Who will pay to go to Mars?

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In this newsletter

• Youngest ever planet has a misaligned orbit

• A supervolcano is waking up in Italy

• Ethiopian wolves sip nectar like bees

• Who’ll pay to go to Mars? 

Youngest ever planet has a misaligned orbit

IRAS 04125+2902 b is three million years old but is the youngest planet known to humanity. The planet was discovered by researchers at the University of North Carolina and its star isn’t very old either, so it is still in early stages of its formation. 

Located 521 light years away from the Earth, IRAS 04125+2902 b is over 10 times bigger than the Earth or roughly the size of Jupiter. But when it comes to mass, it is just 30 percent that of Jupiter. This shows that contraction and cooling phases haven’t begun yet on the planet. 

Previously, the youngest planet known to us was between 10-40 million years old and knowing a 3 million old planet in its early formative years could help us understand what the process is like in greater detail. 

The host star has a protoplanetary disk formed out of dust and gas from its formation. Typically, this disk aligns with the orbital plane of the planets. But in this case, disk is titled by 30 degrees. This allows scientists to see the planet with greater clarity as it transits across its Sun every 8.83 Earth days. 

But scientists are also keen to understand why the planet has a skewed orbit. Conventionally, this would be the result of another large object in the solar system but none has been spotted so far. 

The research findings were published in Nature.  

A supervolcano is waking up in Italy

The Solfatara Crater in the Phlegraean Fields, a supervolcano located in the west of Naples, Italy has been spewing out increasing volumes of gas in recent years and has scientists worried. 

A supervolcano is a massive volcanic system that can produce eruptions that are 1,000 times more powerful than a regular volcano. Other than ejecting more than a 1,000 cubic kilometers of material into the atmosphere, a supervolcano also forms a giant caldera upon eruption, which is a crater than spans scores of kilometers. 

The Solfatara Crater emits about 5,000 tons of carbon dioxide every day, but it is important to know where this CO2 is coming from. When magma flows closer to the Earth’s surface, this can result in CO2 release. But this is not worrying as much. 

At times though the hot fluids under the Earth react with rocks above and this also releases CO2. This activity is worrying because it is accompanied by earthquakes and ground deformation that can then lead to volcanic eruptions. 

According to a study by researchers at the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, 20-40 percent of CO2 from the Solfatara Crater is coming from dissolution of calcite in the rocks. 

The Phlegraean Fields have an activity history dating back to 40,000 years and most recent eruption in 1538. The supervolcano is being monitored to know if it could be waking up again anytime soon. 

The research findings were published in the journal Geology. 

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Ethiopian wolves sip nectar like bees

A team of researchers from the University of Oxford recently observed Ethiopian wolves sipping nectar from red hot poker flowers. The wolves are likely also pollinating these flowers, making them the first documented carnivore pollinators. 

Small insects and even arboreal animals—those living on trees—are thought to play a role in pollination. But the Ethiopian wolf also appears to have gotten a taste for the sweet nectar of the flowers and is helping them grow in their own way. 

When researchers followed the wolves, they found that a wolf can visit as many as 30 flowers in a day, increasing its chances of pollinating more flowers. Interestingly, young wolves accompany adults during this activity showing that it is a socially learnt trait. 

But Ethiopian wolves are an endangered species with lesser than 500 individuals left. So, researchers want to draw attention to their conservation and their role in the ecosystem. 

The research findings were published in the journal Ecology. 

Who’ll pay to go to Mars? 

Elon Musk may have grand plans to Occupy Mars, but astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson does not think they are realistic. 

Appearing in a TV show, Tyson said that mere interest in wanting to do something would not mean it would happen. Somebody would have to pay for it. Unless governments decided that it was in geopolitical interest to go to Mars, he did not see it happening. 

Musk, however, believes that occupying Mars is “critical to the long-term survival of consciousness” and he was not looking at venture capital to sponsor the expedition. 

His company SpaceX is building Starship to take life ‘multiplanetary’ but he was working to gather resources to make it possible. 

In a post on X, Musk said that the Department of Government Efficiency, which he will co-head starting next year “is the only path to extending life beyond Earth.”

Do you think this is true? 

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Thanks for reading.
Until next time,
Ameya