Facts in News

                                    Facts in News

Asteroid Apophis

• It was discovered in 2004 and is 340 metres big.
• The asteroid has been named after Apophis, the ancient Egyptian deity of chaos and darkness.
• Earlier NASA classified it as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid and predicted that it would come threateningly close to the Earth in 2029, 2036 and 2068.
• However, according to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the impact risk has been ruled out for at least the next 100 years.
  • CNEOS maintains a Sentry Impact Risk Table, also known as the risk list, which includes the details of an asteroid that orbits close to Earth.
• It is expected to approach Earth again in 2029 and will be in close proximity of 32,000 km and can be seen from Asia, Africa and some parts of Europe without binoculars or telescopes.

Nacaduba sinhala ramaswamii Sadasivan

• Newly found sub-species of the Line Blue butterfly named Nacaduba sinhala ramaswamii.
  • Line Blues are small butterflies belonging to the subfamily Lycaenidae and their distribution ranges from India and Sri Lanka to the whole of southeastern Asia, Australia and Samoa.
• Discovered from the Agasthyamalais in the Western Ghats and the information was published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa, which is an international journal on conservation and taxonomy.
• Named after Lord Rama, signifying the connection across the sea to Sri Lanka.
• First photographed in 2011 and currently has been differentiated from other species of the genus.
• This Lycaenid butterfly belongs to the Nacaduba genus and its common names are Ramaswami’s Six Lineblue and Ceylon Varayanneeli.
• For that first time, a new species has been discovered by an all-Indian research team and also the first confirmed record of its occurrence in India.
• Features: Hairy eyes, anastomosis of veins 11 and 12 on forewings, male wings with purple gloss on the lower side, and upper side of both sexes with dull whitish striae.

                                       (Image Courtesy: TH)

Exercise Vajra Prahar 2021

• It is a Special Forces joint training exercise conducted alternately in India and the US.
• It aims to share the best practices and experiences in areas such as joint mission planning and operational tactics as also to improve interoperability between the Special Forces of both nations.
  • Bilateral military exercises and defence exchanges are an important aspect of deepening bilateral defence cooperation between friendly countries.
• Its 11th edition was conducted recently at Special Forces Training School, at Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh.

Enceladus

• It is an icy and the sixth-largest moon of Saturn, which has a total of 82 moons.
• It is 500 kilometres in diameter and is about 1,400 million kilometres away from the Sun.
• Under its pock-marked, cratered and rippled ice shell, it has an ocean and many of the ingredients (water, organic compounds and energy) to support Earth-like life.
• NASA’s now-dead probe Cassini has confirmed that the natural geysers of the moon spray some of its ocean into space (a possible source for Saturn’s E-ring) which contains life-supporting ingredients.
  • Cassini was the first dedicated spacecraft to look at Saturn and its system.
• It is also geologically active as its rocky core provides energy to that ocean largely because of the tug of Saturn’s gravity.

                                                    (Image Courtesy: NASA)

Culex Mosquitoes

• With changing seasons and rising temperatures, there is growing concern of Culex Mosquitoes in the capital.
• Culex mosquitoes are known carriers of Japanese encephalitis (zoonotic disease), a potentially life-threatening but rare viral disease that causes “acute inflammation” of the brain.
• Diseases they vector:  Include arbovirus infections such as West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis, or St. Louis encephalitis, but also filariasis and avian malaria.
  • Cat Que Virus (CQV) has been largely reported in Culex mosquitoes in China
• Breeding Ground: They breed in dirty, stagnant water and preferred oviposition habitats such as rainwater barrels, catch basins, and septic tanks are rich in organic material.
• Reason for reappearance: Warmer temperatures, season change, and moist conditions.
  • Adult Culex mosquitoes do not fly far from where they develop as larvae. And unlike other mosquitoes that die with the coming of the first hard frost in autumn.
• Presence: Hot and humid regions, throughout the globe, except at the extreme northern latitudes.
• Culex mosquitoes hunt by detecting body heat and the carbon dioxide that humans exhale.

                                                      Pic Source: CDC