Illustration of the interior of ’55 Cancri e’ — an extremely hot planet with a surface of mostly graphite surrounding a thick layer of diamond, with a molten iron core at the center. (Image: Haven Giguere)
Scientists have found a planet outside of our solar system which could be a true diamond in the rough.
This gem of a planet is twice Earth’s size, according to the US-Franco team that found it, and its surface appears to be covered in graphite and diamond.
Researchers estimate that at least one-third of the new planet’s mass could be diamond.
The gemstone planet, called ’55 Cancri e’, has a radius twice that of Earth’s and a mass that’s eight times greater, making it a “super-Earth.” The planet is one of five found orbiting ’55 Cancri’, a sun-like star about 40 light years from Earth. Located in the constellation of Cancer, scientists say the star can be seen with the naked eye.
Astronomers first spotted the planet last year as it was transiting its star, which allowed them to measure its radius for the first time. Using that information, along with their most recent estimate of its mass, researchers used computer modeling to speculate on the chemical composition of the planet.
Previous research revealed that the host star, 55 Cancri, has more carbon than it does oxygen, leading the US-French team to confirm that significant amounts of carbon and silicon carbide, with only a small amount of water ice, were available during the planet’s formation.
Star map showing the planet-hosting star 55 Cancri in the constellation of Cancer. The star is visible to the naked eye. (Image:Nikku Madhusudhan using Sky Map Online)
Astronomers initially assumed the diamond planet’s chemical composition was similar to Earth’s and that 55 Cancri e contained a substantial quantity of super-heated water. However, according to Yale University researcher Nikku Madhusudhan, the new research suggests the planet has no water at all and is primarily made up of carbon – such as graphite and diamond – as well as iron, silicon carbide, and, possibly, some silicates.
The identification of a carbon-rich super-Earth means scientists can no longer assume that all distant rocky planets have chemical elements, interiors, atmospheres or biologies similar to Earth, according to Madhusudhan.
Which means there could be other gemstone planets out there just waiting to be discovered.
This mosaic from the Mast Camera on NASA’s Curiosity rover shows the view looking toward its first science destination, the Glenelg area, where three different types of Martian terrain come together. (Image: NASA)
The Mars rover Curiosity is about to undertake its first major scientific experiment on the Red Planet.Before Curiosity heads off to its primary destination, the foothills of Mount Sharp, scientists want to learn more about the terrain surrounding the rover’s landing site.
The Mars mission team members are fascinated with the geology of the area, according to Rob Manning, the Mars Science Laboratory’s (MSL) chief engineer. They’ve noticed the surface is covered with a type of gravelly material, rocks called cobbles and various collections of compressed soil.
“It may very well be that we’re on a place that has been affected by water in the past, and that’s very exciting because that’s what we had hoped for,” Manning said.
Photo of the Martian surface, including a map of the route driven by NASA’s Mars rover on its trip to the Glenelg area on the 43rd Martian day of Curiosity’s mission on Mars – Sept. 19, 2012. (Image: NASA)
Since landing seven weeks ago, Curiosity (as of 9/19/12) has traveled about 91 meters, approximately the length of an American football field. The rover is now traveling in a different direction toward a location called Glenelg, which lies about 400 meters east-southeast of Curiosity’s landing site.
One type of terrain scientists want to learn more about is a kind of bedrock which could be suitable for eventual drilling by Curiosity.
The next is an area marked by many small craters and scientists believe it might represent an older or harder Martian surface.
The third terrain is similar to the type where the rover landed. It’s of particular interest to team members because they’d like to determine if it contains rocks with the same kind of texture as those found in an area close to the landing site where blasts from the descent stage rocket engines scoured away some of the surface.
On its way to Glenelg this week, the rover came across an unusual pyramid-shaped rock. The rover team is planning to touch this mystery rock with a spectrometer to determine its basic composition. They’ll also use an arm-mounted camera to take close-up photographs. This encounter will likely be the first time the rover uses its robotic arm to touch a Martian rock.
Curiosity will then continue on its voyage to Glenelg, where the team will choose another rock for the rover’s first analysis of powder drilled from interiors of rocks.
On it’s trip to Glenelg, Curiosity came across this pyramid-shaped rock, which NASA says will be a suitable target for the first use of the rover’s contact instruments. (Photo: NASA)
Once the rover’s side trip to Glenelg concludes, Curiosity will head toward its primary destination, Mount Sharp, which may take a year or two to reach.
Manning tells us everything on the rover has worked perfectly so far except for one of Curiosity’s wind sensors, which was damaged when Martian pebbles hit it. Since the rover has other wind sensors, the mission should not be impacted.
In fact, the mission is going so well the rover team is amazed everything is working so much better on Mars than it did while undergoing testing here on Earth.
Manning says the rover experienced problem after problem during testing. After seeing the rover perform so well on the Red Planet, the MSL team has concluded Curiosity would rather be on Mars than on its home planet.
And it’s a good thing because Curiosity’s visit there could be extended.
The rover’s older sibling, Opportunity, has continued to roam and examine the planet, long after the planned end of its mission. Manning expects Curiosity will do likewise.
There are several factors which justify that optimism. The rover’s power source, according to Manning, is producing more energy than expected. The team also found the Martian climate is better than was anticipated so the unit doesn’t need as much heating as was first thought. Also, with NASA’s orbiting spacecraft flying overhead, the rover has been able to save a great deal of energy while sending back information, which could allow Curiosity to operate longer.
Curiosity’s primary destination, the base of Mount Sharp. (Photo: NASA)
If Curiosity’s time on Mars is extended, Manning expects the rover to continue its voyage up Mount Sharp, which is made up of various layers of material, with the oldest at the bottom of the mountain and the youngest at its peak.
At each of these layers, Manning says that, there will be an opportunity to look back in time into the Martian geological history. So as long as the rover keeps working and NASA extends its mission, “we will continue going up and explore and explore and there is a chapter, chapter and chapter of books telling us about Mars just ahead of us.”
This weekend on the radio edition of Science World, Rob Manning joins us to provide an update with the latest on Curiosity’s mission.
Check out the right column for scheduled air-times or listen now to the interview below.
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It what it calls an historic step in the search for signs of life on other planets, NASA says its astronomers have detected light coming from a “super-Earth” planet 41 light years away.
It marks the first time direct light from a rocky super-Earth planet has been seen, researchers said.
The planet, called 55 Cancri e, is 25 times closer to its star (55 Cancri) as Mercury is to the Sun. New data from the Spitzer Space Telescope indicates the planet is about twice as big and eight times as massive as Earth. The side of it that faces the sun is more than a scorching 2,000 Kelvin (1,727 degrees Celsius), hot enough to melt metal. And, one year on 55 Cancri e lasts a mere 18 Earth minutes.
According to NASA, the Spitzer Space Telescope and others have been able to study this planet in the past by analyzing how the light from it changed as the planet passed in front of the star. With this new discovery, Spitzer was able to actually measure just how much infrared light comes from the planet itself.
New data from the Spitzer shows that 55 Cancri e is a “water world,” with a rocky core that’s surrounded by water which is in a “supercritical state,” meaning the water is in both liquid and gas forms, and is capped with a blanket of steam.
NASA says these new findings are concurrent with prior theories regarding the makeup of the planet
“It could be very similar to Neptune, if you pulled Neptune in toward our sun and watched its atmosphere boil away,” said principal investigator, Michaël Gillon of Université de Liège in Belgium.
Younger users are much more likely to become addicted to Facebook than older people, according to a new worldwide study of people who use the social networking website.
With more than 800 million active members, Facebook has become a worldwide phenomenon. Many Facebook members find themselves checking the website numerous times of day to get the latest info on their friends and their activities.
Dr. Cecilie Schou Andreassen from Norway’s University of Bergen headed the “Facebook Addiction” study. Her team also developed the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale to measure dependency.
The team found Facebook addiction happens much more to younger users than those who are older, and that anxious and socially insecure people tend to use the website more. Andreassen believes this is because those who are anxious or insecure find it easier to communicate with others through Facebook and other social media rather than through face-to-face conversations.
According to the study, organized and more ambitious people aren’t as likely to become as addicted to Facebook, although they often use it as an important professional networking tool.
The study also found women are more at risk of developing Facebook addiction than men probably, according to Andreassen, because of the social nature of Facebook.
Andreassen’s Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale lists six warning signs.
You spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or planned use of Facebook
You feel an urge to use Facebook more and more
You use Facebook in order to forget about personal problems
You have tried to cut down on the use of Facebook without success
You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook
You use Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies
Each year pharmaceutical companies manufacture and distribute a new flu vaccine to protect people against three different strains of influenza viruses that are expected to be most common during the upcoming flu season.
Rather than having to update a flu vaccine for each year, scientists have been at work to develop what they call a universal vaccine which protects against all types and strains of influenza.
Team leader Dr. John Schrader found that a protein in the flu virus called hemagglutinin (HA) is a lot like a flower with a head and a stem. It’s the head of this protein that binds the flu virus to the healthy human cell, like an electrical plug into a socket.
Most vaccines, according to Schrader, help the body develop antibodies that attack the head of the protein in order to prevent infection. But, since the flu virus tends to mutate quickly, that part of the HA protein changes rapidly so new and different vaccines are needed for each flu season.
But Schrader and his research team found that the 2009 H1N1 vaccine also built up antibodies that attacked the stem of the protein, thereby neutralizing the flu virus.
“The stem plays such an integral role in penetrating the cell that it cannot change between different variants of the flu virus,” said Schrader.
According to Schrader, he has evidence producing vaccines based on a mix of flu viruses circulating in animals, but not humans, should have the same effect, possibly making influenza pandemics and seasonal influenza a relic of the past.
New research pinpoints origin of the domestic horse
A horse is reflected in a pool of water (Photo: AP Photo/David Duprey)
The domesticated horse originated in the steppes of modern-day Ukraine, southwest Russia and west Kazakhstan, mixing with local wild stocks as they spread throughout Europe and Asia, according to a new study.
Scientists from the University of Cambridge (UK) used a genetic database of more than 300 horses from across the Eurasian Steppe to reach their conclusion.
The new study finds the Equus ferus, the extinct wild ancestor of today’s domestic horse, migrated out of East Asia about 160,000 years ago, to be domesticated in the western Eurasian Steppe, their herds constantly replenished with wild horses as they spread across Eurasia.
“The spread of horse domestication differed from that of many other domestic animal species, in that spreading herds were augmented with local wild horses on an unprecedented scale,” said Dr. Vera Warmuth of the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology.
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