“The surface of Mars hosts widespread evidence of ancient flowing water and paleolakes,” the research team explained, adding that orbital and in situ spacecraft observations have also confirmed the presence of ‘aqueous alteration minerals’ on the planet’s surface.

Still, the initial scans indicating the presence of ancient waterways only penetrated a few inches beneath the Martian surface, limiting the amount of dispositive data that could be collected from them. Now, the rover has performed a new set of ground-penetrating radar scans that provide further support for the presence of an ancient river near Jezero crater.

Scans reveal numerous subsurface features consistent with an ancient river

According to a statement announcing the discovery, the study’s leader, UCLA’s Emily Cardarelli, focused on scans detailing features found in a currently submerged sedimentary deposit called the Margin unit. Because this region is rich in magnesium carbonates, the study authors said the site preserves a record of the planet’s ancient, wet climate.

“We analyze the depositional setting of the Margin unit, a major magnesium-carbonate deposit near the fluvial inlet to Jezero crater using ground penetrating radar data collected by the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Radar Imager for Mars Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX) instrument,” they write.

Along with its mineral composition, the Margin unit site was chosen because previous studies had revealed features “indicative of paleolakes and river deltas.” This includes a prominent feature that appears to have been shaped by flowing water, called the Western Delta.

Unlike earlier scans, the researchers said the RIMFAX ground-penetrating scans reached depths of “greater than 35 meters.” For comparison, the team notes that this is approximately 1.75 times as deep as “other Jezero geologic units explored to date.” The team also noted that the new scans were collected during an “approximately 6.1-km rover traverse.”

In the Margin Unit, strongly reflecting layers appear dark, and weakly reflecting lithologies appear light. The projected radargram is shown alongside HiRISE digital elevation model data, and layers are traced (cyan dotted lines) from the subsurface to their corresponding surficial topographic features.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/UCLA/UiO/ETH Zurich.

After examining the new scans, the researchers discovered “numerous subsurface features” consistent with an ancient river. These features were revealed by scans taken at “submeter to hundred-meter scale layering,” offering a small- and large-scale view of the ancient Martian river. The team said they inferred that the features they located “are consistent with buried fluvial features and deltaic foresets, which have experienced multiple erosional-depositional episodes.”

“This work illuminates a well-preserved paleolandscape wherein a deltaic environment developed prior to the formation of the Jezero Western Delta, as early as the Noachian (~4.2 to 3.7 billion years ago),” they explained

Discovery “Improves the Chances of Finding Evidence for Past Life”

When discussing potential implications of an ancient Martian river delta hidden beneath the red planet’s surface, the team noted that the ground penetrating power of RIMFAX provided them with “a unique perspective into the shallow Martian subsurface.

The team also noted the work “may have implications for the preservation of potential biosignatures and habitability in the subsurface of Jezero crater,” by providing a potential window into habitable conditions on Mars. This includes widening the window of opportunity for ancient Martian lifeforms to take hold.

“RIMFAX has revealed an earlier subsurface deltaic environment under the present-day delta, thereby extending the period of potential habitability for Jezero back further in time,” the study authors explained. “This work also improves the chances of finding evidence for past life.”

The study “Ground penetrating radar observations of ancient large-scale deltaic structures in Jezero crater, Mars” was published in Science Advances.

• Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/space/ }

19-03-2026 om 23:57 geschreven door peter  

Scientists discover 45 Earth–like planets that could have the perfect conditions for ALIENS – including four that are just 40 light–years away

• READ MORE: Aliens may have been trying to contact us for DECADES

By SHIVALI BEST, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

It's one of the biggest unanswered questions in science – do aliens exist, and if so, where are they?

Now, scientists have taken a massive leap towards answering these queries once and for all. 

Experts from the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University have pinpointed 45 Earth–like planets that could have perfect conditions for aliens. 

The planets all lie within the so–called habitable zone – an area not too close to a host star that it's too hot, and not too far away that it's too cold. 

Being in this zone raises the tantalising possibility that a planet has water at its surface, which is a key ingredient for life. 

Excitingly, some of these worlds are only tens of light–years away, suggesting we might be able to reach them in the future. 

'Life might be much more versatile than we currently imagine, so figuring out which of the 6,000 known exoplanets would be most likely to host extraterrestrials could prove critical,' said Professor Lisa Kaltenegger, an author of the study. 

'Our paper reveals where you should travel to find life.'

Experts from the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University have pinpointed 45 Earth–like planets that could have perfect conditions for aliens

Scientists have already discovered more than 6,000 exoplanets, but until now, exactly which of these have the potential for life has remained a mystery. 

In their new study, the team pinpointed 45 of these planets that may support life in the habitable zone, and another 24 in a narrower 3D habitable zone. 

The worlds includes some you might have heard of before, such as Proxima Centauri b, TRAPPIST–1f and Kepler 186f. 

Meanwhile, some of the others are not so well known, such as TOI–715 b – a planet located 137 light–years away that was spotted by the TESS satellite just three years ago. 

According to the researchers, the most interesting planets are TRAPPIST–1 d, e, f and g, which are just 40 light–years from Earth. 

Unfortunately, NASA says that it would currently take at least 800,000 years to reach the TRAPPIST–1 system. 

However, as spacecraft begin to use more modern technologies like nuclear pulse propulsion, we could potentially reduce this time to a few centuries.

Meanwhile, the researchers are also interested in the planets that get light from their stars most similar to what Earth receives from the Sun today. 

The planets all lie within the so–called habitable zone – an area not too close to a host star that it's too hot, and not too far away that it's too cold. Pictured: An artist's impression of a theoretical planet orbiting a redder star

According to the researchers, the most interesting planets are TRAPPIST–1 d, e, f and g, which are just 40 light–years from Earth

These are TRAPPIST–1 e, TOI–715 b, Kepler–1652 b, Kepler–442 b, Kepler–1544 b and the planets Proxima Centauri b, GJ 1061 d, GJ 1002 b, and Wolf 1069 b. 

While the planets well within their habitable zones raise hopes of finding aliens, the researchers also hope the planets on the edge of the habitable zone will shed light on exactly where habitability ends. 

'While it's hard to say what makes something more likely to have life, identifying where to look is the first key step,' explained study author Gillis Lowry.

'So the goal of our project was to say "here are the best targets for observation". 

As part of the study, the team also pinpointed the best techniques for observing the 45 planets. 

This includes the James Webb Space Telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (set to launch in 2027), and the Extremely Large Telescope (set to see first light in 2029). 

While this study focused on exoplanets, scientists have previously revealed how aliens could be hiding in our very own solar system. 

Dr David Armstrong, an expert on exoplanet detection from the University of Warwick, told the Daily Mail: 'On Earth, we find life almost everywhere there is liquid water, so the easiest place to look for extraterrestrial life is the same.

An artist's impression of a planetary system around a slightly hotter star than our Sun. In prior research, Carl Sagan Institute scientists have theorised that organisms could evolve biofluorescence to protect themselves from a more intense star 

'The most likely place to find it would be in the subsurface oceans of some of the moons orbiting Saturn and Jupiter.'

READ MORE

• Where are all the aliens? As President Obama rules out Area 51, scientists reveal the best candidates for extraterrestrials - including inside our own solar system

Saturn's moon Enceladus is seen as a particularly promising candidate to look for extraterrestrial life because of plumes of liquid water constantly spewing from its South Pole. 

Meanwhile, Titan, another of Saturn's icy moons, has also been put forward as a strong candidate in the search for extraterrestrial life. 

The 45 Earth–like planets that could have perfect conditions for ALIENS

1. GJ 1002 b
2. GJ 1002 c
3. GJ 1061 c
4. GJ 1061 d
5. GJ 251 c
6. GJ 273 b
7. GJ 3323 b
8. GJ 667 C c
9. GJ 667 C e
10. GJ 667 C f
11. GJ 682 b
12. K2–239 d
13. K2–288 B b
14. K2–3 d
15. K2–72 e
16. Kepler–1229 b
17. Kepler–1410 b
18. Kepler–1544 b
19. Kepler–1606 b
20. Kepler–1649 c
21. Kepler–1652 b
22. Kepler–186 f
23. Kepler–296 e
24. Kepler–296 f
25. Kepler–441 b
26. Kepler–442 b
27. Kepler–452 b
28. Kepler–62 e
29. Kepler–62 f
30. L 98–59 f
31. LHS 1140 b
32. LP 890–9 c
33. Proxima Centauri b
34. Ross 508 b
35. TOI–1266 d
36. TOI–700 d
37. TOI–700 e
38. TOI–715 b
39. TRAPPIST–1 d
40. TRAPPIST–1 e
41. TRAPPIST–1 f
42. TRAPPIST–1 g
43. Teegarden's Star c
44. Wolf 1061 c
45. Wolf 1069 b

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/index.html }

19-03-2026 om 23:27 geschreven door peter  

Mysterieuze 'vuurballen' gezien? Het was de raket van Elon Musk

©Getty Images

Mysterieuze 'vuurballen' gezien? Het was de raket van Elon Musk
Uit diverse plaatsen in ons land kwamen meldingen over vreemde vuurballen in de nachtelijke hemel. De lichtgevende bollen waren rond 04:45 uur zichtbaar. Het gaat vermoedelijk om ruimteafval van SpaceX, het ruimtetransportbedrijf van Elon Musk. Volgens sterrenkundige Theo Jurriens is het mogelijk de tweede trap van draagraket Falcon 9 geweest, die op 1 januari 22 satellieten heeft gelanceerd.

Het heelal is een enorme en uitgestrekte plek, gevuld met de meest bizarre dingen die zelfs de verbeelding van de meest creatieve personen op de proef kunnen stellen. Van losgeslagen planeten die doelloos door de kosmos zwerven tot mysterieuze signalen die dromen over buitenaardse beschavingen veroorzaken, de hemel is gevuld met anomalieën die elke verklaring weerstaan. Deze vreemde en wonderlijke objecten bieden een blik in het onbekende en slepen ons dieper mee in het kosmische mysterie.Nieuwsgierig? Klik door deze galerij om enkele van de mysterieuze krachten, eigenaardige structuren en buitenaardse spektakels van het universum te zien die ons begrip uitdagen en onze verbeelding aanwakkeren.

©Getty Images

Mysterieuze radiosignalen
Sinds 2007 hebben onderzoekers fast radio bursts (FRB's) gedetecteerd, intense radiosignalen die slechts milliseconden duren en op miljarden lichtjaren afstand ontstaan. Onlangs werd een zich herhalende FRB vastgelegd die zes keer flitste, maar het mysterie achter deze signalen is nog steeds niet opgelost.

©Shutterstock

Nucleaire pasta
De sterkste stof in het heelal ontstaat uit de overblijfselen van een dode ster, waar extreme zwaartekracht protonen en neutronen samenperst tot een warrig, linguini-achtig materiaal. Simulaties wijzen erop dat deze stof slechts zou breken onder 10 miljard keer de kracht die nodig is om staal te versplinteren.

©Shutterstock

De ringen van Haumea
Haumea, een dwergplaneet in de Kuipergordel, is uniek met zijn langgerekte vorm, twee manen en snelle rotatie van vier uur. In 2017 ontdekten astronomen dunne ringen rond Haumea, waarschijnlijk veroorzaakt door een botsing in het verleden, wat deze planeet nog bijzonderder maakt.

©Shutterstock

Donkere materie
De onzichtbare kracht die bekend staat als donkere materie maakt 85% uit van de inhoud van het heelal en is raadselachtig maar alomtegenwoordig. In maart 2018 ontdekten astronomen een sterrenstelsel dat donkere materie leek te missen. Later onderzoek bevestigde de aanwezigheid ervan, en astronomen blijven verbijsterd!

©Public Domain

De meest bizarre ster
Astronome Tabetha Boyajian en haar team waren verbaasd over KIC 846285, of Tabby's ster, die onregelmatige en aanzienlijke dips in helderheid vertoonde. Terwijl sommigen speculeerden over een buitenaardse megastructuur rondom de ster, geloven de meesten nu dat het dimmen wordt veroorzaakt door een ongebruikelijke ring van stof rondom de ster.

©Public Domain

Zeer elektrische Hyperion
Hyperion, de maan van Saturnus (met zijn puimachtige, onregelmatige vorm en vele kraters), behoort tot de vreemdste manen in het zonnestelsel. NASA's Cassini-ruimtevaartuig, dat tussen 2004 en 2017 Saturnus verkende, ontdekte ook dat Hyperion een “deeltjesstraal” van statische elektriciteit de ruimte in stuurt, wat de maan nóg vreemder maakt.

©Shutterstock

Een leidende neutrino
Een hoogenergetisch neutrino (in feite een klein spookdeeltje) trof de aarde op 22 september 2017, wat op zich niet ongewoon was, maar het was wél de eerste met voldoende gegevens om de oorsprong ervan te achterhalen. Astronomen stelden vast dat het vier miljard jaar geleden werd weggeblazen door een vlammende blazar, een superzwaar zwart gat dat nabijgelegen materiaal opslokt.

©Shutterstock

Het levende fossiele sterrenstelsel
Een sterrenstelsel dat bekend staat als DGSAT I werd in 2016 ontdekt. Het is net zo groot als de Melkweg, maar bijna onzichtbaar vanwege de dun gespreide sterren. In tegenstelling tot typische sterrenstelsels in clusters, staat DGSAT I alleen. De eigenschappen doen vermoeden dat het ongeveer een miljard jaar na de oerknal is gevormd, waardoor het eigenlijk een levend fossiel is.

©Public Domain

Afbeelding: NASA Hubble ruimtetelescoop, Tommaso Treu/UCLA

Dubbel quasarbeeld
Massieve objecten kunnen licht krommen, waardoor het beeld van objecten erachter wordt vervormd. Met behulp van de Hubble-ruimtetelescoop namen onderzoekers een quasar (een lichtgevend sterrenstelsel) uit het vroege heelal waar en ontdekten dat het heelal nu sneller uitdijt dan toen. Natuurkundigen moeten nu vaststellen of hun theorieën niet kloppen of dat er iets ongewoons aan de hand is.

©Shutterstock

Infraroodstroom
Neutronensterren zijn dichte overblijfselen van dode sterren, die meestal radiogolven of röntgenstraling uitzenden. In september van 2018 ontdekten astronomen een ongebruikelijke stroom van infrarood licht van een neutronenster op 800 lichtjaar afstand, iets wat nog niet eerder was voorgekomen. Ze vermoeden dat een omringende stofschijf dit zou kunnen veroorzaken, maar de precieze verklaring blijft onbekend.

©Getty Images

Solitaire planeet met aurora's
Solitaire planeten die door de zwaartekracht van hun moederster worden geworpen, zwerven zonder baan door het melkwegstelsel. Een object ter grootte van een planeet (genaamd SIMP J01365663+0933473 en gelegen op 200 lichtjaar afstand) valt op met een magnetisch veld dat meer dan 200 keer sterker is dan dat van Jupiter. Dit krachtige veld creëert flitsende aurora's die zichtbaar zijn met een radiotelescooop.

©Shutterstock

Zwart gat Sagittarius A*
In het centrum van de Melkweg bevindt zich een superzwaar zwart gat, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), dat vier miljoen zonsmassa's bevat. In tegenstelling tot actievere zwarte gaten in andere sterrenstelsels is Sgr A* ongewoon rustig, verborgen achter gas en stof maar wel detecteerbaar via radiogolven. De extreme dichtheid van dit zwarte gat blijft een mysterie en vormt een uitdaging voor ons begrip van natuurkunde.

©Shutterstock

Pulsars
De eerste planeten die buiten ons zonnestelsel werden ontdekt, werden in 1992 gevonden, niet rondom een normale ster, maar rond een milliseconde pulsar op 980 lichtjaar afstand. Pulsars zijn neutronensterren, ongelooflijk dichte objecten die snel ronddraaien en elektromagnetische energie uitzenden als de lichtstralen van een vuurtoren. Hoewel de planeten rond de pulsar cirkelen, is deze niet groter dan 32 kilometer breed.

©Public Domain

Hoag’s Object
In 1950 ontdekte astronoom Arthur Hoag een sterrenstelsel met een centrale gele kern, gescheiden door 70.000 lichtjaar bijna-leegte van een buitenste ring van sterren, gas en stof. Het sterrenstelsel, dat bekend staat als Hoag's Object, heeft een kern en een buitenste ring die elk even groot zijn als delen van de Melkweg, waardoor het één van de meest merkwaardige galactische structuren van het heelal is.

©Public Domain

Afbeelding: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Fermi-bubbels
In november 2010 hebben astronomen twee enorme bubbels gammastraling ontdekt die uit het centrum van de Melkweg komen. Deze bubbels, die zich uitbreiden met 2,2 miljoen km/u (3,5 miljoen km/u), vormen een zandlopervorm. Deze vreemde structuur wordt toegevoegd aan de groeiende lijst van mysterieuze fenomenen in de kosmos.

©Shutterstock

Magnetars
Magnetars zijn een soort neutronensterren met ongelooflijk sterke magnetische velden, ongeveer een quadriljoen keer sterker dan het magnetische veld van de aarde. Deze magnetars zijn vreemd omdat ze zogenaamde “sterbevingen” kunnen veroorzaken door de verschuiving van hun magnetische veld. Hierbij komen enorme hoeveelheden energie vrij in intense uitbarstingen van stralingen die vanaf de aarde kunnen worden waargenomen.

©Shutterstock

Gat van Boötes
Het Gat van Boötes is een enorm, bijna leeg gebied in de ruimte met een doorsnede van ongeveer 700 miljoen lichtjaar en weinig sterrenstelsels erin. Zijn grootte en leegte zijn behoorlijk vreemd, omdat zulke leegtes zeldzaam zijn in het heelal, dat grotendeels gevuld is met sterrenstelsels en materie.

©Shutterstock

De Grote Aantrekker
De Grote Aantrekker is een zwaartekrachtanomalie die sterrenstelsels, inclusief onze eigen Melkweg, met ongelooflijke snelheden naar zich toe lijkt te trekken. Het bevindt zich op een vreemde plek in een deel van de hemel dat verborgen is door het stof van ons sterrenstelsel, waardoor hij moeilijk direct waar te nemen is. We weten dat het bestaat, maar zijn precieze eigenschappen blijven een mysterie.

©Getty Images

De koude vlek
De koude vlek is een ongewoon koud gebied in de kosmische microgolfachtergrond (CMB) die door het heelal is opgenomen in de nasleep van de oerknal. Het is te zien in het midden van de afbeelding, en de temperatuur is aanzienlijk lager dan het omringende gebied. Maar wetenschappers weten niet zeker waarom. Het blijft één van de grootste raadsels in de sterrenkunde.

©Shutterstock

‘Oumuamua
'Oumuamua was een langwerpig, sigaarvormig object dat in 2017 door ons zonnestelsel raasde en het eerste bekende interstellaire object was dat werd gedetecteerd. Zijn vreemde vorm, hoge snelheid en het feit dat het zich niet als een typische komeet of asteroïde gedroeg, hebben geleid tot speculaties over zijn oorsprong. Sommige wetenschappers hebben zelfs gesuggereerd dat het een buitenaardse sonde zou kunnen zijn.

©Public Domain

Hanny's Voorwerp
Hanny's Voorwerp is een vreemd, gloeiend en groenachtig object waarvan wordt gedacht dat het een gaswolk is die wordt verlicht door een quasar die sindsdien inactief is. Het vreemde is dat het nog steeds gloeit, lang nadat de energie-output van de quasar zou moeten zijn vervaagd. Dit suggereert dat quasars echo's van hun activiteit kunnen achterlaten en de ruimte nog miljoenen jaren kunnen verlichten.

©Shutterstock

Hypersnelle sterren
Wanneer sterren met zo'n hoge snelheid door de ruimte bewegen dat ze helemaal uit hun melkwegstelsel kunnen ontsnappen, worden ze hypersnelle sterren genoemd. De meeste sterren in sterrenstelsels draaien met relatief stabiele snelheden, maar van deze sterren wordt aangenomen dat ze zijn uitgestoten na een wisselwerking met superzware zwarte gaten.

©Shutterstock

Wormgaten
Wormgaten zijn theoretische doorgangen door ruimtetijd die verre delen van het universum of zelfs verschillende universa met elkaar zouden kunnen verbinden. Hoewel ze nog nooit zijn waargenomen, komen ze voort uit oplossingen van de algemene relativiteitsvergelijkingen van Albert Einstein. Door er doorheen te reizen zou je sneller dan het licht kunnen reizen en mogelijk zelfs door de tijd kunnen reizen.

©Public Domain

Het Wow!-signaal
In 1977 werd 72 seconden lang een sterk smalbandig radiosignaal waargenomen voordat het verdween. Het was afkomstig van de constellatie Boogschutter en is tot op de dag van vandaag onverklaard gebleven. De plotselinge verschijning van het signaal en het feit dat het nooit meer werd gedetecteerd, hebben geleid tot wilde speculaties, waaronder de mogelijkheid dat het een transmissie was van een buitenaardse beschaving.

©Shutterstock

Galactisch kannibalisme
Galactisch kannibalisme is een verschijnsel waarbij een groter sterrenstelsel een kleiner stelsel opslokt door het door zwaartekracht uit elkaar te trekken en zijn sterren, gas en stof op te nemen. Sterrenstelsels (die stabiele, op zichzelf staande systemen lijken te zijn) kunnen in werkelijkheid samensmelten en elkaar verslinden in kosmische botsingen die leiden tot grotere, zwaardere sterrenstelsels.

©Shutterstock

Blauwe achterblijvers
Blauwe achterblijvers zijn sterren die jonger en zwaarder lijken dan de andere sterren in hun cluster, ondanks het feit dat ze van hetzelfde materiaal zijn gemaakt. Ze zijn vreemd omdat ze de verwachte levenscyclus van sterren tarten. Hoewel deze sterren al uitgebrand zouden moeten zijn, blijven ze helder en heet en reizen ze onvermoeibaar door het heelal.

©Public Domain

Phoenix Cluster
De Phoenix Cluster is een enorme cluster van melkwegstelsels met een ongewoon hoog tempo van stervorming en activiteit van zwarte gaten. In de meeste melkwegclusters is de stervorming aanzienlijk vertraagd, maar in de Phoenix Cluster worden in hoog tempo sterren gevormd en groeit het superzware zwarte gat in het centrum veel sneller dan verwacht.

©Public Domain

Hexagoon van Saturnus
Op de noordpool van Saturnus bevindt zich een vreemde, standvastige wolkenformatie in de vorm van een zeshoek. Dit geometrische weerpatroon is bizar en onverklaarbaar, omdat de meeste stormen of atmosferische verschijnselen op planeten cirkelvormig of onregelmatig van vorm zijn. De zeshoek is meer dan 30.000 kilometer breed en kent winden tot 320 km/u.

Bronnen:

• (Live Science)
• (Astronomy Magazine)
• (Smithsonian Magazine)
• (Britannica)
• (NASA Science)

{ Stars Insider }

19-03-2026 om 21:47 geschreven door peter  

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

18-03-2026 om 22:12 geschreven door peter  

Origin of the Sun

Astronomers previously believed that our Sun formed about 10,000 light-years closer to the galactic center than its current position roughly 4.6 billion years ago.

However, how this migration occurred has long remained a question for researchers. Analysis of stellar composition suggests that stars like the Sun formed in a more central location, yet today a structure known as the corotation barrier appears to impede their movement outward from the galactic center.

“The physical mechanism behind the corotation barrier has been fairly well understood,” co-author Dr. Daisuke Taniguchi, of Tokyo Metropolitan University, told The Debrief. “However, what has been less clear is where exactly the barrier may have been located in the past.”

The researchers focused their study on solar “twins,” stars with temperatures, surface gravities, and chemical compositions similar to those of our Sun. Among the nearly two billion stars contained in the Gaia data set, the team identified 6,594 solar twins—roughly 30 times more such stellar analogues than had been found in previous studies.

Developing a Star Catalogue

“We selected stars whose atmospheric parameters (surface temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity) are very close to those of the Sun,” Taniguchi explained. “In addition, we applied several quality cuts using other physical parameters and data flags to ensure that only high-quality measurements were included in our final sample.”

A mass migration of stellar twins. Stars similar to our Sun form a mass migration from the center of the Milky Way, occurring approximately 4 to 6 billion years ago.

Credit: NAOJ

The large sample size enabled the researchers to determine the stars’ ages with much greater precision than earlier work allowed. Their analysis suggests that the formation of these types of stars peaked roughly 4 to 6 billion years ago, providing evidence that many may have formed in the same region near the center of the Milky Way.

The research also offers clues about the evolution of the galaxy’s central structure. Today, the corotation barrier associated with the Milky Way’s bar would prevent stars from migrating outward in the way the Sun appears to have done.

This suggests that the migration likely occurred before the barrier reached its current position. In other words, the corotation barrier itself may have shifted over time as the galaxy evolved.

“Our study proposed the possibility that the location of the barrier may have changed significantly around 4-6 billion years ago,” Taniguchi said. “If so, this could have allowed stars like the Sun to migrate outward more easily during that period.”

Further Research on Sun Twins

For life on Earth, it may be fortunate that the Sun migrated away from the galactic center before the corotation barrier stabilized, since the central regions of the Milky Way present a far more hostile environment for planetary systems.

The researchers plan to continue expanding their solar twin catalogue as new astronomical data becomes available.

“A natural next step will be to expand the sample using the upcoming Gaia DR4 data release planned for December 2026 (in this study, we used Gaia DR3 data),” Dr. Taniguchi said. “With a larger number of Solar twins and a wider observational volume (currently 6,594 Solar twins within about 1,000 light years around the Sun), we can improve the statistical significance of the results and also further investigate the spatial distribution of the sample.”

The team hopes their star catalogue will help other astronomers pursue new lines of research.

“Our catalog is currently the largest high-confidence catalog of Solar twins and contains a wide range of information, including ages, chemical compositions, distances, and other stellar properties,” Dr. Taniguchi concluded. “Because of this, I hope it will be used for many different kinds of studies beyond the questions we explored in our papers.”

The paper, “Solar Twins in Gaia DR3 GSP-Spec I. Building a Large Catalog of Solar Twins with Ages,” appeared in Astronomy & Astrophysics on March 12, 2026.

• Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/astronomy/ }

18-03-2026 om 22:03 geschreven door peter  

Decades of Debate

First identified in 2002, the Silverpit structure displays several features that are characteristic of impact craters, including a circular outline, a central peak, and concentric fault rings. Despite these clues, some scientists argued that the formation could have resulted from natural geological activity, such as the movement of underground salt deposits or volcanic forces, leaving the true origin of the crater unclear.

In 2009, a group of geologists reviewed the evidence and concluded that the crater was unlikely to have formed from an asteroid impact. The latest research not only challenges but also overturns that earlier conclusion.

Evidence Hidden Beneath the Seafloor

A team led by Dr. Uisdean Nicholson at Heriot-Watt University used high-resolution seismic imaging alongside detailed analysis of rock samples collected from beneath the seabed. The seismic data revealed the crater’s internal structure with a level of detail previously unattainable. Meanwhile, rock samples obtained from an oil well offered crucial evidence to resolve the question of the crater’s origin.

“We were exceptionally lucky to find these — a real ‘needle-in-a-haystack’ effort,” Nicholson said. “These prove the impact crater hypothesis beyond doubt.”

The samples contained shocked quartz and feldspar, minerals that only form under the intense pressures produced by asteroid impacts. These minerals confirm that a high-energy collision created Silverpit Crater.

A Violent Impact

The evidence shows that an asteroid about 160 meters wide hit the seabed between 43 and 46 million years ago. The team’s models suggest the asteroid came from the west at a low angle, creating a huge plume of rock and water.

Within minutes, the plume collapsed back into the ocean, producing a tsunami that reached heights of over 100 meters (about 330 feet). The impact released vast amounts of energy, sending waves across the surrounding region and reshaping the seafloor.

A Rare Preserved Impact Crater

Impact craters are rare on Earth because erosion and plate movements slowly erase them. Around 200 confirmed impact craters have been found on land, but only a few dozen have been found beneath the ocean.

Silverpit is notable as a well-preserved hypervelocity impact crater, offering a rare opportunity to study how such events shape the planet’s subsurface structure.

Professor Gareth Collins of Imperial College London, who contributed to the study’s modeling work, said the new evidence represents a decisive breakthrough. “It is very rewarding to have finally found the silver bullet,” Collins said.

Understanding Earth’s Impact History

This research settles a long-standing scientific debate and offers new insight into the forces that have shaped Earth’s history. The findings will help scientists understand how asteroid impacts influence planetary surfaces on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system.

“We can use these findings to understand how asteroid impacts shaped our planet throughout history, as well as predict what could happen should we have an asteroid collision in the future,” said Nicholson.

• Austin Burgess is a writer and researcher with a background in sales, marketing, and data analytics. He holds a Master of Business Administration, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a Data Analytics certification. His work combines analytical training with a focus on emerging science, aerospace, and astronomical research.

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/space/ }

18-03-2026 om 21:22 geschreven door peter  

Residents across multiple states were startled on Tuesday as a loud boom, believed to be a meteor crashing into Earth, echoed across the region. 

Witnesses in Pittsburgh reported seeing what appeared to be a burning object streaking through the sky, describing it as 'a rocket or something like a meteor.'

One local wrote online: '911 calls in the city. I have relatives who heard the boom from Hinckley, Ohio, all the way to Sandusky.'

Totally reminded me of the sonic booms produced by the fighter-jet test pilots in the early 1960s,' another person shared.

The National Weather Service (NWS) later said the fiery object was likely a meteor entering Earth's atmosphere.

The meteor was spotted by space satellites around 9am ET and seen by human eyes about one hour later. 

As of January 2026, the Meteoritical Bulletin Database has recorded 1,270 officially confirmed 'observed falls,' meteorites that were seen falling to Earth and later recovered. 

Scientists estimate around 17,000 meteorites strike the planet each year, but most land in oceans or remote areas, meaning only about 1.8 percent of meteorites have actually been witnessed. 

Witnesses in Pittsburgh reported seeing what appeared to be a burning object streaking through the sky, describing it as 'a rocket or something like a meteor.' 

Residents across Ohio and Pennsylvania were startled Tuesday morning as a loud boom echoed across the region

Officials from the NWS Cleveland stated that the meteor likely burned up or disintegrated high in the atmosphere, approximately 25 miles up over the Northeast Ohio/Lake Erie region. 

Some officials speculated that if any fragments survived, they could have landed in Lake Erie. 

There have been no reports of injuries or property damage caused by the landing.  

The 'explosion' reported across the region was a sonic boom created by the meteor shooting through the atmosphere at speeds over 25,000 mph. 

Residents across the region flooded social media with reports of a powerful blast, with many describing a thunderous noise that shook homes and echoed for miles. 

Some said it sounded like multiple explosions or rolling vibrations, while others reported spotting a glowing fireball and a bright streak tearing across the sky. 

One Cleveland resident posted on X: 'Loud boom in Cleveland today. They are saying a meteor! The house shook; it was scary.'

'Heard and felt here on the west side of Cleveland. One loud boom followed immediately by a smaller or 'echo' boom,' another local shared.

The 'explosion' reported across the region was a sonic boom created by the meteor shooting through the atmosphere at speeds over 25,000 mph

The meteor was spotted by space satellites around 9am ET and seen by human eyes about one hour later

'Didn't quite shake the house; it more like reverberated through it. Thought it was a truck or something until my Sister messaged me that she heard it too.'

Meteoroids are small rocky objects that travel through space, ranging in size from tiny dust particles to fragments as large as small asteroids. 

When one of these objects enters Earth's atmosphere at high speed, it burns up due to intense friction, creating a bright streak of light known as a meteor, often called a 'shooting star.' 

If any part of the object survives its fiery descent and reaches the ground, it is then classified as a meteorite. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/index.html }

18-03-2026 om 19:55 geschreven door peter  

Impressions (No Spoilers)

The film Hail Mary leaves a very positive impression overall. If someone likes science fiction, they might really enjoy this movie. This is exactly the kind of film that not only shows beautiful images of space but also keeps you on the edge of your seat for almost the entire runtime. The plot constantly throws in new twists, and the characters’ decisions keep you hooked on the story.

Ryan’s acting deserves special mention. Everything is portrayed very naturally: the characters feel like real people, not just vehicles for the plot. This makes it easier to believe both the story itself and the characters’ emotional reactions. Another important plus is the attention to detail. It was particularly pleasing that the film accurately depicts one of the basic principles of space: there is no sound in outer space. For a sci-fi film, this might seem like a minor detail, but it is precisely these details that greatly enhance the film’s believability.

Hail Mary is a fantastic film that works on several levels: as a suspenseful adventure, as a story of survival, and as a film that strives to respect scientific logic. That’s exactly why the film resonates not only emotionally but also intellectually.

It is also interesting to compare it to the film U Are the Universe. One gets the sense that these films resonate with each other in some ways: both use space not merely as a backdrop, but as a realm of solitude, connection, hope, and human vulnerability. But while U Are the Universe is a more intimate, lyrical, and existential story, Hail Mary is a larger-scale, technically sophisticated, and plot-driven science fiction film. And there is an interesting point here: if the creators of U Are the Universe had delayed the film’s release just a little longer, and it had come out after Hail Mary, some viewers would surely have accused them of plagiarism. In reality, that would have been unfair: the Ukrainian film had already been released earlier as an independent work. And even Andy Weir’s book Hail Mary was not published until 2021.

Technical Analysis with Spoilers

From an engineering perspective, the film is particularly interesting because it invites analysis rather than just watching. And for the most part, this is a plus: if, after watching it, there is a desire to discuss fuel, the atmosphere, materials, and manufacturing technologies, then the science fiction has done its job.

The first – and perhaps the most controversial – point concerns the logistics of the protagonist’s return journey. This is the film’s weakest point. Even with full tanks – roughly two million liters of astrofuel – the return trip would take about four years, so questions about the mission’s supplies arise at this stage. Based on the plot’s logic, there was enough food for about two years, and after subsequent events, the available fuel supply is further reduced by two sections. As a result, the return mission begins to look less like an engineering-driven scenario devised by the protagonist and more like a very optimistic hope for a miracle. This does not ruin the film entirely, but it is here that the tension between the drama and the real-world logistics of interstellar flight is felt most acutely.

The second point of contention is taumeba and xenonite. Conceptually, this is a very striking idea, but it raises the most questions precisely from the perspective of the world’s internal physics. If xenonite is presented as a reliable structural and airtight material, then taumeba’s ability to pass through it requires a very serious explanation. It is not enough here to say that this is unusual biology; there needs to be a clear mechanism that explains exactly how it happens, under what conditions, and due to which properties of the material and the organism. That is why this particular plot point raises the most scientific doubts for me. It works as a dramatic twist, but as a hard sci-fi premise, it looks noticeably weaker than many of the film’s other ideas.

That said, the atmosphere on the ship and the final dome actually struck as quite plausible. Here, the film, on the contrary, enters the realm of logical engineering solutions. When it comes to a pressurized environment for humans, the basic principles are quite clear: controlling pressure, gas composition, temperature, humidity, removing carbon dioxide, and maintaining a safe environment. In this sense, the dome in the finale can be seen as a development of the same ideas used in space life support systems (e.g., the ISS), only adapted to a different technological platform. Therefore, this aspect should be defended rather than criticized.

The idea of highly advanced 3D printing on an alien spacecraft struck as particularly compelling. The way tunnels, structures, and various objects are formed is an extremely advanced form of 3D printing or programmable manufacturing. And this is precisely one of those ideas that, in science fiction, does not seem like magic but rather a logical progression of real-world technologies. If a civilization is capable of building complex structures directly within the required environment, with high precision, using readily available materials, and tailored to a specific task, then this seems very realistic for a highly advanced engineering culture.

The same applies to the translator. The film presents him not as a magic button, but as the result of a gradual search for patterns, the comparison of signals, learning, and the development of a common language. It is precisely this approach that makes the idea convincing. This is no longer a fairy-tale “universal understanding of aliens,” but an engineering problem of communication that is solved step by step. And within the realm of science fiction, it makes perfect sense.

Ultimately, what makes Hail Mary great for me is that it can be viewed in two different ways. The first is simply a powerful, intense, and emotional science fiction film. The second is a film that invites technical analysis. And even its controversial moments are not so much a drawback as a reason for discussion. Because the most interesting sci-fi films are not the ones that leave no questions, but the ones that make viewers want to debate trajectories, materials, atmosphere, biology, and technology.

What differences and nuances did you notice? Let’s discuss them in the comments.

• Posted in Articles, Movies & Series, Tech

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

17-03-2026 om 23:45 geschreven door peter  

The Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at Johns Hopkins University has officially begun assembling one of the most unusual spacecraft in the history of space exploration. The Dragonfly unmanned helicopter, whose design resembles the legendary ornithopters from Frank Herbert’s Dune universe, is preparing for a mission to Titan.

Although it is not the barren Arakis, Saturn’s largest moon will greet the explorer with vast expanses of sand dunes. And while the chances of encountering a sandworm there are practically nonexistent, the scientific potential of this mission is truly impressive.

Drone Lab

Dragonfly isn’t just a drone. It’s a fully-fledged autonomous robot about the size of a small car. Unlike rovers, which take years to cover just a few dozen kilometers, the flying probe will be able to “hop” vast distances, exploring various regions of Titan in a single flight.

Once it reaches the moon’s surface in 2034, the spacecraft will conduct a comprehensive analysis, ranging from studying the composition of the atmosphere to taking seismic measurements. The chemical composition of the surface is of particular interest. Beneath Titan’s thick layer of ice lies a global ocean of salty water, making this world one of the most promising places to search for extraterrestrial life. 

A slow and cold world

Titan is truly an amazing place. It is the only moon in the Solar System with a dense atmosphere. The air there is four times denser than Earth’s, and gravity is seven times weaker. This creates some amazing conditions: if you were there in the rain, the methane droplets would fall extremely slowly, as if in slow motion.

However, waiting for such a downpour is no easy task, since centuries can pass between precipitation events on Titan. Such a stable, albeit cold, chemical environment is the ideal place for the formation of organic compounds. Scientists consider Titan to be “Earth in the freezer”—it looks just like our planet before the first living organisms appeared on it.

A costly mission

Exploring Titan is no cheap project. The total cost of the mission is estimated at $3 billion. Previous attempts to peer beneath the moon’s thick, foggy veil have been extremely limited: in 2005, the Huygens probe lasted only a few hours on the surface due to a lack of power. 

Since Dragonfly is designed for long-term operation, solar power is not an option — there is too little light penetrating Titan’s thick haze. Therefore, Dragonfly will be powered by nuclear energy. The spacecraft will be equipped with a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG). Fuel rods containing plutonium will generate heat, which will be converted into electricity to power electronics, servos, and scientific instruments. This technology has already proven itself on the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.

Beginning of the journey

The mission is scheduled to be launched in 2028 using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. After launch, the spacecraft will spend six long years traveling through the Solar System. When Dragonfly finally spreads its rotors over the lakes and rivers of liquid ethane in 2034, humanity will get its clearest view of this mysterious world yet.

In the meantime, engineers continue to assemble this nuclear-powered ornithopter, keeping in mind the golden rule for travelers across the dunes: “The spice must flow,” and science must move forward.

We previously reported that the Dragonfly underwent a critical design review prior to the start of the assembly phase.

• According to jalopnik.com

• Posted in News, Tech

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

17-03-2026 om 22:39 geschreven door peter  

Humanity receives mysterious 'mega-laser' signal from unknown source in deep space

• READ MORE: NASA astronaut says humanity is 'living a lie' after spending 178 days in space 

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Humanity has received a mysterious signal, described as a 'mega-laser' beam, from a violently merging galaxy more than 8 billion light-years away.

The signal, deemed the most distant hydroxyl megamaser ever detected, was intercepted by the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, which features 64 antennas.

A hydroxyl megamaser is a giant natural laser in space. When galaxies full of gas collide, molecules called hydroxyl smash together and release very strong radio waves. 

These waves behave like a laser, but instead of visible light, they produce radio signals that astronomers can detect with telescopes.

Because these signals are extremely bright, they can be seen from very far across the universe. 

In this case, the object is so powerful that scientists said it may actually be a 'gigamaser,' which is even stronger than a megamaser. 

The system, called HATLAS J142935.3–002836, is so far away that we are seeing it as it looked more than 8 billion years ago, when the universe was less than half its current age. 

Dr Thato Manamela, SARAO-funded postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pretoria and lead author of the new study, said: 'This system is truly extraordinary. We are seeing the radio equivalent of a laser halfway across the universe.' 

Humanity has received a mysterious signal, described as a 'mega-laser' beam, from a violently merging galaxy more than 8 billion light-years away 

Manamela added that as the radio waves traveled toward Earth, they were also strengthened by a separate galaxy positioned directly along the line of sight. 

'This galaxy acts as a lens, the way a water droplet on a window pane would, because its mass curves the local space-time,' he said.

'So we have a radio laser passing through a cosmic telescope before being detected by the powerful MeerKAT radio telescope – all together enabling a wonderfully serendipitous discovery.' 

The radio signal contained four separate components, meaning it is coming from multiple regions within the galaxy system. 

At least two of these areas appear to be strongly magnified by gravitational lensing, which makes the signal more than ten times brighter than it would normally appear. 

In this case, a massive foreground galaxy sits between Earth and the distant system. 

Its gravity bends space-time and acts like a cosmic magnifying glass, boosting the brightness of the radio emission. 

This amplification allowed the signal to be detected by the MeerKAT radio telescope even though the source is over 8 billion light-years away. 

Pictured is the galaxy system where astronomers said is the source of the signal

The signal, deemed the most distant hydroxyl megamaser ever detected, was intercepted using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa (PICTURED), which consists of 64 antennas

Read More

• Truth about NASA's 'missing' moon tapes revealed after 57 years 

Normally, signals from objects this far away are too weak for telescopes to detect. 

But the powerful radio signal coming from HATLAS J142935.3–002836 was boosted by a rare effect called gravitational lensing, a phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein.

Gravitational lensing happens when a massive object, such as a galaxy, sits between Earth and a distant source. 

Its strong gravity bends space-time, which changes the path of the light or radio waves traveling through it. 

This makes the distant signal appear brighter and magnified, allowing telescopes like the MeerKAT radio telescope to detect it even from billions of light-years away.

From Earth, this effect can sometimes create a ring-shaped halo of light around the foreground object, called an Einstein ring, named after the famed physicist. 

The same effect also magnifies the distant source, in this case a radio or microwave signal, making it much easier for astronomers to study objects that would normally be too faint to detect. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/index.html }

17-03-2026 om 21:48 geschreven door peter  

Story by Arezki Amiri

A thin, stubbornly bright line showed up in data from the MeerKAT radio telescope that did not fit the usual rules of distance. The feature sat in a familiar part of the radio spectrum, but it was coming from so far away that signals like it typically fade into the background. Instead of smearing out, it stayed sharp enough to measure. That was the first hint that something was amplifying it.

The source already had a survey name that sounded more like a serial number than a destination: HATLAS J142935.3–002836. Astronomers had seen it before as a distorted, stretched-looking galaxy system, the kind that suggests gravity has bent the view. A report from Live Science described it as a “mega-laser,” but the real curiosity was why the line stayed detectable at all.

When the team calculated the distance, the scale became clearer. The system sits at redshift z = 1.027, placing it more than 8 billion light-years away in light-travel time. That means the radio waves began their journey when the universe was much younger than it is now. The MeerKAT radio telescope was effectively catching a signal that left long before Earth existed.

The 18-Centimeter Fingerprint

The crucial clue was the wavelength: about 18 centimeters. That specific “color” of radio light is strongly associated with the hydroxyl molecule (OH), a simple pairing of oxygen and hydrogen that can exist in vast clouds of gas. Under the right conditions, hydroxyl can behave like an amplifier, strengthening radiation at a very specific frequency.

• Related video: James Webb Just Saw Something That Shouldn't Exist at Our Solar System's Boundary
  

That amplification works like a laser in principle, but at radio wavelengths. Astronomers call it a maser, short for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. When a maser is powerful enough to be seen in other galaxies, it becomes a hydroxyl megamaser. In this case, the team argues the signal is bright enough to push beyond that label into a proposed new tier: gigamaser.

A photo of two radio dishes pointed up at the night sky

© Daily Galaxy US

The paper, published in arXiv, describes the emission as coming from the two main hydroxyl lines near 1667 MHz and 1665 MHz, which are the standard signatures astronomers look for. What mattered most was not just the presence of those lines, but how strong they appeared at this distance. That is what set this detection apart from earlier hydroxyl surveys.

A Merger Powering the Natural Amplifier

The host system is described as a violently merging galaxy. That matters because the brightest hydroxyl megamasers are often found where galaxies collide and gas becomes dense and chaotic. Mergers can compress clouds, stir turbulence, and create thick, dusty regions where molecules pile up. Those are exactly the conditions that can “pump” hydroxyl into the right state to amplify radio emission.

“This system is truly extraordinary,” said Dr Thato Manamela of the University of Pretoria. “We are seeing the radio equivalent of a laser halfway across the universe.” The phrasing is dramatic, but the mechanism is straightforward: a merger creates dense, energized gas, and hydroxyl molecules amplify radio emission at the 18-centimeter wavelength.

Diagram showing how the megamaser was observed via gravitational lensing

© Daily Galaxy US

The researchers from the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory also point to signs of intense activity in the host. Earlier studies of the same system suggest a very high rate of star formation, consistent with a merger that is rapidly converting gas into new stars. That context helps explain why the hydroxyl signal could be so bright in the first place, even before any extra help from gravity along the line of sight.

The Foreground Galaxy Acting like a Lens

Distance alone still does not explain everything. The signal looks bright because it had help on the way to Earth. Between us and the merger sits an unrelated galaxy positioned almost perfectly along the same line of sight. Its gravity bends space-time and focuses the background emission, boosting what arrives at Earth.

This effect is called strong gravitational lensing. It does not create new light, but it redirects more of the existing light toward us, like a natural magnifying glass. That is why the same system looks distorted in images and unusually intense in radio data. In an explainer, Universe Today described the foreground galaxy as a kind of “cosmic telescope,” which matches how astronomers talk about lensing in practice.

Side by side images of the Einstein ring from the study taken by different telescopes

© Daily Galaxy US

Because lensing boosts the brightness, the team is careful about what “brightest” means. The paper emphasizes how luminous the signal appears to us, not what it would look like without the lens. The proposed gigamaser label is tied to this observed power, combining an extreme environment in the background galaxy with a fortunate alignment in the foreground.

What Meerkat Saw, and What Comes Next

The detection did not require a long campaign. The team reports confirming the signal with only a few hours of observing time, using dozens of dishes working together as the MeerKAT radio telescope array. That short integration is one reason the find is being treated as a proof of capability, not just a one-off curiosity. It shows that wide surveys could uncover more distant hydroxyl systems if the telescope looks in the right way.

The same dataset also contained an additional clue: a separate absorption feature from neutral hydrogen (H I), another common gas tracer. That matters because it suggests the system contains multiple layers of gas, not just the molecular material producing hydroxyl emission. Together, the features help build a more complete picture of what a gas-rich merger looked like at this point in cosmic history.

RELATED VIDEOS

{ The Daily Galaxy }

17-03-2026 om 20:44 geschreven door peter  

Story by Pranjal Nath

Artemis II: NASA now targets March 20 for SLS rocket rollout to launchpad

The rollout of the Artemis II SLS rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida has been postponed, NASA announced. The 4-mile crawl of the rocket stack atop the Crawler-Transporter 2 will now take place on March 20, 2026, at the earliest, instead of March 19. "A rollout on March 20 would still preserve the possibility of launching at the beginning of the April launch window, though teams also are keeping a close eye on the weather in the coming days," the space agency added. A total of 7 launch windows are available in the month starting with April 1, with April 2 having been added to the previous list of launch opportunities.

NASA attributed the delay to an electrical harness for the flight termination system on the SLS core stage that needed replacement. While teams have addressed the situation, preparations to ready the rocket for the move are still underway. The Exploration Systems team will handle the rollout, which could potentially take up to 12 hours.

NASA's Artemis II sits in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on January 16, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

(Image Source: Getty Images | Joe Raedle)

The SLS rocket stack reached the VAB on February 25, 2026, so that teams could look into the helium flow issue that had surfaced after the second wet dress rehearsal. This rollback came as a disappointment to many because of how successful the second wet dress rehearsal was deemed to be, given how the agency had managed to keep the hydrogen leak well within safety limits. Once the rocket reached the VAB, engineers traced the issue to a quick-disconnect seal through which helium flows from the ground to the rocket. 

The ICPS has two umbilicals. The lower, larger aft plate supplies liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and has a helium quick disconnect and hazardous gas sensing.

(Image Source: NASA; Image Edited by Starlust Staff)

"Our combined engineering teams across our ground systems and SLS teams came up with a design fix," explained Exploration Ground Systems Program Manager Shawn Quinn during the press briefing held on Thursday. That design fix was implemented on a test article, and we have successfully tested it, and we have qualified it for use on Artemis II, and the modified QD is already on the upper stage." 

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman looks out as NASA's Artemis II is rolled from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on January 17, 2026.

(Cover Image Source: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

With the Artemis program, the aim is to restore a “golden age of innovation and exploration" to reach the Moon and eventually Mars with human explorers. Beginning with the launch of this particular mission, NASA hopes to increase its launch cadence to allow itself and its partners to make steady incremental steps towards reaching its goals, as opposed to steep learning curves with fewer launches. Owing to the numerous delays since Artemis I took off in 2022, many of the aspects of the program were called into question. This led NASA to make sweeping changes to its plans, which assigned the objective of human lunar touchdown to Artemis IV, slated for 2028.

More on Starlust

• You can track Artemis II mission in real time, thanks to this new NASA platform
• All about Christina Koch, the first woman to fly around the Moon as part of Artemis II

{ Starlust }

17-03-2026 om 18:32 geschreven door peter  

Story by ²

©Source: Commons Wikimedia

A Fast-Moving Mystery in Space: NASA Tracks Object Traveling at 1 Million Miles Per Hour
Astronomers working with NASA data have identified an unusual object speeding through space at roughly 1 million miles per hour, a velocity so extreme that it could eventually escape the Milky Way entirely. The object, labeled CWISE J124909.08+362116.0, was spotted through a citizen-science project that analyzes telescope data for moving objects. Scientists say the discovery is remarkable not only because of its incredible speed but also because the object’s nature is still being studied, raising questions about how it was launched across the galaxy so quickly.

©Source: Commons Wikimedia

A Discovery Made by Citizen Scientists
The object was first detected by volunteers participating in NASA’s Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 citizen-science program. Participants examine images from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope, searching for objects that move across the sky over time. Careful analysis of the data revealed the mysterious object traveling unusually fast compared with typical stars or planets.

©Source: Commons Wikimedia

Meet CWISE J1249
Scientists identified the object as CWISE J124909.08+362116.0, often shortened to CWISE J1249. It appears to be a very small and faint celestial body that does not fit neatly into common categories. Researchers say it may be a low-mass star or a brown dwarf, a type of object that sits somewhere between a planet and a star.

©Source: Commons Wikimedia

Traveling at a Mind-Bending Speed
The object’s speed is estimated at around 1 million miles per hour, far faster than most stars orbiting within the Milky Way. At this velocity, scientists believe it is traveling fast enough to escape the gravitational pull of the galaxy. Hypervelocity objects like this are extremely rare and often require powerful cosmic events to reach such speeds.

©Source: Commons Wikimedia

A Possible Runaway Star
One explanation is that CWISE J1249 could be a runaway star, meaning it was violently ejected from its original location. This can happen when stars interact gravitationally with other massive objects or when a companion star explodes in a supernova. These events can fling a star across the galaxy at extraordinary speeds.

©Source: Commons Wikimedia

Another Theory Involves Black Holes
Another possible explanation is that the object had a close encounter with a black hole system. If two black holes are orbiting each other, their powerful gravity can act like a slingshot. A nearby star that passes too close may be accelerated dramatically and thrown outward at extreme velocity.

©Source: Commons Wikimedia

Why Scientists Are Studying Its Chemistry
Researchers are now examining the object’s chemical composition to determine where it originated. By studying the light emitted from the object, astronomers can identify elements in its atmosphere. These clues may reveal whether the object was launched by a supernova explosion or originated from a dense star cluster.

©Source: Commons Wikimedia

What Makes the Object So Unusual
Hypervelocity objects are extremely rare because most stars remain gravitationally bound to the Milky Way. For an object to break free, it must reach extraordinary speeds that overcome the galaxy’s gravitational pull. Scientists say CWISE J1249 appears to be traveling fast enough to eventually leave the Milky Way and wander into intergalactic space.

©Source: Commons Wikimedia

A Reminder of How Dynamic the Galaxy Is
Discoveries like this highlight how dynamic and sometimes violent our galaxy can be. Stars, planets, and other objects are constantly moving and interacting through gravity. Occasionally, those interactions produce dramatic events capable of launching objects across vast cosmic distances.

©Source: Commons Wikimedia

Powerful Forces Reshaping The Milky Way
The mysterious object racing through space at nearly 1 million miles per hour is giving astronomers a rare glimpse into the powerful forces shaping the Milky Way. While scientists are still determining exactly what CWISE J1249 is and how it gained such incredible speed, the discovery demonstrates how much remains unknown about our galaxy. Continued observations may eventually reveal the cosmic event that launched this stellar traveler on its extraordinary journey.

{ Blusher Me }

16-03-2026 om 20:30 geschreven door peter  

Story by Cassian Holt

 

NASA report details failures behind Boeing Starliner ‘Type A’ mishap

© Image Credit: Bill Ingalls - Public domain/Wiki Commons

NASA on February 19, 2026, formally classified Boeing’s 2024 Crewed Flight Test of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft as a Type A mishap, the agency’s most serious safety designation. The findings, drawn from a year-long independent investigation, point to hardware failures, qualification gaps, and cultural breakdowns at both Boeing and NASA that left two astronauts stranded at the International Space Station and created what investigators called the potential for a significant mishap. The report lands as Congress demands answers and as the agencies restructure the commercial crew contract to prevent a repeat.

What a Type A Classification Signals

In NASA’s mishap taxonomy, a Type A event involves either loss of life, permanent disability, destruction of a major asset, or damage exceeding a set dollar threshold. Applying that label to a crewed mission that returned its spacecraft intact but failed to perform as designed is itself a statement: the agency concluded the flight came close enough to catastrophe to warrant its highest investigative response. In February 2025, NASA chartered an independent Program Investigation Team to examine the technical, organizational, and cultural dimensions of the flight, as detailed in the agency’s official summary of the inquiry. That team delivered its final report on February 19, 2026, and NASA accepted it the same day, committing to corrective actions across the program.

The distinction matters for readers tracking U.S. human spaceflight because the classification triggers mandatory follow-up. NASA cannot simply file the report and move on; the agency must now implement and track each corrective action to close the investigation. For Boeing, the designation adds formal institutional weight to what was already a reputational crisis, binding the company to remediation milestones under NASA oversight. It also places Starliner’s future flights under a brighter spotlight than routine anomaly reviews, signaling that the program will not return to business as usual until independent safety officials are satisfied.

• Related video: NASA Artemis rocket booster suffers anomaly during test 

Propulsion Failures and Qualification Gaps

The investigation centered on propulsion system anomalies that surfaced during the Crewed Flight Test. While astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams remained aboard the ISS, NASA and Boeing ran ground hot-fire tests at White Sands to replicate the thruster behavior observed in orbit; those engine tests confirmed problems serious enough that NASA ultimately decided to return Starliner without its crew rather than risk a crewed reentry.

The PIT report, dated February 5, 2026, stated in its conclusion section that the mission, “while ultimately successful in preserving crew safety, revealed critical vulnerabilities” in the spacecraft’s propulsion architecture. Hardware failures and qualification gaps were among the primary findings. Qualification gaps refer to scenarios where components were certified for flight based on testing that did not fully replicate the stresses they would encounter in actual mission profiles. That disconnect between test conditions and real-world performance is a systemic issue, not a one-off parts failure, and it raises questions about whether similar gaps exist in other subsystems or programs that followed the same certification logic.

Investigators traced some of the anomalies to how thrusters behaved under extended duty cycles and thermal conditions that had not been adequately modeled. In practice, that meant Starliner’s propulsion system did not respond as expected when the flight profile deviated from nominal assumptions. The crew was never in immediate danger of losing life support on station, but the margin for a safe, controlled deorbit narrowed enough that managers judged the risk unacceptable. Returning the capsule empty was an extraordinary step, underscoring how far actual performance had diverged from the qualified envelope.

Oversight Model Under Strain

A separate NASA Office of Inspector General audit of the Commercial Crew Program had previously flagged management weaknesses and control deficiencies in how the agency supervised its commercial partners; those concerns are laid out in the watchdog’s program review. The PIT report’s findings echo those earlier warnings, suggesting that known risks went unresolved long enough to contribute to the 2024 mishap.

The commercial crew model was designed to shift development risk to private companies while NASA played a lighter oversight role than it did during the Space Shuttle era. That approach worked well with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which has flown multiple operational missions with relatively few major anomalies. But the Starliner investigation suggests the model’s success depends heavily on the contractor’s internal safety culture. When that culture degrades, a lighter-touch oversight framework may not catch problems early enough.

The PIT report’s emphasis on organizational and cultural factors, alongside hardware failures, points to a breakdown that was not purely technical. Boeing’s internal processes did not consistently elevate propulsion concerns to the level of formal risk acceptance, and NASA’s own management practices failed to compensate for gaps on the contractor’s side. The result was a misalignment between the level of risk NASA leadership believed it had approved and the actual vulnerabilities embedded in the system. That mismatch is precisely what the Inspector General had warned could happen if commercial partners were allowed too much autonomy without corresponding transparency.

Contract Restructured, Next Flight Changed

The fallout has already reshaped the program’s near-term future. In late 2025, NASA and Boeing modified the commercial crew contract, converting the next planned Starliner mission, designated Starliner‑1, from a crewed rotation flight to a cargo and in-flight validation mission; NASA described the revision in a contract update that emphasized risk reduction. That change means Boeing must demonstrate that its propulsion fixes work in orbit before NASA will put astronauts back on the vehicle. Propulsion issues remained under active investigation at the time of the contract modification, and the restructured mission profile reflects how far confidence in the spacecraft had fallen.

For the broader U.S. human spaceflight program, the delay compresses an already tight schedule. NASA has relied on maintaining two independent crew transportation providers to avoid single-point-of-failure dependence on any one vehicle. With Starliner sidelined from crewed duty for at least one more flight cycle, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon remains the sole American vehicle carrying astronauts to the ISS. That concentration of capability is exactly the scenario the dual-provider strategy was supposed to prevent, and it adds pressure to keep Dragon flights on time while Starliner works through its remediation plan.

The contract restructuring also has financial and industrial implications. Boeing must now absorb additional costs associated with redesign, new testing, and an uncrewed validation flight that generates no ticket revenue from NASA crew rotations. For NASA, the changes may require rebalancing manifest priorities, including how many seats it purchases and when, to ensure continuous U.S. access to orbit while honoring existing agreements with international partners.

Congressional Pressure and Accountability Demands

The report triggered immediate political scrutiny. Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology issued a statement describing the findings as evidence of a safety-culture breach with catastrophic potential, according to her public comments. That language goes further than the agency’s own framing and signals that at least some members of Congress view the incident as more than a contained engineering problem.

NASA’s administrator also publicly criticized leadership and management failures at both Boeing and NASA, according to Associated Press coverage of the press event. Lawmakers are likely to seize on those remarks in upcoming hearings, pressing for details on who approved key risk trades, how dissenting technical opinions were handled, and whether any personnel actions are warranted. The Type A classification gives Congress a clear hook to demand regular progress reports on corrective actions rather than one-time briefings.

Beyond formal oversight, the mishap has become a touchstone in debates over how far NASA should go in outsourcing critical human spaceflight functions. Supporters of the commercial model argue that the system ultimately worked: anomalies were caught, astronauts were kept safe, and the agency is now enforcing accountability. Critics counter that the near-miss underscores the limits of relying on corporate governance structures that may prioritize schedule and cost over conservative engineering judgment.

Rebuilding Confidence and Communicating Risk

Rebuilding confidence in Starliner will require more than technical fixes. The PIT report calls for strengthened safety reporting channels, clearer lines of authority for risk acceptance, and more robust cross-checks between NASA and contractor engineering teams. Implementing those recommendations will take time, and both organizations will be judged on how transparently they share progress with the public.

NASA has increasingly turned to digital platforms to explain complex missions and risks, including its streaming series and other content on the broader NASA+ service. How the agency uses those channels to discuss the Starliner mishap—balancing candor about past failures with confidence in future flights—will shape public perception as much as the engineering milestones themselves.

For the astronauts who will eventually fly on a redesigned Starliner, the Type A classification is both a warning and a promise. It acknowledges that the 2024 mission came unacceptably close to disaster, but it also commits NASA and Boeing to a level of scrutiny and reform commensurate with that risk. Whether the program emerges as a safer, more resilient second leg of America’s crewed launch capability will depend on how fully both institutions absorb the lessons now laid out in the investigation’s pages.

• This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.

RELATED VIDEOS

{ Morning Overview }

15-03-2026 om 22:21 geschreven door peter  

Een geschiedenis van beroemde primeurs in de ruimte

©Getty Images

Een geschiedenis van beroemde primeurs in de ruimte
Hoewel de ruimte de mens al lange tijd fascineert, duurde het tot de tweede helft van de 20e eeuw voordat ruimtevaart werkelijkheid werd, waardoor mensen verder dan onze planeet konden kijken. Vanaf de eerste vrouw in de ruimte tot de eerste beelden van de aarde hebben wetenschappers, astronauten en astronomen over de hele wereld hard gewerkt om de kosmos te verkennen.De Koude Oorlog tussen de VS en de Sovjet-Unie was een belangrijke factor die de vooruitgang van de ruimtevaart beïnvloedde. Beide landen streden om dominantie in de ruimte, en veel van de primeurs die in de ruimte werden bereikt, waren te danken aan de wens van beide landen om 'de eersten' te zijn.Klik dus verder om de opmerkelijke primeurs in de ruimtegeschiedenis te ontdekken.

©Public Domain

2021: Eerste helikopter op Mars
NASA's Perseverance-rover landde op 18 Februari 2021 met succes op Mars, samen met het eerste vliegtuig dat ooit op een andere planeet landde: de Ingenuity-helikopter.

©Public Domain

2015: Eerste succesvolle Pluto-missie
De scheervlucht kwam tot op een afstand van 12.874 km van het oppervlak van Pluto en maakte close-upbeelden van het terrein.

©Public Domain

2012: Eerste commerciële ruimtemissie
Elon Musk's SpaceX bracht het eerste commerciële bezoek aan het internationale ruimtestation in 2012. Het bedrijf stond onder contract van NASA om het station te bevoorraden.

©Public Domain

2001: 's Werelds eerste ruimtetoerist
Op 30 April 2001 arriveerde de Amerikaanse miljonair Dennis Tito (links) via een Russische Sojoez-raket bij het internationale ruimtestation en werd daarmee de eerste ruimtetoerist ter wereld.

©Public Domain

2000: Eerste bemanning van het Internationale Ruimtestation
Een combinatie van Amerikaanse en Russische astronauten, de eerste bemanning ging in 2000 aan boord van het internationale ruimtestation.

©Public Domain

1995: Eerste ontmoeting tussen Atlantis en Mir
Een teken dat de Koude Oorlog eindelijk voorbij was, was dat het Amerikaanse ruimtestation Atlantis en het Russische ruimtestation Mir elkaar voor het eerst in de ruimte ontmoetten.

©Public Domain

1995: Eerste vrouw leidt ruimteveermissie
De Amerikaanse Eileen Marie Collins werd de eerste vrouw die het bevel voerde over een Space Shuttle-missie. Ze bestuurde ook een ontmoeting met het Russische ruimtestation Mir.

©NL Beeld

1991: Eerste Britse astronaut bezoekt de ruimte
Helen Sharman was de eerste Britse astronaut en de eerste vrouwelijke bezoeker van het Mir-ruimtestation in 1991.

©Public Domain

1988: Eerste ruimteveervlucht sinds de ramp met de Challenger
In 1988 werd de Discovery de eerste space shuttle die vertrok na de ramp met de Challenger in 1986. De Challenger ontplofte bij het opstijgen, waarbij alle zeven aan boord omkwamen.

©Public Domain

1985: Eerste shuttlevlucht met Atlantis
De bouw van de Atlantis duurde ongeveer de helft van de tijd van eerdere Space Shuttles.

©Public Domain

1985: Eerste koninklijke ruimtevaart
De Saoedische sultan bin Salman Al-Saud (rechts) werd de eerste koninklijke man in de ruimte. Als lid van de Saoedische luchtmacht had hij 1.000 uur vliegervaring toen hij in 1985 deelnam aan de Discovery-missie van NASA.

©Public Domain

1983: Eerste Afro-Amerikaan in de ruimte
Guion S. Bluford was de eerste Afro-Amerikaan die in 1983 de ruimte in ging. De eerste zwarte persoon in de ruimte was echter de Cubaanse astronaut Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez in 1980. Hij maakte deel uit van een Sovjetprogramma om niet-Sovjet-astronauten aan boord van een Sovjet-ruimtevaartuig te vliegen.

©NL Beeld

1983: Eerste Amerikaanse vrouw in de ruimte
Sally Ride werd in 1983 de eerste Amerikaanse vrouw in de ruimte. Ze was ook de jongste Amerikaanse astronaut die in de ruimte heeft gevlogen, op 32-jarige leeftijd.

©Public Domain

1981: Eerste space shuttle bereikt een baan om de aarde
De eerste space shuttle, de Columbia, bereikte in 1981 een baan om de aarde.

©Public Domain

1975: Eerste internationale bemande ruimtevlucht
De twee landen waren tientallen jaren verwikkeld in een ruimterace en werkten in 1975 samen voor de eerste internationale bemande ruimtevlucht. Een Amerikaans Apollo-ruimtevaartuig ontmoette een Sovjet-Sojoez en hun bemanningen voerden samen verschillende experimenten uit.

©Public Domain

1973: Eerste skylab
Gelanceerd door NASA, bezochten drie bemanningen in de loop van de volgende twee jaar, terwijl enorme hoeveelheden ruimtegegevens werden teruggestuurd naar de missiecontrole in Houston.

©Public Domain

1971: Eerste sterfgevallen in de ruimte
In een tragische ruimte werden de Sovjet-astronauten Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov en Viktor Patsayev op 30 Juni 1971 de eersten die in de ruimte omkwamen. Een kapotte ademhalingsautomaat veroorzaakte een drukval in hun ruimtevaartuig, waardoor ze binnen enkele seconden verstikten.

©NL Beeld

1969: Eerste mens op de maan
Neil Armstrong werd in 1969 de eerste man op de maan. Hij en Buzz Aldrin liepen 2,5 uur rond de maan, onderzochten en verzamelden monsters voordat ze terugkeerden naar de aarde met Michael Collins, die in een baan om de Apollo 11 was gebleven.

©Public Domain

1966: Eerste foto van de volledige aarde vanuit de baan van de maan
De eerste foto van de aarde werd op 23 Augustus 1966 vanuit de baan van de maan genomen door een NASA-shuttle.

©Public Domain

1966: Eerste bemande docking in de ruimte
Op 16 Maart 1966 maakte een bemand ruimtevaartuig zijn eerste koppelingsuitwisseling in de ruimte. De Gemini VIII, bemand door Armstrong, sloot zich aan bij het onbemande Agena-doelvoertuig, waardoor het de eerste keer was dat twee ruimtevaartuigen buiten de baan van de aarde met elkaar verbonden waren.

©Public Domain

1965: Eerste ruimtewandeling
Sovjet-astronaut Alexei Leonov was de eerste persoon die in Maart 1965 de ruimte in liep. Leonovs eerste woorden bij het verlaten van het ruimtevaartuig waren: "De aarde is rond!"

©NL Beeld

1963: Eerste vrouw in de ruimte
Sovjet-astronaut Valentina Tereshkova werd in 1963 de eerste vrouw in de ruimte. Ze bracht 71 uur door in de ruimte.

©Public Domain

1962: Eerste Amerikaan draait in een baan om de aarde
John Glenn werd in 1962 de eerste Amerikaan die in een baan om de aarde draaide. Glenn was lid van de Mercury 7 en cirkelde in minder dan vijf uur drie keer om de aarde.

©Public Domain

1961: Eerste langdurige ruimtevlucht
In tegenstelling tot de veel kortere vluchten eerder dat jaar duurde de vlucht van Sovjet-astronaut Gherman S. Titov (rechts) meer dan 25 uur. Zo werd Titov ook de eerste persoon die in de ruimte sliep.

©Public Domain

1961: Eerste Amerikaan in de ruimte
Alan Shepard werd de eerste Amerikaan in de ruimte, tijdens een reis die iets meer dan 15 minuten duurde.

©NL Beeld

1961: Eerste persoon in de ruimte
Minder dan een maand voordat Shepard de ruimte in ging, versloeg de Sovjet-Unie de VS in de ruimterace door 's werelds eerste mens de ruimte in te sturen. Yuri Gagarin werd een internationale beroemdheid na zijn terugkeer naar de aarde.

©Public Domain

1959: Amerika's eerste astronauten
De eerste Amerikaanse astronauten werden in 1959 geïntroduceerd. De leden van de groep waren finalisten van een competitief proces dat begon met meer dan 500 kandidaten. Deze "Originele Zeven" werden uiteindelijk de "Mercury Seven" genoemd, naar de naam van het ruimteproject, het Mercury-programma.

©Public Domain

1958: Eerste Amerikaanse man-in-ruimteprogramma
Project Mercury had tot doel een bemand ruimtevaartuig rond de aarde te laten draaien en te onderzoeken hoe mensen in de ruimte konden functioneren. Het project maakte tussen 1961 en 1963 zes bemande vluchten.

©NL Beeld

1957: Het eerste dier in de ruimte
Het eerste dier dat een orbitale ruimtevlucht rond de aarde maakte, was de hond Laika, aan boord van het Sovjet-ruimtevaartuig Spoetnik 2 op 3 November 1957. Ze stierf uren na de vlucht door oververhitting, tijdens de vierde baan van het vaartuig.

Bronnen:

• (Newsweek)
• (Stacker)

Zie ook:

•  Wat zijn de veiligste landen als er een derde wereldoorlog uitbreekt?

{ Stars Insider }

15-03-2026 om 21:21 geschreven door peter  

The new findings suggest that “space weather” surrounding distant stars could change or distort radio signals before they ever leave their home star systems. SETI researchers suggest that even if an advanced civilization were to send a perfectly narrow radio signal, turbulent conditions related to emissions from nearby stars could distort it in ways that make it difficult for Earth-based telescopes to detect.

The key factor is plasma, as stellar winds constantly carry plasma outward, and powerful stellar eruptions can inject more turbulence into the environment. When radio waves pass through these fluctuating plasma regions, their frequencies can spread slightly. Instead of being concentrated at a single narrow frequency, the signal becomes broadened, distributing its energy across a wider range of frequencies. As a result, the signal’s peak strength becomes weaker.

Traditional search algorithms used in many SETI experiments are designed to detect very sharp signals. If a signal is broadened even slightly, it may fall below the detection thresholds of these systems. Another way of looking at it is that a genuine ET transmission could still be detected, although it may appear too faint or too dispersed to be recognized by astronomers as an artificial signal.

“SETI searches are often optimized for extremely narrow signals. If a signal gets broadened by its own star’s environment, it can slip below our detection thresholds, even if it’s there, potentially helping explain some of the radio silence we’ve seen in technosignature searches,” said Dr. Vishal Gajjar, an astronomer at the SETI Institute and lead author of the recent paper.

To estimate the degree of signal distortion, the researchers analyzed radio transmissions from spacecraft within our solar system. Because these signals travel through the stormy plasma around our Sun, scientists can measure how the plasma affects radio waves. The team does this by calibrating their models using these measurements. 

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/space/ }

13-03-2026 om 16:07 geschreven door peter  

Asteroid once struck 80 miles off coast of Yorkshire causing 330ft tsunami

 Josh Milton

A nearly 540-foot-wide asteroid crashed into the North Sea, only 80 miles off the coast of East Yorkshire… 43 million years ago.

The immense space rock (or possibly a cosmic-sized snowball called a comet) caused a mammoth, 330-foot-high tsunami.

This impact created a two-mile-wide crater known as the Silverpit crater, named after a nearby seafloor channel.

The crater was discovered by British oil geologists in 2002, hidden beneath 700 metres of oceanic ooze and debris.

Its origin has long puzzled scientists, with experts suggesting it was caused by underground salt shifting, causing the seabed to collapse.

But scientists have found the ‘needle in the haystack’ proof that it was the result of an asteroid.

Dr Uisdean Nicholson, a sedimentologist at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, used seismic images to dive deep into the crater.

He found that around the crater, which stretches over 12 miles in a series of concentric rings, were ‘shocked’ quartz and feldspar crystals.

These minerals are formed only under the immense pressure of asteroid strikes, the findings published in Nature Communications indicate.

‘These prove the impact crater hypothesis beyond doubt, because they have a fabric that can only be created by extreme shock pressures,’ Dr Nicholson said.

Asteroid strike off Yorkshire sent mega-tsunami racing toward Britain, study confirm

‘Within minutes, it created a 1.5km high curtain of rock and water that then collapsed into the sea, creating a tsunami over 100 metres high.’

‘It is very rewarding to have finally found the silver bullet’

Professor Gareth Collins, of Imperial College London, who provided numerical models for the study, said a gigantic rock from outer space smashing into the Earth was the ‘simplest explanation’ for Silverpit.

‘It is very rewarding to have finally found the silver bullet,’ he said.

‘We can now get on with the exciting job of using the amazing new data to learn more about how impacts shape planets below the surface, which is really hard to do on other planets.’

Silverpit crater is one of 200 confirmed impact sites, most of which haven’t been fully dated.

While this sounds like a lot, the Earth has been struck by a fair few intruders over the millions of years the planet has been around.

Almost all evidence of these impacts, however, has been swept under the rug by earthquakes and erosion that constantly renew the seabed.

‘We can use these findings to understand how asteroid impacts shaped our planet throughout history, as well as predict what could happen should we have an asteroid collision in future,’ added Dr Nicholson.

Others include Chicxulub, a 110-mile-wide crater buried under the tip of the Yucatán Peninsula, thought to have been caused by an asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago.

Its explosive force, akin to a hundred million hydrogen bombs, would have ignited firestorms and choked the Earth with dust. Causing the global extinction of not only dinosaurs but plants, fish and plankton.

Or, rather, it was one of a swarm of asteroids that set this extinction in motion.

Other craters, such as Boltysh in Ukraine, have been dated to around the same time as Chicxulub, may also have caused fiery cataclysms and bad news for any living thing nearby.

Together, this may have been a one-two punch that made the dinosaurs’ luck finally run out.

Humanity has yet to face such an event, but came close-ish in 2024 when a ‘city-killer’ asteroid was seemingly hurtling towards us.

The rock, called 2024 YR4, had a 3.1% chance of colliding with the Earth on December 22, 2032, Nasa briefly suspected last year.

Early estimates of the asteroid’s path show it would have slammed into or exploded over highly-populated areas like Mumbai, India or Bogotá, Lagos.

These days, though, space officials say it’s just 0.00081%, or roughly one in 123,000 chance. 

{ https://metro.co.uk/news/ }

13-03-2026 om 14:45 geschreven door peter  

Duizenden mensen in Nederland, België, Duitsland en Frankrijk zagen gisteren aan de schemerende hemel een geelachtige vuurbal die door de lucht schoot. Dat leverde leuke beelden op. Maar voor een aantal mensen in het westen van Duitsland was het meer dan dat. Daar beschadigden stukjes meteoriet huizen. Hoe groot is de kans dat zoiets gebeurt?

Het rotsblok vloog gisterenavond met een geschatte snelheid van zo’n 100.000 kilometer per uur de aardatmosfeer in. Dat gebeurde op een hoogte van 70 kilometer. Door de enorme wrijving met de lucht verhitte het object en begon het te gloeien; dat is het spectaculaire lichtverschijnsel dat we een meteoor noemen.

Bij de Werkgroep Meteoren kwamen meteen talloze waarnemingen binnen. Uit de analyse van al die meldingen bleek dat het object van boven Frankrijk richting Duitsland vloog.

In de westelijke deelstaat Rijnland-Palts kwamen zelfs fragmenten neer. De Duitse politie ontving schademeldingen uit de regio Hunsrück, het Eifelgebergte en bij Koblenz. Er is sprake van beschadigde daken en kapotte dakpannen. Vanuit Nederland en België zijn er geen meldingen van schade.

Hoe groot is de kans dat zo’n meteoriet je raakt?

Vooral die schadegevallen zijn nieuwswaardig. De kans dat jij of je huis ooit geraakt wordt door zo’n stuk meteoriet is namelijk verwaarloosbaar klein. Onderzoekers schatten in de jaren ‘80 dat wereldwijd zo’n zestien gebouwen per jaar geraakt worden door een meteoriet en dat statistisch gezien eens per decennium een persoon ergens op aarde getroffen zou moeten worden.

Stephen A. Nelson, een wetenschapper aan de Amerikaanse Tulane University, heeft in het verleden berekend dat de kans op overlijden door een meteorietinslag gedurende een mensenleven ongeveer 1 op 1.600.000 is. Astronoom Alan Harris houdt het op 1 op 700.000. Het grootste deel van dat risico komt niet eens van een steen die op je hoofd valt, maar van een grootschalige inslag die het klimaat verstoort.

De kans om in je leven door bliksem geraakt te worden is groter, ruwweg 1 op 50.000, en de kans om te overlijden aan een auto-ongeluk is ongeveer 1 op 100. Een meteoriet hoort statistisch gezien dus niet tot je grootste zorgen. Wel een leuk feitje: de kans dat je door een meteoriet overlijdt, is minstens zes keer zo groot als dat je de Staatsloterij zou winnen.

Historische gevallen

De geschiedenis laat zien dat het niet onmogelijk is. Het beroemdste voorval vond plaats op 30 november 1954 in Sylacauga, Alabama. Ann Hodges, 34 jaar oud, lag op de bank te slapen toen een steen van bijna vier kilo door haar plafond crashte, via haar radio afketste en haar op de heup trof. Ze overleefde het met niet meer dan een flinke kneuzing.

Dichter bij huis: op 7 april 1990 sloeg een meteoriet van zo’n 855 gram dwars door de dakpannen en het dak van een woonhuis in Glanerbrug, Overijssel. De zoon van de bewoners vond de steen op zolder, uiteengevallen in tientallen fragmenten.

Op 11 januari 2017 werd door tientallen ooggetuigen in Nederland en België eveneens een vuurbal waargenomen. Kort daarna vonden bewoners in Broek in Waterland een steen van zo’n 500 gram op het dak van een schuurtje. Experts bevestigden later dat het een echte meteoriet was.

Grotere inslagen zijn zeldzaam

In de recente geschiedenis zijn er ook grotere inslagen geweest. De meest beruchte vond plaats op 15 februari 2013. Toen vloog een asteroïde met een doorsnede van zo’n 18 meter de atmosfeer in boven de Russische stad Tsjeljabinsk. Het object explodeerde op een hoogte van ongeveer 30 kilometer. Dat werd vastgelegd op talloze dashcams en camera’s.

De explosie had een kracht van naar schatting 440 tot 500 kiloton TNT, tientallen keren de atoombom van Hiroshima. De schokgolf brak duizenden ramen, beschadigde zo’n 7.200 gebouwen en verwondde bijna 1.500 mensen, voornamelijk door rondvliegend glas. Niemand werd direct door meteorietfragmenten geraakt, en wonder boven wonder viel er geen enkel dodelijk slachtoffer.

Wetenschappers schatten dat impacten van deze omvang om de 30 tot 60 jaar plaatsvinden. De meeste vinden plaats boven onbemenste gebieden. Ruimtestenen die groot genoeg zijn om een hele stad te verwoesten zijn nog zeldzamer en treffen de aarde eens per 10.000 tot 20.000 jaar. Om de 500.000 jaar worden we geraakt door een object dat wereldwijde klimaateffecten zou veroorzaken. En asteroïden zoals het exemplaar dat de dino’s uitroeide? Die raken de aarde slechts om de 100 miljoen jaar.

We schreven vaker over dit onderwerp, lees bijvoorbeeld ook Meteorieten van Mars leveren schat aan informatie over de rode planeet (en de begintijd van de Aarde) en Meeste meteorieten die op aarde crashen zijn afkomstig van dezelfde bron. Of lees dit artikel: De bekendste komeet zet sinds dit weekend weer koers richting de aarde.

Uitgelezen? Luister ook eens naar de Scientias Podcast:

{ https://scientias.nl/nieuws/natuur-klimaat/ }

13-03-2026 om 14:29 geschreven door peter  

NASA spacecraft lands in the Pacific Ocean near the Galapagos Islands as it crashes back to Earth after 14 years in orbit

• READ MORE: NASA successfully changed an asteroid's orbit around the SUN

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

An out-of-control NASA satellite has plunged back to Earth after more than 14 years in orbit.

The 590-kilogram (1,300 lbs) Van Allen Probe A crashed down in the East Pacific Ocean near the Galapagos Islands at 10:37 GMT (06:37 EDT) yesterday morning.

NASA says it expected most of the spacecraft to burn up in the atmosphere, but some parts may have survived re-entry and reached the surface.

Due to the remote location, around 680 miles (1,100 km) due south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, it is extremely unlikely that the satellite would have harmed anyone.

The space agency had previously estimated that the chances of Van Allen Probe A harming anyone at all were around one in 4,200.

Dr Marco Langbroek, an expert satellite tracker, says the re-entry fireball was detected by the US Space Force, likely with a military infrared early warning system.

Dr Langbroek adds that the re-entry side had been particularly difficult for space agencies to predict due to the satellite's highly elliptical orbit.

This means that the probe only slowed down as it briefly dipped into the atmosphere at the closest point of its oval-shaped orbit.

The 590-kilogram (1,300 lbs) Van Allen Probe A (artist's impression) crashed down in the East Pacific Ocean near the Galapagos Islands at 10:37 GMT (06:37 EDT) yesterday morning

Originally launched for a two-year mission, the Van Allen Probe A and its twin Van Allen Probe B were launched into orbit in August 2012.

For over six years, the twin spacecraft travelled through the Van Allen Belts, the invisible, doughnut-shaped rings of highly charged radioactive particles that surround Earth.

The Van Allen Probes were designed to orbit within this dangerous region, gathering data on how the rings gain and lose particles.

No one had expected that the probes would be able to survive and keep gathering data for more than two years, but both were still delivering scientific insights until 2019.

NASA requires that its spacecraft be safely 'de-orbited' at the end of their lifespans so that they don't orbit Earth as space junk for thousands of years.

That meant the space agency had to use the last of the remaining fuel to push them out of orbit.

Over two weeks, scientists fired the probes' engines five times, with each two-hour burst burning more than two kilograms (4.5 lbs) of propellant.

This brought the closest point of the orbit from 370 miles (595 km) above Earth down to just 190 miles (305 km), where the friction from Earth's atmosphere would slowly drag them down.

NASA had originally expected that Van Allen Probe A would re-enter the atmosphere in 2034.

However, these predictions were made before scientists learned how active the current solar cycle would be.

In 2024, studies confirmed that the sun had reached its 'solar maximum', a period of unusually intense space weather events such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

These events caused Earth's atmosphere to swell slightly, increasing the atmospheric drag on the craft and pulling it out of orbit much faster than expected.

The probe's twin, Van Allen Probe B, is not expected to re-enter until after 2030.

The Van Allen Belts help to shield Earth from powerful solar winds and dangerous cosmic rays that could have prevented life from ever forming on the planet's surface.

However, they also pose a problem for satellites in high orbits and for astronauts, who must pass through these dangerous regions to reach the moon.

While travelling through the Van Allen Belts, astronauts are exposed to high doses of 'high-energy radiation', which is far more damaging than the radiation from X-rays.

The probes spent seven years gathering data on the Van Allen Belts (pictured), doughnut-shaped rings of charged particles that surround the planet, before running out of fuel

With the Artemis program now targeting its first crewed lunar mission for April this year, it is critical for NASA to understand the exact shape and structure of these regions.  

NASA says: 'Data from NASA’s Van Allen Probes mission still plays an important role in understanding space weather and its effects.'

'By reviewing archived data from the mission, scientists study the radiation belts surrounding Earth, which are key to predicting how solar activity impacts satellites, astronauts, and even systems on Earth, such as communications, navigation, and power grids.

'By observing these dynamic regions, the Van Allen Probes contributed to improving forecasts of space weather events and their potential consequences.'

WHAT ARE THE VAN ALLEN PROBES?

NASA launched the twin Van Allen Probes in 2012 to understand the fundamental physical processes that create this harsh environment so that scientists can develop better models of the radiation belts. 

These spacecraft were specifically designed to withstand the constant bombardment of radiation in this area and to continue to collect data even under the most intense conditions. 

A set of observations on how the radiation belts respond to a significant space weather storm, from this harsh space environment, is a goldmine. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

12-03-2026 om 21:32 geschreven door peter  

Astronomers watch the birth of one of the universe's most extreme objects for the first time

By FRANCINE WOLFISZ, NEWS REPORTER

Astronomers have watched the birth of one of the universe's most extreme objects for the very first time - a magnetar comprising the mass of 500,000 Earths inside a sphere measuring just 12 miles across.

Magnetars are a type of neutron star, an incredibly dense object mainly made up of tightly packed neutron, which forms from the collapsed core of a massive star during a supernova.

What sets magnetars apart from other neutron stars is that they also have the most powerful known magnetic fields in the universe.

For context, the strength of our planet’s magnetic field has a value of about one Gauss, while a refrigerator magnet measures about 100 Gauss. Magnetars, on the other hand, have magnetic fields of about a million billion Gauss.

Scientists observed a superluminous supernova called SN 2024afav for more than 200 days. Normally the light from a supernova fades after reaching a peak in brightness, but SN 2024afav flickered as it faded, producing small light pulses.

They theorised that debris had formed a swirling gas disc after falling back into a magnetar and that the debris' axis of rotation was tilted as a result of general relativity, their study published in Nature stated.

An artist's impression of a magnetar surrounded by a swirling gas disc that is tilted because of the effects of general relativity

According to Einstein's theory of relativity, the pulsating light was the result of a massive spinning object whipping space-time fabric around it - otherwise known as a magnetar.

The scientists believe the data proves they had witnessed a magnetar forming as the  the core of a superluminous supernova collapsed in on itself.

Alex Filippenko, a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley and co-author of the study said it was 'definitive evidence' of a magnetar.

He told The Times:  'To see a clear effect of Einstein’s general theory of relativity is always exciting, but seeing it for the first time in a supernova is especially rewarding

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

12-03-2026 om 21:07 geschreven door peter