Scientists from the United Kingdom and China wondered what caused the major extinction of life on planet Earth about 252 million years ago, and discovered that mega sea warming events caused by the El Niño phenomenon were responsible. The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon consists of increased temperatures in the central and eastern part of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and changes in the atmosphere. It occurs every two to seven years and involves a risk of increased rainfall and storms in some areas of southern South America or the risk of drought in other areas.
A group of astronomers have discovered thanks to the ongoing New Horizons survey that the solar system may be larger than previously thought.
One of the missions to study the Kuiper belt was the New Horizons probe, launched in 2006. On a trip to the edge of the solar system, New Horizons would photograph Pluto in great detail. This occurred in July 2015, when the probe flew by the dwarf planet taking the most detailed photos of the object. The photos showed ice mountains, geological processes and the thin atmosphere.
After Pluto, New Horizons continued its mission to the Arrokoth object, which became the most distant object ever explored by a probe. Today, the probe has already passed the belt and is about 60 astronomical units from the Sun. And the new data the probe has found shows that there may be a mysterious structure around the Kuiper belt.
Astronomers discovered a new cosmic mystery that transports to worlds beyond imagination. In the depths of space, about 640 light years from Earth, lies WASP-76b, an exoplanet so extreme that it challenges everything experts thought they knew about the universe. This gas giant, known as an "ultrahot Jupiter," orbits so close to its star that its temperatures exceed 2,400 degrees Celsius. An infernal heat that vaporizes metals and creates atmospheric conditions so extreme that even science fiction pales before them.