Kathmandu: Scientists have made a key discovery about antimatter - a mysterious substance which was plentiful when the Universe began.



Antimatter is the opposite of matter, from which stars and planets are made.



Both were created in equal amounts in the Big Bang which formed our Universe. While matter is everywhere, though, its opposite is now fiendishly hard to find.



The latest study has discovered the two respond to gravity in the same way.



For years, physicists have been scrambling to discover their differences and similarities, to explain how the Universe arose.



Discovering that antimatter rose in response to gravity, instead of falling would have blown apart what we know about physics.



They've now confirmed for the first time that atoms of antimatter fall downwards. But far from being a scientific dead end this opens the doors to new experiments and theories. Does it fall at the same speed, for example?



During the Big Bang, matter and antimatter should have combined and cancelled each other, leaving nothing but light. Why they didn't is one of physics' great mysteries and uncovering differences between the two is the key to solving it.



Somehow matter overcame antimatter in those first moments of creation. How it responds to gravity, may hold the key, according to Dr Danielle Hodgkinson, a member of the research team at Cern in Switzerland, the world's largest particle physics laboratory.



Most antimatter exists only fleetingly in the Universe, for fractions of seconds. So to carry out experiments, the Cern team needed to make it in a stable and long-lasting form.



(News Source: BBC)

Scientists get closer to solving mystery of antimatter

Kathmandu: India has launched its first observation mission to the Sun, just days after the country made history by becoming the first to land near the Moon's south pole.



Aditya-L1 lifted off from the launch pad at Sriharikota on Saturday at 11:50 India time (06:20 GMT).



It will travel 1.5 million km (932,000 miles) from the Earth - 1% of the Earth-Sun distance.



India's space agency says it will take four months to travel that far.



India's first space-based mission to study the solar system's biggest object is named after Surya - the Hindu god of Sun who is also known as Aditya.



And L1 stands for Lagrange point 1 - the exact place between Sun and Earth where the Indian spacecraft is heading.



According to the European Space Agency, a Lagrange point is a spot where the gravitational forces of two large objects - such as the Sun and the Earth - cancel each other out, allowing a spacecraft to "hover".



Once Aditya-L1 reaches this "parking spot", it would be able to orbit the Sun at the same rate as the Earth. This also means the satellite will require very little fuel to operate.



On Saturday morning, a few thousand people gathered in the viewing gallery set up by the Indian Space Research Agency (Isro) near the launch site to watch the blast off.



It was also broadcast live on national TV where commentators described it as a "magnificent" launch. Isro scientists said the launch had been successful and its "performance is normal".



After an hour and four minutes of flight-time, Isro declared it "mission successful".



Aditya-L1 will now travel several times around the Earth before being launched towards L1.



From this vantage position, it will be able to watch the Sun constantly - even when it is hidden during an eclipse - and carry out scientific studies.



Isro has not said how much the mission would cost, but reports in the Indian press put it at 3.78bn rupees ($46m; £36m).



(News Source: BBC)

India successfully launches its first mission to the Sun

Kathmandu: In a world first, scientists say an 8cm (3in) worm has been found alive in the brain of an Australian woman.



The "string-like structure" was pulled from the patient's damaged frontal lobe during surgery in Canberra last year.



The woman, 64, had for months suffered symptoms like stomach pain, a cough and night sweats, which evolved into forgetfulness and depression.



She was admitted to hospital in late January 2021, and a scan later revealed "an atypical lesion within the right frontal lobe of the brain".



But the cause of her condition was only revealed by Dr Hari Priya Bandi's knife during a biopsy in June 2022.



The red parasite could have been alive in her brain for up to two months, doctors said.



The woman, who lived near a lake area in south-eastern New South Wales state, is recovering well.



Her case is believed to be the first instance of a larvae invasion and development in the human brain, researchers said in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal which reported the case.



Researchers warn the case highlights the increased danger of diseases and infections being passed from animals to people.



The Ophidascaris robertsi roundworm is common in carpet pythons - non-venomous snakes found across much of Australia.



Scientists say the woman most likely caught the roundworm after collecting a type of native grass, Warrigal greens, beside a lake near where she lived. The area is also inhabited by carpet pythons.



(News Source: BBC)

Live worm found in Australian woman's brain in world first

Kathmandu: India has made history as its Moon mission becomes the first to land in the lunar south pole region.



With this, India joins an elite club of countries to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.



The Vikram lander from Chandrayaan-3 successfully touched down as planned at 18:04 local time (12:34 GMT).



Celebrations have broken out across the country, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying "India is now on the Moon".



India's achievement comes just days after Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft spun out of control and crashed into the Moon.



The crash also put the spotlight on how difficult it is to land in the south pole region where the surface is "very uneven" and "full of craters and boulders".



India's second lunar mission, which also attempted to soft-land there in 2019, was unsuccessful - its lander and rover were destroyed, though its orbiter survived.



One of the mission's major goals is to hunt for water-based ice which, scientists say, could support human habitation on the Moon in future.



It could also be used for supplying propellant for spacecraft headed to Mars and other distant destinations.



Scientists say the surface area that remains in permanent shadow there is huge and could hold reserves of water ice.



The lander and the rover are carrying five scientific instruments which will help discover the physical characteristics of the surface of the Moon, the atmosphere close to the surface and the tectonic activity to study what goes on below the surface.



(News Source: BBC)

India makes history as Chandrayaan-3 lands near Moon's south pole

Kathmandu: Russia's unmanned Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the Moon after spinning out of control, officials say.



It was Russia's first Moon mission in almost 50 years.



The craft was due to be the first ever to land on the Moon's south pole, but failed after encountering problems as it moved into its pre-landing orbit.



It was set to explore a part of the Moon which scientists think could hold frozen water and precious elements.



Roscosmos, Russia's state space corporation, said on Sunday morning that it had lost contact with the Luna-25 shortly after 14:57pm (11:57 GMT) on Saturday.



Preliminary findings showed that the 800kg lander had "ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon", it said in a statement.



It said a special commission would look into why the mission failed.



The loss of Luna-25 is a blow to Roscosmos. Russia's civilian space programme has been in decline for several years, as state funding is increasingly directed towards the military.



Russia was racing to the Moon's south pole against India, whose Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is scheduled to land there in the coming days and send a rover to explore the rocks and craters, gathering data and images to send back to Earth.



Parts of the Moon's south pole remain permanently in shadow, which makes finding water a possibility.



Roscosmos had acknowledged that the Luna-25 mission was risky and could fail. The craft launched from Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region of Russia on 11 August, and then successfully entered the moon's orbit on Wednesday of this week.



It was expected to make history by making a soft landing on Monday or Tuesday, just days before the Indian touchdown.



No country has ever landed on the Moon's south pole before, although both the US and China have landed softly on the Moon's surface.



Luna-25 was Russia's first Moon mission since 1976, when it was part of the Soviet Union. That mission, Luna-24, landed successfully.



(News Source: BBC)

Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into Moon

Kathmandu: India's third lunar mission is inching closer to the Moon's little-explored south pole where it aims to set down a lander and rover on 23 August.



On Thursday, the lander detached from the propulsion module, which carried it close to the Moon, beginning its last phase of the mission.



Chandrayaan-3, however, may not be the first to land on the south pole if it's beaten by a new Russian mission.



Luna-25, launched last week, is expected to land a day or two earlier.



If the Russian spacecraft - its first Moon mission since 1976 comes in nearly half a century when Russia was part of the Soviet Union - is successful in making a soft landing on 21st or 22nd August as planned, Chandrayaan-3 will have to settle for being a close second.



India, however, will still be only the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.



Russia launched Luna-25 on 10 August, but propelled by the much more powerful Soyuz rocket, it escaped the Earth's gravity in no time and reached lunar orbit on Wednesday, the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced.



Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14 July, but it went around the Earth a few times before entering the lunar orbit on 5 August. The spacecraft has been orbiting the Moon since then, while preparing for the landing.



The two missions aiming for the Moon are being described by many as a "mini space race".



Isro, however, told the BBC it's not a race and the two nations will have a new 'meeting point' on the Moon.



(News Source: BBC)

Chandrayaan-3: Indian lunar mission inches closer to Moon

Kathmandu: It has been raining since morning in many parts of the country including Kathmandu Valley.



Although there is normal rain now, there is a possibility of heavy rain in some places from afternoon, according to the Water and Weather Forecasting Division.



At present, there is light to moderate rain in a few places in Bagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini and Karnali provinces and one or two places in the rest of the provinces.



The Weather Forecasting Division has asked to be alert as there is a possibility of more than normal rainfall in different parts of the country till next Monday.

Govt requests to be alert as rainfall to continue till Monday

Kathmandu: Chandrayaan-3, India's latest Moon mission, has entered the lunar orbit, the country's space agency has said.



The spacecraft with an orbiter, lander and a rover lifted off on 14 July. It will try to set the lander and rover on the lunar surface on 23 or 24 August.



If successful, India will be the first country to land near the Moon's little-explored south pole.



It will be only the fourth to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.



After the spacecraft orbited the Earth for more than a week, it was sent into the translunar orbit on Tuesday through a slingshot manoeuvre.



The third in India's programme of lunar exploration, Chandrayaan-3 is expected to build on the success of its earlier Moon missions.



It comes 13 years after the country's first Moon mission in 2008, which discovered the presence of water molecules on the parched lunar surface and established that the Moon has an atmosphere during daytime.



Chandrayaan-2 - which also comprised an orbiter, a lander and a rover - was launched in July 2019 but it was only partially successful. Its orbiter continues to circle and study the Moon even today, but the lander-rover failed to make a soft landing and crashed during touchdown.



(News Source: BBC)

India mission enters Moon orbit, aiming for south pole

Kathmandu: A British-built spacecraft is expected to fall to Earth later on Friday, after completing a transformative mission to map the planet's winds.



The Aeolus satellite fired a laser down through the atmosphere to track the movement of air in any location, at every altitude, all around the world.



Its success means replacements are already being planned.



But the project very nearly failed to get off the ground at all - because of the difficulty in making Aeolus work.



For more than a decade, engineers struggled to develop an ultraviolet instrument that could operate for long enough in the vacuum of space. And this delay led to Aeolus being dubbed "the impossible satellite".



The engineers, under the leadership of the European Space Agency (Esa), stuck at it because of the prize on offer - the first truly global view of how winds behave on Earth, from the surface all the way up into the stratosphere (from 0-30km).



However, in the time it took for Aeolus to get to the launch pad, in 2018, and fly its near five-year mission, best practice for deorbiting defunct spacecraft had changed.



They now need the ability either to pinpoint their fall back to Earth to a safe zone or be sure of burning up completely as they come through the atmosphere.



And the more-than-one-tonne Aeolus fails on both counts. Its propulsion system is too weak to fully direct where it comes out of the sky and up to 20% of its hardware is likely to survive to the surface of the Earth.



Instead, Esa flight controllers have spent the week building up to an "assisted re-entry". They have been commanding the satellite to lower its altitude in a series of manoeuvres, the last of which, on Friday, should drop it to a height of 120km (75 miles).



(News Source: BBC)

'Impossible satellite' ready to fall to Earth

Kathmandu: The average temperature of the world has set a record.



According to American researchers, the average temperature on Monday, July 3, was the highest ever recorded at 17.01 degree Celsius.



It is reported that this is the highest temperature since records began.



The average temperature of 16.92 degrees Celsius was recorded in August 2016, and on Monday, the record was broken and 17.02 degrees Celsius was recorded.



Scientists believe that the combined effects of the natural weather conditions called El Nino and the continuous carbon dioxide emissions in the environment have caused this extreme heat.



Last month was also recorded as the hottest month in the world. Since the beginning of the year, researchers have been concerned about the rising temperature on land and sea surface.

July 3 recorded highest ever temperature in the world

Kathmandu: A European space telescope has launched from Florida on a quest to resolve one of the biggest questions in science: What is the Universe made of?



The Euclid mission will make an immense 3D map of the cosmos in an effort to tie down some of the properties of so-called dark matter and dark energy.



Together, these phenomena appear to control the shape and expansion of everything we see out there.



Researchers concede, however, they know virtually nothing about them.



Neither dark matter nor dark energy are directly detectable.



This big gap in knowledge meant we couldn't really explain our origins, as reported by the BBC.



Euclid's insights will be our best bet to get on to a path of understanding, the astronomer at the UK's Lancaster University believes.



The €1.4bn (£1.2bn) Euclid telescope went up on a Falcon-9 rocket from Cape Canaveral at 11:12 local time (15:12 GMT/16:12 BST).



Euclid has been despatched to an observing position about 1.5 million km from Earth, on the opposite side of the planet to the Sun.



Although primarily a European Space Agency (Esa) project, the mission has significant scientific and engineering inputs from the US space agency (Nasa) as well.



(News Source: BBC)

Euclid: Europe's 'dark explorer' telescope launches

Kathmandu: Rising temperature has affected daily lives in Nepal. The weather is not getting cool anytime soon though.



Meteorologists have said that the high temperature will remain in most places of Nepal for a few more days.



Meteorologists gave this warning while speaking in a discussion program organized about hot air and cold weather in most places of the country for the past few days.



They have said that this year, most of the areas will see less rainfall and the maximum temperature will be higher.



In the same program, other weather experts and representatives of concerned bodies said that the early warning system is weak.



Experts said that due to the heat, fever, vomiting, fatigue, weakness, excessive thirst, headache, leg cramps, dizziness, fainting, and muscle aches can occur.



In order to avoid the heat wave, stay inside the house i.e. in a cool place during the hot season, wear light clothes, do not go outside too much, wear cotton clothes, cover your head when going out, wear a hat, drink plenty of water and soft drinks (juice, sarvat, etc.) and health problems.



If so, doctors suggest that you should be in regular contact with health officials and get more advice.

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