By Aliyah Siddiqui
Correspondent
The Good News Lion is the Nation & World section’s bi-weekly news segment, highlighting positive news in the country and around the world. The theme of this article is out-of-this-world revelations.
News stars discovered
A team of astronomers recently set the record for identifying individual stars in a galaxy 6.5 billion light-years away from Earth, representing a time when the universe was half its current age. This study could give insight into how scientists can study dark matter.
Scientists have previously struggled to study galaxies billions of light-years away due to stars tending to blur together at this distance. However, by using the James Webb Space Telescope and a phenomena called gravitational lensing, astronomers were able to identify 44 unique stars in a galaxy called the Dragon Arc.
According to SciTechDaily, gravitational lensing is a magnification event caused by the gravitational fields of large objects. This can amplify the light coming from distant stars and make them detectable by telescopes like the James Webb telescope.
The Center for Astrophysics at Harvard & Smithsonian reports that with these techniques, the researchers found that many of the stars in the Dragon Arc were red supergiants, indicative of stars in their final stage of life. Fengwu Sun, a postdoctoral researcher and co-author of the paper, hopes to continue observing stars in the Dragon Arc and said that the research is a starting point for understanding other supergiants.
“We know more about red supergiants in our local galactic neighborhood because they are closer and we can take better images and spectra, and sometimes even resolve the stars,” Sun said. “We can use the knowledge we’ve gained from studying red supergiants in the local universe to interpret what happens next for them at such an early epoch of galaxy formation in future studies.”
Mysterious mounds on Mars originated from water deposits
A new study found that the mounds and hills on the northern lowlands of Mars are believed to be areas where the planet was once full of water. This discovery is another piece of evidence that Mars could have been capable of supporting life.
Although the planet is currently arid and cold, previous research endeavors on the planet showed that there is evidence of previous rivers and lakes. The current study, started by Joe McNeil, a scientist at the Natural History Museum, focuses on the Chryse Planitia region on the border between the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars. According to research, the mounds are full of clay minerals, indicative of previous water.
“The mounds in Chryse Planitia are rich in clay minerals, meaning liquid water must have been present at the surface in large quantities nearly four billion years ago,” McNeil told the Natural History Museum. “The European Space Agency’s upcoming Rosalind Franklin rover will explore nearby, and could allow us to answer whether Mars ever had an ocean, and if it did, whether life could have existed there.”
The mounds were examined using information provided by NASA and ESA satellites that are currently in orbit. According to the Natural History Museum, the mounds had not been extensively studied in the past, making their origin a mystery to scientists.
By understanding the geological history of Mars, McNeil hopes that scientists can also gain a further understanding of Earth’s history.
“Mars is a model for what the early Earth could have looked like, as its lack of plate tectonics means that Mars’ ancient geology is still in place,” McNeil said. “Looking at early Mars helps us to understand the early Earth, and as more missions visit the red planet, the more we’ll be able to dig into our own planet’s history.”
Scientists count krill from space
Scientists have recently started a project to count krill, an important Antarctic sea creature, from space. The World Wildlife Foundation partnered with the University of Strathclyde and the British Antarctic Survey to create this endeavor.
According to the WWF, krill are important prey for marine wildlife and are also vital to maintain the environment as they transfer carbon from the atmosphere throughout the ocean, reducing the greenhouse effect. However, climate change and fishing are putting the species at risk, making the project, titled “Krill from Space,” necessary.
“With sea ice declining and industrial fishing growing, we urgently need to better manage the fishery and protect krill habitats within a network of marine protected areas,” said Rod Downie, the chief polar advisor of WWF-UK. “‘Krill from Space’ may give us a new tool to help monitor and safeguard this vital species.”
The BBC reports that the scientists are planning to use satellites to determine the number of krill in oceans near Antarctica based on the amount of light seawater absorbed. By examining how krill density alters the ocean’s color, scientists will be able to use satellites to track the population from space.
According to David McKee, a professor at the department of physics at the University of Strathclyde, this technique of using ocean color satellites has been utilized since 1997, but the signal associated with the pigment that makes krill red was only recently identified. He hopes that the project will benefit conservation efforts.
“This is a ground-breaking effort to develop a new way to monitor krill swarms at the surface where they are known to occur in huge patches that are important feeding grounds for whales and other important marine species,” McKee said. “In time we hope to be able to support international conservation and sustainable management of this most important Antarctic species.”
