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[ad_1] NEW DELHI: In a race for making the first footprint in the uncharted territory of the south pole of Moon, Russia’s Luna-25 mission, which was launched on August 11 — 28 days after India’s Chandrayaan-3 lifted off from Sriharikota on July 14, is likely to make a soft landing on the Moon on Monday (August 21) if everything goes smoothly, just two days prior to the scheduled soft landing of India’s lander module. Russia's Luna-25 mission has entered the Moon orbit of Earth 's satellite, Russian space agency Roscosmos announced on Wednesday afternoon. It said all systems aboard Luna-25 are performing optimally with stable communication. 03:38 Chandrayaan-3 Mission: Vikram lander separates successfully, now landing on Moon on August 23 Since Wednesday, Luna-25 will now circle the Moon for around five days and then change course for a soft landing on the south pole on August 21. The exact landing site is at the Boguslawsky crater at 72.9°S 43.2°E (close to where Chand...

[ad_1] World Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22nd to raise awareness about environmental issues and promote global efforts to protect the Earth's natural resources. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, and since then it has become a global movement with millions of people participating in various events, activities and campaigns to show their support for environmental protection and sustainability. History The first World Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970, in the United States. It was organized by a group of environmental activists led by Senator Gaylord Nelson , who was concerned about the negative impact of industrialization and pollution on the environment. Senator Nelson wanted to create a national day of environmental education and awareness that would mobilize people across the country to take action to protect the planet. He chose April 22 as the date for the event because it fell between spring break and final exams, making it an ideal ti...

[ad_1] In a celestial spectacle set to unfold on the night of December 14, sky gazers are in for a rare double treat as the annual Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak, coinciding with the unexpected debut of a new meteor shower associated with comet 46P/Wirtanen. A recent study by a team of international researchers revealed that the debris stream from 46P/Wirtanen, formed during an extra-close encounter with Jupiter half a century ago, is intersecting Earth 's path, creating what could be the first-ever meteor shower from this comet. The comet, known for its "Christmas Comet" display in 2018, has historically failed to produce significant shooting stars despite close encounters. However, this year, Earth is expected to intercept a denser region of the comet cloud, potentially resulting in a unique and fascinating meteor shower. Unlike the Geminids, which are known for their reliability and high meteor count, the new shower is estimated to peak at a modest two t...

[ad_1] WASHINGTON: Black holes are gatherers, not hunters. They lie in wait until a hapless star wanders by. When the star gets close enough, the black hole 's gravitational grasp violently rips it apart and sloppily devours its gasses while belching out intense radiation. Astronomers using NASA 's Hubble Space Telescope have recorded a star's final moments in detail as it gets gobbled up by a black hole. These are termed 'tidal disruption events'. But the wording belies the complex, raw violence of a black hole encounter. There is a balance between the black hole's gravity pulling in star stuff, and radiation blowing material out. In other words, black holes are messy eaters. Astronomers are using Hubble to find out the details of what happens when a wayward star plunges into the gravitational abyss. Hubble can't photograph the AT2022dsb tidal event's mayhem up close, since the munched-up star is nearly 300 million light-years away at the core o...

[ad_1] Sweltering heat is blanketing much of the planet, and the past seven days have been the hottest week on record, the latest grim milestone in a series of climate-change-driven extremes. Earth ’s average temperature on Wednesday remained at an unofficial record high set the day before. And for the seven-day period ending Wednesday, the daily average temperature was .08 degrees Fahrenheit (.04 degrees Celsius) higher than any week in 44 years of record-keeping, according to data from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world’s condition. The average global temperature for Tuesday and Wednesday was 62.9 degrees Fahrenheit (17.18 degrees Celsius). That follows a short-lived record set Monday, at 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit (17.01 Celsius). The Climate Reanalyzer figures are unofficial but significant data, and an indication that climate change is reaching uncharted territory. “The situation we are wit...

[ad_1] BENGALURU: Early on Friday, scientists from the Isro Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (Istrac) implemented the fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre of Aditya-L1 , India’s first solar space observatory mission, that was launched on September 2. Today's manoeuvre happened at 2.15am. The spacecraft is now in an orbit of 256km x 1,21,973km, Isro said, adding that its ground stations in Mauritius, Bengaluru, Sriharikota and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation, while a transportable terminal currently stationed in the Fiji islands for Aditya-L1 will support post-burn operations. A day ahead of the launch, Isro had said that post launch, Aditya-L1 would stay in Earth-bound orbits for 16 days, during which it would undergo five manoeuvres to gain the necessary velocity for its journey. Subsequently, it would undergo a Trans-Lagrangian1 Insertion (TLI) manoeuvre, marking the beginning of its 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 Lagrange point....

[ad_1] NEW DELHI: A recent study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters has uncovered a surprising consequence of rapid groundwater extraction , revealing that it can lead to shifts in the Earth 's axis. Between 1993 and 2010, the planet's tilt changed by approximately 31.5 inches, closely mirroring the worldwide removal of underground water resources by humans, reported TCD. During this period, it is estimated that approximately 2,150 gigatons of water were pumped from natural underground reservoirs known as aquifers.To put this into perspective, that volume of water would be sufficient to fill a staggering 860 million Olympic-sized swimming pools. This extensive groundwater extraction not only equals a global sea-level rise of approximately a quarter-inch but has also led to a more noticeable wobble in the Earth's rotation. Researchers liken this motion to the shifting of weight on a spinning top or a basketball spun on a fingertip, resulting in a red...

[ad_1] BATHINDA: More than 6.5 billion people, or 81% of Earth 's population, were exposed during July 2023 to at least one day of heat made at least 3 times more likely by climate change, according to a new report and analysis by Climate Central . And during each day of the month, 2 billion people worldwide experienced at least that level of climate change influence on their local temperatures. Climate Central is a science and news organization providing authoritative information to help the public and policymakers make decisions about climate and energy. The analysis calculated climate change attribution assessments for 4,700 cities and 200 countries, finding that residents in various major cities with population above 6 million were exposed to average monthly temperatures made at least 3 times more likely by climate change. "Human-caused climate change influenced July temperatures for the vast majority of humanity," Dr Andrew Pershing , vice president for science...

[ad_1] BEIJING: China will start building relay satellites that by 2030 will act as a communication bridge between missions to the moon and beyond, and ground operations on Earth , Chinese state media reported on Wednesday. A pilot of the satellite constellation will support China's ongoing lunar exploration programme and the building of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing Wu Yanhua , chief designer of China's deep space exploration project. To kick off the building of the constellation - called Queqiao-2, or Magpie Bridge-2, named after a bridge made up of magpies in a Chinese myth - a communications relay satellite between the far side of the moon and Earth will be launched in 2024 to support uncrewed lunar missions this decade. That year, China plans to launch the Chang 'e-6 mission to retrieve lunar samples from an ancient basin in the far side of the moon. The Chang'e-7 mission will be launched ar...

[ad_1] Nasa scientists have spotted a massive black region on the Sun, which is 20 times larger than Earth. The appearance of the “coronal hole” has prompted US federal agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to sound out an alert for geomagnetic storms as the gaping hole is unleashing 1.8 million mile-per-hour solar winds towards Earth , which will impact the planet on Friday. Scientists are closely monitoring the situation to see if the winds will impact the Earth's magnetic field, satellites and technology. This was the second hole to appear in one week. Both holes were captured by Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which studies the Sun. The latest hole was discovered on March 23 near the Sun’s South Pole. The “hole” isn't really a hole, but a large region much cooler than the rest of the Sun, causing it to appear black. “Coronal holes are magnetically open areas that are one source of high-speed solar wind. They appear dark when viewed in many ...

[ad_1] An already warming Earth steamed to its hottest June on record , smashing the old global mark by nearly a quarter of a degree (0.13 degrees Celsius), with global oceans setting temperature records for the third straight month, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday. June's 61.79 degrees (16.55 degrees Celsius) global average was 1.89 degrees (1.05 degrees Celsius) above the 20th Century average, the first time globally a summer month was more than a degree Celsius hotter than normal, according to NOAA. Other weather monitoring systems, such as NASA, Berkeley Earth and Europe's Copernicus, had already called last month the hottest June on record, but NOAA is the gold standard for record-keeping with data going back 174 years to 1850. The increase over the last June's record is “a considerably big jump” because usually global monthly records are so broad based they often jump by hundredths not quarters of a degree, said NOAA...

[ad_1] From climate change to species loss and pollution, humans have etched their impact on the Earth with such strength and permanence since the middle of the 20th century that a special team of scientists says a new geologic epoch began then. Called the Anthropocene - and derived from the Greek terms for "human" and "new" - this epoch started sometime between 1950 and 1954, according to the scientists. While there is evidence worldwide that captures the impact of burning fossil fuels, detonating nuclear weapons and dumping fertilizers and plastics on land and in waterways, the scientists are proposing a small but deep lake outside of Toronto, Canada - Crawford Lake - to place a historic marker. "It's quite clear that the scale of change has intensified unbelievably and that has to be human impact," said University of Leicester geologist Colin Waters , who chaired the Anthropocene Working Group. This puts the power of humans in a somewhat ...

[ad_1] Sweltering heat is blanketing much of the planet, and the past seven days have been the hottest week on record, the latest grim milestone in a series of climate-change-driven extremes. Earth ’s average temperature on Wednesday remained at an unofficial record high set the day before. And for the seven-day period ending Wednesday, the daily average temperature was .08 degrees Fahrenheit (.04 degrees Celsius) higher than any week in 44 years of record-keeping, according to data from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world’s condition. The average global temperature for Tuesday and Wednesday was 62.9 degrees Fahrenheit (17.18 degrees Celsius). That follows a short-lived record set Monday, at 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit (17.01 Celsius). The Climate Reanalyzer figures are unofficial but significant data, and an indication that climate change is reaching uncharted territory. “The situation we are wit...