WhyCosmo

🚀 A Leap in Planetary Defense 🚀 Thirty years ago, the cosmic ballet of Shoemaker-Levy 9 colliding with Jupiter captivated astronomers and sparked a crucial question: "Can we prevent such a catastrophe from striking Earth?" Fast forward to today, and the European Space Agency (ESA) is taking monumental strides in planetary defense by announcing its 2029 mission to asteroid Apophis —aptly named Ramses . ESA's planned Ramses mission would arrive at the asteroid Apophis two months before the asteroid's April 2029 close flyby of Earth.  Credit:  ESA 🌌 Mission Ramses: Safeguarding Earth 🌌 The Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses) is set to rendezvous with the 99942 Apophis asteroid, a celestial giant roughly the size of a cruise liner. As Apophis makes its exceptionally close approach to Earth on April 13, 2029, passing within 32,000 km, Ramses will monitor its every move. This mission aims to understand how Earth's gravity will alter the asteroid's...

  Embark on a mesmerizing cosmic road trip with NASA 's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope as we journey through four stunning destinations across space. Each destination offers a unique View into the universe, revealing breathtaking images captured through different wavelengths of light. 🌟 First Stop: Rho Ophiuchi - A Star-Forming Wonderland Rho Ophiuchi. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/C. Canizares; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/K. Pontoppidan; Image Processing: NASA/ESA/STScI/Alyssa Pagan, NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and J. Major At just 390 light-years from Earth, Rho Ophiuchi is a cloud complex teeming with gas and stars of various sizes and ages. As one of the closest star-forming regions, it provides astronomers with a perfect laboratory to study young stars. In the composite image, Chandra's X-rays appear in purple, showcasing the hot outer atmospheres of infant stars. The infrared data from Webb, rendered in red, yellow, cyan, light blue, and darker blue...

 Astronomers using JWST (the James Webb Space Telescope) have made a groundbreaking discovery, witnessing an awe-inspiring cosmic dance between a supermassive black hole-powered quasar and merging galaxies. This extraordinary event occurred less than a billion years after the Big Bang, providing a rare glimpse into the early universe's mysteries. The quasar, designated PJ308-21, is an active galactic nucleus (AGN) in a galaxy merging with two massive satellite galaxies. Observations reveal that the supermassive black hole at the heart of PJ308-21 consumes surrounding matter, powering the quasar's incredible brightness. Astonishingly, this black hole has a mass equivalent to two billion suns. This cosmic merger is a dramatic event, delivering vast amounts of gas and dust to the supermassive black hole, fueling its growth, and ensuring the continued brilliance of PJ308-21. These findings show how galaxies and supermassive black holes evolved in the universe's infancy. Roberto...

  The possibility of life on Mars has long fascinated scientists and the public. The crucial question: Was Mars ever warm and wet like Earth, or was it cold and icy? A recent study points to the latter, revealing that Mars may have had a frigid, icy past. Published in Communications Earth and Environment , the study compares Martian soils from Gale Crater to those found in Newfoundland, Canada—a region with a cold subarctic climate. This comparison provides new insights into Mars' climatic history, indicating that the Red Planet's environment may have been less conducive to life as we know it. Gale Crater, investigated by NASA's Curiosity Rover since 2011, is a paleo lakebed. Soil samples from the crater show high levels of "X-ray amorphous material," rich in iron and silica but low in aluminum. These findings suggest Mars had water, but the environmental conditions were likely near freezing. The research team, led by Anthony Feldman of DRI, examined soils in Newf...

 The JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) has made a groundbreaking discovery by detecting the smell of rotten eggs on a nearby exoplanet, HD 189733. This "hot Jupiter," located just 13 times closer to its host star than Mercury, reveals an atmosphere filled with hydrogen sulfide, a compound responsible for the rotten odor. The JWST's spectral analysis identified hydrogen sulfide and various other sulfur compounds. These findings are significant as sulfur is considered a building block of life, making it a prime target in the searching for habitable place. Despite its sterile conditions, temperatures soaring above 900°C, and 8,000 kph winds, HD 189733 offers valuable insights into exoplanet atmospheres. The study, led by Guangwei Fu of John Hopkins University, highlighted the absence of methane in HD 189733's atmosphere, contrary to previous reports. Additionally, the exoplanet was found to have metals in its atmosphere, similar to stars. The JWST continues to be a power...

  In an extraordinary breakthrough, a team of astronomers has unveiled that the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b might be a " super-Earth " covered in ice or water , located just 48 light-years from us! 🌌🔭 Temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b may be a world completely covered in ice (left) similar to Jupiter’s moon Europa or may be an ice world with a liquid substellar ocean and a cloudy atmosphere (center). LHS 1140 b is 1.7 times the size of our planet Earth (right) and is the most promising habitable zone exoplanet yet found in the search for liquid water beyond the Solar System. Credit: Benoit Gougeon, Université de Montréal 🌟 LHS 1140 b: The New Super-Earth 🌟 Originally thought to be a mini-Neptune, LHS 1140 b is now considered a potential super-Earth with a nitrogen-rich atmosphere, thanks to the cutting-edge James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) data. Situated in its star's habitable zone , this planet could have the perfect conditions for liquid water, making it a prim...

  In an awe-inspiring display of cosmic artistry, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope(JWST) has captured a mesmerizing image of celestial fireworks surrounding a forming star. This dazzling scene, imaged by Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) , showcases a fiery hourglass shape that marks the birth of a very young protostar. The protostar within the dark cloud L1527, shown in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is embedded within a cloud of material feeding its growth. Ejections from the star have cleared out cavities above and below it, whose boundaries glow orange and blue in this infrared view. The upper central region displays bubble-like shapes due to stellar “burps,” or sporadic ejections. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI. Image processing: J. DePasquale, A. Pagan, and A. Koekemoer (STScI) A Glimpse into the Cosmos The vibrant colors within this mid-infrared image reveal intricate details about the central protostar's ...