đŸ’„Join UPSC 2027,2028 Mentorship (July Batch) + XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

Subject: Science and Technology

  • Aditya-L1: India’s first mission to Sun to be launched soon

    aditya

    The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to launch the Aditya-L1 mission by June or July this year.

    What is Aditya-L1 Mission?

    • ISRO categorizes Aditya L1 as a 400 kg-class satellite that will be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in XL configuration.
    • It will observe the Sun from a close distance, and try to obtain information about its atmosphere and magnetic field.
    • The space-based observatory will have seven payloads (instruments) on board to study the Sun’s corona, solar emissions, solar winds and flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and will carry out round-the-clock imaging of the Sun.

    L1: Behind the name

    • L1 refers to Lagrangian/Lagrange Point 1, one of five points in the orbital plane of the Earth-Sun system.
    • Lagrange Points, named after Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange, are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system (like the Sun and the Earth) produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion.
    • The L1 point is about 1.5 million km from Earth, or about one-hundredth of the way to the Sun.

    Major payloads

    • In total Aditya-L1 has seven payloads, of which the primary payload is the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), designed and fabricated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru.
    • The satellite carries additional six payloads-
    1. SUIT, the solar ultraviolet imaging telescope
    2. ASPEX (Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment),
    3. PAPA (Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya),
    4. SoLEXS (Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer),
    5. HEL1OS (High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray spectrometer) and
    6. Magnetometer — with enhanced science scope and objectives possible by extensive remote and in-situ observation of the sun.

    Why is studying the Sun important?

    (1) To understand space weather

    • To learn about and track Earth-directed storms, and to predict their impact, continuous solar observations are needed.
    • Every storm that emerges from the Sun and heads towards Earth passes through L1, and a satellite placed in the halo orbit around L1 of the Sun-Earth system has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses.

    (2) Observing corona

    • The VELC payload will be able to observe the corona continuously and the data provided by it is expected to answer many outstanding problems in the field of solar astronomy.
    • No other solar coronagraph in space has the ability to image the solar corona as close to the solar disk as VELC can.
    • It can image it as close as 1.05 times the solar radius.
    • It can also do imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry at the same time, and can take observations at a very high resolution (level of detail) and many times a second.

    Why are solar missions challenging?

    • Distance: What makes a solar mission challenging is the distance of the Sun from Earth (about 149 million km on average, compared to the only 3.84 lakh km to the Moon).
    • Heat: More importantly the super-hot temperatures and radiations in the solar atmosphere make it difficult to study.

    Major missions to Sun till now

    • NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has already gone far closer — but it will be looking away from the Sun.
    • The earlier Helios 2 solar probe, a joint venture between NASA and space agency of erstwhile West Germany, went within 43 million km of the Sun’s surface in 1976.

     

    Crack Prelims 2023! Talk to our Rankers

    (Click) FREE 1-to-1 on-call Mentorship by IAS-IPS officers | Discuss doubts, strategy, sources, and more

  • Ideal Train Profile: Railways’ AI-based project to shorten ticket waitlists

    The Indian Railways has concluded the trial of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) program it built to fix a perennial issue — long waiting lists for tickets.

    Ideal Train Profile

    • Ideal Train Profile was made by Railways’ in-house software arm Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS).
    • It was fed with information like how millions of passengers booked tickets on these trains, which origin-destination pairs were a hit and which were flops at what time of the year, which seats remained vacant for what portion of a journey, etc.
    • This project has been in the works for the past two years, wherein the AI has been “taught” ticket booking data and trends of the past few years.
    • It has come up with the best possible combination of how many berths to keep for which sectors and at what time.
    • The combination of “training data” the AI has been fed goes back three years.

    Significance of the project

    • The AI-driven program has, for the first time, allocated vacant berths in over 200 trains in such a way that fewer people need to turn away without a confirmed ticket.
    • The waiting lists on these trains, as a result, have seen a curtailment.

    Need for AI in ticket booking

    • Currently, the passenger is handed out a wait-listed ticket and asked to wait until four hours prior to departure, when the final seat chart is prepared, to see if she made the list.
    • This is because a large number of berths are earmarked for various quotas and various origin-destination combinations of the train’s routes.
    • If there are 60 halts in a long-distance train, then there are 1,800 possible ticket combinations of origin and destination.
    • If there are 10 halts, there are typically about 45 ticket combinations and so on.
    • The Ideal Train Profile’s AI tells the Passenger Reservation System how best to give out confirmed tickets and for which sectors.

    Way forward

    • The AI does data-driven remote location selection, completely automates the process of quota distribution, and suggests optimal quota for different ticket combinations based on historical demand.
    • The project has got the Railway Board excited about the possibility of how it can manage busy season rush, when the demands of confirmed tickets are at a peak.
    • So the coming summer vacation season will be the first big test for the new system.

     

    Crack Prelims 2023! Talk to our Rankers

    (Click) FREE 1-to-1 on-call Mentorship by IAS-IPS officers | Discuss doubts, strategy, sources, and more

  • Green Comet appears close to Earth after 50,000 years

    comet

    The rare green comet that last came to Earth about 50,000 years ago has returned to the skies of Earth. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) can be seen with the naked eye if the conditions in the sky are just right.

    What are Comets?

    • Comets are frozen rocky or gas-filled objects that are remnants of the formation of the solar system.
    • Due to their composition, characteristics and the path they move in, they tend to leave a light “behind them”.
    • Here, the comet itself is green (called the head of the comet) and emits a whitish light behind it (often called the tail of the comet).
    • Just like other bodies in space, comets also have orbits.
    • They are sometimes pulled in close to the sun because of the sun’s gravity acting on them.
    • As they orbit near the Sun, they heat up and spew gases and dust into a glowing head that can be larger than a planet.
    • The remains of dust following this burning up, from a distance, look like a trail of light to humans on Earth.

    What is Green Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)?

    • Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was first discovered in March last year by the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility when it was already inside the orbit of Jupiter.
    • While it was initially believed to be an asteroid, it began developing a tail as the Sun’s influence began vapourising the ice.
    • At the time of its discovery, it was shining with a magnitude of 17.3.

    Why is it green in colour?

    • Comets have often been seen giving out blue or whitish light, or even green.
    • In this case, the green glow “is thought to arise from the presence of diatomic carbon – pairs of carbon atoms that are bound together – in the head of the comet.
    • The molecule emits green light when excited by the ultraviolet rays in solar radiation.

    When and where can the green comet be seen?

    • Observers in the Northern Hemisphere will find the comet in the morning sky, as it moves swiftly toward the northwest during January.
    • It’ll become visible in the Southern Hemisphere in early February.
    • In Indian skies, when looking in the northwest direction, one might spot it 16° above the horizon in the Bootes constellation.
    • But with lights from buildings and streetlights on, it can be difficult to make it out without equipment.

    Is the green comet rare?      

    • It last came in the skies above Earth during the Upper Paleolithic period, a time when Neanderthals roamed the planet and early homo sapiens had just come around.
    • Coming under the category of long-period comets, which take more than 200 years to orbit the Sun, the green comet is not easily spotted.
    • With a highly elliptical orbit, the comet will head back to the Oort cloud and make its next appearance roughly 50,000 years later.
    • But given their orbits, it’s not unique for comets to reappear close to Earth only after many, many years.

     

    Crack Prelims 2023! Talk to our Rankers

    (Click) FREE 1-to-1 on-call Mentorship by IAS-IPS officers | Discuss doubts, strategy, sources, and more

  • Bimodal Nuclear Propulsion can send missions to Mars in 45 days

    nuclear

    NASA is planning to send mission to Mars in 45 days using the Bimodal Nuclear Propulsion.

    Bimodal Nuclear Propulsion: What is it?

    • NASA relaunched its program to develop bimodal nuclear propulsion a few years ago. Bimodal nuclear propulsion is a two-part system that includes an NTP and NEP element.
    • This system is expected to enable transits to Mars in 100 days.
    • In 2023, the US space agency started a new program named NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) and has selected a nuclear concept for Phase I development.
    • This new bimodal nuclear propulsion system will use a “wave rotor topping cycle” that may reduce transit times to Mars to 45 days.

    How will nuclear propulsion work?

    • Nuclear propulsion is based on two concepts Nuclear-Thermal Propulsion (NTP) and Nuclear-Electric Propulsion (NEP).
    • The NTP system includes a nuclear reactor that will heat liquid hydrogen (LH2) propellant and turn it into ionised hydrogen gas (plasma) that will then be channelled through nozzles to generate thrust.
    • NEP depends on a nuclear reactor to provide electricity to a Hall-Effect thruster (ion engine).
    • It will generate an electromagnetic field that will ionise and accelerate an inert gas (for example xenon) to create thrust.

    Benefits offered

    • Nuclear propulsions have major advantages over conventional chemical propulsion.
    • These benefits include fuel efficiency, a higher specific impulse rating and unlimited energy density (virtually).
    • NEP’s advantage over NTP and conventional chemical propulsion systems is that it offers more than 10,000 seconds of Specific impulse (ISP).
    • ISP is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine (a rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel) creates thrust.

    Benefits for manned missions

    • A crewed mission to Mars based on conventional propulsion technology may last up to three years.
    • However, A transit time of 45 days will reduce the overall mission time to months instead of years.
    • This will drastically reduce the major risks associated with missions to Mars which include – radiation exposure, the time spent in microgravity and related health concerns.

    Limitations of these nuclear propulsion systems

    • This means NEP systems can maintain thrust for close to three hours.
    • However, the thrust level is lower compared to conventional rockets and NTP systems.
    • In outer space, the thermal energy conversion rate is just 30-40% under ideal circumstances.

     

    Crack Prelims 2023! Talk to our Rankers

    (Click) FREE 1-to-1 on-call Mentorship by IAS-IPS officers | Discuss doubts, strategy, sources, and more

  • AI-Generated Art: Paradox of capturing humanity

    AI

    Context

    • Around the end of last year, social media spaces were trending with Lensa-generated images of online users. A subscription app, Lensa, makes graphic portraits, called “Magic Avatar” images, using selfies uploaded by its users. As AI takes a strong foothold over the realm of art, are we equipped with mechanisms to define what is right and what is wrong in this domain in the first place?

    Crack Prelims 2023! Talk to our Rankers

    The case of Lensa app

    • A subscription app, Lensa, makes graphic portraits, called Magic Avatar images, using selfies uploaded by its users.
    • Celebrities worldwide stepped in to show how they looked so perfect in their avatars in a Lensa world.
    • However, a few days later, hundreds of women netizens worldwide started flagging issues with their avatars. They pointed out how their avatar images had their waists snatched and showed sultry poses.
    • Even after these women uploaded different pictures, Lensa generated hyper-sexualised, semi-pornographic images.

    How art is generated using Artificial Intelligence?

    • Uses algorithms based on textual prompts: AI art is any art form generated using Artificial Intelligence. It uses algorithms that learn a specific aesthetic based on textual prompts and, after that, go through vast amounts of data in the form of available images as the first step.
    • Algorithms generate new images: In the next step, the algorithm tries to generate new images that tally with the kind of aesthetics that it has learnt.
    • Role of artists with right keystrokes: The artist becomes more like a curator who inputs the right prompt to develop an aesthetically-fulfilling output. While artists use brush strokes in other digital platforms like Adobe Photoshop, in programmess like Dall-E and Midjourney, all it takes are keystrokes.
    • For example: The generation of an artwork like Starry Night in the digital era. While Van Gogh would have taken days of effort to conceptualise and get the correct strokes and paint, in the AI art era, it is just a matter of the right textual prompts.

    AI

    Can it truly capture the essence of humanity?

    • The impact of AI-generation on the masses’ experience of art: Art is one of the few pursuits that makes life meaningful. It remains to be seen if AI-generated art will alienate the experience of art from the masses.
    • AI takes away the satisfaction of creating artworks: AI-generated art dehumanises artworks. Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of generating an artwork lies in making it.
    • The questions over the capability of AI to capture subtle human emotions: It is also doubtful whether AI art will capture the most subtle of human emotions. How much humour is “humorous” for AI? Can AI express grief and pain in the most profound ways as described by our poets? Can AI capture the enigmatic smile of Mona Lisa that makes one believe that she is shrouded in mystery?

    Have you heard about Midjourney?

    • Midjourney is an AI based art generator that has been created to explore new mediums of thought.
    • It is an interactive bot, which uses machine learning (ML) to create images based on texts. This AI system utilises the concepts and tries to convert them into visual reality.
    • It is quite similar to other technologies such as DALL-E 2.

    AI

    Arguments in favor of such art

    • Thatre D opera Spatial generated by Midjourney: The question of whether AI art is causing “a death of artistry” was raised, last year, when an entry called “ThĂ©Ăątre D’opĂ©ra Spatial” generated from Midjourney (an artificial intelligence programme) by Jason M Allen won the Blue Ribbon at the Colorado State Fair.
    • Finding suitable prompts is no less than a genius art: AI artists like Allen think finding suitable prompts to create an artwork amounts to creativity and qualifies AI art as genuine or authentic.
    • AI could democratise art world: Some artists believe AI art could democratise the art world by removing gatekeepers.

    Concerns over the biases in data

    • There is bias in this data available for AI inputs due to a lack of representation of the less privileged communities’ women, people of colour and other marginalised groups.
    • Most of the training data for AI art currently emerges in the Global North and is often mired by the stereotypes of ableism, racism and sexism.
    • Historically, art has performed a political function as a venue for dissent. Can AI art overcome these inherent biases in data to bring out meaningful political engagement?

    AI

    Conclusion

    • AI-generated art can bring new ideas and possibilities to the art world, but it is important to think about how it might change people’s experience of art and if it takes away the human touch. It is also important to question if AI can truly capture the emotions that make art so special. It’s best to approach AI-generated art with an open mind and consider both the good and bad.

  • [pib] First evidence of Solitary Waves near Mars

    In a first-of-its-kind discovery, a team of Indian scientists from the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) reported the first evidence of the presence of solitary waves around Mars.

     

    Mars

    mars

    • Of the largest Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, being larger than only Mercury.
    • In English, Mars carries the name of the Roman god of war and is often referred to as the “Red Planet”.
    • The latter refers to the effect of the iron oxide prevalent on Mars’s surface, which gives it a reddish appearance distinctive among the astronomical bodies visible to the naked eye.
    • Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, with surface features reminiscent of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth.
    • The days and seasons are comparable to those of Earth, because the rotational period, as well as the tilt of the rotational axis relative to the ecliptic plane, is similar.
    • Mars is the site of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, one canyons in the Solar System.

     

    What are Solitary Waves?

    • Solitary waves are distinct electric field fluctuations (bipolar or monopolar) that follow constant amplitude-phase relations.
    • Their shape and size are less affected during their propagation.
    • Solitary waves are known to be responsible for the plasma energization and its transport in Earth’s magnetosphere.

    Unveiling the undercover solitary waves

    • Earth is a giant magnetic entity, wrapped in a magnetosphere generated by the motion of molten iron in its core.
    • This magnetosphere casts a protective layer around our home planet, shielding us from the solar winds coughed towards us by the Sun.
    • But unlike Earth, Mars lacks a robust intrinsic magnetic field, which effectively allows the high-speed solar wind to interact directly with the Martian atmosphere.
    • This interaction suggests that even with a weak and flimsy magnetosphere, the frequent occurrences of solitary waves on Mars remain a possibility.

    Why this is a significant feat for India?

    • Despite several missions to Mars, their presence has never been detected — until now.
    • However, Indian Scientists have successfully identified and reported the first-ever solitary waves detected on Mars.
    • They arrived at this result by analyzing about 450 solitary wave pulses observed by the Langmuir Probe and Waves instrument on NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft.

    Decoding the data

    • Their analysis revealed distinct electric field fluctuations, which lasted for about 0.2-1.7 milliseconds.
    • Such signals were predominant during dawn or between afternoon to dusk at an altitude of 1000-3500 km from Mars’ surface.
    • Further investigation is needed to determine exactly why these waves are dominant during a fixed time of the day.

    Significance of such waves on Mars

    • These pulses are dominantly seen in the dawn and afternoon dusk sectors at an altitude of 1000–3500 km around Mars.
    • Researchers are further exploring their role in the particle dynamics in the Martian magnetosphere and whether such waves play any role in the loss of atmospheric ions on Mars.
    • The study of these waves is crucial as they directly control particle energization, plasma loss, transport, etc., through wave-particle interactions.

     

    Crack Prelims 2023! Talk to our Rankers

    (Click) FREE 1-to-1 on-call Mentorship by IAS-IPS officers | Discuss doubts, strategy, sources, and more

  • ISRO pushing Venus Mission ‘Shukrayaan’ to 2031

    venus

    ISRO said that it is yet to receive approval from the Indian government for the Venus mission and that the mission could as a result be postponed to 2031.

    Shukrayaan I: Venus Orbiter Mission

    • Shukrayaan-I is a planned orbiter to Venus by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to study the surface and atmosphere of Venus.
    • The idea was born in 2012; five years later, ISRO commenced preliminary studies after the Department of Space received a 23% hike in the 2017-2018 budget.
    • The orbiter, depending on its final configuration, would have a science payload capability of approximately 100 kilograms (220 lb) with 500 W available power.
    • The launch will involve GSLV Mark II.

    Expected launch

    • ISRO had originally hoped to launch Shukrayaan I in mid-2023 but cited the pandemic when it pushed the date to December 2024.
    • Optimal launch windows from Earth to Venus occur once around every 19 months.
    • This is why ISRO has ‘backup’ launch dates in 2026 and 2028 should it miss the 2024 opportunity.
    • But even more optimal windows, which further reduce the amount of fuel required at liftoff, come around every eight years.

    Other missions to Venus

    • The US and the European space agencies have Venus missions planned for 2031 — referring to VERITAS and EnVision, respectively.

     

    Crack Prelims 2023! Talk to our Rankers

    (Click) FREE 1-to-1 on-call Mentorship by IAS-IPS officers | Discuss doubts, strategy, sources, and more

  • James Webb Telescope discovers its first Earth-sized Exoplanet

    exoplanet

    NASA has announced that the James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its first new exoplanet LHS 475 b.

    LHS 475 b

    • The exoplanet LHS 475 b is roughly the same size as Earth.
    • Located just 41 light-years away, the planet orbits very close to a red dwarf star and completes a full orbit in just two days.

    Red Dwarf Stars

    • As mentioned before, the newly discovered exoplanet orbits around a red dwarf star.
    • Such types of stars are the most common and smallest in the universe.
    • As they don’t radiate much light, it’s very tough to detect them with the naked eye from Earth.
    • However, as red dwarfs are dimmer than other stars, it is easier to find exoplanets that surround them.
    • Therefore, red dwarfs are a popular target for planet hunting.

    What are Exoplanets?

    • Exoplanets are planets that orbit other stars and are beyond our solar system.
    • According to NASA, to date, more than 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered.
    • Scientists believe that there are more planets than stars as each star has at least one planet orbiting it.
    • Exoplanets come in a host of different sizes. They can be gas giants bigger than Jupiter or as small and rocky as Earth.
    • They are also known to have different kinds of temperatures — boiling hot to freezing cold.

    Significance of exoplanets study

    • Studying exoplanets not only broadens our understanding of other solar systems but also helps us piece together information about our own planetary system and origin.
    • However, the most compelling reason to learn about them is to find extraterrestrial life.
    • Researchers emphasize on determining if exoplanets are solid or gaseous or even has water vapour in the atmosphere.
    • This helps scientists determine if a discovered world is habitable or not.
    • Another important element of the study is finding out the distance between an exoplanet and its host star.

    Do you know?

    If an exoplanet is too close to the star, it might be too hot to sustain liquid water. If it’s too far, it might only have frozen water. When such a planet is at a distance that enables it to have liquid water, it is said to be in the “Goldilocks zone”.

     

    Crack Prelims 2023! Talk to our Rankers

    (Click) FREE 1-to-1 on-call Mentorship by IAS-IPS officers | Discuss doubts, strategy, sources, and more

  • Reconstructing past Deep-Water Circulations of Indian Ocean

    indian ocean

    Studies have indicated that tectonically driven changes in the ocean gateways such as the closure of the Central American Seaway, a body of water that once separated North America from South America, since the late Miocene period, had a dramatic impact on the Indian Ocean circulation.

    What is Global overturning circulation (GOC)?

    • It is the equatorward transport of cold, deep waters and the poleward transport of warm, near-surface waters.
    • It controls ocean heat distribution and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, thus playing a critical role in global climate.

    Concept: Panama Closure Hypothesis

    • This news essentially talks about the Panama Closure Hypothesis.
    • Panama Hypothesis states that the gradual closure of the Panama Seaway, between 13 million years ago (13 Ma) and 2.6 Ma, led to decreased mixing of Atlantic and Pacific water Masses.
    • This led to the formation of North Atlantic Deep water circulation.
    • It strengthened the Atlantic thermohaline circulation, increased temperatures and evaporation in the North Atlantic, increased precipitation in Northern Hemisphere high latitudes.

    Impact of Panama closure

    • It is thought that tectonic changes might have led to the formation of two separate water bodies — northern component water in the North Atlantic and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) in the Southern Ocean.
    • Consequently, it is also hypothesised that there would have been large-scale changes in the Deep Water Circulation (DWC) in the oceans across the world.

    Impact on Indian Ocean gyre

    • The Indian Ocean does not have any major deep-water formations of its own.
    • It acts only as a host for NCW and AABW.
    • Further, the northern parts of the Indian Ocean are located at one of the terminal ends of the GOC, far away from the deep-water formation regions and oceanic seaways.

    What has the new research found?

    • The scientists have generated an authigenic neodymium isotope record from the Arabian Sea and reconstructed the DWC record of the Indian Ocean for the period from 11.3 million years ago (Miocene era) to 1.98 million years ago (Pleistocene era).
    • The record shows a clear shift from the Pacific water-dominated deep circulation system before about nine million years ago, to the onset of a modern-like deep water circulation system in the Indian Ocean.
    • It comprises of Antarctic bottom water and northern component water during the Miocene-Pliocene transition (about six million years ago).
    • This suggests a widespread impact of the late Miocene Central American Seaway closure on the evolution of ocean deep water circulation and validates the so-called Panama Closure Hypothesis.

    Back2Basics: Indian Ocean Circulation

    indian ocean

    • The Indian Ocean circulation/gyre, located in the Indian Ocean, is one of the five major oceanic gyres, large systems of rotating ocean currents, which together form the backbone of the global conveyor belt.
    • The Indian Ocean gyre is composed of two major currents: the South Equatorial Current, and the West Australian Current.
    • Normally moving counter-clockwise, in the winter the Indian Ocean gyre reverses direction due to the seasonal winds of the South Asian Monsoon.

    How does it function?

    • In the summer, the land is warmer than the ocean, so surface winds blow from the ocean to the land.
    • However, during the winter, these temperatures reverse, making the winds blow from the land to the ocean.
    • Because most of the air pressure gradient is retained behind the Tibetan plateau, air pressure gradients over the Indian Ocean and the gyre are small.
    • This results in winds of moderate strength, due to the protection from the full-force winds blowing off the Mongolian high-pressure region.
    • Because of these moderate, dry winds, the Winter Monsoon season in the Indian Ocean region is the dry season for most of Southern Asia.
    • Due to this seasonal wind cycle, the currents of the Indian Ocean, which make up the Indian Ocean gyre, are directly affected, causing reversal.

     

    Crack Prelims 2023! Talk to our Rankers

    (Click) FREE 1-to-1 on-call Mentorship by IAS-IPS officers | Discuss doubts, strategy, sources, and more

  • 1st-ever 3D map of Local Bubble’s magnetic fields

    bubble

    Researchers have generated a 3D magnetic map of the giant cosmic cavity called Local Bubble that surrounds the solar system could reveal the universe’s secrets, including questions about the origins of stars.

    What is the Local Bubble?

    • The Local Bubble is a 1,000-light-year-wide cavity or a super-bubble.
    • It is a relative cavity in the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Orion Arm in the Milky Way.
    • Local Bubble is thought to have originated from supernovae roughly 14 million years ago. Supernova is a cosmic explosion occurring when stars meet their end.
    • Space is full of these super-bubbles that trigger the formation of new stars and planets and influence the overall shapes of galaxies.

    How are they formed?

    • Super-bubbles are comparable to holes in Swiss cheese. Supernova explosions blow holes in the cheese. New stars form around these holes.
    • However, mechanisms powering the formation and expansion of the Local Bubble are not well-understood.
    • Further, there is little information on how magnetic fields likely impact the bubble and local star formation.
    • Max Planck has provided information on the magnetic alignment of cosmic dust. This alignment can indicate the orientation of the magnetic field acting on the dust particles.

     

    Crack Prelims 2023! Talk to our Rankers

    (Click) FREE 1-to-1 on-call Mentorship by IAS-IPS officers | Discuss doubts, strategy, sources, and more