A pair of stereoscopic images of the asteroids Dinkinesh and Selam created with data collected by the L’LORRI camera on NASA’s Lucy spacecraft – NASA/GODDARD/SWRI/JOHNS HOPKINS APL
MADRID, 6 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
An asteroid dubbed ‘Lucy’s baby’ after a NASA spacecraft discovered that is orbiting another asteroid last November it is only between 2 and 3 million years old.
Using novel statistical calculations, a team at Cornell University derived the age of Selam, a ‘moon’ surrounding the small asteroid Dinkinesh in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, based solely on dynamics or how the pair moves through space. His calculation agrees with one from NASA’s Lucy mission based on an analysis of surface craters, the most traditional method for dating asteroids.
The new method complements that work and has some advantages: it does not require an expensive spacecraft to capture close-up images, it could be more accurate in cases where asteroid surfaces have undergone recent changes, and it can be applied to secondary bodies in dozens. from other known binary systems, which represent 15% of near-Earth asteroidsthe researchers said.
“Finding the ages of asteroids is important to understanding them, and this one is remarkably young compared to the age of the solar system, meaning it formed recently,” he said. it’s a statement Colby Merrill, doctoral student in the field of aerospace engineering. “Getting the age of this body can help us understand the population as a whole,” added Merrill, first author of the new study, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Binary asteroids are dynamically complex and fascinating objects that engage in a kind of tug-of-war, the researchers said. Gravity acting on objects causes them to physically bulge and produces tides, that slowly reduce the power of the system. Meanwhile, radiation from the sun also alters the energy of the binary system with an effect called the binary Yarkovsky-O’Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (BYORP) effect.
Over time, the system will reach an equilibrium where the tides and BYORP are equally strong: a stalemate in the tug of war.
Assuming those forces were in balance and plugging into asteroid data shared publicly by the Lucy mission, the researchers calculated how long it would have taken for Selam to reach its current state after forming from surface material ejected by a spinning Dinkinesh. quickly. Along the way, the team said it improved pre-existing equations that assumed both bodies were equally dense and ignored the mass of the secondary body.
By performing approximately 1 million calculations with different parameters, the results produced an average age for Selam of 3 million years, 2 million being the most likely result.
YOUNGER THAN THE FOSSIL REMAINS THAT GIVE IT THE NAME
Determining Selam’s age advances comparisons with Didymos and Dimorphos, the even younger system targeted by NASA’s DART mission, and contributes to the understanding that binary systems are continually being created. The researchers now hope to apply their new aging method to other binary systems where the dynamics have been well characterized, even without close flybys.
“Used in conjunction with crater counting, this method could help better constrain the age of a system,” Kubas said. “If we use two methods and they match each other, we can be more confident that we are getting a meaningful age that describes the current state of the system.”
Calculations suggest that the asteroid Selam It is younger than the fossil of the human ancestor on Earth that gives it its name: The skeletal remains of a 3-year-old girl found in Ethiopia, determined to be 3.3 million years old. Selam means “peace” in the Ethiopian language and has also been nicknamed “Lucy’s baby”, in reference to the famous remains of a human ancestor found in 1974 and nicknamed Lucy or Dinkinesh. The NASA mission named after Lucy is on track to study the Trojan asteroids in Jupiter’s orbit in 2027.
ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN – Firaisankina expresses his expectations
Marc Ravalomanana during the declaration yesterday in Faravohitra. |
Yesterday, the Firaisankina platform made a statement regarding the continuation of the electoral process. The neutrality of the administration and the impartiality of the bodies responsible for the elections are requested.
Call for impartiality of the authorities responsible for preparing the elections. This is what the Firaisankina platform did yesterday during a statement in Faravohitra. Former president Marc Ravalomanana, co-president of the platform, calls on the Independent National Electoral Commission (Ceni) and the High Constitutional Court (HCC) to demonstrate impartiality throughout the electoral process. He also appeals to civil society to strengthen citizen awareness and denounce observed violations of the law. Firaisankina denounced suspicious actions on the part of certain candidates.
This declaration marks the start of the electoral campaign which begins tomorrow. The standard bearers as well as the leaders of the parties making up the platform were present on site, showing that they are ready for battle.
However, divergent opinions exist regarding the strategy adopted by Firaisankina and the opposition in general regarding participation in the elections. They had previously boycotted the November presidential election, arguing that the Ceni and the HCC lacked legitimacy and impartiality.
Currently, they are engaging in legislative elections while neither the CENI nor the HCC have been significantly modified. The almost systematic response from members of the opposition is that legislative and municipal elections are local elections, where it is directly the people who decide.
Equal opportunities
In its statement yesterday, the Firaisankina platform demands equality for all candidates during the electoral campaign. The four hundred and seventy-three contenders must have the opportunity to carry out their propaganda while respecting the principle of equal opportunities and in complete freedom. At the same time, during his speech, the leader of Tim calls for sanctions for those who have broken the law so far in the electoral process. Marc Ravalomanana insists that the platform will not tolerate any offense or maneuver aimed at manipulating or altering the people’s choice. It recommends the vigilance of the population and candidates throughout the electoral process.
Ravo Andriantsalama
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ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN – Firaisankina expresses his expectations
Experts speak out about the AstraZeneca vaccine that can cause blood clots
In addition to the 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine ordered from AstraZeneca, Vietnam has also sporadically received the AstraZeneca vaccine through sponsorship programs. These vaccines contribute to the success of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign to prevent the COVID-19 epidemic in 2022.
Get vaccinated against COVID-19. Photo: Hai Nguyen
Faced with the news that the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 is being accused of causing rare effects that can lead to blood clots, many people who have received this vaccine are worried.
However, Associate Professor Dr. Pham Quang Thai – Head of the Northern Vaccination Office, Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology – said: AstraZeneca vaccine has announced that their vaccine can cause some rare side effects such as thrombocytopenia and blood clot formation, but this phenomenon is extremely rare and only appears shortly after injection. Meanwhile, our last injection was about 2 years ago.
During the initial deployment of this vaccine in European countries, it was also observed that a certain percentage of people had thrombosis after vaccination. The European Medicines Committee has stopped vaccinations to conduct inspections. However, after examining the results, it showed that the difference in the rate of people with thrombosis before and after the implementation of the vaccination campaign was very low and almost not statistically significant.
In Vietnam, there have been tens of millions of doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine vaccinated in Vietnam, but only a few cases of side effects related to post-vaccination thrombosis have been recorded. The rate is quite low. The recorded thrombosis problem basically only occurred within 28 days after vaccination. Vietnam has stopped implementing COVID-19 vaccination for a long time. There is currently no recommendation that vaccinated people have a higher risk of blood clots than non-vaccinated people.
In addition, many people are worried and want to have tests done to look for blood clots or measure platelet counts. However, experts say that this is unnecessary at this time because it is expensive and not for the right purpose.
Astrazeneca vaccine has been researched and developed by Oxford University in the UK since April 2020 with clinical trials in the UK, Brazil, and South Africa on healthy volunteers and then expanded to medical staff who have risk of exposure to CoV for people over 18 years old.
Astrazeneca vaccine uses a viral vector (also known as an intermediate virus) to create immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Unlike vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna, these are molecules that, thanks to nanotechnology, are able to directly carry mRNA encoding the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. When entering the body, it stimulates the production of spike protein, thereby creating an immune response. However, mRNA is easily denatured, so it needs to be stored at minus -20 degrees Celsius while Astrazeneca’s vaccine can be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius.
Experts speak out about the AstraZeneca vaccine that can cause blood clots
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