As the sun set over the familiar neighborhoods, we as a group of friends gather at our favorite hangout spot, reminiscing about old times and sharing the current. We had been had grown up together, exploring the streets, sharing laughter, and supporting each other through thick and thin. Some of our friends are late. Over the years, we had gone or separate ways, chasing dreams and building careers. Some had moved to different cities, while others had stayed close to home. Despite the distance and varying degrees of success, our bond remained strong. On weekends as we sat together, we couldn't help but notice the different stages of life we had each reached. Some are married with kids, while others were still pursuing their passions. Some have achieved great professional success, and others have taken more unconventional paths. One of our friends, had been always dreaming of starting her own business. He had taken the leap and is now running a successful startup....
A probe sent by the United Arab Emirates to study the Martian atmosphere has caught an exceedingly elusive event on camera, Space.com reports: a nightside aurora on Mars.
Before the Hope orbiter’s formal science mission even began, one of its scientific instruments caught the aurora, which is a notoriously fleeting phenomenon that has proved to be very difficult to study.
Images released on Wednesday show the auroras standing out in the shape of bright structures set against the dark Martian night sky.
It’s a lovely chance encounter — the discovery wasn’t even part of the core science observations planned for the mission — that could set up the Emirates Mars Mission for many more exciting discoveries to come later this year.
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“They’re not easy to catch, and so that’s why seeing them basically right away with [Emirates Mars Mission] was kind of exciting and unexpected,” Justin Deighan, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado and deputy science lead of the mission, told Space.com.
“It’s definitely something that was on our radar, so to speak, but just looking at our first set of nighttime data and saying, ‘Hey, wait a second — is that? — it can’t be — it is!’ — that was a lot of fun,” Deighan added.
On Earth, auroras are linked to the planet’s magnetic field. When charged particles get blasted into the atmosphere, it alters their trajectories, causing existing particles in the atmosphere to ionize and emit light of varying colors as they interact with each other.
On Mars, however, these auroras aren’t restricted to the north and south poles, appearing across the rest of the planet as well.
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The Red Planet’s magnetic atmosphere isn’t aligned like one giant bar magnet, like Earth’s.
Instead, as Deighan explained to The New York Times, it’s as if “you took a bag of magnets and dumped them into the crust of the planet.”
“And they’re all pointed different ways,” he added. “And they have different strengths.”
These scattered magnetic fields cause solar wind particles to shoot off in different directions, interacting with atoms and molecules in the planet’s upper atmosphere, which triggers the glow.
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The probe’s Ultraviolet Spectrometer was originally meant to study the massive halo of hydrogen and oxygen that surrounds the Red Planet, which eventually dissipates into open space.
“We did anticipate that the instrument would have the potential to do this,” Hessa Al Matroushi, the mission’s science lead, told Space.com. “It wasn’t designed to do it. But because we do have a mission that is targeting global coverage and we’re looking at Mars from different sides and very frequently within the atmosphere, that enabled us to have such a measurement of discrete auroras, which is very exciting.”
The team is hoping the discovery could allow “new doors of study to be opened when it comes to the Martian atmosphere and how it interacts with the solar activity,” Matroushi told the Times.
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USINESS REPORT COMPANIES MultiChoice’s black economic empowerment scheme is looking for about 22 000 shareholders who owned shares and did not receive dividends of R207 million between 2006 and 2020. Picture: Karen Sandison/African News Agency(ANA) MultiChoice’s BEE scheme trying to find 22 000 shareholders who are missing out on millions By Edward West Feb 16, 2021 CAPE TOWN - PHUTUMA Nathi, the MultiChoice black economic empowerment scheme of more than 80 000 shareholders, is looking for about 22 000 shareholders who owned shares and did not receive dividends of R207 million between 2006 and 2020. “This money belongs to our shareholders. We’re calling on them to contact us to get their money. In these tough economic times we want to do everything in our power to give them what is rightfully theirs,” Phuthuma Nathi chairperson Mandla Langa said in a statement yesterday. Phuthuma Nathi has been paying dividends every year since the start of the scheme in 2006. Am...
Being a resident of the South African Community, l have came to realize that in some cases we have Car hijackings that will leave one to wonder what will have happened and where did those robbers comes from. The events unfold in a very fast and violent manner which no-one will be prepared for. Its so traumatic, horrific and in some cases individuals end up loosing their lives. l realized that these individuals who carry out such bad things works with someone who either will be seeing you close by or else you will be drinking on the same counter in a bar and he is relaying the information to those waiting for you outside. It's so unfortunate that some people that we meet are not there for the social life that you go for. They are on a mission to take you down. It is difficult to raise public awareness and advise people to be vigilant. However a few tips can try to raise awareness such as if you see that you are being followed drive to the nearest police station. In publ...
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