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- Scientists explain how Covid affected the moon's surface ๐
Scientists explain how Covid affected the moon's surface ๐
+ details on a once-in-lifetime cosmic sighting ๐
The record-breaking black hole jets spanning 23 million light-years in length
Right before an object falls into a black hole, a fraction of material โjetsโ out from both sides of the void so quickly, humans can see their glowing wavelengths from radio telescopes ๐ฅ
Weโve known about this type of matching formation for a while, but researchers at California Institute of Technology just observed the largest pair of black hole jets weโve ever seen:
โก They originated at a supermassive black hole 7.5 billion light-years from Earth
โก Together, the two jets span 23 million light-years in length
โก The two formations have a power output equivalent to trillions of suns
Still not daunted by their size?
Think of it this way: these black hole jets are longer than the diameter of 140 Milky Way galaxies.
As the lead author of the findings, Martijn Oei, put it:
โOne of the unexpected realizations of finding this giant jet system is that black hole jets can reach the scale of the cosmic web. Theyโre so big that they can reach, in principle, everywhere.โ
Even spookier, the researchers who discovered them also spotted 10,000 new black hole jet pairs along the way ๐ซ
Findings like these help scientists better understand the fundamental structure of the universe ๐๏ธ
Get ready: NASA predicts a new star will join the night sky any day now
Need a little change in your life? Look to the night sky ๐ญ
โญ NASA believes that the Blaze Star, a nova 3,000 miles away officially named T Coronae Borealis, will soon become visible in a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic event
๐ The visibility will be thanks to a thermonuclear explosion that takes place every 80 years
๐ The anticipated explosion is powered by an energy transfer from a nearby white dead star (from whom Blaze is stealing pressure and heat)
๐ Once the explosion takes place, humans will be able to see Blaze with the naked eye for 1-2 weeks!
Of all the once-in-a-generation moments weโve lived through lately, this one might just top the list ๐
Did humans reduce the moonโs temperature during COVID-19 lockdowns?
According to scientists from the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, the answer is yes ๐ฅถ
While observing nighttime temperatures on the near side of the Moonโs surface (AKA, the one facing Earth), the team noticed a substantial dip across six observation sites.
Their proposed explanation of the "anomalous dip"?
โ๏ธ When human activity came to a sudden halt during global lockdowns, the drop in pollution and overall heat radiating from Earth at night caused a shift in the Moonโs temperature โ๏ธ
But the story doesnโt end there ๐
As scientists grapple with the effects of a warming climate and potential solutions, we may be able to use the Moon as a "stable platform to study Earth's radiation budget and climate change."
Thank you in advance, Moon, and apologies for the cold spell ๐
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