Oxygen Discovered in Outer Space:

European Space Agency’s (ESA) new Herschel telescope discovered oxygen, like the one we live and breathe on, on Orion’s constellation!

After hydrogen and helium, oxygen is the third most abundant element in the Universe. Its molecular structure makes life on Earth feasible and it constitutes 20% of the air we breathe. If life forms on other planets are similar to those on our planet, then they too probably need oxygen in order to survive.

In 2007, Swedish astronomers claimed that they had found oxygen in a constellation close to Orion, but unlike Herschel’s discovery, the findings were not confirmed.

The scientists’ report, which is published on Astrophysical Journal, mentioned that the oxygen was “hiding” in ice which covers the surface of cosmic dust particles.

The search still goes on since, as scientists admit “we didn’t find large quantities of oxygen and we still don’t understand what is so special about the spots it was discovered in. The Universe still has plenty of unlocked secrets”.

People in North Have Bigger Brains:

People living in the north of the equator have bigger brains than those staying in the south, says a study. Does this means the people in North are smarter than those living in South. Unfortunately the answer is no. They need big brains to see well.

People living in the north of the equator have bigger brains than those staying in the south, says a study. Does this means the people in North are smarter than those living in South. Unfortunately the answer is no. They need big brains to see well.

Research said that it doesn’t necessarily mean northerners are more intelligent than people from the south northerners have evolved to cope with the longer winters and greyer skies in northern climes.

A team at Oxford University measured the brain volume of 55 human skulls from around the world, came out with this intriguing theory that people from countries further from the equator have more grey matter and larger eyes than those from sunnier parts. This is because living in low light conditions means the eyes and brain need to work harder in order to process images to a good level of detail, or “high resolution”, say researchers.

Lead author Eiluned Pearce said the study suggests that the bigger brains and eyes are needed to see properly in dimmer light.

“As you move away from equator, there’s less light available, so humans have had to evolve bigger and bigger eyes. Their brains also need to be bigger to deal with extra visual input. “Having bigger brains doesn’t mean higher latitude humans are smarter, it just means they need bigger brains to be able to see well,” she said.

Asteroid Discovered in Earth Orbit

An infrared study of our local sky has revealed that we are not alone in an orbit – an asteroid is traveling with us.

They are called Trojan asteroids, and several of the major planets have them. They are asteroids that orbit the sun in the same path as the planet.

Ours is only 1,000 feet across – a tiny speck of rock slowly tumbling in space. The Trojan’s orbit describes a wild, tumbling arc around the sun. But that orbit lies on the same plane and about the same distance from the sun as our own.

What makes this asteroid a Trojan is that it has fallen into a stable, if wild, orbit. It travels its circle around the sun at almost the same speed as Earth, so that its position relative to us is always the same. It is as if Earth is playing a forever game of follow the leader.

The chances of crashing into the asteroid are startlingly slim. Right now the Trojan is about 50 million miles ahead of us in our orbit. It’s tumbling around the orbital path may bring us closer. In fact, it’s estimated that the closest is should get to us is 15 million miles – that’s a pretty safe distance.

Before you settle back in your easy chair, however, you should know that the Trojan was picked out of a survey of near Earth objects (NEOs) by the WISE infrared satellite. WISE surveyed the entire sky for over a year and turned up over 500 NEO’s, nearly a quarter of which were previously unknown. An NEO is described as an object that passes within 28 million miles of our orbit around the sun.

So far we’ve identified just the one Trojan asteroid. It is theorized that there is probably another one, occupying the same location in the opposite direction. Although our Trojan poses no threat to us, it is interesting to know that we are not alone in our orbital path.

You can learn more about WISE and the hunt for Trojans at NASA’s WISE page.