Science

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Study: A plunge in incoming sunlight may have triggered “Snowball Earths”

Findings also suggest exoplanets lying within habitable zones may be susceptible to ice ages.

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The trigger for “Snowball Earth” global ice ages may have been drops in incoming sunlight that happened quickly, in geological terms, according to an MIT study.

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ExoMars finds new gas signatures in the martian atmosphere

ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has spotted new gas signatures at Mars. These unlock new secrets about the martian atmosphere, and will enable a more accurate determination of whether there is methane, a gas associated with biological or geological activity, at the planet.

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Trace Gas Orbiter at Mars

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The ultimate RAVE: final data release published

How do the stars in our Milky Way move? For more than a decade RAVE, one of the first and largest systematic spectroscopic surveys, studied the motion of Milky Way stars. The RAVE collaboration now published the results for over half a million observations in its 6th and final data release. RAVE succeeded in measuring the velocities, temperatures, compositions and distances for different types of stars. The unique database enables scientists to systematically disentangle the structure and evolution history of our Galaxy.

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RAVE observed nearly half a million stars of our Galaxy. The Sun is located at the centre of the coordinate system. The colours represent radial velocities: red are receding stars and stars depicted in blue are approaching.

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Dead star emits never-before seen mix of radiation

ESA’s Integral helps unravel origin of Fast Radio Bursts A global collaboration of telescopes including ESA’s Integral high-energy space observatory has detected a unique mix of radiation bursting from a dead star in our galaxy — something that has never been seen before in this type of star, and may solve a long-standing cosmic mystery.

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Integral: gamma-ray observatory

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CfA Scientists and Team Take a Look Inside the Central Engine of a Solar Flare for the First Time

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CfA Scientists and Team Take a Look Inside the Central Engine of a Solar Flare for the First Time

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X-Rays Recount Origin of Oddball Meteorites

Berkeley Lab scientists contribute to study exploring magnetization preserved for billions of years in meteorite samples

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X-ray experiments at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source helped scientists to establish that the parent planetesimal of rare meteorites, like the one shown here, had a molten core, a solid crust, and a magnetic field similar in strength to the Earth’s magnetic field.

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NASA’s Mars 2020 mis¬sion will search for traces of past mi¬cro¬bial life with the Per-se¬ver¬ance rover

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NASA's Mars rover Perseverance

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An origin story for a family of oddball meteorites

Study suggests the rare objects likely came from an early planetesimal with a magnetic core.

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Samples from a rare meteorite family, including the one shown here, reveal that their parent planetesimal, formed in the earliest stages of the solar system, was a complex, layered object, with a molten core and solid crust similar to Earth.

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Mapping the Oaxaca earthquake from space

On the morning of 23 June 2020, a strong earthquake struck the southern state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The 7.4- magnitude earthquake prompted evacuations in the region, triggered a tsunami warning and damaged thousands of houses. Satellite radar data, from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, are being used to analyse the effects of the earthquake on land.

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COVID-19 pandemic causes seismic noise quiet period in 2020

Research published in the journal Science has shown that lockdown measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 led to a 50% reduction in seismic noise observed around the world in early to mid 2020.

Seismic noise is measure by seismometers. These are sensitive scientific instruments to record vibrations travelling through the ground – known as seismic waves. Traditionally, seismology focuses on measuring seismic waves arising after earthquakes. Seismic records from natural sources however are contaminated by high-frequency vibrations (“buzz”) from humans at the surface – walking around, driving cars, public transport, heavy industry and construction work all create unique seismic signatures in the subsurface that are recorded on seismometers. The buzz is stronger during the day than at night and weaker on weekends than weekdays.