Most exoplanets orbiting close to their stars don’t have atmospheres. But Gliese 486b – orbiting a red dwarf star only 24 light-years away – does. It’s close enough to see well. Astronomers will be watching it! Source: https://earthsky.org/space/gliese-486b-hot-super-earth-with-atmosphere…
Tag: Energy
‘Gravity portals’ could morph dark matter into ordinary matter, astrophysicists propose
Astrophysicists have a wild idea to explain the bizarre abundance of super-high-energy radiation shooting from the center of our galaxy: gravity portals. Source: https://www.livescience.com/gravity-portals-solve-dark-matter-gamma-ray-mystery.html
Green energy app lets your car charge when electricity is cheapest
Renewable energy supplier Bulb has created a specific off-peak tariff for electric cars and an app to simplify how people charge their vehicles Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2269744-green-energy-app-lets-your-car-charge-when-electricity-is-cheapest/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Space Hurricane Seen Above Magnetic North Pole Was Raining Electrons
The first space hurricane ever was spotted in August 2014, consisting of “an eddy of plasma, a type of superhot, charged gas found throughout the solar system,” reports Business Insider. “And instead of rain, this storm brought showers of electrons.” From the report: In August 2014, satellites observed a swirling mass with a quiet center more than 125 miles above the…
Source of hazardous high-energy particles located in the Sun
The source of potentially hazardous solar particles, released from the Sun at high speed during storms in its outer atmosphere, has been located for the first time by researchers at UCL and George Mason University, Virginia, U.S. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-03-source-hazardous-high-energy-particles-sun.html…
Climate targets at risk as green tech triggers higher energy demands
As technology becomes more efficient, we tend to use it more often – an effect that is drastically underestimated in some energy models and that will make climate goals harder to hit Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2269315-climate-targets-at-risk-as-green-tech-triggers-higher-energy-demands/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
EU Law Requires Companies To Fix Electronic Goods For Up To 10 Years
Companies that sell refrigerators, washers, hairdryers, or TVs in the European Union will need to ensure those appliances can be repaired for up to 10 years, to help reduce the vast mountain of electrical waste that piles up each year on the continent. Euronews reports: The “right to repair,” as it is sometimes called, comes into force across the 27-nation bloc…
Boston Dynamics Is Selling its 70-Pound Robot Dog To Police Departments
The New York Times reports on what the city’s police department calls Digidog, “a 70-pound robotic dog with a loping gait, cameras and lights affixed to its frame, and a two-way communication system that allows the officer maneuvering it remotely to see and hear what is happening.”
Police said the robot can see in the dark and assess how safe it is…
Vast Energy Use of Bitcoin Criticized
The University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance has calculated that Bitcoin’s total energy consumption is somewhere between 40 and 445 terawatt hours (TWh) a year, with a central estimate of about 130 terawatt hours, reports the BBC: The UK’s electricity consumption is a little over 300 TWh a year, while Argentina uses around the same amount of power as the…
What is a quasar?
A quasar is an extremely bright and distant point-like source visible to radio telescopes. The source is a so-called Active Galactic Nucleus, fueled by a supermassive black hole. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/definition-what-is-a-quasar…