Scientists have said that a massive object lurking at the edge of the solar system could be responsible for hurling comets at earth. Most comets that fly into the inner solar system seem to come the Oort cloud — a region of icy dust and debris left over from the birth of the solar system. Now new calculations suggest a large object that is up to four times as big as Jupiter could be responsible for sending them in our direction. Astrophysicists at the University of Louisiana have analysed the comets in the Oort cloud and deduced that 25 per cent of them would need a nudge by a body of at least Jupiter size before they changed orbit.
John Matese and Daniel Whitmire came up with theory said that “something smaller than a Jovian mass would not be strong enough to perform the task,” reports the Daily Mail. “I think this whole issue will be resolved in the next five to 10 years, because there’s surveys coming on line that will dwarf the comet sample we have today,” said Matese.
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1st live MRI pictures of baby at birth
London: Doctors for the first time have produced live MRI images of a baby at the moment of birth.
The scans could provide valuable new insights into the birthing process and allow future lives to be saved. “We can now see all the details we previously could only study with probes. These images are fascinating and proved yet again that every birth is a small miracle,” the Daily Mail quoted gynaecologist Ernst Beinder at Berlin’s Charite Hospital, as saying.
The team developed a special “open’’ scanner, which provided the necessary room for midwives and the mother during the birth. —ANI