During the past 25 years astronomers have discovered a wide variety of exoplanets, made of rock, ice and gas, thanks to the construction of astronomical instruments designed specifically for planet searches. Also, using a combination of different observing techniques they have been able to determine a large number of masses, sizes, and hence densities of the planets, which helps them to…
Tag: rock
Asteroid dust in Chicxulub crater seals deal on dino extinction
Scientists examined rock cores taken from the Chicxulub crater in Mexico, site of the asteroid impact that triggered dinosaur extinction, and found iridium, a telltale sign of asteroids. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/asteroid-dust-iridium-chicxulub-crater-dinosaur-extinction…
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Sends Stunning Images of Mars
Since landing on Mars on February 18, NASA’s Perseverance rover has sent back some amazing images from around its landing site, Jezero Crater, a 30-mile wide impact depression just north of the Red Planet’s equator. BBC shares a selection of the pictures sent from the mission, “as Perseverance hunts for signs of past microbial life, seeks to characterize the planet’s geology…
What’s the coldest Earth has ever been?
Our planet’s history includes episodes of cold so extreme that glaciers reached sea level in equatorial regions. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/whats-coldest-earth-has-ever-been…
What geologists see when they look at Perseverance’s landing site
Geologists love fieldwork. They love getting their specialized hammers and chisels into seams in the rock, exposing unweathered surfaces and teasing out the rock’s secrets. Mars would be the ultimate field trip for many of them, but sadly, that’s not possible. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-geologists-perseverance-site.html…
Apollo rock samples capture key moments in the Moon’s early history, study find
Volcanic rock samples collected during NASA’s Apollo missions bear the isotopic signature of key events in the early evolution of the Moon, a new analysis found. Those events include the formation of the Moon’s iron core, as well as the crystallization of the lunar magma ocean—the sea of molten rock thought to have covered the Moon for around 100 million years…
Australia’s oldest rock painting is an anatomically accurate kangaroo
Using an unusual dating method, scientists have identified the oldest known example of rock art in Australia. Source: https://www.livescience.com/kangaroo-art-australia-oldest.html
Twitch Censors Live Metallica Performance with Dorkiest Music Imaginable
In the year 2000, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich answered questions from Slashdot’s readers. Late Friday night, the AV Club described Metallica’s appearance at the opening ceremonies for the (now online) version of Blizzard Entertainment’s annual event BlizzCon: The opening ceremonies were being broadcast online, both through the official BlizzCon page, YouTube, and Twitch. And you know what happens when licensed music…
Linux Is Now on Mars, Thanks to NASA’s Perseverance Rover
“When NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars this week, it also brought the Linux operating system to the Red Planet,” reports PC Magazine: The tidbit was mentioned in an interview NASA software engineer Tim Canham gave to IEEE Spectrum. The helicopter-like drone on board the Perseverance rover uses a Linux-powered software framework the space agency open-sourced a few years ago. “This…
Dinosaur-killing space rock may have originated at the edge of the solar system
The chunk of space rock that killed the nonavian dinosaurs may have been a piece of a comet that Jupiter’s gravity kicked onto a collision course with Earth. Source: https://www.livescience.com/dinosaur-killing-comet-oort-cloud.html