An international study featuring scientists from Curtin University’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Space Science and Technology Centre offers new insights into the Moon’s history and provide a better understanding of what lies beneath its cratered surface.

 

Researchers from Curtin University, Nanjing University and The Australian National University analysed tiny, green glass beads collected by Chang’e-5 — the Chinese National Space Administration mission to the Moon.

A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz and Heidelberg University has, for the first time, used the German environmental satellite EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) to simultaneously detect the two key air pollutants carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) in emission plumes from power plants – with an unprecedented spatial resolution of just 30 meters. The newly developed method allows for tracking of industrial emissions from space with great precision and enables atmospheric processes to be analyzed in detail. The results were published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

In space, energetic neutrinos are usually paired with energetic gamma rays. Galaxy NGC 1068, however, emits strong neutrinos and weak gamma rays, which presents a puzzle for scientists to solve.  A new paper posits that helium nuclei collide with ultraviolet photons emitted by the galaxy’s central region and fragment, releasing neutrons that subsequently decay into neutrinos without producing gamma rays. The finding offers insight into the extreme environment around the supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies like NGC 1068 and our own and enhances our understanding of the relationships between radiation and elementary particles that could lead to technological advances we haven’t yet imagined.