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Science

Geobiologists shine new light on Earth’s first known mass extinction event 550 million years ago

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Impressions of the Ediacaran fossils Dickinsonia (at center) with the smaller anchor shaped Parvancorina (left) in sandstone of the Ediacara Member from the Nilpena Ediacara National Park in South Australia. Credit: Scott Evans.

A new study by Virginia Tech geobiologists traces the cause of the first known mass extinction of animals to decreased global oxygen availability, leading to the loss of a majority of animals present near the end of the Ediacaran Period some 550 million years ago.

The research spearheaded by Scott Evans, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Geosciences, part of the Virginia Tech College of Science, shows this earliest mass extinction of about 80 percent of animals across this interval. “This included the loss of many different types of animals, however those whose body plans and behaviors indicate that they relied on significant amounts of oxygen seem to have been hit particularly hard,” Evans said. “This suggests that the extinction event was environmentally controlled, as are all other mass extinctions in the geologic record.”

Evans’ work was published Nov. 7 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences. The study was co-authored by Shuhai Xiao, also a professor in the Department of Geosciences, and several researchers led by Mary Droser from the University of California Riverside’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, where Evans earned his master’s degree and Ph.D.

“Environmental changes, such as global warming and deoxygenation events, can lead to massive extinction of animals and profound disruption and reorganization of the ecosystem,” said Xiao, who is an affiliated member of the Global Change Center, part of the Virginia Tech Fralin Life Sciences Institute. “This has been demonstrated repeatedly in the study of Earth history, including this work on the first extinction documented in the fossil record. This study thus informs us about the long-term impact of current environmental changes on the biosphere.”

What exactly caused the drop in global oxygen? That’s still up for debate. “The short answer to how this happened is we don’t really know,” Evans said. “It could be any number and combination of volcanic eruptions, tectonic plate motion, an asteroid impact, etc., but what we see is that the animals that go extinct seem to be responding to decreased global oxygen availability.”

The study by Evans and Xiao is timelier than one would think. In an unconnected study, Virginia Tech scientists recently found that anoxia, the loss of oxygen availability, is affecting the world’s fresh waters. The cause? The warming of waters brought on by climate change and excess pollutant runoff from land use. Warming waters diminish fresh water’s capacity to hold oxygen, while the breakdown of nutrients in runoff by freshwater microbes gobbles up oxygen.

“Our study shows that, as with all other mass extinctions in Earth’s past, this new, first mass extinction of animals was caused by major climate change—another in a long list of cautionary tales demonstrating the dangers of our current climate crisis for animal life,” said Evans, who is an Agouron Institute Geobiology fellow.

Impressions of the Ediacaran fossils Dickinsonia (at left) and related but rare form Andiva (at right) in sandstone of the Ediacara Member from the Nilpena Ediacara National Park in South Australia. Credit: Scott Evans.

Some perspective: The Ediacaran Period spanned roughly 96 million years, bookended on either side by the end of Cryogenian Period—635 million years ago—and the beginning of the Cambrian Period—539 million years ago. The extinction event comes just before a significant break in the geologic record, from the Proterozoic Eon to the Phanerozoic Eon.

There are five known mass extinctions that stand out in the history of animals, the “Big Five,” according to Xiao, including the Ordovician-Silurian Extinction (440 million years ago), the late Devonian Extinction (370 million years ago), the Permian-Triassic Extinction (250 million years ago), the Triassic-Jurassic Extinction (200 million years ago), and the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction (65 million years ago).

“Mass extinctions are well recognized as significant steps in the evolutionary trajectory of life on this planet,” Evans and team wrote in the study. Whatever the instigating cause of the mass extinction, the result was multiple major shifts in environmental conditions. “Particularly, we find support for decreased global oxygen availability as the mechanism responsible for this extinction. This suggests that abiotic controls have had significant impacts on diversity patterns throughout the more than 570 million-year history of animals on this planet,” the authors wrote.

Fossil imprints in rock tell researchers how the creatures that perished in this extinction event would have looked. And they looked, in Evans’ words, “weird.”

“These organisms occur so early in the evolutionary history of animals that in many cases they appear to be experimenting with different ways to build large, sometimes mobile, multicellular bodies,” Evans said. “There are lots of ways to recreate how they look, but the take-home is that before this extinction the fossils we find don’t often fit nicely into the ways we classify animals today. Essentially, this extinction may have helped pave the way for the evolution of animals as we know them.”

The study, like scores of other recent publications, came out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because Evans, Xiao, and their team couldn’t get access to the field, they decided to put together a global database based mostly on published records to test ideas about changing diversity. “Others had suggested that there might be an extinction at this time, but there was a lot of speculation. So we decided to put together everything we could to try and test those ideas.” Evans said. Much of the data used in the study was collected by Droser and several graduate students from the University of California Riverside.

More information:
Evans, Scott D., Environmental drivers of the first major animal extinction across the Ediacaran White Sea-Nama transition, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2207475119. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2207475119

Provided by
Virginia Tech

Citation:
Geobiologists shine new light on Earth’s first known mass extinction event 550 million years ago (2022, November 7)
retrieved 8 November 2022
from https://phys.org/news/2022-11-geobiologists-earth-mass-extinction-event.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.



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Science

Pair of galaxies shine in new image from Webb, Hubble telescopes

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CNN
 — 

When astronomers combine the observational powers of James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope, they capture more detailed portraits of the cosmos.

A new image showcasing a galactic pair, shared by NASA on Wednesday, is the striking result of using data from both space observatories.

The telescopes each contributed observations across different wavelengths of light. Webb can detect infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, while Hubble has the capability to observe the two galaxies in visible light as well as ultraviolet light. The duo of the elliptical galaxy and the spiral galaxy is known as VV 191, and it’s located about 700 million light-years away from Earth.

“We got more than we bargained for by combining data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope!” wrote Webb interdisciplinary scientist and Arizona State University Regents Professor Rogier Windhorst for NASA’s Webb blog.

“Webb’s new data allowed us to trace the light that was emitted by the bright white elliptical galaxy, at left, through the winding spiral galaxy at right — and identify the effects of interstellar dust in the spiral galaxy. … Webb’s near-infrared data also show us the galaxy’s longer, extremely dusty spiral arms in far more detail, giving the arms an appearance of overlapping with the central bulge of the bright white elliptical galaxy on the left.”

The image is an early result from the observation program called the Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science, or PEARLS, through the Webb Telescope, which has not yet been through the peer-review process. The study has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal.

Scientists selected the galactic pair from nearly 2,000 candidates identified by Galaxy Zoo citizen science volunteers. These small galaxies, which appear to be very close together, aren’t actually interacting with one another, but they allow researchers to trace and compare galactic dust.

“Understanding where dust is present in galaxies is important, because dust changes the brightness and colors that appear in images of the galaxies,” Windhorst wrote. “Dust grains are partially responsible for the formation of new stars and planets, so we are always seeking to identify their presence for further studies.”

But a closer look at this galactic pair isn’t the only celestial wonder this composite image revealed. Other galaxies are also visible behind the pair, and one of these points of light led to a second discovery within the new image. This phenomenon, called gravitational lensing, occurs when foreground galaxies act as a magnifying glass for the objects behind them.

Scientists used the same technique for Webb’s first image released in July. The space telescope “delivered the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date,” according to NASA.

Above the white elliptical galaxy to the left is a faint red arc, which is actually a very distant galaxy. The gravity of the elliptical galaxy in the foreground has bent the more distant galaxy’s light. The warping of the distant galaxy also causes it to reappear as a red dot to the lower right of the elliptical galaxy.

The images of the distant galaxy are so faint that they weren’t recognized in the Hubble data, but they appear clearly in Webb’s near-infrared observation.

“Simulations of gravitationally lensed galaxies like this help us reconstruct how much mass is in individual stars, along with how much dark matter is in the core of this galaxy,” Windhorst wrote.

Beyond the insights astronomers are gleaning about VV 191, the background of this Webb image hints at more mysteries deeper in the universe yet to be revealed, he added. “Two patchy spirals to the upper left of the elliptical galaxy have similar apparent sizes, but show up in very different colors. One is likely very dusty and the other very far away, but we — or other astronomers — need to obtain data known as spectra to determine which is which.”

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Sports

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Week 5 options include rookie Steelers WR with serious chance to shine

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Before you determine which players you should target on the Fantasy football waiver wire ahead of Week 5, you NEED to see what Jacob Gibbs has to say.

Gibbs uses a data-driven approach that has helped him consistently provide accurate rankings at every position. He has proven to be one of the nation’s most accurate Fantasy rankers in recent years — posting the eighth-most accurate results over the past three seasons, according to Fantasy Pros.

Now, he’s revealed the best widely available free agents following Week 4. One player to target on the Week 5 waiver wire: Pittsburgh Steelers rookie wideout George Pickens. The second-round pick out of Georgia generated a lot of buzz during the preseason with several highlight-reel plays during exhibition games and training camp.

In Week 4, he finally broke out in a more meaningful way with six catches for 102 yards and he has now been targeted 15 times in the last two weeks. Pickens is available in roughly 40% of CBS Sports Fantasy football leagues and Gibbs is recommending you add him to your Fantasy football roster this week.

Gibbs is also all-in on a young tight end who brings massive upside! This player is still widely available and could be a HUGE boost to your roster moving forward! Anyone who adds this player could hit it BIG. You ABSOLUTELY need to see who it is before making any Week 5 waiver wire claims.

Which players should you target on the Week 5 Fantasy football waiver wire? And which overlooked tight end is a MUST-ADD? … Join SportsLine right now to see the optimal league-winning free agents, all from one of the nation’s most accurate rankers!

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Business

‘The jewel has lost its shine’: how the world reacted to the UK’s pound crisis | Economics

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Economics

The turmoil stirred condemnation in the US, bitter memories in Greece and interest among holidaymakers in Singapore

Tue 27 Sep 2022 16.13 BST

International reaction to the turmoil in the financial markets which saw the pound fall to its lowest level ever against the dollar is devastating in its condemnation of the new government’s policies, and the astonishment and shock focused in particular on the chancellor’s willingness to experiment with one of the world’s most stable economies.

In the US, criticism was led by the former US treasury secretary Larry Summers, who took to Twitter to attack what he called the “utterly irresponsible UK policy”, expressing at the same time his surprise that the markets had reacted so quickly and harshly. He said this in itself indicated a loss of credibility.

I was very pessimistic about the consequences of utterly irresponsible UK policy on Friday. But, I did not expect markets to get so bad so fast.

A strong tendency for long rates to go up as the currency goes down is a hallmark of situations where credibility has been lost.

— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) September 27, 2022

His long thread concluded with the gloomy prediction that the financial crisis in Britain would not only have an effect on “London’s viability as a global financial centre”, but “could well have global consequences”.

In the New Yorker, John Cassidy wrote that the crisis was all the more disturbing for Britain as it came so soon after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, “their last remaining link to a time when their schoolbook maps showed great swaths of the earth’s surface coloured imperial red”. Now, he said, “they face a humiliating currency crisis”.

He said that the prime minister, Liz Truss, and her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, had plunged Britain into a “fine economic mess”.

“The tragedy,” Cassidy said, “is that all this is unnecessary. Although Britain has been through many tribulations in recent years, it is the world’s sixth-largest economy, it has a stable political system, and London is one of the world’s biggest financial centres. If its government were even reasonably competent, the risk of a financial blowup would be minimal. Unfortunately, that basic civic requirement isn’t being met.”

In Ireland, commentators said that the “British blowout” had clearly backfired, and urged the Irish government, which is to unveil its own budget on Tuesday, to heed the lesson. “Ministers Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath have been delivered a real-time exhibition in exactly how not to do it,” the Irish Independent said in an editorial. “Despite the considerable weight of expectations, Budget 2023 must be grounded.”

Additional spending and tax measures to cushion Irish households and businesses from rising prices are expected to cost around €11bn (£10bn) – but unlike its neighbour, Dublin has a fiscal surplus.

The Irish Times said that, learning from the London experience, “the message sent out by the budget needs to be one of stability and involving a credible plan for public finances. There should be enough resources in place to respond to the immediate crisis – and to leave scope to adjust to circumstances next year if needed.”

In Germany the London-based economic correspondent of the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Philip Plickert, told readers that as a “financial and economic historian, Kwarteng should consult the history books once again to see how dangerous an escalating twin deficit can be. Prime Minister Truss cannot afford a balance of payments crisis.”

Germany’s finance minister, Christian Lindner, meanwhile, told the same paper at an event it hosted on Monday evening that he would wait to draw the lessons from what he referred to as the “major experiment” Britain had embarked upon by, he said, “putting its foot on the gas while the central bank steps on the brakes”.

The Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung called the new policy a “reckless gamble”.

“Such unrest is more familiar in the emerging markets, but not in a highly developed economy like the British one. Following the end of the government of Boris Johnson an economic change of direction was expected, but one so radical? Liz Truss has said goodbye with one fell swoop to one of the keystones of conservative policy: she does not give a damn about solid state finances.”

Ulrik Harald Bie, writing for Denmark’s Berlingske, called the market reaction “swift punishment for a botched policy”.

In Greece, the sterling crisis has stirred memories of the 2010 financial emergency, when rising borrowing costs raised the spectre of a Greek economic collapse as lack of confidence in the economy mounted.

Government insiders told the Guardian the tax cuts outlined by the British chancellor were not only “nonsensical” but reminiscent of the populist policies pursued by Syriza, the firebrand leftists voted into office at the height of the crisis.

“They make no sense either politically or economically,” said one well-placed official expressing disbelief that Kwarteng had decided to ignore budget forecasts. “It’s as if there is an element of the populism, unpredictability and unprofessionalism that we saw in Syriza about the Liz Truss government.”

Greece came close to default and ejection from the eurozone. But as in those rollercoaster days – and with more than two years to go before general elections in the UK – Greek analysts said it would be hard to predict what the endgame would be. “Clearly Labour is on course for a landslide,” said the official, requesting anonymity because he did not wish to speak impolitely of a government of a country Greece traditionally has such strong ties with. “But if there are two more years of this Britain will have to go through a bungee jump, there’ll be rollercoaster days before it gets there.”

In France the run on the pound was a leading story in economic bulletins, with the broadcaster France 24 referring to the Truss government’s mini-budget as “a stock market killing game”, while the newspaper La Croix wrote: “The non-financed spending of Liz Truss makes the pound plunge … the jewel in the crown, the British pound, has lost its shine.”

The magazine Le Point accused Truss of “having lost control of the economy” and of making way for a Labour government, while the financial website Capital speculated about: “How long [will] the fall, which has been dizzying in recent days, continue?”

Across much of Africa, the problems of the UK government and the pound have been relegated to specialist websites and business pages, though in South Africa the South African Broadcasting Corporation led its daily market update with the news of the pound’s fall.

There was some positive coverage of the UK’s prospects however, with one newspaper in Nigeria saying it continued to be a destination for aspirant emigrants. The Vanguard called the UK “a friendly and safe place to live”, due to its ban on allowing citizens to arm themselves, which was “strictly heeded by its occupiers” and a “very stable economy”.

From the perspective of south-east Asia the crisis could be viewed as positive by those wanting to holiday, shop, buy property or pay student fees in the UK, wrote the Straits Times in Singapore. This could now be a good time to visit the UK, the paper said, quoting the travel agency EU Holidays, which said it had seen inquiries about holidays to Britain rise by almost a third.

“It’s the best time for people to go on holiday to the UK because this is the cheapest rate ever – I’ve never seen the rate drop so low before,” said Mohamed Rafeeq, the owner of Clifford Gems and Money Exchange in Raffles City shopping centre.

The drop in the value of the pound is also likely to be welcome news for many international students whose tuition fees are due at this time of year.



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Science

Neptune and rings shine in photos from new space telescope

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This composite image provided by NASA on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, shows three side-by-side images of Neptune. From left, a photo of Neptune taken by Voyager 2 in 1989, Hubble in 2021, and Webb in 2022. In visible light, Neptune appears blue due to small amounts of methane gas in its atmosphere. Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera instead observed Neptune at near-infrared wavelengths, where Neptune resembles a pearl with thin, concentric oval rings. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI via AP

Neptune and its rings haven’t looked this good in decades.

NASA released new glamour shots of our solar system’s outermost planet Wednesday taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The pictures taken in July show not only Neptune’s thin rings, but its faint dust bands, never before observed in the infrared, as well as seven of its 14 known moons.

Webb showed Jupiter at its best in a series of fresh photos released last month.

Launched less than a year ago, the $10 billion Webb is spending most of its time peering much deeper into the universe. Astronomers hope to see back to almost the beginning of time when the first stars and galaxies were forming.

NASA’s Voyager 2 was the first spacecraft to see Neptune in all its gaseous glory, during a 1989 flyby. No other spacecraft have visited the icy, blue planet. So it’s been three decades since astronomers last saw these rings with such detail and clarity, said the Space Science Institute’s Heidi Hammel, a planetary astronomer working with Webb.

Hammel tweeted that she wept when she saw the rings, yelling and making “my kids, my mom, even my cats look.”

This image provided by NASA on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, shows the Neptune system captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera, revealing the planet’s rings, which have not been seen with this clarity in more than three decades. Webb’s new image of Neptune also captures details of the planet’s turbulent, windy atmosphere. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI via AP

Webb is the world’s biggest, most powerful telescope, operating 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth. It rocketed into space last December.

The observatory is in good health, according to NASA, except for one item.

NASA reported this week that a mechanism on one of Webb’s instruments showed signs of increased friction late last month in one of four observing modes. Observations are on hold in this one particular observing track, as a review board decides on a path forward.

New Webb image captures clearest view of Neptune’s rings in decades

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Neptune and rings shine in photos from new space telescope (2022, September 24)
retrieved 25 September 2022
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Science

See Milky Way star clusters shine in Thursday night’s sky

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Our own home galaxy will be the star of the show tonight.

The crescent moon sets early on Thursday (Sept. 1), making the sky extra dark — ideal for viewing clusters of stars throughout the Milky Way galaxy with a backyard telescope.

The Milky Way will be visible in the southern horizon throughout September, along with the countless knots and clusters of stars scattered throughout the galaxy. Many Messier objects will be visible on Thursday (Sept. 1), including Messier 39 and the Cooling Tower Cluster in Cygnus the Swan, the Wild Duck cluster and Messier 26 in the Scutum constellation, the Sagittarius Star Cloud, and Ptolemy’s Cluster and the Butterfly Cluster in Scorpius.

Related: Night sky, September 2022: What you can see tonight [maps]

With the exception of the Sagittarius Star Cloud, all of these are open star clusters. The Milky Way is home to over known 1,000 of these clusters, but astronomers have predicted that the number could be exponentially higher, according to the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. These open clusters are groups of stars that formed at nearly the same time in the same nebulas, the dense clouds of gas, dust, and other matter that give birth to stars when gravity pulls this material together. 

Open clusters tend to form irregular shapes and contain anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred stars. Globular clusters, by contrast, can contain up to hundreds of thousands stars.

Astronomers use open clusters to study star evolution, as most stars in these clusters tend to be young, cosmically speaking; most of the open clusters in the Milky Way are younger than 1 billion years old. 

To spot these clusters in Thursday’s night sky, first locate them with binoculars, then use a telescope at low magnification to get a closer look. 

If you’re looking for a telescope or binoculars with which to observe the star clusters of the Milky Way, our guides for the best binoculars deals and the best telescope deals now can help. Our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography can also help you prepare to capture the next skywatching sight on your own. 

Editor’s Note: If you snap a photo of star clusters and would like to share it with Space.com’s readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com. 

Follow Brett on Twitter at @bretttingley (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab). 



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Sports

MLB Wild Card: Phillies trade deadline pickups shine in win over Reds

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CINCINNATI — This is kind of how a front office draws it up when it adds talent at the trade deadline.

Three of the Phillies’ recent additions delivered nicely in an important 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on Monday night.

Noah Syndergaard pitched seven-plus innings of three-run ball and did not walk a batter.

David Robertson got three huge outs after the Reds made it a one-run game and things got nervous in the eighth.

And Edmundo Sosa was the offensive and defensive star of the game with three RBIs and two eye-popping plays behind Syndergaard at third base.

“All of those guys played well,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Syndergaard, his stuff keeps getting better. He threw all kinds of strikes. Robertson was tremendous. He’s been in all those big moments, playoffs, World Series. When you have a guy like that, it settles everyone down. And Sosa made some tremendous plays.”

Syndergaard and Robertson were both acquired by the Phillies hours before the August 2 trade deadline. Sosa came over a few days earlier in a deal with St. Louis. The Phillies targeted him as a utility infielder who could play strong defense off the bench late in games or in spot starts.

Looking to get as many right-handed bats in the lineup as possible against Cincinnati lefty Mike Minor, Thomson used Alec Bohm as the designated hitter and played Sosa at third. The move paid off offensively and defensively.

Sosa had a two-run single in the third inning and an RBI double in the fifth. Both hits came against Minor.

 

All four of the Phillies’ runs came with two outs.

The win improved the Phillies to 64-51 and got them back on track after being shut out two days in a row by the Mets in New York. The Phils are in control of the second NL wild-card spot, a half-game up on San Diego.

Syndergaard, who made 15 starts with the Angels before being acquired for Mickey Moniak and minor-league outfielder Jadiel Sanchez, is now 2-0 in three starts with the Phillies, and most importantly, the club has been victorious in all three.

“It’s an awesome feeling,” Syndergaard said. “It’s awesome to be part of this team and I look forward to the journey.”

Syndergaard missed the 2020 season and most of the 2021 season due to an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. He signed with the Angels in November and that club gave him extra time between starts as he continued his recovery. 

Monday night’s start against the Reds marked the first time this season that the right-hander pitched on four days’ rest. He liked it. There were no issues. He shined.

Syndergaard’s economy of pitches was excellent. He threw just 71 in getting through seven innings and 58 were strikes. He allowed two runs in the second inning and a leadoff homer in the bottom of the eighth before Thomson went to Robertson. Seranthony Dominguez pitched the ninth and got the save.

Syndergaard finished his outing with just 77 pitches. He threw just 16 balls. He scattered eight hits and struck out six. He threw a first-pitch strike to 24 of 28 hitters.

“That’s the most important part of winning the battle with the hitter, getting ahead and staying ahead,” he said. “A scout came to my house when I was 17 and asked me what the most important pitch in baseball was. I said, ‘Fastball? Changeup?’ He said, ‘No, strike 1.’ So that’s something I take pride in.”

Syndergaard is loving life as a Phillie. He has quickly bonded with pitching coaches Caleb Cotham and Brian Kaplan. Syndergaard tinkered with his delivery as an Angel. He believes he was trying to reinvent himself post-surgery. Cotham and Kaplan have convinced him to simplify the delivery. Syndergaard likes the results.

“Lift (the left leg) and go, let my athleticism take over and don’t make it harder than it is,” he said of his delivery tweak. “The strides I’ve made in two rotation turns with Caleb and Kap have been amazing. I’ve never had more confidence on the mound this year and it shows in my stuff and ability to make pitches.”

Minor, who started for Cincinnati, is a pitcher who had been linked to the Phillies for years as a potential trade or free-agent target. The 34-year-old lefty entered the game with a 6.24 ERA in 12 starts and that was a welcome sight for the Phillies, who had faced some microscopic ERAs in their previous five games.

In order, the Phillies faced Sandy Alcantara (2.01), Edward Cabrera (2.05), Max Scherzer (1.93), Jacob deGrom (1.62) and Chris Bassitt (3.27) in their previous five games. They lost three of those games, all by shutout. 

 

The Phils rallied for three two-out runs against Minor in the third inning. Nick Castellanos knocked in one and Sosa delivered the other two.

After two straight shutouts in New York, the rally was like a burden being lifted from the bat rack. The Phillies will look to make it two in a row over the Reds behind Kyle Gibson on Tuesday night.

Subscribe to Phillies Talk: Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | Watch on YouTube

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Science

See Saturn shine at its best for 2022 in free webcast tonight

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The ringed planet Saturn is often hailed as the jewel of the solar system and you have a chance to see why in a free webcast tonight. 

Saturn, which has the most dazzling rings of all the planets in the solar system, reaches a point in its orbit called opposition tonight (Aug. 14) that marks its closest and brightest appearance in the night sky this year. To celebrate, the online Virtual Telescope Project will broadcast live views of Saturn from a telescope in Ceccano, Italy. Weather permitting, the webcast will begin at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT). It will appear on this page at start time, but you can also watch directly on the Virtual Telescope Project website (opens in new tab), too.

“As the lunar cycle progresses, Saturn and the background of stars will appear to shift westward each evening as Earth moves around the sun,” NASA wrote (opens in new tab) in an August skywatching guide. “Saturn will be at its closest and brightest for the year on Aug. 14, rising around sunset and setting around sunrise.”

Related: The brightest planets of the August 2022 night sky

When Saturn is at opposition, it is in a point in its orbit that is on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun. It’s also at its closest point for the year, which in 2022 is about 823 million miles (1.32 billion kilometers). 

According to Space.com’s skywatching columnist Joe Rao, Saturn is currently shining at a magnitude of +0.3, which is a bit brighter than Procyon, the eighth brightest star in the night sky. The planet is visible in the southeastern sky. 

Weather permitting, you can see the planet Saturn at its best for 2022 on Aug. 14, 2022, in a free Virtual Telescope Project webcast. (Image credit: Virtual Telescope Project)

Saturn isn’t the only planet you can see in tonight’s sky. Jupiter and the moon will also put on a show, NASA has said.

“On Sunday night into Monday morning, Aug. 14 to 15, 2022, Jupiter will appear to the left of the waning gibbous moon. The pair will rise above the eastern horizon at 9:58 p.m. EDT with Jupiter about 6 degrees to the left of the moon,” NASA wrote in its guide. (Your closed fist held out at arm’s length covers about 10 degrees of the sky.)

An illustration showing Saturn at opposition in the night sky of August 14, 2022. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

“The moon will reach its highest in the sky for the night Monday morning at 4:02 a.m. with Jupiter about 4 degrees above the moon, and morning twilight will begin a little more than an hour later at 5:19 a.m.” NASA added.

Are you looking for a telescope or binoculars to observe Saturn, Jupiter or the moon? Our guides for the best binoculars deals and the best telescope deals now are a great place to start. Our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography can also help you find equipment to capture the next skywatching sight like a pro. 

This sky map shows where Jupiter and the moon will be in the southwestern sky in the evening of Aug. 14, 2022. (Image credit: Starry Night Software)

Editor’s note: If you snap an amazing photo of Saturn or any other night-sky sight and you’d like to share it with Space.com for a story or image gallery, send images, comments and location information to spacephotos@space.com.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com (opens in new tab) or follow him @tariqjmalik (opens in new tab)(opens in new tab). Follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab).



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Sports

2022 NFL preseason rookie QB roundup: Desmond Ridder, Kenny Pickett, Sam Howell shine; Matt Corral struggles

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Week 1 of the preseason always brings excitement with football returning, especially as teams get their first look at the rookies on their roster. This year’s rookie quarterback class wasn’t as strong as in recent years, yet many of the young signal-callers got their first taste of NFL action this weekend. 

Kenny Pickett, the lone quarterback taken in the first round this year, is battling for the starting quarterback job with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Desmond Ridder may be the starter down the line for the Atlanta Falcons, while Matt Corral and Sam Howell wait patiently with the Carolina Panthers and Washington Commanders, respectively.

Although he’s not a rookie, Trey Lance enters the season as the No. 1 quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. Given how little Lance has played over the past two seasons (one in college and one in the NFL), let’s group Lance with the rookie signal-callers for this experiment. 

Below is a roundup of how all the rookie quarterbacks fared — with a special exception given to Lance — this weekend. 

Trey Lance (San Francisco 49ers, second year)

Playing just 11 snaps was enough for 49ers fans to get a glimpse of what Lance brings to the offense, as he completed 4 of 5 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown. Lance threw a perfect deep pass to Danny Gray for a 76-yard score to cap off his night, giving the 49ers a 10-7 lead when he left the field.

Lance finished with a perfect passer rating of 158.3 in his debut as the No. 1 quarterback, with the 49ers scoring on both of his possessions. The 49ers don’t have plans to play Lance next week, so this may be it for him this preseason.

Not a bad cameo appearance. 

Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh Steelers)

What an impressive performance from Pickett, who took over in the second half of his debut for the Steelers. Battling for the starting quarterback job, Pickett entered the game after Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph but finished 13 of 15 for 95 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions (132.6 rating). 

Pickett threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Tyler Vaughns with three seconds left to give Pittsburgh a 32-25 victory over Seattle. The pass went for 24 yards, as Vaughns used his yards-after-the-catch ability to find the end zone. 

Perhaps Pickett moves up the depth chart next week.

Willis showed flashes in his Titans’ debut, finishing 6 for 11 for 107 yards (88.1 rating) with a rushing touchdown in his two and a half quarters of action. Also having five carries for 38 yards, Willis showcased his dual-threat ability at quarterback — but ran a bit too much for Mike Vrabel’s liking.

The Tennessee head coach took Willis out of the game midway through a drive in the third quarter because he wanted his quarterback to throw the ball. 

“He needs to try to throw the ball when guys are open,” Vrabel said. “Be more decisive, so we’ll evaluate that and see if there is a timing issue or what’s going on. I wanted to get him out there and see how he responded. He did okay. There were some good plays. Obviously, some plays that we will have to look at the timing on the release and if we are making the right decisions.”

Desmond Ridder (Atlanta Falcons)

Ridder arguably had the top performance of all the rookie quarterbacks in Week 1, even though the third-round pick from Cincinnati won’t be winning the starting job in Atlanta. He made a great first impression, finishing 10 of 22 for 103 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions (89.8 rating) while also leading the Falcons with six carries for 59 yards. 

In addition to his strong play, Ridder threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jared Bernhardt on fourth-and-9 with 1:30 remaining to give the Falcons a 27-23 victory over the Detroit Lions. Perhaps head coach Arthur Smith might have something to think about with his starting quarterback in the coming weeks if Ridder keeps up his strong play.

Howell had an impressive debut for Washington, finishing 9 of 16 for 145 yards (86.7 rating) while also rushing for two touchdowns (three carries for 19 yards). He juked a few defenders on his 17-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter and also scored on a 1-yard run to put Washington up a point with 2:26 to play. 

Howell is listed as the No. 3 quarterback behind Carson Wentz and Taylor Heinicke, but the fifth-round pick showed flashes why he was considered a top-10 pick a year ago at this time.

The third-round pick from Mississippi went 1 of 9 for 11 yards for Carolina, yet led the Panthers on the scoring drive that resulted in Zane Gonzalez’s 45-yard field goal in the final minute. Corral is the No. 3 quarterback behind Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold as the pair battle for a starting job. 

No matter how the play-calling duties were split, Zappe had an impressive showing for the Patriots in his debut. His 20-yard touchdown pass to Lil’Jordan Humphrey gave New England a 21-20 lead in the fourth quarter against the New York Giants — serving as the highlight of a 19 for 32 showing. 

Zappe entered the game midway through the second quarter and threw for 205 yards with a touchdown and an interception (75.6 rating). The Patriots scored two touchdowns on his eight possessions.

An undrafted free agent signing with the Ravens, Brown entered the game in the second half of Baltimore’s 23-10 victory over Tennessee. Brown finished 10 of 15 for 117 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions (90.1 rating), leading the Ravens to field goals on all three of his possessions. 

With Lamar Jackson not playing the preseason opener, Brown relieved Tyler Huntley to open the second half. He’s battling for the No. 3 quarterback job with Brett Hundley. 

An undrafted free agent, the former Washington State quarterback went 7 of 10 for 54 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter for the Cardinals. Guarantano also had four carries for 10 yards in the win. 

Guarantano played the second half and led the Cardinals on two touchdown drives. He’s the fourth quarterback on Arizona’s depth chart. 

A undrafted free agent rookie for the Bengals, Plitt led Cincinnati on an impressive 11-play, 94-yard drive in his lone series late in the fourth quarter. He capped the drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Kendric Pryor, finishing the night 6 of 6 for 76 yards with a perfect passer rating of 158.3. 

Plitt is currently the fourth-string quarterback on the Bengals depth chart, but may have played his way into consideration for the No. 3 job. 

The seventh-round draft pick from Iowa State finished 3 of 6 for 36 yards and a touchdown (106.6 rating) in his lone series for the 49ers. With Jimmy Garoppolo on the trading block, Purdy has an opportunity to make the roster as the No. 3 quarterback — which was what he was listed as in Week 1 of the preseason. 

Crum finished 6 of 11 for 18 yards (60.0 rating), entering the game midway through the third quarter for Kansas City. The former Kent State quarterback was an undrafted free agent signing by the Chiefs, yet is a long shot to make the roster right now as the No. 4 quarterback. 

Coan finished 1 of 5 for 0 yards in mop-up duty for Indianapolis. The undrafted free agent from Wisconsin and Notre Dame is the fourth quarterback on the depth chart, behind Sam Ehlinger for the No. 3 job. 

Thompson played the full game for the Dolphins, finishing 20 of 28 for 218 yards and a touchdown in the 26-24 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The seventh-round pick hit Lynn Bowden on a 22-yard pass in the second quarter for the score. 

The No. 3 quarterback got a good look in the preseason opener. 

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Science

This Weird Star Survived a Supernova Only to Shine Even More Brightly Than Before

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When it comes to going out with style, nothing comes close to the end of a white dwarf. Their thermonuclear self-destruction ranks among the most powerful explosions in the cosmos, forcing the star to wink out of existence in a blaze of glory.

 

At least, that’s the idea. A discovery confirms some white dwarfs fake their deaths with a lackluster performance, only to go on shining even brighter than before.

Ten years ago, supernova SN 2012Z was spotted in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 1309, glowing briefly in a swan song that should, by all accounts, herald its annihilation.

Images of its home galaxy went back for years prior, so working out which star went bang simply required studying follow-up images to spot the now empty spaces.

“We were expecting to see one of two things when we got the most recent Hubble data. Either the star would have completely gone away, or maybe it would have still been there, meaning the star we saw in the pre-explosion images wasn’t the one that blew up,” says UC Santa Barbara astronomer Curtis McCully.

“Nobody was expecting to see a surviving star that was brighter. That was a real puzzle.”  

As unexpected as it was, the observation wasn’t entirely without precedent, contributing to a growing pile of evidence that life after death might not be such an odd thing for white dwarf stars.

 

Once a star with our Sun’s mass squeezes its last dregs of helium into carbon and oxygen, it collapses into a dense, white-hot sphere the size of our Earth. Without the mass to build bigger elements, it simmers away, cooling over the eons until eventually dimming into a cold, black lump.

If such a depleted stellar core has a generous companion star orbiting nearby, life might go on a smidge longer as it siphons off a little extra gas.

At a critical point, however, all that extra mass risks pushing the carbon into fusion, sparking a runaway reaction that unleashes a tremendous amount of energy in a blink, tearing the star apart in what’s known as a Type Ia supernova.

Usually, there’s nothing of note left in the space once occupied by the white dwarf – just an expanding cloud of star guts drifting out into the cosmos, faintly glowing with residual radiation.

These specific blasts are so clockwork they all burn at roughly the same brilliance, making them handy for gauging distances across the Universe.

 

Yet not all explosions are so standard. The more common Type Iax supernova are less like fireworks and more like damp squibs, popping slowly in a comparatively dull whimper.

They might not even be all that destructive, with signs of high-density matter with hallmarks of a thick photosphere spotted in the aftermath of a handful of these less impressive supernovae.

(McCully et al., The Astrophysical Journal, 2022)

Above: Color images of NGC 1309 both before and after SN 2012Z. The left panel shows the Hubble Heritage (pre-explosion) image of NGC 1309. The top-middle panel shows a zoom-in on the position of the supernova from the pre-explosion image. The top-right shows SN~2012Z from the 2013 visit. The middle-bottom panel shows the location of SN~2012Z in the latest observations in 2016. The bottom-right panel shows the difference image between the pre-explosion images and the observations from 2016.

Finding SN 2012Z radiating furiously after its own supernova leaves little doubt that in some, if not many cases, white dwarfs can remain intact even after going thermonuclear.

Exactly why this particular star not only fell short of ripping itself apart but happened to come back even brighter is something of a mystery. The researchers behind the discovery speculate the blast merely stirred things up, allowing its material to settle back into a less dense, more puffed-up form.

 

With a larger volume, the cooling remains of the white dwarf would look even more radiant than ever.

“The implications for Type Ia supernovae are profound,” says McCully.

“We’ve found that supernovae at least can grow to the limit and explode. Yet the explosions are weak, at least some of the time. Now we need to understand what makes a supernova fail and become a Type Iax, and what makes one successful as a Type Ia.”

This research was published in The Astrophysical Journal.

 

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