Solar Storms Can Crash Communications On March 18th

Scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences have warned that a massive magnetic storm is going to hit the Earth on March 18, as it has been shown by the magnetic activity graph designed by the Russian X-ray Solar Astronomy Laboratory

This strong magnetic storm is the third one in this year, first one on Jan 15 and second one is on Jan 19

What is a magnetic storm?

Magnetic storms are temporary disturbances in the Earth’s magnetosphere due to the exchange of energy from the solar wind. Magnetic storms usually affect the satellite and it causes some brilliant auroras around the Arctic Circle. Auroras occur when electrically charged solar particles hit the atoms and molecules in the Earth’s magnetosphere, causing them to light up.

Is this affect human health?

According to Russian scientist, the March 18 magnetic storm could cause dizziness, headache, and sleep disturbances to some people around the world.

The geomagnetic storms can also affect the power grids and cause power fluctuations or even shut down.

To forecast geomagnetic storms disturbances in communication satellite, human health and power grids etc., NASA scientists recently modeled the Earth data in 3D, an upgrade from one-dimensional predecessors. This will help full for better understating of the geomagnetic storms and its affects

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Elon Musk: SpaceX Mars spaceships ready by next year

Mars spaceships will be ready for short flights by the first half of next year, predicts Elon Musk. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO was taking questions during an on-stage appearance at the SXSW conference in Austin.

Musk, 46, who's long dreamed of creating a human colony on Mars, revealed in 2017 that he was building the new rocket ship with the code name "BFR" that would be capable of traveling anywhere on Earth in under an hour. The spacecraft would ultimately be able to make missions to the moon or Mars, Musk said.

“People have told me my timeline is very optimistic,” he said. “We are building the first Mars interplanetary ship. It’ll be able to do short up and down flights in the first half of next year.”

He expects the ship to be capable of moving 150 metric tons into orbit with double the amount for the payload. As expected, the ship and the rockets will be reusable, which he explained will reduce the cost per flight dramatically.

Once the ship is built, he hopes other countries and companies will now have proof that space travel is viable so they can “up their game.” When interplanetary travel becomes available, he believes that will open up many entrepreneurial opportunities including some Mars entertainment.

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NASA Releases Twin Study for Scott and Mark Kelly - DNA changed in space

Space travel is something makes changes in human DNA also. That is takeaway from a long term study of NASA. For that study NASA took Kelly brothers (Scott Kelly and his twin brother Mark, who is a retired astronomer).Scott Kelly who spend 520d 10h 33m in space overall, but a huge one is a single mission which he stay in ISS for around 1 year(342 days).

NASA took study on both twin brothers, how the space makes change in human body and genes, because both Scott Kelly and Mark Kelly both have same DNA.   When Scott return to earth NASA discovered that his DNA has significantly changed.

NASA’s Human Research Program 2017 Investigators' Workshop (IWS) researchers finds that the endcaps of Scott Kelly’s chromosomes—his telomeres—had become longer while he was in space. Further testing confirmed this change, and revealed that most of the telomeres had shortened again within just two days of his return.

After Scott return to earth his 93% of DNA came back to normal, but the remaining 7% of DNA indicating a long term changes in DNA connected to the immune system, DNA repair, bone formation networks, oxygen deprivation and elevated carbon dioxide levels.

The Twin study is first step for the long-haul manned mission to mars. NASA has currently working on a Mars mission would last as long as three years, which would obviously be the longest stretch that any human has been away from Earth.

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Tiangong-1 Chinese Space Station Will Crash to Earth?

Tiangong-1 was the first space lab built by China. It launched in late September 2011, to help the nation master the technologies needed to construct and operate a crewed space station. China aims to have such a station up and running in Earth orbit by the 2020s.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has issued a new re-entry forecast for China's Tiangong-1 space lab

The 8.5-ton spacecraft is now expected to fall into Earth's atmosphere between March 24 and April 19, though ESA officials stressed that this is a rough estimate.

"Re-entry will take place anywhere between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south (e.g. Spain, France, Portugal, Greece, etc.)" latitude, officials with the Space Debris Office at ESA’s European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, wrote in an update last week. "Areas outside of these latitudes can be excluded. At no time will a precise time/location prediction from ESA be possible."

Hurtling around the Earth at about 18,000mph, the module ranks as one of the larger objects to re-enter the atmosphere without being steered towards the ocean

Western analysts cannot be sure how much of the spacecraft will survive re-entry, because China has not released details of the design and materials used to make Tiangong-1. But the spacecraft may have well-protected titanium fuel tanks containing toxic hydrazine that could pose a danger if they land in populated areas.

Source:

https://www.space.com/39862-china-tiangong-1-spacecraft-re-entry-estimate.html

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/mar/09/tiangong-1-scientists-unsure-where-chinese-space-station-will-crash-to-earth

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Scientists find how magnetic waves help the sun maintain its 15 million degree temperature

Researchers at Queen's University Belfast uncover some of the mysteries in how the sun able to heat its atmosphere. The research article was published in “a study in Nature Physics”

In that article they reveal that magnetic waves crashing through the sun are one of the main reasons for the heating process and thus propelling the sun wind.

The waves play a important role in maintaining the sun’s super high temperatures, this was predicted some 75 years ago now only it was proved.

"At Queen's, we have now led a team to detect and pinpoint the heat produced by Alfvén waves in a sunspot," Jess added. "This theory was predicted some 75 years ago but we now have the proof for the very first time. Our research opens up a new window to understanding how this phenomenon could potentially work in other areas such as energy reactors and medical devices."

To find the mystery, the research took advanced high-resolution observations from the Dunn Solar Telescope in New Mexico, US, alongside complementary observations from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, to analyse the strongest magnetic fields that appear in sunspots.

"By breaking the sun's light up into its constituent colours, our international team of researchers were able to examine the behaviour of certain elements from the periodic table within the sun's atmosphere, including calcium and iron," added another researcher on the paper, Dr. Samuel Grant from Queen's University.

"Once these elements had been extracted, intense flashes of light were detected in the image sequences."

He said that these intense flashes had all the hallmarks of the Alfvén waves converting their energy into shock waves, in a similar way to a supersonic aircraft creating a boom as it exceeds the speed of sound.

"The shock waves then ripple through the surrounding plasma, producing extreme heat. Using supercomputers, we were able to analyse the data and show for the first time in history that the Alfvén waves were capable of increasing plasma temperatures violently above their calm background," he explained.

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NASA releases “Unearthly” pictures of Jupiter by Juno Probe

         NASA's Juno probe, which launched towards Jupiter nearly seven years ago, has given a image of the biggest planet in our solar system. That was described as “unearthly”

        The space agency released the photos and they show the wind sculpted band which is nearly 3000 km long. The Jupiter weather layer is equivalent of the mass of 3 earths. The weather layer contains one percent of the planet’s mass the atmospheric winds of the gas-giant planet run deep into its atmosphere and last longer than similar atmospheric processes found here on Earth. The findings will improve understanding of Jupiter’s interior structure, core mass and, eventually, its origin.

         “These astonishing science results are yet another example of Jupiter’s curve balls, and a testimony to the value of exploring the unknown from a new perspective with next-generation instruments”, said Scott Bolton,

          “The very center may contain a core made of high-pressure and high-temperature rocks and perhaps water, but it is believed to be fluid as well, not solid,” said planetary scientist Tristan Guillot of the Université Côte d’Azur in Nice, another of the research leaders.

Juno’s data showed a small but significant asymmetry between the gravitational field of Jupiter’s northern and southern hemispheres, driven by the immense jet streams. The deeper the jets streams go, the more mass they contain, exerting a strong effect on Jupiter’s gravitational field, Kaspi said.

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What Is a Black Hole?

What Is a Black Hole?

A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.

There are three types:
Stellar black holes
Supermassive black holes
Intermediate black holes

Stellar black holes — small but deadly
When a star burns through the last of its fuel, it may collapse, or fall into itself. For smaller stars, up to about three times the sun's mass, the new core will be a neutron star or a white dwarf. But when a larger star collapses, it continues to compress and creates a stellar black hole.

Supermassive black holes — the birth of giants
Small black holes populate the universe, but their cousins, supermassive black holes, dominate. Supermassive black holes are millions or even billions of times as massive as the sun, but have a radius similar to that of Earth's closest star. Such black holes are thought to lie at the center of pretty much every galaxy, including the Milky Way.

Intermediate black holes – stuck in the middle
Scientists once thought black holes came in only small and large sizes, but recent research has revealed the possibility for the existence of mid-size, or intermediate, black holes (IMBHs). Such bodies could form when stars in a cluster collide in a chain reaction. Several of these forming in the same region could eventually fall together in the center of a galaxy and create a supermassive black hole

How Is NASA Studying Black Holes?
NASA is using satellites and telescopes that are traveling in space to learn more about black holes. These spacecraft help scientists answer questions about the universe.

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What is an aurora?

What is an aurora?

An aurora is a natural phenomenon which is characterised by a display of a natural-coloured (green, red, yellow or white) light in the sky.

It is a light show which is caused when electrically-charged particles from the sun collide with particles from gases such as oxygen and nitrogen present in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Aurora is sometimes referred to as ‘polar light’. It is predominantly seen in the regions of high altitudes like the Arctic and Antarctic.

How auroras are occurred?

An aurora is caused by the streams of electrified particles (which are emitted by the sun) trapped in the magnetic field of the earth. It is produced when this magnetosphere is disturbed by the solar wind carrying the charged particles.

Where it can be seen?

Auroras are seen in latitudes of around 70 degrees. They generally occur in a band known as ‘auroral zone’. The auroral zone is 3 to 6 degrees wide in latitude. It lies between 10 and 20 degrees from the geomagnetic poles.

This natural light effect is known as ‘aurora borealis’ in northern altitudes, while the effect in the southern latitudes is known as ‘aurora australis’. (Auroras that occur in Northern hemisphere are known as aurora borealis and auroras that take place in Southern hemisphere are known as aurora australis.) Aurora borealis is also known as ‘Northern lights’. Similarly, aurora australis is also known as ‘Southern lights’.

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