Browsing: Science

Halfofthe is a science website that provides the latest in science-related updates and information. The articles are written by Halfofthe, who has been writing for years on various topics including space exploration, physics, and astronomy.

The asteroid 2007 FT3, lost since its discovery in 2007, poses a potential but highly unlikely threat of Earth collision in October 2024, with a 1 in 11.5 million chance. Although its path is uncertain, NASA monitors it among 32,000 other near-Earth objects, leveraging new technologies like the DART test to reduce asteroid impact risks.

A new study suggests that the ozone layer may not be recovering as previously believed, and the hole over Antarctica may even be expanding. The study contradicts widely accepted assessments that showed the ozone layer returning to 1980s levels by 2040. The researchers found that ozone levels have reduced by 26% since 2004 in the core of the Antarctic hole, with changes in atmospheric dynamics being a major factor. Critics argue that the study relies on a short period of observation and does not consider other factors like smoke and volcanic eruptions.

NASA has successfully demonstrated optical, or laser, communications by receiving data from nearly 10 million miles away, which is farther than the distance between the Earth and the Moon. This achievement is a crucial step towards increasing the amount of data that can be transmitted across the solar system and will pave the way for higher-data-rate communications, including sending scientific information, high-definition imagery, and streaming video to support future human missions to Mars. NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment utilizes a transceiver on the Psyche spacecraft to transmit data to the Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in California.