Science

The mystery behind a “strange noise” that a NASA astronaut heard coming from the Boeing Starliner spacecraft while aboard the International Space Station has been solved, the space agency said Monday.
Astronaut Butch Wilmore first reported the pulsating sound coming from a speaker inside the spacecraft to Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday, just days before it was set to leave the station and return to Earth on autopilot.
NASA said in a statement on social media that the pulsing sound from the speaker has since stopped and determined the feedback was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner.
“The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback,” NASA said. “The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system. The speaker feedback Wilmore reported has no technical impact to th..

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft touched down on Earth early Saturday morning, with two test pilots left behind in space until next year over NASA’s concerns that their return was too risky.
Starliner parachuted into New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range six hours after leaving the International Space Station, landing at 12:01 a.m. ET.
“I am extremely proud of the work our collective team put into this entire flight test, and we are pleased to see Starliner’s safe return,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement.
“Even though it was necessary to return the spacecraft uncrewed, NASA and Boeing learned an incredible amount about Starliner in the most extreme environment possible,” he added. “NASA looks forward to our continued work with the Boeing team to proceed toward certification of Starliner for crew rotation missions to the space station.”
BOEING STARLINER UNDOCKS FROM SPACE STATION, H..

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is monitoring a “potentially hazardous” asteroid that is moving past Earth on Tuesday.
NASA told Fox News Digital that the rocky object, which has been named 2024 ON, is 350 meters long by 180 meters wide, which roughly equals 1,150 feet by 590 feet – larger than previous estimates.
NASA has deemed the asteroid “stadium-sized” and reported it was 621,000 miles away from Earth on Tuesday morning, which is considered relatively close. Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Fox News Digital that an asteroid of this size coming this close to Earth only happens every five to ten years.
Farnocchia, who works at the laboratory’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, said that the last time a large meteor entered the Earth’s atmosphere was in Russia in 2013. Earth has not been hit by a meteor of 2024 ON’s size since prehistoric times.
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Scientists in Albuquerque, New Mexico, say potentially dangerous asteroids could possibly be deflected by exploding a nuclear warhead more than a mile from its surface and showering it with X-rays to send it in a different direction.
Previous methods, as seen in blockbuster movies like “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact,” involved blowing up a nuclear warhead on an asteroid or comet and shattering it into multiple pieces.
But scientists now say the method would change the space object from a lethal bullet headed toward Earth into a shotgun blast of multiple fragments.
Last year, the National Academy of Sciences released a report calling planetary defense a national priority, and according to an ongoing NASA sky survey, the threat is credible.
STADIUM-SIZED ASTEROID DEEMED ‘POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS’ BY NASA, IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ‘RELATIVELY CLOSE’ TO EARTH
The sky survey found there are about 25,000 objects big enough to cause varying degrees of destruction to Earth, and ..

A study published last week proposed that dark matter may be responsible for an observable wobble in Mars’ orbit.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Physical Review, postulates the theory that dark matter compromises microscopic, or primordial, black holes.
Unlike astrophysical black holes, these primordial black holes formed when dense pockets of gas collapsed in the seconds after the Big Bang and scattered throughout the universe because of expansion.
Despite being as small as an atom, these primordial black holes would be heavier than thousands of solar masses and constitute dark matter.
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First theorized in the 1930s by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky, dark matter is a form of matter undetectable to the human eye. It does not emit light or energy but makes up roughly a quarter of the universe’s mass. Researchers have proposed its existence based on the gravitational pull on other visi..

The Earth is expected to experience a geomagnetic storm this week following the autumnal equinox.
A sunspot erupted on Sunday, generating a coronal mass ejection (CME) on a trajectory toward Earth.
The solar plasma, propelled toward the planet at 650,000 mph, is expected to glance off the magnetosphere on Wednesday, according to Space.com.
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The CME could create a geomagnetic storm in part of the world due to its occurrence near the autumnal equinox, which passed on Sept. 22.
During the spring and fall equinoxes, the Earth’s magnetic poles are aligned with the sun’s, making geomagnetic storms more likely.
NORTHERN LIGHTS MAY BE SEEN ACROSS SOME PORTIONS OF US THIS WEEK AFTER ‘STRONG SOLAR ACTIVITY’
The geomagnetic storm can sometimes cause disruption in communications or electrical blackouts.
The phenomenon can also cause the “Northern Lights” effect at high altitudes, illuminating the night sky with ..

Venomous creatures were spotted washing up on the beaches of the Outer Banks in North Carolina, and the National Park Service sent out a warning about the punch these slugs pack.
The Cape Hatteras National Seashore posted on Facebook that Blue Sea Dragons (Glaucus atlanticus) have been spotted on the beaches.
“This venomous sea slug lives in the open ocean and occasionally gets stranded on land following strong winds,” officials from the National Seashore posted to Facebook. “They may only grow to about an inch long, but don't let their size fool you. They pack a punch!”
According to Oceana.org, Blue Sea Dragons go by other names like sea swallow or blue angel and can grow to about 1.3 inches.
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They are often found throughout the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans in tropical and subtropical waters.
The specimen is considered a sea slug and spends most of its life floating upside-down at the surface a..

A comet not seen for more than 80,000 years will be visible from Earth, potentially during two separate time periods over the next month.
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, also known as Comet A3, is believed to have an orbit around the sun of more than 80,000 years, according to earth.com.
The comet was first visible starting on Sept. 27 and will continue until shortly before sunrise on Oct. 2. It is expected to appear like a fuzzy ball with a tail stretching across the sky.
“C/2023 A3 has an orbital period of approximately 80,000 years, classifying it as a long-period comet. This means its behavior and appearance can be unpredictable, with potential changes in brightness and tail development as it approaches the sun,” Minjae Kim, a space expert in the University of Warwick's astronomy department, told earth.com.
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“If predictions hold, it could be visible to the naked eye, appearing as a fuzzy ..

Scientists are deploying monitors at the volcanic Mount Adams in Washington State, after a spike in seismic activity.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said Mount Adams typically experiences an earthquake every two to three years, but in September, there were six earthquakes alone, marking the most in a single month since monitoring began in 1982.
The earthquakes were monitored by the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) and Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN) and ranged in magnitudes from 0.9 to 2.0. None of the earthquakes were felt at the surface, the USGS said.
With only one seismic station near the volcano, the USGS said monitoring capabilities are limited.
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CVO and PNSN plan to install temporary seismic stations near Mount Adams to help detect smaller earthquakes while acquiring better estimates of size, location and depth. The data will help scientists assess the significance of the increased seismic activity near..

NASA has released the clearest view of Mars to date, with blue rocks observed across the planet’s landscape.
The images were captured by the Perseverance rover as it explores the planet.
Dark blue, jagged rocks of volcanic basalt were found on top of the dried remains of an ancient lakebed, according to the Daily Mail.
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NASA found the boulders on what has been dubbed “Mount Washburn,” a rocky field on the Jezero crater, where an ancient lake is believed to have been located billions of years ago.
The name “Mount Washburn” was given to the field of rocks in honor of a mountain in Yellowstone National Park.
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The rover came upon a white-striped rock within the field of blue boulders. The Perseverance science team nicknamed the light-toned boulder with dark speckles “Atoko Point.”
While the blue rocks are primarily volcanic basalt, which is ty..