Physics in the News

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Comet Pan-STARRS Makes Stunning ‘Galactic Flyby'(VIDEO)

NASA 3D prints a model of light-year-long Eta Carinae nebula

A new shape model of the Homunculus Nebula reveals protrusions, trenches, holes and irregularities in its molecular hydrogen emission. The protrusions appear near a dust skirt seen at the nebula's center in visible light (inset) but not found in this study, so they constitute different structures. (Credit: NASA Goddard, ESA, Hubble SM4 ERO Team) — A new shape model of the Homunculus Nebula reveals protrusions, trenches, holes and irregularities in its molecular hydrogen emission. The protrusions appear near a dust skirt seen at the nebula’s center in visible light (inset) but not found in this study, so they constitute different structures. (Credit: NASA Goddard, ESA, Hubble SM4 ERO Team)

via astronomy.com

Bid to ‘reboot’ aging NASA satellite is scuttled as fuel system fails

Engineers failed to resolve fuel system problems on NASA's retired ISEE-3 satellite Wednesday. An artist's rendition shows the spacecraft during a close lunar pass. (Credit: NASA) — Engineers failed to resolve fuel system problems on NASA’s retired ISEE-3 satellite Wednesday. An artist’s rendition shows the spacecraft during a close lunar pass. (Credit: NASA)

MESSENGER and STEREO measurements open window into high-energy processes on the Sun

A solar flare erupted on the far side of the sun on June 4, 2011, and sent solar neutrons out into space. Solar neutrons don't make it to all the way to Earth, but NASA's MESSENGER, orbiting Mercury, found strong evidence for the neutrons, offering a new technique to study these giant explosions. (Credit: NASA/STEREO/Helioviewer) — A solar flare erupted on the far side of the sun on June 4, 2011, and sent solar neutrons out into space. Solar neutrons don’t make it to all the way to Earth, but NASA’s MESSENGER, orbiting Mercury, found strong evidence for the neutrons, offering a new technique to study these giant explosions. (Credit: NASA/STEREO/Helioviewer)

via nasa

Space Probe Might Lack Nitrogen to Push It Home

The International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center before its launch. (Credit NASA)

Saturn Probe Ready for Its “Grand Finale”

Cassini will end its historic mission with 22 breathtaking loops passing through the gap between Saturn and its innermost ring. (Credit: NASA)

via scientificamerican

Singing Solar Shockwave Confirms Voyager Is In Interstellar Space

This artist’s concept shows the Voyager 1 spacecraft entering the space between stars. Interstellar space is dominated by plasma, ionized gas (illustrated here as brownish haze), that was thrown off by giant stars millions of years ago. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Astronomers invite worldwide public to help name exoplanets and their stars

Artist’s impression of a distant exoplanet – planet beyond our solar system – orbiting its star. (Credit: IAU)

Universe’s missing photons baffle scientists

There's just not enough of them to account for interstellar light, say researchers. (Credit: NASA/ESA — There’s just not enough of them to account for interstellar light, say researchers. (Credit: NASA/ESA)

via cnet

Physics in the News

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

The Theory of Supersymmetry, Visualized by CERN’s Artist-in-Residence(VIDEO)

via motherboard

NASA finds quietest place in the UK to test Mars mission equipment

Artist’s impression of the InSight Mars lander. The SEIS will be deployed onto the surface using a robot arm, where it will then record signals from marsquakes and meteorite impacts in order to probe the planet’s interior. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

In Less Than a Decade Your Computer Could Be Just One Atom Wide(VIDEO)

via motherboard

Upgrading the Large Hadron Collider

The CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment aims to discover new particles and study their properties. (Credit: NASA)

Physics in the News

Tuesday, July 7, 2014

Europe targets black holes with next big space mission

This artist’s impression shows a galaxy releasing material via two strong jets (shown here in red/orange), as well as through wide-angle outflows (shown in gray/blue). The black hole at the galaxy’s center drives both jets and outflows. (Credit: ESA/AOES Medialab)

Era of astronomical discovery: MIT professor helps detect gravitational waves

Nergis Mavalvala (pictured) aims to detect elusive gravitational waves. (Credit: Len Rubenstein)

via MIT

Reinterpreting dark matter

This figure shows that a comparison of the distribution of matter is very similar on a large scale between wave dark matter, the focus of this research, and the usual dark matter particle. (Credit: UPV/EHU)

Droplets and pilot waves vs quantum mechanics

The story is that Bush et al. at MIT did some playful experiments with droplets and the conclusion is supposed to be that this strengthens the case for de Broglie’s pilot wave theory. (Credit: Motl)

Don’t Blame Einstein!

Albert Einstein Standing Alone in Palm Springs Desert

via mysteriousuniverse

How NASA reinvented the tortilla, and other tales of food in space

A sample meal demonstrates what NASA astronauts might eat aboard the International Space Station. (Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

Supermassive Black Hole Jet Mystery Solved

One of the most enduring mysteries behind the dynamics of supermassive black holes, and their impacts on galactic evolution, has been uncovered by an international team of astrophysicists. (Credit: NASA)

Physics in the News

Monday, July 7, 2014

Fluids Flowing at the Nanoscale (VIDEO)

via theepochtimes

Solved: Signals Thought Originating from Habitable-Zone Planets (VIDEO)

via dailygalaxy

NASA OK’s spending on a new rocket built for deep space exploration

NASA plans to spend $6.8 billion of its funding for the SLS project. (Credit: NASA)

via venturebeat

Satellite X-ray observations reveal neutron star with donut-shaped magnetic field and axial wobble

An artist's impression of a magnetar with an intense torroidal magnetic field in its core. (Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss) — An artist’s impression of a magnetar with an intense torroidal magnetic field in its core. (Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)

Small, but plentiful: How the faintest galaxies illuminated the early universe

A view of the entire simulation volume showing the large scale structure of the gas, which is distributed in filaments and clumps. The red regions are heated by UV light coming from the galaxies, highlighted in white. These galaxies are over 1000 times less massive than the Milky Way and contributed nearly one-third of the UV light during re-ionisation. The field of view of this image is 400,000 light years across, when the universe was only 700 million years old. (Credit: John Wise)

Two years ago the discovery of the Higgs boson was announced. What’s new?

A worker rides on his bicycle in the CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) tunnel during maintenance works. (Credit: AFP / FABRICE COFFRINIFABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images) — A worker rides on his bicycle in the CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) tunnel during maintenance works. (Credit: AFP / FABRICE COFFRINIFABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)

via theguardian

Physics in the News

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Not quite beam me up, but Star Trek technology’s moved beyond science fiction

Teleportation aside, they'd feel right at home on earth. (Credit: AP) — Teleportation aside, they’d feel right at home on earth. (Credit: AP)

via scmp

A Bold Critic of the Big Bang’s ‘Smoking Gun’

David Spergel, a theoretical astrophysicist at Princeton University who was a theorist on NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe mission. (Credit: Princeton)

via simonsfoundation

Bruno Zumino Dies at 91; Sought to Tie Together Laws of Universe

Bruno Zumino in 1985. (Credit: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Physicist Louis Del Monte believes that by 2045 machines will threaten human survival

Part human, part machine, the future of artificial intelligence. (Credit: Getty Images)

Meet the brazen scientist who’s taking over NASA’s high-powered climate lab

Gavin Schmidt (Credit: Christy Field)

Physician-Scientists: The Newest Endangered Species

Dr. J. Michael Bishop- (Credit: Christian Flemming/Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings)

via scientificamerican