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Chicxulub simulations reveal trajectory of impact

Nick Carne
Cosmos Magazine
Tue, 26 May 2020 19:38 UTC
Chicxulub Crater
© Gareth Collins/Imperial College LondonAsymmetries of the Chicxulub crater.
The asteroid that most believe wiped out the dinosaurs struck at the deadliest possible angle, according to new analysis combining 3D numerical impact simulations and geophysical data from the site.

The 66-million-year-old Chicxulub crater in Mexico was formed by a steeply inclined impact of between 45 and 60 degrees to the horizontal, the researchers suggest, which maximised the amount of climate-changing gases thrust into the upper atmosphere.

Such a strike likely unleashed billions of tonnes of sulphur, blocking the Sun and triggering the nuclear winter that killed 75% of life on Earth.

The researchers - from Imperial College London (ICL), the University of Freiburg, Germany, and the University of Texas, US - say their models are the first fully 3D simulations to reproduce the whole dramatic event, from the initial impact to the crater formation.

Reproducing the final stage, in which the transient crater collapsed to form the final structure, allowed them to make the first comparison between 3D simulations and the present-day structure of the crater.

"Our simulations provide compelling evidence that the asteroid struck at a steep angle, perhaps 60 degrees above the horizon, and approached its target from the northeast," says ICL's Gareth Collins, lead author of a paper in the journal Nature Communications.
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Bullseye

'Darwin Devolves' thesis vindicated again: Sherpas climb Everest easier because of 'broken genes'


Evolution News
Mon, 25 May 2020 19:51 UTC
mt everest climbers
© Lloyd Smith, via Wikimedia CommonsClimbers on Mount Everest
How can Tibetans survive high altitudes that leave lowlanders gasping? The answer is found in broken genes. A new paper on the Tibetan genome vindicates what Michael Behe said in Darwin Devolves: evolution breaks things, but sometimes, like in the case of polar bears, the result can allow organisms to thrive in specific environments. Yes, this follows on the heels of last week's Behe vindication; see here.

A team of 16 scientists, writing in PNAS, sought to understand the genetic basis for Tibetan high-altitude adaptation in more detail. Tibetans and Nepalese, many of whom serve as guides for lowlanders wanting to conquer Mount Everest, routinely carry heavy burdens at altitudes above 14,000 feet, the average elevation on the Tibetan plateau. In its entry on Sherpa people, Wikipedia notes,
Many Sherpa are highly regarded as elite mountaineers and experts in their local area. They were immeasurably valuable to early explorers of the Himalayan region, serving as guides at the extreme altitudes of the peaks and passes in the region, particularly for expeditions to climb Mount Everest. Today, the term is often used by foreigners to refer to almost any guide or climbing supporter hired for mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas, regardless of their ethnicity. Because of this usage, the term has become a slang byword for a guide or mentor in other situations. Sherpas are renowned in the international climbing and mountaineering community for their hardiness, expertise, and experience at very high altitudes. [Emphasis added.]

Comment:

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Bizarro Earth

SWARM satellite group detects Earth's magnetic field is mysteriously weakening, causing chaos for satellite-based communication

Anthony Cuthbertson
The Independent
Sun, 24 May 2020 17:27 UTC
Magnetosphere
© UnknownEarth's Magnetosphere showing various layers.
A localised region of weakness is 'developing vigorously', scientists warn

The Earth's magnetic field is weakening between Africa and South America, causing issues for satellites and space craft.

Scientists studying the phenomenon observed that an area known as the South Atlantic Anomaly has grown considerably in recent years, though the reason for it is not entirely clear.

Using data gathered by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Swarm constellation of satellites, researchers noted that the area of the anomaly dropped in strength by more than 8 per cent between 1970 and 2020.

"The new, eastern minimum of the South Atlantic Anomaly has appeared over the last decade and in recent years is developing vigorously," said Jürgen Matzka, from the German Research Centre for Geosciences.

Comment: The phenomenon is not confined to the South Atlantic either:

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Microscope 1

"Like it was designed to infect humans": COVID-19 'cell culture' theory gains steam

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Tue, 26 May 2020 16:55 UTC
Covid-19 laboratoire
© Inconnu
A scientific study which found COVID-19 may have been a "cell-culture" uniquely adapted for transmission to humans (more so than any other animal - including bats), is gaining steam.

The paper, currently under peer review, comes from Flinders University Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, who has spent over two decades developing vaccines against influenza, Ebola, and animal Sars. He says his findings allow for the possibility that COVID-19 leaked from a laboratory, according to Sky News.

"The two possibilities which I think are both still open is that it was a chance transmission of a virus from an as yet unidentified animal to human. The other possibility is that it was an accidental release of the virus from a laboratory," said Petrovsky, adding "Certainly we can't exclude the possibility that this came from a laboratory experiment rather than from an animal. They are both open possibilities."
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Galaxy

Astronomers detect galaxy formed like 'cosmic ring of fire'


Science in Public
Tue, 26 May 2020 16:45 UTC
donut shaped galaxy
© James Josephides, Swinburne Astronomy ProductionsAn artist’s impression of the ring galaxy named R5519. Iit is 11 billion light-years away from our Solar System
Unusual galaxy set to prompt rethink on how structures in the Universe form

Astronomers have captured an image of a super-rare type of galaxy - described as a "cosmic ring of fire" - as it existed 11 billion years ago.

The galaxy, which has roughly the mass of the Milky Way, is circular with a hole in the middle, rather like a titanic doughnut. Its discovery, announced in the journal Nature Astronomy, is set to shake up theories about the earliest formation of galactic structures and how they evolve.

"It is a very curious object that we've never seen before," said lead researcher Dr Tiantian Yuan, from Australia's ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D). "It looks strange and familiar at the same time."
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Better Earth

Climate change, not humans, responsible for Australia's megafauna extinction

Scott Hocknull et al
The Conversation
Tue, 26 May 2020 10:52 UTC
Australia
© R. Bargiel, V. Konstantinov, A. Atuchin & S. Hocknull (2020). Que ensland Museum.Life and death in tropical Australia, 40,000 years ago. Giant reptiles ruled northern Australia during the Pleistocene with mega-marsupials as their prey. Image
When people first arrived in what is now Queensland, they would have found the land inhabited by massive animals including goannas six metres long and kangaroos twice as tall as a human.

We have studied fossil bones of these animals for the past decade. Our findings, published today in Nature Communications, shed new light on the mystery of what drove these ancient megafauna to extinction.

The first bones were found by the Barada Barna people during cultural heritage surveys on their traditional lands about 100 kilometres west of Mackay, at South Walker Creek Mine. Our study shares the first reliable glimpse of the giants that roamed the Australian tropics between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago.

These megafauna were the largest land animals to live in Australia since the time of the dinosaurs. Understanding the ecological role they played and the environmental impact of their loss remains their most valuable untold story.

Comment: As Pierre Lescaudron details in a series of fascinating articles, there is strong evidence that cosmic catastrophes have helped shape life on our planet: The Seven Destructive Earth Passes of Comet Venus

See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Mars

China set to launch Mars probe and rover mission in July

Darrell Etherington
Tech Crunch
Mon, 25 May 2020 07:42 UTC
mars
China's space program will launch a Mars mission in July, according to its current plans. This will include deploying an orbital probe to study the red planet, and a robotic, remotely-controlled rover for surface exploration. The U.S. has also been planning another robotic rover mission for Mars, and it's set to take off this summer, too - peak time for an optimal transit from Earth to Mars thanks to their relative orbits around the Sun.

This will be the first rover mission to Mars for China's space program, and is one of the many ways that it's aiming to better compete with NASA's space exploration efforts. NASA has flown four previous Mars rover missions, and its fifth, with an updated rover called 'Perseverance,' is set to take place this years with a goal of making a rendezvous with Mars sometime in February 2021.

Comment: See also: China's Mars rover will launch in 2020, seeks signs of life and potential for livable human conditions

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Question

Does Planet Nine actually exist? Maybe not say astronomers

Samantha Lawler
The Conversation
Mon, 25 May 2020 20:54 UTC
Planet Nine is a theoretical, undiscovered giant planet in the mysterious far reaches of our solar system.

The presence of Planet Nine has been hypothesized to explain everything from the tilt of the sun's spin axis to the apparent clustering in the orbits of small, icy asteroids beyond Neptune.

But does Planet Nine actually exist?
An artist’s concept of a hypothetical planet with a distant sun
© ShutterstockAn artist’s concept of a hypothetical planet with a distant sun.
Discoveries at the edge of our solar system

The Kuiper Belt is a collection of small, icy bodies that orbit the sun beyond Neptune, at distances larger than 30 AU (one astronomical unit or AU is the distance between the Earth and the sun). These Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) range in size from large boulders to 2,000 km across. KBOs are leftover small bits of planetary material that were never incorporated into planets, similar to the asteroid belt.

The discoveries from the most successful Kuiper Belt survey to date, the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS), suggest a sneakier explanation for the orbits we see. Many of these KBOs have been discovered to have very elliptical and tilted orbits, like Pluto.

Mathematical calculations and detailed computer simulations have shown that the orbits we see in the Kuiper Belt can only have been created if Neptune originally formed a few AU closer to the sun, and migrated outward to its present orbit. Neptune's migration explains the pervasiveness of highly elliptical orbits in the Kuiper Belt, and can explain all the KBO orbits we've observed, except for a handful of KBOs on extreme orbits that always stay at least 10 AU beyond Neptune.
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Satellite

Japan's new Space Domain Mission Unit, and security in the Indo-Pacific region

Yuka Koshino
Military Balance Blog
Fri, 01 May 2020 12:00 UTC
japan space
Japan's establishment of the Space Domain Mission Unit, which is planned to become fully operational in 2023, reflects the country's increasing reliance on space systems to meet its security needs. It could emerge as a key actor in the defence of space assets in the Indo-Pacific.

In April 2020, the Japanese Diet passed a bill to set up the Space Domain Mission Unit within the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) by the end of the fiscal year, as it seeks ways to protect its satellites from kinetic and non-kinetic threats. With an initial strength of only 20 personnel, the new unit may appear small, but this is not a measure of its significance. Tokyo's increasing dependence on space, as well as the ever-growing emphasis placed on the domain by its closest ally, the United States, suggest that the unit will have an important role.

Comment: It would seem that this system isn't solely geared towards the threats related to the militarization of space, it is also intended to monitor 'space debris and the environment'; which is particularly notable considering the apparent uptick in meteors and comets, and numerous other upper atmospheric and space weather phenomena of late. In addition, following the release of UFO footage, confirmed by the US as authentic, Japan's Defense Ministry has also been mulling over its UFO protocol. Ultimately, as British astronomer Victor Clube, author of The Cosmic Serpent and The Cosmic Winter, once said in a report commissioned by the US Air Force: "We do not need the celestial threat to disguise Cold War intentions; rather we need the Cold War to disguise celestial intentions!".

See also:

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Satellite

Russia plans to build a replacement for the International Space Station, won't allow Moon privatization - Space Agency Chief

Jonny Tickle
RT
Mon, 25 May 2020 19:32 UTC
International Space Station
© NASA / Roscosmos / Handout via ReutersThe International Space Station (ISS) photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking, October 4, 2018
Russia is planning to create its own orbital space station and winged, crewed spacecraft, according to Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of Russia's space agency Roscosmos.

Speaking to Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda, Rogozin explained how the International Space Station (ISS) is due to operate for another seven-to-ten years, and, as a world leader in the space industry, Russia should be at the forefront of whatever comes next.
As a country that has always been a leader in the creation of orbital stations, Russia should immediately begin work on creating a new one.
According to the director, it's not yet clear whether the station will be visited or inhabited, national or international, but "the technical training should begin now." Rogozin also announced that Roscosmos is "considering the possibility of creating a winged manned spacecraft for flights to orbital stations," which would help build the brand-new space station.
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