All posts tagged: planetary

Apophis will zoom past Earth in 2029, turning a rare flyby into a planetary defense test

Apophis will zoom past Earth in 2029, turning a rare flyby into a planetary defense test

Published by Jenni Sidey

Apophis will pass about 38,000 kilometers from Earth in 2029, giving scientists a rare chance to watch a large asteroid react to our planet’s gravity. Models predict changes to its spin, small surface landslides and possible dust movement, while major structural damage is considered unlikely. Spacecraft, telescopes and radar systems will turn the encounter into a worldwide test of asteroid science and planetary-defense planning. On April 13, 2029, a 340-meter asteroid will sweep past Earth at about 38,000 kilometers, close enough for its gravity-driven changes to become a natural experiment in planetary science. The asteroid, (99942) Apophis, will pass at roughly one-tenth the Earth-Moon distance. An object of similar size comes this close only about once every 7,500 years. The encounter will let scientists watch how a large near-Earth asteroid reacts to a planet’s gravity in real time. A review led by Li Jianyang of Sun Yat-sen University and published in Space: Science & Technology brings together current observations, modeling and mission plans for the flyby. The analysis focuses on Apophis’s physical state, the effects …

How to see Britain’s spectacular planetary parade of six planets | Science | News

How to see Britain’s spectacular planetary parade of six planets | Science | News

Published by Sam Flores

Skywatchers will have the chance to see six planets spread across the morning sky on August 12, 2026, although only some of them will be visible without optical equipment. Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune will take part in the large planetary alignment, with the best opportunity coming before sunrise. Mars and Saturn will be the easiest planets to spot with the naked eye. Mercury will be much lower and harder to pick out, while Jupiter will sit even closer to the horizon. Uranus will require binoculars and Neptune will need a telescope. Venus will not be part of the August lineup. The event is a morning alignment, meaning observers will need to be outside before dawn. From the Northern Hemisphere, the planets will stretch across a broad arc from the eastern horizon towards the southwest. In the Southern Hemisphere, the arc will extend towards the northwest. The planets will not form a perfectly straight line. Instead, they will appear along the same broad path across the sky because their orbits around the Sun …

The Planetary Health Diet May Save Your Brain and the Earth

The Planetary Health Diet May Save Your Brain and the Earth

Published by Jenni Sidey

Brain disorders are now the leading cause of illness and disability, affecting over one-third of the world’s population. As the population continues to grow and age, this burden is expected to further increase in the coming decades. Therefore, brain health has become a global priority. Healthy dietary change is now recognized as a key strategy to improve population health since poor diet is a major contributor to the global burden of disease. Healthy dietary choices, especially eating much less animal products, would also contribute greatly to environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation. The world’s consumption of animal products significantly contributes to environmental pollution through methane emissions, water contamination, and land degradation, making cattle farming a major ecological concern. Cows are major producers of methane, a potent greenhouse gas approximately 23 to 28 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat over a century. Globally, given that there are over 1.5 billion cows, 1.3 billion sheep, 14 billion chickens, and 1 billion pigs worldwide, livestock accounts for about 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, with …

Asteroids2029 initiative to advance planetary defence awareness

Asteroids2029 initiative to advance planetary defence awareness

Published by skeptic

Bringing together more than 70 experts from space agencies, research institutions, educational organisations, and science communication networks, the programme aims to strengthen global understanding of asteroids and promote international cooperation on planetary defence. The initiative is centred on the close approach of asteroid Apophis on 13 April 2029, when the near-Earth object will pass closer to Earth than some orbiting satellites. Although the asteroid poses no danger of impact, the event presents a rare opportunity to engage the public in asteroid science and highlight the systems already in place to detect and monitor potential threats. Through a coordinated programme of worldwide activities, Asteroids2029 seeks to increase awareness of asteroid research, encourage citizen participation in science, and leave a lasting legacy of stronger international collaboration on planetary defence ahead of the historic fly-by. Asteroids2029 prepares the world for Apophis Operating under the theme “Observe. Explore. Safeguard.”, Asteroids2029 brings together governments, space agencies, scientific organisations, educators, and communicators to showcase both the scientific value of asteroids and the importance of monitoring potentially hazardous objects. The campaign is …

‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival | Environment

‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival | Environment

Published by Sam Flores

Humanity can raise living standards, reduce inequality and keep global heating within a 2C rise, according to a sweeping vision for planetary survival. The report by the World Inequality Lab (WIL) aims to be the most comprehensive attempt yet to navigate the polycrisis that is pushing the world toward climate breakdown, political extremism and ever greater economic and social tension. A drone view shows the stark inequality between neighbourhoods in Santa Fe, Mexico City Photograph: Raquel Cunha/Reuters It offers a set of bold policy proposals, including hefty wealth taxes on billionaires, sharp reductions in working hours, a change in diets and a shift of investment from materially intense sectors, such as industry and mining, to education and health. If these and other measures are taken, the report says, the incomes of 89% of the world’s population would double by 2100 and global heating would be kept below 2C above the preindustrial average. The authors say their vision provides a positive alternative to the grim projections from far-right techno extractivists, nationalists and billionaires who claim the …

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS points to a far colder planetary birthplace

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS points to a far colder planetary birthplace

Published by Jenni Sidey

The water coming off comet 3I/ATLAS is not just unusual. It is extreme. Astronomers studying the interstellar comet found that its water is packed with an unusually heavy form of hydrogen called deuterium. The levels are far beyond anything measured in comets from our own solar system. That chemical fingerprint points to a birthplace much colder than the one that produced Earth. It is also colder than the places that formed the planets and the icy bodies that still circle the Sun. The result gives researchers one of their clearest looks yet at how different other planetary systems can be. “Our new observations show that the conditions that led to the formation of our solar system are much different from how planetary systems evolved in different parts of our galaxy,” said Luis Salazar Manzano, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in the University of Michigan’s Department of Astronomy. Astronomers studying the interstellar comet found that its water is packed with an unusually heavy form of hydrogen called deuterium. (CREDIT: Hans Anderson, Michigan …

A New Narrative for Planetary Health in the Hybrid Era

A New Narrative for Planetary Health in the Hybrid Era

Published by Jenni Sidey

There is a problem with how we talk about the twin crises of our time. We speak of climate change arriving, of artificial intelligence (AI) transforming society, as though these phenomena were storms rolling in from somewhere else. This language is imprecise, and it has consequences for our mental and physical health. It suggests that we are simply recipients of forces beyond our control—forces that are quietly chipping away at our ability to make decisions that science consistently tells us are foundational to well-being and collective resilience. The more accurate—and more demanding—framing is this: Climate change and AI are not happening to us. They happen with us, among us, and because of us. This is the cornerstone of any credible new story about planetary health in an age where human and artificial intelligence, nature and technology, personal choices and global consequences are becoming impossible to separate. The Psychological Cost of Misattribution When people perceive a crisis as something outside their control, a familiar pattern follows: They feel helpless; they disengage. A paralysing form of grief …

Giant planet that shouldn’t exist is forcing astronomers to rethink planetary science

Giant planet that shouldn’t exist is forcing astronomers to rethink planetary science

Published by Jenni Sidey

An exoplanet, TOI-5205 b, which is almost as large as Jupiter, orbits a small red star. By many estimates, this red star should not have been able to form it due to the star’s mass. The fact that TOI-5205 b exists as it does at all raises intriguing questions about how it came to be. In addition, the James Webb Space Telescope has confirmed that this planet may be even stranger than previously thought. Specifically, the atmosphere of TOI-5205 b is deficient in heavy elements relative to the hosting star. This discrepancy suggests that the outer layers of the planet and its deep interior have not developed in the same way through the formation process. The findings from the study of TOI-5205 b were recently published in The Astronomical Journal. The research was led by Caleb Cañas, a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scientist, along with an international team of researchers. This team included Shubham Kanodia, a Carnegie Science astronomer who contributed to the confirmation of the stellar companion in 2023, and who was also …

Planetary scientists reveal where Earth’s water and building blocks came from

Planetary scientists reveal where Earth’s water and building blocks came from

Published by Jenni Sidey

For years, planetary scientists have argued that some of the material that built Earth must have drifted in from beyond Jupiter, carrying water and other volatile ingredients with it. Estimates often put that outer Solar System share somewhere between 6 percent and 40 percent. A new analysis led by ETH Zurich researchers Paolo Sossi and Dan Bower takes a very different view. After comparing Earth’s isotopic makeup with that of meteorites, Mars and the asteroid Vesta, they argue that Earth formed almost entirely from material already present in the inner Solar System. That does not mean the question is settled. Sossi himself says the debate over Earth’s building blocks is “far from over.” But the new study, published in Nature Astronomy, sharply narrows the room for one popular idea, that large amounts of outer Solar System matter crossed Jupiter’s orbit and became part of the growing Earth. “We were truly astonished to find that the Earth is composed entirely of material from the inner Solar System distinct from any combination of existing meteorites,” Bower said. …

Researchers detect dry ice in a planetary nebula for the first time

Researchers detect dry ice in a planetary nebula for the first time

Published by skeptic

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers observed dry ice inside a complex planetary nebula known as NGC 6302. This is the first time dry ice has ever been observed inside a planetary nebula. Planetary nebulae (PNe) are expanding shells of gas and dust that have been ejected from a star during the process of its evolution from a main-sequence star into a red giant or white dwarf. They are relatively rare but are important for astronomers investigating the composition of the interstellar medium (ISM). Complex chemistry of a rare planetary nebula NGC 6302, dubbed the Butterfly Nebula or the Bug Nebula, is a bipolar type PN located some 3,400 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. The nebula has a radius of at least 1.5 light-years and exhibits bright east-west-oriented bipolar lobes bisected by a massive dusty torus. Previous observations of NGC 6302 have detected methyl cation (CH3+) in this nebula, a key driver of organic chemistry. Moreover, some studies have found widespread polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission in NGC 6302. These two findings …