{"id":30896,"date":"2022-04-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=30896"},"modified":"2022-04-29T14:11:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T14:11:17","slug":"news-in-brief-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2022\/04\/21\/news-in-brief-8\/","title":{"rendered":"News in brief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A brief roundup of the latest astronomy news<\/p>\n\n

Large molecule found in planet growing disc <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Dimethyl ether (inset, above), a complex organic molecule made up of nine atoms, has been detected in the planet-forming disc around a star (IRS 48, above, left) for the first time. Not only is this the largest molecule ever discovered in such a disc, but such chemicals play a key part in starting life.<\/p>\n\n

No black hole \u2018nearby\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

The \u2018closest\u2019 black hole system to Earth, located just 1,000 lightyears away, may not contain a black hole after all. The system was first reported in 2020, but now two independent teams have determined it could instead be a double star system, where one member has had its outer layers stripped by its companion.<\/p>\n\n

5,000 exoplanets confirmed <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

NASA\u2019s list of confirmed exoplanets passed the 5,000 mark on 21 March, 30 years after the discovery of the first. Doubling that number could happen much quicker, as there are already 5,000 candidate exoplanets found by the TESS exoplanet telescope awaiting confirmation.<\/p>\n\n

Alligator song helps heliophysicists <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

The answer to the mystery of how the Sun forms jets of plasma 10,000km-high could lie in an unexpected place \u2013 alligator mating calls. The reptile\u2019s bass bellows make the water around them jump and dance in much the same way as seen on the surface of the Sun.<\/p>\n\n

Lunar oxygen extraction<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

UK company Thales Alenia Space has won an ESA contract to build an experiment to extract oxygen from the lunar surface. Although this experiment would only extract 50\u2013100g of oxygen, the technology could one day be used to help support astronauts living and working on the Moon.<\/p>\n\n

Pluto\u2019s recent eruptions <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

Pluto\u2019s surface may have been shaped by cyrovolcanism \u2013 where water acts like rock and lava \u2013 much more recently than previously thought. New analysis of images from NASA\u2019s New Horizons probe show that the ice volcanoes Wright Mons and Piccard Mons have a distinct lack of impact craters.<\/p>\n\n

Photo: ESO\/L. CAL\u00c7ADA\/ ALMA (ESO\/NAOJ\/NRAO)\/A. POHL\/VAN DER MAREL ET AL\/BRUNKEN ET AL.; NASA\u2019S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER\/JAXA\/NAOJ\/NASA\/JAXA\/ HINODE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A brief roundup of the latest astronomy news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":30894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"13","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"13","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_13-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_13-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"May-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"May-2022","purple_external_id":"May-2022-13-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"May-2022-13-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086552||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086552||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.204","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.204","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.204","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.204","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/ff2f5cca-5929-4a8c-8fc3-2019d29da350.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/ff2f5cca-5929-4a8c-8fc3-2019d29da350.jpg",673,513,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/ff2f5cca-5929-4a8c-8fc3-2019d29da350-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/ff2f5cca-5929-4a8c-8fc3-2019d29da350-300x229.jpg",300,229,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/ff2f5cca-5929-4a8c-8fc3-2019d29da350.jpg",673,513,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/ff2f5cca-5929-4a8c-8fc3-2019d29da350.jpg",673,513,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/ff2f5cca-5929-4a8c-8fc3-2019d29da350.jpg",673,513,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/ff2f5cca-5929-4a8c-8fc3-2019d29da350.jpg",673,513,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A brief roundup of the latest astronomy news","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30896"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30896"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31629,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30896\/revisions\/31629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}