Science And Futurism | Looking At The Universe Like Never Before

The Benefits of Augmented Reality In Education

2020-06-28T15:55:00.000+05:30

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented Reality (AR) is the technology that expands our physical world, adding a layer of digital information onto it. Unlike Virtual Reality (VR), which creates a whole artificial environment to replace the real world with digital, Augmented Reality adds a layer of digital reality on the real world.

Augmented Reality allows the user to remain in the real world, at the same time interact with the artificial objects on the screen.

Augmented Reality has a very high potential to revolutionize sectors that includes :

Manufacturing
Product Designing
Education
Content Marketing
Medical Operations
Tourism , etc.

And leveraging this high potential technology into education can completely change the way the education sector functions.

Benefits and Application of AR in education

Incorporating a technology like Augmented Reality has been shown to improve the learning efficiency of the students. It is more effective in teaching students as compared to traditional books. From history to mathematics and physics to biology, with some creativity, AR can be incorporated in basically any subject.

AR's ability to seamlessly mix the digital and the real world encourages both, interaction and engagement. This combination of interactivity and engagement with emotions, can increase the ability of students to remember what they have learned - leading to a faster acquisition of skills and information.

The benefits of AR in education includes :

Increase in content understanding
Improved collaboration between students
Increased student motivation to learn
Improved reading
Provided real life environment and scenarios
Learning spatial concepts effectively
Improvement in physical task performance
Playing
Minimize the time required to learn concepts and new technology

When combined with assignments that involve teamwork, Augmented Reality can help in dractically improving the collaboration and communication among students. It can stimulate interesting discussions among students and helps improve the knowledge graph of the students.

Requirement for AR in classrooms :

The minimum requirement to setup AR in a classroom may include :

A good Internet connection
Mobile devices (e.g. Smartphones, tablets, etc.)
Augmented Reality applications. (especially those made for education purposes)

Final Thought

AR is evolving to become more and more cost friendly and effective. AR surely has a 'wow' factor to it, which increases the enthusiasm among students to learn.

With rapidly developing technology and increasing penetration in the day-to-day life, AR is on the verge of a breakthrough which will definitely transform many sectors.

Terraforming Of Venus | How Can We Make Venus Habitable?

2020-05-04T18:19:00.001+05:30

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The planet Venus is referred as the "Sister Planet" of Earth. Not only is Venus similar to Earth in terms of size and mass, but, it also has about the same composition as that of Earth's. In addition to being next door to Earth, Venus also orbits the Sun in the Glodilock Zone - the region around a star where liquid water can exist. Despite these similarities, Venus is a hostile world with a super hot and dense atmosphere.

So, How can we convert this pressure cooker into a world were we can live?

What is Terraforming?

Terraforming was first coined by Jack Williamson in a science fiction short story called "Collision Orbit" published during 1942 in the Astounding Science Fiction.

Terraforming of a planet, moon or any other body is a hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to the environment of Earth to make it habitable for Earth-like life.

Proposed methods to Terraform Venus :

In order to make Venus suitable for human, 3 major changed need to be done in the atmosphere of Venus :

Reducing Venus' surface temperature which is about 467 degree Celsius.
Eliminating most of Venus' 91 atm dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide by removing it or converting it in some other form.
Adding breathable oxygen to atmosphere.

Eliminating the dense atmosphere :

Terraforming Venus was first proposed by legendary astronomer Carl Sagan in 1961. In his method Carl Sagan included introduction of genetically modified bacteria that will convert the carbon dioxide in the Venusian atmosphere into organic compounds. However, when this method was introduced, Venus was believed to have Earth like temperatures and few bars of pressure. Later after exploration of Venus showed its dense atmosphere, Carl Sagan noted that this approach will cover most of the planet with few 100 meters of graphite and still atmospheric pressure would remain about 65 bars.

Other possible options include converting the atmospheric carbon dioxide into carbonates of calcium and magnesium. The Venus' own deposit of calcium and magnesium can be used for the process. Once minned and exposed to the surface, they would act like a natural carbon sinks. However, considering the amount of calcium and magnesium available in Venus, this would reduce the surface temperature to only about 127°C and atmospheric pressure would nearly be 43 bars. As a result, additional amount of these elements (a lot) will be needed which will possibly be brought through asteroid minning.

One interesting method include NUKING Venus with hydrogen bombs! The hydrogen induced in the atmosphere will react with the atmospheric carbon dioxide producing carbon (graphite) and water. The water produced will likely cover 80% of the Venusian surface. However, it will be only about 10% of the amount of water on Earth. The required amount of hydrogen can be collected through the gas giants in the outer solar system.

Cooling the planet :

In order to make Venus suitable for Earth-like life, one big factor is temperature. So, in order to cool the planet, we need to stop it from heating up.

This can be done by using solar shades. The solar shade could be used to reduce the insolation received by Venus and cool it somewhat. This shade needs to be put in Sun-Venus L1 Lagrangian point. In addition to blocking the heat, the solar shade would also act as a barrier to solar winds and reduce the radiation problem on the Venus. However, the suitable size of the shade will be about four times the diameter of Venus, which means, it need to be constructed in space.

Venus can be cooled by placing reflectors in the atmosphere. The reflective balloons can be used for the purpose. If enough floating cities on Venus are established, then these cities can be used as reflectors and at the same time, simultaneously alter the atmosphere. If the reflectors are produced using carbon nanotubes or graphene then the required carbon can be produced in situ using the atmospheric carbon dioxide. Such colonies can be economically viable which will accelerate colonizing and terraforming the planet.

Challenges of Terraforming Venus :

Terraforming is a huge process which can take decades if not centuries! In addition to this, terraforming has not been practiced in real life and is still a "hypothesis".

Altering a planet's atmosphere is no joke. The amount of energy and resources required are, as of now, not economically and technologically viable. The material will most likely be minned through asteroids and moons. The transportation is a big challenge. With current propulsion systems, interplanetary travel takes months and years. So, unless we have a fast transport system, terraforming is out of the cards.

Before terraforming Venus, we will need to develop fast interplanetary transport system, minning bases throughout solar system, space based industries and manufacturing and most importantly.... a global consensus and commitment towards terraforming Venus.

Potential Benefits :

Artist’s concept of the High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) mission approaching the planet. Credit: NASA Langley Research Center/YouTube

One of the primary reasons for colonizing Venus, and altering its atmosphere, is to create a "backup location" for humanity. Given the proximity of Venus to Earth, the communication and the transportation is easier as compared to other locations in the solar system.

Venus' surface gravity is about 90% of what we experience here on Earth. As a result, humans on Venus will be at a far lower risk of developing health problems related to microgravity environment - like osteoporosis and muscle degradation.

Another huge advantage is that, by altering Venus' atmosphere, scientist can learn a big deal about its effectiveness which in turn will help us solve major climate change problems on Earth. Which means, by terraforming Venus, we are not only ensuring the long-term existence of humans, but also making sure that Earth will remain a suitable place to live in future.

A Giant Asteroid Will Sweep Past Earth On 29th April. Do You Need To Worry?

2020-04-24T12:32:00.001+05:30

The Arecibo Observatory captured this radar image of the big asteroid 1998 OR2 on April 18, 2020. 1998 OR2 will fly by Earth at a distance of 3.9 million miles (6.3 million kilometers) on April 29. (Image: © Arecibo Observatory/NASA/NSF)

A giant asteroid will skim past Earth on 29th April 2020.

Asteroid (52768) 1998 OR2 first observed in 1998 is estimated to be a bit over a mile (2 km) wide and twice that long. On Saturday (April 18), the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico captured a radar image of the asteroid 1998 OR2 which is travelling through space at 19,461 miles per hour (31,320 km/h).

This asteroid will zoom past within 3.9 million miles (6.3 million km) from Earth or about 16 times the distance between Earth-Moon. So, there is nothing to worry about the flyby, scientist suggest.

The closest approach of the asteroid 1998 OR2 will occur on Wednesday, April 29, at 5:56 a.m. ET (09:56 UTC), according to NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.

The Arecibo Observatory is a National Science Foundation managed by University of Central Florida and supported by NASA's Center of Near-Earth Object Studies program since the 90's. However, it is not the only observatory keeping track of the asteroid. For instance, Italian astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, who runs a Virtual Telescope Project, is one of the many other keeping a eye on the asteroid.

The White line show 1998 OR2's orbit

The asteroid is categorized as a potentially hazardous object since it is larger than 500 feet and comes within 5 million miles of our planet's orbit. If the asteroid collides with Earth, it is likely going to cause global effects. Asteroid 1998 OR2 is the largest asteroid to flyby Earth this year (as far as we know).

The orbit of the asteroid is known well for the next 200 years. Its closest approach to Earth in the 21st century and the next flyby will occur in the year 2079. This time it is expected to fly 3.5 times closer to Earth than it will this year, about a million miles of Earth. Still this distance is 4 times the distance between Earth and Moon.

However, it is interesting to note that asteroid 1998 OR2 is the largest known Near Earth Object that will fly pass less than 5 times the Earth-Moon distance over the next 200 years!

For the time being, there is nothing to worry about the close approach. We have already found majority of the potentially hazardous near-Earth object and none of them pose a threat to Earth in the foreseeable future.

NASA To Host Preview Briefing And Interviews For First Commercial Crew Mission With SpaceX

2020-04-21T11:07:00.001+05:30

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken, left, and Doug Hurley, wearing SpaceX spacesuits, walk through the Crew Access Arm connecting the launch tower to the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft during a dress rehearsal at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 17, 2020. Credits: SpaceX

NASA have targeted the lift off of the return to human spaceflight from American soil on 27 May 2020, with the Crew Dragon Demo Two mission. The first commercial crew mission will launch to the International Space Station aboard a Falcon-9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA will brief the media on the historic mission on Friday, 1st May. The event will be telecasted live here. The crew for the historic mission, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, will be remotely present due to the ongoing coronavius pandemic.

No media will be present at the NASA site due to COVID-19. All the briefing and the interviews will be remotely conducted.

Credit: SpaceX

There will be a trio of media briefing and press conferences covering all the aspects of the mission. The event consist of the following :

Commercial Crew and International Space Station overview news conference beginning at 11:00 a.m.
Mission Overview news conference at 12:30 p.m.
Crew news conference at 2 p.m.
And a Round-Robin interview with crew members at 3:30 p.m.

NASA's Administrator Jim Bridenstine along with the crew members and NASA officials will also be present at the event.

For more information click here.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Successfully Performs Sample Collection Drill

2020-04-17T21:27:00.000+05:30

This artist’s concept shows the trajectory and configuration of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during Checkpoint rehearsal, which is the first time the mission practiced the initial steps for collecting a sample from asteroid Bennu. Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

NASA's OSIRIS-REx is now a step closer to touching the surface of asteroid Bennu after it successfully performed the sample collection maneuver on 14 April. The spacecraft performed the first practice drill - "Checkpoint rehearsal" - where the spacecraft reached an altitude of 75 meters from the surface of the asteroid.

During the first practice run, OSIRIS-REx performed two of the four maneuvers for an actual sample collection. The two maneuvers included -

The orbit departure burn.
The "Checkpoint" burn.

Firstly, the spacecraft de-orbited from its 0.6 mile ( 1 km) safe-home orbit to descend to the surface of the asteroid. After the four hour descend the spacecraft reached an altitude of 125 meter where it performed its checkpoint burn, taking it on the trajectory for the third maneuver - the "Matchpoint" burn. After a nine minute descend the spacecraft reached an altitude of 75 meters from the surface. Rather than performing the third maneuver, OSIRIS-REx returned back to the orbit.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft captured this series of images of asteroid Bennu on April 14, 2020, during the first rehearsal of the mission's sample collection event. This animation shows the SamCam instrument's field of view as the spacecraft approached and moved away from the asteroid's surface over a 10-minute time period between the "checkpoint" burn and the "back-away" burn. The spacecraft's sampling arm — called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) — is visible in the central part of the frame. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona)

During the descent, OSIRIS-REx also successfully deployed its sampling arm - the Touch And Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) - from its folded position out to sample collection configuration.

It must be noted that the rehearsal drill on 14th April (Tuesday) was done without any issues despite the fact that many NASA employees were forced to work from home due to ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“This rehearsal let us verify flight system performance during the descent, particularly the autonomous update and execution of the Checkpoint burn,” said Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Executing this monumental milestone during this time of national crisis is a testament to the professionalism and focus of our team. It speaks volumes about their ‘can-do’ attitude and hopefully will serve as a bit of good news in these challenging times.”

OSIRIS-REx has been in orbit around asteroid Bennu since 2018. The spacecraft is scheduled to touchdown at the sample collection site named Nightingale on August 25. OSIRIS-REx is schedule to return the sample to Earth on September 24, 2023.

This New Exoplanet Is The Most Earth Like And Could Host Alien Life!

2020-04-17T10:58:00.001+05:30

An artist's concept of what Kepler-1649c could look like from its surface. Credit: NASA/Ames Research Center/Daniel Rutter

NASA announced the retirement of the Kepler telescope on 30 October 2018, after a mission lasting more than nine years. During its mission Kepler found more than 2,900 exoplanets through transit method. The huge data from Kepler will keep scientist and astronomers busy for many years, which involves - reanalyzing, double checking the previously found exoplanets, etc.

While reanalyzing the old data from the Kepler telescope, a group of scientists found a new exoplanet 300 light years from Earth - Kepler 1649c. While the previous searches using a computer algorithm missed this new world, while reanalyzing the data scientists observed the periodic dips in the luminosity of the star and indeed confirmed, it is a planet. However, what makes this newly discovered world interesting is, out of all the exoplanets discovered by kepler telescope this planet is the most similar to Earth in terms of size and temperature!!

A comparison of Earth and Kepler-1649c, an exoplanet only 1.06 times Earth's radius. Credits: NASA/Ames Research Center/Daniel Rutter

Kepler 1649c is about 1.06 times the size of Earth and at the same time, the starlight it receives is 75% the amount we receive from Sun. This indicate that the temperature of the planet can be similar to that of Earth.

There are other planets similar to Earth in terms of size like - TRAPPIST-1f, while some may be similar to us in terms of temperature like TRAPPIST-1d or TOI 700d. But none are this similar to Earth in terms of both size and temperature.

An illustration of Kepler-1649c orbiting around its host red dwarf star. This newly discovered exoplanet is in its star’s habitable zone and is the closest to Earth in size and temperature found yet in Kepler's data. Credits: NASA/Ames Research Center/Daniel Rutter

Kepler 1649c orbits a red dwarf star, completing one revolution in just 19.5 Earth days. The red dwarf star are the most common type of star in the milky way galaxy. Though red dwarf star are known for solar flares - which can rip off any existing atmosphere of a planet - as of 2020, scientists have not observed any solar flares emitted by the host star.

Even though Kepler 1649c is a lot similar to Earth, a very little is known about its atmosphere. Atmosphere plays an very important role in surface temperature and any prospect of alien life. The thickness and composition of the planet's atmosphere is yet to be determined though it is predicted to be similar to Earth's.

There is one more planet in the system, Kepler 1649b, orbiting the star at nearly half the distance as Kepler 1649c, similar as Venus orbits Sun at nearly half the distance than Earth. However, a striking feature of the planetary system is the nine to four resonance of the two planets i.e. every nine times Kepler 1649c orbits the host star Kepler 1649b orbits exactly four times. This indicates that the system is very stable which further increases it life potential.

Scientists think that this extra stability may come due one more planet orbiting between the two known planets. However, we haven't found any sign of the speculated world. This may be due to its very small size or highly inclined orbit.

Missions like Kelpler and TESS help in the advancement in astrobiology and research in how environmental conditions and other variables can effect the potential of a world to harbor life as we know it.

How Old Is The Earth? Age Of Earth

2020-04-06T17:29:00.002+05:30

Here is a question ........ How old is the Earth? Well almost everyone has a birth certificate, but, our Planet Earth don't have one.

The age of Earth is determined by the radiometric age-dating of the ever changing crust of Earth, rock samples from Earth's neighbors, such as moon and visiting meteorites. By using this method scientists have calculated that the age of Earth is 4.54 billion years with an error of 50 million years!

What is radiometric / radioisotope dating :

Alpha decay is one of the types of radioactive decay.

In the 20th century, research showed that the isotopes of the radioactive elements decay into non - radioactive elements at a predictable rate. As a result, by examining the current amount of the element we can calculate the initial concentration the radioactive element. Using this we can determine the time required for the element to decay, thus, allowing us to determine the age of the rock.

Examples of end products :

Argon from decay of Potassium-40.
Lead from the decay of Uranium and Thorium.

Early calculations of the Age Of Earth :

In 1862, physicist Sir William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin publishes his estimation for the age of Earth. He assumed Earth to be completely molten and calculated the time it would require Earth to reach the then temperature gradient. According to his calculations, he estimated the age of Earth to be between 20 million to 400 million years!! He didn't considered heat produced due to radioactive decay (a then unknown process) and other sources.

However, there were some scientists who could not digest this. The Darwin's theory of evolution suggested that the time required for life to evolve are much more than above mentioned period. Still during the 19th century most of the scientist estimated the age of Earth to be in some million years.....which we know today is not true.

Modern Calculation :

In an effort to find the age of Earth, scientist turned to the rocks on the surface of the Earth. However, due to geological activities, the Earth's crust is constantly revamped. As a result, the first rocks on Earth would have been recycled and melted long ago.

The oldest rocks on Earth are found in north-western Canada, which are found to be around 4.03 billion year old. However, rocks more than 3.5 billion year old are found in all the continents.

A fist-size sample of the Acasta Gneisses, rocks in northwest Canada that are the oldest known rocks on Earth. (Image credit: Mike Beauregard)

A research group in Australia found a mineral grain containing zirconium silicate crystals, which are dated to be around 4.3 billion years old. This makes it the oldest known material found on Earth so far.

A 4.4 billion year old zircon crystal from Australia is the oldest piece of Earth yet found. The source rocks for the small shards have not yet been identified. (Image credit: John Valley, University of Wisconsin.)

In an effort to refine the age of Earth, scientist shifted their focus on the bodies in solar system.

Unlike Earth, the Moon does not have a atmosphere and geological activities. Hence, the first rocks formed on the surface of Moon are still present there. The samples returned from the Apollo and the Luna missions revealed the age to be between 4.4 billion to 4.5 billion years.

Scientists have also studied the meteorites that have fallen on Earth. These meteorites have arrived from various different sources. Some of the meteorites, have arrived from the planets like Mars due to violent collisions while some are the remains from the early solar system.

One such is the Barringer Crater formed by a meteorite around fifty thousand years ago in Arizona. It was named after the nearby Canyon Diablo. The Canyon Diablo meteorite samples showed a spread from 4.53 to 4.58 billion year old. Scientists comprehend this range to be the time periods for the solar nebulae to collapse into solar disk which formed the Sun and the planets.

Barringer Crater, Arizona where the Canyon Diablo meteorite was found.

The fragment of the Canyon Diablo meteorite. (Image source : Geoffrey Notkin, Aerolite Meteorites of Tucson)

After studying the rocks on the Earth and the materials from the Earth's surrounding, scientists have placed the age of Earth to be approximately 4.54 billion years. This number will be refined in future and we will get a more precise value owing to constant research.

Atmosphere Of Mars : Composition, Climate And Life!

2020-04-04T21:11:00.000+05:30

The "Red Planet" Mars is the fourth planet in the solar system and the second smallest planet after Mercury. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere. It consists of various geological features like the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts, clouds and polar ice caps like the Earth.

The atmosphere of Mars used to to thick in the past which could support liquid water on the surface. But over the time the atmosphere of Mars kept loosing into space which still continues today. The present day atmosphere of Mars is thin which cannot support liquid water and life as we know it.

The climate on Mars is influenced by various factors including the polar ice caps, water vapor and dust storms. At times, the dust storms on Mars can cover the whole planet, lasting for months. These planet wide dust storms occur every 5.5 Earth-years. However, the mechanism that cause such storms is still unknown.

What is the atmosphere of Mars composed of?

The atmosphere of Mars is 100 times thinner than the atmosphere of Earth, mainly carbon dioxide. The resulting air pressure on the surface of Mars is only about 610 pascals which is less than 1% of the atmospheric pressure on Earth.

The composition of the atmosphere of Mars is as follows :

Carbon dioxide : 95.32 percent.
Nitrogen : 2.6 percent.
Argon : 1.9 percent.
Trace amount of : water vapor, oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen and other noble gases.

Weather and Climate on Mars :

Martian sunset by Spirit rover at Gusev Crater (May 2005)

Early in its history, Mars had a thick atmosphere suitable for liquid water to flow on the surface. This is supported by the orbital images of the rivers and oceanic boundaries on the barren surface of Mars. At the same time, several rovers have found rock on Mars with water soaked in them(primarily hematite and clay.) However, due to some reason the thick atmosphere of Mars thinned to what it is in present.

Photomicrograph by Opportunity showing a gray hematite concretion, nicknamed "blueberries", indicative of the past existence of liquid water.

The leading theory for the loss of atmosphere of Mars is that Mars' low gravity combined with its lack of magnetosphere made it vulnerable towards the solar wind - stream of highly energetic particles from Sun. The resulting pressure from the solar winds stripped the Martian atmosphere and took the lighter molecule with it. Other theories suggest that a large body collided with Mars in the past which lead to the loss of atmosphere.

Owing to its larger distance from Sun, Mars receives less solar energy that Earth, resulting in lower effective temperature (about 210 K) compared to Earth's (about 252 K). Even though the Martian atmosphere is composed of 95% carbon dioxide, the greenhouse effect on Mars (about 5°C) is much lower than Earth's (about 33°C). This is attributed due to less amount of other greenhouse gases.

The temperature on Mars varies greatly. The temperature can range between minus 143 degree Celsius near the poles to a comfortable 35 degree Celsius near the equator during midday.

The two polar cap of Mars contains frozen carbon dioxide mixed with water ice. During the pole's winters, the region is in darkness which leads to decomposition of 25-30% of atmospheric carbon dioxide into dry ice. This carbon dioxide sublimes when exposed to sunlight which leads to dust storms, winds and cloud formation. Clouds containing water ice have been photographed by Opportunity in 2004.

Water-ice clouds formed in the vicinity of the Arsia Mons volcano. The image was taken on 21 September 2018, but similar cloud formation events had been observed in the same site before. Photo credit: ESA

Due to lack of magnetosphere and thin atmosphere, the surface of Mars is bathe by solar radiation which has rendered the Martian surface highly contaminated. However, the amount of radiation which a astronaut will experience in a single mission to Mars is comparable to the radiation guidelines for astronauts of European Space Agency, although it is more than that of NASA's.

Possibility of life on Mars :

In its early days, Mars could have harbored life. Some speculate that life may still be present on Mars. Oceans may have once covered the surface of Mars, which would have provided a good environment for life to develop.

Although, the present day Mars is barren, scientist suggest that there could possibly be water below the surface of Mars, which would provide a potential refuge to any existing life forms. And studies have shown large deposits of water ice below the Martian surface.

Artist's impression of how Mars may have looked four billion years ago. Image credit : ESO

Mars has an oxidizing atmosphere, which means compounds like methane are highly unstable in the Martian atmosphere. Methane would break down due to UV radiation or react with other gases in the Martian atmosphere. However, many ground based telescopes and rovers have detected methane in the atmosphere of Mars. This implies that there must be a source that continuously replenishes methane in the atmosphere.

The concentration of methane in the atmosphere of Mars fluctuates between 0.24 ppb (parts per billion) to 0.65 ppb. However, in 2014 Curiosity rover detected a big spike in the concentration of methane in the atmosphere. During the late 2013 and early 2014 data take during two months had average methane concentration of 7.2 ppb.

Potential source and sinks of methane on Mars.

The concentration of methane in the atmosphere can be due to non biological processes involving reaction between water in rocks and some gases. However, methanogenic microbial life in the subsurface of Mars is a potential source of methane.

NASA's Perseverance rover (Mars 2020 rover) is set to go to Mars to study potential past or present life and samples for future retrieval.

What do you think? Can there be life on Mars? Share in the comments down below.

Atmosphere Of Venus : Composition, Climate And Life!

2020-04-01T22:05:00.000+05:30

Regarded as Earth's "sister planet", the atmosphere of Venus is no way similar to that of Earth's.

Venus is the second planet from the Sun in the solar system, and the hottest planet in the solar system with temperatures reaching 467 degree Celsius. The primary reason for the incredibly high surface temperature of Venus is its super dense atmosphere.

Atmospheric Composition Of Venus :

The atmosphere of Venus is primarily composed of carbon dioxide and is much denser and hotter than the atmosphere of Earth. The Venusian atmosphere also contain nitrogen and trace amount of other gases notably sulfur dioxide. The amount of nitrogen in the atmosphere is relatively much lower as compared to carbon dioxide, but, the atmosphere of Venus is so dense, that even this trace amount of nitrogen when compared by mass, is four times as the mass of nitrogen of the Earth!

This atmospheric combination causes runaway greenhouse effect which heat up the surface even high. The result is, even though Venus is farther away from the Sun, the surface of Venus is hotter than that of Mercury!

Chemical composition of the atmosphere of Venus :

Carbon dioxide : 96 percent.
Nitrogen : 3.5 percent.
Carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, water vapor, neon, argon : less then 1 percent.

Image credit : Junkcharts

In addition to greenhouse effect, the heavy sulfuric acid clouds of Venus prevent visible observation of the surface of the planet. The dense atmosphere also protects the surface from the impact of heavy meteorites. Anyone standing on the surface of Venus would experience 90 times more atmospheric pressure as compared to the surface of Earth. It is equivalent to diving 3000 feet or 900 meters into the ocean on Earth!

Climate and weather on Venus :

The thick clouds of Venus are mainly composed of sulfuric acid droplets (75-96%). These clouds prevent the optical imaging of the surface of Venus and reflects 75% of the sunlight incident on them! The density of the cloud layers of Venus also vary greatly, the densest layer is about 48.5 km thick.

False colour near infrared (2.3 μm) image of the deep atmosphere of Venus obtained by Galileo. The dark spots are clouds silhouetted against the very hot lower atmosphere emitting thermal infrared radiation.

Even though Venus rotates about its axis slowly, once every 243 Earth days, the wind speed on Venus is high reaching 360 kph (224 mph). Due to the wind speed, the clouds on Venus are in constant motion and revolve around the planet every 4 Earth days!

The rain on Venus is composed of sulfuric acid (...talking about acid rain....). However, it is interesting to note that this sulfuric acid rain never reaches the surface of the planet. Due to high temperature and heat, the rain gets evaporated before it can reach surface.

The clouds of Venus may create lightning, however, debate are still in going on.

The most interesting patch of the Venusian atmosphere :

Even though the surface of Venus has bone melting temperatures and skull crushing pressure, there is a part of the Venusian atmosphere than is a lot like Earth!

The atmospheric pressure and temperature at an altitude of about 50 km to 65 km is nearly as that of Earth. This part is the most Earth like in the whole solar system, even more than the surface of Mars! According to the measurements by the Magellan and Venus Express probes, the altitude from 52.5 km to 54 km has a temperature between 20°C to 37°C. And at an altitude of 49.5 km the atmospheric pressure is similar to sea level pressure at Earth.

There are speculations that extremophiles found on Earth (micro-organism which can live in very harsh condition) can survive in the upper atmosphere. There are dark patches in the Venusian atmosphere which are caused by "unknown UV absorbers", this can be caused by these microbes. Though there are no solid evidence.

Manned missions have been proposed, where astronauts will use inflatable ships which will float at this altitude. As the carbon dioxide is heavier than air at Earth, our natural composition of nitrogen + oxygen will keep the ship floating in the atmosphere.

More information of the mission here.

What do you think? Can there be life on Venus? Share in the comments down below.

What Is The Shape Of Universe?

2020-03-29T15:49:00.000+05:30

What is the shape of the Universe? What would the universe look like if you somehow step outside the universe? Scientists and astronomers have struggled with this, taking measurements to determine the geometry of the cosmos and predict the future of universe. So, what have they discovered so far?

What are the factors that affect the shape of Universe?

The General Relativity explains that mass and energy bends the curvature of the universe. As a result, the density of the universe - the ratio of the total mass of the universe to its volume - determines the shape of the universe. And the shape of the universe further helps us to determine its future.

Scientists have calculated critical density of the Universe - the density of the universe if it is flat. Critical density is proportional to the square of the Hubble constant - which helps in the calculation of the expansion rate of the universe.

With the help of General Relativity, scientists can determine the curvature of the the universe by using the density parameter - denoted by Omega (

Ω

). Density parameter is the ratio of the average density of the universe to the critical density.

This leads to three possibilities -

If Ω = 1, the universe is flat.
If Ω > 1, then universe has a positive curvature and the universe has a closed shape. E.g. sphere.
If Ω < 1, then the universe has a negative curvature and has a open structure. E.g. Saddle.

If the universe contains exactly the same mass to eventually stop expanding, its density will be equal to the critical density. This means that the universe will gradually stop expanding over a infinite time, which states that the universe is flat and infinite.

If the density of the universe is more than the critical density then it contains enough mass to eventually stop expansion. Once the universe stop expanding, it will start to contract as the attractive force of gravity takes control. The galaxies will then stop moving away from each other and start to move towards each other. This will cause the opposite of the Big Bang, often called the Big Crunch.
This means the universe has a closed shape like a sphere, finite, though without boundries. This is called the closed universe.

NASA

However, on the contrary, if the density of the universe is less than the critical density, then there is not enough mass in the universe to stop expansion and the universe will continue to expand forever. The shape of the universe will then be open like the surface of a saddle. This is called a open universe.

So exactly is the shape of the universe?

Universe is very big.

It was Edwin Hubble in the 20th century who first proclaimed that the universe is expanding while studying distant galaxies. He announced that the universe is expanding in all the directions. Since then scientist have refined their calculations to study the rate of expansion of the universe.

There are various instruments that measures the background radiation in an effort to determine the shape of universe. In 2013, scientists announced that the universe is known to be flat with 0.4% margin of error.

Conclusion :

Let us admit it, the Universe is mysterious. Everytime we see it, we find something new and undiscovered. We cannot surely say the shape of the universe. Even that 0.4% error can change the complete shape and curvature of the universe. Whatever be the shape of universe, we must make sure that it will not remain unexplored.

How Long Does It Take Sunlight To Reach Earth?

2020-03-27T19:43:00.002+05:30

Here's a question ....... How Long Does It Take Sunlight To Reach Earth? Though it sounds a bit strange but, it's worth thinking. We all know that the sunlight travels at the speed of light (obviously). The photons emitted from the surface of the Sun needs to travel through the vacuum of space and Earth's atmosphere to eventually reach our eyes.

The short answer is that, on an average it takes sunlight 8 minutes 20 seconds to reach Earth.

The speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second. (299,792.458 kilometers per second!)

At the same time, the distance between the Earth and Sun on average is 149.6 million kilometers. We all know that the Earth revolves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit. As a result the distance between the Sun and Earth is not constant. The distance varies between 147 million kilometers to 152 million kilometers.

When Earth is at perihelion (closest to the Sun) the sunlight takes 8 minutes 10 seconds (490 seconds) to reach Earth. And when at aphelion (farthest from the Sun) the sunlight takes 8 minutes 27 seconds to complete the same journey.

If the Sun disappears suddenly (don't panic, this will not happen while you are reading this) then it will take us 8 minutes to realize that the brightest object in the sky just vanished. The same happens with other objects. For instance, the light from your screen on which you are reading this, actually was emitted few nanoseconds or less ago! Everything we see in the night sky, the stars, planets, galaxies, we see them as they were in the past!!

However, the journey of light is even more interesting inside the sun.

The photons that reach us are not 8 minutes 20 seconds old! The photons are created inside the Sun's core by fusion reactions. They initially start as gamma rays and during their journey from the Sun's core to surface, they are absorbed and emitted innumerable times as they wander for the path inside the huge star to reach the surface.

Once they reach the surface, they reach Earth in just matter of minutes.

However, you may not know ...... it ACTUALLY requires a photons Tens Of Thousands of years to reach the surface of the Sun!

All these efforts for just a 8 minute short journey to our eyes!!!

The Milky Way Galaxy | Collision, Location, Facts And Future!

2020-03-27T15:16:00.000+05:30

ESO

The Milky Way Galaxy is a huge disc of gas, dust, stars and planets that spreads around 150,000 light-years across and several thousand light-years thick. The Milky Way contains our Solar System and is the home for our home planet - Earth.

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy. It contains around 100-400 billion stars and more than 100 billion planets.

Up until late 1920s Milky Way galaxy was thought to be as big as the universe and all the stars and nebulae we see are in the galaxy itself. It was during this time when Edwin Hubble determine a special type of star called as Cepheid Variable and calculated the distance of the Andromeda Galaxy which was thought to be a nebula in the Milky Way galaxy. Following his calculation Hubble concluded that the Andromeda was too far to be in the Milky Way and that it was a different galaxy.

Age and Formation :

The formation of the Milky Way galaxy is still a matter of debate. Shortly after the Big Bang, Milky Way started as one of the several overdensities in the mass distribution of the universe. These overdensities resulted in the formation of the globular clusters in which the oldest remaining stars of the Milky Way were formed.

Almost half of the matter in the Milky Way have come from other distant galaxies. Since the formation of the first stars, the Milky Way galaxy has grown through galactic merger. However, its properties such as the stellar mass, angular momentum and metallicity in the outermost regions suggest that it has not undergone any merger with a large galaxy in the past 10 billion years which is unusual for a galaxy like the Milky Way.

The globular clusters are the oldest remains of the Milky Way and helps in determining the age of the galaxy. Milky Way is estimated to be around 12.6 billion years old. However, in November 2018 astronomers discovered one of the oldest stars in the universe which was around 13.5 billion years old. This meant that the Milky Way may be much more older than we previously thought.

Location of Milky Way in the Universe :

The Milky Way galaxy belongs to a group of 50 closely bound galaxies known as the Local Group. The Milky Way is the second largest galaxy of the Local Group while Andromeda is the largest.

Add caption

The Local Group is surround by the Local Void which itself is a part of Virgo Supercluster. The Virgo Supercluster itself is a part of the even greater structure called Liniakea. Liniakea is a cluster of 100,000 nearby galaxies with Milky Way being one of them.

Our Place in the Milky Way :

Observed (normal lines) and extrapolated (dotted lines) structure of the spiral arms of the Milky Way, viewed from "north" of the galaxy – stars generally move clockwise in this view. The gray lines radiating from the Sun's position (upper center) list the three-letter abbreviations of the corresponding constellations

The center of the Milky Way contains a super massive black hole named Sagittarius A which is more than 4 million times the mass of the sun.

The solar system is located in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way and orbits the galactic center at a distance of about 27,000 light-years. The Sun orbits the galactic center at approximately 220 km/s and take 240 million years to complete one revolution! Since its birth, Sun has completed 20 revolution around the galactic center.

Collision with Andromeda Galaxy :

The Andromeda Galaxy is approaching the Milky Way at a speed of whooping 110 km/s ..... not so whooping though! Both galaxies are predicted to collide in 4.5 billion years. It is also expected that the Triangulum Galaxy is also going to participate in the collision as well. And the cool thing is, we have a name for the final product - "MIKLDROMEDA" .

The collision is predicted to last 2 billion years! The Mikldromeda is likely to be a elliptical galaxy.

I know there are a lot of "doomsday thoughts" in our minds right now .... but, wait....

The stars are a lot far from each other. Look at the closest star we have, it is 4.2 light-years from us! The chances of head-on collision between star are very low. Some stars might collide while some might get stranded in the universe.

Based on the current calculations there are 50% chances that the Solar System will drift at a distance thrice than that it is in present. Well, there are 12% chances that Sun will shoot out of the galaxy....quite high. But by then Sun will become a swollen red ball and Earth will be hell of a planet to live. Hope that we find some new place to move to........

Coronavirus Pandemic : How close are we to a vaccine?

2020-03-24T10:32:00.000+05:30

World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the ongoing coronvirus outbreak as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of 24 March 2020, more than 378,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in more than 190 countries and territories, which has resulted in more then 16,400 confirmed deaths.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The outbreak was first recognized in Wuhan, China in December 2019 when the Health authorities of Wuhan reported a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown origin. The earliest person with symptoms was traced back to 1 December 2019, however, on 14 March 2020 South China Morning Post said the a 55-year-old could have been the first to have contracted with the disease, on 17 November.

The SARS-CoV-2 shares great in similarities in genetic material with the SARS-CoV. Both the viruses have same structure containing ribonucleic acid (RNA) in a spherical protein shell with spikes. These spikes bind with cells and reproduce themselves and further combine with more cells.

When to expect a coronavirus vaccine?

Research to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 is going on at an unprecedented pace. There are more than 30 companies and institutions working round-the-clock to develop a vaccine.

There are more than 20 vaccines in development. One of them have even started human trials after unusually skipping animal research to test safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. Other scientists are at the animal research stage and hope to start human trials later in the year.

Vaccines take time to develop. Even if the somehow miraculously scientist develop a vaccine by the end of the year, there will be a huge task of mass production and distribution of the vaccine.

So, realistically speaking, the vaccine will be available no earlier than mid-2021 or around 18 months from now.

Even though it sounds a long time, it will likely be a world record time. Vaccines usually take around 5 to 15 years to develop. There are a lot of factors that need to be consider. We cannot give a vaccine if it stops one pandemic and as a side effect starts another.

We must not forget that there are four common human coronaviruses which causes common cold and we don't have vaccine for any of them. During the SARS-CoV outbreak in 2003 and MERS-CoV in 2012 vaccine were in development phase and we contained the outbreak without the need of a vaccine.

Some promising drugs that are being tested :

Scientist are also testing some known anti-viral drugs to see if they have any effect on coronavirus. The drugs can be directly tested to the patients as they are known to be safe and can be given to people.

Dr. Bruce Alylward from WHO, said, "There is only one drug right now that we think may have real efficacy and that's remdesivir." Remdesivir was originally developed for Ebola and was found to kill many other viruses. The test results are yet to be declared.

Another promising option is the old anti-malarial drug called chloroquine. Laboratory test have confirmed that it can kill coronavirus. However, as of now the results of human test are not declared.

How long will this pandemic last?

Coronavirus is highly contagious and nobody can state how long it will last. Some scientists have stated that the virus can be around and circulate in humans for a year or more until a vaccine is available.

There are also some chances that the virus won't completely disappear and become a kind of a seasonal disease, making a comeback every year.

As the cases around the world are rising every moment, the only thing we can do is to take necessary precautions and break the chain of transmission of the virus.

For live updates on the Coronavirus Pandemic visit : Our World In Data

10 Mind Blowing Facts About Earth!

2020-03-15T18:33:00.000+05:30

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only known planet in the universe which sprouted life. Earth was formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago and is the largest terrestrial planet in the solar system. Earth is the only planet in the solar system which is not named after Greek or Roman God.

Here are the 10 mind blowing facts about our lovely Blue Ball :

10. Earth was once believed to be the center of universe :

Credit :

MIKKEL JUUL JENSEN / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

This was quite natural. We saw stars, sun, planets move in the sky, which led to the conclusion that Earth is static and planets, moon, sun and stars revolve around us in concentric orbit. Later, Copernicus proposed his model of universe, placing Sun at the center of universe which is not true either. After further observations, it was realized that our Sun is one of billions of stars in the Milky-Way Galaxy, which itself is one of billions or maybe trillions of galaxies!

And we lost our prestigious status of being at the center.....

9. Earth is the strangest known planet :

Let us admit it - this ball of water is strange! Look at the other planets, they are sterile, lifeless and hostile worlds. Even though Mars and Venus were quite habitable, but they couldn't sustain it. Earth is the only known planet which has life on it, maybe the only planet with life in the entire universe. All the necessary conditions for life to evolve - inclination, oversized moon, plate tectonics, water, magnetic field - just happen to be here simultaneously which is very very rare!

8. Earth is the densest planet in solar system :

The density of Earth is not uniform, it varies from one place to another. For instance, the density of the core is more than the density of the crust. The average density of the Earth is approximately 5.52 grams per cubic centimeter. Earth is composed of 32.1% iron, 30.1% oxygen, 15.1% silicon and 13.9% magnesium. The Earth's crust is composed of 47% oxygen, which is present in different forms.

7. A day on Earth is not 24 hours :

Yes guys, we all are fooled!

The actual time that Earth takes to complete one rotation about its axis is 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds. This is referred as Sidereal Day. Earth's axis of rotation is also tilted to 23.4 degrees which produces different seasons.

But, this means that the day is 4 minutes shorter than we consider it, right? Well, we also have to consider the motion of the sun. We revolve around the Sun and at the same time Sun is also revolving around the center of the galaxy. When we consider all the little motions, it add up to become 24 hours. This is called as Solar Day.

6. A year is also not 365 days :

Again! It actually takes Earth 365.256 days to revolve around the Sun. This extra 0.256 days is the reason we have leap years every four years(2004, 2008, etc.). The years is not considered a leap year if it is divisible by 100 (1900, 2100, etc.) at the same time it should not be divisible by 400, i.e. years 2000 is leap year since it is divisible by 400.

5. Earth's core creates a dynamo :

Earth acts like a giant magnet with magnetic poles near the geographic poles. The magnetic field is generated by the the outer molten core of Earth. This magnetic field extends outward from the core, through the mantle and thousands of kilometers into space. The extent of the magnetic field in space is known as the Magnetosphere.

The magnetosphere is one of the most important reasons which made evolution of life possible on Earth. The magnetosphere deflects the solar wind - highly energetic beam of charged particles - and keep the surface safe from the harmful radiation of Sun. On the other hand, our neighbor Mars which once had water and maybe life does not have strong magnetosphere which exposes the surface with harmful radiation - uninhabitable.

4. The extreme points on Earth :

The surface of Earth does not have the same elevation from the sea level. Some of the parts are very high while some are very deep. Summit of Mount Everest has the highest elevation from the sea level with the altitude of 8,848 metres. On the other hand, Mariana Trench in the western Pacific is the deepest place on Earth with a depth of 10,911 metres.

However, Earth is not a perfect sphere. Due to its rotation Earth bulges at the equator and flattens at the poles. This shape is called oblate spheroid. Due to this shape the equatorial diameter is 43 kilometer more than pole-to-pole distance! So, if we consider the highest point on the basis of the distance from the center of Earth then it is actually peak of the equatorial Volcano Chimborazo in Ecuador.

3. Earth has a over-sized Moon :

Moon is supposed to be formed around 60 million years after the formation of the solar system. The Moon is the largest satellite relative to the size of its planet, though, Charon is larger relative to dwarf planet Pluto. The Moon is the fifth largest satellite in the solar system with a average radius of 1737 kilometers. It is the second densest satellite in the solar system after Io with a density of 3.3464 grams per cubic centimeter.

The gravitational interaction between Earth and Moon creates tides in the ocean. The distance between the Moon and Earth is increasing every year. It has been found that the Moon is going away from the Earth at the rate of 38 mm per year!

2. Earth's rotation is gradually slowing down :

The Earth's rotation about its axis is slowing down every year due to gravitational interaction and tidal friction with sun, moon and other heavenly bodies. Due to this, the length of the day is increasing. Length of day is increasing approximately at the rate of 17 millisecond every hundred years, though it is not uniform. It is expected that in 140 million years from now the length of day will become 25 hours.

1. Everything has to end someday :

Once the Sun gets like this, it's game over (Credit: Detlev van Ravenswaay/SPL)

One day everything has to end, and this is true with our planet as well. In a billion years from now Sun's luminosity will increase by 10% and by 40% in 3.5 billion years. Due to increasing temperature the surface water will disappear in a billion years from now with surface temperature about 70 degrees Celsius. However, the life won't last that long, it is expected to last till photosynthesis ends around 100-900 million years from now.

As the Sun increase in size and become a red giant about 5 billion years from now, it will loose around 30% of its mass. The radius of Sun will become 250 times more than it is today and will reach a peak luminosity 5000 times more! Mercury and Venus will surely enter Sun's atmosphere and vaporize. While the fate of Earth is unclear. Some simulations show that the Earth's orbit will decay and it will enter Sun's atmosphere and vaporize, while some predict that, as the mass of Sun decreased the gravitational interaction between Earth and Sun will decrease and radius of the orbit of Earth will increase. We cannot say for sure which scenario is true.

The Earth is the most beautiful planets out there and we need to preserve it. Though it will end someday we must make sure that life and consciousness survive that long and continue on some other place. Earth has carefully nurtured the life on it and we must ensure that this rare event that took place in the universe will serve a good cause. There are a lot of beautiful things in the universe and we must make sure that there exist life to see it, otherwise universe will be wasted.

World In 2050 | 5 Things That Will Inevitably Happen By 2050!

2020-03-13T17:55:00.000+05:30

Future is one of the most fascinating topic. The futurist always have crazy predictions for the future and some of those turn out to be true. People all over the world are working on some insane technology in all the fields - medicine, space technology, artificial intelligence, transportation to name a few...

Based on present trends some things are inevitably going to happen and some are right around the corner. Here are the top 5 things that are inevitably going to happen by 2050..... lets dive into it....

#5. Super-Intelligent Robots :

Considering the current rate of development in robotics and AI, this will happen much before 2050. The computing power of machines are doubling every 2 years and by 2050 machines will be thousands of times more powerful than they are today! By 2050, robots will have exceeded the human intelligence and will have taken over almost all the existing jobs.

Whenever we have faced a problem, we have also found a solution. So, we would have surely found the solution by then and AI will be used to the benefit of the world.

#4. Genetically Engineered Babies :

Genetically engineered things are right around the corner and have been tested in lab. By 2050 gene editing could be made legal in order to increase human life expectancy, curing cancer, tackle effects of space travel and increasing human capabilities.

In 2018 scientist announced delivery of twins which were genetically modified using CRISPR-Cas9. They edited the genes in order to increase immunity against HIV. Later in December 2018 Chinese government sentenced those scientist to a three years jail - stating it was unethical.

But, in future genetically engineered babies may be a thing, with some legal restriction.

#3. Vacation On Moon :

This is surely on the cards. NASA is planing to go to moon by 2024 and start some serious development. With the renewed interest in moon, by 2050 we will have a small colony mainly for scientific research and mining.

Japanese billionaire Yusaka Maezawa has booked SpaceX Starship for a fly-by of moon in 2023. He will be accompanied by several artists and crew members. It has been named deerMoon project. By 2050, owing to recent trends, moon colony will be up and running. Moon tourism will see a boost and people can spend there holidays there. Looking forward to this......

#2. Rigorous Population Control :

The world population right now is around 7.7 billion and is rising. It is expected that the population will be around 9.7 billion in 2050. The outburst is mainly in African countries. This is a big alarm. The rising population increases the pressure on the resources and challenges the eradication of poverty. According to UN study currently there are 2.5 births a woman and expected to fall to 2.2 birth a woman in 2050. UN stated that the population will further continue to rise and will reach a peak value of 11 billion by the end of 21st century!

To stop this, population control will be implemented in many parts of Asia and Africa.

#1. Man On Mars :

Image Credit: SpaceX via Flickr - HDR tune by Universal-Sci

The 21st century is going to be the turning point in the history of human civilization. By 2050, Mars colonization will be in advance stages. Stepping foot on Mars will be the biggest moment in the human history. Plans to put humans on Mars are not new. During the Apollo era, mission to Mars in 1981 was planned. Even nuclear powered rocket engines were developed and tested! Further plans included construction of a permanent habitat on Mars supporting 30 people by 1989!

As we all know, it didn't happened and focus was shifted towards Space Shuttle. But, now there are serious development going on towards making humans a multi-planetary civilization. Elon Musk and SpaceX plans to start sending cargo Mars missions as early as 2022 using there fully reusable Starship followed by crew missions in 2024!

NASA have planned their crew Mars mission in mid 2030s. By 2050, Mars won't be a lifeless red ball, but, a planet with intelligent life walking there....

What are your predictions for 2050? Share in the comments down below.

This Exoplanet Rains Molten Iron | Most Extreme Exoplanet Ever!

2020-03-12T20:13:00.000+05:30

A artistic impression of WASP-76b's atmosphere | Credit: ESO and M. Kornmesser

There is a new King for the 'Most Extreme Exoplanet' crown - WASP-76b!

Astronomers have released a new study of the hellish-exoplanet 640 light-years from Earth were atmosphere is so hot-up that it rains molten iron! This exoplanet is a member of the new family of exoplanets discovered in past few years - "ultra-hot" gas giants.

Researchers used the planet-hunting ESPRESSO instrument of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile to study WASP-76b(discovered in 2013).

WASP-76b orbits a star which is twice as large as our Sun. It cruses around the host-star and completes one revolution in every 1.8 Earth days. WASP-76b has diameter nearly twice as large as Jupiter, but, has nearly the same mass. This is due to excessive heating from the host-star which resulted the exoplanet to puff.

WASP-76b is tidally locked to the host-star, i.e. its one side always faces the star and other is in eternal darkness. It orbits so close to its host that the day side temperature are scorching high and climbs upto 2400 degree Celsius - high enough to vaporize metal! The night side is much colder with temperature ranging around 1500 degree Celsius......did I called it cold?

ESPRESSO detected iron vapors at the "evening" side where day-side met the night, but on the other side of the planet i.e. the "morning" side there were no traces of iron vapor. Something caused the vapors to disappear in the night-side of the planet.

The possible explanation to this was the winds and the rotation of WASP-76b carried the iron vapors from the dayside to the nightside. The temperatures in the nightside are cold enough to condense the iron vapors into clouds. These cloud then poured molten iron rains on the planet! The rain clouds consist of compounds like iron sulfide and iron hydride.

And the speed of the rain is insanely high, because of the temperature difference between the two halves of the planet. For instance, the iron vapor from the dayside races towards the nightside at a speed reaching 11,000 mph (18,000 km/hr)........take your time to digest this.....

image source : Gonzolo Golpe

The new research was published in the journal Nature. The lead author David Ehrenreich said, "Exoplanets are a real treasure trove full of surprises. The more you look, the more you find."

WASP-76b has again taught us that what we know is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of things in the Universe we don't even know and some we can't even imagine. This discovery will help us understand climate and global circulation models which will further help us better understand the atmosphere of the exoplanets.

What other surprising things can other planets have? Trigger your imagination and share in the comments down below.

Andromeda Galaxy - Collision, History, Location, Facts And Future!

2020-03-09T11:36:00.000+05:30

Image credit : Adam Evans

For a very long time humans thought that Earth is the center of the Universe and the stars and planets revolve around the Earth in concentric circles. But then, Aristarchus came up with the new model around 240 BC and suggested that Sun was in-fact the center of Universe! For a long time we thought that the Milky Way consisted the whole Universe and all the bright dots we see are the stars that it contains.

Early Observation :

In 1764, Charles Messier labeled Andromeda Galaxy as M-31, which he stated that it was a nebula in the Milky Way! The first images of the Andromeda were taken by Issac Roberts in 1887. In 1920s, the Andromeda was a part of Great Debate between American astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis. Curtis had spotted novae in Andromeda, and argued that it actually was a separate Galaxy.

The debate didn't concluded until 1925, when Edwin Hubble tried to determine the distance of Andromeda. Hubble determined a special kind of star known as Cepheid Variable - a star which helps to determine precise distances. Shapley previously determined that the Milky Way was 100,000 light years wide. With his calculation Hubble concluded that the Andromeda was too far to lie in the Milky Way, which proved that it was a galaxy on its own.

Facts About Andromeda Galaxy :

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy 2.5 million light-years away from Earth. It is located in the constellation of Andromeda. The Andromeda Galaxy has a diameter of 220,000 light-years compared to Milky Way's estimated 150,000 light years, making it the biggest object in the Local Group. Andromeda is estimated to have around 1 trillion stars which is more than twice the estimated number of stars in the Milky Way!

Andromeda Galaxy is formed by the collisions and mergers of the ancient protogalaxies about 10 billion years ago.

Andromeda and Triangulum had a very close passage 2 - 4 billion years ago. This increased the rate of star formation in the Andromeda Galaxy! But, over the past 2 billion years the star formation has decreased and reached even to a point of no-activity.

Around 460 globular clusters - a group of stars - have been observed. One such is Globular One. It is too massive to be a globular cluster and hence considered as a remnant core of a dwarf galaxy absorbed by Andromeda.........Murderer!!!

ESA/Hubble

Collision With Milky Way :

The collision is predicted to last 2 billion years! The Mikldromeda is likely to be a elliptical galaxy.

Fate of Solar System :

I know there are a lot of "doomsday thoughts" in our minds right now .... but, wait....

Our new home........

What do you think humans will be doing by that time? Extinct or Inter-planetary? Share in the comments down below.

Looking for Earth 2.0 - check this out then - Top 5 Exoplanets that can have alien life!

Earth Was A Ball Of Water 3.2 Billion Years Ago!!

2020-03-07T20:07:00.002+05:30

Earth is a strange planet. Till this date, it is the only world known to have liquid water on the surface. The present day, 71% of the Earth surface is covered by water. Which made many scientists and researchers think that it may have been a barren land early in its formation. Water would have then appeared through asteroids, comets and evaporation of early water present below the surface. The first clouds then poured the very first raindrops and shaped our planet ever since.....

But, this came out of the blue, a team of researchers were investigating rock samples of the past and found something very surprising. In order to study how our planet was billions of years ago, team of researchers lead by Benjamin Johnson studied a 3.2 billion years old ocean crust which was turned onto its side in the deep north-western part of Australia called the Panorama district. It also contained hydrothermal vents through which once seawater use to bubble through ocean-floor!

"There are no samples of really ancient ocean water lying around, but we do have rocks that interacted with seawater and remembered that interaction." Lead author Benjamin Johnson, assistant professor at Iowa State University, said in a statement.

The team collected over 100 rock samples and were particularly looking for the type of trapped oxygen in the rocks. Things took a turn from here.... The samples contained more proportion of heavier oxygen-18 than we see in present world.

Presently the proportion of oxygen-18 is about 0.2%. This is kept constant by the continents and the soil it contains. Today's continents contain clay-rich soil which disproportionately absorb the heavier isotope of oxygen from water.

This indicated that the ancient Earth didn't had any significant amount of soil or landmass to absorb oxygen-18. Earth was a legit blue ball with trace amount of micro-continents!

Benjamin Johnson inspects an outcrop in the Panorama district by what was once an ancient hydrothermal vent. Credit: Jana Meixnerova

This will surely shake the foundation of some of the theories which suggested that first living cell appeared due to concentration of organic molecules on land. While the theory that life may have started near a hydrothermal vent deep below in the ocean is now seeming more probable scenario.

The findings were published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Their are still a lot of secrets of Earth to be unlocked. Everytime we dig we find something new.

Have you ever wondered what are our options if this ball blasted; check this out : Top 5 Exoplanets that can hold life

Artificial Intelligence - The Limit Of Human Technology!

2020-03-02T16:23:00.000+05:30

Humans have taken giant leaps since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It drastically changed the way we lived and what seemed to be achieved in decades was being achieved in just few years. The rate of technological advancement didn't stopped there thanks to the visionary entrepreneurs and genius scientists. After having achieved such level of advancements in all walks of life, it all comes down to...Will it ever end?

Artificial Intelligence has been one of the core topic of doomsday debates. And it gets more and more complex as we dive deep into it....

Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning as it is also called, is intelligence demonstrated by machines in contrast to natural intelligence. These are the physical or non-physical intelligent-agents which perceives their environment and takes necessary actions to maximize the possibility of success of their goal. In short, creating a human brain in the lab!

Since its inception into research, AI has turned a lot of people scratching their head. Artificial Intelligence has no boundries whatsoever. It can exponentially surpass human intelligence. And this makes it the real threat to mankind!

The First Signal :

James the photographer

In May 1997, computers shocked the whole world, when a chess playing computer developed by IBM defeated the then Chess World Champion Garry Kasperov in the first game itself!!

And this was back in 1997 when AI was in preliminary state. But, now.... we have Apple's SIRI, Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant.... all of which are one or the another form of AI.

In recent time AI has achieved new milestones -

Defeating World Champion of GO (A Chinese board game even complex than Chess!)
Writing poetry
Solving rubik's cube single-handed
Beating humans in IQ tests!!!

And this is just beginning!

But, AI have a great advantage at the same time. It will help us to improve in every aspect of human life, the rate of technological and social development will go nuts! The economic growth will be unprecedented. Scarcity and poverty may become things of the past as AI would enable human to do what they are actually made for.....Exploration, adventure, understanding the world around us... and what not!

However, AI........damn.......should we believe in it?

Physicist Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, Elon Musk have all expressed concerns over AI developing to such a point that humans could not control it. Stephen Hawking said in 2014,

"Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last."

Elon Musk have stated that in order to keep up with the AI, human and machines will eventually have to merge and become the so called Transhuman.

Even accidentally, if someone creates destructive AI and it opens the door of the lab......Its TOO LATE.

What do you think of AI? Will it be a dawn of a new era or fall of mankind? Do share in the comments down below.

Top 5 Exoplanets That Can Potentially Host Alien Life!

2020-02-28T19:30:00.000+05:30

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Exoplanets are one of the most fascinating topic in astronomy. The sci-fi movies were flooded with the references of exoplanets way before their existence was even confirmed!

The first possible detection of an exoplanet was noted way back in 1917. But, the first confirmation was made in 1992. The discovery took the world by storm. Since then the world has never stopped, year after year new planets were discovered and as of 1 February 2020 the tally stands at 4173!

Apparently universe has always something new to show us and exoplanets just proved it... Planets far massive than Jupiter orbiting their star so close that we never even imagined, Sub-Neptunes, Super-Earths were a lot common that we even thought of.

And with all this we even detected planets in the habitable zone of their host star, were liquid water and potentially life can exist!!

These are the exoplanets that can potentially host alien LIFE..... the countdown begins......

5. TRAPPIST-1d :

NASA/JPL-Caltech

22 February 2017, astronomers surprised the world when they announced discovery of a hole bunch of planets in the habitable zone of the ultra-cool red dwarf star Trappist-1 located some 40 light years from us. It consist as many as six planets in the optimistic habitable zone!!...("take your time to digest this....")

Trappist-1d is located in the inner part of the habitable zone of the host star. It orbits the star in whooping 4.05 days(97 hours)! Though it is super-close to the host star it receives just a little more light than Earth.

Early climate models of the planet suggest that it may suffer runaway green house effect, but, with some refined parameters it may not be the case. If the planet has Earth like atmosphere, it can be hotspot for alien life. Due to tidal heating, the planet can have oceans upto 250 times as massive as that of Earth's. Trappist-1d has one of the highest Earth Similarity Index of 0.91.

4. Gliese 667Cc :

ESO

Ever dreamt of getting up in morning and seeing three bright stars in the sky.... this is the place for you!

Gliese 667Cc is a planet orbiting its host star which itself is a member of a triple star system about 23.62 light years from us. It is a super-Earth with radius about 1.5 times that of Earth and orbits in the damn middle of habitable zone of the host star, taking just over 28 days to complete one orbit.

But, the planet is tidally locked to its host, which means one side is always facing the star and the other in eternal darkness....BUT, it can still contain a big strip of land between these extreme regions called the Terminator Line where conditions can be very suitable for life to evolve.

If the planet has a good atmosphere then it can pretty well conduct heat around the planet and the dark side can have warm temperatures. The equilibrium temperature of the planet is about 4.3°C, making it warm and maybe a good place for your sunbath......(super maybe)..

However, due to its highly eccentric orbit the tidal forces on the planet are way more than on Earth, which may reduce its chances of habitability.......still it is good candidate for study.

3. Proxima Centauri - b :

This was a ...EUREKA... moment for me when the astronomers announced in August 2016 that the closest star to us actually is home to a planet in the habitable zone!!!

Proxima Centauri is red dwarf star closest to Sun at a distance of just 4.2 light years. It is a member of triple star system.

ESO/M. Kornmesser
Artistic impression of surface of Proxima Centauri-b

Proxima Centauri-b is a super-Earth orbiting the host star in just over 11 days. It is subjected to solar winds 2000 times stronger that we experience here on Earth. This will likely rip-off any atmosphere it may contain. It is tidally locked to the host just like Gliese 667Cc and it may also contain a Terminator Line. In order to retain its atmosphere Proxima Centauri-b must have a very strong magnetic field. Considering it has a atmosphere similar to that of Earth, the side facing the star can be permanently ice-free with temperatures warm enough to host life.

After its discovery, a mission called Breakthrough Starshot was announced which will take a army of miniature probes which will be propelled using ground based lasers and can reach upto 20% the speed of light! It is founded by Yuri Milner, Stephen Hawkings and Mark Zuckerberg and expected to be launch around 2036. For more info click here.

2. Kepler-442b :

Kepler-442b is a super-Earth in the habitable zone of Kepler-442 about 1,206 light years from us. Its equilibrium temperature is about -40°C, but, the surface temperature can be warm if it has a good atmosphere producing greenhouse effect. Its surface gravity is predicted to be about 1.3 times that of Earth.

Kepler-442b orbits its host star roughly every 112 days. It is located just outside the point where it would have been likely tidally locked. Being close to the star its rotational period can be weeks or even months.

Kepler-442b is considered to be a Super-Habitable Planet. Super Habitable planets are those which can develop life even more diverse and complex than we see on Earth. So, it can be even more habitable than Earth! A big candidate for extraterrestrial life.

1. Trappist-1e :

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Here comes the big one. Yes, two planets of the same star system in the top 5!

Trappist-1e is just next door to Trappist-1d. It is the most Earth like planet as of now with a Earth Similarity Index of staggering 0.95! It is nearly Earth sized and yes you guess this right - in the habitable zone. It orbits the host star in every 88 days and it is likely tidally locked. But it can have a big patch of the Terminator Line between the extreme hot and cold region. The planet can have even more region habitable provided it have a atmosphere thick enough to transfer heat throughout the planet.

It is one of the most Earth sized world with 91% the radius of Earth and surface gravity of 0.93g.

Its host star Trappist-1 is a super-cool red dwarf which has a life span of astounding 4-5 trillion years!! And it can be one the last remaining stars in the universe when its life ends. It is by far one of the best place where future colonist can go when the solar system will near its end...

A quick info... - Panspermia is a hypothesis that life can exist on many planets where it is actually taken there by meteors, asteroids, comets, dust, etc. It is also considered that life on Earth may have came through panspermia between Earth and Mars...(though, it is debatable.).

The planets of Trappist-1 system are so close to each other that likelihood of interplanetary panspermia is 2000 times more than that of Earth and Mars!! So if life sprouted on one of the planets in the system then it may have traveled the nearby planets. The planets are so close that one can even see other planets in the sky with naked eye like we see the moon if the conditions are right!!!

So, this was my Top 5 list of exoplanets with potential alien life.

What are your Top 5 exoplanets with life? Do share in the comments down below.