southern extremity of Europe’s largest ice cap. Photo Credit: NASA/USGS
Uppsala Glacier Retreat in Argentina
Landsat images captured in 1986, 2001, and 2014 illustrate the retreat of the Uppsala Glacier. Photo credit: NASA
Astronomers affectionately name planets discovered around other stars after those in our solar system. For instance, the sun is referred to when a giant gas giant orbits a star, known as a Hot Jupiter. On the other hand, planets that are massive icy and gaseous entities located further from their star system are called Cold Neptune. Scientists have a keen interest in exoplanets that are several times larger than Earth, referred to as Super Earth.
Super Earths do not necessarily bear a resemblance to our planet. They do not have to reside in the habitable zone of their respective planetary systems, nor must they support life similar to Earth. Rather, they are defined by their dimensions; these super-Earths are larger than our planet yet smaller than Neptune, which is the smallest gas giant in our solar system. They can generally be rocky or icy, but may also possess gaseous characteristics.
In 2020, a group of scientists observed a star, dubbed TOI512, which is roughly twice as old and massive as our sun and appears slightly red. Their observations were conducted using the TESS satellite, which indicated that it contained two exoplanets. TESS works by monitoring selected stars over extended periods to analyze variations in their brightness. Scientists plot this brightness against time, analyzing the light curve to interpret periodic dips in brightness, indicating that an object passes in front of the star. By measuring the time between dips, astronomers can determine how quickly a planet orbits its star and how much light from the star is obscured.
Recently, an international team of scientists argued that TESS’s observations of TOI512 support different interpretations. They confirmed the existence and characteristics of a single Super Earth in the TOI-512 system instead of two exoplanets. Their interpretation of the light curve indicates that the exoplanet is located at approximately 7% the distance the Sun is from Earth. They suggested that regular dips in the TESS data for TOI512 occur about seven days apart, implying that the light blockage corresponds to a super-Earth about 1.5 times the size of our planet.
However, the light curve provides limited information about the exoplanet. To gather more details regarding its mass and composition, scientists examine how it exerts gravitational influence on its host star, observing the effect on the star’s emitted light through radial velocity measurements. They noted that the stronger the gravitational pull on the star, the larger the exoplanet. Consequently, this team followed TESS observations with radial velocity measurements from the ESPRESSO echelle spectrograph for rocky exoplanets.
By combining data from TESS and ESPRESSO, astronomers determined that the exoplanet orbiting TOI512 is approximately 3.6 times the size of Earth, with a similar density and an almost circular orbit. They estimated its surface temperature to be around 1,000 Kelvin, which is 736°C or 1357°F!
The team then modeled the composition of planets with these characteristics using statistical simulation techniques. In their model, scientists posited that the planets consist of four layers of varying sizes, including an outer gas envelope, an iron core, a silicate mantle, and water shells made of hydrogen and helium. They tested the model by generating 5,000 simulated stars that matched the properties of TOI-512, along with 2,000 simulated planets around each star.
Their findings revealed that the model could not replicate the properties of the TOI-512 exoplanet unless it featured a significant amount of surface water and a deep steam atmosphere. They suggested that this discovery challenges previous models of planetary layers, which assumed that rocky planets near stars lose both their atmospheres and water.
They proposed that this contradiction might imply that the planet is still actively shedding water, as earlier researchers have indicated that rocky planets can retain up to 20% of their original water for as long as a billion years. The team concluded that TOI512 is an excellent candidate for follow-up observations to determine if it is a steam planet or a model for future exoplanet studies.
The aim of restricting global warming to below 1.5°C faces challenges as recent climate data suggests global temperatures remain alarmingly high, with 2025 tracking closely to 2024’s record heat.
April 2025 marked the second hottest April on record, losing out only to April 2024, as per reports from the European Union’s Copernicus climate service and the nonprofit Berkeley Earth. That month, global temperatures consistently exceeded 1.51°C above pre-industrial levels, marking 22 consecutive months over this critical threshold. Copernicus reports. The average temperature for April 2025 remained cooler than April 2024, still surpassing pre-industrial levels by 1.49°C.
This unrelenting warmth has astounded scientists. The year 2024 was deemed the hottest on record, with an average global temperature exceeding 1.55°C above the pre-industrial average. It marked a significant event as it was the first calendar year to surpass the 1.5°C threshold. Under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, nations pledged to limit global temperature increases to well below 2°C, ideally to 1.5°C.
Scientists had anticipated that the cooling effects of the La Niña weather pattern would emerge in January, offering some relief. However, global temperatures have remained persistently elevated, raising concerns about 2025 possibly following 2024 in exceeding the critical 1.5°C marker. “The recent La Niña event hasn’t provided the expected cooling relief,” stated Robert Rohde from Berkeley Earth during a briefing on May 13.
Data from Berkeley Earth suggests an 18% likelihood that 2025 will be the hottest year recorded, and a 53% chance of it being the second hottest. Rohde estimates a 52% probability of having an average temperature exceeding 1.5°C this year.
The trajectory of global temperatures for the remainder of the year relies heavily on whether new El Niño or La Niña patterns emerge in the Pacific, according to Rohde.
The ongoing hot streak has dashed hopes of capping global temperatures at the 1.5°C Paris target. Although targets are assessed over a 20-year average, researchers are increasingly worried that recent high-temperature streaks have led to a breach of this threshold. “It’s becoming inevitable that we’ll see a long-term average above 1.5°C in the next decade,” Rohde cautioned.
Last year, scientists warned that exceeding 1.5°C would result in a three-year period of significant temperature rise, effectively compromising the goals of the Paris Agreement. Similarly, a paper released earlier this year indicated that 12 consecutive months above 1.5°C have already signaled a long-term warming trend at that level.
Richard Allan from the University of Reading expressed surprise at the durability of the warmth. Findings from the past two years and new record temperatures have fundamentally altered the scientific perspective on the feasibility of limiting warming to 1.5°C. “Without substantial mitigation efforts or extraordinary volcanic events in the next 20 years, we expect we will be above the 1.5°C threshold,” he remarked.
Nevertheless, he maintains that the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to below 2°C remains attainable. “It is crucial to strive for temperatures beneath that threshold,” he emphasized.
A tale is shared about miners who discovered copper cans in early mining-era dumps. According to them, wastewater from copper mining flowed across his land, transforming steel cans into copper.
The tale may not be entirely true, but the process is factual and is known as cementation. Montana Resource, which succeeded the Anaconda Copper Company, still employs this alchemical method in the operations at the Continental Pitmine in Butte, Montana.
Adjacent to the mine lies the Berkeley Pit, filled with 50 billion gallons of highly acidic and toxic liquid. Montana Resource channels this liquid from the pits to cascade down iron piles, converting iron into copper for production.
While there have long been methods for extracting metals from water, recent years have ushered in a global rush for metals—vital for manufacturing and technological advancements—leading to a new wave of extraction methods and processes.
Researchers are currently focusing on mineral-rich sources like wastewater, including saline water from desalination plants, oil and gas fracking water, and mining wastewater. Researchers at Oregon State University estimate that the saline water from desalination plants alone contains approximately $2.2 trillion worth of metals.
“Water is a mineral reservoir of the 21st century,” stated Peter S. Fisuke, director of the National Water Innovation Alliance in California at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “Today’s technology allows us to gather wastewater and extract valuable resources.”
There is extensive research dedicated to recovering rare earth elements—metallic elements sought after due to their increasing demand—from waste. For instance, researchers at Indiana Geological Water Survey at Indiana University are Mining rare earths in coal waste which includes fly ash and coal tails. Additionally, researchers at the University of Texas Austin have created membranes that imitate nature for Separating rare earths from waste.
Utilizing mining wastewater is not only quicker and more economical than establishing a new mine, but it also generates lesser environmental impact.
The vast, contaminated reservoirs in the pit near Butte contain two light rare earth elements (REEs): neodymium and praseodymium. These are crucial for creating small yet powerful magnets, medical technologies, and enhancing defense applications like precision-guided missiles and electric vehicles. Notably, an F-35 Fighter Jet uses around 900 pounds of rare earth metals.
“We’re transforming significant liabilities into assets that contribute to national defense,” remarked Mark Thompson, vice president of environmental affairs at Montana Resources. “There’s a lot of complex metallurgy at play here—the real cutting-edge science.”
This is a crucial moment for exploring domestic rare earth production. The U.S. currently lags behind China, and President Trump’s trade tensions have raised concerns that China may tighten its rare earth mineral exports in response to U.S. tariffs. Experts in mineral security at the Center for Strategic and International Research warn that this gap could enable China to accelerate its defense advancements more swiftly than the U.S.
The Trump administration is particularly fixated on Greenland and Ukraine due to their valuable rare earth deposits.
Trump has recently authorized the government to commence mining on much of the seabed, including areas in international waters, to tap into mineral wealth.
There are 17 distinct types of rare earth metals identified in the Berkeley Pit. While not rare in abundance, they are often deemed scarce due to their dispersion in small quantities.
Rare earths are divided into two categories: heavy and light. Heavy rare earths, including dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium, tend to have larger atomic masses, making them more scarce and thus typically traded in smaller quantities, leading to shortages. In contrast, light rare earths are characterized by a lower atomic mass.
Acid mine drainage is a hazardous pollutant created when sulfur-containing pyrite within rocks interacts with oxygen and water during mining. This process results in the formation of sulfuric acid, which poisons waterways. This environmental issue affects thousands of abandoned mines, contaminating 12,000 miles of streams across the nation.
However, acids facilitate the dissolution of zinc, copper, rare earths, and other minerals from rock formations, presenting an opportunity for extraction techniques that were not previously available.
Paul Ziemkievich, director of the Water Institute at West Virginia University, has been researching Butte’s pit water for 25 years. Alongside a team from Virginia Tech and the chemical engineering firm L3 process development, they developed a method to extract crucial metals from acid mine drainage originating from West Virginia coal mines, the same approach utilized in Butte. Large, densely woven plastic bags filled with sludge from the water treatment plant are employed, allowing water to seep through slowly and yielding about 1-2% rare earth preconcentrate, which requires further refining through chemical processes. The final patented step involves a solvent extraction method that results in pure rare earth elements.
“One of the remarkable aspects of acid mine drainage is that our concentrations are particularly rich in heavy rare earths,” explained Dr. Ziemkiewicz. “Light rare earths carry a lesser value.”
The Butte project is awaiting news on a $75 million grant from the Department of Defense, which is critical for enhancing rare earth enrichment and commencing full-scale production.
Zinc is also abundant in the acid mine drainage mixture and serves as an essential financial asset for the process as it commands a higher market price. Nickel and cobalt are also extracted.
Demand for rare earth elements is high; however, China dominates production, manipulating prices to maintain low costs and stifle competition. This is why the Department of Defense funds various projects focused on rare earth elements and other metals. The U.S. operates only a single rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California, which produces roughly 15% of the global supply of rare earths.
The Berkeley Pit has posed a chronic problem since 1982, when Anaconda copper companies ceased their open-pit mining operations and halted water pumping, causing it to become filled with water. The acidity levels from the mine’s drainage have proven dangerous; in 2016, thousands of snow geese that landed in the pit quickly succumbed to poisoning, with around 3,000 birds reported dead.
The Atlantic Richfield Company and Montana Resources play crucial roles in permanently treating pit water to avert pollutioning the surrounding groundwater (Montana Resources operates the continental pit adjacent to the Berkeley Pit). The Clean Water Act mandates that companies manage acid mine drainage, and enhancing treatment capabilities at the local horseshoe bend plant is more cost-effective than developing a new facility, which may also offset treatment costs while boosting profits.
Numerous research initiatives have been launched to extract suspended metals from the water. Thompson displayed a map illustrating where radiation was emitted from Butte and where water samples have been dispatched to research facilities nationwide. However, the ongoing metal production process stands as the first to demonstrate profitability.
The mineral wealth present in this region has been recognized for many years; however, extracting it has proven challenging until Dr. Ziemkiewicz’s team innovated new methods. They generate rare earths from two coal mines in West Virginia, where acid mine drainage presents ongoing issues. Each of these mines yields about 4 tons of rare earths annually.
On the other hand, the Berkeley Pit is projected to produce 40 tons annually, bolstered by significantly higher concentrations of rare earths in solution and substantial water content. Dr. Ziemkiewicz believes that this method, when applied to other mines, could potentially satisfy nearly all domestic rare earth requirements for defense-related uses.
However, certain forecasts project that demand for rare earths may surge by as much as 600% in the next few decades.
Lawrence Berkeley laboratories are investigating technologies related to water filtration, particularly experimental approaches to improve membranes, as part of their overarching efforts to purify water, recover significant minerals, and produce necessary minerals. They operate a particle accelerator known as an advanced light source, which generates bright X-ray light that enables scientists to examine various materials at an atomic scale.
The lab has collaborated with external researchers to develop a new generation of filters referred to as nanosponges, designed to capture specific target molecules like lithium.
“It’s akin to an atom catcher’s mitt,” explained Adam Uliana, CEO of Chemfinity, a Brooklyn company exploring the use of nanosponges to purify a variety of waste. “It only captures one type of metal.”
In addition to rare earths, lithium, cobalt, and magnesium have gained significant attention from researchers.
Ion exchange, a well-established technology for extracting metals from water and purifying contaminants, is also gaining interest. Lilac Solutions, a startup based in Oakland, California, has developed specialized resin beads to extract lithium from brine via ion exchange, with plans for their first production facility in Great Salt Lake, Utah.
The company’s technology involves pumping brine through an ion exchange filter to extract minerals, returning water to its source with minimal environmental disruption. If this approach proves viable on a larger scale, it could revolutionize lithium extraction, significantly decreasing the necessity for underground mines and open-pit operations.
Maglathea Metal is an Auckland-based startup that produces magnesium ingots from the saline effluent generated by desalinating seawater. The company processes the brine, which consists of magnesium chloride salts, using a current powered by renewable energy to heat the solution, resulting in the separation of salt from molten magnesium.
CEO Alex Grant noted that the process is exceptionally clean, although it has yet to be applied to magnesium production. Much of the company’s work is funded by the Department of Defense.
With China accounting for 90% of global magnesium production, the current smelting process, known as the Pidgeon process, is highly polluting and carbon-intensive, involving heating to around 2,000 degrees using coal-fired kilns. Dr. Fisuke anticipates further innovations on the horizon.
“Three converging factors are at play,” he stated. “The value of these critical materials is climbing, the expenses associated with traditional mining and extraction are escalating, and reliance on international suppliers, particularly from Russia and China, is diminishing.”
After 53 years traversing the cosmos, a quirky Soviet spacecraft known as Cosmos-482 has made its way back to Earth, penetrating the atmosphere at 9:24 am on Saturday, according to Los Cosmos, a Russian state entity overseeing the space program.
Cosmos-482, designed for a landing on Venus, may have survived its descent. As reported by Roscosmos, its remnants were found scattered across the Indian Ocean near Jakarta, Indonesia.
Launched on March 31, 1972, the Kosmos-482 became tethered to Earth’s orbit due to a premature shutdown of one of its rocket boosters. Its return evokes memories of the Cold War space race, sparking images of terrestrial forces projecting into the solar systems.
“It takes me back to a time when the Soviet Union was bold in space exploration. We might all be more adventurous in space,” remarks Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who monitors orbiting objects. “In that context, it is a bittersweet occasion.”
While the U.S. triumphed in the lunar race, the Soviet Union set its eyes on Venus through its Venella program.
Between 1961 and 1984, the Soviets dispatched 29 spacecraft towards this enigmatic world, although many missions did not succeed more than a dozen fell short. The Venella missions observed Venus from orbit, gathered atmospheric data, descended through its caustic clouds, collected and analyzed soil samples, and transmitted the first images from the planet’s surface.
“Kosmos-482 serves as a reminder of the Soviet Union’s encounter with Venus 50 years ago, a tangible relic of that endeavor,” states Asif Siddiqi, a historian at Fordham University focusing on Soviet space activities. “It’s oddly fascinating how the past continues to linger in orbit around the Earth.”
Fifty years later, as the country aims to return to the moon and dispatch probes to Mars, Jupiter, and various asteroids, only an isolated Japanese spacecraft remains at Venus amidst proposals facing delays with uncertain timelines and an unpredictable future.
While landing astronauts on the moon during the space race was a monumental achievement, it also highlighted the rest of our solar system. As the U.S. increasingly focused on Mars, the Soviet Union turned its attention to the second planet from the sun.
“Back then, both nations were intrigued by Mars, but Venus proved a more accessible target,” asserts Kathleen Lewis, curator of the International Space Program at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
Often referred to as Earth’s twin due to its similar size, Venus is shrouded in a dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide and veiled under thick layers of sulfuric clouds. Its surface endures scorching temperatures reaching 870 degrees Fahrenheit, coupled with atmospheric pressure nearly 90 times greater than Earth’s.
“How do you create technology capable of surviving a months-long journey across the solar system, entering a thick atmosphere, and capturing images without being destroyed?” Dr. Siddiqi questioned. “It’s an astonishing challenge to consider solving back in the 1960s.”
Venella 9 Descent Craft and Lander credit… Via NASA
The Soviets, unbothered by the challenges presented by such a hostile world, persistently launched hardware towards Venus. At that time, no blueprint existed for such endeavors.
“You were essentially inventing the technology to send to Venus,” Dr. Siddiqi explained. “Today, if a country like Japan wishes to send a mission to Venus, they have decades of knowledge and engineering guidebooks. In the ’60s, there was nothing.”
The Soviet Venella program achieved many milestones, including being the first probe to enter the atmosphere of another planet, the first spacecraft to successfully land on another planet, and the first to capture sounds from an alien landscape.
The breakdown of Kosmos-482 occurred midway through this timeline, and its re-entry wasn’t the first encounter with Earth for the intended Venus lander.
Around 1 am on April 3, 1972, merely days after the troublesome launch, several 30-pound titanium spheres, each the size of a beach ball and inscribed with Cyrillic letters, descended upon the town of Ashburton, New Zealand.
One landed in a turnip field, leaving local residents cautious. The New Zealand Herald reported in 2002 that one of these spheres was ultimately confined in a police cell in Ashburton.
According to space law, ownership of a downed space object belongs to the country that launched it; however, the Soviets did not claim ownership of the sphere initially. The “space ball” was eventually returned to the farmers who discovered it.
Although Cosmos-482 was lost, the two other spacecraft launched days earlier successfully reached Venus and relayed data from the surface for 50 minutes. Two years later, when Venera 9 and 10 arrived, the Soviets ensured redundancy by launching both spacecraft.
The Venera program concluded in the mid-1980s with an ambitious Vega probe, which, starting in 1984, deployed a landing craft on Venus’s surface in 1985 and flew by Halley’s Comet in 1986.
“The legacy of Soviet Venus exploration in the 70s and 80s was a point of pride for the Soviet Union,” Dr. Lewis noted.
The re-entry of Cosmos-482 holds unique historical significance but isn’t particularly unusual today, as nations and companies continue to launch more technology into orbit, resulting in an increase of objects descending from the sky.
“We see frequent re-entries nowadays,” says Greg Henning, an Aerospace Corporation engineer and space debris specialist. The nonprofit organization tracks objects in orbit. “We observe dozens of instances each day, most of which go unnoticed.”
This is particularly true now, as heightened solar activity expands the Earth’s atmosphere, increasing drag on orbiting objects.
Some of these re-entries create spectacular light displays, whether through controlled descents like SpaceX’s cargo and crew capsules or unintentional ones, such as the failed test flight of SpaceX’s Starship prototype. Others, like China’s Long March 5B rocket booster, are uncontrolled and potentially hazardous.
However, in rare instances, spacecraft such as Cosmos-482 return to Earth as remnants of humanity’s formative endeavors.
“There exists an archive of the space race that continues to circle Earth. Many objects released in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s remain in orbit,” Dr. Siddiqi remarked. “At times, pieces of this living museum may fall on my head, reminding me of its presence.”
The Soviet spacecraft, which was launched on a failed mission to Venus in 1972, is thought to have crashed to Earth early Saturday morning.
The European Space Agency monitored the craft’s uncontrolled descent and reported that it was last tracked by German radar. By the time of the anticipated crash, radar could no longer locate Cosmos 482, concluding that “it is likely that re-entry has already occurred.”
No injuries have been reported.
Cosmos 482 was part of the Soviet Venera Program, a series of probes designed to study Venus. While ten of these missions successfully landed on the harsh planet, the rocket carrying Cosmos 482 malfunctioned, leaving its upper stage, including the descent module, trapped in Earth’s orbit.
For the next 53 years, the approximately 3-foot-wide, 1,069-pound spacecraft orbited Earth in a smaller, elliptical path until it was close enough to descend into the atmosphere.
It’s common for space debris to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. The ESA reports that over 2,400 human-made objects fell from space in 2022. Most burned up upon re-entry, with the majority not landing in the ocean.
However, Cosmos 482 was engineered to withstand the dense atmosphere of Venus and operate on a planet with an average temperature of 867 degrees Fahrenheit (464°C). This design means it was theoretically robust enough to endure a routine re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere.
There are no recorded instances of space debris causing human fatalities. An ESA official stated in a blog post about Cosmos-482, “The risk of a satellite re-entering and causing injury is exceedingly low. The annual chance of an individual being harmed by orbital debris is less than one in 100 billion. By comparison, a person is approximately 65,000 times more likely to be struck by lightning.”
On Friday, U.S. space forces estimated that the spacecraft would re-enter the atmosphere at 1:52 AM on Saturday over the Pacific Ocean, west of Guam.
Discarded Soviet-era spacecrafts do not pose a significant risk to Earth, according to experts.
The Kosmos-482, initially designed for a mission to land on Venus, has been stuck in Earth’s orbit for 53 years due to rocket issues. It is anticipated to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere in the coming days, with the latest forecasts predicting an uncontrolled descent on Saturday.
While the sight of large metal fragments falling back to Earth might seem alarming, old satellites and rocket debris actually re-enter the atmosphere almost daily. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), such events are quite common.
Typically, spacecraft burn up harmlessly upon re-entry. Even if some components survive the intense heat, it is rare for them to land on populated areas, mainly due to the fact that oceans cover about 71% of the Earth’s surface.
“The likelihood of a satellite re-entering and causing injury is exceedingly low,” noted an ESA official in Blog entries regarding Kosmos-482. “Statistically, an individual has less than a one in 100 billion chance of being harmed by space debris. In contrast, a person is approximately 65,000 times more likely to be struck by lightning.”
ESA’s Space Debris Office predicts that Kosmos-482 will start its descent around 4:26 AM on Saturday, with a possible variance of ±4.35 hours.
Meanwhile, U.S. space forces anticipate an earlier re-entry time of about 1:52 AM on Saturday.
The specific re-entry trajectory remains uncertain due to atmospheric dynamics, space weather, and orbital decay, complicating the task of accurately predicting when and where an uncontrolled spacecraft will land.
As the spacecraft nears re-entry, predictions may become more reliable, but pinpointing the exact landing site remains challenging.
NASA has indicated that the potential landing area could be “52 N-52 seconds latitude,” a vast expanse that includes much of Africa, Australia, North America, South America, and parts of Europe and Asia.
Officials from the Space Force have stated that current projections suggest Kosmos-482 will re-enter the Pacific Ocean, west of Guam, landing south of Australia, possibly over or near the southern ocean.
Launched by the Soviet Union in 1972, Kosmos-482 was part of a mission aimed at landing on Venus but ended up in orbit around Earth following a rocket failure.
While most of the debris from this ill-fated mission returned to Earth decades ago, the spherical landing capsule is anticipated to descend this weekend.
This capsule, measuring around 3 feet in diameter, was engineered to withstand the extreme conditions of Venus, raising questions about its capacity to survive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, as highlighted by Marco Langbroek, a scientist from the Delft Institute of Technology in the Netherlands, who has been monitoring Kosmos-482 and posting updates online.
“Even if it manages to re-enter, there’s a chance that it might collide intact,” Langbroek noted in a blog update on Thursday. “However, the impact could be severe, and I highly doubt the parachute deployment system will function after 53 years of battery drainage.”
Nonetheless, this does not imply that coastal populations are at imminent risk.
“While the risks are not exceedingly high, they aren’t nonexistent. With masses under 500 kg and impacts resembling those of meteorites, the probabilities are similar,” he wrote.
Over 50 years after its launch, the Soviet spacecraft Cosmos 482 is set to return to Earth. Initially designed to land on Venus, it began to disintegrate in low Earth orbit, never completing its intended mission. After orbiting our planet for decades, it is finally on a path to re-enter.
Kosmos 482 was launched in 1972; however, much about its mission and structure remains classified due to its Cold War origins. The intention to reach Venus is inferred from other Soviet missions focused on the planet at that time, and indications suggest that the spacecraft attempted a maneuver in orbit before fragmenting. The exact reason for its failure is unclear, but three out of four pieces landed in New Zealand shortly after launch.
The last fragment has drifted into a higher orbit, approximately 210 km at its closest to Earth and as far as about 9,800 km. Over time, particles from the Earth’s upper atmosphere have slowed its descent, gradually bringing it closer to re-entering. It is projected to crash on May 9th or 10th.
The capsule remains of the spacecraft are estimated to be over one meter wide and weigh nearly 500 kilograms. Given its size and the possibility that it was engineered to withstand the intense conditions during a Venusian descent, impact speeds may exceed 200 km/h.
Predicting the exact impact site for Kosmos 482 is challenging. Based on its current trajectory, it could land anywhere between the latitudes of 52° south and 52° north, covering a vast area from the southern tip of South America to parts of Canada and Russia. Fortunately, despite the extensive range of potential landing sites, the likelihood of it striking a populated area is minimal. “The numbers are infinitesimally small,” stated Marsin Pilinsky from the University of Colorado Boulder. statement. “The ocean is a likely landing zone.”
Pilinsky is part of a team monitoring the debris. As the re-entry date approaches, landing predictions will become more accurate. Instances of space debris falling to Earth are not rare; for instance, NASA tracks one orbital object entering the atmosphere daily, with most either burning up or landing in oceans. However, Kosmos 482 is notably larger and more robust than typical space debris.
The robotic Soviet spacecraft has been floating in space for 53 years. It will return to Earth later this week.
Launched in March 1972, the Kosmos-482 was meant to land on the dynamic surface of Venus, marking the ninth mission in the Soviet Venella program. However, a malfunction left it orbiting Earth, where it has been circling ever since.
“This artifact was slated for Venus 50 years ago, lost and forgotten for half a century,” stated Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He pointed to the Public Catalog of space objects, adding, “Although it’s headed for the wrong planet, it will still create a moment of atmospheric entry.”
Having a protective heat shield, the spacecraft weighs roughly 1,050 pounds and is built to endure its descent through Venus’s harsh atmosphere, meaning it may survive the plunge and reach at least partway to the surface.
Nonetheless, the chance of ground impact is minimal.
“I’m not concerned—I’m not warning my friends to hide,” said Darren McKnight, Advanced Technology Fellow at Leo Labs, a company tracking orbital objects, which monitors Kosmos-482 six times daily. “We typically see a large object re-enter Earth’s atmosphere about once a week.”
When is Kosmos-482 expected to return to Earth?
The estimates are updated daily, but the current anticipated re-entry date is Friday or Saturday. The New York Times will provide updated estimates as they arise.
According to the Aerospace Corporation, which monitors space debris, there is a predicted re-entry window of 12:42 AM Eastern Time on May 10, with a margin of error of 19 hours. Window Calculation
Marco Langroek, a satellite tracker at Delft Institute of Technology, has been monitoring Cosmos-482 for several years and estimates a re-entry around 4:37 AM Eastern Time on May 10, with similar uncertainties.
Where will it land?
The exact landing spot remains unknown. “And we won’t know until after it happens,” Dr. McDowell noted.
The Kosmos-482 travels at over 17,000 mph, and atmospheric friction slows it down rapidly, making timing crucial; even a slight miscalculation could land it in a completely different location.
What is certain is that the orbit of Kosmos-482 encompasses latitudes between 52°N and 52°S, covering large sections of Africa, Australia, North America, and much of Europe and Asia.
“There are three outcomes when an object re-enters: splashing, destruction, or injury,” Dr. McKnight remarked.
“A splash is ideal,” he added, noting that much of the Earth is ocean, while the undesired outcomes would be “destruction” or “injury.”
Will the spacecraft withstand the impact?
If Kosmos-482 endures the re-entry, it will impact at approximately 150 miles per hour, provided its heat shield remains intact. “I doubt much will remain after that,” Dr. McDowell stated. “Imagine crashing a car into a wall at 150 mph; not much would be left.”
If it returns over a populated area during nighttime, observers may see Kosmos-482 as bright streaks racing across the sky.
Should any part of the spacecraft survive the descent, it will legally be owned by Russia.
“Under international law, any found object must be returned,” explained Michelle Hanlon, Executive Director of the Aerospace Law Center at the University of Mississippi. “Russia is recognized as the registered owner and retains jurisdiction over the objects.”
How can I identify this object?
Roughly 25 years ago, Dr. McDowell sifted through Norad’s catalog of some 25,000 orbital objects, attempting to identify each one. He often found the answer was, “this is debris from a rather dull rocket explosion.”
However, one object, 6073, stood out; launched from Kazakhstan in 1972, it traveled between 124 and 6,000 miles from Earth in a highly elliptical orbit.
Analyzing its trajectory and dimensions led Dr. McDowell to theorize it was likely the much-anticipated Kosmos-482 lander rather than merely debris from a failed launch, a hypothesis confirmed by multiple ground observations and recently declassified Soviet documents.
A Soviet-era spaceship aims to land on Venus, with plans for it to return to Earth in the near future.
Currently, it is uncertain where the mass of half-ton metal will descend and how much will survive the journey. Experts are monitoring space debris.
Dutch scientist Marco Langbroek estimates that the spacecraft may re-enter Earth’s atmosphere around May 10th.
“There are risks involved, but there’s no need for excessive concern,” Langbroek stated in an email.
The object is relatively small, and even if it remains intact, the likelihood of it causing damage is similar to that of encountering a random meteorite fall, which occurs annually. “The chance of being struck by lightning in your lifetime is far greater,” he added.
He also mentioned that the spacecraft could potentially impact someone or something; however, this scenario cannot be entirely dismissed.
The Soviet Union sent the spacecraft, known as Cosmos 482, into orbit in 1972 as part of its Venus mission series. It never successfully launched from Earth orbit due to a rocket malfunction.
Most of its counterparts fell back within a decade, yet Langbroek and others believe the landing capsule, a spherical object about three feet (1 meter) in diameter, has been in a highly elliptical orbit for the past 53 years, gradually descending.
There is a substantial possibility that the over 1,000-pound (approximately 500 kilograms) spacecraft could endure re-entry. It was designed to withstand the harsh conditions of Venus’ atmosphere, which is thick with carbon dioxide, according to Langbroek from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
Experts are skeptical about the longevity of its parachute system. Additionally, heat shields might have deteriorated over extended periods in orbit.
Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory mentioned in an email that while the spacecraft would benefit from an intact heat shield, if it manages to re-enter successfully, “a half-ton metal object will be falling from the sky.”
The spacecraft is projected to re-enter around 51.7°N and 51.7°S, passing near London, Edmonton, Alberta, and Cape Horn, South America. However, given that much of the Earth is covered by water, “the chances are favorable.”
Stars and planets arise from swirling clouds of cosmic gas and dust, primarily composed of hydrogen and other molecular elements. On Monday, astronomers announced the discovery of the closest known cloud to Earth, a vast, crescent-shaped region teeming with potential for star formation.
This cloud, located approximately 300 light-years from our solar system, has been named after EOS, the Greek goddess of dawn. It is the first molecular cloud identified through hydrogen fluorescence, according to Blakeley Burkhart, an astrophysicist at Rutgers University.
“If you observe these clouds in the sky, they’re enormous,” Dr. Burkhart stated. The findings were published in conjunction with a colleague in the Nature Astronomy Journal. She also remarked, “It literally glows in the darkness.”
Investigating clouds like EO, especially regarding their hydrogen content, could reshape astronomers’ understanding of the galactic material available for planet and star formation. This research also provides insights into the rates of formation and destruction of the materials that fuel these processes.
“For the first time, we are observing this hidden reservoir of hydrogen that can create stars,” explained Thavisha Dharmawardena, an astronomer at New York University and co-author of the study. Following the discovery of EOS, astronomers expressed a desire to identify more hydrogen-rich clouds.
Molecular hydrogen, which consists of two hydrogen atoms, is the universe’s most abundant substance. This stellar nursery contains it abundantly. However, detecting these molecules from the ground is challenging because they emit light at wavelengths easily absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere.
In contrast, carbon monoxide—composed of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom—is simpler to detect. It emits light at longer wavelengths, making it accessible for observation with radio telescopes commonly used to identify star-forming clouds.
EOS eluded detection for a long time due to its unexpected nature and low carbon monoxide levels.
Dr. Burkhart identified the cloud while analyzing data from approximately 20 years earlier from the Far-Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (FIMS), an instrument aboard a Korean satellite. She found molecular hydrogen signatures in areas where she believed no molecular cloud existed and collaborated with Dr. Dharmawardena for deeper investigation.
“At this stage, I was familiar with nearly every molecular cloud by name,” Dr. Dharmawardena noted. “I had no awareness of this particular structure; I couldn’t comprehend it.”
Dr. Dharmawardena confirmed the discovery against the 3D map of interstellar dust in our galaxy, which was developed using data from the now-retired Gaia Space Telescope. “EOS was distinctly outlined and visible,” she commented. “It’s a stunning structure.”
John Black, an astronomer at Sweden’s Chalmers Institute of Technology, lauded the methods used to unveil EOS, though he was not part of the research team.
“It’s remarkable to witness molecular hydrogen firsthand and trace the outline of this cloud,” Dr. Black remarked. He added that, compared to carbon monoxide, hydrogen reveals the “authentic shape and size” of EOS.
Utilizing molecular hydrogen data, astronomers estimated the mass of EO to be about 3,400 times that of our Sun, significantly exceeding the carbon monoxide-based estimate of 20 solar masses.
Dr. Burkhart suggested that similar carbon monoxide measurements may underrepresent the mass of other molecular clouds. She emphasized the significance of this finding in stellar formation, as larger clouds can spawn larger stars.
In a follow-up study, EOS, which remains unreviewed, revealed that the cloud has not produced a star previously. However, the future potential for star formation remains uncertain.
Dr. Burkhart collaborated with a team of astronomers to conceptualize a NASA spacecraft named EOS, which inspired the cloud’s name. This proposed space telescope aims to map molecular hydrogen content in clouds across the galaxy, including its namesake.
Such a mission could enhance our understanding of the potential for more concealed clouds and known stellar clouds to contribute to star and planet formation.
“I genuinely don’t know how stars and planets come into being,” Dr. Burkhart admitted. “By observing molecular hydrogen firsthand, we can gain insights into how the birthplaces of stars form and how they ultimately fade away.”
One of the most immense singular formations observed in the cosmos, these expansive hydrogen gas clouds, have been found surprisingly close to Earth.
Naming it EOS, after the Greek goddess of dawn, the cloud was discovered through the faint ultraviolet light emitted by hydrogen molecules.
Referred to as molecular clouds, these colossal structures of gas and dust serve as nurseries for new stars.
Historically, astronomers have depended on radio and infrared telescopes to locate these clouds, detecting the carbon monoxide signature. However, scientists took a distinct approach to uncover EOS.
“This marks the first molecular cloud identified through the direct search for distant ultraviolet emissions of molecular hydrogen,” stated Professor Blakesley Burkhart, the leading researcher on the project.
“The data revealed glowing hydrogen molecules detected through fluorescence in distant ultraviolet rays. This cloud truly shines in the dark.”
https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2025/04/eos.mp4Scientists have identified potential star-forming clouds, designated EO. It ranks among the largest single structures in the sky and is one of the nearest formations to the sun and earth ever observed.
Situated just 300 light years from Earth at the confines of a gas-rich area known as the local bubble, EOS spans a region of sky comparable to a full moon width of 40 and possesses approximately 3,400 times the sun’s mass.
Despite its size and proximity, it remained concealed due to being “co-dark,” which indicates a deficiency of carbon monoxide that traditional detection methods rely on.
“The discovery of EOS is thrilling because it allows us to directly observe the formation and dissociation of molecular clouds and how galaxies transform interstellar gases and dust into stars and planets,” Burkhart commented.
Dr. Thavisha Dharmawardena noted, “During my graduate studies, I was informed that observing molecular hydrogen wasn’t straightforward.”
The data was acquired using a Faltraviolet spectrometer installed on the Korean satellite STSAT-1. Published in 2023, Burkhart quickly unearthed a concealed structure.
“The story of the cosmos is one of billions of years of atomic transformation,” Burkhart explained.
“The hydrogen found in the EOS cloud dates back to the Big Bang and eventually fell into our galaxy, merging near the sun. Thus, these hydrogen atoms have traveled a remarkable 13.6 billion-year journey.”
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Astronomers using Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) A telescope in southern Gemini determined that the recently discovered nearby asteroid 2024 YR4 is one of the largest objects in recent history that could affect the moon, and is likely to originate from the major asteroid belt in the solar system. Their Survey results It will be published in Astrophysics Journal Letter.
This image from the 2024 YR4 was captured at Gemini Southeres Scope in Chile, half of the International Gemini Observatory run by Noallab. Image credits: International Gemini Observatory / Noirlab / NSF / Aura / M. Zamani.
The 2024 YR4 was discovered on December 27, 2024 by the Asteroid’s Ground Impact Last Altar System (ATLAS).
At the time, the asteroids had a close approach to Earth, passing a distance of just 0.017 Au (astronomy unit).
In January 2025, a month after its discovery, the 2024 YR4 exceeded the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAND) notification threshold, which was predicted on December 22, 2032, with a 1% chance of future impact on Earth.
The asteroid misses Earth during this encounter, but there is still a few percent remaining chance that it could hit the moon instead.
Now interested in characterizing famous asteroids, Eureka scientific Athleton Mar Bryce Borin A colleague used a Gemini Southeres scope to capture images of the 2024 YR4 at several different wavelengths.
A detailed analysis of the asteroid LightCurve allowed the team to determine its composition, orbital properties and 3D shape.
“Our observation with Gemini South provided an important part of the puzzle in determining the characteristics of the 2024 YR4,” Dr. Bolin said.
“Studying this asteroid could be an Earth impactor and was crucial in understanding the poorly understood Earth Cross population.”
Information collected from the light curve indicates that the 2024 YR4 is likely an S-type asteroid. In other words, it has a silicate-rich composition.
The reflective pattern suggests a diameter of approximately 30-65 m (98-213 feet), making it one of the largest objects in recent history and affects the moon.
It is unlikely, but if it affects the moon, the asteroid would provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the relationship between the size of the asteroid and the size of the resulting impact crater – an amount previously unknown.
Analysis also revealed that the asteroid’s rotation period is about once every 20 minutes, and is shaped like a rare hockey puck.
“The discovery was pretty unexpected as most asteroids are thought to be shaped like potatoes and toy tops rather than flat disks,” Dr. Bolin said.
Based on these orbital characteristics, astronomers determined that the 2024 YR4 is most likely to originate from the main asteroid belt, and that gravity interaction with Jupiter is likely to cause it to be disrupted by its current short-range orbit.
Its retrograde spin direction suggests that it may have moved inward from the central main belt region, adding to its understanding of how small asteroids evolve and reach orbits beyond Earth.
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Bryce T. Borin et al. 2025. Discovery and characterization of the Asteroid 2024 YR4, which crosses the Earth. apjlin press; arxiv: 2503.05694v2
The Chinese government has long been exerting control over the export of rare earths, a group of metals crucial for products like semiconductors and light. In the ongoing trade war with the US, China is taking further steps to restrict the market for these metals, potentially impacting American manufacturing and military capabilities. So, why are rare earths so important?
What are rare earths?
Rare earths consist of 17 types of metals across the periodic table, essential for various industries such as technology, energy, and transportation. Names like terbium, praseodymium, and dysprosium are important ingredients in advanced technologies.
These metals can be categorized into heavy and light rare earths, with heavy ones being rarer and selling in smaller quantities. Light rare earths like neodymium and praseodymium are crucial for creating magnets.
What are they used for?
Rare earths have diverse applications, from semiconductor chips powering AI to electric vehicle motors and military equipment. They also enhance heat resistance in products like magnets, glass, lights, and batteries, making them valuable for industries.
Some rare earths possess unique chemical properties that make them ideal for producing high-quality magnets, glass, lights, and batteries. Magnets made from rare earths are exceptionally powerful and essential for electric vehicles.
Does the US produce rare earths?
The US has only one operational rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California, contributing about 15% to the global market. In the past, the US was a significant rare earth producer, but its production declined over the years compared to China.
Where do rare earths come from?
Rare earths are mined from rock deposits, with China dominating nearly 70% of the market. China’s control over rare earths’ production and export has geopolitical implications, impacting various industries worldwide.
What will the impact of China’s restrictions on rare earths?
If China restricts rare earth exports, American sectors like automotive may face production halts. The US military could also be impacted, leading to shortages of essential equipment like drones and missiles. Tech giants like Nvidia and Apple could also feel the effects.
Many rare earth mining businesses in China have been under private or foreign ownership, but the government’s efforts to consolidate the industry could lead to complete control over manufacturing and exports.
Exploring the origins of life is a profound scientific question. While evolution explains how life changes over time, the initial creation of the first biological structures remains a mystery.
In order for life to appear, the Earth required specific molecules containing carbon and nitrogen. However, these essential compounds were absent for millions of years after the planet’s formation. Recent research suggests a potential source for these crucial molecules.
This study proposes that microlites, small bursts of electricity generated when a water droplet breaks, played a key role in the formation of these compounds. These energy bursts are a common occurrence in nature, from ocean waves crashing against the shore to waterfalls spraying mist.
Research indicates that these intense energy releases may have triggered a chemical reaction that produced the fundamental components necessary for life to begin.
Professor Richard Zare, a co-author of the research published in Advances in Science, explains the importance of carbon-nitrogen bonds in creating amino acids and nucleic acids, the building blocks of proteins and DNA.
While previous theories, like the Miller-Urey hypothesis, suggested that lightning strikes into the ocean could have jump-started the chemistry of life, criticisms have been raised about the feasibility of this scenario. New research proposes that the building blocks of life may have been formed over time through numerous small electrical discharges worldwide.
The discovery of microlites producing organic molecules from simple components has broader implications beyond the origins of life. This research suggests that these small electrical discharges could play a significant role in various natural chemical processes.
Dr. Zare emphasizes the importance of studying the chemistry of small water droplets, highlighting the potential for groundbreaking discoveries in this area. This study demonstrates how seemingly insignificant everyday processes may hold the key to profound mysteries, such as the origins of life.
About our experts
Richard Zare is a distinguished chemist and professor at Stanford University, with numerous publications in prestigious journals and multiple awards for his research and educational contributions.
As we know, the sparks between the droplets may have begun life
Shutterstock/Perry Correll
The first molecules needed for life on Earth may have been created when small flickers of “microlites” between water droplets triggered a necessary chemical reaction.
“This is a new way to think about how the building blocks of life were formed,” he says. Richard Zare At Stanford University in California.
There was a lasting hole in our knowledge of the origin of life. In particular, how simple gases react to produce organic molecules that combine carbon with nitrogen, such as proteins and enzymes, and the lives we know depend on.
“When you look at the gas people thought they were on the early planet, they don’t contain any carbon-nitrogen bonds,” says Zare. “They are gases like methane, water, ammonia, nitrogen.”
Experiments by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey In 1952, electricity revealed that water and such gases can be converted into necessary organic molecules, but the hypothesis was that electrical energy came from lightning.
However, the unlikely chance that lightning will hit high concentrations of gases into the diluted spread of the ocean or atmospheric means that many people have never been convinced that it is behind the emergence of life on Earth about 4 billion years ago.
Now, Zare and his colleagues spray water droplets into a mixture of methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia and nitrogen gas, showing that external power sources can lead to the formation of organic molecules with unnecessary carbon-nitrogen bonds.
Zare says that water spray droplets produce small charges, which works. “Smaller droplets are negatively charged, while larger droplets are actively charged,” he says. This depends on what is called the Renl effect, where waterfall-like droplets collide and split, creating charge.
However, what the team discovered using high-speed cameras was that, on the other hand, a small flash of electricity, what Zare calls microlites, jumped between them, when the charged droplets were close enough.
This is like how static electricity is generated, or how lightning is accumulated in the clouds and discharged. “When water droplets come within nanometers of each other, we get an electric field, which causes a failure,” he says.
Microlite flashes carried enough energy (approximately 12 electron volts) to allow gas molecules to lose electrons and react with each other, and produced organic molecules through carbon-nitrogen bonds containing one of the components of RNA, hydrogen cyanide, amino acid glycine and uracil.
“It’s amazing that microlites can start chemistry starting with nitrogen. But the reported observations are compelling.” Veronica Vaida University of Colorado at Boulder University. “It brings a new, yet unreported role for water in the origin of life.”
This piece means it was sufficient to provide the chemicals needed to start on this planet, says Zare.
Water sprays are ubiquitous, often landing on rocks, allowing organic chemicals to accumulate in the gaps, he says. The area will then dry and moisten again. Such wet dry cycles are known to combine shorter molecules with longer molecules.
“This study suggests that microlites were abundant in early Earth’s water-rich environments, and could have driven prebiotic chemistry, especially when other energy sources such as lightning and ultraviolet rays were rare.” Kumar Vanka At the National Institute of Chemistry, Pune, India.
Vaida believes that this work also influences searching for extraterrestrial life. We may need to look for a place that allows small droplets to collide, she says.
New research from Keele University and Universidad de Alicante shows that near Earth explosion Giant O and B type stars It occurs at a rate of 2.5 per billion years. This result supports the view that such an event may have caused one or more of the mass extinction events recorded on Earth.
Among the puppies in the constellation, I have the impression of the artist Zeta Puppis, an O-shaped star about 1,400 light years away. Image credit: Tahina Ramiaramanantsoa.
Astronomers at Kiel and Alicante University believe that the explosion of supernova near Earth could condemn both the late Devonian and Ordovician extinction events that occurred 372 and 445 million years ago, respectively.
Ordovician extinction killed 60% of marine invertebrates when life was largely confined to the ocean, and the late Devonian wiped out about 70% of all species, leading to a major change in the species of fish present in ancient seas and lakes.
Previous studies have not been able to identify a clear cause of either event, but are thought to be related to Earth's ozone layer depletion, which may have been caused by supernova.
A new study found that the velocity supernova that occurs near our planet coincides with the timing of both mass extinctions.
“Supernova explosions bring heavy chemical elements to interstellar media, which are used to form new stars and planets,” said Dr. Alexis Quintana, PhD from Kiel University, the lead author of the study.
“However, if planets, including Earth, are too close to events of this type, this can have devastating effects.”
“Supernova explosions are some of the most energetic explosions in the universe,” said Dr. Nick Wright, PhD from Keel University.
“If a large star explodes as a supernova close to Earth, the results will be devastating for life on Earth. This study suggests that this may already be happening.”
An artist impression of HR 6819, a close binary consisting of deleted B-shaped stars (background) and rapidly rotating BE stars (foreground). Image credit: ESO/L. Calsada.
Astronomers came to their conclusion after conducting a large-scale census of OB stars in the sun of Kiloparscheck (approximately 3,260 light years).
They studied the distribution of these stars to learn more about how clusters of stars and galaxies form using themselves as benchmarks, and the rate at which these stars form in our galaxies.
The census allowed researchers to calculate the rate at which supernovas occur within galaxies, which are important for supernova observations, and the rates that are important for the production of large-scale star rests, such as black holes and neutron stars throughout the universe.
Data will also help in the future development of gravitational wave detectors, a useful tool for scientists studying the structure and origin of the universe.
As part of this, the researchers calculated the supernova rate within the 20 parsecs (65 light years) of the Sun and compared this to the approximate velocity rate of mass extinction events on Earth that were previously attributed to nearby supernovas.
This exclusion events linked to other factors such as asteroid impacts and ice ages.
Comparing these datasets, experts found that their studies support the theory that supernova explosions are responsible for both the late Devonian and Ordovician extinction events.
“We calculated the supernova rate close to Earth, and we found that it coincides with the speed of mass extinction events on our planet, which are related to external forces such as supernova,” Dr. Wright said.
Astronomers believe it occurs in galaxies like the Milky Way at about one or two supernovas, or even lower speeds, but the good news is that there are only two nearby stars that can reach the supernova within the next million years or so.
“But both of these are over 500 light years from the US, and computer simulations have previously suggested that supernovaes at distance from Earth are likely to not affect our planet,” the author said.
Alexis L. Quintana et al. 2025. Census of AB stars within 1 kpc and collapse rate of star formation and core collapse Supernova rate. mnrasin press; arxiv: 2503.08286v1
According to new research by scientists at Tsukuba University and the Japan National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, heat from our sun promotes changes in the atmosphere temperature on Earth and changes in the atmosphere temperature on Earth.
The sun is seen by solar orbiter in extreme ultraviolet rays from a distance of approximately 75 million km. This image is a mosaic of 25 individual images taken on March 7, 2022 by the high-resolution telescope of an extreme ultraviolet imager (EUI) instrument. The image, taken at a wavelength of 17 nanometers in the extreme ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum, reveals the corona, the upper atmosphere of the sun, with a temperature of about 1 million degrees Celsius. Image credits: ESA/NASA/SOLAR ORBITER/EUI Team/E. Kraaikamp, Rob.
Seismic studies have revealed many of the fundamentals of earthquakes: the tectonic plates move, strain energy accumulates, and that energy is ultimately released in the form of an earthquake.
However, when it comes to predicting them, there is still much to learn to evacuate cities before a catastrophe like the 2011 magnitude 9.0 Tōhoku earthquake
In recent years, research has focused on possible correlations between the sun or moon and seismic activity on Earth, with several studies pointing to tidal or electromagnetic effects that interact with the Earth's crust, core, and mantle.
In a new study, Matheus Henrique Junqueira Saldanha and his colleagues explored the possibility that solar-induced climate could play a role.
“Solar heat can promote changes in atmospheric temperature, which can affect rock properties and groundwater movements, among other things,” said Dr. Junqueira Saldanha.
“Such variations can make rocks more brittle and more prone to breaking, for example. And changes in rainfall and snow thaw can change the pressure on the boundaries of the tectonic plate.”
“Those factors may not be the main factors that cause earthquakes, but they may still play a useful role in predicting seismic activity.”
Using mathematical and computational methods, researchers analyzed seismic data along with solar activity records and surface temperatures on Earth.
Among other findings, they observed that when the surface temperature of the earth was included in the model, predictions of particularly shallow earthquakes are more accurate.
“That makes sense because heat and water mostly affect the upper layers of the Earth's crust,” said Junqueira Saldanha.
The findings suggest that solar heat transfer to the Earth's surface affects seismic activity, but this is only a small measure, and incorporating predictions of solar activity into a detailed earth temperature model could help issue seismic predictions.
“It's an exciting direction and I hope our research will shed some light on the larger picture of what causes earthquakes,” said Dr. Junqueira Saldanha.
study Today I'll be appearing in the journal chaos.
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Matheus Henrique Junqueira Saldanha et al. The role of solar heat in seismic activity. chaos 35, 033107; doi:10.1063/5.0243721
The near-Earth asteroid called the 2024 YR4 has been closely monitored over the past few months as its chances of impacting Earth increased to about 3% in 2032. After the latest observations from the ESO's very large telescope (VLT), the probability of impact has decreased to about 0.001%.
This VLT image shows asteroid 2024 YR4 near Earth. Image credit: ESO/O. hainaut.
2024 yr4 On December 27, 2024, the Asteroid Terrestrial Impact of Río Hurtado was discovered by the Last Alert System (Atlas) station.
Between 40-90 m in diameter, the asteroid took a close approach to Earth at a distance of 828,800 km (515,000 miles) two days before its discovery.
The 2024 YR4 is currently moving, with the next close approach taking place on December 17th, 2028.
On December 22, 2032, the asteroid quickly rose to the top of the ESA risk list due to its size and potential impact. This is a catalogue of all the space rocks that can affect Earth.
“Uncertainty means that the orbit of an asteroid is like a flashlight beam. It becomes wide and wide and ambiguous in the distance.”
“As we observe more, the beam becomes sharper and narrower. The Earth was illuminated more by this beam. The probability of impact increased.”
The observations of the new VLT, along with data from other observatory data, were able to exclude the impact on Earth in 2032 by Dr. Hainaut and his colleagues, but were able to constrain sufficient orbits for all.
“The narrower beams are now far from Earth,” Dr. Heinout said.
The impact probability reported by the ESA's short-range object adjustment center is about 0.001%, and asteroids no longer place the ESA risk list above.
As the 2024 YR4 is far from Earth, it has become increasingly faint and difficult to observe it with all but the largest telescopes.
“The VLT contributes to the observation of this asteroid due to its mirror size and excellent sensitivity, and is an excellent darker sky at the Delusional Observatory of ESO in Chile, where the telescope is located,” the astronomer said.
“This would ideally help track faint objects such as the 2024 YR4 and other potentially dangerous asteroids.”
“Unfortunately, the same pristine, dark sky that allowed these important measurements is now under threat by Industrial Megaproject Inna by AES Andes, a subsidiary of US utility AES Corporation.”
“The project plans to cover areas similar to the size of small cities and be located at the nearest point, about 11 km from VLT.”
“Because of its size and proximity, INNA will have a devastating effect on the quality of Paranal's sky, particularly due to mild contamination from industrial facilities.”
“In bright sky, telescopes like VLT lose the ability to detect the weakest universe's targets.”
Asteroids flying near Earth in 2032 are expected to safely pass through the planet, with a shock chance of just 0.004%. NASA said Monday.
This is a significant downgrade to the risk from the record highs the space agency gave earlier last week.
The asteroid known as the 2024 YR4 is between 130 and 300 feet wide and is large enough to cause local damage if it hits Earth. However, the exact odds of the event have been an impressive target since the space rock was first detected about two months ago.
The extremely slim chances NASA estimated on Monday were even smaller than the 0.28% chance it gave late last week. Just a few days ago, the agency had the chance to 1.5% and 3.1% before that.
With the short odds exceeded 3%, the first object officially classified as Level 3 of 10 out of 10 in a measurement known as the Torino Scale became the space rock.Richard Binzel first proposed it nearly 30 years ago.
Level 3 classification means that objects are worthy of attention by astronomers, and pose a threat of “close encounters.”
Named after an Italian city officially adopted by astronomersIn 1999, the Turin Impact Hazard Scale is a way to communicate to the public the risks posed by asteroids and other space objects near Earth to planets.
The scale is color-coded, with categories ranging from 0 (white without risk) to 10 (red for a particular collision). With a 3.1% chance of colliding with the Earth, 024-year-old 4 was temporarily placed in the mid-yellow zone of the scale.
The gusts of news reports about the asteroids have attracted more attention than ever on Turin's scale. Binzel said this type of situation was exactly why he created the system in the first place.
“The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has made it a great opportunity to learn about the world,” said Bindel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “But it's like being between a rock and a difficult place because we want to report what we know to maintain the trust of our people, but we don't want to raise unnecessary anxiety. Because.”
The challenges of walking that thin line are revealed in Asteroid 2024 YR4.
According to NASA, the reason for the recent decline in impact probability is The ground telescope was able to get a better look Based on these observations, on the Space Lock on February 19th and 20th, astronomers were able to improve models of asteroid orbits, allowing them to estimate the Space Lock trajectory more accurately. This will help scientists to more reliably predict where 2024 YR4 will be on December 22, 2032, where asteroids are likely to encounter closely with Earth.
The shifting probability is somewhat dizzy, but according to Bindsel, the possibility that such a close-Earth asteroid could dance like this is completely normal.
The Asteroid 2024 YR4 is thought to measure up to 300 feet in diameter.Atlas
When Binzel debuted the Turin scale in the astronomical community decades ago, his goal was to promote greater public awareness of shock risk. According to him, the idea was to implement something similar to the Richter scale, which measures the magnitude of an earthquake, or the Saffir Simpson scale, which assigns categories to hurricanes based on wind speed.
But when he first presented the system at the 1997 UN conference, it wasn’t well received, he said. According to Biinsel, some astronomers were skeptical that it would help the public.
In the same year, scientists discovered an asteroid called XF11 in 1997. We thought this could hit Earth in 2028. It didn’t take long for astronomers to eliminate potential conflicts, but the ending story expanded in news reports, followed by subsequent denunciations. Something that was perceived as a major mistake.
“It ended up being a bit of embarrassment,” Binzel said. “Astronomers did not make any errors, but there was no good way to convey uncertainty. So this classifies objects that cannot be immediately ruled out over centuries of Earth. This motivated me to propose a simple system for
Binzel once again presented the scale in Turin at a conference held in Turin in 1999, attended by representatives from the NASA and the European Space Agency. In that workshop, the system was ultimately adopted by the International Astronomical Union, a non-governmental organization made up of professional astronomers who act like the governing body of the astronomical community.
In addition to using colours and numbers to accommodate different risk levels, the scale includes explanations of potential outcomes, the possibility of changing risk assessments, and actions that the government or the public should take.
For example, the level 6 threat in the orange zone explains the possibility of close shaving by “large objects pose a serious and uncertain threat of a global catastrophe.”
Astronomers recommend giving this object “critical attention” to know if a collision occurs. “If the encounter is less than 30 years, the government's emergency plan could be guaranteed,” the scale states.
On the other hand, Level 3 threat, according to the scale explanation, means that “current calculations provide more than 1% chance of a collision that can be locally destructive.” “Perhaps observations of the new telescope lead to reallocation to level 0. Attention by civil servants is valuable if the encounter is within ten years.”
Naturally, Binzel was correctly suspected when asteroid 2024 YR4 was considered to be the 3 that would eventually be downgraded.
Meanwhile, however, the 2024 YR4 hit an unpleasant milestone. It is the only known astide with a classification above level 1, and set the record to reach the highest impact probability and spend the longest time with the probability above 1%. According to the European Space Agency.
The higher classification of similar or larger sized asteroids on the Turin scale is in 2004, when asteroid Apophis was temporarily ranked as Level 4, with an estimated 2.7% chance of hitting Earth There was a possibility.
Vincell said he was pleased to witness the scale feature in real time, but he is pleased to be modest about his connection to it.
“At the end of the day, if Turin scale helps, there's a great deal of satisfaction. It really makes my day,” he said. “But it's nice to hide my name behind where the scale was adopted. It helps to keep my phone from ringing too much.”
NASA/Magdalena Ridge 2.4M Telescope/New Mexico Institute of Technology/Ryan
The world’s space agency has reduced the chance that asteroid 2024 YR4 will affect Earth by less than 1%. This strongly suggests that potentially catastrophic conflicts will be avoided. However, the asteroid probably passes very extraordinarily close to our planet, giving astronomers a rare opportunity to observe the asteroid in close proximity.
“We don’t expect the impact probability above 1% will exceed 1% in 2032 due to our close approach with the Earth,” he says. Richard Moisle With the European Space Agency (ESA). “The most likely further development is a further reduction in impact probability, perhaps even dropping to zero.”
The alarm last December regarding the asteroid 2024 YR4 was first raised in December last year, when it discovered it could be on Earth’s collision course in 2032. It looks like it’s 40-90 meters wide and can produce a fatal explosion if attacked by a city. Over the next few weeks, global telescopes and space agencies have closely tracked their orbits, honing their future paths more accurately. On February 17th, we reached our highest shock risk with one in 32nd chance, but in the next few days this reduced to a 67th or 1.5% risk.
On February 20th, new observations led to a sudden downgrade of this risk, with NASA having a 0.27% impact chance of 1-in-360, and ESA having a 0.16%, or 1-in-in-in- in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in- in-ine 625. These ratings placed it at 1 on a 10-point Turin scale used to evaluate the hazards brought about by such objects. That score has decreased from 3. So, 2024 YR4 is now considered one of many low-risk asteroids discovered each year, but ultimately misses Earth.
I say this is good news Gareth Collins At Imperial College in London, asteroids still serve as a dry run for planetary defense systems and scientific purposes. “This still makes for an epic, close approach. If the risk of a hit was so high, it must be close to us,” he says.
Space companies that were sketching possible schemes to deflect NASA, ESA and asteroids, say they will likely continue their plans. Niklas Voight At OHB, a German space company. Voigt and his team were beginning to think about the mission to deflect the 2024 YR4, but the new risks won’t change that, he says. “The risk has decreased, but for the time being, we are still working on the topic.”
A close approach could be a good opportunity to test its ability to deflect asteroids, says Voigt – the only previous attempt to do this was NASA’s DART mission, the 160m in 2022 The asteroid-shaped trajectory of the . Satellites can be constructed to send to the 2024 YR4, he says, as well as the ESA’s Ramses satellite, to travel to observe the asteroid Apophis, passing near Earth in 2029. It is set to do so.
The final decision on what to do about YR4 2024 will likely not be made until the planned observation in March using James Webb Space Telescope. Not only does it collect orbital data, it also helps to better assess the size and composition of the asteroid. That information will be provided to the UN Assisted Space Mission Planning Advisory Group, which will determine the best action around the end of April. “These are very useful exercises to find a pinch point to make a decision, as you have time to do something wise in advance,” Collins says. “Absolutely, these committees are still meeting, but they’re probably less stressful.”
The possibility of an Earth shock has plummeted, but the risk of a YR4 collision with the moon in 2024 rose from 0.3% to 1.2%. “There’s a clear possibility that those numbers will rise even further,” says Moissl. “The exact impact of the effects of the moon from objects of this size is still under evaluation.”
The response to this object is also a useful rehearsal for other asteroids of concern, Collins says. “We want to avoid screams in the future, as the public is used to this threat, thinking, ‘Oh, that’s never going to happen.’ ”
The artist's impression of what asteroid 2024 YR4 looks like as they approached Earth in December 2032
NASA
NASA downgraded the risk that the 2024 YR4 would hit the planet by 1.5% in 2032. 1-in-67from the height of a 1-in-32 The chance was the best odds ever.
Astronomers discovered that an asteroid was slamming barrels towards Earth in December, and that has since been the focus of telescopes and space agencies around the world. As they collected more data on the exact orbit of the asteroid, astronomers were able to calculate the likelihood of hitting Earth more accurately. The asteroid is thought to be between 40 and 90 meters wide and can release energy equivalent to TNT's 7.7 megatonnes.
According to NASA, the likelihood of a 2032 collision has increased from a coincidence of one-third since it was first discovered. It then moved to 1/67, 1/53, 1/53, 1/53, 1-in-43, 1-in-38, 1-in-32, and now it's 1/67 I did. The European Space Agency has slightly different odds, Currently giving asteroids a 1.38% chance of collision. These changes reflect an increasing understanding of the asteroid path, meaning they may not necessarily impact Earth.
But we are running out of time to predict the risks of asteroids. One problem is that the 2024 YR4 flies behind the sun in April and goes outside from most Earth-based telescope views. It says it limits the amount that astronomers can narrow down their predictions. Hugh Lewis At the University of Southampton, England. That doesn't necessarily mean it's going down before April. It could continue to rise, but in the end I still miss us. ”
Once the asteroid pops out of sight, it is rare to get any more information before it comes back into view in 2028. However, astronomers can look at past data to reveal previously overlooked asteroid observations. Trajectory. The process is already being carried out by the world's space agencies, Lewis says.
We hope that important information about the size and composition of the asteroid will be collected by James Webb's Space Telescope in the coming months, Lewis says. This helps us understand whether an asteroid can make it intact through Earth's atmosphere and whether it can cause an impact or not.
“It helps us to determine what we need to do about it because if it's a stone asteroid, it's a very different proportion of iron metal asteroids,” Lewis said. I say it. Stone-rich asteroids will be even worse as stone-like asteroids potentially split during impact. “Mass makes a huge difference in terms of whether energy and the atmosphere affects it.”
The Earth is about 4.5 billion years ago. When it was formed from rocks colliding around the dim young sun, it was probably not lively, and for a long time geologists thought life would not appear for more than a decade. The idea came from the analysis of Moonlock, brought back from Apollo Landings. This indicated that the Earth was hampered by space rocks from 4 billion to 3.8 billion years ago. The meaning was that, as we know, it must have started after that, since the previous creatures were getting faster.
“There are two problems with that.” Philip Donohue At the University of Bristol, UK. First, the model suggests that some life could have survived deep within the ocean. Even worse, it appears that the heavy late artillery fires did not actually occur now. The Apollo mission produced the impression of a large artillery over a short period of time, as all gathered rocks of similar age.
Early in the history of the Earth, we found that major effects had sporadically occurred over hundreds of millions of years. However, it is also known that a Mars-sized body collides shortly after the formation of Earth, evaporating the planet's surface. “If life had been born earlier, it would have been wiped out,” Donohue said.
The oldest rock on the earth
Life began when inerts were self-organised into a living system, but despite decades of research, how it happened remains a mystery. As the fossil record gets worse, it's also a big challenge to understand that it happened when it happened…
In 1983, theoretical physicist Brandon Carter said that the time it took for humans to evolve on Earth compared to the total lifespan of the Sun was essentially unlikely to have been our evolutionary origin. We concluded that observers like humans who are comparable to the above are very rare. . In a new study, scientists from Pennsylvania, the University of Munich and the University of Rochester have critically reevaluated the core assumptions of Carter's “hard step” theory through the lens of historical geologics. Specifically, they propose alternative theories with no harsh steps, and the evolutionary specificity required for human origin can be explained through mechanisms other than essentially non-performance. Furthermore, if the surface environment of the Earth initially did not reach the specific important intermediate steps necessary for human existence, as well as human life, the timing of human origin would be a habitability surrounding the history of the Earth. Controlled by continuous openings in the new global environment window.
The new theory proposes that humans may represent potential consequences of biological and planetary evolution. Image credit: Fernando Ribas.
“This is a huge change in how we think about life history,” said Professor Jennifer McCalady of Pennsylvania.
“It suggests that the evolution of complex life may be less about the interaction between luck and its environment, and I am to understand our origins and our place in the universe. paves the path for exciting new research in our quest.”
“The 'hard step' model, originally developed by Brandon Carter in 1983, took humans to evolve on Earth compared to the total lifespan of the sun, so our evolutionary origins are largely due to the fact that He claims it is unlikely. Human beings are extremely low across the globe. ”
In a new study, Professor Makaradi and her colleagues say that the Earth's environment is initially incapable of parasitic life in many forms, and only important evolutionary steps when the Earth's environment reaches a state of “tolerant” claimed that it was possible.
“For example, because complex animal life requires a certain level of oxygen in the atmosphere, oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere through photosynthesis is the oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere through microorganisms and bacteria, and oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere through planets. It was a natural evolutionary step, said Dr. Dan Mills, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Munich.
“We argue that intelligent life may not need a series of lucky breaks.”
“Humans did not evolve “early” or “slowly” in the history of the Earth, but when conditions were right, they “on time.” ”
“It's probably just a matter of time, and while other planets can probably achieve these conditions more quickly than Earth, other planets may take even longer.”
The central prediction of the “hard step” theory is that, based on Carter's, steps such as the origin of life, the development of complex cells, and the emergence of human intelligence, if there are no other civilizations, then the other civilizations are He says there is little that exists in the universe. The interpretation of the total lifespan of the Sun is 10 billion years, and the age of the Earth is about 5 billion years old.
In a new study, the authors have the ability to originate human origin by continuous openings in the window of habitability to the history of the Earth, driven by changes in nutritional availability, sea surface temperature, ocean salinity levels, and oxygen levels. I suggested that the timing could be explained. atmosphere.
Given all the interaction factors, the Earth has only just become kind to humanity recently. It is simply a natural result of workplace conditions.
“We believe we need to use geological time scales rather than predicting based on the lifespan of the sun, because it takes time for the atmosphere and landscape to change,” Penn State said. said Professor Jason Wright.
“These are the normal timescales on Earth. When life evolves with planets, they evolve at the planet's pace on the planet's timescale.”
Team's paper It was published in the journal this month Advances in science.
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Daniel B. Mills et al. 2025. A reevaluation of the “hard step” model for the evolution of intellectual life. Advances in science 11(7); doi:10.1126/sciadv.ads5698
Geoscientists at the University of Southern California, the University of Los Angeles, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Cornell University, the Institute of Geology at the University of Utah and the University of Utah have said they have detected structural changes near the center of the Earth.
The inner core of the Earth was previously thought to be solid. Image credit: USC Graphics/Edward Sotero.
Professor John Vidale, a researcher at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said:
“What we discovered is evidence that the surface near the inner core of the Earth is undergoing structural changes.”
Located 5,000 km (3,000 miles) on the surface of the Earth, the inner core is fixed by gravity within the outer core of the molten liquid. Until now, the inner core was widely considered to be a solid sphere.
“The original purpose was to further diagram the deceleration of the inner core. However, when I was analyzing decades of earthquake records, one dataset of seismic waves remained. It was strangely distinctive from that,” Dr. Vidale said.
“Later I realized I was staring at evidence that my inner core was not solid.”
In this study, the authors recorded seismic waves recorded by Yelson and Yellow Knife Receber Array Stations in North America from repeated seismic pairs in the North-South Sandwich Islands between 1991 and 2023.
One dataset of seismic waves from the latter station contained non-characteristic properties that researchers have never seen before.
“The dataset initially confused me,” Dr. Vidale said.
It was not revealed that seismic waveforms represent additional physical activity in the inner core until the team improved their resolution techniques.
Physical activity is best described as a temporal change in the shape of the inner core.
New research shows that surfaces near the inner core can undergo viscous deformation, altering their shape and shifting at the shallow boundary of the inner core.
The most obvious cause of structural changes is the interaction between the inner and outer cores.
“It is widely known that the melted outer core is a turbulent flow, but that turbulence has not been observed to contiguously contiguously to the inner core of the human timescale,” Dr. Vidale said. Ta.
“The first thing we're looking at in this study is the outer core that probably disrupts the inner core.”
“This discovery could open the door to uncover previously hidden dynamics deep within the Earth's nucleus, and lead to a better understanding of the Earth's thermal and magnetic fields.”
study Published in the journal Natural Earth Science.
____
Je Vidale et al. Variations in annual scales at both rotation speed and surfaces near the inner core of the Earth. nut. GeosciPublished online on February 10th, 2025. doi:10.1038/s41561-025-01642-2
A new analysis of the metstones of magmatic iron challenges traditional theories about why Earth and Mars are depleted with moderately volatile elements.
Bendego met stone. Image credit: Jorge Andrade / CC by 2.0.
Medium volatile elements (MVEs) such as copper and zinc play an important role in planetary chemistry with essential elements of life, such as water, carbon, and nitrogen.
Understanding its origins provides important clues as to why the Earth has become a habitable world.
Earth and Mars contain significantly fewer MVEs than primitive metstones (chondrites), raising basic questions about the planetary layer.
This new study employs a new approach by analyzing iron meteorites (the metal core remnants of the earliest planetary building blocks) to reveal new insights.
“We’ve seen a lot of experience in the world,” said Dr. Damanveer Grewal, a researcher at Arizona State University.
“This discovery reconstructs our understanding of how the planet acquired its components.”
Until now, scientists believed that MVE was lost because they were not completely condensed in the early solar system or escaped during planetary differentiation.
However, new research reveals a different story. It is held by many MVEs on the first planet, suggesting that the building blocks of Earth and Mars later lost theirs.
Surprisingly, the authors discovered that many inner solar system planets retain abundance of MVEs like chondrites, and accretion continues despite being differentiated. It indicates that it has been saved.
This was not because Earth and Mars ancestors began to deplete with these elements, but instead occurred in the long history of collision growth, rather than incomplete condensation of solar nebulae or planet differentiation. Suggests that.
“Our work redefines how we understand the chemical evolution of planets,” Dr. Grewal said.
“It shows that the components of Earth and Mars were originally rich in these vital elements, but the intense collisions during the planet’s growth caused depletion.”
study Published in the journal Advances in Science.
____
Damanveer S. Grewal et al. 2025. Enrichment of moderate volatile elements in first-generation planets of the inner solar system. Advances in Science 11 (6); doi:10.1126/sciadv.adq7848
Effectively zero. It may be attacked by the satellite that you fall.
Although the number of satellites in the orbit has risen in exponential functions, modern satellites have the ability to control the re -entry trajectory, and they are built from low -density materials to burn out as they fall into the atmosphere.
However, fragments in the universe are still reaching the ground. We use the rocket stage from the long March rocket in China as a recent example.
One piece per day sounds like a lot, but at least three airplanes are dropped (mainly non -profit aircraft) in order to focus on it. 。
Being attacked by a piece of satellite is unlikely to be hit by a part of the crashed airplane -credit: Petrovich9
When the plane crashes, it usually remains in one piece until the moment of the impact, and is often full of fuel. As a result, the falling aircraft is much more fatal than a typical cosmic fragment. This may be part of a small titanium and carbon fiber panel.
There is no difference here for the extra altitude that the fragments of the universe have fallen. Falling from 300 km (about 186 miles) is the same as 10 km (6.2 miles) to reach the terminal speed long before hitting the ground.
Aircraft tend to fly near a dense population area, but spaceship is much more evenly distributed around the world. If everyone in the world goes out and spread, they cover only about 0.0002 % on the surface of the earth.
Therefore, even if the fragments of the fallen universe are fatal, they miss 99.9998 % and translate them into one death every 1 or 300 years.
This article is the answer to the question (asked by Charlie Bond by e -mail) “What is the possibility of a falling satellite?”
To send a question, please email questions@sciencefocus.com or send a message. Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram Page (don’t forget to include your name and location).
For surprising science, see the ultimate fun fact page.
A strange continent-sized structure (red) lurks beneath the planet's surface
Edward Garnero. SW French, BA Romanowicz, Geophys. J. Int. 199, 1303, 2014.
Two giant blobs deep within the Earth may remain stable for billions of years despite powerful internal fluctuations, according to an analysis of seismic waves reverberating across the planet.
“When a major earthquake occurs, the entire earth expands and contracts like a bell.” arwen Deus At Utrecht University in the Netherlands. “The earth becomes an instrument.”
Decades ago, measurements of such seismic waves identified two strange continent-sized structures, one under the Pacific Ocean and one under Africa. They extend for almost 1000 kilometers from the outer core to the lower mantle, the slowly moving layer between the Earth's crust and core.
Because seismic waves pass through these objects more slowly, they are called “large low shear velocity regions” or LLSVPs. However, little is known about its composition and origin.
To gain further information, Deus and her colleagues analyzed how these regions attenuate the energy of seismic waves, in addition to changes in wave speed. Such measurements reveal information about the temperature, composition, shape, and size of the LLSVP.
The researchers expected that the structure, which would be hotter than the surrounding area, would significantly attenuate seismic waves. “Lo and behold, we found the opposite,” says Deus.
To explain the lack of decay at high temperatures, the researchers propose that LLSVP must be composed of minerals with large crystals that are stable in heat. This also suggests that these regions are highly viscous and can maintain stability as the mantle moves around them.
This stability could mean that these objects are very old, dating back to the formation of planets at least 500 million years ago, and possibly more than 4 billion years ago, Deus said. They may act as repositories of primordial material, unchanged since the Earth formed, that sometimes reaches the surface via volcanoes.
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) captured on December 31, 2024 using the telescope at Rio Hurtado, Chile
lionel magic
A comet that has surprised astronomers could shine as brightly as Venus in the night sky as it passes Earth in the coming days.
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) was discovered by NASA’s Asteroid Earth Impact Last Alert System more than 600 million kilometers from Earth in April last year. Astronomers initially thought that the comet would not be able to survive in an orbit so close to the Sun, but subsequent observations showed that the comet was following a different path that would allow it to survive, possibly reaching Earth. It has been suggested that it may even be possible to remain unharmed until the approach of
This new orbit, which takes 160,000 years to complete, will mean the comet will snake its way through the solar system, making it visible to stargazers in the Southern Hemisphere. But for the last part of its journey around the sun, people in the northern hemisphere should also be mostly visible through binoculars.
Observations since the new orbit was proposed have shown the comet to be brighter than expected, which could mean it is breaking up as it approaches the sun. However, the latest observations show that the brightness persists and even increases, which would not be the case if the comet disintegrated.
If C/2024 G3 survives, it could appear very bright in the night sky, with some astronomers predicting its brightness could rival that of Venus, making it one of the brightest comets in decades. I’m doing it.
However, the comet’s exact brightness is unknown. It may be far enough away that it reflects the sunlight and is clearly visible, or it may be washed away by the sunlight and become invisible.
Astronomers have also suggested a phenomenon called forward scatter, where dust from the comet makes it appear brighter than normal, but meteorologist Joe Rao said that’s unlikely. space dot com.
If a comet shines brightly, it will probably reach its maximum level around the time of its closest approach to the Sun. The Central Astronomical Telegraph Office, which aggregates observations from astronomers around the world, predicts that this will occur on January 13 at 10:17 a.m. GMT, with the comet’s closest approach to Earth occurring several hours later. are.
This equates to an approximately three-day viewing period from January 12 to 14 for people in the Northern Hemisphere hoping to catch a glimpse of the comet if it’s bright enough. For people in areas such as the United States and Europe, the best time to see the comet is about 30 minutes before sunrise on January 12, when it should be visible through binoculars about 5 degrees from the sun or directly above the horizon. You should get a second chance around 30 minutes after sunset on January 14th.
Using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers found that at a time when the Universe was half its current age, a single galaxy behind the galaxy cluster Abel 370 had a redshift of 0.725 (Dragon We identified a star with more than 40 microlenses in an arc (called an arc).
In this Hubble image of Abell 370, the host galaxy in which 44 stars were discovered appears several times. Image credit: NASA.
“This groundbreaking discovery demonstrates for the first time that it is possible to study large numbers of individual stars in distant galaxies,” said Fengwu Sun, a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard University & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. the doctor said.
“Previous studies using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope discovered about seven stars, and now we have the ability to resolve them in a way that was previously impossible. ”
“Importantly, observing larger numbers of individual stars will also help us better understand the dark matter in the lens surfaces of these galaxies and stars. i didn't understand.”
In the study, Sun and his colleagues analyzed web images of a galaxy known as Dragon Arc, which lies along the line of sight from Earth behind a massive galaxy cluster called Abel 370.
Through gravitational lensing, Abel 370 stretches the Dragon Arc's characteristic spiral into an elongated shape. It is a hall of mirrors as big as the universe.
Astronomers carefully analyzed the color of each star in the Dragon Arc and discovered that many of them were red supergiants. This is in contrast to previous discoveries that primarily identified blue supergiants.
The researchers say this difference in star types highlights the unique ability of Webb observations at infrared wavelengths to reveal stars even at low temperatures.
“When we discovered these individual stars, we were actually looking for background galaxies that were magnified by galaxies within this giant cluster,” Dr. Sun said.
“But when we processed the data, we found that there were many what appeared to be individual star points.”
“It was an exciting discovery because it was the first time we had been able to see so many individual stars so far away.”
“We know more about red supergiants in our local galactic neighborhood, because they are closer and we can take better images and spectra, and sometimes even break up stars. It’s from.”
“Knowledge gained from studying red supergiants in the local universe can be used in future studies to interpret what happens next to red supergiants during the early stages of galaxy formation.”
Most galaxies, including the Milky Way, contain tens of billions of stars. In nearby galaxies, such as the Andromeda galaxy, astronomers can observe stars one by one.
But in galaxies that are billions of light years away, their light has to travel billions of light years to reach us, so stars appear mixed together, which explains how galaxies form and evolve. This has been a long-standing challenge for scientists who study it.
“To us, very distant galaxies usually look like diffuse, blurry clumps,” says Dr. Yoshinobu Fudamoto, an astronomer at Chiba University.
“But in reality, those clumps are made up of so many individual stars that our telescopes can't resolve them.”
of findings Published in a magazine natural astronomy.
_____
Yuya Fudamoto others. Identified over 40 gravitationally expanded stars in the galaxy at redshift 0.725. Nat Astronpublished online on January 6, 2025. doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02432-3
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