Daily Archives: January 29, 2022

Our dating assumptions for the Red Planet might need a second look.

Fresh analysis of craters on Mars suggests that asteroids have been smashing into the surface at a consistent rate for at least 600 million years.

Scientists often use craters as a proxy to figure out how old a planetary surface is, since more impacts need more time to accrue. Analyzing crater formation is a complex process, however, and can rely on assumptions about how many asteroids burn up in the atmosphere and how many space rocks are in the region around the planet.

Related: NASA's Curiosity rover shares spectacular views of Mars

In new research, a team of scientists used a new crater detection algorithm to look at 521 impact craters on Mars that are more than 12 miles (20 kilometers) in diameter. Of that collection, only 49 craters formed in the last 600 million years and these were generated at a consistent rate, according to the new research.

The new work contradicts past research suggesting "spikes" in the number of craters during brief periods in the last 600 million years, study lead author Anthony Lagain, a research fellow and planetary scientist at Australia's Curtin University, said in a statement. Scientists presenting this theory thought that the impact spikes were caused by large asteroids breaking up and sending a cluster of fragments to hit the surface of Mars.

"When big bodies smash into each other, they break into pieces or debris, which is thought to have an effect on the creation of impact craters," Lagain said. "Our study shows it is unlikely that debris resulted in any changes to the formation of impact craters on planetary surfaces."

A particular era on Mars that might require a second look is the so-called "Ordovician spike," which occurred about 470 million years ago. The new research shows the spike on Mars may instead be "[crater] preservation bias rather than a real increase in the asteroid impact flux," the authors wrote.

For future research, the authors call for more research on the possible timing of a spike (if there was any at all) on the moon, another large rocky body in our neighborhood but with no substantial atmosphere.

A study based on the research was published in the Feb. 1 edition of Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.

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Mars 'asteroid showers' have stayed steady over 600 million years - Space.com

Humanity has been wondering about whether life exists beyond our little backwater planet for so long that weve developed a kind of cultural bias as to how the answer to this central question will be revealed. Most of us probably imagine that NASA or some other space agency will schedule a press conference, an assembled panel of scientific luminaries will announce the findings, and newspapers around the world will blare WE ARE NOT ALONE! headlines. Weve all seen that movie before, so thats the way it has to be, right?

Probably not. Short of an improbable event like an alien spacecraft landing while a Google Street View car was driving by or receiving an unambiguously intelligent radio message from the stars, the conclusion that life exists now or once did outside our particular gravity well is likely to be reached in a piecewise process, an accretion of evidence built up over a long time until on balance, the only reasonable conclusion is that we are not alone. And thats exactly what the announcement at the end of last year that the Mars rover Perseverance had discovered evidence of organic molecules in the rocks of Jezero crater was another piece of the puzzle, and another step toward answering the fundamental question of the uniqueness of life.

Discovering organic molecules on Mars is far from proof that life once existed there. But its a step on the way, as well as a great excuse to look into the scientific principles and engineering of the instruments that made this discovery possible the whimsically named SHERLOC and WATSON.

Defining what exactly constitutes biological life is difficult, and there are plenty of philosophical arguments that muddy the waters even when you reduce life to characteristics such as the transformation of energy or the ability to reproduce. But at the end of the day, such macroscale characteristics dont help much when looking for microscopic life on other planets especially when you suspect that youre just looking for the remains of ancient microbial life, as is likely the case on Mars.

To explore the possibility that Mars once harbored life, the Mars 2020 missions Perseverance rover science payload includes a range of instruments designed to search for the smallest remains of past life. Chief among these instruments is SHERLOC, for Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals a somewhat forced but impressively descriptive acronym.

At the heart of SHERLOC, which rides at the end of the rovers two-meter robotic arm, is an ultraviolet laser Raman spectrometer, designed to identify the specific signatures of the so-called CHNOPS elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Something like 98% of the biomass on Earth is composed of these six elements; finding them on Mars will be pretty good evidence that life once existed there. But simply finding the CHNOPS elements doesnt make a sample biologically relevant. Its how those elements are organized and the structures they form that determine whether a sample might have the remains of ancient life, and figuring that out is what Raman spectroscopy is really good at.

Raman spectroscopy takes advantage of whats known as inelastic scattering, or Raman scattering. Normally, electromagnetic waves interact with particles of matter by elastic, or Rayleigh, scattering. When incoming photons interact with molecules, they excite them from the ground state to a higher-energy virtual state. In Rayleigh scattering, the excited state quickly collapses and the particle returns to the ground state without any loss of the kinetic energy the incident photon had. Its like a moving billiard ball that transfers all its kinetic energy into a motionless ball, which then goes on to move while the first ball stops dead.

But about one out of every 100 million scatterings results in dropping from the excited virtual state to a state different from where the molecule started. To stretch the earlier analogy, this would be like the moving billiard ball hitting a motionless ball with a crack in it. The cracked ball would still absorb the energy of the incoming ball, but the crack would attenuate some of it, sending the ball off at a different speed than the incoming ball, and perhaps even in a different direction than would occur in a purely elastic collision.

Just as the difference in speed and direction could reveal information about the characteristics of the cracked ball, so too can Raman scattering be used to probe the structure of a molecule. The difference in energy between the incident photons and the scattered photons depends on the vibrational and rotation states of the chemical bonds within the molecule. This results in a population of photons with different wavelengths that represent the different chemical bonds within a molecule. When spread out onto a detector with a diffraction grating, these photons create a fingerprint thats characteristic of the molecules in the sample.

While Raman has been used for decades on Earth to analyze all sorts of chemical samples, SHERLOC is the first time the technique has been used on another world. And as youd imagine, it takes some special engineering to package up all the optics and electronics and make it not only robust enough to survive the rigors of space travel, but also to operate autonomously.

To accomplish all this, SHERLOC is divided into two major assemblies: the SHERLOC Body Assembly (SBA) and the SHERLOC Turret Assembly (STA). The STB is where all the command and data handling circuits are located, and where the power supply lives. The STA is the business end of SHERLOC, and lives at the end of Perseverances robotic arm. The heart of the STA is the deep-UV (DUV) laser, a heavily modified off-the-shelf neon-copper metal-vapor laser. It provides a highly stable 248.60 nm pulse and is expected to last long enough to deliver 3 million spectra, which is about seven times the design life of the rover.

As with any Raman spectroscope, the optics of SHERLOC are a complicated set of lenses, mirrors, beam splitters, and filters. Unlike most of its Earth-bound cousins, though, SHERLOC has to handle the S in its name: scanning. Rather than rely on fine control of the robotic arm to position its beam, SHERLOC has a scanner subsystem thats quite similar to the galvanometers used for beam steering in laser shows. The scanner gives SHERLOC control of the beam over a 7 mm x 7 mm sample area with a step size of less than a micron in both dimensions, allowing it to gather data from the smallest of features without having to rely on robot arm moves.

Another way in which SHERLOC differs from other Raman instruments is in the need to correlate spectra with spatial information about a sample. Its not enough to get the spectral fingerprint of a particular section of a sample; rather, SHERLOC must also determine the context of what that exact spot on the sample looks like in visible light. To accomplish this, SHERLOC requires the help of two cameras: the Autofocus and Context Imager (ACI), a high-resolution grayscale camera that shares the optical path of the Raman spectroscope, and WATSON, the Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering camera. WATSON is a separate, full-color, high-resolution camera with a macro capability down to 1.78 cm focal length. WATSON and the ACI together are basically the equivalent of a geologists hand lens, allowing SHERLOC to overlay visible light images with Raman data over a wide range of operating distances.

Finally, SHERLOCs Raman spectroscope is designed to survive the long trip to Mars, the high-energy landing, and the harsh conditions of the cold, dusty world. While the SBA is nestled safely inside the hull of Perseverance, the STA has to be exposed to the elements to do its job. SHERLOC is mounted on a hexapod arrangement of spring-loaded struts that dampen vibrations encountered both during spaceflight and rover operations. The STA is also equipped with a complex thermal management system, including survival heating elements that keep the electronics and optics warm enough to survive the worst-case Martian cold.

While most of the publics attention to the Mars 2020 mission so far has understandably been drawn to the wildly successful Ingenuity helicopter, SHERLOC has been busily gathering data pretty much non-stop since Perseverance arrived on Mars back in March of 2021. The confirmation of organics in Jezero crater came from a series of samples analyzed back in September of 2021, and one rock in particular, which was dubbed Garde. The rovers arm-mounted tool assembly was used to grind away some of the weathered rock before SHERLOC was swung into place to analyze the sample.

Thanks to the power of SHERLOC and its ability to overlay visible light images with Raman data, planetary scientists were able to determine that Garde contains both olivine minerals, which indicate an igneous history, and carbonate minerals, which suggest a past period of water reacting with the rock. This is consistent with what we already know about the Jezero crater and the river delta that once flowed into it. Finding organic materials in a rock with that kind of geological history is a tantalizing bit of data, and may someday prove to be part of the evidence that life once teemed on Mars.

Read more from the original source:

SHERLOC And The Search For Life On Mars - Hackaday

Veronica Mars is an American telly series that falls under mystery, drama, neo-noir, and is all about teenagers. The series has been produced by Joel Silver, Rob Thomas, Diane Ruggiero, Jennifer Gwartz, Danielle Stokdyk, and Kristen Bell. Since the four seasons, many production companies have been associated with its fabrication like Stu Segall Productions, Silver Pictures Television since season 1 to 3, Rob Thomas Productions from season 1 to 3, Spondoolie Productions in Season 4, and Warner Bros. Television.

The series aired on 22 September 2004 and continued until 19 July 2019. The series revolves chiefly around Veronica Mars.

This series has a lot of genres that are hard to miss. From action to drama or mystery, you will get all here. Each season has different storylines, and each episode is always fresh and brilliantly structured. Veronica has faced a lot of struggles since her childhood, and when she got happiness in the end, little did she know that it would last for a few hours.

Every fan can relate with the protagonist, which is why this series has been highly praised, making it worth streaming. Read the article and decide whether it deserves watching or not.

Veronica loses her best friend Lily in the first season, and it seems complicated to accept the truth. Her family also struggles a lot as her father lost his job, and her mother abandons them. He also falls victim consumes drugs without knowledge and goes through physical assault.

There were two significant incidents upon which the entire season was built in the following season. First, several people lost their lives when a bus comprised of students from Neptune High falls from a cliff killing almost everyone, and Veronica takes charge of knowing the truth behind it. Logan Echolls, on the other hand, is said to have killed a biker after he conflicts with Eli Weevil Navarro.

In the third season, Veronica is depicted as a student of Hearst College and is also an investigator. The story portrays Parker Lee as another rape victim, and Veronica is all set to find out the culprits behind this. This season had a lot of variety and thus got both praised and ridiculed.

The fourth season Depicted Veronica and her father working as investigators in Neptune, California. Logan Echolls approach Veronica to marry him, but she rejects him. A bombing happens, inviting investigation about it from then onwards. A lot of ups and downs happen in Veronicas life, but she seems happy after getting married to Logan, who eventually gets killed in a bombing accident as well.

The ending of the 4th season was quite surprising as well as depressing since no one knew that Veronica was going to face the deepest pain in Logans death. There is plenty of room for the 5th season to occur since fans believe Veronica deserves a happy ending but as of now, be sure that there is no news of the 5th season. We have to wait until we get any official news, so stick with us until then.

The rest is here:

Veronica Mars (Season 1-4): Should You Stream It Or Skip It? What Our Critic Has To Say? - Gizmo Story

Pete Williamson is one of the UKs leading freelance astronomers

As it settled on Mars seven months later, and began its explorations of the Red Planet, the name of Whittington was buried deep in one of its microchips. The villages name is still there now as Perseverance scuttles around, drills into rocks, gets blasted by tornadoes of dust and continues to seek Martian life.

The man responsible for Whittingtons presence 30 million miles from Earth is Pete Williamson, who has lived in Shropshire for the past 32 years. Pete responded to NASAs open invitation to personalise the Mars probe with reminders of home, adding the name of his north-west Shropshire village as a way of getting fellow residents energised by his passion for space.

I was sitting at home, and I thought, Im sitting here doing what Im doing but nobody round here really knows what I do, Pete says.

"I thought Id get the village involved. I put a post up [on the Nextdoor social network] that the village had gone to Mars and away it went. The village is interested now, and I like to see the fact that were on Mars.

When Pete, aged 65, is doing what hes doing, he is one of the UKs leading freelance astronomers, regularly in contact with major space agencies across the world. He works mostly for Cardiff University, accessing data sent from Perseverance to NASAs labs and processing spectacular images captured by the probe.

His photographic posts on Nextdoor, which he titles 'Whittington on Mars' or 'Whittington in Space', are greeted with reliable awe from a dedicated following. Some photos depict breathtaking rock formations and craters; dramatic and barren landscapes. Others show dazzling nightscapes and incredible nebulae captured above familiar landmarks in Shropshire or North Wales.

One Nextdoor commenter wrote: I might not have got to be an astronaut but you have made me a very happy earthbound person.

Its all in a days work for Pete, who is both a researcher and an educator on everything related to space, and a talented photographer.

Before Covid intervened, he used to give more than 200 talks a year to schools and associations, either introducing the world of astronomy to young students, or relaying the latest developments to captivated crowds. He presents a programme about astronomy on BBC Radio Shropshire, manages an astronomy-themed radio station from his home and organises, with his daughter Sarah, the Solarsphere Astronomical & Music Festival, in Builth Wells.

He has remote access to telescopes located across the globe South Africa, Australia, Hawaii with which he can peer across our galaxy and beyond. He is a true space explorer, without ever leaving the Whittington home that he shares with his wife Sybil.

Its a very surreal job, he says. One minute I am working with data live from the surface of Mars, the next wandering round an ancient castle for a break. Or at night you log on and you're looking on Mars. You can see the surface. Then you step outside, look up, and see that little dot and think I've been working on there.

Pete first fell in love with astronomy as a 12-year-old and built himself his first crude telescope a year later. Although a career in music meant he could pursue astronomy only as a hobby for much of his adult life he was in several successful bands an injury to tendons in his left arm meant he could no longer play bass guitar. Musics loss became astronomys gain.

By that point, he had moved to Whittington and founded what became the Shropshire Astronomical Society, with help from Sir Patrick Moore. He had also created an early astronomy bulletin board, with Queens Brian May among the first subscribers. Pete is still in touch with May, who is a keen astronomer, but its not Petes only brush with celebrity. He also became friends with Neil Armstrong, a hero to all stargazers.

I was 13 when they landed on the moon, Pete says. We look at the pictures now and theyre hazy and blurred and you can hardly see anything. But at the time it was Wow! Thats the moon! Hes on the moon!

Pete says the wow factor is crucial to get young people involved in science, and space offers hundreds of fantastic facts and staggering stats. He demonstrates one on the table in the Whittington Castle tea room, where we meet. Placing one finger next to another, he says: If I put the Earth there and Pluto there where would the nearest star be apart from the sun? I tell him I dont know.

New York.That's the scale we're talking.

He says he loves watching young people discover space for the first time.

When I first go into schools, or if I've got kids at a telescope, I show them the moon, Pete says.

You can't miss it. But to see it through a telescope they look at it and they see craters and mountains.They realise its real, it's here. And then maybe Saturn with its rings around it.

Like many astronomers, Pete is tormented more than anything these days by light pollution and talks with dismay about the proliferation of residential security lights, plus intrusive street lighting, whose ambient glow makes stargazing much more difficult.

When we first moved here 30-odd years ago, it was very rural, he says.

Youd go and stand in the garden and youd never see a light. But now you just step in the garden and its like living in the middle of a city.

He has campaigned to the council to install lights from which there is less leakage, but says he hasnt gained much traction. He also points out that its not just astronomers whose lives are adversely affected by the lights.

If youve got something lit up all the time, the wildlife doesnt know if its night or day and tends to stay away, Pete says.

It affects the ecology. Those animals move out of the area and other animals will move in. It changes things.

Pete is officially retiring this year but shows few signs of giving up any of his numerous roles. After an enforced two-year break, tickets are selling fast for the 2022 Solarsphere Festival, while Pete is lining up more guests for the radio and arranging new talks and lectures for recent space converts.

And Pete himself remains as fascinated by everything as ever.

Its Harry Potter stuff, he says. To be able to operate all this stuff remotely, as far as Mars, or going round Jupiter. When I was a kid, did I ever imagine Id be able to do that? No. We hadnt even been into space.

"Its a surreal experience. I never undervalue what Im doing.

Learn the night sky - where and when different constellations are up

Decide whether you need a telescope. Pete recommends binoculars to start with.

Join an astronomy club and test their telescopes

Decide what you want to look at and learn which telescope is best

Assess your surroundings and tailor your stargazing to your rural or city setting

Dark Sky Discovery Sites, Carding Mill

Alwyn Reservoir, Corwen, North Wales

Horseshoe Pass, outside Llangollen

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Meet the astronomer who sent a little bit of Shropshire to Mars - shropshirestar.com

The dogs are out in full force today amid a clear pupcoin rally taking hold of the cryptocurrency market. Meme-coin darlings Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD), Shiba Inu (CCC:SHIB-USD), GamingShiba (CCC:GAMINGSHIBA-USD) and Floki Inu (CCC:FLOKI-USD) are all in the green today after a disastrous start to the year. However, it seems Dogelon Mars (CCC:ELON-USD) may end up king of the canine coins today. ELON is up nearly 20%. Dogelon Mars price predictions are in full force after this surprise contender entered the meme-coin ring.

Source: Margaret Jung/Shutterstock.com

What do you need to know about Dogelon today?

Dogelon is the latest and greatest meme coin making waves. To be fair, whats not to like? Its a combination of two pop culture staples: Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD) and Elon Musk. In fact, its likely that its origin in the two is why its barking higher today. Yesterday, the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Chief Executive tweeted out, claiming he would eat a happy meal on tv if @McDonalds accepts Dogecoin.

Its not exactly a first for Musk. He frequently tweets out in glowing adoration of his favorite meme coin, and you can almost always count on the currency reacting well. Today marks a milder reaction. Indeed, Dogecoin is only up 2.8%, which, compared to previous jumps following Musk tweets, is quite muted. Instead, it seems Dogelon is stealing the limelight. The space-centric meme coin has been on a non-stop rollercoaster since launching this past April.

The coin has few use cases, despite being built on the Ethereum blockchain. It doesnt yet have a roadmap and is seemingly riding on the inherent humor found in the concept of a Shiba Inu puppy traveling through time and space. Regardless, it has grown fairly substantially in popularity.

With ELON sitting at $0.00000088 per token, lets see where the experts think the crypto is heading.

On the date of publication, Shrey Dua did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.comPublishing Guidelines.

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Dogelon Mars Price Predictions: Where Will New Pupcoin Rally Take the ELON Crypto? - InvestorPlace

Kristen Bell is an iconic actress with a huge range. In addition to starring in films like Frozen and Bad Moms, shes had an excellent television career as well. From her breakout role as Veronica Mars to her newest project Netflix crime comedy The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window lets break down her six best TV roles.

Veronica Mars Heads You Lose Episode 404 Convinced the bomber is still at large, Veronica visits Chino to learn more about Clyde and Big Dick. Mayor Dobbins request for help from the FBI brings an old flame to Neptune. Veronica confronts her mugger. Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), shown. (Photo by: Michael Desmond/Hulu)

You cant make a list like this without including Veronica Mars. Bell is charismatic and captivating as the titular character of this teen mystery-drama. Witty and smart, its impossible not to root for her as she solves crimes happening throughout the town of Neptune. Not only was there a 2014 movie after the beloved series wrapped the first time, but the show was also revived for another season by Hulu in 2019.

Where to watch: Hulu

Co-starring Don Cheadle (who was nominated for an Emmy for this role in 2012) and Ben Schwartz, House of Lies is a Showtime comedy about a group of ruthless management consultants. Bell stars as Jeannie Van Der Hooven, an ambitious and flirtatious up-and-coming member of the firm.

Where to watch: Showtime

THE GOOD PLACE Whenever Youre Ready Episode 413/414 Pictured: (l-r) Ted Danson as Michael, Kristen Bell as Eleanor (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/NBC)

The Good Place will go down in history as one of the smartest, most innovative sitcoms of all time. With pitch-perfect writing, acting, and directing, Bells performance is crucial to this whacky, heartfelt show working. Starring as Eleanor Shellstrop an unethical pharmaceutical representative who finds herself in The Good Place by accident Bell has never been more hilarious or relatable.

Where to watch: Netflix

This one may be a little surprising considering Bell is only actually seen in one episode of this show for a meta-cameo. However, her voice is one of the most crucial elements of the teen soap. Come on, tell us youve never tried to say XOXO, Gossip Girl in her tone of voice.

Where to watch: HBO Max

Burning Love is one of the most underrated comedies of all time. Featuring an all-star cast that includes Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, June Diane Raphael, Adam Scott, Michael Cera, and Adam Brody (among many others!), the show is a laugh-out-loud parody of The Bachelor. Running three seasons, each installment is more hilarious and absurd than the last.

Where to watch: Pluto TV

The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window. Kristen Bell as Anna in episode 101 of The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window. Cr. Colleen E. Hayes/Netflix 2021

Lets face it: the crime drama has become a little predictable lately. With movie adaptations of The Girl on the Train and The Woman in the Window, The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window is clearly meant to parody the genre. Using all the tropes copious amounts of wine, nosy neighbors, and no-nonsense detective if theres one person who can shine in a satire like this, its Bell.

Where to watch: Netflix

Whats your favorite Kristin Bell TV role? Comment below!

Original post:

6 best Kristen Bell TV roles, from Veronica Mars to The Good Place - Show Snob