impossible

Taking spectacular photographs of the Perseids seems impossible. NASA has a guide to demonstrate otherwise

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The Perseids are already here and, although there are still a few days to reach their peak of activity, it is convenient to keep in mind some clues and tricks if our intention is to capture them in a photograph. Because as more than one will have proven, this is not always easy. AND Who better than NASA to point to any of these tricks. The first step: plan. If we want to get a good image of this rain of stars, the first thing is to think where and when. The Perseids or Tears of San Lorenzo can be seen for several weeks of summer, approximately between June 17 and August 24, and reach their peak of activity around August 11 and 12. Where and when it is also important when it comes to circumventing the great enemy of astrophotography: light pollution. First, it is convenient Avoid full moon And the phases in which it reflects the most light, since, although we do not perceive this light, it reduces the contrast that our eyes require to see the fleeting stars. It is also important flee from light pollution that generate the lights of cities and other settlements, so perhaps we should plan a trip to the field if we want to see these stars. Finally, we must also know where to look. Perseids owe their name that seem to radiate The constellation of Perseus. Knowing how to locating this constellation in the sky is very useful when restricting the angle to which to aim the objectives of our cameras and increase the probability of capturing some of these flashes. Second step: the team. A tripod can be helpful. Photography will require a long exposure. Maybe they are just a few seconds, but our pulse or any other involuntary movement could spoil a perfect shot. If we do not have a tripod we may resort to a “homemade” solution, such as supporting our camera on some rocks, but that will subtract maneuvering capacity. It can also be useful pertrech In order not to have the chamber trigger and thus avoid additional vibrations, but we can also dodge this requirement with the camera timer. Regarding the lens, NASA’s recommendation is in angular. Since we do not know when and where the next flash will happen, it will be best to cover a lot to increase our chances of success. Third step: Prepare. Once in position, we can start looking The constellation of Perseus. Orient our camera towards it will increase the chances of capturing the flashes of this rain of stars. The approach, best manual. The reason is that cameras self -effect systems can be lost in night darkness. Since we will not have to change the focal point, this does not imply any problem once we have taken the ideal approach. We will have, of course, to walk with an eye: sometimes focusing on infinity is not the best option, so it is a good idea to try small adjustments until you find the ideal approach. There is still a detail. We had said that capturing a rain of stars requires long exhibitions. Calculate how long can also require adjustments, but NASA also has a trick to facilitate work: Rule 500. It is about dividing 500 by the focal distance of the lens, and using the figure as time, in seconds, that our open shutter will remain. This value represents the maximum time that we can maintain the exposure before the terrestrial rotation makes the background stars begin to spread. If we have a 20 mm lens, we will have that 500/20 = 25 seconds of maximum. Experiment, enjoy. Rule 500 can be a good start, but we will still have to adjust our ISO and opening values, which will also allow us to play with shorter exhibitions. We can make small changes and verify how each one affects the quality of the image or its aesthetics. He last advice that NASA It has for those who are encouraged to photograph the persistes (or any other rain of stars) is simple: enjoy. These astronomical events offer us an opportunity to see the night sky in a different way, in advance generated by the unexpected flashes that cross the night sky on some summer nights. In Xataka | What are they and how exactly the Perseids are formed, the most fascinating astronomical phenomenon that we can see today Image | Fatih Turan

After achieving what seemed impossible, Nvidia sees his future in China threatened by something terrifying: the bureaucracy

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What is happening to Nvidia with the GPU to artificial intelligence (AI) H20 It is a real odyssey. Currently this chip is its best asset to protect its position in the Chinese market, but at the current situation it is not clear that the company led by Jensen Huang go survive In this gigantic Asian country. Interestingly, the beginnings of this GPU in China were extraordinarily promising because Their sales grew by 50% quarter to quarter since it arrived in this market in mid -2024. However, everything was complicated for Nvidia in the middle of last April. And is that the US Department of Commerce imposed new restrictions To the export to China of the H20 GPU, which in practice caused this chip to stop reaching the Chinese clients of this company. This news Nvidia’s shares sank 6% in the bag because I could no longer attend the commitments linked to the H20 GPU that it had acquired. At the beginning of July there was another unexpected turn of events. Jensen Huang met with Donald Trump and got something that seemed impossible: the trade department would allow him Sell again in China the H20 chip. Since then four weeks have passed and Nvidia continues to wait. He has not yet received the export license you need to sell this GPU in China, and, According to ReutersThe problem is that the Commerce Department is mired in the bureaucracy, which has originated a delay in the concession of export licenses that has not occurred for more than 30 years. The future of Nvidia in China is in the hands of the Chinese government This delay comes at the worst time for Nvidia. Among Chinese clients who have bought great amounts of this GPU, and that presumably plan to continue doing itare Tencent, Alibaba or Bytedance. But if the Department of Commerce takes much more the delivery of the export license to NVIDIA these commercial operations could be canceled. And it is that Jensen Huang’s company has another very important open front. The CAC is responsible for the censorship and control of the contents published in the network As We explain to you last weekthe administration of the cyberspace of China, usually known as CAC for its English denomination (Cyberspace Administration of China), he has decided Thoroughly investigate the H20 GPU. This institution is the main Internet regulatory body in China and is responsible for the censorship and control of the contents published in the Network, the supervision of technology companies and compliance with the Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law. The problem that Nvidia faces now is that The CAC has decided to investigate it Because he suspects that the H20 chip could incorporate a rear door of difficult location by Chinese experts. If so, the possibility of China to use this GPU could be possible. At the moment the CAC has limited himself to questioning those responsible for NVIDIA in China and ask them to demonstrate that the H20 Chip does not represent a threat to the interests and security of the country led by Xi Jinping. As expected, Nvidia has immediately responded to the Chinese authorities and is collaborating to dissipate as soon as possible the doubts that loom about the H20 chip. According to SCMPthose responsible for the company in China have assured CAC researchers that the GPUs for the develops They do not incorporate any “back door” implemented to facilitate espionage by the US government. “Cybersecurity is of vital importance for us”, has declared A NVIDIA executive. “We have no rear doors in our chips that can give someone remote access or the ability to control them.” Probably during the next few days we will know how this conflict ends. Image | Nvidia More information | Reuters In Xataka | The US gives Huawei a great opportunity: to get its new chip for AI with the Nvidia market in China

I’ve been paying Youtube Premium for years and I don’t regret it. The problem is that going back is impossible

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I do not know since when I have Premium YouTube, but the first track in my mail is a cancellation notice of September 2018. Spoiler: At two months I went back to discharge. There is something uncomfortable for many people to admit that you pay for Youtube premium. It is like confessing that you have gone to a sophisticated blackmail. But here I am. I keep paying, and I don’t regret it. I took the step after an annoying epiphany: I was watching a long video and interrupted me for the fifth time with an ad. It was not just the discomfort, but The feeling of being manipulated by an algorithm that had calculated exactly how much I could torture me before he left the platform. Google knows that YouTube is a de facto monopoly and acts as such. Youtube premium changed how consumption content. Without interruptions, I can follow long documentaries without losing the thread. The platform was a library of knowledge again, not a sequence of advertising cuts. The creators who continue to charge more with my subscription than with ads. And as a gift comes YouTube Musickilling two birds of a shot: perfect to solve The Garminoblivious to Apple Music. The model is perverse but effective: degrade the free experience to make it annoying and then sell the solution. It works because YouTube has trained a whole generation to tolerate constant interruptions. We have normalized to cut our thought Every three minutes. But here comes the most insidious: Premium is an entrance drug to an interruption without interruptions. Once that experience tests, go back it becomes impossible. Google knows it. They have hooked not only to their content, but to their version of digital comfort. That accumulated time and constant interruptions are worth more than what the subscription costs. Each announcement avoided is time that I dedicate to something that really interests me. Pure self -defense in an economy that monetizes our attention. I’ve been paying for years and I will continue to do so. Not because the system seems fair to me, but because I have decided that my mental tranquility is worth more than my resistance. In the era of digital monopolies, this is the closest thing to freely choosing that we are going to get. In Xataka | Arc, I apologize for what I said about you, you are the best browser in the world Outstanding image | Omar al-Ghosson

We thought that there would be no going back in the supremacy of AI. Then some kids arrived and an impossible test

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There is a place in the world where some of the young brains meet every year brighter on the planet. Not everyone goes for the medal: some just want to solve six problems that could despair more than one doctorate. It is the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO), a competition that demands a highly capable mind. Until now, it was a land reserved for humans. But this year, two of the most advanced artificial intelligence models – developed by Google Deepmind and Openai – decided to enter the board. They achieved the unthinkable: A gold score. Even so, something unexpected happened. A handful of students managed to overcome them. And that has revived an inevitable question: will this be the last time someone achieves it? Machines gain ground. Until now, no artificial intelligence model had reached that brand in the IMO. Deepmind had stayed at a single point in 2024 with 28/42 points. This year everything changed. His new AI – an unpublished version of Gemini Deep Think– Solved five of the six problems in natural language and within the official limit of 4 hours and 30 minutes. Openai’s prototype matched the feat: 35/42 points. Gold, finally, is also a matter of machines. Even so, both of them were blank in problem 6: 0 points. {“videoid”: “x8jpy2b”, “Autoplay”: fals, “title”: “What is behind it like chatgpt, dall-e or midjourney? | artificial intelligence”, “tag”: “Webedia-prod”, “Duration”: “1173”} They made history, but they did not win. The results sheets revealed that 26 human students exceeded the two AI. Alexander Wang, a young American, reaped his third consecutive gold with 37 points. But the brightest were read Deng and Hengye Zhang, from China, who signed perfection: 42 of 42, including the dreaded problem 6 that the machines did not solve. Problem 6 raised a 2025 × 2025 boxes. A agreement with Aops onlinein general, the task was to place rectangles – of any size, always aligned to the grid and without overlapping – so that each row and each column has exactly a free box. The question was how many rectangles are needed to get it. NATIONAL RESULTS. With 231 points, China recovered the first position of the medallero – United States obtained 216 and South Korea 203—, According to official results. His six representatives hung the gold; Two of them reached 42 points. The rest added between 35 and 40. As SCMP points outamong them is Qiming Xu, who achieved 36 points competing with cerebral palsy. Above, the Chinese team that led the medal. Below, the American team that was second Rival or tool? Research teams insist that they do not seek to replace students. Thang Luong, leader of the Deepmind project, assures the Wall Street Journal that Its model can be “a new calculator for the next generation of mathematicians.” The reality is that the qualitative leap is enormous: to need days of computation and formal language in 2024, to generate legible evidence in hours. That improvement raises a new scenario for schools and competitions. The last human victory? Alexander Wang believes that in 2026 the AI will already resolve the six exercises; Qiao Zhang sees it to fifty percent; And Thang Luong himself believes this could be the last IMO with human advantage. Not everyone is convinced. Former Midralist Junehyuk Jung – a researcher at Deepmind – argues that problems such as 6 will remain out of reach of the models “at least for a decade.” In Xataka Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia: "I have created more billionaires in my management team than any other CEO in the world" For now, teenagers leave with more than a medal: the certainty that, for the moment, human intelligence still resists. 2026 will say if that margin disappears or if they bend the pulse to the machines with pencil, paper and an idea that no one had planned. Images | Google | Dave Michael In Xataka |Anthropic has seen that their users do not stop using the 200 euros plan a month of their AI. They had to stop their feet (Function () {Window._js_modules = Window._js_modules || {}; var headelement = document.getelegsbytagname (‘head’) (0); if (_js_modules.instagram) {var instagramscript = Document.Createlement (‘script’); }}) (); – The news We thought that there would be no going back in the supremacy of AI. Then some kids arrived and an impossible test It was originally posted in Xataka by Javier Marquez .

Ouigo wanted to enter the Madrid-Galicia AVE but he already sees it impossible before 2030

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“We have no problem in competing (…) but whoever wants to come, to make the investments that it has to do and that competes on equal terms” Thus, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, president of Renfe, in the past Executive Forum where the manager approached the open door for the competitors of the trains company in Spain to take the first steps to reach Galicia, has sounded. Galicia. Renfe has entered the line between Madrid and Galicia. Although the company has had to face criticism for Do not meet the expected times and skip some stops in Zamora To reduce travel times, the Madrid-Galicia axis is working very well to the company. Only a few days ago we knew that Renfe was taking more travelers than ever. A semester of record in which this line has been key, where the train has begun to make shadow even the plane because it has better time connections if you want to travel in the day or make night and return to the origin early in the morning. The competition. A few months ago, Adif launched the Second package in liberalization of high -speed tracks. The runners are Madrid-Galicia, Madrid-Asturias/Cantabria and Madrid-Cádiz/Huelva where Ouigo, Iryo or any other company can present Renfe battle. However, this It is not expected until the next decade Because there are no trains available. Talgo has already compromised all its production of the Avril trains that work there and is aware of which roads the new owners of the company will take. This has caused a bottleneck impossible to solve if it is not renting the company’s rolling material. According to The reasonOuigo would have contacted Caf and Talgo to buy the trains but they are already committed. The only solution is to rent Renfe’s rolling material. “And if possible”. This possibility has been completely denied by Fernández Heredia, president of Renfe, with the words mentioned above. But not only that, the manager has launched a dart to his competitors, although he has not mentioned them directly, emphasizing that the one who enters the corridor will have to “compete in equal terms. And if possible, not to losses“ Public Service. Renfe’s dart is not causal. The company has long accused Ouigo of operating at losses in Spain and although the French company ensures that it is the usual strategy when entering a market and that they foresee short -term profits, the government has reached Threatening to report to the French before the European Commission. Renfe, unlike the French or Iryo, have the obligation to operate in some lines as a public service, which he weighs his results account. A good example is the Oscar Puente lamentMinister of Transportation, following his obligation to pass through Extremadura, emphasizing that this way of acting does not guarantee clean competition. More liberalizations. Renfe, for the moment, seems to be insured by the Galician corridor. The problem of the lack of trains is that anyone is worth it. Vehicles are needed that can change between Iberian and international width. This peculiarity leaves Renfe as a competitive advantage because he has some Avril who, Although not exempt from problemsnobody has. But also, Spain has to face new liberalizations very soon. Among them that of Cercanías, a very controversial area because these services are of public obligation. Only in its public services (nearby, medium distance, metric width and Avant), Renfe moved in the first semester of 2025 to 259.5 million passengers. Photo | Jose Luis Cernadas Iglesias and Patrick Janicek In Xataka | As Spain, China has built its high speed network in record time. Now face the same problem: keep it

US faces the dilemma impossible to or sell hardware to China … or not sell it to them and develop it themselves

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The United States is at a historic crossroads in regards to sell GPU to China. And not only does it have to do with the economical and with which Nvidia swells his income statement, which calculates that it will be 15,000 million less this year If you follow the prohibition of selling your avant -garde chips. It has to do with the future of the artificial intelligence (AI) and technology. The context. Nvidia has achieved something that seemed impossible: that Trump’s government let him market again His H20 chips in China. Although the GPUS were Designed to skip restrictions that fell on the H100 and H200, the United States added New restrictions in April. They paralyzed exports to China even though there were already agreements with Customers such as Tencent or Alibaba. With the relaxation of measures, Nvidia and its accounts breathe relieved, but the United States still has to make difficult long -term decisions. The United States plays it … do whatever. The United States can gain time compared to China limiting the sale of avant -garde chips, as it has been doing. However, this implies that their companies win less money, greatly reducing their global turnover. And is that the Chinese market, in 2024 and with restrictions, It was 13% of Nvidia sales. In addition, the world uses NVIDIA GPUs almost as the only option has advantages: that the North American country controls the entire Stack technological used to train IAS and to execute the expensive inference, fields that Google also dominates with its tpu. China at the height. Huang himself, in a recent interview with Bloomberg, said that the power of the technology developed by Huawei is “Probably comparable to an H200“From Nvidia, superior to H20. And they want to market it outside their borders, an intention that has motivated a offensive by the US to prevent China from exporting its chips to other countries. If exports do not find clippers, Chinese laboratories can continue focused on their plan: give away the thinking of the next decades and create global dependence. If you cut it, it already has good examples of what happens: The shot of the sanctions has come out of the cylinder head, A gift that cannot be allowed again. A fearsome potential called Huawei. The possibility that Huawei becomes a huge opponent for Nvidia raises a huge loss of income for the US company. Just against that are Fighting already from the American government: Cut Huawei’s wings into the global market before it is competitive. Huawei has already had time to develop his chip Ascend 910d and 920with SMIC as a great ally. He Historical Mate 70 processor He showed that Huawei usually gets what he pursues. And according to Huang, if China wants military autonomy with AI, You will have to develop your own technologybecause for this task, they cannot trust American developments. A Deepseek moment in hardware … inevitable? All this leaves us the unknown if in hardware we can see A moment Deepseek. China would not have to potentiate Nvidia’s proposal, as Deepseek R1 did not exceed O1 in reasoning, but yes, Through ingenuity and new paradigmsdifferentiate in aspects such as price or efficiency. Arrive on time. The big question that can be asked about NVIDIA in China is whether the approval to sell again the H20 arrives on time. According to Reutersthe beginning of the massive distribution of Huawei 910C was set for May. According to the news agency, the Chinese giant graphics card achieves performance comparable to that of NVIDIA H100 thanks to combining two 910b processors with advanced techniques. More software is needed. Huawei can have the hardware, but unlike what he has achieved in inference, where in theory Yes are at Nvidiayou have to prove to be able to compete in training software. This is something that could do by the hand of Moore Threads. If the United States wants to maintain its technology as the global standard for Ia, it must hurry. As the analyst Paul Triolo told Reuters, the restrictions at April H20 were going to mean that the Huawei Ascend 910C became “the hardware chosen by the developers of AI models (Chinese) and to display the inference capacity.” Image | Nvidia | Dominic Kurniawan In Xataka | China’s three master moves to “independent” technologically from the West: raw materials, chips, AI

The residents of Madrid had been yearning for the Soterramiento of the A-5. Now he is making his life impossible

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Without water, without light and without internet. These are the inconveniences that some residents of the neighborhoods of Aluche or Batán have had, next to the supporting works of the A-5, the highway that will disappear under the feet at their entrance to Madrid. But also continuous traffic jams, a firm proof of SUVs and, in summary, inconveniences that promise to stay for years. And that affect far beyond the residents of the area. The last claim. Alcorcón, Móstoles, Arroyomolinos or Navalcarnero are just some of the municipalities directly affected by the Soterrament works of the A-5. Every day, about 80,000 vehicles, According to data from the Madrid City CouncilThey access the city in this way. Obviously, putting a plug in the entrance in the form of a mega -Obra has caused overflow. The overflow to roads and adjacent streets but, above all, has overflowed the patience of the residents of these municipalities who ask that Four winds military land are opened (without use) to take advantage of them as deterrent parking lots. Why four winds? This neighborhood with a subway stop and Cercanías has become the nerve point of the entrance to Madrid. If everything goes correctly, It has a connection with Atocha In about 20-25 minutes. Yes, as we said, everything works correctly. Currently, this area has been reserved as a hot point so that the buses that were as destination Principe Pío or elliptical square and entered through the A-5 left the travelers and cease their trips. A decision that, in the first days, caused huge chaos. Daily jams. The underground has evidently caused that the traffic jams multiply in the area. Of the three or four lanes (depending on the area) that had so far available in each direction, Only two are operational. And, while the underground works are carried out in a sense, the vehicles circulate through the opposite section. The initial plan He was going to maintain the works for at least 25 months. However, the project has ended up expanding to the connection with the M-40 which Expand the stretch of works in another 700 meters. It was a claim of the neighbors who were assured that this would take place at first and, nevertheless, The idea had been discarded When the machines began working in the area. But the condition goes far beyond the jams. Without light. May 12, 2025. Batán neighbors spend part of the morning in the dark. Some 4,600 subscribers to Iberdrola see the light of their homes and businesses cut due to a fault caused by the accidental cut of a cable that travels through the area affected by the underground. Without water. May 19, 2025. As soon as a week passes when Aluche’s neighbors have problems of light and water in their homes and businesses again. This time the condition was recorded at 11 at night. They distributed pallets with bottled water to pass the bad drink in what the fault lasted. The reason: a stoopy pipe. Without internet. July 7, 2025. The most recent condition. The error this time takes a fiber optic cable in the works which leaves Movistar subscribers without internet in Aluche and part of Pozuelo, a town located on the other side of the country house, with which they border the works. The fault was not solved until the next day. A little hell. Yes, in Xataka We know that some neighbors have suffered the plenary of breakdowns and have been found without light, without water and without internet in less than two months. To this we must add, as we say, the usual traffic jams in the area, the cut of some steps that lightened the paths (as the departure to Boadilla from Seseña Street) or a very deteriorated firm that is suffering the passage of heavy machinery. The promise of a better place should give some hope to neighbors. Similar works made reborn what is now known as Madrid Río, a huge park with which Madrid won 120 green hectares and 30 kilometers of cycling paths. In addition, the square meter was revalued at 500 euros. Of course, for those who live in the surrounding municipalities, the improvement will only enjoy it if they express stop in the area once it is finished. Photo | Madrid City Council In Xataka | Guide not to be lost in Madrid with the megaobra and underground of the A-5: deadlines, traffic cuts and public transportation

Our computers are literally full, the problem is that it is almost impossible to extract it. Or we believed

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Gold is one of the metals with better electrical conductivity. For this reason, it is used in many electronic components, mainly in computers, but also in smartphones or sound systems. The problem is that extracting it from these pieces is very complicated and the cost it means does not compensate. Or we believed. Swiss researchers They have created a method to extract precious metal from a serum protein. Find gold in the trash. The components where gold is used most They are the PCB or printed circuit plates that we find in all types of devices, from computers to smartphones. It can also be found in processors, connectors and HDD hard drives. The problem, as we said, is that the existing methods to extract this metal are very complex and expensive. In addition, it is often necessary to use very toxic chemical components, although that does not stop that many Try it in your own houses. For all this, it is often not worth the effort to the small amounts that are extracted. The extraction process. Whey protein. Researchers at the Federal Polytechnic School of Zurich have managed to extract gold with a new more efficient, sustainable and cheap method. As? With serum protein ‘whey’ (yes, the Gym shakes). To do this, they submitted proteins to acidic conditions and high temperatures. These form nanofibers that are added to a gel and, after drying, forms a kind of sponge. It is not the first time we hear that Whey protein is used for similar purposes. A few months ago China managed to recycle the electric car batteries thanks to the glycine present in these shakes. Who was going to tell us that in addition to getting strong, it would serve to extract gold or recycle batteries. The method. The researchers used 20 computer base plates, from which they extracted all metal parts and dissolved them in an acid bath that ionized the metals. The next step was to submerge the sponge in the solution. Although there are other metals that adhere to the fibers that form it, the researchers discovered that gold ions adhere much better. Once “captured”, the sponge is heated and the ions are released and can melt to create a gold peep. Cheaper. The 20 motherboards resulted in a 450 milligrams gold cupcake with 91% purity (the remaining 9% was copper), or what is the same: 22 korates. At the current price of gold, La Pepita would have a value of about 35 euros. It is not much, but the researchers affirm that the cost of the materials and energy necessary for extraction is 50 times less than that of gold obtained. The next step is to climb this technology to be able to apply it to the market. Images | Eth zurich In Xataka | Our dependence on lithium batteries is worrying. These are the alternatives that aspire to replace them

We thought that interstellar travelers were impossible to find current technology. Three have already been discovered

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Less than a decade ago, the idea of ​​detecting an object of another solar system through our neighborhood was science fiction material. Astronomers were clear that they existed, but believed that our chances of detecting them They were practically null due to the limitations of current technology. In 2017, everything changed. First appeared 1i/ʻoumuamua. An object that baffled astronomers. Not only because it was the first interstellar object discovered in our solar system, but because its nature was and remains a mystery. With A strange formas elongated as a cigar or flat as an album, and a size of just 100 or 200 meters, it happened fleetingly leaving more questions than answers. Was it a comet, an asteroid or something completely new? The debate continues while moving away from us. Then 2i/Borisov was discovered. When we still wondered if we would see something similar in our lives, the answer came alone. In 2019, astronomers They detected a second object of another star system That was unequivocally a kite, somewhat larger than its predecessor (about 400-500 meters) and with a very different trajectory. Borisov confirmed that ‘Oumuamua had not been an anomaly. Interstellar visitors were real and we are able to find them. And to confirm it, 3I/Atlas arrives. On July 1, 2025, the Telescopes of the Atlas Network in Chile detected the third known interstellar object. After confirming your hyperbolic trajectory, He was officially baptized as 3i/Atlas. It is a real giant compared to the previous two, and marks a before and after in the study of these bodies. Like Borisov, it shows a clear comment activity, with a comma and a tail that lengthens as it approaches the sun. Therefore, it is a kite. But it is much bigger. Although the measurements are refining, initial estimates place their diameter between 5 and 20 kilometers. A colossal size that makes it much easier to study. A giant who will pass through Mars. 3i/Atlas is incredibly fast. It moves at an exhaust speed of about 58-60 km/s with respect to the Sun. much faster than ‘oumuamua (26 km/s) and Borisov (32 km/s). His career is also unique. It will reach its closest point to the Sun (its perihelium) on October 29, passing between the orbits of Mars and the Earth. Although at that time our planet will be on the other side of the sun, which will prevent its direct observation, it will be only 31.4 million kilometers from Mars on October 3. This opens a fascinating opportunity: that some of the probes that orbit the red planet, such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, can capture images of the interstellar traveler. Three important findings. Each of these objects is a time capsule from another solar system. All planets, asteroids and comets of our system share a common origin, but these visitors are authentic outsiders. They contain clues about the formation and composition of worlds that orbit other stars. Studying them is like receiving a geological sample from a corner of the galaxy that would take millennia to visit. Until now, we could only observe his fleeting step. But this is about to change. ESA is already preparing THE MISSION INTERPECTORwhose launch is scheduled for 2029. The idea is ingenious: the probe will not have a predefined objective, but will “park” at a point in Lagrange (L2) waiting for a pristine kite of a long period or, with some lucky, a new interstellar visitor to be within its reach. It would be the first rapid response mission to intercept one of these mysterious objects. In less than ten years we have not known if they existed to actively plan how to send a ship to touch them. With new generation observatories such as Vera Rubin, which is expected to find dozens of them in the next decade, we are entering a new era of astronomy. The universe sometimes brings us its secrets at home. Image | The interstellar comet 3i/Atlas (ESA) In Xataka | There is a single opportunity in 11,000 years of reaching the planet Sedna. Some Italians want to use this nuclear engine

Uranium centrifuges have triggered war between Israel and Iran. Without them it is impossible to have the atomic bomb

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Uranium centrifugers monopolize a good part of global attention since it began The last episode of the conflict between Israel and Iran on June 13. The government led by Benjamín Netanyahu has set as a fundamental objective dismantle the Iranian nuclear program that presumably seeks to develop the necessary technology to Manufacture atomic bombs. And to achieve it Israel and the US have bombarded The facilities in which Iran was carrying out the enrichment of uranium, such as the plants of Fordo, Isfahán and Natanz. According to Israel and the US, these Iranian nuclear facilities housed several hundred uranium centrifugers. It can even that several thousand of these machines. Its role in the nuclear program not only of Iran, but in that of any country with the ability to manufacture nuclear weapons, is to enrich 90%uranium. Otherwise it is not possible to use it to produce atomic fission pumps o Thermonuclear devices that combine fission and nuclear fusion. However, in these last pumps uranium is only used in the fission stage, which acts as a detonator of the nuclear fusion. In this last reaction two isotopes of hydrogen intervene: the deuterium and the tritium. Uranium-235 is the true protagonist of this story To precisely understand what is the purpose of uranium centrifuges it is necessary that we previously investigate in two isotopes of this chemical element Metallic, heavy and radioactive. Uranium is present in nature in very low concentrations, normally in rocks, land and water. Hence, its obtaining is expensive and its complex treatment, since it requires chemical processes capable of separating it from the other elements and impurities with which it usually lives. It has 92 protons and many other electrons orbiting around the nucleus, and the latter incorporates, in addition to the protons, between 142 and 146 neutrons. It is important that we remember that the nucleus of an atom is usually constituted by a certain number of protons and neutrons (although not always: the protio, the isotope of the most abundant hydrogen, has a single proton and no neutron in its nucleus), as well as by some electrons that orbit around it. The fact that the number of neutrons of the uranium nucleus may varyas we have just seen, it indicates that there are several isotopes of this chemical element, which are nothing other than atoms with the same number of protons and electrons, but different number of neutrons. In fission reactors and nuclear weapons it is used as uranium-235 fuel The reason why in the fission reactors and nuclear weapons is used as an uranium-235 fuel, and not another isotope of this element or any other chemical element, it consists that by bombarding its nucleus with a neutron (a process that is known as induced fission) the uranium-235 is transformed into uranium-236, which is a more unstable element. This simply means that Uranium-236 cannot remain long in its current state, so it is divided into two nuclei, one from Bario-144 and another of Crypton-89, and also emits two or three neutrons. And here comes the really interesting: the sum of the masses of the Bario-144 and Crypton-89 nuclei is slightly lower than the Uranium-236 nucleus from which they come (“disappears” around 0.1% of the original mass). Where has the mass we lack? Only one can be left: has been transformed into energy. Formula e = m c²probably the most popular in the history of physics, relates mass and energy, and what it says is simply that a certain amount of mass equals a specific amount of energy, even if the dough is at rest. In fact, the equivalence between mass and energy, proposed by Albert Einstein In 1905, he tells us something more important. The C of the formula represents the speed of light in a vacuum, which, as we all intuit, is a very large number (299,792,458 m/s). In addition, it is squared, which means that even a very, very small mass, such as the portion of the nucleus of an atom, although it is at rest contains a large amount of energy. This is what we know as resting energy. If the mass is in motion its total energy is greater than its resting energy. And, if we observe the equivalence between mass and energy, it is easy to realize that the mass of a body in motion too is greater than its resting massa phenomenon that It introduces us fully into relativistic physics. In any case, the energy we obtain by merging or fissting atomic nuclei comes from the force that keeps them together: Strong nuclear interaction. Understanding with some precision the relationship between mass and energy is important because it helps us understand how it is possible that a mass as small as that of an atom allows us to obtain such a large amount of energy. In any case, the nuclear fission process does not end here. And it is that each of the neutrons that we have obtained as a result of the disintegration of the Uranium-236 nucleus in the Bario-144 and Crypton-89 nuclei can interact with other physically nuclei, causing a chain reaction. However, not all neutrons emitted during the disintegration of the Uranium-236 nucleus will interact with a physirable nucleus. But they don’t need to do it all. It is enough that only one of those neutrons achieves it to obtain a stable number of fissures, and, therefore, a controlled reaction, which is the objective of the reactors of the nuclear power plants. Centrifugators serve to increase uranium-235 concentration The most abundant uranium isotope in nature is uranium-238. In fact, it represents approximately 99.3% of the total uranium. The problem is that this isotope is not physically. The uranium enrichment process seeks to increase the proportion of uranium-235, which, as we have seen, is physically, within the total mass of uranium. However, this last isotope is very scarce in nature. So much that only represents 0.7% of natural uranium. The nuclear reactors of the power plants require … Read more

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