General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - January 2019

Jan 2019

Dec 25, 2021

Scientists Discover New Part of the Body

Scientists uncovered a part of the body that had never been described before: a deep layer of muscle in the masseter, which raises the lower jaw and is critical for chewing.
Modern anatomy textbooks describe the masseter muscle as having two layers, one deep and one superficial. "However, a few historical texts mention the possible existence of a third layer as well, but they are extremely inconsistent as to its position," the study authors wrote in a new report. So the team decided to check whether the prominent jaw muscle might have a hidden, super-deep layer, as the historical texts suggest.

International Astronomers in Australia Capture Black Hole Eruption

Astronomers from Curtin University, as part of an international team, have produced the most comprehensive images of the nearest active black hole to earth.
The discovery, published in the Nature Astronomy journal and released to the public, took a deep dive into the black hole at the center of the galaxy Centaurus A, about 12 million light-years away.
Despite being galaxies far away, the erupting black hole extended across a length equal to 16 moons placed side by side in the night sky. However, it is not visible to the naked eye.

Dec 23, 2021

Astronomers Find at Least 70 Free-Floating Exoplanets in Nearby Star-Forming Region

Using observations and archival data from several space- and ground-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered a rich population of free-floating planets — between 70 and 170 such objects — in a nearby region of the Milky Way known as the Upper Scorpius young stellar association. This is the largest sample of such planets found in a single group and it nearly doubles the number known over the entire sky.
To date, most exoplanets have been detected through modulations induced in their host stars. As such, the vast majority of known exoplanets are gravitationally bound to stars.
These ultra-faint objects are less than about 13 Jupiter masses and are not bound to a star or brown dwarf but rather wander among them.

Dec 22, 2021

Clouds of Venus May Be More Habitable than Previously Thought

Possible lifeforms in the Venusian clouds could be setting off a cascade of chemical reactions that is making the environment much more habitable.
Venus is often called Earth's sister planet because of its similar mass and size to Earth. Yet, owing, in part, to the greenhouse effect from its massive atmosphere dominated by carbon dioxide, Venusian surface temperature is higher than 700 K (427 degrees Celsius, 800 degrees Fahrenheit) — too hot for life of any kind.
The surface of Venus is therefore a complete contrast to Earth's temperate surface and rich surface biosphere.

Hayabusa-2 Sample Reveals New Information about Asteroid Ryugu

An analysis of the Hayabusa-2 sample of material returned to Earth from the carbon-rich, diamond-shaped, near-Earth asteroid Ryugu shows that the material is very dark, reflecting only 2% of light, porous and similar to clay, contains carbonates (a fraction of them enriched in iron) as well as compounds rich in nitrogen and hydrogen.
Ryugu, also known as 1999 JU3, is a near-Earth C-type asteroid. Its name refers to Ryūgū (Dragon Palace), a magical underwater palace in a Japanese folktale.
The asteroid was discovered in May 1999 by astronomers with the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research.
It measures approximately 900 m (0.56 miles) in diameter and orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.96-1.41 astronomical units (AU) once every 474 days.

Dec 21, 2021

Hubble Spots Young Cluster in Large Magellanic Cloud

NASA released an image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the open star cluster NGC 1755.
NGC 1755 is located approximately 160,000 light-years away in the southern constellation of Dorado.
This stellar cluster resides in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite of our Milky Way Galaxy.
NGC 1755 is about 120 light-years across and is approximately 80 million years old.

Juno Records 'Sounds' of Jupiter's Moon Ganymede

The magnetosphere of Ganymede, the Jupiter's largest moon, is a source of electric and magnetic radio emissions, which have been monitored by the Waves instrument onboard NASA's Juno spacecraft.
The 50-second audio track was generated from data collected during Juno's close flyby of Ganymede in June 2021.
At the time of Juno's closest approach to the moon — during the mission's 34th trip around Jupiter — the spacecraft was within 1,038 km (645 miles) of the moon's surface and traveling at a relative velocity of 67,000 kph (41,600 mph).
Juno's Waves instrument, which tunes in to electric and magnetic radio waves, collected the data on those emissions. Their frequency — which range from 10 to 50 kHz — was then shifted into the lower audio range.

Dec 20, 2021

ISRO Signs Six Agreements with Four Countries for Launching Foreign Satellites

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed six agreements with four countries for launching foreign satellites during 2021-2023. About 132 million Euros would be earned through the launching of these foreign satellites on a commercial basis. ISRO has launched a total of 342 satellites from 34 countries since 1999.
ISRO through its commercial arm, New Space India Limited (NSIL), has been launching satellites which belong to other countries from Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Total 124 indigenous satellites have been put into Earth's orbit including 12 student satellites.

SpaceX Launches 52 Starlink Satellites

SpaceX successfully lifted off of 52 Starlink communication satellites into the Earth orbit.
Earlier the US space company launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Later, its first stage successfully landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship.

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