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Astronomers capture the birth of planets around a baby sun outside our solar system

Astronomers capture the birth of planets around a baby sun outside our solar system

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronomers have discovered the earliest seeds of rocky planets forming in the gas around a baby sun-like star , providing a precious peek into the dawn of our own solar system .
It's an unprecedented snapshot of 'time zero,' scientists reported Wednesday, when new worlds begin to gel.
'We've captured a direct glimpse of the hot region where rocky planets like Earth are born around young protostars,' said Leiden Observatory's Melissa McClure from the Netherlands, who led the international research team. 'For the first time, we can conclusively say that the first steps of planet formation are happening right now.'
The observations offer a unique glimpse into the inner workings of an emerging planetary system, said the University of Chicago's Fred Ciesla, who was not involved in the study appearing in the journal Nature.
'This is one of the things we've been waiting for. Astronomers have been thinking about how planetary systems form for a long period of time,' Ciesla said. 'There's a rich opportunity here.'
NASA's Webb Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory in Chile teamed up to unveil these early nuggets of planetary formation around the young star known as HOPS-315. It's a yellow dwarf in the making like the sun, yet much younger at 100,000 to 200,000 years old and some 1,370 light-years away. A single light-year is 6 trillion miles.
In a cosmic first, McClure and her team stared deep into the gas disk around the baby star and detected solid specks condensing — signs of early planet formation. A gap in the outer part of the disk gave allowed them to gaze inside, thanks to the way the star tilts toward Earth.
They detected silicon monoxide gas as well as crystalline silicate minerals, the ingredients for what's believed to be the first solid materials to form in our solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago. The action is unfolding in a location comparable to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter containing the leftover building blocks of our solar system's planets.
The condensing of hot minerals was never detected before around other young stars, 'so we didn't know if it was a universal feature of planet formation or a weird feature of our solar system,' McClure said in an email. 'Our study shows that it could be a common process during the earliest stage of planet formation.'
While other research has looked at younger gas disks and, more commonly, mature disks with potential planet wannabes, there's been no specific evidence for the start of planet formation until now, McClure said.
In a stunning picture taken by the ESO's Alma telescope network, the emerging planetary system resembles a lightning bug glowing against the black void.
It's impossible to know how many planets might form around HOPS-315. With a gas disk as massive as the sun's might have been, it could also wind up with eight planets a million or more years from now, according to McClure.
Purdue University's Merel van 't Hoff, a co-author, is eager to find more budding planetary systems. By casting a wider net, astronomers can look for similarities and determine which processes might be crucial to forming Earth-like worlds.
'Are there Earth-like planets out there or are we like so special that we might not expect it to occur very often?'
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AP video journalist Javier Arciga contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Pacific Northwest tech pioneers team up in quantum realms and on the space frontier
Pacific Northwest tech pioneers team up in quantum realms and on the space frontier

Geek Wire

time29 minutes ago

  • Geek Wire

Pacific Northwest tech pioneers team up in quantum realms and on the space frontier

At left: Microsoft's Majorana quantum chip. At right: Xplore's Xcraft satellite. (Credits: Microsoft / Xplore) BELLEVUE, Wash. — Quantum physics and outer space may seem as different as two tech frontiers can be, but the challenges facing Pacific Northwest ventures that are aiming to make their fortune on those frontiers are surprisingly similar. Amid the current turbulence on the national political scene, it's getting harder to capture the attention — and gain the support — of the federal government, which has historically been the leading funder of research and development. And that means it's more important than ever for researchers, industry leaders and local officials to join forces. 'Think of it as a triad,' said Jason Yager, executive director of the Montana Photonics and Quantum Alliance, which is one of the beneficiaries of a $41 million Tech Hub grant awarded by the federal government a year ago. 'If all of these pieces are working together, then where they meet is socio-economic growth, and then you're ready to bring in the additional funding to launch that.' Yager and other tech leaders from the northwest U.S. and western Canada compared notes today at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue during the Pacific Northwest Economic Region's annual summit. The topics covered at this week's sessions included AI and aviation — tech frontiers in which the Pacific Northwest has had a longstanding leadership role, thanks to the likes of Boeing, Microsoft and Amazon. In contrast, the frontiers of space commerce and quantum information sciences are far less settled. To be sure, there are grand aspirations. 'We like to say we're the Silicon Valley of space here in Puget Sound,' Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said last year at the opening of Amazon's Project Kuiper satellite factory in Kirkland, Wash. And a couple of years ago, regional tech leaders said Washington state has a chance to create a 'Quantum Valley' modeled after Silicon Valley. But in both realms, other regions — ranging from California to Colorado to Chicago — are competing for attention. 'I'm tired of students getting admitted to Berkeley and University of Washington, and having them pick Berkeley,' said Charles Marcus, a UW professor who heads up a public-private consortium called the Northwest Quantum Nexus. 'I want them to pick University of Washington. I want to be better than Berkeley. That's going to take some concentration, but the rewards are big.' The quantum perspective One of the items on Marcus' to-do list is to get the Northwest Quantum Nexus' website back online. The Nexus was established back in 2019 by UW, Microsoft and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to bring together researchers, developers and business leaders in the field of quantum computing. While classical computers process binary bits that can only represent ones or zeroes, quantum computers work with qubits that can represent multiple values simultaneously until the results are read out. The technique — which makes use of superconducting circuits or trapped ions — can theoretically execute certain types of algorithms much faster than classical techniques can. Researchers are closing in on the creation of quantum hardware that will be able to follow through on those theoretical promises. Last week, for example, a Danish consortium announced that it would host what it called the world's most powerful quantum computer by the end of next year, with Microsoft providing the software. Marcus and his colleagues acknowledge that they don't yet know exactly what quantum computers will be capable of. 'It's kinda like you're trying to predict what computers are going to do, pre-ENIAC, pre-vacuum tube, like getting into mechanical computers,' said John Gamble, senior director of architecture at IonQ. That company is headquartered in Maryland but opened a quantum computer factory in Bothell, Wash., last year. University of Washington Professor Charles Marcus stretches out his arm to make a point during a quantum tech forum at the Pacific Northwest Economic Region's annual summit. Other panelists include Jason Yager, executive director of the Montana Photonics and Quantum Alliance, to Marcus' left; Nardo Manaloto, managing partner at Qubit Ventures; John Gamble, senior director of architecture at IonQ; and Alison Berg, chief marketing officer at Photonic Inc. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) This type of quantum uncertainty can make it difficult to catch the attention of funders and investors. But the Montana Photonics and Quantum Alliance has been meeting with success by focusing on workforce development. Yager compared the strategy to what happened during the California Gold Rush in 1848. 'There were some miners who struck it rich and became millionaires,' he said. 'There were some who made a living. There were some who lost their shirts. But there were others who did really well, and those were the ones in the supply chain. We still see Wells Fargo today. There's Levi's being worn here in the room that came out of that gold rush, that supply chain.' Similarly, the skills required for quantum development can be applied to other tech fields. In Montana, the graduates of Gallatin College's photonics and laser technology program have gone on to successful careers in communications, defense, homeland security, medical devices and information technology. Looking more broadly at the quantum landscape, Yager said he was worried that America was falling behind other countries. 'We just don't have the political will at this time to compete,' he said. 'And I hate to say that, because that's historically not been the case for the United States. But with the National Quantum Initiative that funded, to date, $2.6 billion, and China at $138 billion — it's an order of magnitude.' Marcus is also worried about future funding. 'We've all heard the reports from the National Science Foundation. They are dire. They will be brain-draining,' he said. 'I assure you that scientists will be fine. They'll just be somewhere else.' He highlighted the need to upgrade academic facilities that focus on physics and materials science. 'The buildings are underfunded, and I don't have a clue about how to solve that problem,' Marcus said. 'But I leave it to the smart people in this room to think of a solution to keep the facilities at the universities in our region A-plus, because people will vote with their feet.' Which brings us back to the Northwest Quantum Nexus' website. When Marcus took on the lead role at the Nexus, he completely reworked its mission. 'The new director of it — who is me — flattened the organization and said the door is open. Come in and join,' he said. 'If you're from a state that is arguably not in the Pacific Northwest, or is, come on in. Be with us. If you're from a company that maybe doesn't have your headquarters in the Pacific Northwest, come on in. Be with us.' In the meantime, the Northwest Quantum Nexus' domain registration lapsed, and by the time Marcus was able to renew it, the website had been wiped clean. Now the site is being redesigned with financial support from the Washington Technology Industry Association. 'We're going to be offline for about a month … and then we're going to be great,' Marcus said. The space perspective The Pacific Northwest's space industry isn't facing quite as much uncertainty as the region's quantum community. For example, more than half of the world's satellites are built at SpaceX's facility in Redmond, Wash. And that's not all. Satellite factories operated in the Seattle area by Amazon's Project Kuiper, Aerojet Rocketdyne / L3Harris, LeoStella and Xplore add to the tally. Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, rates as the region's biggest space company — and there are scores of other Pacific Northwest space companies including Stoke Space, Starfish Space, Gravitics, Hubble Network, Interlune, Kymeta, New Frontier Aerospace, Radian Aerospace and RBC Signals. But when it comes to getting attention from the rest of the world, the Pacific Northwest has to fight for attention. 'There are two or three locations that get all the love from the leadership — local, state level, province level and at the federal level. That is L.A.; the greater Denver area in Colorado; and Washington, D.C.,' said Jeff Thornburg, CEO of Bothell, Wash.-based Portal Space Systems. 'I see an opportunity for the Pacific Northwest region to start to create that center of influence here that doesn't really quite exist yet.' Hector Huguet, director of strategic solutions at Redmond-based Kymeta, gestures during a space industry panel at the Pacific Northwest Economic Region's annual summit. Other panelists include Kristen Smithson, vice president for production and supply chain at BlackSky, which is based in Virginia but has a substantial Seattle-area presence; Lisa Rich, co-founder and chief operating officer at Bellevue-based Xplore; and Jeff Thornburg, CEO of Bothell-based Portal Space Systems. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) It's not just a matter of bragging rights: The Pacific Northwest's space ecosystem needs a critical mass to attract the officials who decide which companies receive billions of dollars in government contracts for space services. 'It's very difficult to get the U.S. political leadership out to Seattle to see all of the things that are going on, because typically they spend their travel time in D.C., Colorado and California,' Thornburg said. Lisa Rich, co-founder and chief operating officer for Bellevue-based Xplore, said other regions seem more willing to provide direct support to space startups. 'We have friends in Colorado that have startups where they've been given free rent for a year. … Effectively, my understanding is that they could have an employee for six months and have that funded,' she said. Michael Doyle, co-founder and president of Space Northwest, noted that some of the perks that other states can offer aren't allowed under Washington state law. 'That's why we seek other ways to do it,' he said. 'But it's not easy.' Space Northwest serves as an association for the Pacific Northwest's space industry, and there are other groupings as well. In 2023, the city of Redmond provided a spotlight for its space presence, including SpaceX's satellite operation, by establishing the 'Redmond Space District.' Now Rich is trying to create a similar grouping she calls the '405 Space Data Corridor' to bring attention to Xplore and other Eastside companies that specialize in satellite data products. 'It's so impactful to just see what's happening here, and that it's not just the big companies,' Rich said. 'There's a whole ecosystem of companies that are popping up around them. There have been engineers that have worked at those large companies and have seen an opportunity that they weren't able to get through, and they said, 'You know what? I'm going to start my own business.' And so, yes, we've seen that in L.A., and I think we're seeing it more and more in the Pacific Northwest.' Doyle is hopeful that the Pacific Northwest will get its turn in the space spotlight. 'I feel like the critical mass is coming together,' he said.

SpaceX delays launch of NASA TRACERS mission until Wednesday
SpaceX delays launch of NASA TRACERS mission until Wednesday

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

SpaceX delays launch of NASA TRACERS mission until Wednesday

July 22 (UPI) -- The NASA TRACERS mission is set to launch on Wednesday atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket after SpaceX postponed Tuesday's launch due to "airspace concerns." SpaceX officials scrubbed Tuesday's launch at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California just 45 seconds before liftoff. The launch was canceled "due to [Federal Aviation Administration] airspace concerns that created a no-go condition for launch," SpaceX posted on social media. Wednesday's launch is scheduled for 11:13 a.m. PDT with a 57-minute launch window to send NASA's twin Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites into orbit. The TRACERS mission aims to "help understand magnetic reconnection and its effects in Earth's atmosphere." NASA will also send three payloads, the Athena EPIC, the Polylingual Experimental Terminal and the Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss, with the mission. The mission's launch window opens at 11:13 a.m. PDT on Wednesday with a 57-minute window from the Vandenberg Space Force Base's Space Launch Complex 4 East. About eight minutes after liftoff, Falcon 9's first stage will land on SpaceX's Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, according to SpaceX. "There is the possibility that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the landing, but what residents experience will depend on weather and other conditions," SpaceX officials said.

Man's Deadly Brain Tumor Vanishes After Taking Breakthrough Drug: ‘Lucky Break in a Devastating Situation'
Man's Deadly Brain Tumor Vanishes After Taking Breakthrough Drug: ‘Lucky Break in a Devastating Situation'

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Man's Deadly Brain Tumor Vanishes After Taking Breakthrough Drug: ‘Lucky Break in a Devastating Situation'

A man with one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer is now hopeful for the future after his tumor completely disappeared thanks to a breakthrough drug. In October 2022, Ben Trotman was 40 years old when he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a rare form of terminal cancer that kills more than 10,000 Americans a year, according to the National Brain Tumor Society. Glioblastoma, also known as GBM, has no known cure. Standard treatment involves surgery to remove the tumor (if possible), followed by radiation and chemotherapy. The disease is considered a highly invasive tumor in the central nervous system because its cells reproduce extremely quickly. Those who are diagnosed with the malignant tumor have a median survival rate of about 14 to 14.5 months. Following his diagnosis, Trotman was referred by a friend to The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at University College London Hospitals (UCLH). There, Dr. Paul Mulholland, a consultant medical oncologist, recruited Trotman to be the first patient in his clinical trial. The trial involved him receiving the immunotherapy drug ipilimumab to treat his glioblastoma before undergoing any standard treatment. Afterward, Trotman began radiation and chemotherapy. 'The crucial element of this trial is that patients will have their immune system boosted by the drug before they have any other treatment, when they are fit and well enough to tolerate the immunotherapy,' Mulholland said in a press release. The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! Two years and eight months after being the sole participant in the clinical trial, Trotman, now 43, is tumor-free, and his scans have come back clear. 'It is very unusual to have a clear scan with glioblastoma, especially when he didn't have the follow-up surgery that had been planned to remove all of the tumour that was initially visible on scans,' Mulholland explained. 'We hope that the immunotherapy and follow-up treatment Ben has had will hold his tumour at bay, and it has so far, which we are delighted to see.' Mulholland added that his goal is to find a cure for the 'devastating disease' that is glioblastoma, and he's hoping to move forward with additional patients. Trotman is now married to wife Emily, and the couple welcomed daughter Mabel in April. The couple told the hospital that the clinical trial gave Trotman his life back. 'Getting this diagnosis was the most traumatic experience,' Emily said. 'We were grappling with the fact that Ben had gone from being apparently perfectly healthy to having months to live. Had we not met Dr. Mulholland, that would have been it for us. We felt we had a lucky break in an otherwise devastating situation.' 'We obviously don't know what the future holds, but having had the immunotherapy treatment and getting these encouraging scan results has given Emily and I a bit of hope,' Trotman added. 'We are focused on rebuilding the life we thought we had lost and enjoying being parents.' The new father said he's hoping that his brain cancer journey will give others hope and inspire more patients to participate in the next clinical trial. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! Dame Siobhain McDonagh — member of parliament of the UK who lost her sister from glioblastoma in 2023 — led a fundraising campaign and raised more than €1 million to cover the costs of the next trial. 'My beloved sister Margaret was appalled to discover that there had been no advances in brain cancer treatment for decades when she was diagnosed with glioblastoma,' McDonagh said. 'Changing this was Margaret's final campaign and one that I have continued in her memory. I am so grateful to the many people who knew and respected Margaret who have come together and helped to raise funds and campaign for this new trial that we are calling Margaret's Trial.' Mullholland recalled meeting Margaret. 'When I met Margaret, she said to me, 'What can I do to support you to cure this disease?'" 'I am incredibly grateful to her and to Siobhain, whose campaigning and fundraising in her sister's memory has led to this new clinical trial opening for patients with this most aggressive form of brain cancer that has such a poor prognosis.' Read the original article on People

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