Science & Technology

Astronomers astonished by ring around frigid distant world Quaoar

Published

2 years ago

February 8, 2023

The small distant world called Quaoar, named after a god of creation in Native American mythology, is producing some surprises for astronomers as it orbits beyond Pluto in the frigid outer reaches of our solar system.

Researchers said on Wednesday they have detected a ring encircling Quaoar akin to the one around the planet Saturn. But the one around Quaoar defies the current understanding of where such rings can form - located much further away from it than current scientific understanding would allow, Reuters reported.

The distance of the ring from Quaoar places it in a location where scientists believe particles should readily come together around a celestial body to form a moon rather than remain as separate components in a disk of ring material.

"This is the discovery of a ring located in a place that should not be possible," said astronomer Bruno Morgado of the Valongo Observatory and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature.

Discovered in 2002, Quaoar is currently defined as a minor planet and is proposed as a dwarf planet, though it has not yet been formally given that status by the International Astronomical Union, the scientific body that does such things.

Its diameter of about 700 miles (1,110 km) is about a third that of Earth's moon and half that of the dwarf planet Pluto. It has a small moon called Weywot, Quaoar's son in mythology, with a diameter of 105 miles (170 km) orbiting beyond the ring.

Inhabiting a distant region called the Kuiper belt populated by various icy bodies, Quaoar orbits about 43 times further than Earth's distance to the sun. In comparison, Neptune, the outermost planet, orbits about 30 times further than Earth's distance from the sun, and Pluto about 39 times further.

Quaoar's ring was spotted using the European Space Agency's orbiting Cheops telescope, whose primary purpose is to study planets beyond our solar system, as well as ground-based telescopes.

The ring, a clumpy disk made of ice-covered particles, is located about 2,550 miles (4,100 km) away from Quaoar's center, with a diameter of about 5,100 miles (8,200 km).

"Ring systems may be due to debris from the same formation process that originated the central body or may be due to material resulting after a collision with another body and captured by the central body. We do not have hints at the moment on how the Quaoar ring formed," said astronomer and study co-author Isabella Pagano, director of Italian research institute INAF's Astrophysical Observatory of Catania.

Unlike any other known ring around a celestial body, Quaoar's is located outside what is called the Roche limit. That refers to the distance from any celestial body possessing an appreciable gravitational field within which an approaching object would be pulled apart. Material in orbit outside the Roche limit would be expected to assemble into a moon.

Satrun has the largest ring system in our solar system. The other large gas planets - Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune - all have rings, though less impressive, as do the non-planetary bodies Chariklo and Haumea. All reside inside the Roche limit.

But how can Quaoar flout this rule?

"We considered some possible explanations: a ring made of debris, resulting from a putative disruptive impact into a Quaoar moon, would survive for a very short time - but the probability to observe that is extremely low," Pagano said.

"Another possibility is that theories for the aggregation of icy particles need to be revised, and particles might not always aggregate into larger bodies as quickly as one might expect."

Related Topics:#Pluto #SolarSystem #Universe featured Space

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Science & Technology

South Korea authorities launch probe after three die in Hyundai car test

The Ulsan plant is Hyundai’s biggest manufacturing facility, with its own port and an annual production capacity of 1.4 million vehicles

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ariana News

South Korean authorities launched an investigation on Tuesday after three people died during a car test at a Hyundai Motor plant in the city of Ulsan, police told Reuters.

The two Hyundai researchers and one Hyundai contractor were found unconscious in a car at around 3:00 p.m. while they were testing it in a "chamber," according to Hyundai's labour union.

South Korean media reports said the three had suffocated.

A police officer in Ulsan said the police and the labour ministry were investigating the incident, including its cause.

A fire department official told Reuters that it first received a report at 3:17 pm that the accident happened at Hyundai's No.4 factory.

"Hyundai Motor Company is deeply saddened by the incident that occurred at our plant in Ulsan, South Korea," Hyundai said in a statement, saying it would "cooperate fully with all relevant authorities to determine the cause of this incident."

The Ulsan plant is Hyundai's biggest manufacturing facility, with its own port and an annual production capacity of 1.4 million vehicles, including exports of 1.1 million units.

In November last year, Hyundai Motor broke ground on a 2 trillion won ($1.44 billion) plant in Ulsan dedicated to making electric vehicles in South Korea, as the automaker accelerated a shift away from petrol-powered cars.

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Science & Technology

Russia fines Google more than the world’s total GDP over YouTube bans

Published

3 weeks ago

October 31, 2024

Ariana News

Russia has fined Google $2.5 decillion after the US tech giant took action against pro-Kremlin TV channels on YouTube following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia imposed a daily fine four years ago - a fine that has since swelled to an unprecedented level - ($20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 - a 33-digit figure).

To put this into perspective, global GDP reaches an estimated $110 thousand billion (12-digit figure), according to the IMF.

Speaking to Russia’s TASS news agency, one expert, Roman Yankovsky from the HSE Institute of Education, said Google “clearly will not pay this penalty, and the Russian Federation will not be able to recover this money from the company."

Euronews reported that a short calculation shows that he is right.

Google's holding company, Alphabet, has a market capitalisation of slightly more than $2 trillion. Even with earnings of $80.54 billion from the last quarter, the tech giant doesn’t seem to be able to afford to pay the fine.

Google first barred pro-Moscow channel Tsargrad TV, which is owned by oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, four years ago.

At the time, Google was fined a daily penalty of 100,000 roubles and warned that amount would double every 24 hours if it went unpaid.

The original fine has been compounded by further penalties after Google eventually blocked a total of 17 Russian TV channels as a result of international sanctions, The Telegraph reported.

The tech giant now owes a staggering $2.5 decillion.

Science & Technology

Apple launches new iPad mini with AI features

Apple said it would roll out the first set of AI features in the U.S. version of the English language this month through a software update with iPadOS 18.1.

Published

1 month ago

October 16, 2024

Ariana News

Apple on Tuesday launched its new generation of the iPad mini packed with AI features including writing tools and an improved Siri assistant, as the iPhone maker races to boost its devices with artificial-intelligence capabilities, Reuters reported.

The new iPad mini is powered by Apple's A17 Pro chip, which is used in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models. With a six-core central processing unit, the A17 Pro would boost CPU performance by 30% compared to the current generation iPad minis and is central to running Apple Intelligence, Apple's AI software.

Apple said it would roll out the first set of AI features in the U.S. version of the English language this month through a software update with iPadOS 18.1.

The features will be available for iPads with A17 Pro or M1 chips and later generations, Apple said, adding it will roll out additional features including image-generation tools, Genmoji and ChatGPT-powered capabilities over the next several months, read the report.

Apple in September unveiled its long-awaited, AI-boosted iPhone 16 lineup, but with the AI features still in test mode, the company failed to excite some investors while early sales data raised some questions around demand.

Still, research firm Canalys on Monday said the iPhone 16 would help Apple's sales in the fourth quarter and drive momentum into the first half of 2025, after Apple reached a record high third-quarter shipments.

The iPad mini, starting at $499, is available for pre-orders starting on Tuesday and will begin arriving to customers and Apple store locations next week, Apple said.