One last flight for the asteroid Bennu and five other top stories about space and science this week

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Welcome to Wonder Theory, your weekly space and scientific summary.

Within days, robots reached stages in our solar system, as researchers on Earth discovered windows in the early days of humanity. These contrasting advances amaze us here on the CNN Space and Science team, especially since they happen so often.

Finding out how our ancestors created rock art and maps engraved from prehistoric stone turns these first humans from irrelevant figures into relatives with one thing in common.

Similarly, the robotic investigators we send to planets and asteroids, those rocky time capsules of the last 4.5 billion years, discover the past of the solar system. Fueling our curiosity, these ideas share not only where we come from, but also what happened long before humans passed on Earth.

Here are some of this week’s amazing explorations and discoveries.

Throughout the universe

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has been in an orbital dance with the asteroid close to Earth Bennu since it arrived in December 2018 – but the meeting and welcome are coming to an end. The spacecraft completed one last flight of the asteroid on Wednesday, approaching 3.4 miles from Bennu’s surface.
The concept of this artist shows the flight path of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during its last flight of the asteroid Bennu.

The spacecraft is now moving away from its two-and-a-half-year-old companion and will leave for Earth on May 10.

Bennu and OSIRIS-REx had a close meeting on October 20, 2020, when the spacecraft briefly touched the asteroid’s surface and retreated. This allowed the spacecraft’s sampling arm to collect 2 ounces of Bennu material that will be returned to Earth in September 2023. The sample could shed more light on the formation of the solar system and how elements such as water could have be delivered to Earth early by the impact of asteroids.

The images captured by OSIRIS-REx at its latest release will reveal the consequences of the October evidence-gathering event, which was a messy affair. Wait to see those pictures and how much Bennu’s meeting surface has changed next week.

A long time ago…

Ancient cave painters may have intentionally sacrificed their ability to breathe to create historical works of art.

New research analyzing cave paintings from 14,000 to 40,000 years ago in Spain and France has shown that many of these works of art can be found in deep and narrow passages of cave systems.

Upper Paleolithic artists would have needed artificial light to see how they worked. The fire reportedly depleted available oxygen, causing hypoxia – releasing dopamine and causing hallucinations, according to the study.

Researchers believe this was a conscious decision that helped artists connect with the world around them and their beliefs – including the cosmos and the underworld.

wonder

Another week, another selfie rover on Mars – but this is even more historic. The Perseverance rover took a selfie with the new independent Ingenuity helicopter, which sits in the middle of a Martian airfield and prepares for the first motorized flight from another planet.
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 meters from the rover.
By April 3, the helicopter had been attached to the rover’s belly since leaving Earth. Since falling slightly to the surface, the helicopter has ticked off the stages on the list, including surviving the icy nights on Mars and shaking its blades.
The helicopter is scheduled to have its first flight on Sunday, and the mission control team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will share details of this important process at 11:00 ET Monday. If you are an early bird and want to see the first black-and-white images sent back by helicopter, take control of NASA’s mission to JPL on Monday morning, starting at 4:15 AM ET.
And then we’ll know how the Wright brothers’ first moment on another planet passed. Here we hope that ingenuity rises to the height of his name and will have a first successful exit.

Curiosities

A Bronze Age stone map may be the oldest description of a territory in Europe, according to new research.

The Saint-Bélec plaque, a piece of partially broken stone covered with engraving, was first discovered in 1900 before being forgotten for about a century in a museum.

A recent analysis revealed that the sculptures are actually 3D representations of a valley and river similar to the landscape of western Brittany in France, which “highlights the cartographic knowledge of prehistoric societies,” said Clément Nicolas, a postdoctoral researcher at Bournemouth University and first author of study.

The plaque was originally recovered from a burial mound in the same region it describes and was probably reused in ancient burials to help seal human remains. Although the map did not travel around the world, it served several interesting purposes.

The climate has changed

The arrival of white or pink cherry blossoms, or “sakura”, is often a celebrated sign that spring has arrived in Japan, but the early flowering of this year worries scientists.

Cherry blossoms are usually associated with April. The flowering trees bloomed early and reached their peak on March 22 in Tokyo, becoming the second oldest flowering date on record. They bloomed on March 26 in Kyoto – the earliest flowering in the central city in over 1,200 years.

A bird is seen next to cherry blossoms in a park in Tokyo on March 23. The cherries began to bloom annually almost two weeks ahead of schedule.

Warming temperatures around the world cause the early end of frosts and the sudden arrival of spring, which causes flowers to open earlier, the researchers said. Cherry blossoms in Washington, DC, followed a similar pattern.

This could cause a ripple effect in ecosystems where plants and insects rely on each other for timing and environmental indices and have done so for thousands of years, including valuable crops.

This early flowering is just the tip of the iceberg of a global phenomenon that could destabilize countries’ natural systems and economies, said Amos Tai, an associate professor of Earth System Science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The force of nature

Get ready for another season of wild hurricanes.

Colorado State University shared its forecast for a hyperactive season on Thursday, which includes 17 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes (category 3 or higher). A typical hurricane system usually has 12 named storms, six hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast is not valid until May, scientists agree that the Atlantic will host a busy hurricane season due to warm ocean surface temperatures and the lack of soothing effects of El Niño, which is growing. vertical shearing of the wind forms hurricanes.

If you live in an area that could be affected by hurricanes, start preparing now to have an updated evacuation plan and evacuation kit before the June 1 season begins.
Do you like what you read? Oh, but there are many more. Come back here next Saturday for the next edition of The theory of wonders, brought by CNN writer Space and Science Ashley Strickland, which finds wonder in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.

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