Two months after astronomers showed the first photo of the black hole “Sagittarius A*” in the center of the Milky Way, mankind took another step towards exploring the sea of stars.

On July 12th, US Eastern Time, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released the first five images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. These images cover the frontier research fields of astronomy, such as deep space galaxy clusters, compact galaxy clusters, diffuse nebulae and exoplanets.

These five photos are SMACS 0723 galaxy cluster, Carina nebula, Steven quintuple galaxy, South Ring nebula and exoplanet WASP-96b.

The image of SMACS 0723 galaxy cluster is the deepest and clearest infrared image of the distant universe so far. The near-infrared camera of the Webb telescope took 12 hours to shoot, setting a new record for the Hubble Space Telescope.

SMACS 0723 galaxy cluster contains thousands of galaxies, and the gravitational lens effect caused by its huge mass obviously bends the light of more distant galaxies and forms lens distortion in the center of the image, which is also the most intuitive embodiment of Einstein’s general relativity. In this photo, the Webb telescope even captured an image of 13.1 billion years ago, which is also an early picture of the universe only 1 billion years after the Big Bang.

The Carina Nebula, also known as NGC 3372, is one of the largest diffuse nebulae in the night sky, which is more than four times larger than the famous Orion Nebula and 7600 light years away from the Earth. The most famous objects in the nebula are the bright Star Seamount II (i.e. Carina η) in the southern hemisphere and the keyhole nebula.

The diffuse nebula is also the cradle of the birth of stars. If the nebula, which is essentially composed of thin gas and dust, continues to shrink under the action of gravity and finally successfully stimulates hydrogen fusion, a star embryo-protostar is born. The multi-band study of diffuse nebula is helpful to understand the birth process of star system.

This photo was taken by the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and the Mid Infrared Camera (MIRI) of the Webb Telescope.

The Stephen quintuple galaxy in Pegasus is the most famous dense (quadruple) galaxy group, which is 290 million light years away from the Earth.

The image provided by the Webb Space Telescope has 150 million pixels, providing rich details of this dense galaxy cluster. The gravitational interaction between four adjacent galaxies causes the gas and dust in the galaxy to be thrown out of the galaxy, and the disturbed gas and dust are also the cradle of star birth.

Astronomers predict that this tetrad cluster will eventually merge into a supercluster. The merger process of galaxies is of reference significance to the merger of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy in the future. The merger of galactic nuclei also represents the merger of two supermassive black holes in most cases, and it is also a hot spot in gravitational wave research. It has been confirmed that NGC 7319, the brightest galaxy in the four compact galaxy groups, has a supermassive black hole with a mass 24 million times that of the sun.

The Southern Ring Nebula, also known as the Octagonal Nebula, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Vela, about 2,500 light years away from the Earth.

Unlike diffuse nebulae where stars are born, planetary nebulae are composed of gas and dust shells ejected by stars in their twilight years. The most famous planetary nebula is the crab nebula in Taurus.

The Webb Space Telescope shows more details of the special structure of the southern ring nebula and dust shell in infrared band. For example, two sets of pictures of the South Ring Nebula, the first photo was taken by a near-infrared camera, and the second photo was taken by a mid-infrared camera. In the first photo, only one star can be seen in the center of the nebula, which is a planetary nebula ejected by a twilight white dwarf; The second photo can clearly observe the second star, which is still in the early stage of evolution.

WASP-96 b is one of more than 5000 extrasolar planets in the Milky Way, located in Phoenix, 1150 light years away from the Earth. Although it has been confirmed that it is a gas giant planet with half the mass of Jupiter, it is impossible to have life like Earth. However, through this image, the Webb telescope demonstrated its excellent ability to analyze the atmospheric spectrum of exoplanets.

Weber telescope carried out the most detailed near-infrared transmission spectrum of WASP-96 b atmosphere by carrying a near-infrared imager and a slit-less spectrometer (NIRISS), in which the evidence of water in the atmosphere was clearly found. The Webb telescope also has the spectral analysis ability for other key molecules such as oxygen, methane and carbon dioxide. In the next service life, the Webb telescope will do more spectral analysis on gas giants, terrestrial planets and ice giants.

The Webb Space Telescope is the most expensive and advanced space telescope built in human history. The telescope was officially funded by NASA, European Space Agency (ESA) and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in 2005. It cost $10 billion before and after, and was finally launched into orbit by ESA in Christmas 2021. On January 24 this year, it successfully entered the orbit near the second Lagrangian point of the Sun-Earth system. Its main mirror is 6.5 meters in diameter, and consists of 18 hexagonal lenses, and is equipped with 5 layers of expandable sun visor.

As the successor of the famous Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, Weber Telescope undertakes many tasks such as studying the formation and evolution of the first generation of stars and galaxies after the Big Bang, the formation of star and planetary systems, and exoplanets.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva continues his visit to the United Arab Emirates. He told the media in Abu Dhabi last Sunday that he had discussed the idea of joint mediation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict with China and the United Arab Emirates.

Lula explained that he wanted to follow the model of G20, gather a group of leaders who “would rather talk about peace than war”, and form a group of countries dedicated to conflict mediation, and have a dialogue with Russia and Ukraine, as well as the United States and the European Union. “The G-20 was established to save the global economy that was in crisis at that time. What is important now is to establish a similar organization to end this war and establish peace, “he said.

In addition, Lula also expressed his dissatisfaction with the Western position on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. In the United Arab Emirates, Lula accused “Europe of delaying the war”. During his trip to China last week, he accused “the United States of encouraging the Ukrainian war”.

In fact, Lula mentioned the idea of establishing a “peace club” several months ago. Lula expressed this plan to US President Biden during his visit to the United States in February. He said that members of BRICS countries such as China and India, as well as Indonesian and Turkish countries should be included.

However, some western media have doubts about this idea. Carlos Solar, a senior researcher at the Royal Institute of Joint Services, a London-based defense and security think tank, said that Lula saw a critical moment in resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but for the idea of a peace club to work, it was necessary to convince all parties concerned to regard it as a fair mediator. Ryan Berg, a senior researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the United States, expressed doubts about whether Brazil can shoulder this heavy responsibility. In addition, he said that Brazil and Russia are both members of the BRICS group and questioned whether Brazil can become a “neutral arbitrator”.

Lula said in his speech in the United Arab Emirates that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine was caused by both sides, while Europe and the United States continued to add fuel to the fire. It is time to return to the negotiating table. In addition, Lula also pulled the United Arab Emirates out of the BRICS countries. In the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the UAE maintains a neutral attitude. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and other countries are also non-permanent members of the Security Council this year.

Regarding whether Brazil is qualified for this important mediation task, Gilberto MarRodriguez, an associate professor at ABC Federal University in Brazil, pointed out that Brazil is currently a non-permanent member of the United Nations and a Latin American country with the best conditions to play a role in promoting peace.

It is not surprising that Brazil is now showing ambition in international affairs. Lula, who was elected president for the third time, made foreign policy a priority at the beginning of his tenure. He advocated regional integration in South America and international cooperation in tackling climate change, while repositioning Brazil as a non-aligned global power and a leader of southern countries.

“The BRICS countries are accelerating to shape a new world order and become a new platform for geopolitics, economy and diplomacy in the global south,” Gulf News, a UAE media, wrote in an article earlier this month. Although the West tries to downplay the role of BRICS in shaping the new world order, the change is real and irreversible.

BRICS countries currently include China, Brazil, Russian, Indian and South Africa. According to the latest data of the International Monetary Fund, the GDP contribution of these five economies has surpassed that of the Group of Seven, which consists of seven developed countries. In terms of the share of global GDP calculated by purchasing power parity, the contribution rate of BRICS countries is 31.5%, exceeding the 30.7% of G7.

Since the restoration of the Black Sea “Grain Corridor”, the first humanitarian grain carrier has set off for Africa.

On August 14th, the Ukrainian side announced that a ship chartered by the United Nations had loaded 23,000 tons of wheat and was ready to leave for Africa. This is the first such ship within the framework of the Black Sea food export agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in late July.

Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said that the grain carrier named “Brave Commander” is ready to leave for Africa. For security reasons, he did not specify the specific departure and arrival dates. However, Marxer Malcenco, governor of Odessa, revealed that the ship left the port of Denny, Pi Fu, in Uzny on 14th. It plans to sail to Djibouti, a country in northeast Africa, where food will be transshipped to Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is one of the five countries identified by the United Nations as facing the threat of hunger. At present, the country is in the worst drought in 40 years, and thousands of people have died of hunger or disease this year. The weather forecast shows that Ethiopia will usher in the fifth consecutive rainy season without rain in the coming weeks.

According to a new assessment by the Famine Early Warning System Network, millions of families in Ethiopia will find it difficult to cope with this shock. The country’s demand for food aid has reached a record level, and as many as 15 million people need food aid.

Although this aid is only “nine Niu Yi cents” for the huge demand, the World Food Program still regards it as an “important step” to transport Ukrainian food to the most affected countries.

Denise Brown, the United Nations coordinator in Ukraine, described the incident as “very positive”. He said that Ethiopia urgently needs these foods, and the United Nations will make efforts to ensure that the food will continue to be delivered to African countries facing famine and sharp rise in food prices. He also revealed that Ukraine is considering using railways to increase grain transportation, and the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture also plans to open up a new truck route to Poland.

According to a UN e-mail obtained by politics, at present, more than 60 countries in the world are facing enormous pressure on food imports. Even with the mediation of the United Nations, Ukraine can export food, but it has not reached many countries in need. According to the data of the World Food Program, 345 million people in 82 countries are facing serious food insecurity, and 50 million people in 45 countries are on the verge of famine. Without humanitarian support, they may be pushed to the brink of collapse.

UN Secretary-General Guterres said that the Black Sea food export agreement will bring relief to developing countries on the verge of bankruptcy and the most vulnerable groups on the verge of famine.

According to a report by insurance broker Marsh, at least 50 countries depend on Russia and Ukraine for 30% or more of their food supply, including many developing countries. For example, Turkey imported 78% wheat from Russia and Ukraine in 2020, and Brazil is the main market of Russian fertilizer.

According to the Ukrainian side, since the first commercial grain carrier set off from the Black Sea on August 1, 16 such ships have transported grain to the world market. As of August 10, the data shows that about 370,000 tons of agricultural products have been transported. But they are all used as animal feed or biofuel, and are mainly shipped to Turkey or western European countries. These agricultural products are mainly corn, and a small amount of soybeans, sunflower oil and sunflower seed meal. At present, wheat has not been delivered as a staple food for human beings.

According to the United Nations food price index, global food prices fell by 8.6% in July, especially the prices of wheat and vegetable oil. However, compared with last year, food prices are still obviously high. After the fall, the food price in July is still about 44% higher than that in 2020.

Some analysts believe that the Black Sea Grain Corridor can partially alleviate the food shortage problem, but it is difficult to achieve in the short term. The agreement involves three ports in Pi Fu, Odessa, Cherno, Moske and Danny, with a total transportation capacity of about 3 million tons per month. Some analysts predict that this export level may not be fully realized until October. Nick Robson, global head of credit business of insurance brokerage firm Marsh, predicts that it may take 12-18 months to see significant improvement.

Transporting a large amount of grain requires a large number of ships, but some shipowners are cautious about entering the war zone, especially under the threat of mines and high insurance costs. Elena Faige Neroba, business development manager of Maxigrain, a Ukrainian grain brokerage company, said that the main challenge at present comes from mines, and shipowners are holding a wait-and-see attitude and want to see how other ships can make decisions again.

Although military diving teams from Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are clearing mines in the relevant waters, it may take several months to clear them. At present, the Black Sea Agreement is only valid for 120 days.

Although some insurance companies are willing to provide insurance, the overall insurance cost for ships entering Ukrainian ports is still high. In addition, recruiting crew members is also a challenge. When the conflict between Russia and Ukraine just broke out, about 2,000 sailors from all over the world were stranded in Ukrainian ports, and 450 people have not left yet.

Risk analysts said that the rising global food prices and the shortage of food and fertilizer caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine may trigger further economic turmoil and test western companies with overseas operations in the coming months. Nick Robson of Marsh, an insurance economic company, said that countries that rely on imported food are relatively risky, and the impact of extensive austerity policies and epidemics on public finances may damage the ability of some countries to issue food subsidies.

Srdjan Todorovic, head of terrorism and hostile environment solutions for Allianz Global Company, said that food insecurity is definitely a global problem and one of the main topics that the company should pay attention to.

Last week, France, Britain and other European countries that experienced extreme drought ushered in heavy rain. However, the latest monthly report issued by the European Union warns that rainfall cannot make up for the water shortage caused by drought, and drought in some areas may last until the end of the year.

With the worst drought in Europe in 500 years, the “hunger stones” of many rivers in Central Europe have been exposed; New research shows that the glaciers in Switzerland have shrunk by more than half, and the melting speed of glaciers has accelerated.

The report of the European Union warns that drought will lead to the reduction of crops such as corn and soybeans, and will also hinder the transportation of coal and oil in many countries. Researchers have warned that coal-fired power plants in Germany may have a coal shortage this fall.

“Hunger Stone” and Historical Fragments Appear
Since the beginning of this year, the Po River, the longest river in Italy, and the Rhine River, the largest river in Western Europe, have suffered from historic droughts. With the continuous decline of water level, in recent weeks, “Hunger Stone” has been found in many rivers such as Elbe River, Rhine River and Danube River.

Hunger stone is a brand that was put in the riverbed when the predecessors encountered drought. Stone is usually engraved with the words year and warning. These marker stones are used to remind future generations that if the water level drops and the hunger stones are exposed, it means that there will be famine in the local area because of drought.

This summer, the Elbe River, the Rhine River, the Danube River and the Moser River all found hunger stones, and the Elbe River found the most hunger stones. The river is one of the main shipping routes in Central Europe, which flows through the Czech Republic and Germany and joins the North Sea near Hamburg, Germany.

The warning words “If you see me, please cry” are engraved on a hungry stone found in the Elbe River section of Qin Jie town in northern Czech Republic. The earliest year mark visible on the stone is 1616, and many years such as 1707 and 1746 are also marked. The last time this hungry stone surfaced was when Europe suffered from extreme drought in 2018.

In addition to warning the hunger stone, the drop in water level has also brought many historical sites back to the surface.

Stonehenge, composed of 150 stones, surfaced after the water level of a reservoir plummeted in caceres, central Spain. This Stonehenge can be traced back to around 5000 BC and was submerged in 1963. Since then, Stonehenge has only appeared four times.

In Italy, the drop in the water level of the Po River led to the reappearance of a 450-kilogram World War II bomb, and the handling of the bomb forced more than 3,000 local residents to evacuate. In Serbia, as the water level of the Danube drops, more than 20 Nazi German warships during World War II surfaced. In Spain, a village that has been flooded for 30 years has come to light again.

In Switzerland, due to the massive melting of glaciers, climbers found two unidentified human remains and the wreckage of a plane that crashed in 1968.

A study released by the Swiss Federal Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape on Monday warned that Swiss glaciers are accelerating to melt in recent years.

From 1931 to 2016, half of the 1,400 glaciers in Switzerland melted. In the short six years from 2016 to now, 12% of the remaining glaciers have melted, and the number of glaciers in Switzerland accounts for half of the glaciers in the European Alps.

The effects of drought persist.
The latest August report released by the Global Drought Watch of the European Union predicts that the weather in most parts of the European Union will return to normal levels from August to October after experiencing extreme drought and high temperature. But the subsequent rainfall can’t make up for the serious water shortage caused by the drought for half a year.

According to the EU’s drought index, in early August, 47% of Europe was in the “warning” level and 17% was in the “alert” level, up from 11% in July. Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Britain and other countries have all increased the risk of drought.

In the past three months, the reduction of precipitation has had the most serious impact on Portugal, Spain, southern France, central Italy, Switzerland and southern Germany.

The report predicts that this year’s drought will have an impact on the output of major crops in the EU. Among them, compared with the past five years, corn production is expected to drop by 16% on average, soybeans by 15% and sunflowers by 12%.

In terms of energy, although the recent rainfall has alleviated the drought in the Po River in Italy, the local water resources are still in a state of emergency, and it is difficult to balance supply and demand; The storage capacity of power generation water in reservoirs in northern Italy continues to decline, less than half of that in previous years.

In the Netherlands, the low water level of the Rhine seriously affects commercial shipping, and the reduction of shipping is impacting coal and oil transportation; In Portugal, the water level of all reservoirs has dropped, and 25% reservoirs are in a state of serious water shortage, and the stored hydropower energy has been less than half of the average level in the past five years.

The report warns that although the temperature in most parts of the EU will be close to normal from August to October, it can no longer make up for the serious water shortage caused by the continuous drought. During this period, western Spain, eastern Portugal and the coast of Croatia will still suffer from drought. Until November, the Mediterranean region may be drier and warmer than in previous years.

Last week, the German Meteorological Bureau also reminded that although the country ushered in rainfall, the rainfall could not restore the water level of rivers such as the Rhine River to normal navigation level.

30% of Germany’s oil and coal transportation depends on inland navigation, and 80% of inland navigation needs to pass through the Rhine River. Due to the continuous decline of the water level in the Rhine River, cargo ships have reduced their cargo capacity to 30% to 40% to prevent grounding.

German authorities predict that the water level of the Rhine River in the Cobb section of Frankfurt will briefly rise to the peak level of 154 cm on Tuesday, local time, and then drop again. Cobb section is the hub channel of Rhine material transportation, and the drop of water level means that it is difficult for ships such as coal carriers to sail with full load. Previously, the water level in the Cobb section once fell below 40 cm.

Last week, the oil giant Shell announced that due to the low water level of the Rhine River and the difficulty in shipping, Shell Energy and the Rhineland Chemical Park had reduced production.

In addition to the oil giants’ production cuts, Guido Baldi, a researcher at the German Institute for Economic Research, also warned that if the Rhine still does not return to normal, there will be a coal shortage in Germany’s coal-fired power plants by September.

Due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and western sanctions, Russia has reduced its natural gas supply to the EU, and the EU is also accelerating the replenishment of natural gas stocks to spend this winter. In order to reduce the use of natural gas, Germany and other countries began to restart coal-fired power generation. Once coal-fired power generation is blocked, Germany’s energy crisis will intensify.

Baldi predicted that the shortage of coal and the current supply chain problems will reduce Germany’s GDP by 0.5% in the third quarter; If the coal transportation problem is not solved, Germany may encounter power shortage in September.

The United Nations has issued the latest warning that global warming is having an increasingly serious impact on mankind. With the approach of irreversible climate disaster, the global impact of climate change is entering an unknown area of destruction, countries have failed to effectively deal with climate change, and the world is moving in the wrong direction.

The report, entitled “Uniting in Science”, was compiled by the World Meteorological Organization and coordinated by many institutions, bringing together the latest research, impacts and countermeasures of climate change. According to the report, the number of deaths caused by climate disasters has decreased in recent years, but its economic cost has risen sharply. In the past five years, climate-related disasters have increased fivefold, resulting in an average of 115 deaths and a daily loss of $202 million, and the consequences will be further aggravated.

The report quoted data collected by many UN agencies and partners as saying that the past seven years (2015 -2021) were the hottest period on record. The global average temperature from 2018 to 2022 (as of June 2022) is estimated to be 1.17 degrees Celsius (0.13 degrees Celsius) higher than the average from 1850 to 1900.

After a temporary decline during the blockade of the COVID-19 epidemic, fossil fuel emissions have now returned to the pre-epidemic level, and the concentration of greenhouse gases has also risen to a record high. Preliminary data show that the global carbon dioxide emissions from January to May 2022 were 1.2% higher than the same period in 2019, which was mainly due to the increase in emissions from the United States, India and most European countries.

As the concentration of greenhouse gases continues to hit a new high, and the global efforts to slow down climate change are insufficient, it is difficult to achieve the goal of limiting the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius in the Paris Agreement. From 2022 to 2026, the global average temperature is expected to be 1.1-1.7 degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial level. In the next five years, the probability of global temperature rising by 1.5 degrees Celsius is 48%. In the next five years, there is a 93% chance that the world will experience a record high temperature.

At last year’s United Nations Global Climate Summit, nearly 200 participating countries made commitments on methane gas pollution, deforestation and coal financing. However, according to the latest United Nations report, the scale of emission reduction commitments in 2030 must be quadrupled to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, and to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, it needs to be increased sevenfold.

In a video released at the same time as the report, UN Secretary-General Guterres quoted Pakistani floods, heat waves in Europe, droughts in China, the Horn of Africa and the United States, saying that the scale of these disasters is not a natural phenomenon, but the price of human addiction to fossil fuels. “This year’s report shows that the impact of climate is developing towards unknown areas of destruction … However, even if more and more indicators have a rapidly deteriorating impact, our dependence on fossil fuels is still increasing year by year.

According to a study published in Science magazine last week, if the goal of controlling global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius cannot be achieved, when most climate changes become irreversible, a series of “tipping points” may be triggered, such as the disappearance of ice sheets in Greenland and western Antarctica and the death of coral reefs.

The United Nations report on Tuesday also said that about 90% of the accumulated heat in the earth system is stored in the ocean, and the ocean heat content from 2018 to 2022 is higher than that in all five years in history, and the ocean warming rate has shown a particularly strong growth in the past 20 years. This report points out the importance of early warning system. More than ever, the international community needs to take greater action, not only to reduce emissions, but also to adapt to climate change. Early warning system is an effective adaptive measure, which can save lives, reduce losses and damages, and is cost-effective.

At present, 3.3 billion to 3.6 billion people live in an environment that is extremely vulnerable to climate change. However, less than half of countries have multiple disaster early warning systems, especially in Africa, least developed countries and small island States.

Last week, the World Meteorological Organization put forward a plan to ensure that everyone can get early warning services in the next five years, and it is expected that a specific action plan will be launched at COP27 in October. The organization said in a press release that the primary task of the international community is to ensure that everyone on the planet is protected by multiple disaster early warning systems in the next five years, which requires cooperation between different participants and innovative financing solutions.

Early warning system has been recognized as an effective and feasible climate adaptation measure, which can save lives and provide a ten-fold return on investment. The initiative was first put forward by UN Secretary-General Guterres, who said on World Meteorological Day on March 23rd this year that “early warning can save lives”.

James Webb Space Telescope turned its attention from the depths of the universe back to the solar system, and captured the details of Neptune and its rings with the latest technology. This is the clearest related image in more than 30 years.

On September 21st, NASA released these images, which clearly showed the beautiful rings of Neptune. It only took Webber a few minutes to get a close-up of Neptune, and it took another 20 minutes to get a wider view. From this perspective, the image also shows countless cosmic galaxies in the background.

Neptune from a broader perspective photographed by Weber
Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun. It is called the “ice giant” together with Uranus, and its interior is composed of chemicals denser than the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn. Its distance from the sun is about 30 times that of the earth, and it orbits a distant and dark area of the solar system. According to NASA, Neptune is so far away from the sun that its brightness at noon is like a dim dusk on the earth.

In 1989, NASA’s Voyager 2 probe flew over Neptune on its way out of the solar system, and no spacecraft has visited it since. This glimpse 30 years ago aroused the interest of astronomers, who were eager to know more about this ice giant.

The latest photos of Neptune taken by Weber.
In the images taken before the Hubble Space Telescope, Neptune looks dark blue because there is methane in its atmosphere. However, the near-infrared wavelength captured by Weber’s main imager, NIRCam, shows that the planet is gray with Leng Yun flow on its surface.

The methane ice cloud on Neptune’s surface rises high above it for several days. Patrick Irwin, a planetary physicist at Oxford University, said that so far, no one really knows what these things are. They look a bit like cirrus clouds on the earth. Future observations of the Webb telescope can reveal how they were formed and their composition.

Mark McCaughrean, a senior scientific adviser to the European Space Agency, said that Weber’s unprecedented infrared imaging capability provided a new perspective for observing Neptune’s atmosphere. The Weber telescope removed all glare and background, which provided support for scientists to start combing Neptune’s atmospheric composition. “This was unimaginable five years ago.”

This latest photo taken by Weber is also the first time to see Neptune’s ring from an infrared perspective. Heidi Hamel, an interdisciplinary scientist of the Weber Project, said in a statement: “It has been three years since we last saw Neptune rings, and this is the first time we have seen them in infrared light.” .

Klaus Pontoppidan, a Weber project scientist at the Institute of Space Telescope Science, said that the most prominent thing in Weber’s field of vision is Neptune ring, which can be seen to surround Neptune in a slightly inclined way due to its orientation with the Earth. The new image can reveal the size and composition of the halo, which may be ice and other debris. Weber will enable astronomers to measure the reflectivity of the ring, providing an unparalleled opportunity to learn more about it.

In addition, the latest photos make astronomers pay more attention to Neptune’s North Pole. NASA said in a statement that the latest photos show an “interesting brightness” near the top of Neptune. Because Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun, it takes 164 years to go around the sun, and it is tilted away from the earth. So far, astronomers have not had a chance to observe its North Pole carefully.

Neptune and seven of its 14 known satellites, including Triton (upper left).
In addition, Weber discovered seven of Neptune’s 14 known satellites. In an enlarged photo, Neptune has a faintly visible and very bright spiky star on the upper left. It is one of the largest moons of Neptune, brighter than Neptune itself. Scientists suspect that it was captured by Neptune’s gravity in the early solar system.

Weber’s future observations should reveal the surface composition of Triton and may show the changes of geological activities. Weber project scientist Hamel said that Triton is a geologically active world. When Voyager 2 flew 30 years ago, it witnessed the eruption of a low-temperature volcano. So with the passage of time, its surface chemical composition may have changed.

Mark McCaughrean of the European Space Agency pointed out that the significance of observing ice giants like Neptune is to ensure that we have the ability to pay attention to other ice giants. Astronomers are looking for other planets similar to the earth in the universe. In the process, they found that ice giants such as Neptune and Uranus are the most common in the Milky Way.

Weber is the most powerful space telescope ever. It was first launched in December last year and has been releasing photos of deep space since July this year, providing a lot of unprecedented data. According to Weber’s observation of Neptune and Triton, it is expected to be carried out next year, which scientists hope will herald a new era of discovery.

The scene of an asteroid hitting the earth and threatening human survival has been staged many times in Hollywood movies.

In order to prevent the plot in the movie from becoming a reality, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted an impact test on September 26, local time, and let a spaceship hit an asteroid in an attempt to change the orbit of the asteroid.

This is also the first attempt in human history to change the motion of natural celestial bodies in space.

At present, the impact has been successfully completed, and it will take weeks or months to observe whether the asteroid’s orbit can be successfully changed.

According to official website news of NASA, after 10 months of space flight, NASA’s spacecraft carrying out the “Double Asteroid Redirect Test” (DART) mission successfully hit an asteroid named “Dimorphos” at 7: 14 pm EST on 26th.

The project was launched in November 2021 with an investment of 325 million US dollars, which was jointly implemented by NASA and the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University.

When it hit Dimorfos, the speed of the NASA spacecraft reached 22,500 km/h, and the camera carried on the spacecraft sent back the last picture before the impact.

After the spacecraft signal disappeared, the ground staff cheered and celebrated, and the project team announced that the impact mission was successful. Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Department, said that this mission has opened a new era for mankind, an era when humans may be able to prevent asteroids from hitting the Earth.

Katherine Calvin, chief scientist and senior climate consultant of NASA, also pointed out that dinosaurs had no space plan to prevent asteroids from hitting the Earth, but now “we have”. Scientists speculate that the impact of the “Hicksulubo” asteroid on the earth 65 million years ago led to the extinction of dinosaurs.

The asteroid “Dimerforth” that was hit this time is 160 meters in diameter, about the size of a football field, and it runs around another asteroid “Didymus” with a diameter of 780 meters. At the time of impact, the two asteroids were 11 million kilometers away from the earth and did not pose a threat to the earth.

It takes 11 hours and 55 minutes for “Dimorphos” to go around “Dimorphos”. NASA hopes that the impact will shorten the running time of Dimorphus by 1%, about 10 minutes. At present, it is uncertain whether the impact has successfully changed the orbit of the binaural bat, and it will take weeks or months to accurately measure the orbit change.

However, NASA firmly believes that due to the small weight of the spacecraft, the impact will not have a devastating impact on Dimorfors. The NASA spacecraft weighs 579 kilograms, while the Gemini weighs 5 billion kilograms. The researchers described it as hitting the pyramid with a golf cart.

After NASA completes the impact mission, the European Space Agency plans to launch a spacecraft to Dimorphos in 2024 and investigate the impact crater and geology of Dimorphos in 2027.

For many years, scientists have been tracking near-earth objects that may pose a threat to the earth. It is estimated that there are about 25,000 NEOs with a diameter of 140 meters in space, but at present, NASA has only observed 40% of them.

In 2026, NASA will launch a near-earth object observation project to track celestial bodies in the solar system that may pose a threat to the earth.

Against the background of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the persistent epidemic in COVID-19, the climate crisis and the intensified energy crisis, the 2022 Nobel Prize will be announced on October 3rd.

Two years ago, affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, the traditional award ceremony and dinner were cancelled, and the award process was changed to live online and TV. Only the Norwegian Nobel Committee held a small peace prize awarding ceremony in Oslo, Norway last year.

This year, traditional ceremonies will be fully returned. In December, the winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize and the winners of 2020 and 2021 will be invited to attend the award ceremony and dinner in Stockholm, Sweden.

From October 3rd to 7th, the Nobel Committee will announce the prizes in physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. Among them, the Peace Prize was promulgated by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

On the 10th, the committee will announce the final prize of economics. This year’s prize is 10 million Swedish kronor (about 6.41 million yuan) for each award. If more than one person wins the prize, the prize money will be distributed equally.

Except for the final winner, the Committee does not publish the list of candidates to the public. Before the final results are announced, predicting who will win the prize has become an annual activity of the media and gaming companies.

Compared with the unknown prize in physiology or medicine, physics prize and chemistry prize, literature prize and peace prize are popular prizes for prediction and betting every year.

Among them, the literary prize is recognized as the most unpredictable award. Goellner, winner of last year’s literature prize, didn’t even appear on the odds list of British bookmaker Nicerods.

In this year’s European edition of Nicer Odds, the top three are French writer Michel Houellebecq, Kenyan writer Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Indian-born British and American writer Salman Rushdie.

Among them, Rushdie was attacked while attending an activity in new york in August this year, and was stabbed in the neck and other places. His novel The Satanic Verses caused great controversy. Rushdie himself was hunted by Iran and is still regarded as a sworn enemy by radical religious figures.

China writers Yu Hua and Can Xue made the list again, and Can Xue ranked 20th in the EU list.

But for this year’s Peace Prize, the better odds did not publish the odds list. The website only says that this year’s Peace Prize is the most competitive since the establishment of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1895.

According to the statistics of the Nobel Committee, there are 343 candidates for this year’s Peace Prize, of which 251 are individuals and 92 are institutions. This is also the year with the second largest number of candidates since the establishment of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The largest number of applicants was in 2016, with 376 people. There were 329 candidates for the Peace Prize last year, the second highest in history before this year.

It is widely predicted by the media that this year’s peace prize will be related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which may also cause the most controversy, given that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to affect the whole world.

Several members of the European Parliament demanded that the Peace Prize be awarded to Ukrainian President Zelenski. However, dan smith, director of the Stockholm Peace Research Institute, pointed out that the tradition of the Peace Prize is to reward those who end conflicts, not wartime leaders.

Smith predicted that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or organizations and individuals fighting climate change are more likely to win the Peace Prize. In the context of the stalemate in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the award of the International Atomic Energy Agency can highlight the voice against the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and also recognize the agency’s efforts to ensure the safety of the Zaborozh nuclear power plant, Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant.

Besides, the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Russian opposition leader Nawani and Belarusian opposition leader Tikhanov Skaya are all popular candidates.

Last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners were Filipino journalist Maria Reza and Russian journalist Muratov.

Historically, the Nobel Committee has also suspended the awarding of peace prizes. During World War I and World War II, the Committee did not award the Peace Prize, but only awarded it to the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1917.

In the physiology or medicine prize to be awarded on the 3rd, nervous system diseases, cancer science and mRNA vaccine technology are considered to be popular award-winning fields.

Other popular candidates include Mary-Claire King, an American geneticist who discovered the role of BRCA1 gene mutation in breast cancer and ovarian cancer; Stuart H. Orkin, an American researcher, discovered the genetic changes behind various types of thalassemia; Li Minyi, a Chinese-American scholar who has contributed to the study of neurodegenerative diseases.

Among the physics awards, the past awards mainly focused on four fields, particle physics, astrophysics, condensed matter physics, atoms and molecules and photophysics. This year’s hot predictions involve quantum physics, carbon nanotube technology and optics.

The prediction around the chemistry prize focuses on genetics, gene sequencing technology, semiconductor polymers and so on. Bao Zhenan, a Chinese-American scientist who has made flexible “electronic skin” semiconductor polymers, is regarded as one of the popular candidates.

From 1901 to 2021, a total of 947 people and 28 organizations won the Nobel Prize, some of which won many awards. The youngest winner is the 2014 Peace Prize winner, Pakistani girl Yusuf Zai, who was 17 years old at that time; The oldest person is Goodnow, winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, at the age of 97.