Lifeboat Foundation

Astronomers from China and South Korea report the detection of a contact binary system with an extremely low mass ratio of only 0.0356. The newfound system, which received the designation TYC 3801−1529−1, is therefore the lowest mass ratio contact binary discovered to date. The finding was detailed in a paper published November 19 on the preprint server arXiv.

Contact binaries consist of two stars orbiting so closely that they share a common gaseous envelope. The components of such systems often have similar effective temperatures and luminosities, regardless of their respective masses.

The cutoff mass ratio for contact binaries is still a subject of debate. Latest studies suggest that these binaries should have a minimum mass ratio of about 0.038−0.041.

While NASA’s NEOWISE telescope ended its journey through space on Nov. 1, 2024, the team at IPAC, a science center at Caltech, was working on one further gift from the prolific mission.

The final data release from NEOWISE was released to the astronomy community just two weeks later, on Nov. 14, encompassing over 26 million images and nearly 200 billion sources detected by the telescope. And today, IPAC is releasing six new images from the mission’s archival data as a tribute to this landmark project, available here.

NEOWISE was launched as the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) in 2009 and then reactivated in 2013 as NEOWISE, the asteroid-hunting phase of the mission. The infrared space telescope studied the entire night sky and conducted 21 complete sky surveys during more than a decade of operation.

Consider the possibility that the terrifying entities portrayed in science fiction films, such as extraterrestrial monsters, could exist in reality. How far would these beings be from our world? In this video, we will explore approximately 20 of these creatures, beginning with those closest to us and progressing to those that are more distant.

Diamond rain? Super-ionic water? These are just two proposals that planetary scientists have come up with for what lies beneath the thick, bluish, hydrogen-and-helium atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune, our solar system’s unique, but superficially bland, ice giants.

A planetary scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, now proposes an alternative theory—that the interiors of both these planets are layered, and that the two layers, like oil and water, don’t mix. That configuration neatly explains the planets’ unusual magnetic fields and implies that earlier theories of the interiors are unlikely to be true.

In a paper appearing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Burkhard Militzer argues that a deep ocean of water lies just below the cloud layers and, below that, a highly compressed fluid of carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen.

Elon Musk says that Starlink’s new system enables internet connectivity for your mobile phone with ‘no extra equipment or special app’ required.

Elon Musk encourages focusing on how quickly new ideas and improvements are made, not just working fast.

Media: air & space forces association

A new study by Curtin University has revealed what could be the oldest direct evidence of ancient hot water activity on Mars. The research focused on a 4.45 billion-year-old zircon grain from the Martian meteorite NWA7034, also called Black Beauty. The analysis found geochemical signatures suggesting that water-rich fluids were present, providing evidence that Mars may have been habitable in the past.

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Do you remember the moment in “Star Wars” when the Death Star destroys Alderaan? Eight laser beams converge at a single point to form a super-powered laser that obliterates the planet. It was a memorable scene that demonstrated the unrelenting power of the Empire.

Although it is unclear whether they were inspired by the scene, Chinese scientists claim they have created a new type of microwave weapon that combines several high-powered electromagnetic waves. They can then concentrate them onto a target.

The weapon system consists of multiple microwave-transmitting vehicles that are deployed to different locations. Each of the vehicles fire microwaves with high-precision synchronization. These merge together into a powerful energy beam to attack one target.

Most of the diverse elements in the universe come from supernovae. We are, quite literally, made of the dust of those long-dead stars and other astrophysical processes. But the details of how it all comes about are something astronomers strive to understand.

How do the various isotopes produced by supernovae drive the evolution of planetary systems? Of the various types of supernovae, which play the largest role in creating the elemental abundances we see today? One way astronomers can study these questions is to look at presolar grains.

These are dust grains formed long before the formation of the sun. Some of them were cast out of older systems as a star fired up its nuclear furnace and cleared its system of dust. Others formed from the remnants of supernovae and stellar collisions. Regardless of its origin, each presolar grain has a unique isotopic fingerprint that tells us its story.