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<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA's Perseverance rover has found potential evidence of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-rover-landing-jezero-crater-search-for-alien-life-2021-2">ancient microbial life on Mars</a>.</li><li>Scientists must bring the rock to Earth for further study, but three key features make it promising.</li></ul>NASA has snagged a chunk of rock on Mars that could someday prove to be <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nasa-could-tell-us-aliens-are-real-2023-2">the first clear evidence of alien life</a>.To be clear, NASA is not declaring that it's discovered Martian life. Rather, its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-perseverance-rover-first-mars-sample-mysteriously-missing-2021-8">Perseverance rover has drilled a sample from a rock</a> with attributes that could have come from ancient microbial activity, the agency announced Thursday.To confirm their suspicions, scientists would need to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asks-help-retrieving-perseverance-mars-samples-alien-life-2024-4">bring the rock sample to Earth</a> and study it in more detail."This is exactly the kind of sample that we wanted to find," Katie Stack Morgan, a lead scientist on the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-from-nasa-perseverance-mars-rover-2021-2">Perseverance mission</a>, told Business Insider.<h2 id="8f9afd20-4848-4691-a11e-024987bef6aa">3 key features could point to alien life</h2><div type="image" title="reddish rock on mars with a drill hole surrounded by dirt beside a patch of white dust" height="3502" width="8192" msid="112054808" hostid="261" sizebytes="2623576"></div>The rock, nicknamed Cheyava Falls, has three critical features:<ul><li>First, white veins of calcium sulfate are clear evidence that water once ran through it.</li><li>Second, the rock tested positive for organic compounds, which are the carbon-based building blocks of life, as we know it.</li><li>Third, it's speckled with tiny "leopard spots" that point to chemical reactions that are associated with microbial life here on Earth.</li></ul><div type="image" title="rocky mars ground with red strip in the middle speckled with off-white leopard spots with black outlines" height="1200" width="1648" msid="112054810" hostid="261" sizebytes="204828"></div>However, both the organic material and the leopard spots could have come from non-biological processes. That's why scientists need to study the sample more closely on Earth to know for sure.The rover has reached the limit of what it can learn about the rock."We're not saying there's life on Mars, but we're seeing something that is compelling as a potential biosignature," Stack Morgan said.A biosignature is any feature that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-may-have-accidentally-spread-life-to-mars-scientist-says-2021-5">points to the presence of life</a>."This is a very significant discovery," she added.It's a much-needed win for the space agency. In recent months, NASA has taken hit after hit from budget limitations and technical errors across missions.<h2 id="ffbc8916-53bf-4e09-9d46-a0a92e0c9401">NASA needs this win</h2>Earlier this year, the agency's first <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astrobotic-moon-lander-leaking-fuel-after-launch-threatening-mission-2024-1">attempt to return to the moon </a>since 1972 failed. The NASA-funded Peregrine moon mission, by the company Astrobotic suffered a fuel leak shortly after launch, forcing it to return to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. (The next attempt, a mission by the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intuitive-machines-im-1-odysseus-moon-lunar-landing-mission-nasa-2024-2">company Intuitive Machines</a>, also funded by NASA, successfully landed on the moon.)Then, new budgeting decisions came down. NASA's budget proposal for 2025 effectively <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-chandra-xray-space-telescope-nasa-might-defund-2024-4">defunds the Chandra X-ray Observatory</a>, which is still a highly productive and functional mission.And just last week, NASA officials announced they were <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-scrapping-moon-rover-it-spent-450-million-to-build-2024-7">scrapping the VIPER moon rover</a> that the agency has already spent $450 million to build. NASA plans to disassemble it and reuse some of the parts for future moon missions.Meanwhile, two astronauts have been <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronauts-speak-out-boeing-starliner-spaceship-issues-space-station-2024-7">stuck on the International Space Station</a> for 51 days because the NASA-funded Boeing spaceship that carried them there is leaking helium and having thruster malfunctions.Even Perseverance wasn't spared. In April, NASA announced it was canceling its $11 billion plan to send a follow-up mission, called Mars Sample Return, to collect the rover's tubes of Martian rock and carry them back to Earth. That was the plan that could've brought scientists the Cheyava Falls rock sample.Instead, NASA is <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-helping-private-companies-build-business-moon-make-lunar-billions-2023-6">asking companies to step in</a> and propose their own cheaper, faster versions of the mission.<div type="image" title="mosaic of photos of light-saber-like sample tubes on the martian surface" height="1608" width="2860" msid="112054812" hostid="261" sizebytes="489456"></div>The Cheyava Falls rock especially needs the extra studying."This rock is also one of the most complex rocks we've seen on the surface of Mars. There is a lot going on in this rock," Stack Morgan said.<h2 id="bc7264ec-ecef-4ece-be0b-2d817095cffe">Is it aliens? Check the CoLD scale</h2>For now, this discovery is just a "step one" on the seven-step "confidence of life detection" (CoLD) scale.The CoLD scale is a rough rating of scientific confidence in any potential alien-life discovery.<div type="image" title="illustration of a line of scientists in white lab coats building a tall stepped wall of green bricks with numbers 1 through 7 going up the side of it to the top, indicating stages of confirming evidence of alien life. the illustration is labeled &quot;CoLD SCALE&quot;" height="2550" width="3300" msid="112054809" hostid="261" sizebytes="266750"></div>"We've taken us up to the start of that scale, and I think that's what the rover was sent to Mars to do," Stack Morgan said.A possible biosignature can climb to higher levels of confidence as evidence builds. For example, if scientists can confirm that known non-biological processes didn't create the leopard spots, the Cheyava Falls rock might ascend to step two or three.But they need to get the sample to Earth first. And NASA needs to figure out how to do that."We're hoping that our most recent sample can play into the conversation about whether this effort is worth it," Stack Morgan said. "And we believe that it is."

NASA just scored a badly needed win: The best potential evidence of alien life yet

Indian-origin <keyword id="21544825" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sunita-Williams" source="keywords">Sunita Williams</keyword>' piloted 'Starliner' is set to launch into space on Saturday, after the joint mission of US space agency <keyword id="19935155" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NASA" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="NASA" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="NASA">NASA</keyword> and aircraft major Boeing was previously hit by snags. The flight will mark Williams' third space mission. According to NASA, the flight to the orbiting International Space Station (<keyword id="20307956" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ISS" source="keywords">ISS</keyword>) is scheduled to lift off from Florida's Kennedy Space Centre around 10 pm Indian Standard Time today. 'Suni' Williams and fellow NASA <keyword id="20248602" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="astronaut" source="keywords">astronaut</keyword> Barry 'Butch' Wilmore will be the first humans to go aboard Starliner spacecraft as part of the US space agency's Commercial Crew Program. The Starliner spacecraft will be catapulted into space on an Atlas 5 rocket of the rocket company United Launch Alliance (ULA). It will dock with the ISS on Sunday and the astronauts will be at the ISS conducting a range of tests for about a week. Starliner will then undock from the ISS re-enter Earth's atmosphers and make a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern United States on June 10, NASA said. If this mission is successful, NASA will begin the final process of certifying Starliner and its systems for crewed rotation missions to the International Space Station. The Starliner capsule will carry four astronauts, or a mix of crew and cargo, for NASA missions to low Earth orbit. NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) are ready for the June 1, launch of the agency's Boeing Crew Flight Test according to an announcement during a prelaunch media briefing from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. "I'm very proud of the teams who have worked really hard the last two and a half weeks to prepare for launch," said Steve Stich, manager, NASA's Commercial Crew Program. "We're really ready to go fly" he said. The integrated ULA Atlas 5 rocket and Starliner spacecraft stack rolled out to the pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on May 30 in preparation for liftoff. Both Williams and Wilmore had remained in preflight quarantine inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building following their return to the Florida spaceport on May 28. Mission managers of the <keyword id="21541868" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Boeing-Starliner" source="keywords">Boeing Starliner</keyword>'s Crewed Test Flight (CFT) called off the mission on May 7, just two hours before the scheduled launch due to a valve glitch in the Atlas 5 rocket's upper stage. Boeing said in its statement that the valve was successfully replaced on May 11 and tested to confirm it was working properly. Later on May 14, NASA announced that the CFT mission scheduled for May 17 has been pushed to no later than May 21 due to what it described as a "small helium leak" in the spacecraft's service module. On May 17 the space agency said that the launch was further pushed back to May 25. The flight marking Boeing's first Starliner spacecraft mission with a human crew, is part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which is working with the US aerospace industry through a public-private partnership to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from US soil. NASA selected Boeing and SpaceX in September 2014 to transport crew to the International Space Station from the United States. These integrated spacecraft, rockets and associated systems will carry up to four astronauts on NASA missions, maintaining a space station crew of seven to maximize time dedicated to scientific research on the orbiting laboratory. After a failed attempt in December 2019, Boeing conducted a successful uncrewed Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2) in 2022. Its Starliner is expected to be reusable for up to ten missions within a six-month turnaround time, according to the aerospace company. Elon Musk-owned SpaceX company's Crew Dragon has performed 12 crewed missions since its first launch on May 30, 2020. Williams and Wilmore were both former commanders of the International Space Station. Williams, from Needham, Massachusetts, earned a physical science degree from the US Naval Academy, and a master's in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology. Her first spaceflight was Expedition 14/15 (from December 2006 to June 2007) launching on space shuttle Discovery's STS-116 mission to reach the International Station, according to NASA. While onboard, Williams established a world record for women at the time with four spacewalks. She concluded her tour of duty by returning to Earth with shuttle Atlantis' STS-117 flight to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California on June 22, 2007. Selected as an astronaut by NASA in June 1998, Williams has spent a total of 322 days in space on two missions and accumulated 50 hours and 40 minutes of cumulative EVA time on seven spacewalks. Williams worked with Roscosmos on its contribution to the space station and with the first Expedition crew. Meanwhile, 61-year-old, Wilmore has logged 178 days in space and has 25 hours and 36 minutes of time on four spacewalks. Boeing has planned six manned missions for the platform over the next six years, the projected end of the ISS' operating lifespan. NASA plans to use both SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's Starliner to send up astronauts at least every six months from US soil. Both Boeing and SpaceX were given the responsibility in 2014 by NASA to send commercial crew missions to the ISS. Boeing received over USD 4 billion in US federal funds to develop the Starliner, while SpaceX received about USD 2.6 billion. SEE ALSO:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/upcoming-cars-and-two-wheelers-launching-in-india-in-june-2024/slidelist/110591467.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/upcoming-cars-and-two-wheelers-launching-in-india-in-june-2024/slidelist/110591467.cms" target="_blank">Upcoming cars and two-wheelers launching in India in June 2024</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/lok-sabha-exit-poll-2024-what-are-they-when-will-they-be-announced-and-all-you-need-to-know/articleshow/110565608.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/lok-sabha-exit-poll-2024-what-are-they-when-will-they-be-announced-and-all-you-need-to-know/articleshow/110565608.cms" target="_blank">Lok Sabha Exit Poll 2024 – what are they, when will they be announced and all you need to know</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/huawei-beats-samsung-to-take-the-top-spot-in-global-foldable-smartphone-shipments/articleshow/110583786.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/huawei-beats-samsung-to-take-the-top-spot-in-global-foldable-smartphone-shipments/articleshow/110583786.cms" target="_blank">Huawei beats Samsung to take the top spot in global foldable smartphone shipments</a>

Sunita Williams flies to ISS on NASA's Boeing Starliner tonight; 3rd time in space for Indian-origin astronaut

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists have known about Mars holes for years but an old image has reignited interest. </li><li>These holes could contain evidence of alien life on Mars and be a shelter for future astronauts.</li></ul>In case you hadn't heard, there's a hole on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-havent-we-been-to-mars-yet-2024-5">Mars</a> — multiple holes, actually. These holes, or pits, aren't news. Here's a photo of one from 2007:<div type="image" title="dark black hole on grey martian surface" height="246" width="491" msid="110917150" hostid="261" sizebytes="24096"></div>However, an image taken by the HiRISE camera in 2022 recently resurfaced on the University of Arizona HiRISE's <a target="_blank" href="https://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_075251_1775">Picture of the Day</a>, reigniting the conversation around these fascinating features.Any excuse to talk about these holes is a good one because they remain largely mysterious and full of promise for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plan-colonize-mars-plan-unrealistic-scientists-explain-2023-10">future scientific missions</a>.<h2 id="02922bb5-b134-4beb-a59c-caadf4cc0a2f">What are those mysterious holes on Mars?</h2><div type="image" title="side by side images of holes on mars" height="1500" width="3000" msid="110917144" hostid="261" sizebytes="202650"></div>The holes, aka pits, are located on the flanks of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/martian-volcano-unlike-anything-on-earth-2017-2">ancient volcanoes</a> in Mars's Tharsis region, the largest volcanic region on the red planet and home to some of the biggest volcanoes in our solar system.As far as scientists can tell, Mars is no longer <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-close-up-photos-show-volcanoes-erupt-on-jupiters-moon-2024-2">volcanically active</a>. So there's no risk of these giant volcanoes erupting. But there is a possibility that residual underground lava tubes may still exist.Scientists think these holes are "skylights," or places where the ground above the lava tubes has caved in and created a gaping hole in the surface, Brandon Johnson, a geophysicist at Purdue University who studies impact craters throughout the solar system, told Business Insider.<div type="image" title="Olympus Mons volcano on Mars from the Viking 1 Orbiter. The mosaic was created using images from orbit 735 taken 22 June 1978. Olympus Mons is about 600 km in diameter and the summit caldera is 24" height="947" width="1024" msid="110917143" hostid="261" sizebytes="101872"></div>If these lava tubes are anything like Earth's, they could be the perfect place for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-colony-volcano-hawaii-hi-seas-2016-1">astronauts to hunker down</a> during their stay on Mars."There's more than one of these [pits] on Mars that we've seen," Johnson said. "But they're really interesting because they're places where astronauts might be able to go and be safe from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-radiation-levels-spacex-nasa-exposure-2018-4">radiation</a>."That said, it's unclear how deep these holes go or where they lead. We can only speculate from what we see on other planets, like our own.<div type="image" title="An underground lava tube is lit with a yellow lamp and a person stands inside." height="683" width="1024" msid="110917146" hostid="261" sizebytes="175578"></div>"On the Earth, these <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hawaii-man-fell-into-lava-tube-died-2019-11">lava tubes</a> can be large enough to walk around in, but they can also be small or the voids can be discrete or discontinuous," Ross Beyer, a planetary scientist with the SETI Institute, told Business Insider over email. "So these pits we see could open into larger caves, or they could just be isolated pits."Beyer added, "There's no way to know what's in them until we explore them in more detail."Besides hypothetical <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-man-will-go-mars-within-10-years-2023-2">human missions</a> that may, or may not, happen anytime soon, there's a far more important reason to explore these holes further.<h2 id="e80dfe2f-3842-4d28-964d-919f40576cf4">Is there life on Mars?</h2><div type="image" title="A hole in the grey surface of the moon with craters all around it." height="800" width="800" msid="110917151" hostid="261" sizebytes="24272"></div>These holes could be one of the best places to search for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asks-help-retrieving-perseverance-mars-samples-alien-life-2024-4">evidence of extraterrestrial life</a> on Mars because they may offer a protective, warm sanctuary from the planet's unforgiving surface.For example, lava tubes on the moon can be as warm as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/nasas-lro-finds-lunar-pits-harbor-comfortable-temperatures/">63 °F</a>. That's plenty warm enough for life to arise inside. It's unclear if lava tubes on Mars would also be this warm — it's not a stretch to imagine, just a challenge to confirm.Right now, the only information scientists know about these holes is what they can see from orbiting cameras in space. When it launched onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft in 2005, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-orbiter-best-images-15th-anniversary-2020-8">HiRISE camera</a> was the most powerful telescope to ever leave Earth's orbit and has since transformed our understanding of the red planet, snapping over <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103523003731">80,000</a> images. But it's still limited."Unfortunately, there is a limit to the 'angle' that we can get from orbit to look 'into' these pits. So sometimes we can see 'walls' and sometimes we can't," Beyer told BI.<div type="image" title="Illustration of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter" height="555" width="740" msid="110917148" hostid="261" sizebytes="20564"></div>The best way to explore below the surface would be to physically go inside by dispatching a rover to investigate the pit, Johnson said."There are missions proposed to essentially have a robot go on a line and drop down into one of these skylights and be able to explore what's inside of them," he said.But to be clear, just because there could be life in these pits, doesn't mean Mars definitely hosts extraterrestrials."This is a good place to look, but we don't know if there's life on Mars at all," Johnson said.In the meantime, to understand these mysterious holes as much as we can, "HiRISE and other Mars-orbiting spacecraft will certainly continue to take images of volcanic areas from orbit to try and characterize them better," Beyer said.

A mysterious hole on Mars could be a jackpot of scientific discoveries, from extraterrestrial life to where astronauts could live

Researchers have discovered a new "fiery, glowing red" <keyword id="20349430" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="exoplanet" source="keywords">exoplanet</keyword> displaying intense <keyword id="19916428" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="volcanic-activity" source="keywords">volcanic activity</keyword> similar to Jupiter's moon Io. Further, the many active volcanoes on the exoplanet could be making its surface hotter than some stars, they said. In a known star system about 66 light years away from Sun, the astrophysicists discovered signals for a new rocky planet about a third larger than Earth. The signals were captured by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which searches for exoplanets or planets outside our solar system, orbiting the brightest stars in the sky. The team, including researchers from the University of California Riverside, US, said that the star system, called <keyword id="21639491" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="HD-104067" source="keywords">HD 104067</keyword>, was already known to harbour a giant planet. While gathering data on the planet, Stephen Kane, a professor of Planetary Astrophysics, "unexpectedly" found another "fiery" one, taking the count of planets in the star system to three. "At optical wavelengths, you would be able to see a glowing, red-hot planet with a molten lava surface," Kane, lead author of the study published in The Astronomical Journal, said. The newly discovered rocky exoplanet, named <keyword id="21639492" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="TOI-6713-01" source="keywords">TOI-6713.01</keyword>, has a lot in common with Jupiter's rocky innermost moon, Io, and is known to be the most volcanically active body in our solar system, Kane said. The researchers explained that gravitational forces exerted by the other two planets in the system force this rocky planet into an elliptical or "eccentric" orbit around their star. The star, to which TOI-6713.01 is closer than the other planets, "squeezes" the rocky planet as it orbits and rotates because of gravity, thereby causing tides on the planet's surface in the form of volcanoes. Likening the scenario to "racquetball", Kane explained that the rocky inner planet gets hotter as it is constantly bounced around by the other two planets and squeezed by the star. "It's been forced into a situation where it's constantly exploding with volcanoes," he said. The extreme volcanic activity could be making the surface of TOI-6713.01 hotter than some stars, Kane said, as he calculated the surface temperature to be 2,600 degrees Kelvin or 2,330 degrees Celsius. The intense volcanic activity on <keyword id="21639489" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jupiters-Io" source="keywords">Jupiter's Io</keyword> is also due to the gravity exerted by the other moons of the solar system's biggest planet, which itself has a strong gravitational pull, the researchers said. Io is thus "forced" into an eccentric orbit around the planet, Kane explained. "If the other moons weren't there, Io would be in a circular orbit around the planet and it would be quiet on the surface. Instead, Jupiter's gravity squeezes Io so much that it erupts in volcanoes constantly," Kane said. On Earth, tides are the effect of moon's gravity on our oceans. The researchers said the findings reveal a lot about the extremes in amounts of energy that can be pumped into a rocky planet, such as TOI-6713.01. Further, tidal effects on planets haven't historically been a focus of exoplanet research, which Kane hopes might change with this discovery. "While we know that stars contribute to the heat of a planet, the vast majority of the energy here is tidal and that cannot be ignored," he said. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/aadhar-housing-finance-ipo-allotment-how-to-check-allotment-gmp-listing-date-and-more/articleshow/110071990.cms">Aadhar Housing Finance IPO allotment – How to check allotment, GMP, listing date and more</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sports/webstories/ipl-decoded-highest-individual-scores-in-ipl-2024-so-far-from-stoinis-to-kohli/slidelist/110008351.cms">IPL Decoded: Highest individual scores in IPL 2024 so far, from Stoinis to Kohli</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/indian-smartphone-market-up-8-5g-smartphones-account-for-over-70-of-shipments/articleshow/110002512.cms">Indian smartphone market up 8%, 5G smartphones account for over 70% of shipments</a>

New "fiery" exoplanet discovered, found to display volcanic activity like Jupiter's Io

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA's James Webb Space Telescope observed three galaxies in the universe's very early stages.</li><li>The galaxies were likely forming around when our universe was 400 million to 600 million years old.</li></ul>NASA's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-webb-space-telescopes-stellar-nurseries-stunning-detail-2024-3">James Webb Space Telescope</a> detected three galaxies as they were likely forming during the universe's infancy, the space agency said Thursday.Data from the telescope, which is about 1 million miles from Earth, showed these galaxies feeding on gas when the universe was only about 400 million to 600 million years old, <a target="_blank" href="https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/galaxies-actively-forming-in-early-universe-caught-feeding-on-cold-gas/">NASA said in a press release</a>.That's extremely young by cosmological standards, since <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universe-younger-expanding-faster-than-thought-study-new-physics-2019-4">most astronomers agree</a> that the universe is probably about 13.7 billion years old. In other words, these galaxies offer a rare glimpse of the universe in its infancy and an exciting opportunity for astronomers to learn more about what happened shortly after the Big Bang.It's all thanks to the telescope's tremendous observing power. "Without Webb, we would not be able to observe these <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-telescope-13-billion-old-galaxy-not-exist-2024-2">very early galaxies</a>, let alone learn so much about their formation," Kasper Heintz, an assistant professor of astrophysics at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, said in the press release.<div type="image" title="illustration of james webb space telescope with gold panels against a starry purple background" height="709" width="1200" msid="110405762" hostid="261"></div>Heintz is the lead author of a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj0343">study</a> on this latest Webb discovery.The press release said the images of the galaxies from the telescope looked like "faint red smudges," so the researchers relied on other data, specifically patterns of colors known as spectra.From that data, the team determined the presence of large quantities of gas around the galaxies that likely condensed to form young stars in the early <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-webb-space-telescopes-stellar-nurseries-stunning-detail-2024-3">universe</a>.<h2 id="5c1adff0-b478-4de2-b0f1-5f5d475f9f42">The cosmic dark ages</h2><div type="image" title="NASA's James Webb Space Telescope took this image of tens of thousands of galaxies." height="562" width="999" msid="110405763" hostid="261"></div>Studying young stars in the early universe is important because it helps astronomers understand a crucial moment in cosmic evolution: when the universe went from opaque to transparent, like what we see now.This is known as the Era of Reionization. If you'd lived in the universe before the Era of Reionization, you wouldn't have been able to observe distant stars and galaxies because gas all around you would have obstructed your view. For that reason, this period is often called the cosmic dark ages.But about 1 billion years after the Big Bang, heat from stars and galaxies turned that opaque gas transparent. This is why we can see distant stars and galaxies in the night sky.Astronomers study the Era of Reionization to understand the very early moments in our universe when galaxies and stars first formed. Webb's latest images of the three galaxies forming during the universe's infancy are so exciting because astronomers rarely witness galaxy formation so soon after the Big Bang."These <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-james-webb-telescope-megacluster-galaxies-magnifying-glass-discovery-2023-11">galaxies</a> are like sparkling islands in a sea of otherwise neutral, opaque gas," Heintz said.The team published its results in the peer-reviewed journal Science this week.

NASA's Webb Space Telescope discovered 3 rare galaxies that can help astronomers study the cosmic dark ages

New Delhi, What was known in theory has now been confirmed twice. The Chandrayaan-3 mission has authenticated the presence of sulphur on the lunar south pole region after on site tests, a historical first that could provide clues to the origins of the Moon and also have profound significance for space exploration, say scientists. On Thursday, India's space agency ISRO said the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectroscope (APXS) instrument onboard the Pragyan rover confirmed the presence of sulphur and some other elements in the lunar south. Before that, on Tuesday, ISRO announced that another instrument, the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS), found sulphur in the region. In line with expectations, ISRO also reported the LIBS instrument had detected aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen. "The elements found on the Moon are not merely isolated compounds. They are time capsules carrying the whispers of cosmic history. Such findings not only reshape our comprehension of lunar formations but also offer potential prospects for lunar exploration and habitation," Akash Sinha, who was involved in developing software for the Pragyan rover, told PTI. "One prevailing theory is that the sulphur may be trapped within water ice, implying that we might be on the brink of a monumental discovery: the physical presence of water ice on the moon," the professor of practice at Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence in Delhi-NCR added. An old undated document from the US space agency NASA suggested the potential utilisation of sulphur for making lunar bricks or concrete using it with moon soil. Interestingly, China's reported plans to test printing bricks from lunar soil this decade for constructing a permanent moon base align with this idea. The revelation of sulphur's presence might hold clues to the Moon's composition and its volcanic past, scientists said. "Surface sulphur comes from volcanic activity, indicating heavy volcanism at some point in the Moon's history. However, the detection is from only one spot, so we need more data to gain a clearer picture," said T V Venkateswaran, a scientist at Vigyaan Prasar, an autonomous organisation under the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Sinha added that the discovery of sulphur represents a significant breakthrough in the understanding of lunar geology. "The presence of sulphur, especially in an area where volcanic activity-a common source of sulphur-is notably absent opens up intriguing possibilities about the origins of the Moon," he said. According to astrophysicist Sandip Chakrabarti, the in-situ measurements definitively confirm sulphur's presence in the region, a feat beyond the capabilities of the instruments on the previous Chandrayaan 1 and 2 orbiters. "The compositions show abundant lighter metals such as aluminium and also abundant sulphur and iron. Sulphur could come from lunar volcanoes. Only traces of heavy metals such as titanium, and chromium, were found. These are along the expected lines," Chakrabarti, director of the Indian Center for Space Physics in Kolkata, told PTI. These elements, he explained, aren't in their pure form and would need processing for future extraction. "The discoveries made by Chandrayaan-3 hold vast implications for lunar exploration. Beyond the allure of space travel, the presence of these elements paints a vivid picture of the Moon's character," Chakrabarti reflected. Experts also believe that aluminium's lightweight strength could become a resource for future missions, potentially transforming the Moon into a launchpad for further space exploration. Calcium's critical role in biological processes could fuel discussions about the Moon's potential as a scientific research hub. Chakrabarti expressed his enthusiasm for Pragyan's contribution. "It is indeed heartening that Pragyan is actually sending the composition of the topsoil of the landing area, namely, Shiv-Shakti point." He also highlighted the need for helium, hydrogen and water for future space travel, survival and power generation. "Right now, we are concentrating on survival on the Moon and not getting richer," he added. ISRO has initiated a thorough investigation into the presence of hydrogen. Venkateswaran, who is also a member of the outreach committee of the Astronomical Society of India, emphasised the rover's role in confirming a finding from Chandrayaan-1 about hydrogen particles reflected by the Moon's surface in 2008. "We do need to see water in any of its forms and hydrogen. That would be a genuine achievement," Chakrabarti added. Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole on August 23, making India the first country to land on the uncharted surface.

Chandrayaan's detection of sulphur, other elements will help unveil Moon's mysteries, say experts

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Astronomers investigating the wallpaper of our universe stumbled upon a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-fermi-telescope-discovers-unexpected-signal-coming-outside-our-galaxy-2024-1">mysterious signal</a>.</li><li>Something unknown seems to be spewing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brightest-gamma-ray-burst-all-time-blinded-scientist-space-equipment-2023-3">high-energy</a> cosmic rays and gamma rays.</li></ul>NEW ORLEANS — Astronomers using a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/times-nasa-webb-space-telescope-spotted-something-hubble-missed">NASA space telescope</a> have discovered a region of the sky with a mysterious concentration of some of the universe's highest-energy radiation.The astronomers were mapping space's background glow of gamma rays, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomers-detect-brightest-high-lightgamma-ray-burst-2019-11">brightest and most energetic type of light</a> on the electromagnetic spectrum. They were surprised to find way more gamma rays coming from one part of the sky than anywhere else.Alexander Kashlinsky, a cosmologist at the University of Maryland and NASA, called the discovery a "total conundrum" when he presented it at a meeting of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jupiter-sized-planet-boiled-alive-creating-comet-like-tail-2024-1">American Astronomical Society</a> in New Orleans last Thursday.The purple rings in the image below show where they think this signal is coming from. They have 95% confidence that it's somewhere within the outer purple ring. More likely than not, it's somewhere inside the inner purple ring, too. The orange strip across the center of the image is the plane of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/milky-way-black-hole-spinning-fast-squishing-space-time-2023-11">Milky Way</a>.<div type="image" title="illustration of an oval shaped map of space with orange blurry line of the milky way across the middle and a large purple blob in the low right center" height="1500" width="2667" msid="106958291" hostid="261"></div>This feature might be connected to a hot spot of ultra-high-energy <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hidden-corridor-great-pyramid-egypt-giza-cosmic-rays-scientists-2023-3">cosmic rays</a> (UHECRs) coming from a similar direction and with almost exactly the same magnitude. These are the rarest and most energetic of the charged subatomic particles called cosmic rays.Unlike gamma rays — which are frequently detected shooting out of black holes and dying or dead stars — the origin of UHECRs is "one of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics," NASA explained in a <a target="_blank" href="https://science.nasa.gov/missions/fermi/nasas-fermi-detects-surprise-gamma-ray-feature-beyond-our-galaxy/">statement</a>.Because this unexpected gamma-ray feature seems to match a similar feature in UHECRs, it could be a clue in that mystery.This discovery deals with some of the most intense radiation in the universe. These gamma rays carry about 1 billion times the energy of visible light. And UHECRs have 1 billion times more energy than gamma rays.<div type="image" title="gamma ray burst" height="518" width="1000" msid="106958293" hostid="261"></div>Kashlinsky and his colleagues don't know what's causing this super-energetic signal in the universe.But he says it's probably coming from some yet-undiscovered phenomenon within 300 million light-years from us."It's a huge area of the sky where exactly what is happening is hard to know," Kashlinsky said.<h2>Looking at the wallpaper of the universe</h2>Kashlinsky and his colleagues stumbled upon this new mystery when they were analyzing 13 years of data from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-fermi-gamma-ray-space-telescope-solar-flares-couldnt-detect-before-2017-2">NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope</a>.They were looking for additional signs of a pattern in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universe-expansion-crisis-cosmology-new-physics-hubble-constant-2019-10">cosmic microwave background</a> — the lingering radiation from the first light that traveled freely through the universe after the Big Bang. The CMB is like wallpaper behind all the galaxies in the universe.<div type="image" title="Planck cosmic microwave background" height="960" width="1920" msid="106958294" hostid="261"></div>There's one odd thing about it, though. The CMB is hotter (more microwaves) toward the constellation Leo and colder (fewer microwaves) in the other direction.Astronomers think this is simply because of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomer-animations-reveal-solar-system-physics-2021-10">our solar system</a>'s movement against the background, which is about 230 miles per second.It's like an ambulance passing by, where the siren has one pitch as it approaches you, and sounds like another pitch as it recedes in the distance. This pattern in the CMB is called a dipole.Kashlinsky wanted to test that theory about our solar system's movement by checking to see if there's a similar dipole pattern in other forms of light.If other light forms have different patterns than the CMB, that would mean it's not just our solar system's movement creating the inconsistency. Something else is going on — possibly a yet-undiscovered event in the very first micro-moments of the universe's birth.Such a discovery "could provide us with a glimpse into physical processes operating in the very early universe, potentially back to when it was less than a trillionth of a second old," coauthor Fernando Atrio-Barandela, a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Salamanca in Spain, said in the NASA press release.<h2>An unexpected clue in one of the cosmos' biggest mysteries</h2>So Kashlinsky's group assessed the gamma-ray background — a diffuse glow of gamma rays that black holes and supernovae create across the cosmos.<div type="image" title="black hole x-ray burst" height="2700" width="4800" msid="106958557" hostid="261"></div>They found a distinct pattern, but it was 10 times stronger than it should be from the motion of our solar system.What's more, the dipole pattern didn't match the one in the CMB. Instead, it matched the pattern of UHECRs.The 2017 discovery that UHECRs had their own dipole pattern deepened the mystery around them. Now, the discovery that gamma rays have a similar dipole offers a new clue.A <a target="_blank" href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/acfedd">paper</a> describing the discovery was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on January 10.Kashlinsky and his team think the gamma-ray and UHECR patterns might be related, but they're not sure how or why. Some unknown object or process out there in the universe may be producing both the gamma rays and the UHECRs.To solve the mystery, "more work and better, more refined measurements of both are needed," Kashlinsky told Business Insider in an email.To that end, his team plans to analyze more Fermi telescope data in the future.

NASA telescope discovers mysterious hotspot of high-energy particles beyond our galaxy

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 are the only human-made objects to reach interstellar space.</li><li>The two probes launched in 1977 and may soon lose communication with Earth.</li></ul>In 1977, NASA launched <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-voyager-space-probe-left-earth-40-years-ago-today-heres-what-its-found-so-far-2017-8">Voyager 1 and 2</a> for what was meant to be four-year missions. For over 46 years, the pair have been delivering spectacular science far beyond what their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/voyager-1-team-picture-from-1972-and-2013-2013-9">first teams of researchers</a> could have hoped.From close-up views of Jupiter to a stunning look a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-pictures-45-year-journey-neptune-uranus-saturn-earth-2022-6">Saturn's rings</a>, the Voyager probes have helped shape our understanding of the solar system. Voyager 2 is still the only spacecraft to visit <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pictures-show-real-blue-color-neptune-uranus-scientists-say-2024-1">Uranus and Neptune</a>. They've traveled further from Earth than any other human-made object.<div type="image" title="voyager 1 saturn false color nasa jpl" height="1339" width="2000" msid="107032986" hostid="261" sizebytes="61756"></div>Solar wind streaming out from the sun and interstellar wind flowing back toward it creates a bubble known as the heliosphere. In 2012, Voyager 1 ventured <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-interstellar-space-findings-outside-solar-system-2019-11">beyond the heliosphere</a> into <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-will-voyager-1-2-probes-see-next-nasa">interstellar space</a>. Voyager 2 followed in 2018.Both probes are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/voyager-nasa-probe-shut-down-launched-1977-record-breaking-2022-6">slowly draining power</a> and will soon lose contact with Earth.But NASA is coming up with unique solutions to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-extends-voyager-2-probe-life-3-years-45-mission-2023-4">keep communicating</a> with the two Voyagers."That's what's most important is keeping these spacecraft operating as long as possible," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/who-we-are/executive-council/suzanne-dodd-director-for-the-interplanetary-network-directorate">Suzanne Dodd</a>, NASA's project manager for Voyager, told Business Insider.<h2>Decades of data</h2>Early in their travels, the two spacecraft parted ways. Voyager 1 is now <a target="_blank" href="https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/">15 billion miles</a> away from Earth, and Voyager 2 is 12 billion.As the probes journey further from our planet, their data becomes more and more valuable. The Voyagers are picking up information on charged particles in interstellar space, including their energy levels, their abundance, and the direction of their magnetic fields.<div type="image" title="solar system heliosphere heliopause termination shock interstellar spacep voyager 1 2 diagram nasa jpl caltech pia22835a_20181206_voyager_in_interstellar_space_annotated_1920x1080_72dpi final" height="878" width="1170" msid="107032987" hostid="261" sizebytes="36490"></div>"They're out of the effects of charged particles from our sun and truly measuring data in interstellar space and measuring how that data changes as they travel further away from us," Dodd said.She compares it to seeing the difference between waves breaking on the shore and smoothing out deeper in the ocean."You would never know that unless you got further out of the ocean, how those waves change," she said.It would take another 50 years for another vehicle to reach interstellar space, Dodd said. That's why the Voyagers are so valuable."They're doing very unique science," she said.<h2>NASA has been turning instruments off to conserve power</h2>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-powered-spacecraft-nasa-history-2017-3#the-voyager-probes-15">nuclear-powered Voyagers</a> use radioisotope thermoelectric generators that turn heat from decaying plutonium-238 into energy. Originally, the generators provided around 450 watts of power, Dodd said.Each year, as the plutonium decays, the generators produce about <a target="_blank" href="https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/frequently-asked-questions/">4 watts</a> less."They're down to about 220 watts of power available," Dodd said. Operating the probes' transmitters requires about 200 watts. Their instruments can use as much as 6 watts each.Voyager 1 currently has four instruments running, and Voyager 2 has five.<div type="image" title="A picture shows a Voyager proof test model, shown in a space simulator chamber at JPL in 1976, was a replica of the twin Voyager space probes that launched in 1977." height="1818" width="2424" msid="107032988" hostid="261" sizebytes="268248"></div>To conserve power, engineers have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-voyager-will-do-more-science-with-new-power-strategy">shut off heaters</a> and powered down other systems. "We've done a lot of clever engineering things to be able to keep these instruments on as long as possible, knowing that we have a limited power supply," Dodd said."Something could fail that would be catastrophic kind of at any time," she added.There have been a few near-misses, like when both probes nearly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-probes-rocket-leak-computer-problems-2017-12">failed at launch</a> and when NASA <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nasa-regained-contact-with-lost-voyager-2-probe-2023-8">lost communication with Voyager 2</a> for a few weeks in the summer of 2023.By 2026, NASA may have to turn off at least one of Voyager 2's instruments."What we're looking at is making the two spacecraft complementary to each other," Dodd said. "You might keep one instrument operating on one spacecraft but turn it off on another."Down the road, the choices about which instruments to keep running will be more difficult. Dodd said the scientists will likely keep powering the ones that take the least energy."And then it's also an evaluation of the science," she said. "What's the most critical science that we get?"<h2>Even after the spacecraft power down, they have one more mission left</h2>When the spacecraft lose communication with Earth, it will be the end of the mission, Dodd said.But the Voyagers will continue traveling, Dodd said, perhaps for hundreds of thousands of years."They'll just be floating out in space and floating around the center, traveling away from us with a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-golden-record-earth-sounds-soundcloud-2015-7">gold record</a> that, hopefully, some being, somewhere will find in the future."The golden records are phonographs containing images, words, and music meant to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/voyager-spacecraft-carry-golden-records-explain-earth-to-aliens-2022-6">explain human life to aliens</a>. Each Voyager probe has a copy.<div type="image" title="voyager spacecraft probe golden records nasa jpl 540489main_pia14113 full_full" height="1440" width="1920" msid="107033055" hostid="261" sizebytes="110984"></div>In the meantime, Dodd isn't quite ready to say goodbye to the Voyagers."It's pretty remarkable, into our 47th year, just the whole record of discoveries it's made," she said.The fact that there are two spacecraft means the chances are pretty good that at least one of them can keep communicating for a few more years, Dodd said."I'm very optimistic that we'll get to a 50-year anniversary," she said.

NASA hopes to get the Voyager spacecraft to their 50th anniversary with clever engineering and difficult choices

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA scientists have found a powerful new gamma-ray signal coming from outside our galaxy.</li><li>They detected the alternative signal while looking for answers about the universe's creation.</li></ul>NASA astronomers have discovered an unexpected "signal" coming from outside our galaxy, which they can't explain.The scientists were analyzing 13 years of data from the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-fermi-gamma-ray-space-telescope-solar-flares-couldnt-detect-before-2017-2">Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope</a> when they noticed the mysterious signal. It was "an unexpected and as yet unexplained feature outside of our galaxy," wrote Francis Reddy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.The <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-best-images-2023&amp;post-bottom-piano-recommendations">powerful telescope</a> can detect gamma rays, which are huge bursts of energetic light thousands to hundreds of billions of times as great as our eyes can see. They are often created when stars explode or a nuclear blast occurs. They stumbled on the alternative signal while looking for something else entirely."It is a completely serendipitous discovery," said Alexander Kashlinsky, a cosmologist at the University of Maryland and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, while <a target="_blank" href="https://science.nasa.gov/missions/fermi/nasas-fermi-detects-surprise-gamma-ray-feature-beyond-our-galaxy/">presenting the findings</a> to the American Astronomical Society."We found a much stronger signal, and in a different part of the sky than the one we were looking for."<div type="image" title="NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, illustrated here, scans the entire sky every three hours as it orbits Earth." height="604" width="1024" msid="106843796" hostid="261" sizebytes="10498"></div>They had been searching for one of the oldest gamma-ray features for creating the first atoms — known as the cosmic microwave background or CMB.The CMB has a dipole structure, where one end is hotter and busier than the other. Astronomers generally think our solar system's motion creates the structure.Instead, the researchers detected a signal coming from a similar direction and with a nearly identical magnitude as another unexplained feature, which had some of the most energetic cosmic particles they had ever detected."We found a gamma-ray dipole, but its peak is located in the southern sky, far from the CMB's, and its magnitude is 10 times greater than what we would expect from our motion," said Chris Shrader, an astrophysicist at Goddard.This week, a paper describing the findings has been published in <a target="_blank" href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/acfedd">The Astrophysical Journal Letters</a>.They think the discovery could be linked to a cosmic gamma-ray feature observed by the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina in 2017.The astronomers believe the two phenomena could originate from a single unidentified source, given their similar structure.They hope to locate the mysterious source or develop alternative explanations for both features.NASA's unexpected discovery could help astronomers confirm or challenge ideas about how the dipole structure is created."A disagreement with the size and direction of the CMB dipole could provide us with a glimpse into physical processes operating in the very early universe, potentially back to when it was less than a trillionth of a second old," said Fernando Atrio-Barandela, coauthor of the research paper.NASA did not immediately reply to a request for comment from BI.

Nasa astronomers says signal coming from outside our galaxy is 'unexpected and as yet unexplained' 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A blinding burst of blue light flashing from seemingly empty space is puzzling astronomers. </li><li>Scientists had previously thought Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients were caused by dying stars.</li></ul>A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/huge-cosmic-burst-two-circling-black-holes-study-2023-6">bright flash</a> of blue light appearing in the middle of seemingly empty space has scientists confused.The brilliant flash — thought to have burned at about 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit —is a rare explosion known as a Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient (LFBOT). These are some of the brightest and most unpredictable known visible-light events in the universe, NASA said <a target="_blank" href="https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-024?news=true">in a statement</a> about the findings Thursday.Scientists previously thought they knew what could cause such a bright burst of energy. But the latest observation, first spotted in April this year, is causing them to rethink what may be happening."The more we learn about LFBOTs, the more they surprise us," Ashley Chrimes, an author on a paper about the discoveries and European Space Agency Research Fellow, said in the press release.<h2>A bright flash where it shouldn't be</h2>Because these flashes are so brilliant and short-lived — <a target="_blank" href="http://static7.businessinsider.com/hubble-telescope-almost-ended-in-disaster-2015-4?jwsource=cl">LFBOTs</a> turn off in a matter of days — scientists had previously concluded they must be caused by a specific type of event called a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nearby-supernova-galaxy-brightest-how-to-watch-2023-6">core-collapse supernova</a>.Supernovae usually <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nearby-supernova-galaxy-brightest-how-to-watch-2023-6">shine for months</a>. By contrast, core-collapse supernovae, which occur at the death of the biggest of stars, release a burst of energy that only lasts a few days, which is in line with what was being seen during an LFBOT, per the press release.The problem is that this latest LFBOT, nicknamed the "Finch," happened 15,000 light years from the nearest galaxy. That's much too far for a core-collapse supernova to travel.Supernovae come from stars, which are born inside galaxies. Because big stars don't live long, it's very unlikely a star that big would have had the time to travel that far before bursting into a core-collapse supernova, per the press release."We've now shown that LFBOTs can occur a long way from the center of the nearest galaxy, and the location of the Finch is not what we expect for any kind of supernova," said Chrimes in the press release.<h2>An unidentified black hole or two traveling stars crashing?</h2>So it's back to the drawing board to try to understand what is causing the LFBOTs.There are a few more hypotheses for what could cause the bright blue flashes. But they are a bit weirder.One possibility is a black hole is swallowing up stars. In that case, you'd expect to see a globular cluster of stars around it, which hasn't been spotted yet. But it may be the case that the telescopes pointed at the area so far aren't powerful enough. The new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-webb-telescope-game-changing-discoveries-first-year-2023-7">James Webb Space Telescope</a>, with its extended capabilities, could provide more answers, per the press release.Another possibility is that two rogue neutron stars have been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomers-discover-fastest-runaway-stars-in-milky-way-galaxy-2023-6">traveling through space </a>at breakneck speeds, and they happened to crash into each other creating a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jwst-spotted-stars-colliding-impact-could-have-created-gold-space-2023-7">kilonova</a>, an explosion 1,000 times more powerful than a standard nova.<div type="image" title="An artist's impressino of a kilonova" height="338" width="600" msid="104317508" hostid="261" sizebytes="6196"></div>"The discovery poses many more questions than it answers," said Chrimes in the press release. "More work is needed to figure out which of the many possible explanations is the right one."The findings were shared ahead of publication on a pre-print server and are expected to be published in the peer-reviewed journal The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society shortly.

NASA's Hubble spots a mysterious flash in the middle of nowhere that defies science

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nasa" source="Orion">NASA</keyword> partially funded a program to study the intersection of <keyword id="11925126" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="religion" source="Orion">religion</keyword> and possible alien life.</li><li>Theologians examined how world religions would react to the discovery of <keyword id="12297909" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="extraterrestrial-life" source="Orion">extraterrestrial life</keyword>.</li></ul>A rabbi, a priest, and an imam walk into a research program funded by NASA to talk about the intersection of God and <keyword id="12151277" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="aliens" source="Orion">aliens</keyword>.It's not the start of a religious joke. It's precisely what happened at Princeton University's Center for Theological Inquiry in 2016 when two dozen theologians gathered to participate in a program partially funded by NASA to research how humans might respond to the discovery of extraterrestrial life. One of the religious scholars who participated in the program, the Rev. Dr. Andrew Davison of the University of Cambridge, told <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/heavens-above-nasa-hires-priest-to-prepare-for-an-alien-discovery-sdczvwgqm">The Times UK</a> earlier this month that he was one of 24 experts examining the existential question from 2016 to 2017.Will Storrar, the director of the Center for Theological Inquiry, told The Times that NASA was interested in producing "serious scholarship" addressing the "profound wonder and mystery and implication of finding microbial life on another planet."A NASA spokesperson told <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/arts-culture/587480-nasa-hired-religious-experts-to-predict-how-humans">The Hill</a> that the agency's astrobiology program provided partial funding in the form of a $1.1 million grant to the Center for Theological Inquiry from 2015 to 2017. The spokesperson said NASA was not involved in selecting the study's researchers. Davison, whose own work involves studying how astrobiology and Christianity interconnect, told the outlet that he and his fellow participants considered how followers of major religions might react to the discovery of aliens.Their findings suggested that adherents of religion could be more prepared for otherworldly company, and that those who weren't already indebted to a religious movement could be tempted to seek one out should aliens make their presence known."The headline findings are that adherents of a range of religious traditions report that they can take the idea in their stride," Davison wrote in "Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine," a forthcoming book that touches on his time during the program, reported The Times, which obtained portions of the book. Davison also wrote in the book, which is set to be released in 2022, that the nonreligious community tended to "overestimate the challenges that religious people" might face if evidence of extraterrestrial life were discovered. Davison said a "large number of people would turn to their religious traditions for guidance" in the event of a universe-expanding discovery.Other religious experts, including a rabbi, an imam, and an Anglican priest, agreed, telling The Times that their respective faiths and followers would likely persist, even in the face of aliens. Detection of alien life "might come in a decade or only in future centuries or perhaps never at all," Davison wrote, "but if or where it does, it will be useful to have thought through the implications in advance."

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