Basil Bryan

The Chinese lunar probe Chang’e 6 (Chang’e 6), launched on 3 May, landed safely in the southern part of the Apollo Crater, which is located in the vast South Pole-Aitken impact basin on the back side of the Moon. This mission should deliver to Earth the soil, the analysis of which will allow us to better understand the history of the formation of our planet’s satellite. The fact is that in this impact basin, the surface is a solidified rock dislodged from the Moon’s mantle.

This landing on the Moon became for China the fourth successful landing in four attempts. And so far, only Chinese engineers have managed to land their vehicles on the back side of the Moon. They have done it twice. The process of landing the platform ‘Chang’e-6’ was filmed on video from the board of the probe. The clip shows the descent as well as the hovering before the final stage of descent. At this time, the onboard computer was assessing the safety of the landing site.

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The great North American solar eclipse that took place on 8 April brought many fascinating images from astronomers and amateurs. And the most attentive managed to capture something special. This includes YouTube blogger and aerospace engineer Dustin Sandlin.

He, along with other eclipse hunters, shot video and photos of the event on 8 April. And when he was reviewing the material, he discovered several unusual objects that rushed past the discs of the Moon and Sun right during the eclipse. He shared the observations on his YouTube channel SmarterEveryDay.

Sadlin speculated that the video caught satellites flying by in low Earth orbit. He showed the footage to renowned astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who specialises in near-Earth objects, including those of artificial origin. McDowell initially put forward a version that in the frame hit some insects. Because the objects were moving too fast for satellites.

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When the New Horizons probe flew close to Pluto in 2015 and photographed it, it became clear that this dwarf planet is much more interesting than one might expect. Various landforms indicate geological processes that were active on Pluto in the past.

One of the most intriguing areas was the Sputnik Plain (Sputnik Planitia), which is an icy more-or-less flat area in the shape of a heart. This feature has attracted a lot of human attention to images of Pluto. Scientists have also become interested in this area.

A recent study by scientists from Washington University in St. Louis shows that a real ocean may be hiding under this icy plain. This sounds unusual when you consider that Pluto receives extremely little energy from the Sun and is small enough to retain the internal heat left over from its formation. Temperatures on Pluto drop to minus 220 degrees centigrade.

However, certain clues were found in the New Horizons data. In particular, the shape of Pluto corresponds to a body that has or had a liquid component in its interior. And relief formations indicate the presence of water ice beneath the surface. There are also indications of cryovolcanism, as a result of which ice is being forced to the surface.

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The exoplanet Gliese 12 b may turn out to be Earth’s twin, but in the orbit of a red dwarf.

Australian and British astronomers using the specialised space telescopes TESS and CHEOPS were able to detect the intriguing exoplanet Gliese 12 b. It is only 40 light years away from us, making it one of the closest earth-like objects to us. Particularly interesting is the fact that this planet is in the habitable zone of its star.
At the centre of the Gliese 12 system is a red dwarf about a quarter the size of the Sun and with a surface temperature about half that of the Sun. But the planet Gliese 12 b is very close to its star. Its orbital period is 12.76 Earth days. So it receives 1.6 times more energy than Earth, but 15 per cent less than Venus.

The authors of the paper calculated that the average surface temperature of Gliese 12 b should be 42 degrees centigrade. This makes the planet attractive to study in terms of conditions suitable for sustaining life in the form we are accustomed to. Its size is the same as Earth’s. But much depends on the presence and density of the atmosphere.

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The likelihood of a space accident is very high, but in the very distant future.

Six years ago, Ilon Musk’s SpaceX company made a bright PR stunt by placing a Tesla Roadster as a test payload on the then-new Falcon Heavy rocket. The car with a Starman dummy was successfully placed into orbit and continues to orbit the Sun.

Since its launch on 6 February 2018, Tesla has made 4.1 revolutions around our star. Scientists decided to calculate whether there is a chance that the car that has turned into, in fact, a near-Earth asteroid could eventually fall on any of the planets.

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