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transportation:space

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transportation:space [2026/09/21 22:11] – [Mars Quake] timbtransportation:space [2026/11/10 21:02] (current) – [Neptune] timb
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 https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/06/arecibo_telescope_failure_analysis/ https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/06/arecibo_telescope_failure_analysis/
 +
 +== Zinc creep in the cable spelter sockets brought down the 57 year old Arecibo telescope in 2020, a failure sequence that began with Hurricane Maria three years earlier and the first documented case of long term zinc creep in over a century of use. ==
 +
 +Make Tech Easier Editorial - Oct 30, 2026
 +
 +Long-term zinc creep in the cable spelter sockets was the root cause of the 2020 collapse of the National Science Foundation’s 57-year-old telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, according to a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which also draws lessons learned for other unique, critical science facilities.
 +
 +The failure sequence began with Hurricane Maria, over three years before the collapse, the report says.
 +
 +The telescope’s main platform hung over the 305-metre reflector dish on a set of cables. Each cable ended in a socket filled with zinc, and the zinc held the cable in place. The report says the zinc gradually lost its hold on the cables and allowed several of them to pull out. The platform then fell into the reflector.
 +
 +https://maketecheasier.com/arecibo-zinc-creep-collapse/
 +
 +
 +
 +
  
 ===== Balloon (Space) ===== ===== Balloon (Space) =====
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 https://www.engadget.com/science/space/webb-telescope-images-an-aging-binary-star-system-in-the-center-of-a-four-layered-cosmic-dust-shell-140000485.html https://www.engadget.com/science/space/webb-telescope-images-an-aging-binary-star-system-in-the-center-of-a-four-layered-cosmic-dust-shell-140000485.html
 +
 +== Software squeezes more data out of Webb Telescope for imaging exoplanets ==
 +
 +Software optimizes a physical model of the telescope to reduce noise.
 +
 +John Timmer – Nov 5, 2026 11:59 AM
 +
 +With a huge and still-growing catalog of exoplanets, researchers are eager to take the next steps: trying to infer what conditions are like on them, either by imaging them directly or by capturing the light that has passed through their atmosphere. Both are substantial challenges, given the presence of stars that are far, far brighter than light that has come to us via the planet.
 +
 +While telescopes can be fitted with devices called coronagraphs that block out much of a star’s light, there are limits to their effectiveness, caused by noise from subtle variations in the telescope’s configuration and pointing between observations. Now, researchers have developed a new software package that optimizes a physical model of the telescope in a way that allows us to better model these differences, producing low-noise imaging of exoplanets.
 +
 +https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/11/getting-software-to-help-block-out-a-star-so-we-can-see-exoplanets/
  
  
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 https://gizmodo.com/webb-telescope-just-did-something-its-never-done-before-and-astronomers-are-thrilled-2000620073 https://gizmodo.com/webb-telescope-just-did-something-its-never-done-before-and-astronomers-are-thrilled-2000620073
 +
 +== I think I found a planet nobody knew existed. I used Claude Code to find it. ==
 +
 +u/This_Cell_1829 - 6 October 2026
 +
 +Built with Claude
 +
 +Last month I was going through data from NASA's TESS telescope with Claude Code when one star started looking weird.
 +
 +r/ClaudeAI - I think I found a planet nobody knew existed. I used Claude Code to find it.
 +
 +It's about 116 light-years away, and every 3.18 days it gets about 0.05% dimmer for roughly two hours.
 +
 +I first saw it in data from late 2025. So I went backwards.
 +
 +The same dip is there in completely separate TESS observations from 2020.
 +
 +Then 2018.
 +
 +If it's a planet, it's about 1.4× the size of Earth.
 +
 +To be clear: this is still a planet candidate, not a confirmed planet. 
 +
 +https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1wzw8zd/i_think_i_found_a_planet_nobody_knew_existed_i/
  
  
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 https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/06/planet-orbits-so-close-to-its-star-that-their-magnetic-fields-connect/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/06/planet-orbits-so-close-to-its-star-that-their-magnetic-fields-connect/
 +
 +== Astronomers Finally Pick Up Radio Signals From a Planet Beyond Our Solar System ==
 +
 +Sorry, it's not aliens.
 +
 +Passant Rabie - September 23, 2026, 4:55 pm ET
 +
 +For the first time, astronomers have detected radio signals from a planet beyond our solar system, according to a study available on the preprint server arXiv. The landmark observation offers a new way to study distant worlds and understand how they interact with their host stars and the environments that surround them.
 +
 +Radio signals can carry clues about a planet’s magnetic field and its interaction with the star it orbits—information that can be surprisingly difficult to tease out from the tiny amount of light reaching Earth. By detecting and studying these signals from exoplanets, scientists can begin to build a clearer picture of the extraordinary diversity of planetary systems across the galaxy.
 +
 +https://gizmodo.com/astronomers-finally-pick-up-radio-signals-from-a-planet-beyond-our-solar-system-2000816236
 +
 +
  
  
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 Samaneh Ansari [a Ph.D. student at Northwestern University and lead author on the new study] and her colleagues wanted to test the heat-trapping abilities of a substance Mars holds in abundance: dust. Martian dust is rich in iron and aluminum, which give it its characteristic red hue. But its microscopic size and roughly spherical shape are not conducive to absorbing radiation or reflecting it back to the surface. So the researchers brainstormed a different particle: using the iron and aluminum in the dust to manufacture 9-micrometer-long rods, about twice as big as a speck of martian dust and smaller than commercially available glitter. Ansari designed a simulation to test how these theoretical particles would interact with light. She found "unexpectedly huge effects" in how they absorbed infrared radiation from the surface and how they scattered that radiation back down to Mars — key factors that determine whether an aerosol particle creates a greenhouse effect. Samaneh Ansari [a Ph.D. student at Northwestern University and lead author on the new study] and her colleagues wanted to test the heat-trapping abilities of a substance Mars holds in abundance: dust. Martian dust is rich in iron and aluminum, which give it its characteristic red hue. But its microscopic size and roughly spherical shape are not conducive to absorbing radiation or reflecting it back to the surface. So the researchers brainstormed a different particle: using the iron and aluminum in the dust to manufacture 9-micrometer-long rods, about twice as big as a speck of martian dust and smaller than commercially available glitter. Ansari designed a simulation to test how these theoretical particles would interact with light. She found "unexpectedly huge effects" in how they absorbed infrared radiation from the surface and how they scattered that radiation back down to Mars — key factors that determine whether an aerosol particle creates a greenhouse effect.
 </blockquote> </blockquote>
 +
 +
 +
 +==== Volcano ====
 +
 +== Orbiter Detects Signs of Possible Volcanic Activity on Mars ==
 +
 +Posted by EditorDavid on Monday November 09, 2026 04:34AM
 +
 +Futurism reports:
 +
 +<blockquote>
 +While many scientists have long held that Mars is "geologically dead" inside, new research is adding to the growing body of evidence to the contrary.
 +
 +As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Science Advances, an international team of researchers examined data collected by the European and Russian ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter in 2021, which found that Mars is slowly belching hydrogen chloride gas. The researchers suggest this gas is being released from hot magma deep beneath its surface after discovering intriguing new fissures along a massive volcano, indicating the planet may be geologically active after all — or at least it was until relatively recently.
 +</blockquote>
 +
 +https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/11/09/0516221/orbiter-detects-signs-of-possible-volcanic-activity-on-mars
 +
 +
 +==== Water / Ice ====
 +
 +== Scientists Thought Mars’s North Polar Ice Was 25% Dust. They Were Way Off ==
 +
 +Previous research pointed to copious amounts of dust atop the arctic Martian wasteland, but a clearer picture is coming into focus.
 +
 +Gayoung Lee - October 2, 2026, 4:00 pm ET
 +
 +When NASA’s Mars Phoenix mission successfully sampled ice from the Martian arctic regions, it made astrobiological history. This sample, along with others that followed, led scientists to realize that Martian ice was buried beneath a layer of dust—although they may have overestimated how dusty it was, new findings suggest.
 +
 +Using a combination of different datasets, scientists revisited the purported dustiness of Mars’s northern polar region, finding that the top layer of Martian polar ice was roughly 3% dust. This is significantly smaller than the previous estimate, 25%, an error that the researchers attribute to a calculation technique that was originally developed to study the lunar regolith. Specifically, the Martian north pole resembles an “ice-cream sandwich” with layers of dustier and older, cleaner ice that cycle throughout the seasons, the team explained in a statement. As a result, there is some variation in the amount of dust, but not as much as we believed. The findings were published in npj Space Exploration.
 +
 +https://gizmodo.com/scientists-thought-marss-north-polar-ice-was-25-dust-they-were-way-off-2000820946
  
  
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 https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/06/22/0358233/tiny-orange-beads-found-by-apollo-astronauts-reveal-moons-volcanic-past https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/06/22/0358233/tiny-orange-beads-found-by-apollo-astronauts-reveal-moons-volcanic-past
 +
 +== A Strange Rock on the Moon’s Far Side May Help Solve a Decades-Old Magnetic Mystery ==
 +
 +If true, it means our satellite once had its own magnetic field—and lost it over the course of astronomical history.
 +
 +Gayoung Lee - September 23, 2026, 2:00 pm ET
 +
 +Today, the Moon has a very weak magnetic field—but did it always? This is something scientists have long debated. Some have theorized that the Moon did have its own magnetic field—a dynamo—some billions of years ago. Others disagree, saying the evidence doesn’t hold up. New observations from the Moon’s far side may finally settle the debate.
 +
 +A review of archived lunar observations discovered a large, strongly magnetized rock in the Dewar region on the far side of the Moon. According to a study published today in Science Advances, this rock, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) wide, is likely solidified magma that emerged from deep inside the Moon roughly 4.2 billion years ago. The Dewar crater also hosts a lunar swirl—bright, sinuous patterns—that often coincides with magnetic anomalies on the lunar surface. Coupled with gravitational, orbital, and magnetic measurements, the findings strongly support the presence of an internally generated magnetic field in the Moon’s earliest days.
 +
 +If true, the lunar magnetic field would have been around 11 microteslas, study co-authors Xi Yang and Anna Mittelholz told Gizmodo. (For context, Earth’s magnetic field today is around 50 microteslas.) “Dewar was a rare case where a magnetic anomaly, a gravity anomaly, and a surface swirl all coincide,” added Yang and Mittelholz, a PhD student and planetary scientist at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, respectively.
 +
 +https://gizmodo.com/moon-far-side-magnetic-rock-ancient-magnetic-field-2000816142
  
  
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 https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/01/06/2022236/neptune-is-much-less-blue-than-depictions https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/01/06/2022236/neptune-is-much-less-blue-than-depictions
 +
 +== Something Beyond Neptune Is Going the Wrong Way Around the Sun. It May Not Be From Here ==
 +
 +Scientists believe a close encounter with Neptune may have sent the object into its backward orbit around the Sun.
 +
 +Passant Rabie - November 10, 2026, 9:40 am ET
 +
 +Deep in the outer reaches of the solar system, an unusual object is moving against the flow of cosmic traffic, cutting across the Sun’s orbital plane at a remarkably steep angle. Scientists aren’t sure exactly how it got there; either it was tossed into its unique trajectory by Neptune or it’s an interstellar visitor from another star system.
 +
 +The Rubin Observatory in Chile first spotted the object beyond the orbit of Neptune at a distance of approximately 3 billion miles (4.8 billion kilometers). While most planets, asteroids, and comets orbit the Sun in a relatively flat plane, this newly discovered object follows a retrograde path defined by a highly inclined orbit.
 +
 +It’s not yet clear whether this object, temporarily designated R631, is a rocky body or a volatile-rich comet, or how it ended up in this backward trajectory around the Sun.
 +
 +https://gizmodo.com/something-beyond-neptune-is-going-the-wrong-way-around-the-sun-it-may-not-be-from-here-2000837621
  
  
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 ===== Terra (Earth) ===== ===== Terra (Earth) =====
 +
 +== Early Earth Was a Molten, Asteroid-Blasted Hellscape. Scientists Now Know When That Changed ==
 +
 +A new study narrows the timeline for the emergence of life on Earth.
 +
 +Ellyn Lapointe - September 22, 2026, 11:00 am ET
 +
 +The question of life’s origins is a chicken-and-egg problem that is perhaps best explained by the ribosome. These tiny intercellular structures translate genes into proteins, a process essential to life. And yet, ribosomes themselves are made of proteins and RNA. So which came first, the ribosomes that make proteins, or the proteins that make ribosomes?
 +
 +In the early 1960s, the RNA world hypothesis emerged as an answer to this question. RNA is the single-stranded cousin of DNA, the molecule that contains the genetic information for cellular biology. Often called the “workhorse molecule” of cells, RNA can take three different forms to serve three different functions. Messenger RNA (mRNA) carries genetic instructions from DNA to protein-making ribosomes, ribosomal RNA (rRNA) helps make the ribosomes themselves, and transfer RNA (tRNA) synthesizes proteins from mRNA.
 +
 +The RNA world hypothesis suggests that life on Earth began with self-replicating RNA molecules. After all, RNA is much simpler than DNA, so it makes sense that it would appear first. In this scenario, the first single-celled lifeforms would have used RNA to both store genetic information and create other molecules. Today, cells split these tasks between DNA and RNA.
 +
 +https://gizmodo.com/early-earth-was-a-molten-asteroid-blasted-hellscape-scientists-now-know-when-that-changed-2000815377
 +
 +== Something Deep Inside Earth Keeps Messing With the Length of Our Days ==
 +
 +One Earth day rarely adds up to exactly 24 hours. Scientists found one (of many) reasons why.
 +
 +Gayoung Lee - September 23, 2026, 11:50 am ET
 +
 +For practical purposes, we say that one day—the time it takes for Earth to rotate once on its axis—equates to 24 hours. In reality, different factors across different timescales influence how quickly our planet turns, which scientists have yet to fully understand.
 +
 +But new findings, published today in Nature, may finally solve at least one of these outstanding mysteries, namely how Earth’s rotation changes every couple of decades. According to the study, the multidecadal changes in Earth’s behavior come from deep inside our planet. Three mechanisms—gravitational, electromagnetic, and topographic coupling—essentially compete with one another to speed up or slow down Earth’s rotation over several decades. Specifically, gravitational coupling, or a gravity “torque” between Earth’s inner core and mantle, creates tiny changes that are pushed back by the other two mechanisms, explained Huifeng Zhang, the study’s first author.
 +
 +“What I find particularly exciting is that these different pieces of information can come together to provide a more coherent picture of Earth’s deep interior, a region that is extremely difficult to observe directly,” Zhang, a PhD student at the University of Alberta in Canada, told Gizmodo.
 +
 +https://gizmodo.com/something-deep-inside-earth-keeps-messing-with-the-length-of-our-days-2000816070
 +
 +
  
 ==== Moon Formation ==== ==== Moon Formation ====
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 https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a65515974/why-earth-has-tilted-science/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a65515974/why-earth-has-tilted-science/
 +
 +== Earth Tipped on Its Side During the Age of Dinosaurs—and Not Just Once ==
 +
 +When Earth tips over to restore its rotational balance, sea levels shift around the globe—episodes scientists have now traced to the age of dinosaurs.
 +
 +Gayoung Lee - October 1, 2026, 2:00 pm ET
 +
 +Earth is definitely not flat, but it’s not perfectly spherical, either. Due to its constant rotation, our Earth is closer to a squashed elliptoid. What this also means is that occasionally, the geographic locations of Earth’s north and south poles will wander across the planet’s surface as the solid Earth slowly rotates relative to its spin axis, so it appears as if the Earth tips over on its side. And this phenomenon may have had a greater impact on our planet’s environment than scientists thought.
 +
 +This wandering phenomenon is called true polar wander. According to a study published today in Science, some believed that true polar wander was “negligible or persistently slow.” However, the team behind the new work found that sizeable shifts in sea level patterns tended to align with suspected episodes of rapid true polar wander, namely during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The researchers arrived at this conclusion via a new method to study true polar wander using ancient sea-level changes, which highlights the underappreciated influence of this phenomenon on the global environment. Although “rapid” true polar wander episodes still played out over millions of years, their impact on Earth’s environment may be more significant than previously believed, according to the paper.
 +
 +https://gizmodo.com/earth-tipped-on-its-side-during-the-age-of-dinosaurs-and-not-just-once-2000820281
  
  
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 https://gizmodo.com/4-body-problem-astronomers-spot-the-most-tightly-packed-quadruple-star-system-yet-2000728811 https://gizmodo.com/4-body-problem-astronomers-spot-the-most-tightly-packed-quadruple-star-system-yet-2000728811
 +
 +==  Astronomers Discover the First Green Star ==
 +
 +Posted by BeauHD on Saturday October 17, 2026 12:00AM
 +
 +Astronomers have identified what may be the first genuinely green star, a white dwarf called WD J1330+6435 located about 326 light-years from Earth. Space.com reports:
 +
 +<blockquote>
 +The researchers found that some dead star white dwarfs can go a little green around the gills after snacking on orbiting planets. An example of this is WD J1330+6435, a cool white dwarf located around 326 light-years away, which has been accreting rocky material from a planetary companion. This has enriched its atmosphere with calcium, lithium, and sodium, and the team's model suggests this would have led WD J1330+6435 to adopt a green hue.
 +
 +[...] The researchers think that no other star, living or dead, has ever been credibly reported as green. That makes WD J1330+6435 the first known genuinely green star. "The traces of sodium in the atmosphere of this white dwarf absorb the orange part of the spectrum, leaving behind a ghostly green glow," Hollands said. "Imagine standing on a planet and looking up at a green star. It feels like something out of science fiction." 
 +</blockquote>
 +
 +https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/10/17/0011226/astronomers-discover-the-first-green-star
  
  
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 https://gizmodo.com/astronomers-found-the-suns-missing-silver-hiding-in-plain-sight-2000787743 https://gizmodo.com/astronomers-found-the-suns-missing-silver-hiding-in-plain-sight-2000787743
 +
 +== The Sun’s Death Could Tear Apart the Outer Solar System Much Sooner Than Thought ==
 +
 +“The Sun’s death is not an event the planets will quietly survive—it is the trigger for their orbital undoing.”
 +
 +Gayoung Lee - October 14, 2026, 10:05 am ET
 +
 +Our Sun is just like any other star. That is, eventually the Sun will run out of fuel and effectively collapse—taking out, presumably, most things in our neighborhood. That won’t pose a problem for those of us alive right now, but for those of you who still care: Scientists think the doomsday for outer planets might come earlier than expected.
 +
 +New calculations indicate that, once the Sun transforms into a white dwarf some 7 to 8 billion years from now, the outer solar system has roughly 1 billion years left—much lower than previous estimates ranging from 100 billion to a whopping 1 quintillion years, according to a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The latter number was so large as it assumed the Sun would lose its mass in a relatively smooth manner, Konstantin Batygin, the study’s first author, explained to Gizmodo. In reality, the Sun’s death will likely be bumpier, which introduces more chaos to the equation.
 +
 +“What we’ve shown is that this timeline [of 1 quintillion years] gets front-run by the Sun’s own death,” said Batygin, an astrophyscist at the California Institute of Technology. “Because planetary dynamics is chaotic—exhibiting sensitive dependence on initial conditions—no single simulation tells you what will happen, only what could happen.”
 +
 +https://gizmodo.com/the-suns-death-could-tear-apart-the-outer-solar-system-much-sooner-than-thought-2000825606
  
  
transportation/space.1790028697.txt.gz · Last modified: by timb