Researchers at MIT, including postdoctoral associate Marc Hon and research scientist Avi Shporer, have discovered a new disintegrating planet approximately 140 light-years away from Earth, reports Sarah Mesdjian for The Boston Globe. “The planet got so close to its star that the heat started evaporating its surface,” says Shporer. “The planet is not big enough to hold onto that material with its gravity.”
MIT astronomers have discovered a planet disintegrating at a rapid pace, reports Xinhua. “Roughly the size of Mercury, the planet orbits its host star at an extremely close distance - about 20 times closer than Mercury is to the Sun - completing a full orbit every 30.5 hours,” explains Xinhua. “Due to this intense proximity, researchers believe the planet is likely covered in molten magma, which is vaporizing and streaming into space.”
MIT researchers have uncovered BD+05 4868 Ab, “a planet that is disintegrating into boiling chunks of rock and evaporating minerals,” reports Andrew Paul for Popular Science. “Astronomers have only identified three disintegrating planets before BD+05 4868 Ab, all of which were detected over a decade ago using data collected by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope,” explains Paul. “The newest find is the most violent example yet, with the longest tail and deepest transits of the four known examples.”
Astronomers at MIT have discovered a rapidly disintegrating planet “with a comet-like tail,” reports Ian Randall for Newsweek. “The planet is orbiting so close to its star that researchers estimate it has a surface temperature around 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, giving it a molten surface that is boiling off material into space, where this cools to form a long, dusty tail,” explains Randall.
Astronomers from MIT and other institutions have discovered a “population of previously hidden galaxies that could shake up astrophysics,” reports Ian Randall for Newsweek. “If confirmed, this new population would effectively break all of our current models of galaxy numbers and evolution,” says graduate student Thomas Varnish.
Graduate student Will Parker joins Dana Taylor of the USA Today podcast The Excerpt to discuss his research on the impact of climate change on satellites. “We're seeing a cooling effect in the upper atmosphere where most of our satellites are operating, and because of that cooling effect, we're seeing that the entire atmosphere is contracting, so it's retreating away from low Earth orbit where we rely on that atmosphere for drag on our satellites,” explains Parker. “The effect of that retreat, that shrinking of the atmosphere, is that it's not doing as good a job at cleaning out low Earth orbit, and again, we rely on that cleaning force because we have no other way to remove most of this debris.”
Prof. Dava Newman, director of the MIT Media Lab and former NASA deputy director, speaks with Blake Burman of NewsNation’s The Hill about how long-duration stays in space can affect the human body and how NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will reacclimate to Earth’s gravity. “Gravity is something! When you haven’t been in gravity” for nine months, Newman explains, “it’s going to take a week or two, it takes a month until you really get your motor control back. So just slow adaptation now.”
Ariel Ekblaw SM ’17, PhD ’20, founder of the MIT Space Exploration Initiative, joins WCVB-TV to discuss the successful return of NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, and the impact of nine months in space on the human body. "When you're living in a long-duration microgravity mission, you do lose some of your muscle mass,” Ekblaw explains. “Your heart weakens because it's not having to pump your blood against the force of gravity. And even funny things like your eyesight can change because the shape of your eyeball is a little different in microgravity.”
Researchers at MIT have discovered how “greenhouse gases are impacting Earth’s upper atmosphere and, in turn, the objects orbiting within it,” reports Grace Snelling for Fast Company. “If we don’t take action to be more responsible for operating our satellites, the impact is that there are going to be entire regions of low Earth orbit that could become uninhabitable for a satellite,” says graduate student William Parker.
MIT researchers have discovered that increased greenhouse gas emissions in the Earth’s upper atmosphere can “potentially cause catastrophic satellite collision in low-Earth orbit,” reports Bruce Dorminey for Forbes. “When the thermosphere contracts, the decreasing density reduces atmospheric drag — a force that pulls old satellites and other debris down to altitudes where they will encounter air molecules and burn up,” Dorminey explains. “Less drag therefore means extended lifetimes for space junk, which will litter sought-after regions for decades and increase the potential for collisions in orbit.”
MIT researchers have found that high levels of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere may increase the risk of satellite collisions, reports Sachi Kitajima Mulkey for Grist. “The environment is very cluttered already. Satellites are constantly dodging right and left,” says graduate student William Parker. “As long as we are emitting greenhouse gases, we are increasing the probability that we see more collision events between objects in space.”
Associated Press reporter Seth Borenstein writes that MIT scientists have found that climate change could “reduce the available space for satellites in low Earth orbit by anywhere from one-third to 82% by the end of the century, depending on how much carbon pollution is spewed.” Graduate student William Parker explains: “We rely on the atmosphere to clean up our debris. There’s no other way to remove debris. It’s trash. It’s garbage. And there are millions of pieces of it.”
A new study by MIT researchers finds that “climate change could threaten the future use of satellites and significantly reduce the number of spacecraft that can safety orbit Earth,” reports Julia Jacobo for ABC News. The researchers found “global warming is causing space debris to linger above the planet for longer periods of time, leaving less space for functioning satellites and posing a growing problem for the long-term use of Earth’s orbital space,” Jacobo explains. “Reducing greenhouse gas emissions doesn't just help us on Earth, it also has the potential to protect us from long-term sustainability issues in space,” explains graduate student William Parker.
A study by MIT scientists has found that increased greenhouse gas emissions will shrink the Earth’s upper atmosphere causing a “drop in the satellite-carrying capacity of low Earth orbit,” repots Passant Rabie for Gizmodo. “Without an atmosphere, most space debris would remain in orbit indefinitely,” Parker said. “As the atmosphere thins, debris lingers longer, increasing the risk to active satellites. With the growing consequences of space debris, we can accommodate fewer debris-generating events.”
Researchers at MIT have found that climate change could raise the risk of satellite collisions, reports Justine Calma for The Verge. “We’ve really reached the end of that era of ‘space is big,’ and I think we should stop saying that,” says graduate student, William Parker. “People don’t realize that the space sustainability issue is really an issue that impacts them directly.”