Page 171 | Sci.News: Breaking Science News

Second Ever Interstellar Meteor Discovered

Oct 10, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

Both the first and second interstellar meteors, IM1 and IM2, are outliers in material strength and may have originated in supernova explosions, according...

The young Mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 140 m deep, but it is more likely that the liquid would have pooled to form an ocean occupying almost half of Mars’s northern hemisphere, and in some regions reaching depths greater than 1.6 km. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO / N. Risinger, skysurvey.org.

Mars was Habitable for Methanogenic Microorganisms 3.7 Billion Years Ago, Study Suggests

Oct 10, 2022 by News Staff

The subsurface of Mars during the Noachian period was likely to have been habitable for microorganisms that feed on hydrogen and produce methane, according...

These images shows Jupiter’s icy moons Ganymede and Europa with Jupiter in the background. Image credit: ESO / King & Fletcher / NASA / ESA / A. Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / M.H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / OPAL Team.

SPHERE Helps Determine Surface Compositions of Europa and Ganymede

Oct 10, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope have imaged Jupiter’s...

Map of New Guinea Island and examples of fruits of (A, B) Musa acuminata ssp. banksii and closely related cultivated AA accessions from Papua New Guinea: (C) ‘Mero Mero;’ (D) ‘Nesuri;’ (E) ‘Wiau;’ (F) ‘Talasea;’ (G) ‘Seseve;’ (H) ‘Tobaung;’ (I) ‘Tavilo;’ (J) ‘Nape’e.’ Dark blue dots on the map represent collection locations for accessions within the cluster ‘banksii.’ Image credit: Julie Sardos / NARI.

Domestication History of Bananas is More Complex Than Previously Thought

Oct 10, 2022 by News Staff

New research led by the global research-for-development organization Bioversity International confirms that the genomes of today’s domesticated banana...

This Hubble image shows Terzan 1, a globular cluster located some 21,800 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Cohen.

Hubble Captures Brilliant New Image of Globular Cluster Terzan 1

Oct 10, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Terzan 1 is a globular cluster about 21,800 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius. This Hubble image shows Terzan 1, a globular cluster...

An artist’s impression of Nombe nombe (right) and other prehistoric animals from Nombe Rockshelter, Papua New Guinea. Image credit: Peter Shouten.

Some Megafaunal Species Survived in New Guinea until 20,000 Years Ago

Oct 9, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have re-examined the remains of extinct, large-bodied marsupials recovered from Pleistocene-aged layers of Nombe Rockshelter in the highlands...

This view of Europa was captured by JunoCam during Juno’s close flyby on September 29, 2022. Citizen scientist Björn Jónsson processed the view to create this image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Björn Jónsson / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Incredible New Images of Europa Released by NASA

Oct 7, 2022 by News Staff

These images of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa were taken by the JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during a close approach on September 29,...

Kopakaius nicolae. Scale bar - 50 µm. Image credit: Zawierucha et al., doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107634.

Two New Species of Glacier Tardigrades Discovered in New Zealand

Oct 7, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Biologists have described two new tardigrade genera and associated species — two of which are new to science — from the mountain glaciers of...

Artwork depicting one dinosaur’s experience of the Chicxulub impact. Image credit: Hermann Bermúdez.

Seismic Activity after Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Impact Lasted Weeks to Months: Study

Oct 7, 2022 by News Staff

About 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. This impact coincides...

Stele with the scene of the falcon god and an inscription in Greek reading: ‘It is improper to boil a head in here. Image credit: Berenike Project / Sikait Project.

Falcon Shrine Unearthed at Ptolemaic-Roman Port of Berenike

Oct 6, 2022 by News Staff

During excavations at the ancient Hellenistic-Roman port of Berenike on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, an international team of archaeologists has documented...

This Juno photo of the surface of Europa reveals a curious feature surrounded by a vast network of linear ridges and dark blotches. It was obtained by Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) during the spacecraft’s September 29, 2022, flyby of Europa at a distance of about 412 km. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI.

Juno Team Releases New Close-Up of Europa

Oct 6, 2022 by News Staff

This black-and-white image of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa was taken by the Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) instrument on board NASA’s Juno orbiter during...

Lunataspis borealis specimens and interpretive drawings. Gray indicates preservation of organic cuticular material. Abbreviations: AN - axial node; CL - cardiac lobe; CN - cardiac node; FT - free tergites; LE - lateral eye; MR - marginal rim; OR - ophthalmic ridge; PT - pretelson. Scale bars - 1 mm. Image credit: Lamsdell et al., doi: 10.1017/S0016756822000875.

New Species of Ordovician Horseshoe Crab Unearthed in Canada

Oct 6, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Horseshoe crabs, or xiphosurans, are an order of marine and brackish water arthropods. Despite their common name, they are not really crabs, and are more...

An artist’s illustration shows a white dwarf (right) circling a larger, Sun-like star (left) in an ultra-short orbit, forming a cataclysmic binary system. Image credit M. Weiss / Harvard & Smithsonian’s Center for Astrophysics.

Newly-Discovered Cataclysmic Variable Has Extremely Short Orbit

Oct 6, 2022 by News Staff

ZTF J1813+4251 is a 51-minute-orbital-period, fully eclipsing binary system consisting of a star with a temperature comparable to that of the Sun but...

Oil-damaged feathers of the Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) under a digital high-powered microscope. The microstructure within the feather clumps together after exposure to oil, letting water pass through more easily. Image credit: Richard Unitt, University College Cork.

Tiny Amounts of Crude Oil Can Damage Feathers of Seabirds, New Study Shows

Oct 6, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists have investigated the effects of surface crude oil on the feather structure of the Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), a species of seabird...

Windhorst et al. traced light that was emitted by the bright elliptical galaxy VV 191a (left) through the spiral galaxy VV 191b (right). As a result, they were able to identify the effects of interstellar dust in the spiral galaxy. Webb’s near-infrared data also shows us the galaxy’s longer, extremely dusty spiral arms in far more detail, giving them an appearance of overlapping with the central bulge of the bright white elliptical galaxy, though the pair are not interacting. In this image, green, yellow, and red were assigned to Webb’s near-infrared data taken in 0.9, 1.5, and 3.56 microns (F090W, F150W, and F356W respectively). Blue was assigned to two Hubble filters, ultraviolet data taken in 0.34 microns (F336W) and visible light in 0.61 microns (F606W). Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Rogier Windhorst, Arizona State University / William Keel, University of Alabama / Stuart Wyithe, University of Melbourne / JWST PEARLS Team.

Astronomers Trace Interstellar Dust in Backlit-Galaxy System

Oct 5, 2022 by News Staff

Dust is a key ingredient in both observed and physical properties of galaxies. It obscures and scatters stellar light, and enables star formation by acting...

Life reconstruction of Scleromochlus taylori. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

Scleromochlus taylori: Tiny Triassic Reptile is Close Relative of Pterosaurs

Oct 5, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have created the first accurate skeletal reconstruction of Scleromochlus taylori, a small species of reptile that lived during the Triassic...

These images span a range of different types of objects, including a cluster of galaxies (SMACS J0723.3-7327), a galaxy group (Stefan’s Quintet), a star-forming nebula (Carina Nebula), and a galaxy (Cartwheel Galaxy). In each image, the X-rays from Chandra show higher-energy processes than the infrared view from Webb. Additionally, infrared data from Spitzer is included in the Stephan’s Quintet composite. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / Spitzer / JPL-Caltech / Webb / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Chandra Adds X-ray Data to Webb’s Infrared Images

Oct 5, 2022 by News Staff

The Stephan’s Quintet, the Cartwheel Galaxy, the galaxy cluster SMACS J0723.3-7327, and the Carina Nebula were among the first publicly released images...

An artist’s impression of an extrasolar submoon. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Nitrous Oxide Could Help Detect Extraterrestrial Life on Exo-Earths

Oct 5, 2022 by News Staff

Nitrous oxide (also known as laughing gas) — a product of microbial nitrogen metabolism — is a compelling exoplanet biosignature gas with distinctive...

This painting depicts an asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is today southeast Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65 million years ago, is believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image credit: Donald E. Davis / NASA.

Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Impact Produced Global Tsunami, New Research Suggests

Oct 5, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

About 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. The impact eradicated...