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LHS 3844 b's Geology, Farthest Supernova & Mars Organics | Ep. 1
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
JWST has mapped the surface geology of an airless super-Earth 48 light-years away — and confirmed the most distant supernova ever detected. Plus Curiosity's biggest organic molecule find on Mars, Europe's €450M space funding round, and a G2 geomagnetic storm watch.
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
JWST has just done something that wasn't possible five years ago. It's read the geology of a planet forty-eight light-years away, and what it found is a world that looks nothing like Earth and everything like Mercury.
There's an open question that scientists haven't resolved yet. Two competing scenarios explain the basalt signature.
Now to a different kind of distance. A supernova has been confirmed as the most distant ever detected.
On Mars, Curiosity has detected the largest organic molecules found on the planet so far. A mudstone sample contains decane, undecane, and dodecane, hydrocarbon chains long enough that abiotic processes alone struggle to account for their measured abundance.
Meanwhile, Europe's launch and commercial space sector is moving fast. Amazon has expanded its Ariane 6 commitment to twenty-four total missions for its Leo constellation.
Finally, NOAA has upgraded its geomagnetic storm watch to G2 Moderate, following the merger of several coronal mass ejections now approaching Earth. Aurora visibility could extend into the northern United States.
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