BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The following are the highlights of China's science news from the past week:

OBSERVATORY SITE

Astronomers have confirmed Antarctica's Dome A, where China's Kunlun Station is located, as an observatory site with optimal seeing.

Seeing is one of the important parameters for selecting an observatory site. Astronomers can obtain clearer star photos at sites where the seeing value is smaller.

A research team from the National Astronomical Observatories, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, measured the night-time seeing at Dome A in Antarctica with a median value of 0.31 arcseconds, with optimal seeing reaching 0.13 arcseconds.

ASTEROID NAMING

An asteroid has been named after renowned Chinese scientist, educator and outstanding social activist Qian Weichang, according to a statement by the Shanghai University.

A ceremony was held at the university on Thursday to mark the 10th anniversary of his death and to officially announce the naming of Asteroid Qianweichang, which was approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in February.

LAKE SEDIMENT CORE

A Chinese research team has, for the first time, drilled a lake sediment core in a deep lake on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, to study the history of climate and environmental changes on the plateau.

Using self-developed drill systems, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) obtained the lake sediment core with a length of 100.63 meters at a depth of 95 meters in Lake Namtso, a major lake of the plateau. The core samples are expected to help scientists analyze the history of climate and environmental changes on the central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau over the past 150,000 years.

PHOTO BY MARS PROBE

China's Mars probe, Tianwen-1, captured an image of the Earth and Moon, about 1.2 million km from Earth, the China National Space Administration said on Tuesday.

Tianwen-1 took a photo of the Earth and Moon with an optical navigation sensor on Monday. In the black-and-white picture, the Earth and the Moon, one large and one small, were both crescent-shaped, watching each other in the vast universe.

FOSSIL WOOD

Researchers have discovered a fossil of a new extinct conifer wood species in east China's Zhejiang Province, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The species, Brachyoxylon zhouii, dating back to the Cretaceous period about 110 million years ago, was found by a team led by researchers with the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology under the CAS and the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)