NASA's Mars Orbiter Finds Water Flowed on Red Planet Longer than Thought
It is commonly believed that water on Mars evaporated about 3 billion years ago.
But two scientists studying data from NASA`s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found signs of liquid water on the Red Planet as recently as 2 billion to 2.5 billion years ago, meaning water flowed there about a billion years longer than previous estimates.
The findings centre on the chloride salt deposits left behind as icy meltwater flowing across the landscape evaporated.
While the shape of certain valley networks hinted that water may have flowed on Mars recently, the salt deposits provide the first mineral evidence confirming the presence of liquid water.
Jan 26, 2022
Facebook Parent Meta Creates Powerful AI Supercomputer
Facebook's parent company Meta created what it believes is among the fastest artificial intelligence supercomputers running today.
The social media giant hopes the machine will help lay the groundwork for its building of the metaverse, a virtual reality construct intended to supplant the internet as we know it today.
Supercomputers are extremely fast and powerful machines built to do complex calculations not possible with a regular home computer. Meta did not disclose where the computer is located or how much it is costing to build.
The computer, which is already up and running but is still being built, is called AI Research SuperCluster.
NASA`s James Webb Space Telescope Reaches Gravitational Parking Spot
The James Webb Space Telescope arrived at its cosmic parking spot a million miles away, bringing it a step closer to its mission to unravel the mysteries of the Universe.
The observatory reached the so-called second Lagrange point, or L2, where it will have access to nearly half the sky at any given moment.
At L2, it will stay in line with the Earth as it moves around the Sun, allowing Webb's sunshield to protect its sensitive equipment from heat and light.
Jan 25, 2022
India among Top 10 AI Adopters
India is among the top 10 nations in the world in terms of technological advancements and funding in artificial intelligence, according to findings from a study published by The Brookings Institution. While India is outside the top 10 in terms of commercial and research initiatives, it ranks sixth in terms of spending and investments on AI made by public, governmental initiatives, as well as private institutes and organisations.
The nations leading AI achievements ahead of India are the US, China, the UK, France, Japan and Germany. Canada, South Korea and Italy are behind India in the top 10 AI adopters list, as per the study.
Hubble Spots Beautiful Trio of Galaxies
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of a group of three galaxies, collectively known as NGC 7764A.
NGC 7764A is a fascinating example of just how awkward astronomical nomenclature can be.
The three galaxies are individually referred to as NGC 7764A1, NGC 7764A2 and NGC 7764A3, and just to be really difficult, an entirely separate galaxy, named NGC 7764, sits in the skies about a Moon's distance (as seen from Earth) away.
NGC 7764A is located approximately 425 million light-years away in the constellation of Phoenix. NGC 7764A is located approximately 425 million light-years away in the constellation of Phoenix.
A team of researchers from the Pohang University of Science and Technology and the Korean Institute for Basic Science has demonstrated deep-ultraviolet (DUV) electroluminescence and photocurrent generation in hexagonal boron nitride, a semiconductor often called the 'white graphene.'
Among UV lights, the near-UV light has high penetration depth and can cause diseases when the skin is exposed to it.
However, DUV light (200-280 nm) has extremely low skin penetrability and is anticipated to be safely used.
For this reason, research to develop DUV LEDs has been active, mainly using aluminum gallium nitride (AlxGa1-xN).
However, this material has a fundamental limitation in that its electroluminescence rapidly deteriorates as the wavelength becomes shorter and fabricating LEDs that can be used in the DUV frequencies remains a challenge.
Jan 22, 2022
Saturn's Moon Mimas Hosts Global Ocean, New Study Suggests
According to a new analysis of data from NASA's Cassini mission, Mimas, the smallest and innermost of Saturn's eight main moons, may be warm enough to harbor a global, liquid water ocean beneath a 24-31-km (15-19-mile) thick ice shell.
One of the most profound discoveries in planetary science over the past 25 years is that worlds with oceans beneath layers of rock and ice are common in our Solar System.
Such worlds include the icy satellites of the giant planets, such as Europa, Titan and Enceladus, as well as distant planets like Pluto.
Worlds like Earth with surface oceans must reside within a narrow range of distances from their stars to maintain the temperatures that support liquid oceans.
Interior water ocean worlds, however, are found over a much wider range of distances, greatly expanding the number of habitable worlds likely to exist across the galaxy.
Monster Black Hole Spotted 'Giving Birth' to Stars
Astronomers spotted a black hole "giving birth" to stars at the center of a nearby dwarf galaxy — and the stellar newborns are tethered to the black hole by a massive "umbilical cord" made of gas and dust.
The supermassive black hole, situated roughly 34 million light-years away in the galaxy Henize 2-10, was seen spewing an enormous, 500-light-year-long jet of ionized gas from its center at around 1 million mph (1.6 million km/h), contributing to a "firestorm" of new star formation in a nearby stellar nursery.
The discovery, made using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, is the first time a black hole in a dwarf galaxy (a galaxy with 1 billion or fewer stars) was seen birthing stars.
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