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#planetary

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Astronomers have witnessed the birth of a #planetary system that could one day resemble the solar system. The discovery offers scientists a proxy to study how our home planetary system formed around the sun around 4.6 billion years ago.

The team was able to pinpoint the moment specks of material that will one day forge planets began to form around the infant star HOPS-315, located around 1,300 light-years away.

#astronomy

space.com/astronomy/astronomer

Space · Astronomers witness the birth of a planetary system for the 1st time (video)By Robert Lea
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"I feel it is unacceptable that we do not even fully understand our #SolarSystem, while 100 billion #planetary systems are in our Milky Way 🌌 galaxy alone, and 100 billion such #galaxies in the #universe. Before we try to understand #stars, galaxies, or the universe, we must first come to understand our own home: the solar system.” astronomy.com/science/have-ast

Astronomy Magazine · Have astronomers found Planet Nine?Old data may hint at a new world beyond Neptune — but not the one astronomers expected.
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“This is an extinction-level event for #NASA science,” said Casey Dreier, chief of #space policy for the #Planetary Society, a space advocacy group. “It needlessly terminates functional, productive #science missions & cancels new missions currently being built, wasting billions of taxpayer dollars in the process. This is neither efficient nor smart budgeting.”
#Trump #BrainDrain #AntiIntellectualism #research #tech #advancement #progress

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#Trump’s #budget proposal, though not yet formally submitted to Congress, would eviscerate a long list of #planetary & #astronomical missions, including the next major #NASA #space #telescope & the agency’s goal of bringing samples of #Mars back to Earth to search for signs of ancient life.

NASA’s #astrophysics budget would take a huge hit, dropping from ~$1.5B to $487M. Planetary #science would see a drop from $2.7B to $1.9B. #EarthScience would drop from ~$2.2B to $1.033B.

"Moonquakes Surprisingly Common" is #NASA #astronomy picture of the day (#APOD) - Seismometers left by Apollo crews continued to transmit #quake data for years. Data from max sensor network installation in 1972 until 1977 shows moonquakes are more common than earthquakes. One theory about why says that could be caused by tidal influence from Earth's gravity. Future lunar stations and settlements will need to plan for quakes. apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250406.ht #planetary #geology

thoughts?

Earth has lost enough soil moisture in the last 40 years to change the planet’s spin and shift the location of the North Pole, according to a new study published today in Science that tracks how human activities have disrupted the global water cycle.

Researchers comparing satellite measurements of the planet’s water with the wobble in its rotation identified a steady loss of global soil moisture.

#water #planetary

insideclimatenews.org/news/270

Inside Climate News · Earth’s Land Masses Are Drying Out Fast, Scientists Warn - Inside Climate NewsResearchers comparing satellite measurements of the planet’s water with the wobble in its rotation identified a steady loss of global soil moisture.