Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson recently launched a new media company‚ the Tucker Carlson Network (TCN)‚ debuting his network with a bold promotional strategy affronting his former competitors in…

Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia recently issued an apology to his colleague‚ fellow Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after Greene accused McCormick of inappropriately grabbing her by the shoulders and…

A woman driving a car in DC‚ along with a male waving a Palestinian flag out of the sunroof‚ were harassing Jews who were leaving a Hanukkah ceremony in Washington‚ DC. They were shouting “we will kill…

(Natural News) The COP28 globalist-led climate change conference has just concluded‚ and at least one speaker has made waves with comments he made that expose the anti-fossil fuel agenda…

A recent study presented this week at the 2023 meeting of the American Geophysical Union discusses observations of “hot Jupiters” from the NASA-funded CubeSat mission known as the Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE). Unlike most exoplanet-hunting telescopes‚ whose sizes are comparable to a small school bus‚ CUTE measures 36 centimeters (14 inches) in length‚ equivalent to the size of a cereal box. These findings come after members of the team‚ which consists of undergraduate and graduate students‚ published an overview paper about CUTE in The Astronomical Journal in January 2023 and results from CUTE observing WASP-189b in The Astrophysical Journal Letters in August 2023. Launched in September 2021‚ CUTE has focused its ultraviolet capabilities on several hot Jupiters to better understand the atmospheric escape that occurs on these worlds since they orbit so close to their parent stars. For example‚ WASP-189b has an orbital period of 2.7 days‚ which is a fraction of the 88 days that Mercury‚ the innermost planet in our solar system‚ takes to orbit our Sun. For that study‚ the team used CUTE to identify that WASP-189b was having its atmosphere escape at a mind-blowing rate of 400 million kilograms (882 million pounds) per second due to its scorching surface temperatures of approximately 8‚315 degrees Celsius (15‚000 degrees Fahrenheit). Video published days before the launch of CUTE in September 2021 discussing the mission and its goals. Additionally‚ with WASP-189b being located about 325 light-years from Earth‚ this demonstrates CUTE’s incredible observational capabilities despite its small size. Using CUTE‚ which is currently orbiting 525 kilometers (326 miles) above Earth’s surface‚ astronomers hope to gain greater insight into the formation and evolution of planets outside our solar system. “We want to understand how our solar system fits into the family of solar systems in the universe‚” said Dr. Kevin France‚ who is the CUTE Principal Investigator‚ an associate professor in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at CU Boulder‚ lead author of the overview paper‚ and co-author on the WASP-189b paper. “That means understanding the big planets‚ the small planets‚ the ones that could have life and the ones that definitely don’t—and all of the important physical processes that are operating on these planets.” Credit: European Space Agency While WASP-189b is likely the most promising example of CUTE’s incredible capabilities‚ the CUTE team has observed a total of seven hot Jupiters‚ with some results more exciting than others. For example‚ the team observed MASCARA-4b‚ which is located approximately 557 light-years from Earth‚ and KELT-9b‚ which is located approximately 667 light-years from Earth‚ with the team finding barely any gas escaping and “somewhere in the middle”‚ respectively. However‚ atmospheric escape isn’t limited to only hot Jupiters‚ as better understanding this phenomenon could help astronomers better understand the evolution of “super-Earths”‚ as well. “There’s a lot of evidence that suggests that super Earths begin as planets the size of Neptune with large‚ puffy atmospheres‚ which then lose so much mass that all that is left is the rocky core and possibly a thin atmosphere‚” said Dr. France.   Despite its promise to teach astronomers more about hot Jupiters and escaping atmospheres‚ the time to use CUTE is limited‚ as it is currently scheduled to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere sometime in 2027. What else will CUTE teach astronomers about hot Jupiters and atmospheric escape in the next few years‚ and what new insights will astronomers learn about these unique worlds in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell‚ and this is why we science! As always‚ keep doing science &; keep looking up! The post A Tiny Telescope is Revealing “Hot Jupiter” Secrets appeared first on Universe Today.

Communicating between species isn’t something that only has to take place between space-faring civilizations. There are plenty of species here on our home planet that communicate using a variety of sights‚ sounds‚ and smells. We’re only starting to unlock the secrets of how to understand and respond to these types of foreign languages. Researchers at the SETI Institute think that doing so might be a good test for whether we’ll be able to communicate with extraterrestrials if we ever get the chance to. Luckily‚ there are plenty of opportunities to practice. One of the most fascinating creatures with clearly discernible communication is the humpback whale. They’re a favorite of both sight-seers and scientists alike due to their relative affinity for humans as well as their songs that can travel up to 10‚000 miles through the ocean depths. Studying them has been a focal point of the Whale-SETI team from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute‚ UC Davis‚ and the Alaska Whale Foundation. Recently‚ they published a paper detailing an encounter with one particular whale‚ known as “Twain.” SETI Institute video on talking to whales.Credit – SETI Institute YouTube Channel In a flurry of exchanged messages‚ the scientists sent a “contact” call that drew Twain’s attention and had him circling their boat for around 20 minutes. He responded to every burst of sound from the scientists and matched the intervals of delay between sounds in what they called in a press release a “conversational style.”  While the scientists understood they were saying some equivalent of “hello” to Twain when he arrived‚ that’s about as far as their understanding went. Luckily‚ there’s a theory for that – in this case‚ a mathematical one called “information theory.The discipline was initially developed in the 1940s by electrical engineer Claude Shannon. In information theory‚ signals are analyzed for the amount of information they contain‚ and that information can be correlated across multiple signals. When combined with real-world events‚ language theorists think they might be able to tease out information contained within the signals and correlate them to those events. In essence‚ they could figure out what the whales are talking about. SeaKeepers interviews some of the Whale SETI that performed the research.Credit – SeaKeepers YouTube Channel One whale circling a boat for 20 minutes and having what seemed like an enjoyable conversation is just a very brief step down that path. Like many technologies‚ building a translation engine would require lots of data‚ which might still be wrong. Unfortunately‚ whales aren’t likely to be able to correct us if we somehow translate their word for “fish” for that of “seal.”  That might not be the case for otherworldly intelligences‚ though. Humans would undoubtedly try to provide feedback in any dialog with an alien species to ensure they aren’t misunderstood. So it’s like they would want to correct us as well. But‚ until we find a dialog partner‚ plenty of species here on Earth might want to talk to us. We just don’t know how to yet. Learn More:SETI Institute – Whale-SETI: Groundbreaking Encounter with Humpback Whales Reveals Potential for Non-Human Intelligence CommunicationB. McCowan et al. – Interactive Bioacoustic Playback as a Tool for Detecting and Exploring Nonhuman Intelligence: Conversing with an Alaskan Humpback WhaleUT – Communicating Across the Cosmos‚ Part 1: Shouting into the DarknessUT – Astronomers Come up With a New Message to let the Aliens Know we’re Here Lead Image:Humpback Whale The post Trying to Communicate with Whales is Like Talking to Extraterrestrials appeared first on Universe Today.

News of the Israel Defense Forces pumping seawater from the Mediterranean into the 500 miles of tunnels under the Gaza Strip headlines this week’s episode of The Spectacle‚ as Melissa Mackenzie and Scott McKay are a bit confused as to why this was somehow unexpected or controversial. But‚ of course‚ lots of things are now controversial that should be intuitive‚ a subject our two hosts discuss at some length. And that leads to a discussion of 2024 that you won’t want to miss! Buy The Revivalist Manifesto here. Preorder Scott’s book Racism‚ Revenge and Ruin: It’s All Obama here. Read Scott’s and Melissa’s writing here and here. Listen to The Spectacle with Melissa Mackenzie and Scott McKay on Spotify. Watch The Spectacle with Melissa Mackenzie and Scott McKay on Rumble.  The post <;i>;The Spectacle<;/i>; Ep. 53: Gaza Gets An Enema appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.