The moon has been magnetically inert (has no magnetic field of its own) for millennia, but recent research has confirmed that this was not always the case. About four billion years ago, the inner molten core of the Moon began to rotate against the movement of the Moon's mantle, like our earthly dynamo, and the Earth's natural satellite acquired a powerful magnetic shield. Of course, it had to be a much weaker version of the earth shield due to lack of mass.
But, to the surprise of scientists, our small moon could generate a much more powerful magnetic field than our home planet. No one knows why such a frail body exhibited the most powerful magnetic activity, and all explanations come down to either “we don’t know” or “magic”. This puzzle reveals that one of Earth's most extensively studied partners in the solar system has a set of unknown variables. It looks like the moon used some exotic method to generate an incredible magnetic field. And this went on for quite a long time, perhaps due to the constant bombardment by meteorites, which fueled the moon's magnetism.
The magnetic field disappeared about 3.8 - 4 billion years ago, but research on why this happened has yet to be developed. The most interesting thing is that the core of the moon is still a little watery. Thus, despite the fact that the Earth's satellite is, one might say, at arm's length, we still do not know much about it.
Galaxies 13 billion years old
The early universe was a living hell - a churned and opaque mousse of electrons and protons. It took almost half a billion years before this child cooled enough to allow neutrons to form. And after that, the landscape unfolded, on which stars and galaxies appeared.
A recent ultra-deep study by the Subaru Telescope, located in Hawaii and operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, revealed seven of the youngest galaxies in the universe at all. At a distance of 13 billion light years, they appear as barely visible drops of light. In fact, they only became visible after Subaru focused on a tiny patch of sky and watched it for 100 hours.
Born just 700 million years after the Big Bang, these galaxies are some of the earliest things in the universe that we could ever observe. These types of galaxies are characterized by intense hydrogen excitation and the absence of heavy elements (except for small collections of lithium), since they have not yet been formed in the process of supernova explosions.
These galaxies - Lyman-alpha emitters (LAE) - appeared suddenly and for reasons that are not entirely clear. The LAE galaxies are prolific producers of stars, and their advanced age provides insight into the evolution of the universe. But astronomers aren't sure if these Subaru-captured galaxies were newly formed or pre-existing, obscured by cosmic gas.
Magic Island of Titan
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, may be the most intriguing member of the solar system. In fact, this is the primitive Earth, with its own atmosphere, liquid bodies and even geological activity.
In 2013, the Cassini orbiter discovered a brand new piece of land that mysteriously emerged from Titan's second largest sea, Ligeria Mare. Shortly thereafter, the "magic image" just as mysteriously disappeared into the translucent methane-ethane sea at -200 degrees Celsius. Then it reappeared, with a much larger mass of earth, during another radar scan of Titan.
The ephemeral earth supports the assumption that Titan's alien oceans and seas are dynamic components of the active environment, not static features. Nevertheless, astronomers find it difficult to explain the physical processes behind the ephemeral land. In addition, it has increased in size from 50 to 100 kilometers across since the first appearance.
asteroid with rings
All of our gas giants are surrounded by rings, although most of these rings are thin wisps of debris compared to Saturn's massive set of rings. For the first time, and quite unexpectedly, astronomers have discovered rings around a body much smaller than a gas giant. Asteroid Chariklo, only 250 kilometers across, boasts a system of rings.
Chariklo, despite its rather impressive size, looks like an unremarkable piece of stone. But astronomers have noticed that it has an anomalous light signature. As it eclipsed a distant star, an unexpected amount of light reached our telescopes. It turned out that Chariklo possesses two cosmic necklaces at once. They contain a lot of frozen water, the largest of the rings is 7 kilometers wide, and the smallest is half that.
And although some asteroids even have "moons" - tiny satellites nearby - Chariklo is unique, because rings around asteroids have never been observed before. The origin of the rings is still unclear, although it is believed that they were formed upon impact. Either these are the remains of a foreign body that Chariklo himself destroyed, or parts of Chariklo itself that remained after the crash.
Underproduction of ultraviolet
We pride ourselves on finding different kinds of balance in space. One such balance is the correlation between ultraviolet light and hydrogen, both of which coexist in well-defined proportions.
A recent study, however, showed a significant underproduction of ultraviolet photons from known sources - a 400% discrepancy compared to predicted values. Lead author Juna Kollmeyer likens the discovery to walking into a blindingly bright room only to find a few dim light bulbs that can't put out that much light.
There are two known processes that produce ultraviolet radiation - unruly young stars and massive black holes - but in fact this radiation is more than these two sources can produce. Astronomers cannot explain the ultraviolet overproduction and are forced to admit that "at least one thing we thought we knew about the modern universe is not working." This is sad, given that we had a "well understood" balance of ultraviolet and hydrogen. As in many other cases in the past, astronomers had to return to the calculations.
It is also very interesting that this underproduction of ultraviolet appears only at local distances. Looking further into space and time, astronomers find that their predictions hold up quite well. It is possible that the missing radiation could be the result of exotic and still undiscovered processes. Including the decay of dark matter.
Strange x-rays
Strange pulses of X-rays are streaming from the cores of the Andromeda and Perseus galaxies. And the spectrum of signals (signature of light) does not match any of the known particles or atoms. Therefore, astronomers are tentatively drooling over the upcoming scientific breakthrough, as this phenomenon may be the first evidence of dark matter.
The elusive and invisible matter that makes up most of the mass of the universe may be made up of sterile neutrons, which may or may not exist depending on different points of view. Allegedly, these particles produce X-rays in their death throes, and these emissions could explain bursts from the centers of the aforementioned galaxies.
In addition, since the radiation comes from the nuclei of galaxies, it corresponds to regions with a high concentration of dark matter clusters. We may be on the verge of an important discovery.
six-tailed asteroid
Hubble showed one interesting asteroid that thinks it's a comet. While a comet is easily recognizable by its bright tail, asteroids usually don't have these features: they have little ice and are predominantly composed of heavy elements and rock. Therefore, the discovery of an asteroid with six tails is an incredible surprise.
Asteroid P/2013 P5 is unique, it has six gushing jets. It scatters material in space like a space lawn sprinkler.
It is not clear why this object behaves and looks like this. It is believed that the P5 is spinning so fast that it accidentally kills itself. Its tiny gravity doesn't match its rotational speed, so the rapid rotation is tearing it apart. The pressure of solar radiation pulverizes these debris, creating dazzling tails similar to those of a comet.
However, astronomers know that P5 is the remains of a previous collision. The tails most likely contain no ice at all, as hardly any frozen water will be found in the object, which previously exploded at a temperature of 800 degrees Celsius.
Far Monster HD 106906b
The planet HD 106906b raises many questions. This monster is 11 times more massive than Jupiter, and its gigantic orbit casts doubt on our knowledge of planet formation. The distance from HD to the parent star is 650 AU. e. (1 a. e. - the distance from the Earth to the Sun).
Even Neptune, our most distant of the nearby planets, revolves around the Sun at a distance of 30 AU. e. It is quite far, but HD is much more distant from its star. Astronomers are trying to find explanations for the existence of HD for all its mass and long orbit.
The forces responsible for the creation of the planets no longer work at such gigantic distances, so the possibility arises that HD was created in the process of collapsing the debris ring. But HD is too massive for that. And the primary disks of raw material from which the planets come out simply cannot contain so much “meat” to create such a monster.
Storms on Uranus
Uranus took astronomers by surprise. The second furthest member of our solar family tends to be calm, but for some reason, the planet is currently storm-heavy.
Great storms were expected on Uranus in 2007, when the planet completed half of its 82-year orbit and entered the equinox. However, the stormy weather should have gradually subsided as Uranus continued its journey around the Sun. But that did not happen.
With no internal heat source, the green giant relies on solar emissions to fuel its storms. But astronomers at the University of California at Berkeley have recently spotted massive activity in the planet's upper region, which is covered in a layer of frozen methane. Some of these storms were the size of Earth and shone so brightly that even amateur astronomers could detect glare on the planet.
It's unclear how storms stay so healthy without the support of the Sun. The northern hemisphere has plunged into shadow, but continues to show powerful storm activity. It is possible that the vortices deep in the planet's atmosphere are caused by processes similar to those observed on the more turbulent Jupiter.
KIC 2856960, three-ring system
The Kepler space observatory is usually busy hunting for new planets, but has spent four years of its life tracking three gravitationally bound stars - KIC 2856960. KIC is a mill of three stars, a third celestial body revolves around two dwarf stars. Nothing special, just three stars.
Kepler observed four daily dimmings in the light curve as the binary dwarfs crossed every six hours. He also saw another small dimming every 204 days caused by a third star. You might think that four years of observation is enough to get to know KIC well. Astronomers thought so too. But after all the calculations, the data lost its meaning in the context of the behavior of the observed stars. They weren't even able to calculate the masses of the stars, even though it's quite simple.
By now, the star trinity has led astronomers to a dead end. There is one possible answer that fits the numbers but is illogical. Plus, it's almost unbelievable. The KIC system may hide the fourth star. However, its orbit should ideally mimic that of a third star, giving the illusion of a single object.
Sourced from listverse.com
Space is still an incomprehensible mystery for all mankind. It is incredibly beautiful, full of secrets and dangers, and the more we study it, the more we discover new amazing phenomena. Below you will find out about the ten most interesting phenomena that occurred in 2017.
1. Giant gas vortex in the Perseus cluster
A giant vortex of hot, glowing gas extends over 1 million light-years through the very center of the Perseus Cluster. Matter in the area of the Perseus cluster is formed from gas, the temperature of which is 10 million degrees, which makes it glow. A unique NASA photo allows you to see the galactic vortex in all its details.
2. Sounds inside the rings of Saturn
The Cassini spacecraft recorded sounds inside Saturn's rings. The sounds were recorded using the Audio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) device, which detects radio and plasma waves, which are then converted into sounds. As a result, scientists "heard" not at all what they expected. And what exactly - find out here.
3. An icy planet very similar to Earth
Using a special technique that studied the effect of microlensing, NASA discovered a new planet, which was named OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb. In a number of ways, this planet resembles Earth, but is probably too cold to be habitable. It is noteworthy that a special technology was used to discover the planet - read how it works here.
4. Unique pictures of the rings of Saturn from Cassini
The Cassini spacecraft successfully completed a narrow gap between the planet Saturn and its rings on April 26, 2017 and transmitted unique images to Earth. The distance between the rings and the upper atmosphere of Saturn is about 2000 km. And through this "gap" "Cassini" had to slip at a speed of 124 thousand km / h.
Saturn as seen by Cassini at close range
5The Unexplained Natural Phenomenon Named "Steve"
A group of independent auroral researchers have discovered a yet unexplored phenomenon in the night sky over Canada and named it "Steve". The European Space Agency (ESA) has already sent special probes to study Steve and has found a number of interesting - and completely inexplicable - details.
6. A new planet fit for life
An exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf 40 light-years from Earth could become the new winner of the title of "best place to look for signs of life outside the solar system." According to scientists, the system LHS 1140 in the constellation Cetus may be even more suitable for the search for extraterrestrial life than Proxima b or TRAPPIST-1.
Flight visualization from Earth to LHS 1140 b
Source 7The asteroid that almost made it to Earth
Asteroid 2014 JO25 with a diameter of about 650 m approached the Earth in April 2017, and then flew away. This relatively large near-Earth asteroid was only four times farther from Earth than the Moon. NASA has classified the asteroid as "potentially hazardous".
The image has a resolution of approximately 7.5 m per pixel
8. Space dumpling in 3D
Pictured is Pan, a natural satellite of Saturn. The three-dimensional photograph was taken using the anaglyph method. You can get a stereo effect using special glasses with red and blue filters. All the details about this unusual object can be found here.
9. The first photos of the habitable Trappist-1 system
The discovery of a potentially habitable planetary system of the star Trappist-1 was the event of the year in astronomy. Now NASA has published the first photos of the star on its website. The camera took one frame per minute for an hour, and then the photo was assembled into an animation:
Animation size - 11x11 pixels, it covers an area of 44 square arcseconds
10. Date of the collision of the Earth with Mars
American geophysicist Stephen Myers of the University of Wisconsin suggested that Earth and Mars could collide. This theory is by no means new, but scientists have recently confirmed it by finding evidence in an unexpected place. The “butterfly effect” is to blame for everything, and read about how it manifests itself here.
18:26 22/12/20160 👁 1 198
The outgoing year, without a doubt, turned out to be one of the loudest in all areas. And the world of scientific discoveries in this regard also did not stand aside. This year there have been truly significant scientific discoveries, take at least or, which is less than 5 from. Below, we briefly recall stories that, perhaps, only the lazy did not talk about in scientific communities.
Gravitational waves exist
There is nothing more significant and fundamental in the world of science than a discovery related to the very nature of our reality. And it is precisely such a discovery that scientists of the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory (), who confirmed the existence, can boast of this year. At the same time, it was confirmed not once, but twice.
We are all more or less familiar with the concept of space-time - a sort of four-dimensional box where we eat, live, grow and eventually die. But it turns out that space-time is not a rigid box. Rather, it’s not even quite a box, but a spacious and lively ocean filled with subatomic waves formed during the collision, and other incredibly massive objects. These waves are called gravitational. This is the space-time ripple that LIGO scientists were the first to actually detect back in September of last year. However, official confirmation of their observation came only in February. Then in June, LIGO physicists were able to detect gravitational waves once again. This frequency forces scientists to continue their observations. But we can assume that a new window into the darkest secrets has finally been officially opened.
Of course, without Albert Einstein here, too, could not have done. After all, it was he who predicted them when he derived his general theory of relativity in 1916. It’s hard to say what’s more incredible here: that every part of Einstein’s theory was eventually confirmed and found evidence, or that modern physics is now testing the ideas that came to the mind of a 26-year-old nerd at that time.
Proxima Centauri b: one to rule them all
Over the past few years, astronomers have discovered thousands, including a good number of rocky, Earth-like worlds. However, all potentially habitable candidates immediately became less interesting this year after the discovery of Proxima b - a little larger, wrapping around our nearest stellar neighbor, located only 4.3 light years away.
Proxima b, detected using the Doppler method (measuring the radial velocity of stars), is a rocky world that wraps around Proxima Centauri at a distance of only 7.5 million kilometers, which is 100 times closer than the location to. Since Proxima Centauri is a cool red dwarf, the planet's location is ideal for keeping water in liquid form. There is a high probability (at least according to the assumptions of the researchers) that the exoplanet Proxima b can be inhabited.
It is possible, of course, that Proxima b is an airless desert, which, of course, will turn out to be less joyful. However, we will probably be able to find out very soon. Quite possibly, already in 2018, when a new and very powerful one named James Webb will be launched into space. If, in this case, the picture does not become clearer, then it will be possible to launch a fleet of interstellar nanoprobes that will find out everything for sure.
Elusive ninth planet in the solar system
For more than a decade, astronomers have been wondering if there might be a ninth planet at the outer edges of our solar system. This year, scientists from the California Institute of Technology Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown provided the public with quite convincing evidence that the so-called Ninth Planet really exists. Larger than Neptune and colder than frozen hell, Planet Nine orbits the Sun in a very elongated elliptical at a distance of 100 and more than 1000.
Our best guesses about Planet Nine are based on the unusual orbits of many objects that, according to Batygin and Brown, are subject to the gravitational forces of this mysterious planet.
Of course, the only convincing evidence for the existence of a “shy planet” would be its direct detection in, and not based on the unusual behavior of some Kuiper belt objects. However, this task seems to be extremely difficult, since such cold and distant objects (namely, this is the planet, according to scientists) emit very little light and heat. However, several astronomers, including Brown, are currently trying to find Planet Nine and believe they will be able to find it within the next few years.
The past year has been successful in many respects for those who are engaged in the study of astrophysics and space exploration. Here are just some of the achievements.
The announcement that space-time fluctuations resulting from the collision of two black holes were recorded made a splash in the scientific community. The discovery was made possible thanks to the interferometer installed at the Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), which opens up completely new possibilities for studying the Universe.This discovery finally proved Albert Einstein's prediction about the existence of gravitational waves. In fact, we “saw” invisible entities, because gravitational waves are the echo of a giant explosion that occurred as a result of the collision of two black holes 1.3 billion years ago.
2 Space X Rocket Landing
For Space X and its founder Elon Musk, the year 2016 started very well: after launching a small satellite into orbit, the launch vehicle was able to land on a specially equipped platform on a barge in the ocean. The Space X rocket is a further development of the concept of reusable space vehicles that reduce the cost of space exploration.
Unfortunately, there were some failures. The explosion on the Falcon 9 launch pad clearly made it clear to its creators that one should not hope for a quick and easy success. However, it is worth paying tribute to Elon Musk, who, working on the bugs, is already making plans to explore Mars.
3. There may be an Earth-like planet in the nearest star system.
A team of astronomers at Queen Mary University (London) has discovered a planet similar to Earth near the nearest star to us, Proxima Centauri (the distance to Earth is just over 4 light years). The star itself is about 10 times smaller than the Sun, and the exoplanet is located in the so-called "habitable zone".
4. The project of the first starships
The initiative to create the first starships capable of reaching Proxima Centauri belongs to the Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, which was approved by Stephen Hawking himself. The project was named Starshot. In accordance with it, a whole fleet of nanoscale spaceships driven by light beams will be developed. Such spacecraft will be able to reach incredible speeds of up to 1,000,000 km/h. The flight to the destination in this case will last "only" about 20 years.
In honor of Cosmonautics Day the editors of the site decided to remember 10 latest discoveries in the field of astronomy which can be considered the most important for humanity.
1. The ninth planet. On January 20, 2016, astronomers Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin (California Institute of Technology, Pasadena) announced that they had found Planet X, the existence of which was predicted even before the discovery of Pluto. Scientists concluded that it exists due to the presence of gravitational disturbances that could be caused by some large body. When Pluto was discovered, it was decided that this was the same planet X, but this did not explain the features of gravitational perturbations. According to Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin, the object he found is comparable in size to Neptune, 10 times heavier than the Earth and is located beyond Pluto. However, there is still no exact evidence of the presence of another planet in the solar system. So, for example, the discovered object may not be a planet at all, but rather a dense meteorite or asteroid cloud, but, according to scientists, the probability of this is only 0.0007%.
Estimated orbit of Planet X
2. Gravitational waves. On February 11, 2016, scientists announced that they were able to experimentally prove the existence of gravitational waves, which were predicted by Albert Einstein. This discovery is sensational because it proves the existence of space-time curvature and in the future will allow scientists to learn about long-past events in the life of the universe that cannot be seen with optical telescopes. For the first time, it was possible to “catch” gravitational waves on September 14, 2015. The reason for their occurrence was the merger of two black holes into one massive black hole, which occurred 1.3 billion years ago.
Gravitational waves illustration 3. Second Earth. In August 2016, scientists reported that an Earth-like exoplanet had been found in the system of Proxima Centauri (the closest star to the solar system). A celestial body called Proxima b, 1.3 times heavier than the Earth, revolves around Proxima Centauri in an almost circular orbit with a period of 11.2 days and is at a distance of 0.05 astronomical units (7.5 million kilometers) from it. What makes this planet similar to Earth is that it is in the habitable zone of its sun. That is, the conditions on Proxima b may resemble those on Earth. If it turns out that the planet has a magnetic field, a dense atmosphere and oceans of liquid water, then the likelihood of life existing there is very high.
4. Strange star. At the end of 2016, scientists discovered another star with an irregularly changing glow. The name of the star is EPIC 204278916. A similar star, KIC 8462852 in the constellation Cygnus, was found in 2015. What is the cause of the uneven brilliance of these stars - scientists have not yet figured out. Most likely, the stars cover some massive objects comparable in size to the stars themselves, but it is difficult to imagine what kind of objects such sizes can be. Even a dense cloud of comets could not cover these stars, because in this case it would contain hundreds of thousands of comets with giant nuclei. along with others, scientists have also expressed a completely fantastic assumption that some kind of astroengineering structures such as a Dyson sphere surround the star (see figure).
5. Impossible engine. In the fall of 2016, NASA scientists announced that the EmDrive engine, which essentially violates the laws of physics, is working. An article published in the journal Journal of Propulsion and Power states that the EmDrive engine can produce 1.2 millinewtons per kilowatt of thrust in a vacuum. The reverse force that would contribute to the development of thrust (according to the law of conservation of momentum) was not found. Thus, the engine moves without emitting anything. At the end of 2016, EmDrive was successfully tested in the Chinese space laboratory Tiangong-2, after which Chinese scientists announced that they plan to use the engine on orbiting satellites.
EmDrive engine model 6. Will Pluto become a planet again? In February 2017, NASA scientists proposed revising the definition of the term "planet". Alan Stern, leader of the research team that came up with this proposal, believes that a planet can be called any object in which nuclear fusion processes do not occur and which has gravity sufficient to allow it to take on a spherical shape. Now in the scientific community, when determining planets, it is also customary to take into account the ability of an object to clear its orbit of rotation around a star from planetesimals - small celestial bodies (from a few millimeters to several kilometers in size) formed from dust and gas. But NASA scientists, led by Alan Stern, argue that this criterion depends on how far the body is from the star, and therefore should not be taken into account when defining the term "planet". So, for example, if our Earth were beyond Neptune, it could not clear its orbit of planetesimals, respectively, it could not be considered a planet. If the scientific community makes these adjustments, then Pluto will become a planet again. However, at the same time, natural satellites, including our Moon, will also need to be considered planets.
A picture of Pluto taken by the automatic interplanetary station "New Horizons" 7. Twin Solar System. Also in February of this year, NASA scientists made a sensational announcement - four more planets were found in the TRAPPIST-1 star system (earlier, in 2016, three exoplanets were discovered there), all of them are similar to the Earth and three of them are very likely to have life . Read more about this discovery. Then scientists had high hopes for the planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system, because. previously it was not possible to find so many planets located in the "habitable zone of a star" at once. However, in early April, Hungarian scientists reported that, with a high probability, the planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system are still not suitable for the origin of life. Astronomers came to this conclusion after analyzing data obtained by the Kepler space telescope. According to these data, the star TRAPPIST-1 often experiences the strongest plasma ejections, with a power hundreds of times greater than solar storms that reach the Earth. For 80 days, 42 such flares were recorded, with such a frequency of ejections, exoplanets simply do not have time to stabilize their atmosphere, and the magnetic field of these planets is too weak to reflect such powerful geomagnetic storms. So the hopes for the early detection of aliens in the TRAPPIST-1 system did not materialize ...
8. Traces of alien technology. However, in another place, scientists may still have found traces of alien activity. We are talking about the phenomenon of fast discrete radio pulses, which may be evidence of the activity of huge transmitters (they can reach the size of entire planets), transmitting energy to interstellar ships in distant galaxies. Scientists first learned about the existence of such pulses in 2007, and since that time no more than 20 fast discrete radio pulses have been recorded. In 2017, scientists Avi Loeb and Manasvi Lingam conducted a study in which they tried to establish, using calculations, whether the existence of such large transmitters is possible. Scientists have found that from the point of view of the laws of physics and from an engineering point of view, such transmitters can exist. Loeb and Lingam also suggested the purpose of creating such devices - they can be used to give acceleration to interstellar light sails. “This is quite enough to carry living passengers across interstellar or even intergalactic distances,” said Manasvi Lingam. At the same time, the researchers note that their work is hypothetical.
9. New model of the Universe. Scientists from the University of Budapest recently conducted a study suggesting that dark energy may not exist. The concept of dark energy was introduced into the mathematical model of the universe in order to explain why the ever-accelerating expansion of the universe occurs. Until recently, the theory of the existence of dark energy was the most common explanation for the expansion of the universe and was accepted by many scientists. However, American and Hungarian cosmologists from the University of Budapest this year presented a new model of the universe, in which there is no place for dark energy. Having developed a computer model of the universe and followed its evolution, the researchers noticed that different regions of space are expanding at different rates. If these data are confirmed, it will have a great impact on the further development of models of the Universe.
Atmosphere found on planet GJ 1132b 10. An atmosphere has been discovered on an exoplanet. And the last, most important discovery in the field of astronomy, in our opinion, is the discovery of the atmosphere on the planet GJ 1132b. This is the first time that scientists have recorded the presence of an atmosphere on an exoplanet that is closest to Earth in size, mass and composition. GJ 1132b is located in the star system of the red dwarf GJ 1132, which is in the direction of the constellation Sails of the southern sky and is 39 light-years away from us. This discovery is a breakthrough in the field of detection of life outside the solar system.
And I would like to complete our list of the most interesting and important astronomical discoveries made in recent times with another study conducted in March of this year in our country. According to the data obtained in the course of the VTsIOM survey, a quarter of Russians are sure that it is not the Earth that revolves around the Sun, but the Sun revolves around the Earth. Researchers note that they have been asking this question to Russian citizens for several years now and always get approximately the same results...
