Weekly - Craft to bring Sunita Williams back launched and more
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Craft to bring Sunita Williams back launched
The SpaceX Crew-9 mission, originally planned to carry four astronauts, has been launched with only two astronauts. This decision was made to accommodate the return of Sunita Williams and Butch Williams, who are currently stranded in space due to malfunctions in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. The return of Sunita and Butch Williams has been delayed until next year, and they will join the two astronauts from Crew-9 for their return to Earth at that time.
Chandrayaan-1’s data shows there could be water all across the moon
Recently, scientists analyzing data from ISRO’s Chandrayaan-1 mission, which orbited the Moon from 2008 to 2009. have discovered that water may be present across the entire Moon, not just at the poles. Researchers used detailed maps created by the spectrometer, an instrument that detects specific wavelengths of light, like infrared, which is absorbed by water molecules. By analyzing how this light reflects off the lunar surface, they could identify water’s presence, even in sunlit areas near the equator. Most of the water is below the surface however, meteor impacts may expose water beneath the surface, though much of it evaporates when brought up leaving subtle traces behind. This is what helped scientists to confirm their study.
Webb finds a galaxy where the gas outshines its stars
The James Webb telescope has recently discovered a wierd phenomenon in the galaxy named GS-NDG-9422 where the gas is brighter than the stars themselves. This is because it is a galaxy formed merely 1 million years after the big bang. The stars at that time c=mere much more massive and hotter than the stars we see today. These stars heated up the gas nearby so much that the gas began to outshine the stars themselves. This galaxy is an excellent examplle of that.