Super-Jupiter Found

The European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft was surveying the Milky Way and found a planet 12 times more massive than Jupiter. This planet, which has been dubbed Gaia-4b, is 244 light-years away and orbits a star smaller than our sun.

Gaia also discovered a brown dwarf, which is not quite a planet or a star. The brown dwarf is called Gaia-5b, is 134 light-years from Earth, and also orbits a star smaller than our sun.

The Gaia spacecraft was recently retired because it was running out of fuel. Both of the enormous celestial objects were made official after confirmation from other instruments. These tidbits of information are an intriguing tease about what other data may be released from the Gaia mission.

According to NASA, the number of confirmed exoplanets is over 5,800, with thousands more candidates under review. It is estimated that this number is a tiny sampling of planets in space.

Gais-4b, the super-Jupiter, is a relatively cold gas giant that orbits its star once every 570 Earth-days. Its star is estimated to be about 2/3 the mass of the sun. Gaia-4b is one of the biggest planets known to circle a small star.

A brown dwarf is sometimes referred to as a failed star because it lacks enough mass to generate its own nuclear power. Gaia-5b orbits an even smaller star, about 1/3 of our sun’s mass, in slightly less than an Earth year. Although Gaia-5b didn’t make it as a star, it’s about 21 times bigger than Jupiter. And Jupiter’s mass is about equal to 318 Earths.

Gaia-4b is the spacecraft’s first success using the “wobble” technique. Launched in 2013, the spacecraft used a pair of optical telescopes to scan the sky. Because of its precision in tracking the motion of stars, it is believed its data may lead to thousands of new discoveries.

The gravity of orbiting planets can cause host stars to wobble. Planet hunters are adept at interpreting this data. But confirmation from other telescopes is key, because there are other possible reasons for the motion.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/spacecraft-finds-a-positively-enormous-planet-12-times-jupiter-s-mass/ar-AA1ys8fc?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=2aff526efe7b4e5086a7c5168c21d057&ei=41

Neanderthals’ Mysterious Extinction

Neanderthal DNA reveals 50,000-year-old viruses that could help explain their extinction. In a study of ancient Neanderthal DNA, researchers found traces of 3 viruses that cause colds, cold sores, genital warts, and cancer.

Ancient humans might have been responsible for spreading these bugs, but I don’t think we need to blame only homo erectus, for there were several types of ancient humans around at the same time as Neanderthals.

Most experts think the Neanderthal species went extinct from a variety of causes, including changing climate, low fertility rates and human interactions. As can be seen from illnesses that swept through American Natives after the arrival of European settlers, trying to recover from unfamiliar illnesses introduced by distant cousins wouldn’t have helped. Poor health can have a negative impact on survival.

Not only could these ancient viruses help explain the Neanderthals’ extinction, but they might help us better understand the modern versions that still infect humans today.

About 54,000 years ago, a group of Neanderthals lived in Chagyrskaya Cave in Southern Siberia. Researchers studied the DNA data of two people from the cave to look for 3 viruses: adenovirus, herpesvirus, and papillomamirus. Adenovirus can cause colds and flu, herpesviruses can cause cold sores or genital warts, and some cancers are linked to papillomavirus.

A 2021 study discovered adenovirus in 31,600-year-old human teeth from Siberia. This more-recent study is nearly 50,000 years old. Some experts estimate humans and Neanderthals interbred between 60,000 and 50,000 years ago. Besides DNA, they probably passed around diseases.

A 2016 study suggested that breeding with Neanderthals may have boosted humans’ immunity to previously unknown diseases. But the Neanderthals may have been less lucky. A cold does not have to be fatal to decrease hunting efficiency or other abilities. With an already small population, getting sick might have contributed to Neanderthals’ extinction roughly 40,000 years ago.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/scientists-discovered-50-000-year-old-viruses-in-neanderthal-dna-that-could-help-explain-their-mysterious-extinction/ar-BB1nKNuC?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=f10bd090b2834e28ca31725fb862078f&ei=41

 

ASD

It’s called Accumulated Stress Disorder. At least, that’s what I call it. It’s symptoms are continued fatigue, a disinterest in doing pretty much everything, and a severe disinterest in the idea of ‘adulting’. That’s what I’ve been dealing with for a couple of weeks now.

I’ve been sleeping about 12 hours at night, and sometimes I lay down for a 2-hr nap in the afternoon. A lot of days, 90% of my to do list for that day gets shunted to the next day. I don’t want to drive anybody to the doctor’s office, not even myself. I don’t want to go shopping or picking up meds or even just leave the house.

But some things can’t be procrastinated, like doctor’s appointments, grocery shopping and picking up meds. So I do them, and when I get home, I try taking a nap. That can help calm me down for the rest of the day, but it’s the sleeping for 12 hours that seems to help tamp down the accumulated stress.

My counselor suggests I book one day a week as ‘Me’ time. A day with no appointments, no errands, just me at home, writing on my latest Work in Progress. I love the idea. I have said many times that writing helps me stay sane. I used to think the weekends were ideal for this, but this weekend, I ran errands for the family on Saturday, and on Sunday, John decided he wanted to go to Walmart, so I drove him there and home again. Then I took a 2-hr nap to calm down and washed the dishes. Thus, the weekend was full of adulting.

But Thursday was empty. I kept it empty so I could spend the day writing. Well, I had to adult for quite a bit of the day, but I did get 3 hours of writing in the afternoon! I wrote over a thousand words, so I was happy about that.