Dinosaur Fossil Found in Antarctica

A massive dinosaur fossil was found under Antarctic’s ice. It’s been there for about 190 million years. Long before ice covered the southernmost continent, a massive plant-eating dinosaur lumbered across the land. It’s remains have been officially identified a new species: Glacialisaurus hammeri.

It’s not a recent discovery. The bones were unearthed in the early 1990s high on Mount Kirkpatrick, not far from the Beardmore Glacier. Because of the extreme environment, the fossils were chiseled and sawed out over multiple seasons. This was an exhausting and dangerous process. Then the bones sat unclassified until 2 researchers gave it a name and a place on the dinosaur family tree.

When the bones were discovered, they weren’t lying around. Located over 13,000 feet in elevation, they had to be removed from dense rock using jackhammers and rock saws. And what they pulled from the tock was not a complete skeleton; it was mostly just parts of a leg, foot, and ankle. But these fragments had unique features that set this dinosaur apart.

The Glacialisaurus hammeri was a sauropodomorph, which is a broad group that would later produce such giants as Apatosaurus and Diplodocus. It measured 20 to 25 feet long and weighed between 4 and 6 tons. It was large, but not quite the size of its later relatives.

Sauropodomorphs are interesting because they sit between early two-legged plant-eaters and enormous quadrupeds, which came later. According to analysis, when these dinosaurs lived, they were evolving rapidly and spreading all over the place.

Although not fully preserved, its tail may have been a defensive weapon. Some relatives are believed to have cracked their tails like whips, generating loud booms. That detail hasn’t been confirmed for Glacialisaurus.

The site had more than one discovery. Nearby, they uncovered remains of a theropod called Cryolophosaurus ellioti, bones from a possible sauropod, and a pterosaur wing bone. They even found a tooth from a tritulodont, which is a strange (and extinct) mammal-like reptile that is not easy to classify.

This suggests that Jurassic Antarctica wasn’t a barren wasteland. It might have been cold, maybe seasonal, but it supported a range of species. The presence of both primitive and advanced dinosaurs in the same area implies that evolutionary stages overlapped.

Glacialisaurus and its neighbors show how widely early dinosaurs were spread, even in places unexpected.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/a-190-million-year-old-dinosaur-fossil-was-found-under-antarctic-ice-and-it-s-absolutely-massive/ar-AA1SJ6S7?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=69499fae85184c6cab53548ad5035203&ei=32

Cosmic Collision

Astronomers thought they had found a new exoplanet 25 light-years from Earth. In reality, it was a never-before seen, head-on cosmic crash. Researchers described in a study the aftermath of two separate collisions between two small, rocky planetesimals. The findings were made possible by imaging done by the Hubble Space Telescope.

In 2008, astronomers found an unexplained bright object located 25 light-years from Earth. It was designated Fomalhaut b, but nobody knew what “it” was. The initial analysis said it could be a new exoplanet larger than our sun. On the other hand, its roiling cloud of debris indicated it was an expanding dust formation. It has one of the largest dust belts known, which makes it easy to study.

After years of intermittent examinations, one team aimed the Hubble Space Telescope at the mystery in 2023. But Fomalhaut b wasn’t at the expected coordinates. Instead, a bright spot of light was found in a slightly different location.

Fomalhaut b was the known source in the system. But careful comparisons of new images to past images showed it could not be the same source. This discovery was both exciting and confusing. This is the first time a point of light has appeared from nowhere. It’s completely absent in all previous Hubble images.

Further investigation indicates that the object—now classified as Fomalhaut cs1—isn’t an exoplanet and never was. More likely, the first observations in 2008 showed early results of a crash between components of early planetary development (planetesimals). More recent images show the dissipating remains of the smash.

Fomalhaut cs2—which was also studied two decades ago—displays similar traits. Past theories proposed this type of collision would occur in a given region once every 100,000 years. However, researchers have now seen two in only 20 years. Four independent analyses of the data agree that Fomalhault recently hosted two collisions of planetesimals.

Now astrophysicists can utilize the data to better construct planetary models and more accurately identify potential exoplanets. Since Fomalhaut cs2 looks like an exoplanet reflecting starlight, it is plain that a large dust cloud can masquerade as a planet.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/first-of-its-kind-cosmic-collision-spotted-25-light-years-from-earth/ar-AA1SCht0?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=6944730e9f834e7483ec986db9d02131&ei=23