(CNN) More than a year after NASA's New Horizons mission closely flew by a small, distant Kuiper Belt Object, researchers have been able to sift through the data and learn intriguing new details about this fossil from the formation of the solar system. Located four billion miles beyond Pluto, Arrokoth is the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft.
Other things to check out:
Scientists predict the Solar System's asteroid belt will be pulverized by the Sun's light in 6
February 13, 2020 – The majority of stars in the universe will become luminous enough to blast surrounding asteroids into successively smaller fragments using their light alone, according to a University of Warwick astronomer.
Electromagnetic radiation from stars at the end of their 'giant branch' phase – lasting just a few million years before they collapse into white dwarfs – would be strong enough to spin even distant asteroids at high speed until they tear themselves apart again and again. As a result, even our own asteroid belt will be easily pulverized by our Sun billions of years from now.
NASA's Four Planetary Missions Stretch Across the Solar System
But only two of them will launch. The scientists behind these missions will each be given $3 million to refine their projects and create a Concept Study Report. Then, NASA will select the two winners next year.
Here is a quick breakdown of each mission and what it could me for planetary science and humanity's continued exploration of the solar system:
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NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory would manage the project, and JPL's Suzanne Smrekar would be the mission’s principal investigator.
This is a glorious map of every known object in our solar system
Who doesn't love a good map? I know I certainly do, and the more detailed the map, the better it is. So how about a map of our solar system?
Don't worry. Biologist Eleanor Lutz has gone out of her way to map out every single known object in our solar system greater than 10km in diameter. How did she do this? Well, the data was taken from NASA's five separate categories; TNO and Centaur Diameters, Small-body Database Search Engine, Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters, Planets, and Pluto Physical Characteristics and Horizons Batch-Interface.
Many things are taking place:
Facebook commissions Dominion Energy for 100-MW Virginia solar system
Dominion Energy and Facebook are continuing to increase renewable energy generation by adding a new solar facility in Greensville County, Virginia.
Sadler Solar, a 100-MW facility, was approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission on Jan. 22, 2020, and is expected to become operational by the end of 2020. Dominion Energy will build, own and operate the solar facility, and Facebook will purchase the energy it generates.
“Partnerships with companies like Facebook help drive the addition of renewable energy to the grid,” said Emil Avram, VP of business development at Dominion Energy. “We are honored to work with them to help meet their sustainability goals as well as continue to expand renewable energy across the Dominion Energy service area.”
Seven Worlds in the Solar System That Could Be Just As Weird As Pluto | Discover Magazine
Deep in the outer solar system, billions of miles from Earth, lurks a realm of small, icy worlds called dwarf planets. Astronomers know relatively little about these dim and distant objects, but in recent years, new evidence has revealed that the tiny planets can hold a surprising range of features, from oceans and mountains to canyons, dunes and volcanoes.
Much of what astronomers know about dwarf planets comes from the NASA New Horizons spacecraft's 2015 Pluto flyby. Pluto thrilled scientists with its towering mountain ranges made of ice. Its surprising geological complexity leaves astronomers eager to see the diversity of similar worlds in the Kuiper Belt — a donut-shaped region beyond Neptune packed with icy space rocks both large and small.
Solar System Show at Dawn, by Dennis Mammana | Creators Syndicate
For this week's sky show, I'm afraid you'll have to set your alarm and get up before dawn. If you do, you'll see a wonderful display of solar system objects in the southeastern sky as the waning crescent moon swings past the planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
Why? Because on that morning the moon (only 240,000 miles away) will drift in front of Mars (about 168 million miles away) and create what astronomers call an occultation. When and where you observe will determine whether Mars will be visible or hidden behind the solid disk of the moon. Some may even need to wait for the moon to rise higher after sunrise to see Mars disappear or reappear behind its disk. For that, however, a small telescope will be necessary.
Solar System controls the carbon cycle | Cosmos
The orbitally paced variations in mudstone composition seen here in Dorset, England, are similar to those of the studied core in Wales.
An international scientific team says it can shed fresh light on the complicated interplay of factors affecting global climate and the carbon cycle after studying ancient mudstone deposits in Wales.
Chemical data reveals, the researchers say, that periodic changes in the shape of Earth's orbit around the Sun were partly responsible for changes in the carbon-cycle and global climate during and between the Triassic-Jurassic Mass Extinction (around 201 million years ago) and the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (around 183 million years ago).
Happening on Twitter
By flying past the most distant, most primitive and most pristine object ever explored by a spacecraft,… https://t.co/JEo7Ons3q4 Dr_ThomasZ (from Washington, DC) Thu Feb 13 19:21:05 +0000 2020
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