Technologies

Jupiter’s Moon Callisto Has a Whole Lot of Oxygen Scientists Struggle to Explain

A recent analysis finds up to 1,000 times more molecular oxygen than can be explained by prevailing theories about where it comes from.

Jupiter’s four largest moons are some of the solar system’s most compelling worlds. Io is dotted with active volcanoes, and Europa hides a subsurface ocean many want to check for alien life. Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system, and Callisto is the system’s most heavily cratered object. Callisto is also home to an emerging mystery: The moon’s thick atmosphere holds a surprising amount of oxygen, and scientists aren’t sure why.

Observers have known about the presence of abundant molecular oxygen at Callisto for a while, with the working assumption being that the influence of Jupiter’s powerful magnetosphere could be knocking molecules of water, hydrogen and oxygen out from Callisto’s icy surface and into the atmosphere.

But when a team of researchers ran the numbers, they found that Jupiter’s magnetism can’t fully explain the amount of molecular oxygen around Callisto.

«There’s a huge discrepancy,» said Shane Carberry Mogan, lead author on a paper about the findings published late last month in the journal JGR Planets. «We were off by something like two orders of magnitude to even three orders of magnitude.»

For the layperson, that means there is 100 to 1,000 times as much molecular oxygen present in Callisto’s atmosphere as the scientists would expect to find if Jupiter’s magnetosphere stripping it out of the icy surface were the sole source.

The discovery of so much oxygen on an alien world may sound like a boon for the possibility that Callisto may support life, but the frozen world is probably far too cold for life as we know it. That said, plentiful oxygen could be useful in generations to cometo explorers who may be able to use it for fuel and life support while traveling around deep space.

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It isn’t clear what’s happening at Callisto to produce so much oxygen, but Carberry Mogan hopes to get a better understanding of processes active in the moon’s surface that may yield an explanation or clues.

«That’s probably Callisto’s most enigmatic feature is its surface,» said Carberry Mogan, who’s a postdoctoral researcher in planetary science at the University of California at Berkeley. «It’s supposed to be an icy body, but when you look at it, it’s mostly this dark surface, anywhere from millimeters to kilometers deep.»

It’s still up for debate whether Callisto’s surface is more rock or ice. The dark material on its surface could also be ice-rich, providing a plentiful source for the mysterious amount of oxygen in the atmosphere.

For help with the mystery, Carberry Mogan is looking to upcoming robotic missions like ESA’s Juice and NASA’s Europa Clipper, which may swing close enough to Callisto to gather new data that could shed light on the puzzle.

«It’s really perplexing,» he said. «The next step is to figure out why there’s this gap between the source [of oxygen] and the observation.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Dec. 27

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 27.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s pretty long for a Mini Crossword, and some of the clues are tricky. The answer to 10-Across is not an expression I use, for sure. Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Fashionable
Answer: HIP

4A clue: Product sold on «The Office»
Answer: PAPER

6A clue: One writing a performance review
Answer: MANAGER

8A clue: With 5-Down, redundant synonym of «outcome»
Answer: END

9A clue: Quiet ___ mouse
Answer: ASA

10A clue: Gives constant compliments, in slang
Answer: GASESUP

12A clue: Ski mountain bump
Answer: MOGUL

13A clue: Uneasy feeling
Answer: ANGST

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Personally involved
Answer: HANDSON

2D clue: Hoppy beer, for short
Answer: IPA

3D clue: Mythical horse whose name is an anagram of 10-Across
Answer: PEGASUS

4D clue: Last word in the palindromic sentence «A man, a plan, a canal …»
Answer: PANAMA

5D clue: See 8-Across
Answer: RESULT

6D clue: Ryan of «When Harry Met Sally …»
Answer: MEG

7D clue: Genre for Playboi Carti and Cardi B
Answer: RAP

11D clue: Something in an Easter basket
Answer: EGG

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 27, #460

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Dec. 27, No. 460.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a real challenge. That purple category wants you to hunt out something related in four different words, and it’s a toughie. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Something you save.

Green group hint: An Olympic sport.

Blue group hint: Toronto pitchers.

Purple group hint: Think about the alphabet and look for something hidden.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Memento.

Green group: Types of wrestling.

Blue group: Blue Jays to win Cy Young Award.

Purple group: Ends in a homophone for a letter of the alphabet.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is memento. The four answers are collectible, keepsake, memorabilia and souvenir.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is types of wrestling. The four answers are arm, freestyle, Greco-Roman and sumo.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Blue Jays to win Cy Young Award. The four answers are Clemens, Halladay, Hentgen and Ray.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends in a homophone for a letter of the alphabet. The four answers are batter’s eye (I), blue jay (J), golf tee (T) and pool cue (Q).

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 27, #1,652

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 27, No. 1,652.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle came together pretty quickly for me this time. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.