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Science and Tech Current Affairs 2021-22<\/span><\/h2>\nSpace technology<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/p>\n
To Read Other Current Affairs Compilations<\/strong><\/span> – Click here<\/a><\/h4>\n
\nMission Lucy<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
NASA\u00a0<\/strong>has launched a probe toward clusters of\u00a0asteroids\u00a0<\/strong>along\u00a0Jupiter\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong>orbital path.\u00a0They are known as the\u00a0Trojan swarms.\u00a0<\/strong>It\u00a0represents\u00a0the final unexplored regions of asteroids in the solar system.<\/p>\nAbout Mission Lucy<\/h5>\n
The\u00a0spacecraft<\/strong>, a deep-space robotic archaeologist named\u00a0Lucy\u00a0<\/strong>will study the geology, composition, density\u00a0and structure of the Trojans.\u00a0Mission Lucy is NASA\u2019s first mission to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.<\/p>\nAfter a six-year cruise, Lucy will fly close to seven Trojan\u00a0asteroids by 2033.<\/p>\n
Named After:\u00a0<\/strong>The mission is named after \u2018Lucy\u2019, a 3.2 million-year-old ancestor who belonged to a species of hominins (which include humans and their ancestors).<\/p>\nAim of the project<\/h5>\n
As per some planet formation and evolution models, the Trojan asteroids are believed to be formed from the same material that led to the formation of planets nearly 4 billion years ago when the solar system was formed.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the mission is designed to understand the composition of the diverse asteroids that are a part of the Trojan asteroid swarms, to determine the mass and densities of the materials and to look for and study the satellites and rings that may orbit the Trojan asteroids.<\/p>\n
Duration of mission<\/h5>\n
It is a solar-powered mission. It is estimated to be over 12 years long, during the course of which the spacecraft will visit eight asteroids covering a distance of about 6.3 billion km to deepen the understanding of the \u201cyoung solar system\u201d.<\/p>\n
About asterioids<\/h5>\n
Asteroids are divided into three categories:<\/p>\n
The first group are\u00a0<\/strong>those that are found in the\u00a0main asteroid belt<\/strong>, between Mars and Jupiter. This region is estimated to contain somewhere between 1.1-1.9 million asteroids.<\/p>\nThe second group\u00a0<\/strong>is that of\u00a0trojans<\/strong>\u00a0(the name comes from Greek mythology), which are asteroids that share an orbit with a larger planet. NASA reports the presence of Jupiter, Neptune and Mars trojans. In 2011, they reported an Earth trojan as well.<\/p>\nThe Jupiter asteroids<\/strong>\u00a0can be found in what are referred to as \u201cswarms\u201d that lead and follow the planet Jupiter along its orbit around the Sun. \u2018Lucy\u2019 will reach the first swarm of these asteroids that precede Jupiter by August 2027.<\/p>\nThe third classification<\/strong>\u00a0of asteroids is under\u00a0Near-Earth Asteroids<\/strong>\u00a0(NEA), which has orbits that pass close to the Earth. Those that cross the Earth\u2019s orbit are called Earth-crossers. More than 10,000 such asteroids are known, of which over 1,400 are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs).<\/p>\nOther asteroid missions<\/h5>\n
Dawn\u00a0mission (NASA)<\/strong>\u00a0orbited Ceres and Vesta\u00a0the two largest worlds in the belt between Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>\nHayabusa mission (JAXA-Japan)\u00a0<\/strong>probed asteroid\u00a0\u201cRyugu\u201d<\/p>\nOSIRIS-REX(NASA)<\/strong>\u00a0spacecraft probed asteroid \u201cBennu\u201d and collected samples from there.<\/p>\n
\nNebra Sky Disc<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
The British Museum in London will display an ancient object called the Nebra Sky Disc, which is thought to be the world\u2019s oldest concrete depiction of stars.<\/p>\n
About Nebra Sky Disc<\/h5>\n![\"Nebra](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Nebra-Sky-Disc.png?resize=446%2C444&ssl=1\")
Source: Indian Express<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNebra Sky Disc is an ancient object that is considered as the world\u2019s oldest concrete depiction of stars.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0object is widely believed to be 3,600 years old, dating from the Bronze Age. However, the\u00a0date of origin of the disc has been called into question by some archaeologists.<\/p>\n
The disc measures about 30 cm in diameter and has a blue-green patina emblazoned with gold symbols representing the Sun, Moon, stars, solstices and other cosmic phenomena.<\/p>\n
Discovery of Nebra Sky Disc<\/h5>\n
The disc was unearthed in Germany in 1999 and is considered one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th Century.<\/p>\n
It was ritually buried along with two precious swords, two axes, two spiral arm-rings and one bronze chisel circa\u00a0near\u00a0Nebra<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Germany<\/strong>. The burial of these objects is thought to be made as a dedication to gods.<\/p>\nSignificance of Nebra Sky Disc<\/h5>\n
The\u00a0Nebra Sky Disc\u00a0is considered to be one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century and\u00a0has been associated with the\u00a0Unetice culture<\/strong>\u00a0that inhabited parts of Europe around 1600 BC.<\/p>\nThe Unetice culture comprised early\u00a0Bronze Age communities<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Central Europe<\/strong>, including in Bohemia, Bavaria, southeastern Germany and western Poland.<\/p>\n
\nWhite Dwarf<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
An international team has reported a unique phenomenon where they saw the white dwarf losing its brightness in 30 minutes. These gaps in brightness have been previously reported, but the process usually takes place over a period of several days to months.<\/p>\n
About the White Dwarf<\/h5>\n
White dwarfs are stars that have burned up all of the hydrogen they once used as nuclear fuel.<\/p>\n
A typical white dwarf is half the size of our Sun and has a surface gravity 100,000 times that of Earth<\/p>\n
Formation of White Dwarf<\/h5>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.forumias.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/starcycle.jpg.jpg?resize=531%2C272&ssl=1\")
Source: Secrets of the Universe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMain sequence stars\u00a0including the sun are formed from clouds of dust and gas drawn together by gravity. However, once a star runs out of its fuel, it dies and becomes compact. The lifetime of a star depends on its mass.<\/p>\n
The most massive stars with eight times the mass of the sun or more will never become white dwarfs. Instead, at the end of their lives, they will explode in a violent\u00a0supernova, leaving behind a\u00a0neutron star\u00a0or\u00a0black hole.<\/p>\n
Smaller stars, such as the sun, will eventually swell up into red giants. After that, the stars shed their outer layers into a ring known as a planetary nebula. The core that is left behind will be a white dwarf, a husk of a star in which no hydrogen fusion occurs.<\/p>\n
About the Switch on and off Phenomena<\/h5>\n
The white dwarf discussed here is part of a binary system called TW Pictoris, where a star and a white dwarf orbit each other. The two objects are so close to each other that the star transfers material to the white dwarf.<\/p>\n
As this material approaches the white dwarf it forms an accretion disk or a disk of gas, plasma, and other particles around it.<\/p>\n
As the accretion disk material slowly sinks closer towards the white dwarf, it generally becomes brighter.\u00a0There are cases when the donor stars stop feeding the white dwarf disk. However, the reasons for this are still not clear.<\/p>\n
When this happens, the disk is still bright as it \u201cdrains\u201d material that was previously still there. It then takes the disk about 1-2 months to drain most of the material.<\/p>\n
However, TW Pictoris drop in brightness in 30 mins was totally unexpected, and it may be due to the process called magnetic gating.<\/p>\n
Note<\/strong>: Magnetic gating happens when the magnetic field is spinning so rapidly around the white Dwarf it creates a barrier, disrupting the amount of matter the white dwarf can receive.<\/p>\nSignificance of these findings<\/h5>\n
This discovery will help us understand the physics behind accretion \u2013 how black holes and neutron stars feed material from their nearby stars.<\/p>\n
\nBlue Stragglers<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
Indian researchers have done a comprehensive analysis to understand the formation of blue stragglers.<\/p>\n
About Blue Stragglers<\/h5>\n
Blue stragglers\u00a0<\/strong>are a class of stars on open or globular clusters. They stand out as they are bigger and bluer than the rest of the stars.<\/p>\nNote:<\/strong>\u00a0A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity giving them their spherical shapes and high concentrations of stars toward their centers.<\/p>\nFirst Discovered by:<\/strong>\u00a0Blue stragglers were first discovered by Allan Sandage in 1953.<\/p>\nAbout the study by Indian Researchers<\/h5>\n
Indian Researchers have studied 228 clusters with a total of 868 blue stragglers.\u00a0They compared the mass of the blue stragglers to the mass of the turnoff stars (which are the most massive \u2018normal\u2019 stars in the cluster) and predicted the formation mechanisms.\u00a0They have found that:<\/p>\n
\n- Half of the blue stragglers are formed through mass transfer from a close binary companion star,<\/li>\n
- One third are likely formed through collisions of 2 stars and<\/li>\n
- The remaining are formed through interactions of more than 2 stars.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Significance of this study<\/h5>\n
The study will help improve understanding of stellar systems. It will help uncover exciting results in studies of large stellar populations including galaxies.<\/p>\n
\nInspiration4 mission<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
SpaceX has announced that it is planning to launch the Inspiration4\u00a0mission by\u00a0September 15.<\/p>\n
About Inspiration4\u00a0mission<\/h5>\n
Inspiration4<\/strong>\u00a0is a spaceflight planned for four people aboard the\u00a0SpaceX\u00a0Resilience<\/em>\u00a0capsule.<\/p>\nThe three-day flight will be the first human spaceflight to\u00a0orbit\u00a0Earth with exclusively private citizens on board.<\/p>\n
The flight will be\u00a0privately operated\u00a0by\u00a0SpaceX\u00a0using a previously-flown\u00a0Crew Dragon<\/a>\u00a0capsule launched to\u00a0low Earth orbit.<\/p>\nThe objective of the Inspiration4 mission<\/h5>\n
The mission involves circling the Earth for three days and then splashing down into the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n
It will orbit the Earth at 575 km, higher than the\u00a0International Space Station<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(408 km) and the\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(547 km).This will be the farthest distance travelled by a crewed mission since 2009, when astronauts last went to repair the Hubble.<\/p>\nSignificance of the Inspiration4 mission<\/h5>\n
The mission is a part of an\u00a0effort to raise millions for<\/strong>\u00a0the Tennessee-based\u00a0St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital<\/strong>, a paediatric treatment and research facility that focuses on children\u2019s catastrophic diseases, particularly leukaemia and other cancers.<\/p>\nMoreover, the mission will also present an\u00a0opportunity for collecting large amounts of health data<\/strong>\u00a0that will aid in planning future crewed space missions.<\/p>\n
\nCoronal Mass Ejections(CME)<\/span><\/h3>\nCoronal Mass Ejection(CME)\u00a0<\/strong>is an ejection of highly magnetised particles from the sun.\u00a0During a CME, enormous bubbles of superheated gas \u2013 called\u00a0plasma\u00a0\u2013 are ejected from the sun.<\/p>\nCause:<\/strong>\u00a0The underlying cause of CMEs is not well understood. However, astronomers agree, that the sun\u2019s magnetic field plays a major role.<\/p>\nOccurrence of CMEs: <\/strong>Though CMEs can occur anywhere on the Sun, it is primarily those which originate from regions near the centre of the\u00a0visible solar surface<\/strong>\u00a0(called the\u00a0photosphere<\/strong>) that are important for study, since they may propagate directly towards the Earth.<\/p>\nImpact of CMEs:\u00a0<\/strong>When a really strong CME blows past the Earth, it can damage the electronics in satellites and disrupt radio communication networks on Earth.<\/p>\n
\nChang\u2019e-5 lunar mission<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
China\u2019s Chang\u2019e-5 lunar mission has delivered to Earth nearly 2 kg of rocky fragments and dust from the Moon.<\/p>\n
About the Chang\u2019e-5 lunar mission<\/h5>\n
Chang\u2019e 5 lunar mission is the\u00a0Chinese National Space Administration\u2019s (CNSA)<\/strong>\u00a0mission to send a robotic spacecraft to the\u00a0moon\u00a0to collect samples and return them to Earth for scientific study.<\/p>\nThe spacecraft landed on an area of the Moon (the \u2018far side\u2019) not sampled by the American or Soviet missions nearly 50 years ago, and thus retrieved fragments of the youngest lunar rocks ever brought back for analysis in laboratories on Earth. The rocks are also different to those returned decades ago.<\/p>\n
About the findings from the samples brought by\u00a0Chang\u2019e-5<\/h5>\n
Around 90% of the materials collected by Chang\u2019e-5 likely derive from the landing site and its immediate surroundings, which are of a type termed \u2018mare basalts<\/strong>\u2019.\u00a0These volcanic rocks are visible to us as the darker grey areas that spilled over much of the nearside of the Moon as ancient eruptions of lava.<\/p>\nYet 10% percent of the fragments have distinctly different, \u2018exotic\u2019 chemical compositions.<\/p>\n
Significance of these findings<\/h5>\n
The distinct 10% fragments may preserve records of other parts of the lunar surface, as well as hints of the types of space rocks that have impacted the Moon\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n
Moreover, scientists have also looked at the potential sources of beads of rapidly cooled glassy material. They have traced these glassy droplets to\u00a0extinct volcanic vents<\/strong>\u00a0known as\u00a0\u2018Rima Mairan\u2019 and \u2018Rima Sharp<\/strong>\u2019. These fragments could give insights into past episodes of energetic, fountain-like volcanic activity on the Moon.<\/p>\n
\nXENON1T experiment<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/strong><\/h5>\nRecently, an international team of researchers made the first putative direct detection of dark energy.<\/p>\n
About the XENON1T experiment<\/h5>\n
The XENON1T experiment is the world\u2019s most sensitive dark matter experiment and was operated deep underground at the INFN\u00a0Laboratori\u00a0Nazionali\u00a0del Gran Sasso in Italy.\u00a0In this experiment scientists\u00a0noticed certain unexpected results. As per them, dark energy may be responsible for it.\u00a0Hence, this experiment can also be used to detect dark energy.<\/p>\n
About the dark energy\u00a0and dark matter<\/h5>\n
Everything we see makes up less than 5% of the universe. About 27% is dark matter and 68% is dark energy.<\/p>\n
Dark energy<\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0the mysterious form of energy that makes up about\u00a068% of the universe.<\/strong>\u00a0Dark energy has been noted as \u201cthe most profound mystery in all of science\u201d.<\/p>\nWhile dark matter attracts and holds galaxies together, dark energy repels and causes the expansion of our universe.\u00a0<\/strong>Both components\u00a0are\u00a0invisible.<\/p>\nMore is known about dark matter, since its existence was suggested as early as the 1920s, while dark energy wasn\u2019t discovered until 1998. Large-scale experiments like XENON1T have been designed to directly detect dark matter, by searching for signs of dark matter \u2018hitting\u2019 ordinary matter. Dark energy is even more difficult to find.<\/p>\n
Direct detection of dark energy<\/h5>\n
The team is hopeful that upcoming upgrades to the XENON1T experiment and similar experiments such as LUX-Zeplin \u2013 a next generation dark matter experiment located at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, and\u00a0PandaX-xT\u00a0\u2013 another project at China Jinping Underground Laboratory could help directly detect dark energy within the next decade.<\/p>\n
\nLandsat 9<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
Recently, a\u00a0NASA satellite was successfully launched\u00a0the earth monitoring satellite, Landsat 9. It\u00a0is a joint mission of NASA and the US Geological Survey (USGS).<\/p>\n
The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972. Since then, Landsat satellites have collected images of our planet and helped understand how land usage has changed over the decades. Images have also been used to study the health of forests, and coral reefs, monitor water quality and melt glaciers.<\/p>\n
Difference between Landsat 9 and previous Landsats<\/h5>\n
Landsat 9 carries instruments similar to the other Landsat satellites, but it is the most technologically advanced satellite of its generation. It can see more colour shades with greater depths than the previous satellites. It can help scientists capture more details about our ever-changing planet.<\/p>\n
Significance of LandSat<\/strong><\/h5>\nLandsat 9 will help make science-based decisions on key issues such as impacts of wildfire, coral reef degradation, the retreat of glaciers, and deforestation.<\/p>\n
Monitoring climate change by Lansat<\/strong><\/h5>\nIf a forest is affected by\u00a0drought<\/strong>, it will be seen in Landsat images and can help the researchers decode the areas at risk.<\/p>\nSimilarly during a\u00a0wildfire<\/strong>, the Landsat images will capture the plumes of smoke and help study the extent of a burning.<\/p>\nThe satellite images can also help recovery experts plan sites for replanting.<\/p>\n
Landsat images can also help identify water bodies affected by\u00a0potentially harmful algal blooms<\/strong>. According to NASA, scientists are now developing computer programs that would use Landsat and other satellite data to automatically warn lake recreation managers when blooms pop up.<\/p>\nLandsat images have helped glaciologists study the melting ice sheets of the Antarctic and Arctic regions. The images can help track cracks in the\u00a0glaciers<\/strong>, the movement of glaciers, and decode how further global warming will impact them.<\/p>\n
\nWright Mons in Pluto<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration\u2019s(NASA)\u00a0New Horizons prob<\/a>e has reported new findings of Pluto.<\/p>\nThe probe reported that icy lava flows have recently (no more than a billion years ago) covered substantial tracts of its surface. The findings drew particular attention to a mountainous feature named Wright Mons.<\/p>\n
About Wright Mons<\/h5>\n
Wright Mons is a\u00a0mountainous feature found on Pluto. It was informally named by the New Horizons team in honour of the Wright brothers.<\/p>\n
It is about 150 km across its base and has a central depression (a hole) 40-50 km wide, with a floor at least as low as the surrounding terrain.<\/p>\n
Scientists claim that Wright Mons is a volcano and cite the lack of impact craters as evidence that it is not likely to be older than 1-2 billion years.<\/p>\n
The volume of Wright Mons exceeds 20 thousand cubic kilometres. Although considerably less than the volume of Mars\u2019s biggest volcanoes, this is similar to the total volume of Hawaii\u2019s Mauna Loa, and much greater than the volume of its above sea-level portion.<\/p>\n
The slopes of Wright Mons and much of its surroundings are seen to be crowded with hummocks (humps or ridges in an ice field).<\/p>\n
These hummocks were likely created by some sort of ice volcanism, known by the technical term \u201ccryovolcanism<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 erupting icy water rather than molten rock.<\/p>\n
\nUVIT J2022<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
Indian astronomers have discovered a\u00a0Faint Galaxy named\u00a0UVIT J2022<\/strong>\u00a0that remained hidden until now.<\/p>\nAbout Faint Galaxies<\/h5>\n
Faint Galaxies are\u00a0called low surface brightness galaxies or ultra-diffuse galaxies and have a surface brightness that is at least ten times fainter than the surrounding night sky.<\/p>\n
Such faint galaxies may account for up to 15 % of the mass of the universe. However, they are difficult to detect because of their inherent low luminosities.<\/p>\n
About UVIT J2022<\/h5>\n
It is a faint galaxy. It was discovered while studying a known galaxy, NGC6902A.\u00a0This faint galaxy is in the Milky Way\u2019s neighbourhood situated 136 million light-years away.<\/p>\n
It\u00a0remained undetected because it lay in front of a much brighter galaxy that is further away.\u00a0Moreover, it is extremely faint \u2013 about ten times fainter than the surrounding night sky.<\/p>\n
Significance of this study<\/h5>\n
Firstly,\u00a0<\/strong>this study raises the possibility that there could be similar diffuse galaxies that have been wrongly interpreted as interacting galaxies due to their superposition with foreground or background galaxies.<\/p>\nSecondly,<\/strong>\u00a0the material that the humans see around is known as\u00a0baryonic matter.\u00a0<\/strong>Studies suggest that baryonic matter makes up 5% of the Universe\u2019s mass. The rest of the mass should be contributed by unknown forms such as dark matter and dark energy.<\/p>\n\u2014 However, humans still do not have a clear understanding about the 5% of the baryonic content present in the Universe. These faint galaxies can act as a link for understanding the origin of missing baryons in the universe, as they may contribute significantly to the baryonic mass in the universe.<\/p>\n
\nSpace Equity Action Plan<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
NASA has released its first-ever Space Equity Action Plan.<\/p>\n
About the Space Equity Action Plan<\/h5>\n
Released by:\u00a0<\/strong>NASA<\/p>\nObjective:\u00a0<\/strong>To allow the agency to track progress toward improved diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility both internally and externally.<\/p>\nFocus Areas:\u00a0<\/strong>The four focus areas the plan addresses are:<\/p>\n\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Increasing integration and utilization of contractors and businesses from underserved communities and expanding equity in NASA\u2019s procurement process;<\/p>\n\u2013 Enhancing grants and cooperative agreements to advance opportunities, access and representation for underserved communities;<\/p>\n
\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Leveraging Earth Science and socioeconomic data to help mitigate environmental challenges in underserved communities;<\/p>\n\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Advancing external civil rights compliance and expanding access to limited English proficient populations within underserved communities.<\/p>\nMonitoring of the Plan:\u00a0<\/strong>An executive team, led by NASA\u2019s deputy administrator will lead the organization\u2019s efforts towards equity.<\/p>\nThe space agency has also established a leadership council that will be led by the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity and will provide quarterly reports to the executive team.<\/p>\n
\nEuropa<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
A team of researchers from Stanford University have said that one of Jupiter\u2019s moons Europa, a prime candidate for life in the solar system, might have an abundance of water pockets beneath formations called double ridges.<\/p>\n
About Europa<\/h5>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/europa.jpg?resize=513%2C512&ssl=1\")
Source: Astronomy Stockexchange<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nEuropa is the sixth-largest moon in the solar system and Jupiter\u2019s fourth-largest satellite.\u00a0It was\u00a0discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei.<\/p>\n
Europa is slightly smaller than Earth\u2019s moon and its diameter is about one-quarter that of the Earth.\u00a0Europa\u2019s surface is mostly solid water ice. It is crisscrossed by fractures.<\/p>\n
Even though Europa has a very thin oxygen atmosphere, it is considered one of the most promising places in the solar system to find present-day environments that are suitable for life beyond the Earth.<\/p>\n
It is also believed that underneath Europa\u2019s icy surface the amount of water is twice that on Earth.<\/p>\n
Future Missions to Europa<\/h5>\n
NASA is expected to launch its Europa Clipper in 2024. The module will orbit Jupiter and conduct multiple close flybys to Europa to gather data on the moon\u2019s atmosphere, surface and its interior.<\/p>\n
Findings about Europa<\/h5>\n
The researchers have found that double ridges found on Europa\u2019s surface are similar to those seen on Earth\u2019s Greenland ice sheet.<\/p>\n
Based on these findings, the researchers \u200b\u200bsuggest that if a similar process is responsible for the formation of double ridges there, it could indicate that shallow liquid water is present over Europa\u2019s ice shell at all times and in all places.<\/p>\n
Note:<\/strong>\u00a0Double ridges are symmetrical mountain-like structures running hundreds of kilometers in length. They are a common geographical feature found in Greenland.<\/p>\nSignificance of these findings:\u00a0<\/strong>The findings increase the potential habitability of Europa.<\/p>\n
\nEarendel<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
NASA\u2019s\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope<\/a>\u00a0has discovered the farthest star ever seen to date.\u00a0They have nicknamed that star as \u201cEarendel\u201d.<\/p>\nAbout Earendel<\/h5>\n
Earender is the most distant star discovered by the Hubble\u00a0Space Telescope.<\/p>\n
The star has been officially called WHL0137-LS, but it has been nicknamed \u201cEarendel\u201d, which means \u201cmorning star\u201d in Old English.<\/p>\n
The star is more than 12.9 billion light-years away and likely existed within the first billion years after the beginning of the universe.<\/p>\n
This discovery of the most distant star was made possible by a phenomenon known as\u00a0\u2018gravitational lensing\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\nAbout Gravitational Lensing<\/h5>\n
A gravitational lens can occur when a huge amount of matter, like a cluster of galaxies, creates a gravitational field that distorts and magnifies the light from distant galaxies that are behind it but in the same line of sight.<\/p>\n
The effect is like looking through a giant magnifying glass.<\/p>\n
Significance:\u00a0<\/strong>This effect\u00a0allows researchers to study the details of early galaxies too far away to be seen with current technology and telescopes.<\/p>\nFirst Predicted by:\u00a0<\/strong>This effect was\u00a0predicted to exist by Albert Einstein\u2019s General Theory of Relativity in the early 20th century.<\/p>\n
\nEpisodic Accreting young stars<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
Indian astronomers from the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) as part of an international research have discovered Gaia 20eae.<\/p>\n
About Gaia 20eae<\/h5>\n
Gaia 20eae is an extremely rare group of young stars that exhibit episodic accretion.<\/p>\n
About the Episodic Accreting young stars<\/h5>\n
Episodically accreting young stars are young, low-mass stars that have not initiated hydrogen fusion in their core and are fuelled by gravitational contraction and deuterium fusion (pre-main-sequence phase of the star).<\/p>\n
These pre-main-sequence stars are surrounded by a disc from which it steadily feeds on the matter from the disc-shaped region of gas and dust surrounding the star to gain mass. This process is known as mass accretion from the circumstellar disc of the star.<\/p>\n
On occasions their feeding rate increases. This is known as the periods of enhanced mass accretion from their circumstellar disc. During such episodes, the brightness of the star increases by 4-6 magnitudes in the optical bands.<\/p>\n
So far 25 such rare groups of stars have been discovered.<\/p>\n
Significance of this discovery:\u00a0<\/strong>This discovery could help probe into this group of\u00a0Episodic Accreting young stars\u00a0and their formation mechanism in greater detail.<\/p>\n
\nBlue stragglers stars<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru has conducted a study on Blue Stragglers to understand their aberrant behaviour.<\/p>\n
For this, the researchers used the UVIT instrument (Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope) of ASTROSAT, India\u2019s first science observatory in space.<\/p>\n
About the Blue Stragglers<\/h5>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1650879417_Blue_Stragglers_Drishti_IAS_English.jpg?resize=533%2C501&ssl=1\")
Source: The Hindu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBlue Straggler Stars are hot, blue, massive stars and seem to have a different trajectory of evolution from the norm.<\/p>\n
Reason for calling them Blue Stragglers<\/h5>\n
There are a few stars that, when they are expected to start expanding in size and cooling down, do just the opposite. They grow brighter and hotter as indicated by their blue color. Thus, standing out from the cooler red stars in their vicinity in the color-magnitude diagram.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Since they lag their peers in evolution, they are called stragglers more specifically, blue stragglers, because of their hot, blue color.<\/p>\n
First Discovered by:<\/strong>\u00a0Blue stragglers were first discovered by Allan Sandage in 1953 while performing photometry of the stars.<\/p>\nReason for more massive and energetic nature of blue stragglers<\/h5>\n
Blue Stragglers are more massive and energetic than expected may be due to the following reasons:<\/p>\n
First Possibility:\u00a0<\/strong>They do not belong to the family of stars in the cluster and hence are not expected to have the group properties. But if they actually belong, the evasive behaviour is due to these stars gaining mass from a binary companion.<\/p>\nSecond Possibility:\u00a0<\/strong>The straggler draws matter from the giant companion and grows more massive, hot and blue, and the red giant ends up as a normal or smaller white dwarf.<\/p>\nThird possibility:\u00a0<\/strong>The straggler draws matter from a companion star, but that there is a third star that facilitates this process.<\/p>\n
\nBernardinelli-Bernstein<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration\u2019s(NASA) Hubble Space Telescope has confirmed that the huge Bernardinelli-Bernstein comet is indeed the largest icy comet nucleus ever seen by astronomers.<\/p>\n
Note:<\/strong>\u00a0Comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the Sun.<\/p>\nAbout Bernardinelli-Bernstein<\/h5>\n
It is the largest icy comet nucleus ever seen by astronomers. It\u00a0is also called the C\/2014 UN271.<\/p>\n
Discovered by<\/strong>: It was discovered by astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein in archival images from the Dark Energy Survey at an astronomical observatory in Chile. It was discovered in 2010 and has been intensively studied since then.<\/p>\nOrigin:<\/strong>\u00a0The comet has been travelling towards the sun for over a million years, and it is believed to have originated in the\u00a0Oort Cloud.<\/strong><\/p>\nNote:<\/strong>\u00a0Oort Cloud is a distant region of the solar system that is predicted to be the source of most comets. However, the Oort Cloud is still only a theoretical concept.<\/p>\nFeatures of\u00a0Bernardinelli-Bernstein Comet<\/h5>\n
Diameter:<\/strong>\u00a0It has an estimated diameter of almost 129 kilometres.<\/p>\nNucleus<\/strong>: The nucleus of the comet is around 50 times larger than that of most known comets, and its mass is estimated to be around 500 trillion tonnes.<\/p>\nTemperature:<\/strong>\u00a0It has an estimated temperature of minus 348 degrees Fahrenheit. This is warm enough to sublimate carbon monoxide (CO) from the surface to produce the dusty coma.<\/p>\n
\nAxiom-1 Mission<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
The first-ever private mission to the International Space Station (ISS) named Axiom-1 has reached the ISS.<\/p>\n
About the Axiom-1 Mission<\/h5>\n
Axiom Mission 1(Ax-1) is the first all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n
Organized by<\/strong>: US Based\u00a0company Axiom Space.<\/p>\nLaunched from<\/strong>: The mission was launched from\u00a0NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is\u00a0flying on the\u00a0SpaceX<\/strong>\u00a0Crew Dragon Endeavour.<\/p>\nUnder the mission,\u00a0<\/strong>the astronauts will spend more than a week conducting scientific research, outreach and commercial activities on the space station.<\/p>\nAbout Axiom Space<\/h5>\n
Axiom Space\u00a0is a company that is focusing on making space travel more commercially available. Besides this, it also aims to improve the understanding of space and the human body by bringing researchers into space.<\/p>\n
\nJupiter-like protoplanet formed<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
The\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope<\/a>\u00a0has photographed a Jupiter-like protoplanet forming through a process that researchers have described as intense and violent.<\/p>\nAbout the Jupiter-like protoplanet formed<\/h5>\n
The newly forming planet captured by the Hubble Space Telescope is called AB Aurigae b.<\/p>\n
It is embedded in a protoplanetary disk with distinct spiral structures swirling around and surrounding a young star that is estimated to be about 2 million years old.<\/p>\n
This protoplanet is about the same age our solar system was when planet formation was underway. It is also 531 light-years away from our sun.<\/p>\n
Further, this protoplanet is probably around nine times the size of Jupiter and orbits its host star at a distance of 8.6 billion miles, over two times the distance between Sun and Pluto.<\/p>\n
About the Protoplanets<\/h5>\n
Protoplanets are small celestial objects that are the size of a moon or a bit bigger. They are small planets, like an even smaller version of a dwarf planet.<\/p>\n
Astronomers believe that these objects form during the creation of a solar system.<\/p>\n
Significance of this discovery<\/h5>\n
According to NASA, this discovery supports a long-debated theory called \u201cdisk instability,\u201d which tries to explain how planets similar to Jupiter are formed.<\/p>\n
About the Disk Instability Theory<\/h5>\n
According to this theory, matter slowly moves inwards in this disc as dust particles grow into centimetre-sized pebbles.<\/p>\n
This is seen as the first step towards the formation of kilometre-sized planetesimals that eventually come together to form planets.<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Friends, This post is a part of our current affairs series for the UPSC IAS Prelims 2022. In this post, we have covered the Science and tech current affairs of the Space technology section. This post covers the current affairs of September, October 2021 and April 2022 months. Science and Tech Current Affairs 2021-22… Continue reading UPSC IAS Prelims 2022 Material| Science and Tech Current Affairs | Space technology \u2013 Part 2<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[10695],"class_list":["post-184923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public","tag-current-affairs-compilations-for-prelims-2022","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\n
To Read Other Current Affairs Compilations<\/strong><\/span> – Click here<\/a><\/h4>\n
\nMission Lucy<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
NASA\u00a0<\/strong>has launched a probe toward clusters of\u00a0asteroids\u00a0<\/strong>along\u00a0Jupiter\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong>orbital path.\u00a0They are known as the\u00a0Trojan swarms.\u00a0<\/strong>It\u00a0represents\u00a0the final unexplored regions of asteroids in the solar system.<\/p>\nAbout Mission Lucy<\/h5>\n
The\u00a0spacecraft<\/strong>, a deep-space robotic archaeologist named\u00a0Lucy\u00a0<\/strong>will study the geology, composition, density\u00a0and structure of the Trojans.\u00a0Mission Lucy is NASA\u2019s first mission to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.<\/p>\nAfter a six-year cruise, Lucy will fly close to seven Trojan\u00a0asteroids by 2033.<\/p>\n
Named After:\u00a0<\/strong>The mission is named after \u2018Lucy\u2019, a 3.2 million-year-old ancestor who belonged to a species of hominins (which include humans and their ancestors).<\/p>\nAim of the project<\/h5>\n
As per some planet formation and evolution models, the Trojan asteroids are believed to be formed from the same material that led to the formation of planets nearly 4 billion years ago when the solar system was formed.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the mission is designed to understand the composition of the diverse asteroids that are a part of the Trojan asteroid swarms, to determine the mass and densities of the materials and to look for and study the satellites and rings that may orbit the Trojan asteroids.<\/p>\n
Duration of mission<\/h5>\n
It is a solar-powered mission. It is estimated to be over 12 years long, during the course of which the spacecraft will visit eight asteroids covering a distance of about 6.3 billion km to deepen the understanding of the \u201cyoung solar system\u201d.<\/p>\n
About asterioids<\/h5>\n
Asteroids are divided into three categories:<\/p>\n
The first group are\u00a0<\/strong>those that are found in the\u00a0main asteroid belt<\/strong>, between Mars and Jupiter. This region is estimated to contain somewhere between 1.1-1.9 million asteroids.<\/p>\nThe second group\u00a0<\/strong>is that of\u00a0trojans<\/strong>\u00a0(the name comes from Greek mythology), which are asteroids that share an orbit with a larger planet. NASA reports the presence of Jupiter, Neptune and Mars trojans. In 2011, they reported an Earth trojan as well.<\/p>\nThe Jupiter asteroids<\/strong>\u00a0can be found in what are referred to as \u201cswarms\u201d that lead and follow the planet Jupiter along its orbit around the Sun. \u2018Lucy\u2019 will reach the first swarm of these asteroids that precede Jupiter by August 2027.<\/p>\nThe third classification<\/strong>\u00a0of asteroids is under\u00a0Near-Earth Asteroids<\/strong>\u00a0(NEA), which has orbits that pass close to the Earth. Those that cross the Earth\u2019s orbit are called Earth-crossers. More than 10,000 such asteroids are known, of which over 1,400 are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs).<\/p>\nOther asteroid missions<\/h5>\n
Dawn\u00a0mission (NASA)<\/strong>\u00a0orbited Ceres and Vesta\u00a0the two largest worlds in the belt between Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>\nHayabusa mission (JAXA-Japan)\u00a0<\/strong>probed asteroid\u00a0\u201cRyugu\u201d<\/p>\nOSIRIS-REX(NASA)<\/strong>\u00a0spacecraft probed asteroid \u201cBennu\u201d and collected samples from there.<\/p>\n
\nNebra Sky Disc<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
The British Museum in London will display an ancient object called the Nebra Sky Disc, which is thought to be the world\u2019s oldest concrete depiction of stars.<\/p>\n
About Nebra Sky Disc<\/h5>\nSource: Indian Express<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNebra Sky Disc is an ancient object that is considered as the world\u2019s oldest concrete depiction of stars.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0object is widely believed to be 3,600 years old, dating from the Bronze Age. However, the\u00a0date of origin of the disc has been called into question by some archaeologists.<\/p>\n
The disc measures about 30 cm in diameter and has a blue-green patina emblazoned with gold symbols representing the Sun, Moon, stars, solstices and other cosmic phenomena.<\/p>\n
Discovery of Nebra Sky Disc<\/h5>\n
The disc was unearthed in Germany in 1999 and is considered one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th Century.<\/p>\n
It was ritually buried along with two precious swords, two axes, two spiral arm-rings and one bronze chisel circa\u00a0near\u00a0Nebra<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Germany<\/strong>. The burial of these objects is thought to be made as a dedication to gods.<\/p>\nSignificance of Nebra Sky Disc<\/h5>\n
The\u00a0Nebra Sky Disc\u00a0is considered to be one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century and\u00a0has been associated with the\u00a0Unetice culture<\/strong>\u00a0that inhabited parts of Europe around 1600 BC.<\/p>\nThe Unetice culture comprised early\u00a0Bronze Age communities<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Central Europe<\/strong>, including in Bohemia, Bavaria, southeastern Germany and western Poland.<\/p>\n
\nWhite Dwarf<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
An international team has reported a unique phenomenon where they saw the white dwarf losing its brightness in 30 minutes. These gaps in brightness have been previously reported, but the process usually takes place over a period of several days to months.<\/p>\n
About the White Dwarf<\/h5>\n
White dwarfs are stars that have burned up all of the hydrogen they once used as nuclear fuel.<\/p>\n
A typical white dwarf is half the size of our Sun and has a surface gravity 100,000 times that of Earth<\/p>\n
Formation of White Dwarf<\/h5>\nSource: Secrets of the Universe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMain sequence stars\u00a0including the sun are formed from clouds of dust and gas drawn together by gravity. However, once a star runs out of its fuel, it dies and becomes compact. The lifetime of a star depends on its mass.<\/p>\n
The most massive stars with eight times the mass of the sun or more will never become white dwarfs. Instead, at the end of their lives, they will explode in a violent\u00a0supernova, leaving behind a\u00a0neutron star\u00a0or\u00a0black hole.<\/p>\n
Smaller stars, such as the sun, will eventually swell up into red giants. After that, the stars shed their outer layers into a ring known as a planetary nebula. The core that is left behind will be a white dwarf, a husk of a star in which no hydrogen fusion occurs.<\/p>\n
About the Switch on and off Phenomena<\/h5>\n
The white dwarf discussed here is part of a binary system called TW Pictoris, where a star and a white dwarf orbit each other. The two objects are so close to each other that the star transfers material to the white dwarf.<\/p>\n
As this material approaches the white dwarf it forms an accretion disk or a disk of gas, plasma, and other particles around it.<\/p>\n
As the accretion disk material slowly sinks closer towards the white dwarf, it generally becomes brighter.\u00a0There are cases when the donor stars stop feeding the white dwarf disk. However, the reasons for this are still not clear.<\/p>\n
When this happens, the disk is still bright as it \u201cdrains\u201d material that was previously still there. It then takes the disk about 1-2 months to drain most of the material.<\/p>\n
However, TW Pictoris drop in brightness in 30 mins was totally unexpected, and it may be due to the process called magnetic gating.<\/p>\n
Note<\/strong>: Magnetic gating happens when the magnetic field is spinning so rapidly around the white Dwarf it creates a barrier, disrupting the amount of matter the white dwarf can receive.<\/p>\nSignificance of these findings<\/h5>\n
This discovery will help us understand the physics behind accretion \u2013 how black holes and neutron stars feed material from their nearby stars.<\/p>\n
\nBlue Stragglers<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
Indian researchers have done a comprehensive analysis to understand the formation of blue stragglers.<\/p>\n
About Blue Stragglers<\/h5>\n
Blue stragglers\u00a0<\/strong>are a class of stars on open or globular clusters. They stand out as they are bigger and bluer than the rest of the stars.<\/p>\nNote:<\/strong>\u00a0A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity giving them their spherical shapes and high concentrations of stars toward their centers.<\/p>\nFirst Discovered by:<\/strong>\u00a0Blue stragglers were first discovered by Allan Sandage in 1953.<\/p>\nAbout the study by Indian Researchers<\/h5>\n
Indian Researchers have studied 228 clusters with a total of 868 blue stragglers.\u00a0They compared the mass of the blue stragglers to the mass of the turnoff stars (which are the most massive \u2018normal\u2019 stars in the cluster) and predicted the formation mechanisms.\u00a0They have found that:<\/p>\n
\n- Half of the blue stragglers are formed through mass transfer from a close binary companion star,<\/li>\n
- One third are likely formed through collisions of 2 stars and<\/li>\n
- The remaining are formed through interactions of more than 2 stars.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Significance of this study<\/h5>\n
The study will help improve understanding of stellar systems. It will help uncover exciting results in studies of large stellar populations including galaxies.<\/p>\n
\nInspiration4 mission<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
SpaceX has announced that it is planning to launch the Inspiration4\u00a0mission by\u00a0September 15.<\/p>\n
About Inspiration4\u00a0mission<\/h5>\n
Inspiration4<\/strong>\u00a0is a spaceflight planned for four people aboard the\u00a0SpaceX\u00a0Resilience<\/em>\u00a0capsule.<\/p>\nThe three-day flight will be the first human spaceflight to\u00a0orbit\u00a0Earth with exclusively private citizens on board.<\/p>\n
The flight will be\u00a0privately operated\u00a0by\u00a0SpaceX\u00a0using a previously-flown\u00a0Crew Dragon<\/a>\u00a0capsule launched to\u00a0low Earth orbit.<\/p>\nThe objective of the Inspiration4 mission<\/h5>\n
The mission involves circling the Earth for three days and then splashing down into the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n
It will orbit the Earth at 575 km, higher than the\u00a0International Space Station<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(408 km) and the\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(547 km).This will be the farthest distance travelled by a crewed mission since 2009, when astronauts last went to repair the Hubble.<\/p>\nSignificance of the Inspiration4 mission<\/h5>\n
The mission is a part of an\u00a0effort to raise millions for<\/strong>\u00a0the Tennessee-based\u00a0St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital<\/strong>, a paediatric treatment and research facility that focuses on children\u2019s catastrophic diseases, particularly leukaemia and other cancers.<\/p>\nMoreover, the mission will also present an\u00a0opportunity for collecting large amounts of health data<\/strong>\u00a0that will aid in planning future crewed space missions.<\/p>\n
\nCoronal Mass Ejections(CME)<\/span><\/h3>\nCoronal Mass Ejection(CME)\u00a0<\/strong>is an ejection of highly magnetised particles from the sun.\u00a0During a CME, enormous bubbles of superheated gas \u2013 called\u00a0plasma\u00a0\u2013 are ejected from the sun.<\/p>\nCause:<\/strong>\u00a0The underlying cause of CMEs is not well understood. However, astronomers agree, that the sun\u2019s magnetic field plays a major role.<\/p>\nOccurrence of CMEs: <\/strong>Though CMEs can occur anywhere on the Sun, it is primarily those which originate from regions near the centre of the\u00a0visible solar surface<\/strong>\u00a0(called the\u00a0photosphere<\/strong>) that are important for study, since they may propagate directly towards the Earth.<\/p>\nImpact of CMEs:\u00a0<\/strong>When a really strong CME blows past the Earth, it can damage the electronics in satellites and disrupt radio communication networks on Earth.<\/p>\n
\nChang\u2019e-5 lunar mission<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
China\u2019s Chang\u2019e-5 lunar mission has delivered to Earth nearly 2 kg of rocky fragments and dust from the Moon.<\/p>\n
About the Chang\u2019e-5 lunar mission<\/h5>\n
Chang\u2019e 5 lunar mission is the\u00a0Chinese National Space Administration\u2019s (CNSA)<\/strong>\u00a0mission to send a robotic spacecraft to the\u00a0moon\u00a0to collect samples and return them to Earth for scientific study.<\/p>\nThe spacecraft landed on an area of the Moon (the \u2018far side\u2019) not sampled by the American or Soviet missions nearly 50 years ago, and thus retrieved fragments of the youngest lunar rocks ever brought back for analysis in laboratories on Earth. The rocks are also different to those returned decades ago.<\/p>\n
About the findings from the samples brought by\u00a0Chang\u2019e-5<\/h5>\n
Around 90% of the materials collected by Chang\u2019e-5 likely derive from the landing site and its immediate surroundings, which are of a type termed \u2018mare basalts<\/strong>\u2019.\u00a0These volcanic rocks are visible to us as the darker grey areas that spilled over much of the nearside of the Moon as ancient eruptions of lava.<\/p>\nYet 10% percent of the fragments have distinctly different, \u2018exotic\u2019 chemical compositions.<\/p>\n
Significance of these findings<\/h5>\n
The distinct 10% fragments may preserve records of other parts of the lunar surface, as well as hints of the types of space rocks that have impacted the Moon\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n
Moreover, scientists have also looked at the potential sources of beads of rapidly cooled glassy material. They have traced these glassy droplets to\u00a0extinct volcanic vents<\/strong>\u00a0known as\u00a0\u2018Rima Mairan\u2019 and \u2018Rima Sharp<\/strong>\u2019. These fragments could give insights into past episodes of energetic, fountain-like volcanic activity on the Moon.<\/p>\n
\nXENON1T experiment<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/strong><\/h5>\nRecently, an international team of researchers made the first putative direct detection of dark energy.<\/p>\n
About the XENON1T experiment<\/h5>\n
The XENON1T experiment is the world\u2019s most sensitive dark matter experiment and was operated deep underground at the INFN\u00a0Laboratori\u00a0Nazionali\u00a0del Gran Sasso in Italy.\u00a0In this experiment scientists\u00a0noticed certain unexpected results. As per them, dark energy may be responsible for it.\u00a0Hence, this experiment can also be used to detect dark energy.<\/p>\n
About the dark energy\u00a0and dark matter<\/h5>\n
Everything we see makes up less than 5% of the universe. About 27% is dark matter and 68% is dark energy.<\/p>\n
Dark energy<\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0the mysterious form of energy that makes up about\u00a068% of the universe.<\/strong>\u00a0Dark energy has been noted as \u201cthe most profound mystery in all of science\u201d.<\/p>\nWhile dark matter attracts and holds galaxies together, dark energy repels and causes the expansion of our universe.\u00a0<\/strong>Both components\u00a0are\u00a0invisible.<\/p>\nMore is known about dark matter, since its existence was suggested as early as the 1920s, while dark energy wasn\u2019t discovered until 1998. Large-scale experiments like XENON1T have been designed to directly detect dark matter, by searching for signs of dark matter \u2018hitting\u2019 ordinary matter. Dark energy is even more difficult to find.<\/p>\n
Direct detection of dark energy<\/h5>\n
The team is hopeful that upcoming upgrades to the XENON1T experiment and similar experiments such as LUX-Zeplin \u2013 a next generation dark matter experiment located at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, and\u00a0PandaX-xT\u00a0\u2013 another project at China Jinping Underground Laboratory could help directly detect dark energy within the next decade.<\/p>\n
\nLandsat 9<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
Recently, a\u00a0NASA satellite was successfully launched\u00a0the earth monitoring satellite, Landsat 9. It\u00a0is a joint mission of NASA and the US Geological Survey (USGS).<\/p>\n
The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972. Since then, Landsat satellites have collected images of our planet and helped understand how land usage has changed over the decades. Images have also been used to study the health of forests, and coral reefs, monitor water quality and melt glaciers.<\/p>\n
Difference between Landsat 9 and previous Landsats<\/h5>\n
Landsat 9 carries instruments similar to the other Landsat satellites, but it is the most technologically advanced satellite of its generation. It can see more colour shades with greater depths than the previous satellites. It can help scientists capture more details about our ever-changing planet.<\/p>\n
Significance of LandSat<\/strong><\/h5>\nLandsat 9 will help make science-based decisions on key issues such as impacts of wildfire, coral reef degradation, the retreat of glaciers, and deforestation.<\/p>\n
Monitoring climate change by Lansat<\/strong><\/h5>\nIf a forest is affected by\u00a0drought<\/strong>, it will be seen in Landsat images and can help the researchers decode the areas at risk.<\/p>\nSimilarly during a\u00a0wildfire<\/strong>, the Landsat images will capture the plumes of smoke and help study the extent of a burning.<\/p>\nThe satellite images can also help recovery experts plan sites for replanting.<\/p>\n
Landsat images can also help identify water bodies affected by\u00a0potentially harmful algal blooms<\/strong>. According to NASA, scientists are now developing computer programs that would use Landsat and other satellite data to automatically warn lake recreation managers when blooms pop up.<\/p>\nLandsat images have helped glaciologists study the melting ice sheets of the Antarctic and Arctic regions. The images can help track cracks in the\u00a0glaciers<\/strong>, the movement of glaciers, and decode how further global warming will impact them.<\/p>\n
\nWright Mons in Pluto<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration\u2019s(NASA)\u00a0New Horizons prob<\/a>e has reported new findings of Pluto.<\/p>\nThe probe reported that icy lava flows have recently (no more than a billion years ago) covered substantial tracts of its surface. The findings drew particular attention to a mountainous feature named Wright Mons.<\/p>\n
About Wright Mons<\/h5>\n
Wright Mons is a\u00a0mountainous feature found on Pluto. It was informally named by the New Horizons team in honour of the Wright brothers.<\/p>\n
It is about 150 km across its base and has a central depression (a hole) 40-50 km wide, with a floor at least as low as the surrounding terrain.<\/p>\n
Scientists claim that Wright Mons is a volcano and cite the lack of impact craters as evidence that it is not likely to be older than 1-2 billion years.<\/p>\n
The volume of Wright Mons exceeds 20 thousand cubic kilometres. Although considerably less than the volume of Mars\u2019s biggest volcanoes, this is similar to the total volume of Hawaii\u2019s Mauna Loa, and much greater than the volume of its above sea-level portion.<\/p>\n
The slopes of Wright Mons and much of its surroundings are seen to be crowded with hummocks (humps or ridges in an ice field).<\/p>\n
These hummocks were likely created by some sort of ice volcanism, known by the technical term \u201ccryovolcanism<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 erupting icy water rather than molten rock.<\/p>\n
\nUVIT J2022<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
Indian astronomers have discovered a\u00a0Faint Galaxy named\u00a0UVIT J2022<\/strong>\u00a0that remained hidden until now.<\/p>\nAbout Faint Galaxies<\/h5>\n
Faint Galaxies are\u00a0called low surface brightness galaxies or ultra-diffuse galaxies and have a surface brightness that is at least ten times fainter than the surrounding night sky.<\/p>\n
Such faint galaxies may account for up to 15 % of the mass of the universe. However, they are difficult to detect because of their inherent low luminosities.<\/p>\n
About UVIT J2022<\/h5>\n
It is a faint galaxy. It was discovered while studying a known galaxy, NGC6902A.\u00a0This faint galaxy is in the Milky Way\u2019s neighbourhood situated 136 million light-years away.<\/p>\n
It\u00a0remained undetected because it lay in front of a much brighter galaxy that is further away.\u00a0Moreover, it is extremely faint \u2013 about ten times fainter than the surrounding night sky.<\/p>\n
Significance of this study<\/h5>\n
Firstly,\u00a0<\/strong>this study raises the possibility that there could be similar diffuse galaxies that have been wrongly interpreted as interacting galaxies due to their superposition with foreground or background galaxies.<\/p>\nSecondly,<\/strong>\u00a0the material that the humans see around is known as\u00a0baryonic matter.\u00a0<\/strong>Studies suggest that baryonic matter makes up 5% of the Universe\u2019s mass. The rest of the mass should be contributed by unknown forms such as dark matter and dark energy.<\/p>\n\u2014 However, humans still do not have a clear understanding about the 5% of the baryonic content present in the Universe. These faint galaxies can act as a link for understanding the origin of missing baryons in the universe, as they may contribute significantly to the baryonic mass in the universe.<\/p>\n
\nSpace Equity Action Plan<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
NASA has released its first-ever Space Equity Action Plan.<\/p>\n
About the Space Equity Action Plan<\/h5>\n
Released by:\u00a0<\/strong>NASA<\/p>\nObjective:\u00a0<\/strong>To allow the agency to track progress toward improved diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility both internally and externally.<\/p>\nFocus Areas:\u00a0<\/strong>The four focus areas the plan addresses are:<\/p>\n\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Increasing integration and utilization of contractors and businesses from underserved communities and expanding equity in NASA\u2019s procurement process;<\/p>\n\u2013 Enhancing grants and cooperative agreements to advance opportunities, access and representation for underserved communities;<\/p>\n
\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Leveraging Earth Science and socioeconomic data to help mitigate environmental challenges in underserved communities;<\/p>\n\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Advancing external civil rights compliance and expanding access to limited English proficient populations within underserved communities.<\/p>\nMonitoring of the Plan:\u00a0<\/strong>An executive team, led by NASA\u2019s deputy administrator will lead the organization\u2019s efforts towards equity.<\/p>\nThe space agency has also established a leadership council that will be led by the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity and will provide quarterly reports to the executive team.<\/p>\n
\nEuropa<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
A team of researchers from Stanford University have said that one of Jupiter\u2019s moons Europa, a prime candidate for life in the solar system, might have an abundance of water pockets beneath formations called double ridges.<\/p>\n
About Europa<\/h5>\nSource: Astronomy Stockexchange<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nEuropa is the sixth-largest moon in the solar system and Jupiter\u2019s fourth-largest satellite.\u00a0It was\u00a0discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei.<\/p>\n
Europa is slightly smaller than Earth\u2019s moon and its diameter is about one-quarter that of the Earth.\u00a0Europa\u2019s surface is mostly solid water ice. It is crisscrossed by fractures.<\/p>\n
Even though Europa has a very thin oxygen atmosphere, it is considered one of the most promising places in the solar system to find present-day environments that are suitable for life beyond the Earth.<\/p>\n
It is also believed that underneath Europa\u2019s icy surface the amount of water is twice that on Earth.<\/p>\n
Future Missions to Europa<\/h5>\n
NASA is expected to launch its Europa Clipper in 2024. The module will orbit Jupiter and conduct multiple close flybys to Europa to gather data on the moon\u2019s atmosphere, surface and its interior.<\/p>\n
Findings about Europa<\/h5>\n
The researchers have found that double ridges found on Europa\u2019s surface are similar to those seen on Earth\u2019s Greenland ice sheet.<\/p>\n
Based on these findings, the researchers \u200b\u200bsuggest that if a similar process is responsible for the formation of double ridges there, it could indicate that shallow liquid water is present over Europa\u2019s ice shell at all times and in all places.<\/p>\n
Note:<\/strong>\u00a0Double ridges are symmetrical mountain-like structures running hundreds of kilometers in length. They are a common geographical feature found in Greenland.<\/p>\nSignificance of these findings:\u00a0<\/strong>The findings increase the potential habitability of Europa.<\/p>\n
\nEarendel<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
NASA\u2019s\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope<\/a>\u00a0has discovered the farthest star ever seen to date.\u00a0They have nicknamed that star as \u201cEarendel\u201d.<\/p>\nAbout Earendel<\/h5>\n
Earender is the most distant star discovered by the Hubble\u00a0Space Telescope.<\/p>\n
The star has been officially called WHL0137-LS, but it has been nicknamed \u201cEarendel\u201d, which means \u201cmorning star\u201d in Old English.<\/p>\n
The star is more than 12.9 billion light-years away and likely existed within the first billion years after the beginning of the universe.<\/p>\n
This discovery of the most distant star was made possible by a phenomenon known as\u00a0\u2018gravitational lensing\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\nAbout Gravitational Lensing<\/h5>\n
A gravitational lens can occur when a huge amount of matter, like a cluster of galaxies, creates a gravitational field that distorts and magnifies the light from distant galaxies that are behind it but in the same line of sight.<\/p>\n
The effect is like looking through a giant magnifying glass.<\/p>\n
Significance:\u00a0<\/strong>This effect\u00a0allows researchers to study the details of early galaxies too far away to be seen with current technology and telescopes.<\/p>\nFirst Predicted by:\u00a0<\/strong>This effect was\u00a0predicted to exist by Albert Einstein\u2019s General Theory of Relativity in the early 20th century.<\/p>\n
\nEpisodic Accreting young stars<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
Indian astronomers from the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) as part of an international research have discovered Gaia 20eae.<\/p>\n
About Gaia 20eae<\/h5>\n
Gaia 20eae is an extremely rare group of young stars that exhibit episodic accretion.<\/p>\n
About the Episodic Accreting young stars<\/h5>\n
Episodically accreting young stars are young, low-mass stars that have not initiated hydrogen fusion in their core and are fuelled by gravitational contraction and deuterium fusion (pre-main-sequence phase of the star).<\/p>\n
These pre-main-sequence stars are surrounded by a disc from which it steadily feeds on the matter from the disc-shaped region of gas and dust surrounding the star to gain mass. This process is known as mass accretion from the circumstellar disc of the star.<\/p>\n
On occasions their feeding rate increases. This is known as the periods of enhanced mass accretion from their circumstellar disc. During such episodes, the brightness of the star increases by 4-6 magnitudes in the optical bands.<\/p>\n
So far 25 such rare groups of stars have been discovered.<\/p>\n
Significance of this discovery:\u00a0<\/strong>This discovery could help probe into this group of\u00a0Episodic Accreting young stars\u00a0and their formation mechanism in greater detail.<\/p>\n
\nBlue stragglers stars<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru has conducted a study on Blue Stragglers to understand their aberrant behaviour.<\/p>\n
For this, the researchers used the UVIT instrument (Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope) of ASTROSAT, India\u2019s first science observatory in space.<\/p>\n
About the Blue Stragglers<\/h5>\nSource: The Hindu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBlue Straggler Stars are hot, blue, massive stars and seem to have a different trajectory of evolution from the norm.<\/p>\n
Reason for calling them Blue Stragglers<\/h5>\n
There are a few stars that, when they are expected to start expanding in size and cooling down, do just the opposite. They grow brighter and hotter as indicated by their blue color. Thus, standing out from the cooler red stars in their vicinity in the color-magnitude diagram.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Since they lag their peers in evolution, they are called stragglers more specifically, blue stragglers, because of their hot, blue color.<\/p>\n
First Discovered by:<\/strong>\u00a0Blue stragglers were first discovered by Allan Sandage in 1953 while performing photometry of the stars.<\/p>\nReason for more massive and energetic nature of blue stragglers<\/h5>\n
Blue Stragglers are more massive and energetic than expected may be due to the following reasons:<\/p>\n
First Possibility:\u00a0<\/strong>They do not belong to the family of stars in the cluster and hence are not expected to have the group properties. But if they actually belong, the evasive behaviour is due to these stars gaining mass from a binary companion.<\/p>\nSecond Possibility:\u00a0<\/strong>The straggler draws matter from the giant companion and grows more massive, hot and blue, and the red giant ends up as a normal or smaller white dwarf.<\/p>\nThird possibility:\u00a0<\/strong>The straggler draws matter from a companion star, but that there is a third star that facilitates this process.<\/p>\n
\nBernardinelli-Bernstein<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration\u2019s(NASA) Hubble Space Telescope has confirmed that the huge Bernardinelli-Bernstein comet is indeed the largest icy comet nucleus ever seen by astronomers.<\/p>\n
Note:<\/strong>\u00a0Comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the Sun.<\/p>\nAbout Bernardinelli-Bernstein<\/h5>\n
It is the largest icy comet nucleus ever seen by astronomers. It\u00a0is also called the C\/2014 UN271.<\/p>\n
Discovered by<\/strong>: It was discovered by astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein in archival images from the Dark Energy Survey at an astronomical observatory in Chile. It was discovered in 2010 and has been intensively studied since then.<\/p>\nOrigin:<\/strong>\u00a0The comet has been travelling towards the sun for over a million years, and it is believed to have originated in the\u00a0Oort Cloud.<\/strong><\/p>\nNote:<\/strong>\u00a0Oort Cloud is a distant region of the solar system that is predicted to be the source of most comets. However, the Oort Cloud is still only a theoretical concept.<\/p>\nFeatures of\u00a0Bernardinelli-Bernstein Comet<\/h5>\n
Diameter:<\/strong>\u00a0It has an estimated diameter of almost 129 kilometres.<\/p>\nNucleus<\/strong>: The nucleus of the comet is around 50 times larger than that of most known comets, and its mass is estimated to be around 500 trillion tonnes.<\/p>\nTemperature:<\/strong>\u00a0It has an estimated temperature of minus 348 degrees Fahrenheit. This is warm enough to sublimate carbon monoxide (CO) from the surface to produce the dusty coma.<\/p>\n
\nAxiom-1 Mission<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
The first-ever private mission to the International Space Station (ISS) named Axiom-1 has reached the ISS.<\/p>\n
About the Axiom-1 Mission<\/h5>\n
Axiom Mission 1(Ax-1) is the first all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n
Organized by<\/strong>: US Based\u00a0company Axiom Space.<\/p>\nLaunched from<\/strong>: The mission was launched from\u00a0NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is\u00a0flying on the\u00a0SpaceX<\/strong>\u00a0Crew Dragon Endeavour.<\/p>\nUnder the mission,\u00a0<\/strong>the astronauts will spend more than a week conducting scientific research, outreach and commercial activities on the space station.<\/p>\nAbout Axiom Space<\/h5>\n
Axiom Space\u00a0is a company that is focusing on making space travel more commercially available. Besides this, it also aims to improve the understanding of space and the human body by bringing researchers into space.<\/p>\n
\nJupiter-like protoplanet formed<\/span><\/h3>\nNews<\/h5>\n
The\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope<\/a>\u00a0has photographed a Jupiter-like protoplanet forming through a process that researchers have described as intense and violent.<\/p>\nAbout the Jupiter-like protoplanet formed<\/h5>\n
The newly forming planet captured by the Hubble Space Telescope is called AB Aurigae b.<\/p>\n
It is embedded in a protoplanetary disk with distinct spiral structures swirling around and surrounding a young star that is estimated to be about 2 million years old.<\/p>\n
This protoplanet is about the same age our solar system was when planet formation was underway. It is also 531 light-years away from our sun.<\/p>\n
Further, this protoplanet is probably around nine times the size of Jupiter and orbits its host star at a distance of 8.6 billion miles, over two times the distance between Sun and Pluto.<\/p>\n
About the Protoplanets<\/h5>\n
Protoplanets are small celestial objects that are the size of a moon or a bit bigger. They are small planets, like an even smaller version of a dwarf planet.<\/p>\n
Astronomers believe that these objects form during the creation of a solar system.<\/p>\n
Significance of this discovery<\/h5>\n
According to NASA, this discovery supports a long-debated theory called \u201cdisk instability,\u201d which tries to explain how planets similar to Jupiter are formed.<\/p>\n
About the Disk Instability Theory<\/h5>\n
According to this theory, matter slowly moves inwards in this disc as dust particles grow into centimetre-sized pebbles.<\/p>\n
This is seen as the first step towards the formation of kilometre-sized planetesimals that eventually come together to form planets.<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Friends, This post is a part of our current affairs series for the UPSC IAS Prelims 2022. In this post, we have covered the Science and tech current affairs of the Space technology section. This post covers the current affairs of September, October 2021 and April 2022 months. Science and Tech Current Affairs 2021-22… Continue reading UPSC IAS Prelims 2022 Material| Science and Tech Current Affairs | Space technology \u2013 Part 2<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[10695],"class_list":["post-184923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public","tag-current-affairs-compilations-for-prelims-2022","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
News<\/h5>\n
NASA\u00a0<\/strong>has launched a probe toward clusters of\u00a0asteroids\u00a0<\/strong>along\u00a0Jupiter\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong>orbital path.\u00a0They are known as the\u00a0Trojan swarms.\u00a0<\/strong>It\u00a0represents\u00a0the final unexplored regions of asteroids in the solar system.<\/p>\n The\u00a0spacecraft<\/strong>, a deep-space robotic archaeologist named\u00a0Lucy\u00a0<\/strong>will study the geology, composition, density\u00a0and structure of the Trojans.\u00a0Mission Lucy is NASA\u2019s first mission to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.<\/p>\n After a six-year cruise, Lucy will fly close to seven Trojan\u00a0asteroids by 2033.<\/p>\n Named After:\u00a0<\/strong>The mission is named after \u2018Lucy\u2019, a 3.2 million-year-old ancestor who belonged to a species of hominins (which include humans and their ancestors).<\/p>\n As per some planet formation and evolution models, the Trojan asteroids are believed to be formed from the same material that led to the formation of planets nearly 4 billion years ago when the solar system was formed.<\/p>\n Therefore, the mission is designed to understand the composition of the diverse asteroids that are a part of the Trojan asteroid swarms, to determine the mass and densities of the materials and to look for and study the satellites and rings that may orbit the Trojan asteroids.<\/p>\n It is a solar-powered mission. It is estimated to be over 12 years long, during the course of which the spacecraft will visit eight asteroids covering a distance of about 6.3 billion km to deepen the understanding of the \u201cyoung solar system\u201d.<\/p>\n Asteroids are divided into three categories:<\/p>\n The first group are\u00a0<\/strong>those that are found in the\u00a0main asteroid belt<\/strong>, between Mars and Jupiter. This region is estimated to contain somewhere between 1.1-1.9 million asteroids.<\/p>\n The second group\u00a0<\/strong>is that of\u00a0trojans<\/strong>\u00a0(the name comes from Greek mythology), which are asteroids that share an orbit with a larger planet. NASA reports the presence of Jupiter, Neptune and Mars trojans. In 2011, they reported an Earth trojan as well.<\/p>\n The Jupiter asteroids<\/strong>\u00a0can be found in what are referred to as \u201cswarms\u201d that lead and follow the planet Jupiter along its orbit around the Sun. \u2018Lucy\u2019 will reach the first swarm of these asteroids that precede Jupiter by August 2027.<\/p>\n The third classification<\/strong>\u00a0of asteroids is under\u00a0Near-Earth Asteroids<\/strong>\u00a0(NEA), which has orbits that pass close to the Earth. Those that cross the Earth\u2019s orbit are called Earth-crossers. More than 10,000 such asteroids are known, of which over 1,400 are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs).<\/p>\n Dawn\u00a0mission (NASA)<\/strong>\u00a0orbited Ceres and Vesta\u00a0the two largest worlds in the belt between Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>\n Hayabusa mission (JAXA-Japan)\u00a0<\/strong>probed asteroid\u00a0\u201cRyugu\u201d<\/p>\n OSIRIS-REX(NASA)<\/strong>\u00a0spacecraft probed asteroid \u201cBennu\u201d and collected samples from there.<\/p>\n The British Museum in London will display an ancient object called the Nebra Sky Disc, which is thought to be the world\u2019s oldest concrete depiction of stars.<\/p>\n Nebra Sky Disc is an ancient object that is considered as the world\u2019s oldest concrete depiction of stars.<\/p>\n The\u00a0object is widely believed to be 3,600 years old, dating from the Bronze Age. However, the\u00a0date of origin of the disc has been called into question by some archaeologists.<\/p>\n The disc measures about 30 cm in diameter and has a blue-green patina emblazoned with gold symbols representing the Sun, Moon, stars, solstices and other cosmic phenomena.<\/p>\n The disc was unearthed in Germany in 1999 and is considered one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th Century.<\/p>\n It was ritually buried along with two precious swords, two axes, two spiral arm-rings and one bronze chisel circa\u00a0near\u00a0Nebra<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Germany<\/strong>. The burial of these objects is thought to be made as a dedication to gods.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Nebra Sky Disc\u00a0is considered to be one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century and\u00a0has been associated with the\u00a0Unetice culture<\/strong>\u00a0that inhabited parts of Europe around 1600 BC.<\/p>\n The Unetice culture comprised early\u00a0Bronze Age communities<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Central Europe<\/strong>, including in Bohemia, Bavaria, southeastern Germany and western Poland.<\/p>\n An international team has reported a unique phenomenon where they saw the white dwarf losing its brightness in 30 minutes. These gaps in brightness have been previously reported, but the process usually takes place over a period of several days to months.<\/p>\n White dwarfs are stars that have burned up all of the hydrogen they once used as nuclear fuel.<\/p>\n A typical white dwarf is half the size of our Sun and has a surface gravity 100,000 times that of Earth<\/p>\n Main sequence stars\u00a0including the sun are formed from clouds of dust and gas drawn together by gravity. However, once a star runs out of its fuel, it dies and becomes compact. The lifetime of a star depends on its mass.<\/p>\n The most massive stars with eight times the mass of the sun or more will never become white dwarfs. Instead, at the end of their lives, they will explode in a violent\u00a0supernova, leaving behind a\u00a0neutron star\u00a0or\u00a0black hole.<\/p>\n Smaller stars, such as the sun, will eventually swell up into red giants. After that, the stars shed their outer layers into a ring known as a planetary nebula. The core that is left behind will be a white dwarf, a husk of a star in which no hydrogen fusion occurs.<\/p>\n The white dwarf discussed here is part of a binary system called TW Pictoris, where a star and a white dwarf orbit each other. The two objects are so close to each other that the star transfers material to the white dwarf.<\/p>\n As this material approaches the white dwarf it forms an accretion disk or a disk of gas, plasma, and other particles around it.<\/p>\n As the accretion disk material slowly sinks closer towards the white dwarf, it generally becomes brighter.\u00a0There are cases when the donor stars stop feeding the white dwarf disk. However, the reasons for this are still not clear.<\/p>\n When this happens, the disk is still bright as it \u201cdrains\u201d material that was previously still there. It then takes the disk about 1-2 months to drain most of the material.<\/p>\n However, TW Pictoris drop in brightness in 30 mins was totally unexpected, and it may be due to the process called magnetic gating.<\/p>\n Note<\/strong>: Magnetic gating happens when the magnetic field is spinning so rapidly around the white Dwarf it creates a barrier, disrupting the amount of matter the white dwarf can receive.<\/p>\n This discovery will help us understand the physics behind accretion \u2013 how black holes and neutron stars feed material from their nearby stars.<\/p>\n Indian researchers have done a comprehensive analysis to understand the formation of blue stragglers.<\/p>\n Blue stragglers\u00a0<\/strong>are a class of stars on open or globular clusters. They stand out as they are bigger and bluer than the rest of the stars.<\/p>\n Note:<\/strong>\u00a0A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity giving them their spherical shapes and high concentrations of stars toward their centers.<\/p>\n First Discovered by:<\/strong>\u00a0Blue stragglers were first discovered by Allan Sandage in 1953.<\/p>\n Indian Researchers have studied 228 clusters with a total of 868 blue stragglers.\u00a0They compared the mass of the blue stragglers to the mass of the turnoff stars (which are the most massive \u2018normal\u2019 stars in the cluster) and predicted the formation mechanisms.\u00a0They have found that:<\/p>\n The study will help improve understanding of stellar systems. It will help uncover exciting results in studies of large stellar populations including galaxies.<\/p>\n SpaceX has announced that it is planning to launch the Inspiration4\u00a0mission by\u00a0September 15.<\/p>\n Inspiration4<\/strong>\u00a0is a spaceflight planned for four people aboard the\u00a0SpaceX\u00a0Resilience<\/em>\u00a0capsule.<\/p>\n The three-day flight will be the first human spaceflight to\u00a0orbit\u00a0Earth with exclusively private citizens on board.<\/p>\n The flight will be\u00a0privately operated\u00a0by\u00a0SpaceX\u00a0using a previously-flown\u00a0Crew Dragon<\/a>\u00a0capsule launched to\u00a0low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n The mission involves circling the Earth for three days and then splashing down into the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n It will orbit the Earth at 575 km, higher than the\u00a0International Space Station<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(408 km) and the\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(547 km).This will be the farthest distance travelled by a crewed mission since 2009, when astronauts last went to repair the Hubble.<\/p>\n The mission is a part of an\u00a0effort to raise millions for<\/strong>\u00a0the Tennessee-based\u00a0St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital<\/strong>, a paediatric treatment and research facility that focuses on children\u2019s catastrophic diseases, particularly leukaemia and other cancers.<\/p>\n Moreover, the mission will also present an\u00a0opportunity for collecting large amounts of health data<\/strong>\u00a0that will aid in planning future crewed space missions.<\/p>\n Coronal Mass Ejection(CME)\u00a0<\/strong>is an ejection of highly magnetised particles from the sun.\u00a0During a CME, enormous bubbles of superheated gas \u2013 called\u00a0plasma\u00a0\u2013 are ejected from the sun.<\/p>\n Cause:<\/strong>\u00a0The underlying cause of CMEs is not well understood. However, astronomers agree, that the sun\u2019s magnetic field plays a major role.<\/p>\n Occurrence of CMEs: <\/strong>Though CMEs can occur anywhere on the Sun, it is primarily those which originate from regions near the centre of the\u00a0visible solar surface<\/strong>\u00a0(called the\u00a0photosphere<\/strong>) that are important for study, since they may propagate directly towards the Earth.<\/p>\n Impact of CMEs:\u00a0<\/strong>When a really strong CME blows past the Earth, it can damage the electronics in satellites and disrupt radio communication networks on Earth.<\/p>\n China\u2019s Chang\u2019e-5 lunar mission has delivered to Earth nearly 2 kg of rocky fragments and dust from the Moon.<\/p>\n Chang\u2019e 5 lunar mission is the\u00a0Chinese National Space Administration\u2019s (CNSA)<\/strong>\u00a0mission to send a robotic spacecraft to the\u00a0moon\u00a0to collect samples and return them to Earth for scientific study.<\/p>\n The spacecraft landed on an area of the Moon (the \u2018far side\u2019) not sampled by the American or Soviet missions nearly 50 years ago, and thus retrieved fragments of the youngest lunar rocks ever brought back for analysis in laboratories on Earth. The rocks are also different to those returned decades ago.<\/p>\n Around 90% of the materials collected by Chang\u2019e-5 likely derive from the landing site and its immediate surroundings, which are of a type termed \u2018mare basalts<\/strong>\u2019.\u00a0These volcanic rocks are visible to us as the darker grey areas that spilled over much of the nearside of the Moon as ancient eruptions of lava.<\/p>\n Yet 10% percent of the fragments have distinctly different, \u2018exotic\u2019 chemical compositions.<\/p>\n The distinct 10% fragments may preserve records of other parts of the lunar surface, as well as hints of the types of space rocks that have impacted the Moon\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n Moreover, scientists have also looked at the potential sources of beads of rapidly cooled glassy material. They have traced these glassy droplets to\u00a0extinct volcanic vents<\/strong>\u00a0known as\u00a0\u2018Rima Mairan\u2019 and \u2018Rima Sharp<\/strong>\u2019. These fragments could give insights into past episodes of energetic, fountain-like volcanic activity on the Moon.<\/p>\n Recently, an international team of researchers made the first putative direct detection of dark energy.<\/p>\n The XENON1T experiment is the world\u2019s most sensitive dark matter experiment and was operated deep underground at the INFN\u00a0Laboratori\u00a0Nazionali\u00a0del Gran Sasso in Italy.\u00a0In this experiment scientists\u00a0noticed certain unexpected results. As per them, dark energy may be responsible for it.\u00a0Hence, this experiment can also be used to detect dark energy.<\/p>\n Everything we see makes up less than 5% of the universe. About 27% is dark matter and 68% is dark energy.<\/p>\n Dark energy<\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0the mysterious form of energy that makes up about\u00a068% of the universe.<\/strong>\u00a0Dark energy has been noted as \u201cthe most profound mystery in all of science\u201d.<\/p>\n While dark matter attracts and holds galaxies together, dark energy repels and causes the expansion of our universe.\u00a0<\/strong>Both components\u00a0are\u00a0invisible.<\/p>\n More is known about dark matter, since its existence was suggested as early as the 1920s, while dark energy wasn\u2019t discovered until 1998. Large-scale experiments like XENON1T have been designed to directly detect dark matter, by searching for signs of dark matter \u2018hitting\u2019 ordinary matter. Dark energy is even more difficult to find.<\/p>\n The team is hopeful that upcoming upgrades to the XENON1T experiment and similar experiments such as LUX-Zeplin \u2013 a next generation dark matter experiment located at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, and\u00a0PandaX-xT\u00a0\u2013 another project at China Jinping Underground Laboratory could help directly detect dark energy within the next decade.<\/p>\n Recently, a\u00a0NASA satellite was successfully launched\u00a0the earth monitoring satellite, Landsat 9. It\u00a0is a joint mission of NASA and the US Geological Survey (USGS).<\/p>\n The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972. Since then, Landsat satellites have collected images of our planet and helped understand how land usage has changed over the decades. Images have also been used to study the health of forests, and coral reefs, monitor water quality and melt glaciers.<\/p>\n Landsat 9 carries instruments similar to the other Landsat satellites, but it is the most technologically advanced satellite of its generation. It can see more colour shades with greater depths than the previous satellites. It can help scientists capture more details about our ever-changing planet.<\/p>\n Landsat 9 will help make science-based decisions on key issues such as impacts of wildfire, coral reef degradation, the retreat of glaciers, and deforestation.<\/p>\n If a forest is affected by\u00a0drought<\/strong>, it will be seen in Landsat images and can help the researchers decode the areas at risk.<\/p>\n Similarly during a\u00a0wildfire<\/strong>, the Landsat images will capture the plumes of smoke and help study the extent of a burning.<\/p>\n The satellite images can also help recovery experts plan sites for replanting.<\/p>\n Landsat images can also help identify water bodies affected by\u00a0potentially harmful algal blooms<\/strong>. According to NASA, scientists are now developing computer programs that would use Landsat and other satellite data to automatically warn lake recreation managers when blooms pop up.<\/p>\n Landsat images have helped glaciologists study the melting ice sheets of the Antarctic and Arctic regions. The images can help track cracks in the\u00a0glaciers<\/strong>, the movement of glaciers, and decode how further global warming will impact them.<\/p>\n The National Aeronautics and Space Administration\u2019s(NASA)\u00a0New Horizons prob<\/a>e has reported new findings of Pluto.<\/p>\n The probe reported that icy lava flows have recently (no more than a billion years ago) covered substantial tracts of its surface. The findings drew particular attention to a mountainous feature named Wright Mons.<\/p>\n Wright Mons is a\u00a0mountainous feature found on Pluto. It was informally named by the New Horizons team in honour of the Wright brothers.<\/p>\n It is about 150 km across its base and has a central depression (a hole) 40-50 km wide, with a floor at least as low as the surrounding terrain.<\/p>\n Scientists claim that Wright Mons is a volcano and cite the lack of impact craters as evidence that it is not likely to be older than 1-2 billion years.<\/p>\n The volume of Wright Mons exceeds 20 thousand cubic kilometres. Although considerably less than the volume of Mars\u2019s biggest volcanoes, this is similar to the total volume of Hawaii\u2019s Mauna Loa, and much greater than the volume of its above sea-level portion.<\/p>\n The slopes of Wright Mons and much of its surroundings are seen to be crowded with hummocks (humps or ridges in an ice field).<\/p>\n These hummocks were likely created by some sort of ice volcanism, known by the technical term \u201ccryovolcanism<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 erupting icy water rather than molten rock.<\/p>\n Indian astronomers have discovered a\u00a0Faint Galaxy named\u00a0UVIT J2022<\/strong>\u00a0that remained hidden until now.<\/p>\n Faint Galaxies are\u00a0called low surface brightness galaxies or ultra-diffuse galaxies and have a surface brightness that is at least ten times fainter than the surrounding night sky.<\/p>\n Such faint galaxies may account for up to 15 % of the mass of the universe. However, they are difficult to detect because of their inherent low luminosities.<\/p>\n It is a faint galaxy. It was discovered while studying a known galaxy, NGC6902A.\u00a0This faint galaxy is in the Milky Way\u2019s neighbourhood situated 136 million light-years away.<\/p>\n It\u00a0remained undetected because it lay in front of a much brighter galaxy that is further away.\u00a0Moreover, it is extremely faint \u2013 about ten times fainter than the surrounding night sky.<\/p>\n Firstly,\u00a0<\/strong>this study raises the possibility that there could be similar diffuse galaxies that have been wrongly interpreted as interacting galaxies due to their superposition with foreground or background galaxies.<\/p>\n Secondly,<\/strong>\u00a0the material that the humans see around is known as\u00a0baryonic matter.\u00a0<\/strong>Studies suggest that baryonic matter makes up 5% of the Universe\u2019s mass. The rest of the mass should be contributed by unknown forms such as dark matter and dark energy.<\/p>\n \u2014 However, humans still do not have a clear understanding about the 5% of the baryonic content present in the Universe. These faint galaxies can act as a link for understanding the origin of missing baryons in the universe, as they may contribute significantly to the baryonic mass in the universe.<\/p>\n NASA has released its first-ever Space Equity Action Plan.<\/p>\n Released by:\u00a0<\/strong>NASA<\/p>\n Objective:\u00a0<\/strong>To allow the agency to track progress toward improved diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility both internally and externally.<\/p>\n Focus Areas:\u00a0<\/strong>The four focus areas the plan addresses are:<\/p>\n \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Increasing integration and utilization of contractors and businesses from underserved communities and expanding equity in NASA\u2019s procurement process;<\/p>\n \u2013 Enhancing grants and cooperative agreements to advance opportunities, access and representation for underserved communities;<\/p>\n \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Leveraging Earth Science and socioeconomic data to help mitigate environmental challenges in underserved communities;<\/p>\n \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Advancing external civil rights compliance and expanding access to limited English proficient populations within underserved communities.<\/p>\n Monitoring of the Plan:\u00a0<\/strong>An executive team, led by NASA\u2019s deputy administrator will lead the organization\u2019s efforts towards equity.<\/p>\n The space agency has also established a leadership council that will be led by the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity and will provide quarterly reports to the executive team.<\/p>\n A team of researchers from Stanford University have said that one of Jupiter\u2019s moons Europa, a prime candidate for life in the solar system, might have an abundance of water pockets beneath formations called double ridges.<\/p>\n Europa is the sixth-largest moon in the solar system and Jupiter\u2019s fourth-largest satellite.\u00a0It was\u00a0discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei.<\/p>\n Europa is slightly smaller than Earth\u2019s moon and its diameter is about one-quarter that of the Earth.\u00a0Europa\u2019s surface is mostly solid water ice. It is crisscrossed by fractures.<\/p>\n Even though Europa has a very thin oxygen atmosphere, it is considered one of the most promising places in the solar system to find present-day environments that are suitable for life beyond the Earth.<\/p>\n It is also believed that underneath Europa\u2019s icy surface the amount of water is twice that on Earth.<\/p>\n NASA is expected to launch its Europa Clipper in 2024. The module will orbit Jupiter and conduct multiple close flybys to Europa to gather data on the moon\u2019s atmosphere, surface and its interior.<\/p>\n The researchers have found that double ridges found on Europa\u2019s surface are similar to those seen on Earth\u2019s Greenland ice sheet.<\/p>\n Based on these findings, the researchers \u200b\u200bsuggest that if a similar process is responsible for the formation of double ridges there, it could indicate that shallow liquid water is present over Europa\u2019s ice shell at all times and in all places.<\/p>\n Note:<\/strong>\u00a0Double ridges are symmetrical mountain-like structures running hundreds of kilometers in length. They are a common geographical feature found in Greenland.<\/p>\n Significance of these findings:\u00a0<\/strong>The findings increase the potential habitability of Europa.<\/p>\n NASA\u2019s\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope<\/a>\u00a0has discovered the farthest star ever seen to date.\u00a0They have nicknamed that star as \u201cEarendel\u201d.<\/p>\n Earender is the most distant star discovered by the Hubble\u00a0Space Telescope.<\/p>\n The star has been officially called WHL0137-LS, but it has been nicknamed \u201cEarendel\u201d, which means \u201cmorning star\u201d in Old English.<\/p>\n The star is more than 12.9 billion light-years away and likely existed within the first billion years after the beginning of the universe.<\/p>\n This discovery of the most distant star was made possible by a phenomenon known as\u00a0\u2018gravitational lensing\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n A gravitational lens can occur when a huge amount of matter, like a cluster of galaxies, creates a gravitational field that distorts and magnifies the light from distant galaxies that are behind it but in the same line of sight.<\/p>\n The effect is like looking through a giant magnifying glass.<\/p>\n Significance:\u00a0<\/strong>This effect\u00a0allows researchers to study the details of early galaxies too far away to be seen with current technology and telescopes.<\/p>\n First Predicted by:\u00a0<\/strong>This effect was\u00a0predicted to exist by Albert Einstein\u2019s General Theory of Relativity in the early 20th century.<\/p>\n Indian astronomers from the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) as part of an international research have discovered Gaia 20eae.<\/p>\n Gaia 20eae is an extremely rare group of young stars that exhibit episodic accretion.<\/p>\n Episodically accreting young stars are young, low-mass stars that have not initiated hydrogen fusion in their core and are fuelled by gravitational contraction and deuterium fusion (pre-main-sequence phase of the star).<\/p>\n These pre-main-sequence stars are surrounded by a disc from which it steadily feeds on the matter from the disc-shaped region of gas and dust surrounding the star to gain mass. This process is known as mass accretion from the circumstellar disc of the star.<\/p>\n On occasions their feeding rate increases. This is known as the periods of enhanced mass accretion from their circumstellar disc. During such episodes, the brightness of the star increases by 4-6 magnitudes in the optical bands.<\/p>\n So far 25 such rare groups of stars have been discovered.<\/p>\n Significance of this discovery:\u00a0<\/strong>This discovery could help probe into this group of\u00a0Episodic Accreting young stars\u00a0and their formation mechanism in greater detail.<\/p>\n Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru has conducted a study on Blue Stragglers to understand their aberrant behaviour.<\/p>\n For this, the researchers used the UVIT instrument (Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope) of ASTROSAT, India\u2019s first science observatory in space.<\/p>\n Blue Straggler Stars are hot, blue, massive stars and seem to have a different trajectory of evolution from the norm.<\/p>\n There are a few stars that, when they are expected to start expanding in size and cooling down, do just the opposite. They grow brighter and hotter as indicated by their blue color. Thus, standing out from the cooler red stars in their vicinity in the color-magnitude diagram.<\/p>\n \u2013 Since they lag their peers in evolution, they are called stragglers more specifically, blue stragglers, because of their hot, blue color.<\/p>\n First Discovered by:<\/strong>\u00a0Blue stragglers were first discovered by Allan Sandage in 1953 while performing photometry of the stars.<\/p>\n Blue Stragglers are more massive and energetic than expected may be due to the following reasons:<\/p>\n First Possibility:\u00a0<\/strong>They do not belong to the family of stars in the cluster and hence are not expected to have the group properties. But if they actually belong, the evasive behaviour is due to these stars gaining mass from a binary companion.<\/p>\n Second Possibility:\u00a0<\/strong>The straggler draws matter from the giant companion and grows more massive, hot and blue, and the red giant ends up as a normal or smaller white dwarf.<\/p>\n Third possibility:\u00a0<\/strong>The straggler draws matter from a companion star, but that there is a third star that facilitates this process.<\/p>\n The National Aeronautics and Space Administration\u2019s(NASA) Hubble Space Telescope has confirmed that the huge Bernardinelli-Bernstein comet is indeed the largest icy comet nucleus ever seen by astronomers.<\/p>\n Note:<\/strong>\u00a0Comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the Sun.<\/p>\n It is the largest icy comet nucleus ever seen by astronomers. It\u00a0is also called the C\/2014 UN271.<\/p>\n Discovered by<\/strong>: It was discovered by astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein in archival images from the Dark Energy Survey at an astronomical observatory in Chile. It was discovered in 2010 and has been intensively studied since then.<\/p>\n Origin:<\/strong>\u00a0The comet has been travelling towards the sun for over a million years, and it is believed to have originated in the\u00a0Oort Cloud.<\/strong><\/p>\n Note:<\/strong>\u00a0Oort Cloud is a distant region of the solar system that is predicted to be the source of most comets. However, the Oort Cloud is still only a theoretical concept.<\/p>\n Diameter:<\/strong>\u00a0It has an estimated diameter of almost 129 kilometres.<\/p>\n Nucleus<\/strong>: The nucleus of the comet is around 50 times larger than that of most known comets, and its mass is estimated to be around 500 trillion tonnes.<\/p>\n Temperature:<\/strong>\u00a0It has an estimated temperature of minus 348 degrees Fahrenheit. This is warm enough to sublimate carbon monoxide (CO) from the surface to produce the dusty coma.<\/p>\n The first-ever private mission to the International Space Station (ISS) named Axiom-1 has reached the ISS.<\/p>\n Axiom Mission 1(Ax-1) is the first all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n Organized by<\/strong>: US Based\u00a0company Axiom Space.<\/p>\n Launched from<\/strong>: The mission was launched from\u00a0NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is\u00a0flying on the\u00a0SpaceX<\/strong>\u00a0Crew Dragon Endeavour.<\/p>\n Under the mission,\u00a0<\/strong>the astronauts will spend more than a week conducting scientific research, outreach and commercial activities on the space station.<\/p>\n Axiom Space\u00a0is a company that is focusing on making space travel more commercially available. Besides this, it also aims to improve the understanding of space and the human body by bringing researchers into space.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope<\/a>\u00a0has photographed a Jupiter-like protoplanet forming through a process that researchers have described as intense and violent.<\/p>\n The newly forming planet captured by the Hubble Space Telescope is called AB Aurigae b.<\/p>\n It is embedded in a protoplanetary disk with distinct spiral structures swirling around and surrounding a young star that is estimated to be about 2 million years old.<\/p>\n This protoplanet is about the same age our solar system was when planet formation was underway. It is also 531 light-years away from our sun.<\/p>\n Further, this protoplanet is probably around nine times the size of Jupiter and orbits its host star at a distance of 8.6 billion miles, over two times the distance between Sun and Pluto.<\/p>\n Protoplanets are small celestial objects that are the size of a moon or a bit bigger. They are small planets, like an even smaller version of a dwarf planet.<\/p>\n Astronomers believe that these objects form during the creation of a solar system.<\/p>\n According to NASA, this discovery supports a long-debated theory called \u201cdisk instability,\u201d which tries to explain how planets similar to Jupiter are formed.<\/p>\n According to this theory, matter slowly moves inwards in this disc as dust particles grow into centimetre-sized pebbles.<\/p>\n This is seen as the first step towards the formation of kilometre-sized planetesimals that eventually come together to form planets.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Friends, This post is a part of our current affairs series for the UPSC IAS Prelims 2022. In this post, we have covered the Science and tech current affairs of the Space technology section. This post covers the current affairs of September, October 2021 and April 2022 months. Science and Tech Current Affairs 2021-22… Continue reading UPSC IAS Prelims 2022 Material| Science and Tech Current Affairs | Space technology \u2013 Part 2<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[10695],"class_list":["post-184923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public","tag-current-affairs-compilations-for-prelims-2022","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}About Mission Lucy<\/h5>\n
Aim of the project<\/h5>\n
Duration of mission<\/h5>\n
About asterioids<\/h5>\n
Other asteroid missions<\/h5>\n
\nNebra Sky Disc<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About Nebra Sky Disc<\/h5>\n
Discovery of Nebra Sky Disc<\/h5>\n
Significance of Nebra Sky Disc<\/h5>\n
\nWhite Dwarf<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About the White Dwarf<\/h5>\n
Formation of White Dwarf<\/h5>\n
About the Switch on and off Phenomena<\/h5>\n
Significance of these findings<\/h5>\n
\nBlue Stragglers<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About Blue Stragglers<\/h5>\n
About the study by Indian Researchers<\/h5>\n
\n
Significance of this study<\/h5>\n
\nInspiration4 mission<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About Inspiration4\u00a0mission<\/h5>\n
The objective of the Inspiration4 mission<\/h5>\n
Significance of the Inspiration4 mission<\/h5>\n
\nCoronal Mass Ejections(CME)<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nChang\u2019e-5 lunar mission<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About the Chang\u2019e-5 lunar mission<\/h5>\n
About the findings from the samples brought by\u00a0Chang\u2019e-5<\/h5>\n
Significance of these findings<\/h5>\n
\nXENON1T experiment<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/strong><\/h5>\n
About the XENON1T experiment<\/h5>\n
About the dark energy\u00a0and dark matter<\/h5>\n
Direct detection of dark energy<\/h5>\n
\nLandsat 9<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
Difference between Landsat 9 and previous Landsats<\/h5>\n
Significance of LandSat<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Monitoring climate change by Lansat<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\nWright Mons in Pluto<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About Wright Mons<\/h5>\n
\nUVIT J2022<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About Faint Galaxies<\/h5>\n
About UVIT J2022<\/h5>\n
Significance of this study<\/h5>\n
\nSpace Equity Action Plan<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About the Space Equity Action Plan<\/h5>\n
\nEuropa<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About Europa<\/h5>\n
Future Missions to Europa<\/h5>\n
Findings about Europa<\/h5>\n
\nEarendel<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About Earendel<\/h5>\n
About Gravitational Lensing<\/h5>\n
\nEpisodic Accreting young stars<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About Gaia 20eae<\/h5>\n
About the Episodic Accreting young stars<\/h5>\n
\nBlue stragglers stars<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About the Blue Stragglers<\/h5>\n
Reason for calling them Blue Stragglers<\/h5>\n
Reason for more massive and energetic nature of blue stragglers<\/h5>\n
\nBernardinelli-Bernstein<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About Bernardinelli-Bernstein<\/h5>\n
Features of\u00a0Bernardinelli-Bernstein Comet<\/h5>\n
\nAxiom-1 Mission<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About the Axiom-1 Mission<\/h5>\n
About Axiom Space<\/h5>\n
\nJupiter-like protoplanet formed<\/span><\/h3>\n
News<\/h5>\n
About the Jupiter-like protoplanet formed<\/h5>\n
About the Protoplanets<\/h5>\n
Significance of this discovery<\/h5>\n
About the Disk Instability Theory<\/h5>\n
\n