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Astronomy

Scientists Discover a Monster Planet That Challenges Planet Formation Theories

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Yesterday, on Halloween, scientists at the University of Warwick in the UK announced the discovery of a “monster planet.” No, it’s not a sentient planet (sorry fans of Mogo, Ego, and Unicron), but instead it throws everything we know about how planets form out the window.

This planet, officially called NGTS-1b, is a gas giant approximately the size of Jupiter that orbits a star 600 light-years away. Gas giants aren’t exactly unusual or uncommon — heck, we’ve got four of them in our Solar System — but NGTS-1b is unusual because its star is half the mass of the Sun. The distance between NGTS-1b and its star is 3% of the distance between Earth and the Sun. To put that into perspective, the Earth is approximately 93 million miles away from the Sun; Mercury is approximately 36 million miles away from the Sun, and NGTS-1b is 2.79 million miles away from its star. Also, the planet has 20% less mass than Jupiter, is believed to have a temperature of 530 degrees Celsius (compared to Jupiter’s 145 degrees Celsius), and completely orbits its star every 2.6 days — whereas Mercury’s orbits last 87.9 days.

According to current planetary formation theories, NGTS-1b’s star is too small to form gas giants and would only be capable of forming rocky planets. But, here we have a clear example of a star that shouldn’t have a gas giant having one. Lead author of the research team Dr. Daniel Bayliss made the following statement:

“The discovery of NGTS-1b was a complete surprise to us – such massive planets were not thought to exist around such small stars. This is the first exoplanet we have found with our new NGTS facility and we are already challenging the received wisdom of how planets form. Our challenge is to now find out how common these types of planets are in the Galaxy, and with the new NGTS facility we are well-placed to do just that.”

According to Professor Peter Wheatley from the University of Warwick, red M-dwarf stars are small and faint but are the most common stars in the universe, which means more monster planets like NGTS-1b could be out there, just waiting to be discovered. Only time will tell if these monster planets are common or if NGTS-1b is one of a kind.

All you have to do to get my attention is talk about video games, technology, anime, and/or Dungeons & Dragons - also people in spandex fighting rubber suited monsters.

Astronomy

Voyager 1’s signal from interstellar space has raised some concerns, as it appears to be more than just a random transmission

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There is a concerning issue with the farthest human-built object. Currently, Voyager 1 is located a staggering 24 billion kilometers (15 billion miles) away from Earth, traversing the vast expanse of interstellar space. Unfortunately, NASA has encountered some difficulties in establishing effective communication with the spacecraft in recent months. However, progress has been made towards finding a solution. The engineering team has found a message in the data stream that the spacecraft sent back.

In September 2023, a problem emerged with the data received from Voyager 1. Typically transmitted in binary code, or a sequence of 0s and 1s representing words, the probe was instead sending a pattern of alternating 1s and 0s. In February, the NASA Voyager engineering team explained to IFLScience that the connection between the spacecraft and Earth was still intact, but Voyager’s “voice” had been replaced by a monotonous dial tone.

This issue prevents scientific information and updates about the condition and health of the probe from being available. This includes crucial information that could potentially uncover the root cause of the issue. Based on our analysis, it appears that the problem lies with the Flight Data System [FDS], one of the probe’s onboard computers. The team is diligently working towards resolving the issue, but it is anticipated that this process may take several months.

Various methods were tried, but there was a significant shift at the beginning of this month. On March 1, the engineering team initiated a command to prompt the FDS to explore alternative sequences within its software package. This was done as a precautionary measure to address any potential corruption and find a possible workaround.

It is worth noting that Voyager 1 is located a staggering distance of 22 light-hours and 34 light-minutes away. Consequently, the transmission of signals to and from NASA requires nearly a full day. The poke did not solve the problem, but it definitely had an impact.

“On March 3, the Voyager mission team observed an anomaly in a specific section of the FDS, which stood out from the rest of the computer’s data stream that was otherwise indecipherable. According to a blog post by the Voyager team, they were initially uncertain about the meaning of the new signal since it did not match the format typically used by Voyager 1 when the FDS is functioning correctly.

However, a scientist working with the agency’s Deep Space Network, responsible for operating the radio antennas that establish communication with various spacecraft, including the Voyagers, successfully deciphered the new signal. Upon analysis, it was discovered that the signal contains a comprehensive record of the FDS memory.

The memory of the FDS includes both its code and information regarding the spacecraft’s status. The team is currently analyzing this data in order to compare it with the data received prior to September. Their goal is to determine the cause of the issue and find potential solutions.

If the team fails to resolve this issue, it could potentially spell the end of operations for Voyager 1, as there is no backup FDS available. However, Voyager 2 is functioning normally; the Voyager mission will continue as long as one probe is still operational,” the Voyager team informed IFLScience previously.

NASA’s projected budget for the upcoming years demonstrates a strong dedication to extending the Voyager mission well beyond its 50th anniversary in 2027.

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Astronomy

NASA Will Make a Big Announcement About Unidentified Anomalies

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NASA will release a major report on UFOs, or “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP).

The briefing will be held at the agency’s Washington DC headquarters at 10:00 EDT (14:00 UTC) on Thursday, September 14. The video player below streams the discussion live.

NASA commissioned an independent study group of 16 scientific, aeronautical, and data experts led by astrophysicist David Spergel in 2022 to produce the findings.

NASA says the study group will “examine UAP from a scientific perspective and create a roadmap for how to use data and the tools of science to move our understanding of UAP forward.”

The team’s full report will be posted online by NASA 30 minutes before the briefing.

This report will be released in accordance with NASA’s openness, transparency, and scientific integrity. When the study was announced last year, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate assistant deputy associate administrator for research, Daniel Evans, said, “We take that obligation seriously and make it easily accessible for anyone to see or study.”

UAP sightings were once the domain of conspiracy theorists and sci-fi, but recent high-profile US military sightings have legitimized them.

US authorities are taking UAPs seriously because they may be Russian or Chinese experimental aircraft being tested for national security.

Also possible is extraterrestrial life. NASA is open to all possibilities, but this week’s announcement won’t reveal alien lifeforms visiting Earth.

Instead, the report may outline new protocols to help the agency collect UAP data in the future.

“The report informs NASA of future data collection opportunities to shed light on UAP’s nature and origin. The announcement’s brief NASA statement said the report is not a review or assessment of previous unidentifiable observations.

“There are currently a limited number of high-quality observations of UAP, which make it impossible to draw firm scientific conclusions about their nature,” the agency said.

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Astronomy

NASA’s DART probe successfully collided with an asteroid.

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At the time of impact, the impactor vehicle, about the size of a vending machine, was moving at about 14,000 mph.

After traveling for over a year, NASA‘s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which attempted to provide answers, “Could a specially crafted satellite be used to divert an asteroid from its planet-destroying course? How about a number? “has effectively impacted the Dimorphos asteroid. However, NASA ground control has confirmed that the DART impact vehicle has intercepted the target asteroid. The results and data from the collision are still being received. Yes, Dimorphos is about the size of a football stadium, but space is very big, extremely dark, and both the asteroid and the spaceship were traveling rather quickly at the time.

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“It’s been a successful completion of the first part of the world’s first planetary defense test,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said after the impact. “I believe it’s going to teach us how one day to protect our own planet from an incoming asteroid. We are showing that planetary defense is a global endeavor and it is very possible to save our planet.”

In an effort to investigate the employment of defensive satellites as a method of planetary defense against Near Earth Objects, NASA launched the DART mission in November 2021. Nearly 68 million miles from Earth, the DART impactor vehicle, about the size of a vending machine, tragically crossed Dimorphos’ path while traveling at about 14,000 MPH.

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It remains to be seen if future generations of a planetary defense system will be packed with satellites ready to go full June Bug vs. Chrysler Windshield against real planet-killer asteroids. Dimorphos is one of two asteroids that are gravitationally entangled; its parent rock is more than five times larger than Dimorphos itself, but both are dwarfed by the space rock that struck Earth 66 million years ago and destroyed 75% of the planet’s multicellular life while gouging out the Gulf of Mexico.

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