Astronomy, Jupiter - GS questions based on daily current affairs

ANSWER: Europa

Explanation:

• Jupiter has 67 natural satellites. Out of those 4 (Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callista) are massive and are known as Galilean Moons.
• NASA is planning to send a lander on the Europa to find signs of life.
• The probe will find Europa's composition, the nature of its sub-surface ocean, as well as its ability to host life.
• The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) is a mission to Europa that is due to launch in 2022.
• The mission is now known as Europa Multiple-Flyby Mission.
• It comprises of an orbiter and a lander. Set for a launch in the 2020s (around 2022), the spacecraft are being developed to study the Galilean moon Europa through a lander and a series of flybys while in orbit around Jupiter.

ANSWER: Juno

Explanation:
NASA’s unmanned Juno spacecraft on 3rd July 2016 has begun orbiting Jupiter, a key victory for the USD 1.1 billion mission to uncover the origins of the biggest planet in the solar system

• NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California also issued a welcome message from the mission control
• Solar observatory which has travelled 1.7 billion miles (2.7 billion km) since it launched 5 years ago from Cape Canaveral, Florida entered the aimed for orbit around Jupiter at 11:53 pm
• Juno should circle the planet 37 times before making a death plunge in 2018 to prevent the spacecraft from damaging icy moons of Jupiter
• Juno will not be the first spacecraft to circle Jupiter as NASA indicates the orbit will bring it closer than predecessor Galileo launched in 1989.
• Galileo found evidence of subsurface saltwater on Jupiter’s moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto before taking the final plunge into Jupiter in 2003

ANSWER: Both a and c

Explanation:
Astronauts Scott Kelly, Mikhail Komienko break American record for longest space flight. Both traveled 144 million miles through space and circled the world 5,440 times. They experienced 10,880 orbital sunrises and sunsets during the longest single spaceflight by an American. The next longest spaceflight is 125 days less. But when it comes to longest space flight, a Russian doctor holds the record with 438 days.

ANSWER: WASP-119 b, WASP-124 b, WASP-126 b, WASP-129 b and WASP—133 b

Explanation:
Scientists have discovered 5 new Jupiter like planets similar in features to the biggest planet in our solar system and very close to host stars. Researchers used the WASP South or Wide Angle Search for Planets-South instrument an array of 8 cameras observing selected regions of the southern sky to show 5 stars with planet like transits in their light curve. The 5 planets have been named WASP-119 b, WASP-124 b, WASP-126 b, WASP-129 b and WASP—133 b.The orbital periods of the planets vary from 2.17 to 5.75 days, and their masses range from 0.3 to 1.2 the mass of Jupiter, with radii between one to 1.5 Jupiter radius, researchers said.

Other Findings

• WASP-119 b (which has a mass of 1.2 of the mass of Jupiter, and an orbital period of 2.5 days) is a typical hot Jupiter.
• Its host star has a same type of mass like Sun’s but appears to be much older based on its effective temperature and density.
• WASP-124 b, less larger than Jupiter (0.6 times Jupiter masses), has orbital period of 3.4 days and a much younger parent star.
  
• WASP-126 b is the smallest-mass world found by researchers.
• Its low surface gravity and a bright host star make the planet a target for transmission spectroscopy.
• WASP-129 b, similar in size to Jupiter, has the longest orbital period. Its surface gravity is also high compared to other known ‘hot Jupiters’, researchers said.
• WASP-133 b has the shortest orbital period of the exoplanets detected by researchers.

ANSWER: Method to detect dwarf galaxies dominated by dark matter

Explanation:
A global team of scientists led by Indian- American Sukanya Chakrabarti devised s new method called galactoseismology for detecting dwarf galaxies dominated by dark matter. Method also explains ripples on the external disk of the galaxy. Chakrabarti, an assistant professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, NY has presented her findings whereby the discovered method employs the use of the waves in the galactic disk to map inner structures and mass of galaxies. This is similar to seismologists who use seismic waves to gather details about the inner part of the earth. Method will be used for hunting mysterious space phenomenon. Team uses the spectroscopic observations for calculation of the speed of three Cepheid variables in the Norma constellation. Cepheid variables are stars used as yardstick for calculating the galaxies’ distances. Study tracks Cepheid variables travelling at the speed of 450,000 MPH.

ANSWER: IDCS 1426

Explanation:
This massive, churning galaxy cluster 1000 times more massive than the Milky Way galaxy has been discovered by astronomers some 10 billion light years away. This cluster is unique is formed when the Universe was 3.8 billion years old. Scientists have found that super giant structures could form much later after billions of years of clumping matter. MIT, University of Missouri, University of Florida have found the cluster using NASA’s 3 great observatories- Hubble Space Telescope, Keck Observatory and Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Cluster called IDCS 1426 is the most massive cluster of galaxies yet discovered during the first 4 billion years following the Big Bang. IDCS 1426 appears to be undergoing a considerable amount of upheaval. Researchers observed a bright knot of X-rays off center in the cluster, indicating the core of the cluster might have shifted some 100 thousand years ago from its centre. Core may have been dislodged from a massive collision with another galaxy cluster causing the gas within the cluster around, much like a wine in a glass that has been immediately moved. Galaxy clusters are conglomerates of 100s to 1000s of galaxies bound together by gravity. They are the most massive structures within the universe. Some like the Virgo cluster nearly are bright and easy to spot in the sky.

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
A globular cluster holding million stars in a ball about 100 light years ago could be the place to look for intelligent life identified in the galaxy. Milky Way galaxy hosts about 150 globular clusters, most of them orbiting in the galactic outskirts. They formed about 10 billion years ago on average, researchers said. Some scientists have argued that this makes globular cluster stars less likely to host planets. In fact, only one planet has been found in a globular cluster to date. Interstellar communication becomes easy for stars within the cluster called global customer opportunity.