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New rocky planet with thick atmosphere, detected

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A thick atmosphere has been detected around a planet that’s twice as big as Earth in a nearby solar system, researchers reported Wednesday.
The so-called super Earth — known as 55 Cancri e — is among the few rocky planets outside our solar system with a significant atmosphere, wrapped a blanket of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The exact amounts are unclear. Earth’s atmosphere is a blend of nitrogen, oxygen, argon and other gases.

“It’s probably the firmest evidence yet that this planet has an atmosphere,” said Ian Crossfield, an astronomer at the University of Kansas who studies exoplanets and was not involved with the research.

The research was published in the journal Nature.

Super Earth refers to a planet’s size — bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. The boiling temperatures on this planet — which can reach as hot as 4,200 degrees Fahrenheit (2,300 degrees Celsius) – mean that it is unlikely to host life.

Instead, scientists say the discovery is a promising sign that other such rocky planets with thick atmospheres could exist that may be more hospitable.

The exoplanet 41 light years away is eight times heavier than Earth and circles its star Copernicus so closely that it has permanent day and night sides. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers). Its surface is encrusted with magma oceans.

To identify the makeup of its atmosphere, researchers studied Webb Space Telescope observations before and after the planet passed behind its star.

They separated the light emitted from the planet versus its star and used the data to calculate the planet’s temperature. There’s evidence the planet’s heat was being distributed more evenly across its surface – a party trick atmospheres are known for.

Gases from its magma oceans may play a key role in holding its atmosphere steady. Exploring this super Earth may also yield clues to how Earth and Mars might have evolved first with magma oceans that have since cooled, scientists say.

“It’s a rare window,” said Renyu Hu, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who was part of the research. “We can look into this early phase of planet evolution.”

(The Washington Post)

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18 killed in Delhi Railway Station crowd crush

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At least 18 people, including ten women and three children, were killed in a tragic crowd crush at New Delhi Railway Station on Saturday night. 

The incident occurred around 8 PM local time as thousands of Hindu pilgrims gathered to board trains heading to Prayagraj city for the annual Mahakumbh Mela religious festival, located 624 kilometers southeast of the capital.

The crush took place on two platforms as massive crowds surged to catch trains to the festival. 

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Pope Francis hospitalized at Gemelli for bronchitis

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Pope Francis has been admitted to Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Hospital due to worsening bronchitis and has begun pharmacological treatment.

The Vatican confirmed his condition is stable, with a slight fever.

Several upcoming Jubilee events have been adjusted, with Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça presiding over Sunday’s Mass.

The pope has been suffering from bronchitis for more than a week.

Francis will not take part in a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, the Vatican said later, adding that a planned public audience on Saturday and a visit on Monday to Rome’s famed Cinecitta film studios were cancelled.

Francis, who has been pontiff since 2013, has had influenza and other health problems several times over the past two years. As a young adult he developed a case of pleurisy and had part of one of his lungs removed, and in recent times he has been prone to lung infections.

Earlier this month, Francis told pilgrims at a weekly audience that he was suffering from a “strong cold,” which the Vatican later described as bronchitis.

The pope held several meetings on Friday before going to hospital. One was with Mark Thompson, CEO of the CNN news channel. The pope was “mentally alert but struggling to speak for extended periods due to breathing difficulties,” CNN later reported.

The pope also held meetings with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, senior Vatican official Cardinal Luis Tagle and with a Catholic philanthropy group that is based in Puerto Rico.

Video of the pope’s meeting with Fico showed Francis sitting at a desk in his Vatican residence, smiling, and speaking in a soft tone.

Francis has been suffering with respiratory issues since mid-December. He begged off reading statements at several of his public events in January and February, attending the occasions but asking aides to read his prepared remarks.

The pope also had two falls recently at his Vatican residence, bruising his chin in December and injuring his arm in January.

Despite his periodic health issues and reduced mobility, Francis has kept up a busy schedule, including foreign travel. In September he completed a 12-day tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania, the longest of his papacy.

Rome’s Gemelli hospital, the largest in the city, has a special suite for treating popes. Francis spent nine days there in June 2023, when he had surgery to repair an abdominal hernia.

Source: Vatican News

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Google Maps updates Gulf of Mexico name for US users

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Google Maps has changed the Gulf of Mexico’s name to the Gulf of America for people using the app in the US.

Explaining the move, Google said it was making the change as part of “a longstanding practice” of following name changes when updated by official government sources.

It said the Gulf – which is bordered by the US, Cuba and Mexico – would not be changed for people using the app in Mexico, and users elsewhere in the world will see the label: “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”.

It comes after President Donald Trump ordered the body of water to be renamed in US government documents after he returned to office last month.

Mexico had decried the move, arguing that the US had no legal right to change the Gulf’s name.

The change was made by Google on Monday after the Geographic Names Information System, a US government database run by the Interior Department, listed an update to the Gulf’s name.

The listing reads: “The Gulf of America, formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico, with an average depth 5300 ft is a major body of water bordered and nearly landlocked by North America with the Gulf’s eastern, northern, and northwestern shores in the U.S. and its southwestern and southern shores in Mexico.”

It said the change was made in accordance with Trump’s executive order to “restore names that honor American Greatness”.

Following the signing of the order, President Trump proclaimed 9 February as “Gulf of America Day”.

“I call upon public officials and all the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities,” a White House statement said.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum had asked Google to reconsider its decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

She argued the US could not legally change the Gulf’s name because the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea dictates that an individual country’s sovereign territory only extends up to 12 nautical miles out from the coastline.

The Associated Press, a global media organisation, said that it would not change the name of the Gulf of Mexico in its style guide – which is used by most US media outlets.

Because of the style guide decision, the White House said it was barring an AP reporter from covering an executive order signing in the Oval Office.

“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” AP’s Executive Editor Julie Pace said in a statement. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”

Trump’s executive order, signed on 20 January, also ordered North America’s tallest mountain – Denali – be called Mount McKinley, which was its name previously.

That change is not yet reflected on Google Maps, though the AP has adopted the mountain’s old name in its style guide.

(BBC News)

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