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L'Orient-Le Jour
17 hours ago
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
'Don't play with fire': Launch of national campaign to prevent forest fires
The fire season is well underway in Lebanon, and it risks becoming even more complicated due to the drought gripping the country as a result of the very sparse rainfall during the past winter. A national campaign to prevent forest fires was launched Tuesday at the premises of the National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Jnah, Beirut, attended by Agriculture Minister Nizar Hani, his Environment counterpart Tamara al-Zein, a representative from the Interior Ministry, Gen. Nabil Farah, and the CNRS Secretary-General Chadi Abdallah. Details of the campaign were announced by Sawsan Bou Fakhreddine, director of the Association for Forests, Development, and Conservation (AFDC), one of the partners. The slogan and hashtag of the campaign, "Don't play with fire," is directed at those who, through a lack of vigilance, could cause fires. Its goals aim to educate Lebanese people about the dangers of forest fires, their causes and consequences through educational messages. The campaign also aims to support early warning systems at the national and regional levels (volunteers, municipalities, the Risk Management Center under the prime minister's office, etc.) and to "mobilize local communities for forest protection through sustainable management and volunteer-led initiatives," according to the activist. These volunteers, who live in the regions, are considered "the first line of defense against fire," as shown in a video created as part of this campaign and released during the press conference. As allies of the municipalities, they play an important role in early-warning efforts against fires and in launching initial firefighting efforts while waiting for Civil Defense. According to Sawsan Bou Fakhreddine, the campaign program aims above all to distribute as widely as possible the daily bulletin on fire risks by region, published by the CNRS in cooperation with the Interior Ministry, as well as guidelines to prevent and combat fires, if necessary. Numerous training sessions are planned for Civil Defense, forest rangers, volunteers and farmers. The latter can play a very positive role in prevention and response, but can also cause fires if they do not cease certain practices such as burning dry grasses, for example. The general public is also targeted by the campaign's initiators. Special television programs are planned, and awareness content is expected to be shared on social networks until October (late summer and autumn are, contrary to what one might think, the most dangerous season for forest fires due to the prolonged dry period). Specific training and awareness activities are also set in highly wooded areas, especially Akkar (far north), which is affected by severe fires every year. A risk aggravated by drought Minister Nizar Hani specified during his speech that this campaign is based on "a scientific and rational approach" aiming to clean forests and woodlands of excess dry biomass, strengthen early warning networks, raise public awareness of the dangers of lighting fires and of the legal provisions against offenders, and improve the capacities of municipalities and environmental associations in this area. For her part, the Minister of Environment provided statistics to measure the scope of the phenomenon: 4,264 fires recorded in 2023, 6,365 in 2024 and 466 so far in 2025. She emphasized that the unusual drought is an aggravating factor this year. Zein recalled that this national campaign complements the forest fire risk management project, launched a few days ago under the patronage of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
Yomiuri Shimbun
04-07-2025
- Science
- Yomiuri Shimbun
TWA 7b: James Webb Space Telescope Discovers Its 1st Exoplanet
PARIS (AFP-Jiji) — The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its first exoplanet, astronomers said on June 25, capturing rare direct images of the relatively small world in the Earth's galactic backyard. The telescope, which can see farther into the universe than anything before it, has turbocharged the search for planets beyond the Solar System since coming online in 2022. Until now, however, its deep gaze has mostly been used to probe already known exoplanets — to find out key information such as the atmospheric composition — rather than tracking down new worlds. The discovery of exoplanet TWA 7b, revealed in a study in the journal Nature, 'represents a first for the telescope,' France's CNRS research center said in a statement. The large majority of the nearly 6,000 exoplanets found so far have been identified from the light they blot out when they pass in front of their star, rather than from direct images of the planet. Webb 'has spent an enormous amount of time observing planets that have never been directly imaged,' lead study author Anne-Marie Lagrange of the Paris Observatory told AFP. 'Blinded by light' Capturing direct images of faraway planets is difficult because they are 'very faint' due to a lack of heat, Lagrange said. Even worse, she added, 'we're blinded by the light of the star they orbit.' But Webb has a way to get around the problem. An attachment to Webb's MIRI instrument called a coronagraph masks the star, creating an effect similar to a solar eclipse. The telescope's infrared vision can then peer through and spot the planet. Astronomers pointed Webb at the star TWA 7, which is around a hundred light years from Earth — relatively nearby in the universe. The star, which was first spotted by the Hubble space telescope in 1999, was thought to be a promising target for two reasons. It is just 6.4 million years old — a baby compared to the Sun's 4.5 billion years — and still surrounded by a massive disc of gas and dust where planets are thought to form. And from the direction of Earth, the disc is seen from above, giving a good view of its rings. The three rings around the star, which stretch more than 100 times the distance separating the Sun and Earth, had previously been spotted by the Very Large Telescope in Chile. But inside an otherwise empty section of the second ring, the Webb telescope detected something particularly bright. Astronomers ruled out that the light was coming from an object at the edge of the Solar System, or from a distant galaxy behind the star. That could mean only that the light source was a relatively small and cold planet, with a mass at least 10 times lighter than any other exoplanet directly imaged so far, according to the study. Hunt for smaller worlds The researchers estimated that the planet's mass was similar to that of Saturn, a gas giant that weighs only a third of Jupiter, the biggest planet in the Solar System. Webb has increased the ability to detect exoplanets via direct images by a factor of 10, Lagrange said. That is important because smaller, rocky planets similar to Earth or Mars are the ultimate target in the search for habitable worlds outside of the Solar System. Lagrange said she would be delighted to discover 'Earth-like planets' one day. But she said astronomers needed to study all kinds of planets — and to understand how planetary systems form — to know whether the life-hosting Solar System is unique. In the future, astronomers expect the Webb telescope will be able to spot planets even smaller than TWA 7b. But directly capturing images of faraway worlds similar to Earth will require even more telescopic power, such as from the Extremely Large Telescope that is scheduled to come online in Chile in 2028.
BBC News
27-06-2025
- Science
- BBC News
James Webb space telescope spots its first exoplanet TWA 7b
The James Webb Space Telescope been has been sending incredible images of space back to Earth and helping scientists learn more about the universe since its launch in now there is a new discovery to add to the telescope, which can see further into the universe than anything before it, has just spotted its first exoplanet. TWA 7b, is located around a hundred light years from Earth and is thought to be a relatively young 6.4 million years old. What did the James Webb telescope spot? Until now, the James Webb space telescope has mostly been used to learn more about already known exoplanets, rather than look for new for the first time, the powerful telescope has discovered an exoplanet not previously known to international team, led by Dr Anne-Marie Lagrange, researcher at the Paris Observatory and Grenoble Alpes University in France, decided to point the telescope Webb at a star called TWA 7 - around a hundred light years from hi-tech instruments on board, the space telescope was able to block out light from stars, helping it to observe nearby fainter helped it spot the exoplanet TWA 7b, a young gas giant planet roughly the size of Saturn - our solar system's second-largest planet - orbiting a star about 110 light-years from Earth in the constellation a statement, France's CNRS research centre said that the discovery "represents a first for the telescope."Dr. Anne-Marie Lagrange explained: "Webb opens a new window - in terms of mass and the distance of a planet to the star - of exoplanets that had not been accessible to observations so far. "This is important to explore the diversity of exoplanetary systems and understand how they form and evolve," she are now looking to find out more about TWA 7b and hope that the telescope could help them discover "Earth-like planets" one day. What is an exoplanet? Exoplanets are planets that orbit a different star than our Sun - in a different solar system to though scientists thought for a long time that they must exist, it was only in 1992 that the first exoplanet was work to find more exoplanets has produced some exciting results 2015, scientists discovered the exoplanet Kepler-452b, which was described as 'Earth's cousin' because of its close similarities to our experts say exoplanets are really important because they raise the possibility that life could exist in other solar systems.
The National
27-06-2025
- Science
- The National
James Webb Space Telescope's first 'alien world' discovery unlocks new era of planet-hunting
Scientists have unveiled groundbreaking direct images of a planet outside of our own solar system, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. It is the first exoplanet discovered by the telescope, proving it can detect lighter and more elusive worlds orbiting distant stars. The planet, named TWA 7b, is situated near a young star about 34 lightyears away, in the constellation Hydra. It is the lightest exoplanet ever seen through direct imaging, with a mass similar to Saturn and about one-third that of Jupiter, as scientists are now able to study smaller, cooler planets that are more difficult to detect. The findings were published in the Nature science journal on Wednesday. Dr Anne-Marie Lagrange, a researcher with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), led the study by an international team. 'Our observations reveal a strong candidate for a planet shaping the structure of the TWA 7 debris disc, and its position is exactly where we expected to find a planet of this mass,' she said. How the planet was found While thousands of exoplanets have been found over the past three decades, most have been detected through indirect methods. These included measuring the dimming of a star as a planet passes in front of it or by watching for tiny movements in a star caused by the gravitational pull of an orbiting planet. Only some have ever been directly imaged, and those have typically been enormous gas giants. TWA 7b was spotted using a powerful coronagraph installed on Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (Miri), a telescope attachment developed the CNRS and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. The coronagraph acted like a solar eclipse, blocking out the light of a star so that the much fainter objects orbiting nearby could be seen. This technique helped astronomers spot a faint source of light hidden inside one of the thin dust rings surrounding the star TWA 7. After ruling out objects such as background galaxies or image glitches, scientists realised the signal was coming from a planet, one that had never been seen before. Computer simulations showed that the planet was placed exactly where there is a strange gap in the star's narrow dust ring, which meant strong evidence that its gravity is shaping the ring's structure. Building on past space telescope discoveries Since the telescope's science operations started in 2022, it has helped scientists make several discoveries. These included helping to confirm the chemical composition of atmospheres of other planets and extreme weather patterns on gas giants. JWST's predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, also made valuable discoveries in the early era of direct imaging. It captured the first visible-light image of an exoplanetary system in 2008, however, it lacked the sensitivity to see planets smaller than Jupiter. Now, the James Webb Space Telescope is now offering more advanced techniques. 'This observatory enables us to capture images of planets with masses similar to those in the solar system, which represents an exciting step forward in our understanding of planetary systems, including our own,' said Mathilde Malin, co-author of the study. What comes next The team behind the discovery thinks Webb could soon be able to spot planets with just 10 per cent the mass of Jupiter, getting close to the size of Neptune and 'super-Earths', planets outside the solar system that are larger than Earth but smaller than icy planets like Neptune and Uranus. TWA 7 b also gives scientists a roadmap for how future space and ground-based telescopes that might detect even smaller, more Earth-like planets.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
James Webb Space Telescope's discovery of Saturn-like planet is total flex of its imaging power
Astronomers continue to expand the opportunities of discovery using Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope, and the recent findings of a possible Saturn twin is another first for the powerful instrument. A team of astronomers used Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument to detect the faint source of light within the debris surrounding a 6.4-million-year-old star known as TWA 7, according to a new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. What's exciting about this faint signal is that its brightness, color and distance from its star match theoretical predictions for a young, cold Saturn-mass planet. First Celestial Images From 10-Year Project Photographing The Universe Released "Our observations reveal a strong candidate for a planet shaping the structure of the TWA 7 debris disk, and its position is exactly where we expected to find a planet of this mass," said Anne-Marie Lagrange, lead author of the paper and CNRS researcher at the Observatoire de Paris-PSL and Université Grenoble Alpes. To find this hidden planet within the debris disk, the researchers used MIRI's coronagraph to suppress the bright light of the host star to search for any faint nearby objects. According to NASA, this technique is called high-contract imaging and allows astronomers to find objects like exoplanets that would otherwise be completely washed out by the light from their host stars. Astronomers Detect Pulse From Satellite That Has Been Dead For Decades The image above is a combination of ground-based observations from ESO's Very Large Telescope and data from Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument. The star is marked with a circle and a star symbol; the bright orange spot to the right of the star is the possible planet dubbed TWA 7b within the debris disc. According to the study, TWA 7b has a mass about the same as Saturn and a temperature of around 120 degrees Fahrenheit. If confirmed, the planet orbiting star TWA 7 will be Webb's first direct image discovery of a low-mass planet and the lightest ever seen using high-contract imaging. More observations will hopefully confirm the planet article source: James Webb Space Telescope's discovery of Saturn-like planet is total flex of its imaging power
