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3 days ago
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James Webb telescope spots weird changes on Jupiter's icy moon Europa
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. You'd think that icy worlds are frozen in time and space because they're — well — icy. However, planetary scientists know that all worlds can and do change, no matter how long it takes. That's true for Europa, one of Jupiter's four largest moons. Recent observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) zero in on the Europan surface ices and show they're constantly changing. Dr. Ujjwal Raut of the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) reported on the changes reflected in the JWST studies. Not only does Europa's surface have amorphous ice, but there's evidence of crystalline ice scattered around there. That indicates the presence of an active water source, such as the subsurface ocean. It also points toward geologic processes that affect the surface. The changes seen at Europa are very short-term, perhaps two weeks in some places. "Our data showed strong indications that what we are seeing must be sourced from the interior, perhaps from a subsurface ocean nearly 20 miles (30 kilometers) beneath Europa's thick icy shell," said Raut. "This region of fractured surface materials could point to geologic processes pushing subsurface materials up from below. When we see evidence of CO2 at the surface, we think it must have come from an ocean below the surface. The evidence for a liquid ocean underneath Europa's icy shell is mounting, which makes this so exciting as we continue to learn more." As a Galilean moon, Europa orbits near the planet and within its strong magnetic field. Thus, the surface gets bombarded by radiation. It is tidally locked, meaning it shows the same face to Jupiter as it orbits. Europa has a rocky and metallic interior, covered by an ocean and topped by an icy shell that's fairly young in geological terms. It appears to be no more than 180 million years old. That tells us it has been resurfaced from within. JWST's spectral studies of the surface show that the ice crystallizes in different ways in various places. Generally, water ice freezes into hexagonal crystals. That's what we see on Earth when it snows or when rain freezes. However, Earth's surface is largely protected from outside influences such as radiation and the ice stays in crystalline form much longer. Related: 'Previously unimaginable': James Webb telescope breaks its own record again, discovering farthest known galaxy in the universe On Europa, charged particles trapped in Jupiter's magnetic field bombard the surface. That disrupts the crystalline structure of the ice, turning it into amorphous ice. If that's all that ever happened to Europa's surface, you'd expect to see amorphous ice everywhere. Instead, the JWST spectral studies showed evidence of crystalline ice. There are also other surface "units", such as ridges and cracks. Radiation doesn't explain them, but other processes can create them. Combined with the new data collected by JWST, Raut said they are seeing increasing evidence for a liquid ocean beneath the icy surface. Scientists thought that Europa's surface was covered by a very thin (perhaps half a meter thick) layer of amorphous ice protecting crystalline ice below. The new evidence of crystalline ice on the surface also shows up in other areas, especially an area known as the Tara Regio. According to co-author Richard Cartwright of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, the surface may be different than expected in places. "We think that the surface is fairly porous and warm enough in some areas to allow the ice to recrystallize rapidly," said Cartwright. "Also, in this same region, generally referred to as a chaos region, we see a lot of other unusual things, including the best evidence for sodium chloride, like table salt, probably originating from its interior ocean. We also see some of the strongest evidence for CO2 and hydrogen peroxide on Europa. The chemistry in this location is really strange and exciting." Related: How many moons does Jupiter have? The CO2 found in this area includes the most common type of carbon, with an atomic mass of 12 and containing six protons and six neutrons, as well as the rarer, heavier isotope that has an atomic mass of 13 with six protons and seven neutrons. That raises questions about the origin of the CO2. "It is hard to explain, but every road leads back to an internal origin, which is in line with other hypotheses about the origin of 12CO2 detected in Tara Regio," Cartwright said. So, how is water forced to the surface? There are two main sources of heat at work: tidal heating and radioactive decay at the core. Both of these processes warm the subsurface ocean and force water to the surface. What causes the chaotic terrain seen at Europa in such places as Tara Regio? There are several possible ways. One way is through the formation of chaos regions — those places that appear to be cracked and jumbled. They could be the result of material forcing its way via diapirs (think of them as stovepipes from below that convey warmer water and slush up to the surface). Once that water gets to the surface, it freezes rapidly into the crystalline ice JWST detected. The water also brings up dissolved CO2 and other materials. RELATED STORIES —Jupiter's moon Europa lacks oxygen, making it less hospitable for sustaining life —Jupiter's 'tormented moon' Io just unleashed the most powerful volcanic event ever seen —If alien life exists on Europa, we may find it in hydrothermal vents Another method for water delivery to the surface is through plumes. These geysers shower the surface with ice grains. Other mechanisms that could be forming crystalline ice are migration from other parts of the surface and impact exposure. Impacts are well known to "garden out" fresh ice in a short period of time. Such a collision may well explain the ice seen at Tara. This resurfacing with crystalline ice is relatively short-lived. That's because the constant bombardment of charged particles works immediately to create amorphous ice. The authors of the paper (see below) state that the charged particle-driven process that changes the ice may work in as little as 15 days on Europa's leading hemisphere. In other places, that might work faster. So, given that Europa is constantly refreshing its surface and charged particles are rapidly breaking that ice down, Europa is a busy, constantly changing place. The upcoming Europa Clipper mission should be able to study these regions in more detail during its many close passes of this tiny moon. The original version of this article was published on Universe Today.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Science
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Stronger Solar Activity Cycles May Be in the Sun's Forecast
A year ago this weekend, the sun's activity created some of the most spectacular auroras on record, with displays visible as far south as Florida. The incredible spectacles last May (and another auroral outburst last October) were partly a matter of luck because several factors, some of them serendipitous, affect the appearance of aurora. But the sun had been primed to put on a show as it approached the maximum phase of its 11-year activity cycle—and that high activity continues today. This solar cycle still has the potential to cause more celestial spectacles before activity calms down. And scientists say that the coming solar cycles may be even more eventful. But it remains quite difficult to predict the sun's behavior. 'Solar storms—it's a probabilistic thing, so sometimes they don't always do what you would expect,' says Lisa Upton, a heliophysicist at the Southwest Research Institute. [Sign up for Today in Science, a free daily newsletter] The sun is essentially a massive liquid magnet. Heliophysicists gauge our star's activity by tallying the number of sunspots—relatively 'cold' knots of its magnetic field that are often the source of radiation and plasma outbursts—on its surface. (Scientists monitor this tally in real time, but they evaluate the solar cycle's stages based on smoothed averages over many months. So the formal declaration of a cycle's solar maximum and minimum always happens after the fact.) The number of sunspots naturally rises and falls over about 11 years, during which the sun's magnetic poles first strengthen, then weaken and finally flip. When the sun's magnetic field is calmest—with one pole that is firmly positive and one that is firmly negative—activity is at its minimum, as it was most recently around December 2019, and the star is sometimes entirely free of blemishes. For more than a year now, the sun has been in the opposite phase—the solar maximum—with a messy magnetic field, plenty of sunspots and regular outbursts. August 2024 produced the most sunspots of any recent month, with more than 200 such storms. Sunspots have since become less numerous, but it's still unclear whether the solar maximum is truly on its way out. 'We've had a little bit of a slowdown in activity [during] the last couple months. That's not too surprising,' Upton says. 'A question at this point, which will be interesting, is whether or not we're going to have another little spike in activity.' She says that if such a spike were to happen, it would likely come within about three months, mirroring a small spike that occurred in June and July 2023. 'But the sun likes to surprise us,' Upton adds, 'so we'll see if that happens.' Even as scientists watch the current solar cycle unfold, they're also working to understand what future cycles might bring. That's a difficult task, given that modern science is only in the 25th activity cycle in which researchers have made plentiful sunspot observations. More sophisticated observations that help scientists understand the sun in detail, such as space-based observations and magnetic data, are even newer, with some offering insight into only a couple of solar cycles thus far. Scientists can study tree rings and ice cores to get a basic sense of solar activity before observations began, but these data are less detailed and don't provide precise sunspot counts. One hypothesis suggests that the sun displays a longer-term variability called the Gleissberg cycle, named for astronomer Wolfgang Gleissberg, who posited such 80-year cycles in the 1960s. (Other proposed longer-duration cycles in solar behavior include the Suess–de Vries cycle, lasting 195 to 235 years, and the Hallstatt cycle, stretching over some 2,400 years.) And a new analysis of protons trapped in the inner radiation belt that surrounds Earth suggests a new Gleissberg cycle may be beginning. Not all heliophysicists are sold on the Gleissberg cycle, however, given the scant data scientists have to work with. 'It's kind of debatable whether or not this is a physical phenomenon versus a statistical phenomenon,' Upton says. Regardless, chances are good that during the coming solar cycles, the sun will be more active than it has been over the past two decades. That's because Solar Cycle 24, which dominated the 2010s, was one of the weakest on record—and the current cycle has remained below average in activity. 'We, as humans, have a short memory, and a lot of people have been wowed and amazed by what's been going on in the last year or two on the sun,' Upton says. 'There's this tendency for us to forget this longer-term variability in what the sun is doing.' The sun's activity doesn't just paint our skies with spectacular auroras. The radiation and plasma outbursts the sun emits can have real consequences for terrestrial life: solar storms can interfere with satellites in orbit, including communication and navigation infrastructure, and serious incidents can even affect the power grid on Earth. And if our technology is vulnerable to the set of phenomena collectively called space weather, human bodies are even more so. Fortunately, people on Earth's surface are well shielded from the sun's activity by a magnetic bubble that surrounds our planet and deflects much of the most dangerous emissions. The risks of solar activity stretch throughout the solar system, however. As NASA and other space agencies look to send humans beyond orbit, to the moon and to Mars, these organizations will need to protect astronauts from the dangers of space weather—work that will include better predictions of what conditions these outer regions are likely to experience. 'As solar cycle activity ramps up—and it is very likely to do so because we are in weaker-than-average cycles—it's going to become more and more important to be able to understand space weather not just in the direction of Earth,' Upton says.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Science
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Space photo of the day for April 30, 2025
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A new study from the NASA New Horizons mission team at the Southwest Research Institute have resulted in a first-of-its-type map from the Milky Way galaxy in an ultraviolet wavelength, revealing details in the region around our solar system. This spectrograph map, generated from data collected by NASA's New Horizons probe, depicts the relatively uniform brightness of the ultraviolet (UV) "Lyman-alpha" background surrounding the sun and its area of influence."Understanding the Lyman-alpha background helps shed light on nearby galactic structures and processes," said Dr. Randy Gladstone with the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Colorado. "This research suggests that hot interstellar gas bubbles like the one our solar system is embedded within may actually be regions of enhanced hydrogen gas emissions at a wavelength called Lyman alpha." Lyman-alpha is a specific wavelength of UV light emitted and scattered by hydrogen atoms. It is useful when studying distant stars, galaxies and the interstellar medium, as it can help detect the composition, temperature and movement of these distant this spectrograph map, the black dots represent approximately 90,000 known UV-bright stars in our galaxy. New Horizons, which began as the first mission to flyby Pluto, collected baseline data about Lyman-alpha emissions during its initial journey to the small, icy world. After the spacecraft's primary objectives at Pluto were completed, New Horizons' ultraviolet spectrograph (named "Alice") was used to make more frequent surveys of Lyman-alpha emissions as New Horizons traveled farther from the sun. These observations included an extensive set of scans in 2023 that mapped roughly 83% of the sky. Before this map was released, scientists theorized that a wall of interstellar hydrogen atoms would accumulate as they reached the edge of our heliosphere — the region of our galaxy where the solar wind from our sun reaches and interacts with the interstellar medium. New Horizons data saw nothing to indicate that this "wall" was an important source of Lyman-alpha emissions."These are really landmark observations, in giving the first clear view of the sky surrounding the solar system at these wavelengths, both revealing new characteristics of that sky and refuting older ideas that the Alice New Horizons data just doesn't support," said Dr. Alan Stern. the mission's principal investigator at SwRI. "This Lyman-alpha map also provides a solid foundation for future investigations to learn even more." Read more about New Horizons' mission after leaving Pluto and other recent research based on Lyman-alpha emissions. You can also find the scientific paper describing the SwRI map and its findings in The Astronomical Journal.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Science
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Can Hubble still hang? How the space telescope compares to its successors after 35 years of cosmic adventures
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. This Thursday (April 24), the Hubble Space Telescope celebrates 35 years in space — and even though Hubble has continuously delivered stunning space images and vital data since 1990, it isn't unfair to ask whether the instrument can still deliver goods with the same level of quality. Thirty-five years of age for a space telescope is no joke. So, can Hubble still hold its own and prove itself useful when compared to other, more recently built space instruments like NASA's $10 billion golden goose, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)? Well, as it appears, the answer is yes. Kurt Retherford is a Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientist who argues that Hubble can still hold its own. For instance, he recently used the long-serving space telescope as part of a program to study the solar system's most volcanic body" Jupiter's moon Io."It's amazing that after 35 years, Hubble still holds a unique capability as a top workhorse for science discoveries and publications," Retherford told "The requested time amongst scientists to use this facility remains several times higher than the time being competed for, meaning only the best of the best ideas for observations are conducted." Of course, when talking about space telescopes and their usefulness, we have to mention the $10 billion elephant in the room: the JWST. Why do we still need Hubble with the JWST out there? The answer concerns the way these two revolutionary instruments use the electromagnetic spectrum to see the cosmos."Hubble is different than JWST in that it is great at imaging both the visible light that we see with our eyes and light at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths, even shorter and more energetic than the light that gives us sunburns," Retherford said. "JWST, on the other hand, is optimized to detect infrared light, even at thermal temperatures that are even redder than night-vision goggles use. Both are big telescopes, but they are very different in these ways." As Retherford pointed out, in terms of the wavelengths of light these two telescopes are optimized to observe, the JWST in fact picks up where Hubble leaves off. That means that the observations conducted with these two space telescopes are highly complementary, especially when studying transient cosmic phenomena that change in wavelength over time — that includes the solar system's planets and their moons. University of Oulu researcher Mélina Poulain was recently part of a team of astronomers that used Hubble to study around 80 dwarf galaxies, with the loyal space telescope making the first ever detection of star clusters colliding at the hearts of these diminutive and faint galaxies. "Hubble's field of view and spatial resolution allow for a very detailed study of plenty different astronomical sources from planets to galaxies, including those with very low surface brightness objects like dwarf galaxies," Poulain told "It can also observe blue and near-UV wavelengths, which has become a rare feature." Poulain also suggested that even though Hubble may one day be surpassed by other telescopes like the JWST and the European Space Agency's Euclid spacecraft, there is another key aspect keeping Hubble relevant: familiarity. "Hubble is an easy choice, as people do know what to expect from Hubble observations and how to handle them. JWST is still at the beginning of its operational lifetime," Poulain said. "Moreover, I feel like there is an extremely high demand, and thus high competition, for getting observation time currently." When it comes to the future for Hubble, however, the emphasis is very much on synergy with the JWST and other telescopes both in space and planted on terra firma."Why do the JWST and Hubble make such a good team?" Poulain pondered. "They both have a similar field of view and spatial resolution, and they are complementary in terms of filters used: Hubble offers a view in the optical, while the JWST observes in near-infrared and infrared bands." Currently set to launch by May 2027, NASA's next major space observatory project is the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Roman has been designed to complement the high resolution and sensitivity of the JWST, thus building on the success of that telescope and Hubble. While Roman may muscle Hubble out a bit by forming a more synergistic partnership with the JWST, plenty of observatories would still benefit from a team-up adventure with Hubble. The long-serving space telescope could be particularly useful when collaborating with future ground-based observatories, including the Vera Rubin Observatory on Cerro Pachón in Chile, which is currently nearing light for Rubin is expected later this year when the observatory will begin conducting the decade-long Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). "While Hubble and JWST are designed to provide exquisite spatial resolution of targets along a tight, pencil-beam type line of sight, the Rubin Observatory will scan the sky in fields of view a few times larger than the full moon, night after night, detecting all sorts of new things," Retherford said. "I'm very excited about all of the objects discovered by Rubin that Hubble and JWST will be able to then go and image and survey in UV and infrared wavelengths in more detail, respectively." Poulain added that while Rubin won't be able to resolve features as small as those determined by space telescopes, it will offer deep observations in specific optical features. This will allow for stellar population studies through a process called Spectral Energy Distribution mapping."It will also add a time variable so we can search for object variability over time, which is a good tool to identify some astronomical sources such as supernovae or supermassive black hole-powered active galactic nuclei," Poulain said. Related Stories: — The best Hubble Space Telescope photos of all time — A billionaire wanted to save the Hubble Telescope — here's why NASA politely declined — Fixing the Hubble Space Telescope: A timeline of NASA's shuttle servicing missions "I couldn't be more excited for future Hubble findings," Retherford explained. "I hope Hubble keeps working until our Europa Clipper and JUICE [Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer] missions to Jupiter's moons arrive and operate in the 2030 to 2036 timeframe so that we can coordinate observations. "For sure, I'll continue to use Hubble and have no shortage of good ideas to propose."The biggest threat to the future of Hubble doesn't come from other space telescopes like the JWST and Rubin, but rather from an internal challenge that jeopardizes those missions too. "Unfortunately, the funding situation for NASA science projects is looking dire in the next few years, and the US likely won't have enough funds for scientists like myself to take full advantage of our national treasures like Hubble, JWST, and the fleet of planetary and heliophysics missions already operating and partially built," Retherford concluded. "Much less likely is a new start for the next big observatory to come after JWST, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which is more of a true replacement for Hubble's UV and visible light capabilities."Let's hope Hubble can hang on until its true replacement and NASA's next big mission after Roman, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, can get off the ground, or maybe until its 40th birthday in 2030?
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Science
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NASA's Lucy probe captures 1st close-up images of asteroid Donaldjohanson, revealing 'strikingly complicated geology'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. NASA's Lucy spacecraft, currently headed toward Jupiter on an asteroid-hopping mission, has captured an impressive close-up of its second target: the space rock 52246 Donaldjohanson. Lucy launched in 2021, embarking on a 12-year journey toward Jupiter's orbit to study an unexplored swarm of asteroids called Jupiter's Trojans. These asteroids are remnants of our early solar system that share the giant planet's orbit around the sun. Along the way, the spacecraft is also squeezing in time for a few dress rehearsals for its Trojan targets down the road — and on Sunday (April 20), it swooped within 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) of the asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson, named after American paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson who co-discovered the Lucy hominid fossil in northern Ethiopia in 1974. Images of the asteroid Lucy took as it approached the three-mile-wide (five-kilometer-wide) asteroid showed wide swings in brightness, suggesting it was either a slowly-rotating rock, appearing brighter when its longer sides faced the spacecraft, or an elongated object. Indeed, close-up images of the asteroid sent home by Lucy on Sunday confirmed both: The asteroid was once two smaller pieces that have conjoined into a larger whole, with a distinct narrow neck between the two lobes. "Asteroid Donaldjohanson has strikingly complicated geology," Hal Levison, the principal investigator for Lucy at Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, said in a statement. "As we study the complex structures in detail, they will reveal important information about the building blocks and collisional processes that formed the planets in our solar system." The new images show the asteroid appearing to rotate. However, this apparent motion isn't due to the asteroid itself spinning — which it does at a very slow rate of three years and eight months — but rather the result of the Lucy spacecraft whizzing by during its flyby at a relative velocity of 8.3 miles per second (13.4 kilometers per second), NASA said. Preliminary analyses of these images suggest the asteroid, which is likely a fragment of a collision about 150 million years ago, is larger than scientists initially estimated — measuring about 5 miles (8 km) long and 2 miles (3.5 km) wide at its widest point. Related Stories: — NASA's asteroid-hopping Lucy probe takes 1st images of its next target: Donaldjohanson — NASA asteroid surveyor snaps stunning views of Earth and moon on way to Jupiter's Trojans — Asteroid 'Dinky,' visited by NASA's Lucy spacecraft, birthed its own moon The images do not technically reveal the entire asteroid, to be clear, as it is larger than the Lucy imager's field of view. The mission team anticipates it will take up to a week to download the remaining encounter data from the spacecraft, which will provide a more complete picture of the asteroid's overall shape. "These early images of Donaldjohanson are again showing the tremendous capabilities of the Lucy spacecraft as an engine of discovery," Tom Statler, the program scientist for the Lucy mission at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in the statement. "The potential to really open a new window into the history of our solar system when Lucy gets to the Trojan asteroids is immense." Following this encounter, Lucy will spend the rest of this year cruising through the asteroid belt toward the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. Its first Trojan flyby, of asteroid Eurybates and its satellite Queta, is scheduled for August 2027.
