США выразили Индии обеспокоенность по поводу ее связей с Россией https://t.co/iiCMQtBQiW
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Day: July 8, 2024
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NPR News: 07-08-2024 6PM EDT
An exoplanet infamous for its deadly weather has been hiding another bizarre feature—it reeks of rotten eggs, according to a new Johns Hopkins University study of data from the James Webb Space Telescope.
The atmosphere of HD 189733 b, a Jupiter-sized gas giant, has trace amounts of hydrogen sulfide, a molecule that not only gives off a stench but also offers scientists new clues about how sulfur, a building block of planets, might influence the insides and atmospheres of gas worlds beyond the solar system.
The findings are published in Nature.
“Hydrogen sulfide is a major molecule that we didn’t know was there. We predicted it would be, and we know it’s in Jupiter, but we hadn’t really detected it outside the solar system,” said Guangwei Fu, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins who led the research. “We’re not looking for life on this planet because it’s way too hot, but finding hydrogen sulfide is a stepping stone for finding this molecule on other planets and gaining more understanding of how different types of planets form.”
In addition to detecting hydrogen sulfide and measuring overall sulfur in HD 189733 b’s atmosphere, Fu’s team precisely measured the main sources of the planet’s oxygen and carbon—water, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide.
“Sulfur is a vital element for building more complex molecules, and—like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphate—scientists need to study it more to fully understand how planets are made and what they’re made of,” Fu said.
At only 64 light-years from Earth, HD 189733 b is the nearest “hot Jupiter” astronomers can observe passing in front of its star, making it a benchmark planet for detailed studies of exoplanetary atmospheres since its discovery in 2005, Fu said.
The planet is about 13 times closer to its star than Mercury is to the sun and takes only about two Earth days to complete an orbit. It has scorching temperatures of 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit and is notorious for vicious weather, including raining glass that blows sideways on winds of 5,000 mph.
As it did by detecting water, carbon dioxide, methane, and other critical molecules in other exoplanets, Webb gives scientists yet another new tool to track hydrogen sulfide and measure sulfur in gas planets outside the solar system.
“Say we study another 100 hot Jupiters and they’re all sulfur enhanced. What does that mean about how they were born and how they form differently compared to our own Jupiter?” Fu said.
The new data also ruled out the presence of methane in HD 189733 b with unprecedented precision and infrared wavelength observations from the Webb telescope, countering previous claims about that molecule’s abundance in the atmosphere.
“We had been thinking this planet was too hot to have high concentrations of methane, and now we know that it doesn’t,” Fu said.
The team also measured levels of heavy metals like those on Jupiter, a finding that could help scientists answer questions about how a planet’s metallicity correlates to its mass, Fu said.
Less-massive giant icy planets like Neptune and Uranus contain more metals than those found in gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, the largest planets in the solar system. The higher metallicities suggest Neptune and Uranus accumulated more ice, rock, and other heavy elements relativeto gases like hydrogen and helium during early periods of formation. Scientists are testing whether that correlation also holds true for exoplanets, Fu said.
“This Jupiter-mass planet is very close to Earth and has been very well studied. Now we have this new measurement to show that indeed the metal concentrations it has provide a very important anchor point to this study of how a planet’s composition varies with its mass and radius,” Fu said. “The findings support our understanding of how planets form through creating more solid material after initial core formation and then are naturally enhanced with heavy metals.”
In coming months, Fu’s team plans to track sulfur in more exoplanets and figure out how high levels of that compound might influence how close they form near their parent stars.
“We want to know how these kinds of planets got there, and understanding their atmospheric composition will help us answer that question,” Fu said.
Armenia, once again, will host joint military drills with the United States from July 15 to 24, in what has become an annual event know as the “Eagle Partner” exercises.
The defense ministry announced on Saturday that the drill will involve Service members from the peacekeeping brigade of Armenia’s Armed Forces, the U.S. Army Europe and Africa, and the Kansas National Guard will participate in the exercise, which has been engaged in peacekeeping training with Armenia for the past several years.
“The exercise will focus on stabilization tasks between conflicting parties during a peacekeeping mission,” Armenia’s defense ministry said in a statement.
“The purpose of the exercise is to enhance the interoperability of units participating in international peacekeeping missions, exchange best practices in control and tactical communication, and improve the readiness of the Armenian unit,” the defense ministry added.
Units preparing for international peacekeeping operations regularly engage in similar joint military exercises and training with partner countries.
“Over the years, the Kansas National Guard has built a strong cooperative relationship with the Republic of Armenia,” said Brig. Gen. Michael Venerdi, Adjutant General of Kansas, in a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan.
“Working side by side with our Armenian partners in exercises such as Eagle Partner strengthens the trust and friendships between our nations and the men and women of our military services, ” the statement added.
The post Armenia to Host Joint Military Exercises with U.S. appeared first on Asbarez.com.
YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Sparking fresh controversy, speaker Alen Simonian has given Armenian parliament members and staffers additional hefty bonuses worth their monthly salaries.
The parliament’s press service said that Simonian ordered the lavish payments on the occasion of Armenia’s Constitution Day marked on July 5. It promised to disclose later this month the total amount of public funds spent for that purpose.
The previous such allocation made in late December cost taxpayers over 500 million drams ($1.3 million). Simonian pledged at the time to pay the bonuses no more than twice a year.
“From now on, bonus payments will be made on September 21 (Armenia’s Independence Day) and at the end of the year,” he said.
The speaker, who is a key member of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s political team, has yet to explain why he did not honor his pledge. Ironically, the latest bonuses were dedicated to the 29th anniversary of the adoption of Armenia’s current constitution which Pashinyan wants to scrap.
The two Armenian opposition groups represented in the National Assembly were quick to announce that their lawmakers will donate their bonuses to charities or individual citizens in need.
Their colleagues representing Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party did not follow suit. One of the pro-government parliamentarians, Hovik Aghazaryan, made clear that he will not make any donation.
“I myself am in great need of money and I will not spend a single penny of the money allocated to me except in cases where the [Civil Contract] parliamentary group makes a decision on this or that issue,” Aghazarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Many Armenians feel that the lavish bonuses are unacceptable extravagance given the grave security and socioeconomic challenges facing their country.
“Well, if citizens guarantee that they will reelect me a parliament deputy for 20 more years so that I can repay my mortgage, I will send money to the place shown by them,” Aghazarian countered bluntly. “But two years later, I may no longer be a deputy and may be stuck with a $50,000 debt.”
The net salary of a rank-and-file Armenian lawmaker is roughly 600,000 drams ($1,550) per month, which is more than twice the country’s official average monthly wage.
The amounts and frequency of bonuses paid to civil servants and especially high-ranking government officials and parliamentarians has significantly increased since Pashinyan came power in 2018. Responding to criticism from opposition figures and other government critics, Pashinyan has said that these payments discourage corrupt practices in the government.
Armenia’s leading anti-corruption watchdog has dismissed this explanation, saying that the lopsided bonuses are aimed at making sure that Pashinyan’s political allies and other senior officials stay loyal to the prime minister.
The post Opposition Lawmakers Say They will Donate Controversial New Bonuses to Charity appeared first on Asbarez.com.
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