The sky is not the limit | Earendel, solar storm, near-Earth asteroid e+

The discovery of the star Earendel, the most distant star ever observed by humanity, stirred not only the scientific community but also social networks. THE NASA published the image obtained by the Hubble telescope and the news made the news. In fact, the very name Earendel contributed to the star’s success, and we’ll explain why below.

Our upper atmosphere was also agitated; not by scientific discoveries but by the arrival of strong solar storms. Check out the most important news of the week in our weekly roundup!

The most distant star astronomers have observed so far is called Earendel, or, if you prefer, WHL0137-LS. It is 12.9 billion light-years away and the Hubble telescope was only able to identify it as an individual star within its galaxy thanks to gravitational lensing.

If you’re a fan of Tolkien’s works and found the name Earendel familiar, it’s no wonder: the name means “morning star” in Old English, but was inspired by the character Eärendila half-elf who appears in O Silmarillion and in a song of Lord of the Rings.

Today’s sunspots 😍 pic.twitter.com/qcDRtJFnRt

— 𓂀 Chaos 𓂀 (@alicyadora) March 29, 2022

Solar storms started hitting Earth on Thursday (31) and are expected to continue hitting the planet this weekend. Although one of them is classified as “strong”, none of them will have significant impacts on the infrastructure of electrical networks and satellites.

The events are the result of about 20 eruptions emitted by the Sun, most from a single sunspot. In total, astronomers recorded three visible groups of Earth-facing spots. Geomagnetic storms can happen until the 3rd of April, providing some aurora borealis.

The asteroid 2007 FF1 made its closest approach to Earth this Friday (1st), at 18:35, without any risk of colliding with our planet. The distance was 7.4 million kilometers, or about 19 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon.

This space rock has a diameter between 110 and 260 m and is part of the Apollo group of asteroids (a class whose orbits are located close to Earth). It is considered potentially dangerous for being within an area of ​​7.5 million kilometers from Earth and having a brightness above 100 m in diameter, but there is no chance of collision this century.

A new study proposes a fascinating idea, to say the least: information from the universe’s particles may be the fifth state of matter. That is, matter could present itself in solid, liquid, gaseous, plasma and information states. For this, the information must have mass, which has not yet been proven.

Every particle in the universe stores a set of information that tells its stories over billions of years. Among that information are spin and mass, neither of which is ever lost. If information has mass and is a state of matter, it could be that the universe’s own dark matter is made of information.

A NASA researcher came up with an unusual idea: to wrap the planet Venus in a kind of giant shell to make its atmosphere favorable for life. The idea is to transform the planet into a place where astronauts can set foot and explore without putting their own lives at risk. To accomplish this feat, robotic probes would suck up Venus’ toxic atmosphere and store the oxygen for future colonists.

The captured carbon would be used to build huge T-shaped tiles to assemble the giant shell. The bad news is that it would take 72 trillion of these tiles to cover the entire planet, and it would take at least 200 years for Venus’ atmosphere to begin transforming. Despite the difficulties, some scientists have already seen the proposal as something viable.

Mercury has Earth-like geomagnetic storms, according to new studies. The planet has a ring of electric current, formed by a field of electrically charged particles that flow down the side of the planet. When this current is disturbed by particles from the solar winds, a geomagnetic storm is created.

Unfortunately for eventual inhabitants of the planet’s past or future, Mercury’s magnetic field is weak and its geomagnetic storms do not create visible auroras. There, the only way to observe the phenomenon would be by X-ray and gamma-ray instruments.

A type of high-frequency acoustic wave forms a pattern of swirling vortices on the surface of the Sun. The waves are retrograde, meaning they move against solar rotation, and are three times faster than predicted by theory. There are three known mechanisms that could explain the effect (magnetism, gravity or convection), but none of them sheds light on the observed velocity.

Scientists still don’t know why these waves are so fast, but they are excited about the possibility of new discoveries about our Sun. It is that these phenomena can provide a lot of information about the interior of the star, which cannot be observed directly.

The probe of the Chinese mission Tianwen-1 recorded, in high resolution, intense dust storms on Mars. The Zhurong rover’s “selfies” also reveal a layer of dust accumulated on the equipment, which is not good news: excess dust can affect the power supply.

Fortunately, Chinese engineers designed the panels in such a way that it can compensate for the reduced efficiency in these cases.

#NewShepard is on the pad for its 20th mission. Flight controllers are working through nominal check-outs in advance of today’s launch. Before liftoff, meet the #NS20 crew as they prepare for their journey to space. pic.twitter.com/O999O1Zdw1

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) March 31, 2022

On its first mission of 2022, the Blue Origin company took six tourists into suborbital space in the New Shepard vehicle. The launch took place on Thursday (31) at 10:59 am and took the class to about 107 km. The capsule was released after about three minutes and tourists were able to unbuckle their belts to revel in the feeling of weightlessness on board.

The capsule began its return to Earth at 11:02 am, decelerating with the aid of a parachute, and landed at 11:09 am.

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