News about astronomy: events, facts and developments on tafs uz.
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Scientists have determined the rotation period of asteroid 2024 XA1, which entered the atmosphere over Eastern Siberia in December 2024 — 1.63 seconds. This is faster than the previous record and indicates that the object was a monolithic body rather than a loose pile of debris.
Aziz KarimovA South Korean team led by Elijah Chong-hyun Kim has matched The Starry Night with the pre-dawn sky over Saint-Rémy-de-Provence around 22 July 1889 — a month later than the commonly accepted dating. Independent physicist José Luis Aragón calls the conclusion 'an intriguing hypothesis', noting that the sky in the painting was probably assembled from several nights.
Aziz KarimovAn international team led by Maria Drozdovskaya of the University of Bern, as part of the COMPASS project, studied 11 protostars with ALMA and found methanol in their disks, and in IRAS 4A2 also its deuterated version. In more than half of the objects, methanol acts as a maser previously observed only around massive stars.
Javlon TursunovIn October, Reflect Orbital conducted a ground demonstration in California of its future lighting system, having earlier received FCC permission for the first experimental satellite EARENDIL-1 with an 18×18-meter mirror. The American Astronomical Society asked back in March for the application to be denied, and a study in Astrophysical Journal Letters showed that light from a 54×54-meter mirror could be brighter than a full Moon and affect the night sky within tens of kilometers.
Sardor QodirovUsing digital models simulating human vision, scientists determined what the white dwarf WD J1330+6435 would look like up close. Sodium and calcium in its atmosphere absorb orange and violet light, making the star, with a temperature of about 4000 °C, appear greenish. The results are published in the journal RAS Techniques and Instruments.
Madina UsmonovaBritish physicist and TV presenter Brian Cox has been awarded the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication by the Starmus foundation. The ceremony took place on 2 October in London, with the award presented by Starmus co-founders Brian May and Garik Israelian. This year's laureates also include Ridley Scott, Geoffrey Hinton, and the Artemis II crew.
Madina Usmonova
