Artist’s impression of the exoplanet Proxima Centauri b. Credit: ESO/M. KORNMESSER. In the quest for life beyond our solar system, a new study delves into the atmospheric dynamics of planet Proxima Centauri b, illuminating ozone’s pivotal role in shaping planetary climates. This research signifies a significant leap forward in our understanding of habitable exoplanets. The…
Author: astronomy.daily
How 'glowing' plants could help scientists predict flash drought
Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio An unusual boost in plant productivity can foreshadow severe soil water loss, and NASA satellites are following the clues. Flaring up rapidly and with little warning, the drought that gripped much of the United States in the summer of 2012 was one of the most extensive the country had seen…
New GPS-based method can measure daily ice loss in Greenland
Researchers at DTU can now calculate how much the ice sheets in Greenland melts daily by using data from 61 GPS measuring stations placed directly on the bedrock around Greenland. Credit: Technical University of Denmark When the ice sheet in Greenland melts, as it has done increasingly in recent years, the bedrock beneath moves slightly….
Supernova SN 2023fyq exhibited long-lasting pre-explosion activity, observations show
Composite gri image of SN 2023fyq in NGC 4388 obtained with the Las Cumbres Observatory on August 11, 2023. The position of SN 2023fyq is indicated by white tick markers. Credit: Dong et al., 2024. An international team of astronomers have performed photometric and spectroscopic observations of a Type Ibn supernova, known as SN 2023fyq….
Chemical analysis of natural CO₂ rise over the last 50,000 years shows that today's rate is 10 times faster
A slice from an Antarctic ice core. Researchers study the chemicals trapped in old ice to learn about past climate. Credit: Katherine Stelling, Oregon State University Today’s rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide increase is 10 times faster than at any other point in the past 50,000 years, researchers have found through a detailed chemical analysis…
Unearthing the impacts of hydrological sensitivity on global rainfall
Tropical changes from structured and uniform sea surface warming. a,b, Multimodel mean SST (a) and precipitation (b) changes from the CMIP6 SSP585 simulation. c, Multimodel mean precipitation changes from amipUniform, which contains an elevated CO2 concentration and a uniform sea surface warming relative to its baseline simulation. Credit: Nature Climate Change (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-024-01982-8 Georgia…
Every drop counts: New algorithm tracks Texas's daily reservoir evaporation rates
(a) Spatial distribution of the average daily evaporation rate from 1981 to 2021. (b) Boxplot of the average annual evaporation estimates for all 188 Texas reservoirs, (black dots represent the density of evaporation estimates). (c–f) Spatial distribution of average meteorological forcings (air temperature, shortwave radiation, VPD and wind speed at 2 m) from 1981 to 2021. The…
TESS discovers a rocky planet that glows with molten lava as it's squeezed by its neighbors
Volcanic exoplanet illustration. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Dani Player UC Riverside astrophysicist Stephen Kane had to double-check his calculations. He wasn’t sure the planet he was studying could be as extreme as it seemed. Kane had never expected to learn that a planet in this faraway star system is covered with so many active volcanoes…
Weaker ocean currents lead to decline in nutrients for North Atlantic ocean life during prehistoric climate change
Georgia Tech researchers have finished investigating how the prehistoric weakening of a major ocean current led to a decline in ocean nutrients and negative impacts on North Atlantic ocean life. The results support predictions about how our oceans might react to a changing climate — and what that means for ocean life. Credit: Georgia Tech…
NASA images help explain eating habits of massive black hole
This close-up view of the center of the Andromeda galaxy, taken by NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope, is annotated with blue dotted lines to highlight the path of two dust streams flowing toward the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center (indicated by a purple dot). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech In images from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space…