clash

a clash of moons 100 million ago wants to solve it

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Few planets in the Solar system are as recognizable as Saturn and its characteristic rings. They may not be as visible to the naked eye, but around them there are also an impressive 274 moons. Well, according to a recent study from the SETI Instituterings and moons could be linked by the same event: a colossal collision 100 million years ago that left Saturn’s environment as we know it. Context. The first time we approached Saturn was in 1979 with NASA’s Pioneer 11. A few years later, Voyagers 1 and 2 flew over it. It was the probe cassini on a 13-year mission that shed some light on this planet, its rings and its moons. Cassini discovered three anomalies that did not fit the models proposed by astronomy: The rings are about 100 million years old, much younger than the billions they expected (friendly reminder: The solar system is 4.6 billion years old) Several moons had strange, asymmetrical and unbalanced orbits. Saturn’s internal mass is more concentrated in the center than predicted. The previous hypothesis. In 2022 a team of astronomy professionals established a hypothesis to explain these anomalies: the explanation could be that Saturn had lost a moon about 100 million years ago, precisely the date on which the youngest rings were formed. The discovery. Based on the previous hypothesis and after several simulations, they arrived at the explanation that where Titan orbits today there were two moons: a Proto-Titan and a smaller Proto-Hypérion. At some point they collided and the Proto-Titan absorbed the other. What was not integrated was regrouped forming the current deformed and asymmetrical Hipérion. This process explains why Titan does not have craters on its surface and its eccentric orbit, inherited from the perturbations prior to the impact. Because of this irregular orbit, Titan destabilizes Saturn’s inner moons, throwing them outward and thus causing cascading collisions between them. In short: Saturn’s rings would be the scar of this process, not the original characteristic of the planet, but the result of a chain reaction of destruction caused by the collision between two primitive moons. Diagram of Saturn’s rings from NASA Why it is important. Because Saturn’s rings are no longer seen as an aesthetic curiosity and become what they truly are: fossils of cosmic events. Furthermore, it requires reviewing the models proposed by the scientific community until now to expand knowledge about planetary formation in general. Without going any further, it provides more information about similar systems, such as that of the Earth and the Moon, whose origin is also attributed to a primordial collision. On the other hand, Titan has a strategic importance in humanity’s space plans: it is one of the most interesting candidates in the search for life thanks to characteristics such as its dense atmosphere or its methane oceans. Knowing its origin is not only a historical question: it is understanding what conditions made it possible and whether something similar could be repeated in other worlds. How they did it. Starting with the 2022 hypothesis, they applied computer simulations to check whether an additional moon could get close enough to Saturn to form rings. The goal was to recreate the solar system over thousands of iterations until the results matched the Saturn environment we know. The SETI Institute team, led by Matija Ćuk, got here after introducing an additional unstable moon that always ended the same way: with Hyperion disappearing again and again. It was the sign that a premise was incorrect, so they proposed something new: and what were there were two extra moons? Yes, but. Although this study offers a plausible explanation of the current Saturn environment, it is still based on simulations. There is no direct physical data from Titan. In fact, the team itself recognizes that they need more data. That’s where the mission comes in. NASA Dragonflywhich could provide more essential data to understand why the rings formed. This drone from the North American space agency will land on Titan in 2034 to analyze the chemical composition of its surface, which could reveal traces of the primordial impact and confirm (or not) that Titan is really the result of a merger. In Xataka | We have been deceived by the distances of the Solar System: the closest neighbor to Neptune is Mercury In Xataka | A new “solar system” has just been discovered. There’s just one problem: it shouldn’t exist. Cover | NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. Tiscareno (SETI Institute), M. Hedman (University of Idaho), M. El Moutamid (Cornell University), M. Showalter (SETI Institute), L. Fletcher (University of Leicester), H. Hammel (AURA); image processing by J. DePasquale

The clash between a polar front and the Atlantic threatens Twelfth Night

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Just a few hours away from closing 2025, all eyes are already on the weather at the beginning of January and especially on Three Kings Day. after seeing that New Year’s Eve will be quiet. And although there is still room for change, current models already suggest a drastic change in weather with a general drop in temperatures and a large amount of snow spread across the peninsula. The model. The last installment that we have the European model of the ECMWF proposes a scenario of great instability for January 4 and 5, 2026, with snowfall that could reach unusual levels and affect a large part of the center and northeast of the peninsula. Something that is already being shared on social networks by accounts specialized in meteorology. A situation of great instability that would respond to the entry of a cold front of polar origin and the arrival of Atlantic storms loaded with humidity. Two factors that when they collide are the perfect ingredient for widespread snowfall. Although there is still room for this to change, since reliability is low for periods longer than five days. The position of the AEMET. The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) maintains a much more conservative position. In its special prediction for this Christmas, the agency confirms that the beginning of 2026 will be colder than normal, especially due to the arrival of the storm Francis. This will leave rain starting on January 1 in the Canary Islands and starting on Friday the 2nd it will affect the west of the peninsula. From here, what is expected is that on January 4 there will be strong northerly winds and a generalized thermal drop. But from day 5 there is a “high uncertainty.” Although the models indicate persistent low temperatures, the agency does not currently confirm snowfall at low levels that could turn Three Kings Night white. Fifth anniversary. It is impossible to ignore the psychological component of this forecast, since this coming January marks five years of Filomena. That is why at this time it is easy to look at the maps with a little more disbelief in case there are signs of something similar, although at the moment nothing similar is confirmed. For now wait. With all this, the most prudent thing is to wait until this Twelfth Night approaches to have clear conclusions, especially in view of the different parades that leave in different parts of Spain that can be threatened by adverse weather, but that can always change up to at least 48-72 hours before. Images | TheWeather In Xataka | La Niña is going to be meteorologically “less intense” than we expected. And that actually hides a problem.

A clash between Al-Andalus and the “Territory of Kosovo”

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Coach Vujain Boskov said that “Soccer is football”. Sometimes king sport is, however, something else: it is economy, it is art and is (often) political. The qualifying party for the sub-21 Eurocup has just made it clear that They will play today Kosovo and Spain. What should be a sports encounter in Pristina has resulted in something unthinkable: an al-Andalus vs. “Kosovo territory”. We explain ourselves. What happened? That The game This afternoon between the players of Kosovo and Spain in the framework of the classification for the Under 21 Eurocup, it has come marked by the controversy. And not sports. The reason for the disagreement has been rather geographical and political and has triggered a decision (there is a doubt of whether deliberate or not) that a priori has little to do with the football strategy: the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has referred to its opponent as “Kosovo’s territory“, a formula that has not liked in the Balkan country. And what is the controversy? That the Kosovo Football Federation (FFK) It is not too satisfied with that “territory” coletilla. Not surprisingly if the country’s recent history is taken into account: In 2008 The Kosovar Parliament declared the split of the territory of the rest of Serbia, proclaiming its independence unilaterally. The new state was called Republic of Kosovo and raised Division of opinions between countries in favor and opposites to independence. Spain (is not the only one in the EU) it was positioned among the latter. In recent years the region has lived delicate moments, marked by tensions between Albanians and Serbs. RFEF website. And what does the RFEF paint? With that complicated backdrop, the Spanish Federation has done something that has especially bothered its homologous Kosovar: in Your calendar of September competitions thus refers to the Sub-21 Party planned for this afternoon at the Stadium Fadil Vokrri, in Pristina: “Kosovo-Spain territory.” As can be seen on the screenshot that illustrates this report, the reference still appeared in the middle of Tuesday. In Other sections The RFEF website is spoken of Kosovo, without “territory.” In any case it has been enough to warm move token at the highest level. And how has you done it? Sending an official letter to the president of the UEFA, the Slovenian Aleksander čeferin, and the president of the RFEF, Rafael Louzán, in which he regrets the way of proceeding the Spaniards in a thorny issue. “I am forced once again to raise an issue that continues to affect our representation in European competitions, specifically how our selections are treated by certain member federations,” The writing starts. Click on the image to go to Tweet. Does it say anything else? Yes. “The most recent incident has to do with the RFEF, which has referred to Kosovo as ‘Kosovo territory’ in its official network channels. This terminology does not recognize Kosovo as a sovereign country represented by the Kosovo Football Federation, a full -right member of the UEFA, as well as the RFEF,” Recal the letterwhich also recalls that “it is not the first time” that is with similar “behaviors”, something that sees “unacceptable.” In case there were doubts that the body is not willing to pass any more reference to a name other than the officer, duck: “We ask for a clear and immediate response to UEFA with respect to this matter, as well as a public rectification and formal recognition by the RFEF, admitting that its actions were inappropriate and incompatible with the principles of UEFA.” Is there anything else? Yes. The most striking (and media). Kosovan Footballan X account of the Kosovar Federation in English, published a tweet in which it seemed to respond to the RFEF pulling sneer. In the image you can see an advertisement this afternoon, although our country is identified as “al-Andalus”, in reference to the peninsular territory under Muslim control between VIII and XV. An ironic wink that has not taken long in viralwith thousands of visualizations and news in sports media. Kosovan Football does not identify as an officer or appears linked on the FFK website, but the truth is that it has more activity and quite more followers than the account of X that the FFK identifies as its official channel, FFK_ksin which the poster is not located with the word al-Andalus. Images | Kosovan Football (X) and FFK (X) In Xataka | For some, the ideal is not that women’s football be played with smaller goals: it is that the masculine is played in larger fields

The new space race has created Boomerang scrap. The probability that clash against a plane has also increased

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We are launching more rockets to space than ever. Between China and Spacex, they occur releases every few days in a new space race with multiple objectives on the horizon. It’s something that is lowering space transportationbut also generates a new problem: the amount of scrap that orbits our planet. And this generates another conflict: with more satellites and rockets in orbit, the risk that a fragment of some of them hit a plane is increasingly high. At the University of British Columbia they have proposed to analyze it and have determined that, to anyone’s surprise, the consequences of the clash would be devastating. The problem. Beyond the test rockets, transport of goods and people, something that is causing more and more launching are the satellites that bring the internet to any corner. There are several players in this segment, but Spacex carries the front with its program Starlink. These satellites are sent in rockets that, when they fulfill their function, lose height and return to the planet. Some partially disintegrate and others, to the re -enter the atmosphere without controlthey fall anywhere. The ocean is usually the main receptacle, it is also possible that they fall in urban areas or that, on their way, they clash against a plane. The probability. First of all, tranquility: the risk that these space debris impact an plane is still low, very low. According to The Aerospace Corporation, in 2021 (when they were thrown, but it was not the current fever), that risk was one between 100,000, or 0.001%. The system predicted, taking into account future releases, which by 2035 would rise to seven out of 10,000, or what is equal to 0.07%. It is, as we say, a low probability, but that is there. In the study From the University of British Columbia they have analyzed how all this depends on air traffic density. Taking as an example the traffic of September 1, 2023, and the United States as a area, we can see that, every year, there is a 99% probability that the resentments of rocket bodies occur in green areas, 75% in the yellow, 26% in oranges and 0.8% in red. Las Rojas are the most activity areas, such as the main airports, oranges are large cities and green and green move away from urban nuclei and, therefore, from the agglomeration of airplanes. Long March 5B. Beyond the direct clash of this space scrap against a plane, something whose probability remains exceptionally low, there is another problem: the danger of happening and leads to the decision to cut the airspace. On November 4, 2022, the body of the Long March 5B rocket, 20 tons of weight, re -entered the atmosphere, falling on the Pacific Ocean. All good, but it might not have been like this: the entrance location was the product of chance, since the body of the rocket was abandoned in the orbit and a planned design was not made for the re -entry of the remains. Consequences. The night before the reentry, different surveillance agencies, as well as the European Air Safety Agency, issued reports in which they encouraged national authorities to restrict airspace “in a corridor of at least 70 kilometers and up to 120 kilometers on each side of the estimated reentry trajectory ”of the rocket. Spanish and French authorities complied with this and They closed part of their airspace. As a result, 645 flights were delayed, with an average of 29 minutes per plane. In addition, some airplanes that were in full flight had to return to the origin airport or take a detour. It was the evidence of a lack of planning, anticipation and control over this space scrap. Interestingly, Portugal, Italy and Greece did not make the decision to close, generating other problems in their airports due to the unexpected increase in air traffic due to deviant flights. In purple, the airspace closed by the Long March 5B. In blue, his career and fall Solutions. Unfortunately, although this is a problem that will go more, controlling the reentry of space debris is not something that has an immediate solution. The researchers propose that those responsible for launching rockets also invest in controllable reentry technologies so that they do not enter the atmosphere unpredictably. These technologies include engines capable of re -effective to partially direct the rocket, but also a better mission planning so that the rocket falls into a remote area of ​​the ocean, far from populations and, evidently, air traffic. The problem is that, although the technology is there, they estimate that less than 35% of the launches perform these controlled inputs and, with 2,300 bodies in orbit with an annual increase of between 30 and 40 bodies, the risks will continue to increase. In 2001, the titanium engine coating of the third stage of a Delta 2, with a weight of approximately 70 kg, landed in Saudi Arabia, about 240 km from the capital Obviously, it is also a huge money expense, so achievements such as catch the Starship propeller and the advances of Spacex engineers so as not to have launch and throw rockets They are so important. And a global protocol is also necessary to manage these resentments and make coordinated decisions, not to delegate everything in an aeronautical industry that is not responsible. In the end, it is much more likely that there are alterations in air traffic due to this space garbage than to the clash of one of these remains with a plane, but whenever this probability is not zero, solutions must be contemplated. Images | Nature, Spacex In Xataka | The capture of the Super Heavy changes everything: Spacex has gone from being 9 years ahead of the industry to not having a rival

Cooperate for your good: why the clash with Petro is a Trump message for all world leaders

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Image source, EPA Photo foot, The Trump government made Petro accept the terms of the deportations of migrants to Colombia. Article information Author, Anthony Zurcher Author’s title, BBC News 4 hours Less than a week after assuming the presidency, Donald Trump generated his first international tariff dispute. And the objective was not China, Mexico or Canada, frequent whites of its anger, but Colombia, one of the closest allies in the United States in South America. The crime of Colombia was to refuse to allow the landing of two American flights that transported deported migrants because they were military and non -civil planes. That seems to have been enough for Trump to release the hammer. “We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations regarding the acceptance and return of the criminals who forced to enter the United States,” Trump published in his social media site. In addition to the 25% tariffs they offered to impose, Trump said that the United States would introduce a travel ban and would “immediately” revoke the visas to Colombian government officials, as well as their allies and supporters. At the last hours of Sunday, however, the Petro government announced that it had overcome the “Impasse“With the White House and declared that he would accept to receive migrants deported by the United States. During his first week in office, the US president seemed to prioritize migration executive measures over commercials, even if the latter were a key campaign promise. To emphasize that point, for the first time the president used tariffs to punish a country that, in his opinion, did not support the new hard line migratory policies of the United States. On a day when Trump had no planned public appearances (he is in his Miami resort, after having played golf in the morning), the president decided to give an example with Colombia. And with this, Trump is sending a warning to the allies and the adversaries of the United States equally: if they do not cooperate with the United States, the consequences will be severe. Image source, COURTESY OF THE WHITE HOUSE Photo foot, The White House published images of deported migrants in military aircraft. Work with other countries Although finally the Petro government accepted the terms of deportations after the president criticized his American counterpart in social networks, incoming officials have indicated that the United States immigration policy will require looking beyond the border with Mexico. The Trump candidate for Undersecretary of State, Christopher Landau, has long sustained that “working with other countries to stop those migratory flows” must be a “global imperative of US foreign policy.” However, Sunday’s dispute could make work together. Every year, tens of thousands of migrants from around the world, from India to China, go to the United States after landing in South America and traveling through the Darién cap, a key point in the north of the border with Colombia , and share with Panama. It is a dangerous trip, in which migrants usually face the presence of criminal gangs. Image source, Reuters Photo foot, The intersection of migrants for the Darién plug is a sensitive issue of discussion between Colombia and the US. United States retaliation measures could make Trump government work with Colombia on this issue. Petro alluded to this in his response to Trump’s actions, pointing out that if conversations about migration management through Darién are suspended, “illegal activities will increase.” These comments could be interpreted as an evening threat that more undocumented migrants will come. Petro hastened to say that his country would not reject the deported Colombian citizens of the United States, only that they should receive a “dignified treatment.” He even offered the use of his presidential plane as a means of alternative transport. However, the Colombian president was forced to accept the terms of deportations, after retracting in his position to respond to the United States with the implementation of tariffs similar to American products imported to Colombia. Although it was a Sunday of great drama, this sudden diplomatic confrontation was resolved. In any case, tariffs are proof of will. And Trump showed that this would be just his first movement. Subscribe here To our new newsletter to receive every Friday a selection of our best content of the week. And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and act.

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