Weekly - James Webb finds planet that crashed into its star and more
🟡 Weekly Space News - Quick and Easy.
Our Engagement Palette!
Check out our colour-coded system for our weekly space news:
🟤 Brown: For weeks that are mundane and bland.
🟡 Yellow: For fairly interesting weeks.
🟢 Green: For the most exciting weeks.
This Palette will help you decide if this week’s news is worth your time!
This week ranks yellow 🟡 on the Engagement Palette.
James Webb finds planet that crashed into its star
When a star grows old, it sometimes expands significantly to become a red-giant. In the process, it can also swallow the planets around it. Last week, NASA’s James Webb telescope discovered the remains of a planet 12,000 light-years away from Earth that appeared to have been swallowed similarly by its star. However, closer analysis showed that the planet was the one that crashed into the star as its orbit became smaller (decayed) over time. This completely destroyed the planet and created a disk of debris around the star.
Data from Gaia shows neighbouring galaxy is being pulled apart
Last week, scientists analysing data from the ESA’s retired Gaia telescope discovered that the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a neighbour of the Milky Way, was being ripped apart by the galaxy it orbits called the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Since the size of the LMC is so much greater than the SMC, it pulls on it from one end, causing the galaxy to stretch and eventually destroy the galaxy. The scientists also discovered that the stars inside the SMC were not rotating as expected, which means that our assumptions of the mass and history of the galaxy might be flawed.
Skyroot tests rocket’s third stage
A rocket has multiple stages, each with a different function. For example, the first stage focuses on liftoff and getting the rocket through most of the atmosphere. The third stage is needed to finally put a satellite in orbit or at least on the path to its orbit. Skyroot Aerospace, the first private Indian company to launch a rocket to space, is now working to bring satellite launch capabilities to its Vikram rockets.
