Latest news with #SolarSystemDynamicsGroup
Gizmodo
3 days ago
- General
- Gizmodo
A Rogue Star Could Hurl Earth Into Deep Space, Study Warns
Mars is not safe either. Billions of years from now, the Sun will swell into a red giant, swallowing Mercury, Venus, and Earth. But that's not the only way our planet could meet its demise. A new simulation points to the menacing threat of a passing field star that could cause the planets in the solar system to collide or fling Earth far from the Sun. When attempting to model the evolution of the solar system, astronomers have often treated our host star and its orbiting planets as an isolated system. In reality, however, the Milky Way is teeming with stars that may get too close and threaten the stability of the solar system. A new study, published in the journal Icarus, suggests that stars passing close to the solar system will likely influence the orbits of the planets, causing another planet to smack into Earth or send our home planet flying. In most cases, passing stars are inconsequential, but one could trigger chaos in the solar system—mainly because of a single planet. The closest planet to the Sun, Mercury, is prone to instability as its orbit can become more elliptical. Astronomers believe that this increasing eccentricity could destabilize Mercury's orbit, potentially leading it to collide with Venus or the Sun. If a star happens to be nearby, it would only make things worse. The researchers ran 2,000 simulations using NASA's Horizons System, a tool from the Solar System Dynamics Group that precisely tracks the positions of objects in our solar system. They then inserted scenarios involving passing stars and found that stellar flybys over the next 5 billion years could make the solar system about 50% less stable. With passing stars, Pluto has a 3.9% chance of being ejected from the solar system, while Mercury and Mars are the two planets most often lost after a stellar flyby. Earth's instability rate is lower, but it has a higher chance of its orbit becoming unstable if another planet crashes into it. 'In addition, we find that the nature of stellar-driven instabilities is more violent than internally driven ones,' the researchers wrote in the paper. 'The loss of multiple planets in stellar-driven instabilities is common and occurs about 50% of the time, whereas it appears quite rare for internally driven instabilities.' The probability of Earth's orbit becoming unstable is hundreds of times larger than prior estimates, according to the study. Well, that just gives us one more thing to worry about.
Hans India
15-05-2025
- Science
- Hans India
NASA Finally Explains Why the Moon's Far Side Is So Different From Its Near Side
The sharp difference between the Moon's two faces—the enigmatic far side, sometimes known as the "dark side," and the well-known near side, which is constantly facing Earth—has baffled scientists for decades. Finally, we have answers because of NASA's innovative research. A recent study that was published in Nature explains the stark differences between these two hemispheres of the Moon using data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission. Earth's gravitational pull is a major factor in the near side's substantially warmer and more geologically active interior compared to the far side, according to the findings. Gravity Hints Under the Surface Researchers were able to develop a high-resolution model that depicts the Moon's minor deformation under Earth's gravity by measuring minute changes in the Moon's gravitational field. This flexing, often referred to as tidal deformation, provides information about the internal structure of the Moon. "There is something fundamentally different about the internal structure of the Moon's near side compared to its far side," stated Ryan Park, leader of NASA's Solar System Dynamics Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, "because we found that the Moon's near side is flexing more than the far side." "We were shocked by the outcome when we initially examined the data and didn't think it was real. Therefore, we performed the computations numerous times to confirm the results. This is a total of ten years of labour. The Reasons Behind the Hotter Side The mantle of the near side is thought to be 100–200 degrees Celsius warmer than that of the far side, according to the study. The abundance of radioactive materials like thorium and titanium on the Earth-facing side of the Moon is probably the cause of this heat differential. Ancient volcanic activity on the near side, which produced the vast, black plains known as Mare, was fuelled in part by this tempe Old Volcanism Sculpted the Moon Once the near side was changed by intensive volcanism, heat-producing materials were also transported deeper into the Moon's interior, leaving behind the gravitational fingerprints GRAIL found. Long-held beliefs that early volcanic activity created the Moon's striking asymmetry and left behind a geological record that is still discernible and quantifiable now are supported by these imbalance. The further side, however, is still rocky, extensively cratered, and has a calmer geology. An Insight into Planetary Science from the Moon From regulating ocean tides to stabilising our planet's spin, the Moon is essential to life on Earth in addition to its scientific significance. The Moon's interior composition and past history are still mostly unknown, despite the fact that human and robotic missions have learnt a great deal about its surface. Park stated that this research advances our knowledge of how the Moon and other planetary bodies changed over billions of years.
TimesLIVE
15-05-2025
- Science
- TimesLIVE
Gravity study shows why moon's two sides look so different
An exhaustive examination of lunar gravity using data obtained by two Nasa robotic spacecraft is offering new clues about why the two sides of the moon — the one perpetually facing Earth and the other always facing away — look so different. The data from the US space agency's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), mission indicates that the moon's deep interior has an asymmetrical structure, apparently caused by intense volcanism on its nearside billions of years ago that helped shape its surface features. The researchers discovered that the lunar nearside flexes slightly more than the farside during its elliptical orbit around Earth thanks to our planet's gravitational influence — a process called tidal deformation. This indicates differences in the two sides of the lunar interior, they said, specifically in the geological layer called the mantle. "Our study shows that the moon's interior is not uniform: the side facing Earth - the nearside — is warmer and more geologically active deep down than the far side," said Ryan Park, supervisor of the Solar System Dynamics Group at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. The moon's nearside is covered by vast plains, called mare, formed from molten rock that cooled and solidified billions of years ago. Its far side has much more rugged terrain, with few plains.
NDTV
15-05-2025
- Science
- NDTV
Why The Moon's Two Sides Look So Different: Study Explains
Washington: An exhaustive examination of lunar gravity using data obtained by two NASA robotic spacecraft is offering new clues about why the two sides of the moon - the one perpetually facing Earth and the other always facing away - look so different. The data from the US space agency's GRAIL, or Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, mission indicates that the moon's deep interior has an asymmetrical structure, apparently caused by intense volcanism on its nearside billions of years ago that helped shape its surface features. The researchers discovered that the lunar nearside flexes slightly more than the farside during its elliptical orbit around Earth thanks to our planet's gravitational influence - a process called tidal deformation. This indicates differences in the two sides of the lunar interior, they said, specifically in the geological layer called the mantle. "Our study shows that the moon's interior is not uniform: the side facing Earth - the nearside - is warmer and more geologically active deep down than the farside," said Ryan Park, supervisor of the Solar System Dynamics Group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. The moon's nearside is covered by vast plains, called mare, formed from molten rock that cooled and solidified billions of years ago. Its farside has much more rugged terrain, with few plains. Some scientists have hypothesized that intense volcanism within the nearside that caused radioactive, heat-generating elements to accumulate on that side of the mantle drove the surface differences observed today. The new findings offer the strongest evidence yet to support this notion. The researchers estimated that the nearside mantle on average is about 180-360 degrees Fahrenheit (100-200 degrees Celsius) hotter than the farside, with the thermal difference perhaps sustained by radioactive decay of the elements thorium and titanium on the nearside. "The moon's nearside and farside look very different, as shown by differences in topography, crustal thickness and the amount of heat-producing elements inside," Park said. The moon's diameter of about 2,160 miles (3,475 km) is a bit more than a quarter of Earth's diameter. The lunar mantle is the layer located beneath the crust and above the core, spanning a depth about 22-870 miles (35-1,400 km) under the surface. The mantle makes up roughly 80% of the moon's mass and volume and is composed mostly of the minerals olivine and pyroxene, similar to Earth's mantle. "The fact that the detected asymmetry in the mantle matches the pattern of the surface geology - for instance, differences in the abundance of the approximately 3-4 billion-year-old mare basalts (volcanic rock) between the nearside and the farside - suggests that processes which drove ancient lunar volcanism are active today," said Caltech computational planetary scientist and study co-author Alex Berne, affiliated with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory working on the design of gravity sensors for missions to the outer solar system. The researchers spent years analyzing data from GRAIL's Ebb and Flow spacecraft, which orbited the moon from December 2011 to December 2012. "Our study delivers the most detailed and accurate gravitational map of the moon to date," Park said. "This enhanced gravity map is a critical foundation for developing lunar Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) systems, which are essential for the success of future lunar exploration missions. By improving our understanding of the moon's gravity field, it contributes to establishing a precise lunar reference frame and time system, enabling safer and more reliable navigation for spacecraft and surface operations," Park added. The same approach employed here using gravity data to assess the lunar interior, the researchers said, could be applied to other bodies in the solar system such as Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Ganymede, two worlds of interest in the search for potential life beyond Earth. In the meantime, the new findings add to the understanding of Earth's eternal companion. "The moon plays a vital role in stabilizing Earth's rotation and generating ocean tides, which influence natural systems and daily rhythms," Park said. "Our knowledge of the moon has expanded through human and robotic missions that have revealed details about its surface and interior, yet many questions about its deep structure and history remain. As our closest neighbor, the moon continues to be an important focus of scientific discovery."
India Today
15-05-2025
- Science
- India Today
Gravity reveals what's hiding beneath the Moon's surface
Moon has two sides, one visible to us and the other permanently hidden away from Earth as the natural satellite remains tidally locked on one side.A new Nasa study, published in Nature, has now revealed why the two sides, the far side and the nearside, of the Moon are completely different from each developed a new gravity model of the Moon that includes tiny variations in the celestial body's gravity during its elliptical orbit around Earth. Nasa said that these fluctuations cause the Moon to flex slightly due to Earth's tidal force — a process called tidal deformation — which provides critical insights into the Moon's deep internal The data from the Nasa's GRAIL, or Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, mission indicates that the moon's deep interior has an asymmetrical structure, apparently caused by intense volcanism on its nearside billions of years ago that helped shape its surface features."Our study shows that the moon's interior is not uniform: the side facing Earth - the nearside - is warmer and more geologically active deep down than the farside," said Ryan Park, supervisor of the Solar System Dynamics Group at NASA's Jet Propulsion moon's nearside is covered by vast plains, called mare, formed from molten rock that cooled and solidified billions of years ago. Its farside has much more rugged terrain, with few researchers estimated that the nearside mantle on average is about 100-200 degrees Celsius hotter than the farside, with the thermal difference perhaps sustained by radioactive decay of the elements thorium and titanium on the theories suggest intense volcanism on the near side likely caused the gravitational differences. That process would have caused radioactive, heat-generating elements to accumulate deep inside the near side's mantle, and the new study offers the strongest evidence yet that this is likely the case."The moon plays a vital role in stabilising Earth's rotation and generating ocean tides, which influence natural systems and daily rhythms. Our knowledge of the moon has expanded through human and robotic missions that have revealed details about its surface and interior, yet many questions about its deep structure and history remain. As our closest neighbour, the moon continues to be an important focus of scientific discovery," Ryan a second study, also published in the journal Nature, Ryan focused on Vesta, an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and found that instead of having distinct layers as expected, Vesta's internal structure may be mostly uniform, with a very small iron core or no core at the two studies, the team could better understand what the Moon and Vesta are made of and how planetary bodies across the solar system Watch
