Grad student discovers planet orbiting around nearby star, astronomers say
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(CHAPEL HILL, N.C.) — Madyson Barber, a grad student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was researching young transiting systems in space when she made a remarkable discovery.
Barber used data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite to observe the brightness of stars over time. During the observations, Barber noticed some “little dips” in brightness, indicating that a “transiting” planet may be passing near Earth.
The planet, named IRAS 04125+2902 b, is estimated to be 3 million years old, which is considered “young” for stars, Barber said. Earth is about 4.5 billion years old and took an estimated 10 million to 20 millions to form. The next youngest known planet is about 10 million years old, Barber said.
“It’s about the same as a 10-day-old baby in human timescale,” she added. “So, super, super young in comparison to our home.”
Nicknamed “TIDYE-1b” by researchers, the new planet has been shown to have an orbital period of 8.83 days, according to a paper published Thursday in Nature. It has a radius about 10.7 times larger than Earth and has approximately 30% of the mass of Jupiter.
TIDYE-1b orbits a star of about the same age named IRAS 04125+2902.
Astronomers noted some unusual characteristics of the star, which is located relatively close to Earth at 160 parsecs, or 522 lightyears, away, researchers said. The outer protoplanetary disk surrounding the star is misaligned and the star has a depleted inner disk.
The combination of these unique features allowed scientists to observe the transiting protoplanet.
“If part of the planetary discs were still present, it would be in the same plane of rotation as that spinning star and the orbiting planet,” Barber said. “So the disc would block our observations of the star.”
Astronomers are still learning about the planet. They were able to calculate the upper mass limit by looking at the radial velocity of the star, which is the movement of the star over time, and measuring “little wiggles in that movement,” Barber added.
“Other than that, there’s not a whole lot we can say about the planet at this point,” she said.
Right now, the researchers are only 95% confident in the measurements they’ve taken for the planet’s upper mass limit, and they hypothesize that the planet’s real mass is actually much smaller, Barber said.
“Because we don’t have a ton of these young transiting systems that we know of, it’s really important that we look for more so that we can have a better picture of what that formation and evolution looks like, so we can better understand how our own home formed and evolved,” Barber said.
The researchers believe the new planet could be a precursor of the super-Earth and sub-Neptune planets that are frequently found orbiting main-sequence stars.
The system could also be a useful target for studying the early stages of planet formation due to its young age, the rare disk misalignment and the relatively close location to Earth, Barber said.
(NEW YORK) — The so-called “murder hornet” has been eradicated from the United States, five years after the invasive species was first discovered in Washington state, officials declared Wednesday.
There have been no confirmed detections of the northern giant hornet — the hornet’s official name — for the past three years, the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
The eradication was the result of a yearslong effort to find and eliminate the hornets that involved state, federal and international government agencies, officials said.
“We are proud of this landmark victory in the fight against invasive species,” Dr. Mark Davidson, the deputy administrator at USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said in a statement. “The success of this effort demonstrates what’s possible when agencies and communities unite toward a common goal.”
WSDA Director Derek Sandison said in a statement he was “incredibly proud of our team, which has dedicated years of hard work to safeguarding our state and the nation from this invasive threat to our native pollinators and agriculture.”
The public also played a large part in helping eradicate the pest by reporting sightings, officials said.
“Without the public’s support for this effort, it is unlikely we would be announcing the eradication of northern giant hornet today,” Sven Spichiger, WSDA’s pest program manager, said in a statement. “All of our nest detections resulted directly or indirectly from public reports. And half of our confirmed detections came from the public. The people of Washington can be proud that we did this by working together.”
The northern giant hornet, which is native to Asian countries including China and Japan, was first detected in North America in August 2019 in British Columbia, Canada. It was confirmed in Washington state four months later when a resident in Whatcom County reported a dead specimen. That incident appeared to be a separate introduction originating from a different country than the British Columbia one, officials said.
Four hornet nests found inside alder tree cavities in Whatcom County were eradicated between October 2020 and September 2021.
Trapping efforts continued in Whatcom County through 2024, and no additional hornets have been detected in the area, WSDA said.
A community member reported a “suspicious hornet sighting” in Kitsap County in October, though WSDA was unable to obtain the hornet to confirm the species, the department said. Traps placed in the area and public outreach did not yield any additional evidence or reports of suspected sightings, it said.
“All we can say is that the image appears to be a hornet of some kind. How it came to be in Kitsap County, we don’t know,” Spichiger said.
WSDA said it will conduct trapping in the area in 2025 as a “precautionary measure.”
The northern giant hornet could have posed a “significant threat” to honey bees and other pollinators had it become established in the U.S., officials said. The hornets can kill an entire honey bee hive in just 90 minutes. Their sting is also more painful than that of a typical honey bee.
“By tackling this threat head-on, we protected not only pollinators and crops, but also the industries, communities, and ecosystems that depend on them,” Davidson said.
(NEW YORK) — The 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade may be an attractive target for both foreign and domestic terroristic violence, according to a joint threat assessment obtained by ABC News.
Among the most significant threats facing the nation’s largest Thanksgiving celebration “stems from lone offenders and small groups of individuals seeking to commit acts of violence,” according to the report put out by multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and New York Police Department.
There is not a “specific, actionable threat,” but the document raises a particular concern about vehicle ramming, which “has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors” looking to target crowded pedestrian areas. The NYPD will have sanitation trucks and other so-called “blocker vehicles” deployed along the route, the report states.
The 98th annual parade steps off at 8:30 a.m. on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and proceeds along a 2 1/2-mile route toward Herald Square.
The parade is expected to draw 2 million spectators and 10,000 participants.
There are 17 featured character balloons, 22 floats, 15 heritage and novelty balloons, more than 700 clowns, 11 marching bands, 10 performance groups and, of course, Santa Claus to close it out. There are six new featured character balloons, including Disney’s Minnie Mouse and Marvel’s Spider-Man.
“Though the 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade event will provide a broad set of potential soft targets for an attack, congested areas where the largest amount of people gather — particularly designated viewing areas — are likely the most vulnerable spots for a mass casualty attack,” the assessment said.
After pro-Palestinian protesters glued their hands to the pavement along the parade route last year, law enforcement agencies said they “remain concerned that malicious actors may seek to engage in public safety disruptions, including attempting to block ingress and egress paths and roadways around the event and major transportation locations.”
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(NEW YORK) — This year was full of first-of-its-kind stories that got Americans talking.
While this year saw Donald Trump’s historic conviction and election to a non-consecutive second term, here’s a look back at some of the most talked about stories of 2024 outside of politics, from Diddy’s arrest to the Menendez brothers’ fight for freedom.
Alaska door plug incident
Minutes after Alaska Airlines flight 1282 took off from Portland International Airport on Jan. 5, a door plug blew out, sparking chaos on the plane.
The flight was nearly full with the exception of a few seats; the two seats next to the missing door plug happened to be empty.
The Boeing 737 Max 9 safely made an emergency landing. No one was seriously injured.
An NTSB preliminary report found that, before the flight, four bolts designed to prevent the door plug from falling off the plane were missing.
A Boeing executive told ABC News this summer that the fuselage came to Boeing damaged from the supplier, and to fix the fuselage, the door plug needed to come off. Before they could get the plug back on, the plane needed to be moved; the overnight team put the door plug back on to seal the plane from the outdoor elements, but didn’t install the bolts because it wasn’t their job, the executive said. The first team never filled out the paperwork when they removed the door, so the next team didn’t know to put the bolts back on, the executive said.
The incident sparked intense scrutiny for Boeing that led to changes in the company, including a new CEO, the government mandating that Boeing slow down production, and increased oversight of the company’s safety and quality management systems.
Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse
On March 26, a container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, collapsing the bridge and killing six construction workers who were filling potholes on the span. Two workers survived.
The crash affected entry into the Port of Baltimore for weeks, with the debris blocking entry for other ships. Crews worked to remove about 50,000 tons of steel, concrete and asphalt from the channel and from the container ship, the Department of Justice said.
The collapse is considered “one of the worst transportation disasters in recent memory,” Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said.
In October, the operators of the vessel that destroyed the bridge agreed to pay nearly $102 million for costs stemming from the federal response.
According to the cost estimates provided by the Maryland government, the bridge’s reconstruction will cost between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion, Shailen Bhatt, administrator for the Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, said in May.
School shooter’s parents convicted
Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of Michigan high school shooter Ethan Crumbley, were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison in April after each was found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in separate trials.
The trials were a rare case of parents facing criminal charges over their role in a shooting carried out by their child.
Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 years old at the time of the 2021 shooting, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing four students at Oxford High School.
Prosecutors said Jennifer and James Crumbley ignored several warning signs in the days leading up to the shooting. The parents also bought their son the gun used in the shooting and failed to secure the weapon and limit their son’s access to it, prosecutors argued.
Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ case dismissed, armorer convicted
A judge dismissed Alec Baldwin’s “Rust” case in July, on day three of his involuntary manslaughter trial for the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The defense said in its argument for dismissal that live ammunition that came into the hands of local law enforcement related to the investigation was “concealed” from them.
The judge agreed to dismiss, saying the state’s discovery violation regarding the late disclosure of a supplemental report on the ammunition evidence “injected needless delay into the proceedings,” approached “bad faith” and was “highly prejudicial to the defendant.”
Meanwhile, “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March. She was found not guilty of tampering with evidence.
Prosecutors said Gutierrez repeatedly failed to maintain proper firearm safety, arguing her negligence led to Hutchins’ death.
Gutierrez was sentenced in April to 18 months in prison.
5 charged in Matthew Perry’s ketamine death
Five people were charged in August 2024 in connection with last year’s ketamine death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry.
Erik Fleming, who admitted in court documents that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry, and the actor’s live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who admitted in court documents to administering the ketamine on the day Perry died, pleaded guilty.
Iwamasa and Fleming face up to 15 years and 25 years, respectively.
Two doctors are among those charged: Dr. Mark Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, a licensed medical doctor he has known for at least 20 years, with the understanding it would be sold to Perry, who was struggling with a ketamine addiction, according to prosecutors.
Chavez has pleaded guilty and faces up to 10 years in prison.
Two defendants pleaded not guilty: Plasencia and Jasveen Sangha, a woman allegedly known as “The Ketamine Queen,” who is accused of selling Perry the batch of ketamine that killed him, the Department of Justice said.
Sangha and Plasencia face charges including conspiracy to distribute ketamine and are set to go on trial in March 2025. If convicted of all charges, Sangha would face a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison. Plasencia would face up to 10 years for each ketamine-related count and up to 20 years for each records falsification count, according to prosecutors.
Georgia high school shooting
A 14-year-old student, Colt Gray, is accused of opening fire at Apalachee High School in Georgia on Sept. 4, killing two students and two teachers and injuring several others.
The suspect’s father, Colin Gray, is also facing charges for allegedly knowingly allowing his son to possess the weapon used in the shooting, according to the GBI.
Investigators believe the teen received the AR-style gun used in the shooting as a Christmas present from his father, according to sources.
The father and son have both pleaded not guilty.
Hurricanes Helene and Milton
On Sept. 26, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a powerful Category 4 storm.
As Helene moved north, it wreaked havoc in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.
Helene destroyed homes and roads, stranded residents without phone service and water, and claimed the lives of nearly 250 people throughout the Southeast.
Helene is now the deadliest storm in North Carolina’s history. Western North Carolina, including the city of Asheville, was especially hard hit.
Weeks later, on Oct. 9, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm, bringing tornadoes, powerful winds and flooding rains. Hurricane Milton killed at least 23 people in Florida.
Diddy arrested
Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested in New York City in September and charged with sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy.
Prosecutors allege he ran an “enterprise that he engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor or, kidnapping, arson and other crimes.”
Combs is accused of using violence, threats and coercion to force women to engage in sex acts with male prostitutes, sometimes lasting days and often recorded. Combs allegedly called the activity “freak offs.”
Federal prosecutors said Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.”
Combs has pleaded not guilty. His trial is set for May 2025.
The music mogul is also facing numerous civil lawsuits with claims mirroring the criminal allegations.
Menendez brothers’ fight for freedom
The notorious Menendez brothers case came back into the spotlight this year when Netflix released a scripted series and a documentary, both of which added momentum to Erik and Lyle Menendez’s push to be released from prison.
The brothers — who were convicted in the 1990s for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez — have three possible paths to freedom.
One path is through resentencing. The Los Angeles County district attorney announced in October that he was recommending the brothers’ sentence of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, with the new sentence, they would be eligible for parole immediately.
The DA’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account factors including the defendants’ ages, psychological trauma or physical abuse that contributed to carrying out the crime and their rehabilitation in prison.
The second path is their habeas corpus petition, which was filed last year for a review of new evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote before the murders detailing his allegations that his father sexually abused him; and a new victim who has come forward alleging he was also sexually assaulted by Jose Menendez.
The third path is the brothers’ request for clemency, which they’ve submitted to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The brothers’ next court hearing is in January 2025.
Delphi trial
In November, Delphi, Indiana, resident Richard Allen was found guilty in the murders of two teenage girls, Abby Williams and Libby German, who were killed on a local hiking trail in 2017.
The mysterious case captivated the nation for years. As police searched for answers, they released a clip of the unknown suspect’s voice — a recording of him saying “down the hill” — which was recovered from Libby’s phone. Police also released a grainy image of the suspect on the trail found on Libby’s phone.
Allen was arrested in 2022. He admitted to police he was on the trail that day, but he denied any involvement in the crime.
A major focus of Allen’s trial was his multiple confessions in jail to corrections officers, a psychologist and his wife. The defense argued Allen was in a psychotic state when he made the numerous confessions.
Allen was sentenced on Dec. 20 to 130 years in prison.
UnitedHealthcare CEO killing
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4 while he was on his way to an investors conference.
Thompson’s murder ignited online anger at the health insurance industry and some people online celebrated the suspect.
The slaying also sparked a massive manhunt for the masked gunman, with the NYPD releasing images of the suspect found via surveillance cameras.
On Dec. 9, suspect Luigi Mangione was apprehended after he was spotted at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
The ghost gun allegedly in his possession when he was arrested was matched to three shell casings recovered at the scene of the murder, the NYPD said. Fingerprints recovered from a water bottle and a Kind bar near the crime scene were also been matched to Mangione, police said.
Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, allegedly had a spiral notebook detailing plans about how to eventually kill the CEO, according to law enforcement officials.
One passage allegedly said, “What do you do? You whack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention,” the officials said.
Mangione is in custody in New York City where he’s facing state and federal charges. The federal charges make him eligible for the death penalty.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso, Clara McMichael and Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.
