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☆ NASA scientists think some planets are shrinking because powerful radiation from their cores is pushing away their atmospheres
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Sebastian Cahill | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Planets beyond our solar system have a size gap, where worlds seem to shrink past a certain range. Scientists think this is because some sub-Neptunes shrink — losing their atmospheres and speeding through the size gap until they are as small as a super-Earth. AdvertisementThe planets themselves may be pushing their atmospheres awayShrinking exoplanets may lack the mass (and therefore the gravity) to hold their atmospheres close. AdvertisementThe other hypothesis, called photoevaporation, says that a planet's atmosphere is dissipated by the radiation of its host star. AdvertisementThe scientists found that most of the planets there retained their atmosphere, making the core-powered mass loss a more likely cause of eventual atmosphere loss.

Persons: —, Jessie Christiansen, Mark Garlick, NASA's, Christiansen Organizations: NASA, Service, JPL, Caltech, Kepler Space, Harvard

☆ Mars is about to disappear for 2 weeks. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Mars will disappear from the Earth's sky for two weeks starting Saturday. It's solar conjunction event, during which the sun obscures Mars and the Earth from one another. AdvertisementMars will disappear from the Earth's sky for two weeks starting Saturday. NASA added that the 2023 moratorium on commanding Mars spacecraft is from November 11 to November 25. Advertisement"Our mission teams have spent months preparing to-do lists for all our Mars spacecraft," Roy Gladden, the manager of the Mars Relay Network, said in a NASA statement.

Persons: —, Space.com, they'll, Roy Gladden Organizations: Service, NASA, Mars Relay

☆ Exclusive: Jacobs poised to merge government consulting unit with Amentum
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( David Carnevali | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 16 (Reuters) - Engineering consultant Jacobs Solutions Inc (J.N) is in advanced talks to merge its government consulting arm at a valuation of more than $4 billion with private equity-owned Amentum Services Inc, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Under the terms discussed, Amentum would merge with Jacobs' Critical Mission Solutions (CMS) business to create a new publicly traded company that would be majority-owned by Jacobs' shareholders, the sources said. Jacobs, Amentum, Lindsay Goldberg and American Securities did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The deal with Amentum would free up resources for Jacobs to focus on its people and places solutions division, which provides transportation and environmental consulting to government entities and private sector clients, and PA Consulting, a management consulting business advising across several sectors. Amentum provides technical and advisory services to government clients including the Air Force and NASA, as well as commercial clients such as ExxonMobil (XOM.N) and Caterpillar (CAT.N).

Persons: Joe Skipper, Amentum, Jacobs, Lindsay Goldberg —, Lindsay Goldberg, Robert Pragada, Artemis, Aecom, PAE, David Carnevali, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Kennedy Space Center, REUTERS, Engineering, Solutions Inc, Amentum Services Inc, Jacobs, American Securities, NASA, PA Consulting, Air Force, ExxonMobil, Caterpillar, Thomson Locations: Cape Canaveral , Florida, U.S, New York

☆ Sierra Space lays off hundreds in push toward first Dream Chaser spaceplane launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Former Sierra Space employees told CNBC that the layoffs included a significant number of contractors, with the cuts including hundreds of personnel in total. Sierra Space this week shipped the first Dream Chaser, named Tenacity, for pre-launch testing at NASA's Armstrong facility in Ohio. The first Dream Chaser launch was previously scheduled for late last year, but delays in the development of United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket pushed back that timeline. Dream Chaser is planned to launch on ULA's second Vulcan mission, with the first Vulcan launch targeting December. Dream Chaser has won NASA contracts to fly seven cargo missions to and from the International Space Station.

Persons: Eren, Sierra, Jeff Babione, Gupta Organizations: CNBC, Sierra Space, NASA's Armstrong, Sierra, Sierra Nevada Corp, Fatih, Sierra Space's, Space, NASA Space Shuttle, United, Vulcan, NASA, International Space Locations: The Colorado, Sierra, Ohio

☆ Scientists discern internal structure of mysterious dwarf planet Eris
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

An artist's concept of the dwarf planet Eris and its moon Dysnomia is seen in this undated illustration released by NASA. Most likely there is no liquid ocean inside Eris," Nimmo added. Eris has a diameter of about 1,445 miles (2,326 km), slightly smaller than Pluto's 1,473 miles (2,370 km). Because of its greater concentration of rock, which is denser than ice, Eris has about 25% more mass than Pluto. "Just like the Earth-moon system, tides on Eris slowly push Dysnomia away and slow down the spin of Eris.

Persons: Pluto, Eris, Francis Nimmo, Nimmo, Mike Brown, Dysnomia, " Nimmo, Brown, we've, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: NASA, JPL, Caltech, Handout, REUTERS Acquire, Rights, of California, Astronomical Union, Thomson Locations: of California Santa Cruz, Neptune

☆ Scientists used a galaxy cluster that warps space-time as a giant magnifying glass to find 2 distant galaxies
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A team of astronomers used a cluster of galaxies like a magnifying glass to discover two never-before-seen distant galaxies. Pandora's Cluster warps the fabric of space-time, creating a visual effect that magnifies light behind it. The two newly uncovered galaxies are two of the most distant galaxies ever detected. AdvertisementScientists used a galaxy cluster that warps the fabric of space-time like a magnifying glass, helping them discover two of the most distant galaxies ever observed. These two distant galaxies are also special because of their unique shape.

Persons: —, James Webb, Joel Leja, Leja Organizations: Service, Penn State, Telescope

☆ Chinese scientists created a robot that can make oxygen on Mars. It could allow humans to someday live on the red planet.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A robot created chemicals to make oxygen from Martian rocks. The robot could one day help create human settlements on the red planet. AdvertisementChinese scientists have created a robot chemist that can make oxygen using Martian rocks, bringing humans a step closer to colonizing the red planet. "In the future, humans can establish oxygen factory on Mars with the assistance of AI chemist," said Jiang. NASA's Perseverance Rover recently demonstrated it was able to make oxygen on Mars from carbon dioxide in the air — a very abundant resource.

Persons: —, Jiang Organizations: Service, University of Science, Technology of, Nature, Rover Locations: Technology of China, Hefei, Mars

☆ 4 times NASA astronauts lost things in space
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A NASA astronaut accidentally lost a tool bag in space earlier this month. The lost bag is not a threat, and will just burn up in Earth's atmosphere. AdvertisementAdvertisementA NASA astronaut accidentally let go of a tool bag in space while conducting repairs on the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this month. It's happened at least four times before to NASA astronauts — here's a breakdown of what happened each time. But while the capsule door was still open, one of his spare gloves floated out and off into space, Space Center Houston said.

Persons: —, it's, Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara, O'Hara, Peggy Whitson, Shane Kimbrough, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn, Piper, spacewalker, Ed White, White, Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin, chucked Organizations: NASA, Service, Space, ISS, Flight, Washington Post, Mission Control, Space Center, Space Center Houston Locations: isn't, Russian

☆ NASA probe to observe near-Earth asteroid's 2029 close encounter
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

When it does, a spacecraft launched by NASA in 2016 is expected to be in position to provide a detailed examination of this rare close encounter. The tidal pull of Earth's gravity likely will cause measurable disturbances to the asteroid's surface and motion, changing its orbital path and rotational spin. The spacecraft is set to observe the asteroid's Earth flyby as it nears and ultimately catches up with Apophis. PLANETARY SCIENCE AND DEFENSELike other asteroids, Apophis is a relic of the early solar system. Close examination of Apophis could give planetary defense experts valuable information about the structure and other properties of asteroids.

Persons: NASA's, Michael Nolan, It's, Nolan, it's, Steve Gorman, Will Dunham Organizations: NASA, APEX, NASA's Goddard Space, Empire, University of Arizona, SPACECRAFT'S SECOND, Planetary Science, Thomson Locations: Utah, Africa, Europe, Apophis, Los Angeles

☆ NASA's James Webb telescope spotted the most distant galaxy in the universe that looks like ours
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

AdvertisementAdvertisementThe James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has spotted the most distant example of a galaxy in the universe that looks similar to the Milky Way. The galaxy, named ceers-2112, is more than 11.7 billion years old and is the earliest example of a barred spiral galaxy ever seen. For them, there is little doubt: this picture suggests this is a barred spiral galaxy. Scientists had thought you couldn't find a barred spiral galaxy before the universe was about 6.9 billion years old. The other 95% — about 27% of dark matter and 68% of dark energy — remain huge mysteries in physics.

Persons: James Webb, —, JWST, Guo, Alexander de la Vega, Yetli Rosas Guevara, El País, la Vega, Luca Costantin, Space.com, Costantin, Jairo Abreu, Abreu Organizations: Service, James Webb Space, University of California, Spanish Donostia, Physics Center, Centro, Astrobiología, University of La Locations: Riverside, Madrid, University of La Laguna

☆ Former US astronaut Frank Borman dies at 95
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

NASA astronaut Frank Borman in an undated photo. Borman served as the commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the world. Born in Gary, Indiana, on March 14, 1928, he was the oldest American astronaut still living; that mantle now passes to Jim Lovell, who is also 95 but eleven days younger. Like most of his fellow generation of astronauts, he trained as a test pilot before being selected for NASA's second astronaut program in 1962. In 1970 Borman retired from NASA and the Air Force and became an adviser to Eastern Airlines.

Persons: Frank Borman, Borman, Jim Lovell, Borman's crewmate William Anders, Susan, Eric Beech, Dan Whitcomb, Bill Trott, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: NASA, Apollo, Handout, REUTERS, Former U.S, Eastern Airlines, American, Air Force, U.S . Military Academy, Gemini, Texas Air Corp, Politico, Thomson Locations: Former, Billings , Montana, Gary , Indiana, Arizona, Las Cruces , New Mexico, U.S

☆ Scientists detect oxygen in noxious atmosphere of Venus
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft and Pioneer Venus Orbiter is used in an undated composite image of the planet Venus. Its thick and noxious atmosphere is dominated by carbon dioxide - 96.5% - with lesser amounts of nitrogen and trace gases. In fact, with Venus getting far less scientific attention than other planets such as Mars, the direct detection of its oxygen has remained difficult. They noted that this atomic oxygen, which consists of a single oxygen atom, differs from molecular oxygen, which consists of two oxygen atoms and is breathable. "The Venus atmosphere is very dense.

Persons: Heinz, Wilhelm Hübers, Hübers, Helmut Wiesemeyer, Max Planck, Wiesemeyer, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: NASA, JPL, Caltech, Handout, REUTERS, Rights, Venus, Boeing, German Aerospace Center, Nature Communications, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Thomson Locations: SOFIA, Hawaii, Germany

☆ NASA's James Webb and X-ray telescopes found a primordial black hole growing in the early universe just after the Big Bang
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

NASA has discovered the most distant black hole ever, dating back nearly to the dawn of time. Don't worry: the growing black hole is located 13.2 billion light-years away. The supermassive black hole was detected in a rare state of infancy. AdvertisementAdvertisementNASA has discovered the most distant black hole ever detected, capturing it growing in a stage of never-before-seen infancy near the dawn of time. It also detected another of the earliest black holes and picked up lots of details Hubble wasn't able to capture .

Persons: —, James Webb, Chandra, JWST, Hubble, they've, Andy Goulding Organizations: NASA, Service, James Webb Space Telescope, Princeton University

☆ EU fine-tunes plan to launch Galileo satellites on SpaceX
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off on NASA's SpaceX Crew-7 mission, taking four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS), from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., August 26, 2023. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 7 (Reuters) - The European Union has struck a tentative deal to launch four Galileo navigation satellites using Falcon 9 rockets of U.S.-based SpaceX, European officials said on Tuesday, in the latest sign of pressure caused by a gap in European launch capacity. The agreement spans two launches pencilled in for April and July next year, carrying two satellites each, EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton told reporters in Seville, Spain, following EU ministerial talks on competitivity in space. Breton told a news conference the provisional contract with SpaceX was worth 180 million euros ($191.99 million). The 22-nation European Space Agency, which includes most EU states, last year turned to Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch its Euclid space telescope to survey evidence of dark matter and dark energy in the universe.

Persons: Steve Nesius, Thierry Breton, Breton, Elon, Tim Hepher, Mark Potter, Barbara Lewis Organizations: SpaceX, International Space, Kennedy Space Center, REUTERS, European, Galileo, Internal, U.S, Global, Russian Soyuz, European Space Agency, Thomson Locations: Cape Canaveral , Florida, U.S, Seville, Spain, Italian, Russian, Ukraine, Europe

☆ Star-filled Euclid images spur mission to probe 'dark universe'
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Tim Hepher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

PARIS, Nov 7 (Reuters) - European astronomers on Tuesday released the first images from the newly launched Euclid space telescope, designed to unlock the secrets of dark matter and dark energy - hidden forces thought to make up 95% of the universe. Scientists believe vast, seemingly organised structures such as Perseus could only have formed if dark matter exists. "The rest of the universe we call dark because it doesn't produce light in the normal electromagnetic spectrum. Tell-tale signs of the hidden force exerted by dark matter include galaxies rotating more quickly than scientists would expect from the amount of visible matter that can be detected. We think there's lots of dark matter in that cluster and pulling these galaxies together," she added.

Persons: Carole Mundell, Mundell, Euclid, we've, Europe's, NASA's James Webb, You'll, Tim Hepher, Steve Gorman, Alex Richardson Organizations: European Space Agency, NASA, Reuters, Hubble, ESA, SpaceX, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, Thomson Locations: Darmstadt, Germany, Spain, Ukraine, Florida, Los Angeles

☆ Astronomers find seven planets being 'fried' by their star
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Astronomers using data obtained by NASA's now-retired Kepler space telescope have identified seven planets orbiting a star in our Milky Way galaxy, with all of them suffering the wrath of their star - radiant energy - even more brutally than Mercury. This is the second-most planets so far discovered around any star beyond our solar system. All seven are larger than Earth, the biggest of our solar system's four rocky planets, but littler than Neptune, the smallest of our solar system's four gas planets. Scientists have to date identified more than 5,500 exoplanets - planets outside our solar system - and spotted hundreds of stars with multiple exoplanets. "The chance of life on any of these seven planets is indeed pretty remote," Lissauer said.

Persons: NASA's, Jack Lissauer, Kepler, Lissauer, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: NASA's Ames Research Center, Planetary Science, Thomson Locations: California

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ken Mattingly, an astronaut who is best remembered for his efforts on the ground that helped bring the damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft safely back to Earth, has died, NASA announced. However, The New York Times reported that Mattingly died in Arlington, Virginia. He helped with development of the spacesuit and backpack for the Apollo moon missions, NASA said. In 1970, Mattingly was supposed to have joined the crew of Apollo 13, piloting the command module. Apollo 13's story was told in the 1994 book “Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13,” co-authored by Lovell, and in the 1995 movie “Apollo 13,” where Gary Sinise played Mattingly.

Persons: — Ken Mattingly, “, Bill Nelson, Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II “, ” Nelson, Mattingly, Mattingly spacewalked, John Swigert Jr, Swigert, James Lovell, Fred Haise, Mattingly “, ” NASA's Nelson, ”, Lovell, Gary Sinise Organizations: ANGELES, NASA, Apollo, The New York Times, Navy Locations: Arlington , Virginia

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Lucy spacecraft on Wednesday encountered the first of 10 asteroids on its long journey to Jupiter. The spacecraft will swing past eight Trojans believed to be up to 10 to 100 times bigger than Dinkinesh. The spacecraft is named after the 3.2 million-year-old skeletal remains of a human ancestor found in Ethiopia in the 1970s. Lucy will next swing past an asteroid named after one of the fossil Lucy's discoverers: Donald Johanson. Then in October, it launched a spacecraft to a rare, metal-rich asteroid named Psyche.

Persons: —, Lucy, Donald Johanson, Hal Levison Organizations: NASA, Research, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla, Dinkinesh, Ethiopia

☆ Sea turtles laid a record 52,500 nests in Florida but 99% are female
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Maiya Focht | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sea turtle nests hit record highs in Florida this year, tripling last year's numbers. Most new turtles are girls, because a turtle's sex depends on the temperature they sit in as an egg. Almost 99% of new turtles are female, which means future generations could be in trouble, Joel Cohen, the director of communication at the Sea Turtle Preservation Society, told Insider. How does this happen A newly-hatched baby sea turtle makes its way into the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. So in a world that continues warming, the ratios of female to male turtles could continue to skew.

Persons: Joel Cohen, It's, Cohen, NASA's, Lucy Hawkes, " Hawkes, it's Organizations: Service, Preservation Society, NASA's Kennedy Space Center, ABC News, University of Exeter, Reuters, Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Florida's Miami South Beach, USA, Turtle Preservation, History, Carolinas Locations: Florida, Florida's Miami, Space

☆ Scientists predicted Earth's ozone hole would balloon in size this year, but now admit their calculations were wildly off the mark
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Seth Borenstein | Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Scientists predicted that we'd see a huge ozone hole over the Antarctic in 2023. From September to mid-October, the ozone hole this year averaged 8.9 million square miles (23.1 million square kilometers), which is the 16th largest since satellites started tracking in 1979. It peaked this year at 10 million square miles (26 million square kilometers), about the size of North America. The ozone hole and thinning ozone layer has improved a bit thanks to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, when countries in the world agreed to stop producing many of the chemicals that deplete ozone, Newman said. The ozone hole was at its biggest in 2000 at nearly 11.6 million square miles (29.9 million square kilometers), according to NASA data.

Persons: —, Paul Newman, Newman, NASA Goddard Organizations: Service, NASA, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Goddard Flight, YouTube Locations: Tonga, North America, South America, Montreal

☆ NASA's James Webb Space Telescope imaged a stunning supernova remnant and revealed details Hubble couldn't capture
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

NASA's James Webb Telescope has captured never-before-seen details of the Crab Nebula. AdvertisementAdvertisementNASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured new views of a stunning nebula, revealing never-before-seen details. It's the heart of the Crab Nebula, called the Crab Pulsar. The Crab Nebula as shown by the Hubble Space Telescope in optical light (left) and the James Webb Space Telescope in infrared light (right). The Crab Nebula photographed by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

Persons: NASA's James Webb, —, James Webb, JWST, Temim, Hubble, Hester Organizations: NASA's James Webb Telescope, Service, Telescope, NASA, ESA, CSA, Princeton University, Hubble, James Webb Space, Arizona State University, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

☆ Boeing struggles to steer defense unit in another year of losses
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Valerie Insinna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The Boeing KC-46 Pegasus aerial refueling tanker is seen before a delivery celebration to the U.S. Air Force in Everett, Washington, U.S., January 24, 2019. Despite absorbing $4.4 billion in losses in 2022 – which executives said would lower the risk of future cost overruns – the unit has seen little improvement this year. Excluding last year, losses on Boeing's defense programs in 2023 exceed those from all years since 2014, according to a Reuters review of Boeing’s regulatory filings. The latest charge for Air Force One brought total losses to $2.4 billion on a $3.9 billion contract to develop two planes. A better bet, and one Boeing's defense segment is aggressively pursuing, is inking future contracts for next-generation fighter jets and cutting-edge drones.

Persons: Lindsey Wasson, Lockheed Martin, Brian West, Byron Callan, ”, Seth Seifman, JP Morgan, “, NASA's, West, there's “, Richard Aboulafia, ” Aboulafia, Valerie Insinna, Rod Nickel Organizations: Boeing KC, Pegasus, U.S . Air Force, REUTERS, Rights, Air Force, Boeing, Lockheed, General Dynamics, Capital Alpha Partners, U.S . Defense Department, NASA, BDS, Boeing Defense Space, U.S . Air Force's KC, KC, Thomson Locations: Everett , Washington , U.S, Ukraine

☆ Scientists identify molten layer deep within interior of Mars
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"The importance of the far side impact was to produce seismic waves that traversed the deep interior of the planet, including the core. Previously, we had not observed any seismic waves that had transited the core. Unlike Mars, Earth has no molten layer around its core. One of the two studies published on Wednesday indicates this layer is fully molten, with the other indicating that most of it is fully molten, with the top portion partially molten. "We have learned a lot about Mars by studying the unique seismic record provided by the InSight mission," Samuel said.

Persons: Amir Khan, Henri Samuel, Khan, Samuel, Will Dunham, Daniel Wallis Organizations: NASA, JPL, Caltech, Handout, REUTERS, Rights, Tempe Terra, ETH, CNRS, Institut, Physique, Globe, Thomson Locations: Mars, Tempe, ETH Zürich, Switzerland, Paris

☆ James Webb Space Telescope discovers Jupiter has a jet stream whipping around the planet at 320 mph, twice as fast as Earth's fiercest hurricanes
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

NASA scientists were surprised to discover a high-speed jet stream near Jupiter's equator. Previous telescopes couldn't see Jupiter's atmosphere in such detail so they missed the fierce winds. AdvertisementAdvertisementNASA's James Webb Space Telescope has helped scientists discover that Jupiter has a thin jetstream whipping around the planet at 320 miles per hour — twice as fast as Earth's strongest hurricanes. The JWST's predecessor, Hubble, was not strong enough to clearly capture images of the hazier parts of Jupiter's atmosphere, NASA said in a press release detailing its findings. The JWST was only able to detect the jet stream when it looked at a particular band of infrared light, which revealed changes in atmospheric features at varying altitudes.

Persons: —, James Webb, Ricardo Hueso Organizations: NASA, Service, Telescope, Hubble

☆ Rock collected by Apollo 17 astronaut in 1972 reveals moon's age
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] The crescent Earth rises above the lunar horizon in this undated NASA handout photograph taken from the Apollo 17 spacecraft in lunar orbit during the final lunar landing mission in the Apollo program in 1972. A half century later, crystals of the mineral zircon inside a coarse-grained igneous rock fragment collected by Schmitt are giving scientists a deeper understanding about the moon's formation and the precise age of Earth's celestial partner. This blasted magma - molten rock - into space, forming a debris disk that orbited Earth and coalesced into the moon. "I love the fact that this study was done on a sample that was collected and brought to Earth 51 years ago. "Interestingly, all the oldest minerals found on Earth, Mars and the moon are zircon crystals.

Persons: Harrison Schmitt, Eugene Cernan, Schmitt, wouldn't, cosmochemist Philipp Heck, Bidong Zhang, Heck, Zhang, Jennika Greer, Will Dunham, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: NASA, REUTERS, Rights, Field Museum, University of Chicago, UCLA, Space Center, University of Glasgow, Thomson Locations: Chicago, Houston, Scotland

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