Physics in the News

Saturday, July 12, 2014

NASA Curiosity Rover is starting to explore dangerous new territory

The blue line added to this June 27, 2014, image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is the edge of the ellipse that was charted as safe terrain for the rover's August 2012 landing. Curiosity is visible right on the ellipse line in the lower center of the image. This 3-sigma landing ellipse is about 4 miles long and 12 miles wide (7 kilometers by 20 kilometers). Curiosity reached the edge of it for the first time with a drive of about 269 feet (82 meters) earlier that day. (Credit: NASA) — The blue line added to this June 27, 2014, image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is the edge of the ellipse that was charted as safe terrain for the rover’s August 2012 landing. Curiosity is visible right on the ellipse line in the lower center of the image. This 3-sigma landing ellipse is about 4 miles long and 12 miles wide (7 kilometers by 20 kilometers). Curiosity reached the edge of it for the first time with a drive of about 269 feet (82 meters) earlier that day. (Credit: NASA)

via technobuffalo

Space geeks’ resurrected NASA sun probe ISEE-3 now on collision course with the moon

An old McDonalds serves as ISEE-3 mission control (Credit: ISEE-3)

via theregister

Richard Feynman, sexism and changing perceptions of a scientific icon

via scientificamerican

Scientists ‘have no handle on’ radio bursts coming from deep space

The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is the largest single-dish radio telescope in the world. (Credit: David Parker)

NASA spacecraft observes more evidence of dry ice gullies on Mars

This pair of before (left) and after (right) images captured by the HiRise camera on NASA’s MRO documents the formation of a new channel on a Martian slope between 2010 and 2013. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)

Dragonfly telephoto array discovers seven dwarf galaxies around Messier 101

This image shows the nearby spiral galaxy Messier 101 and the seven newly discovered dwarf galaxies. (Credit: Allison Merritt et al.)

Microsoft and Niels Bohr Institute QDev partner to realize Quantum Information

The base for the research collaboration between Microsoft and the Center for Quantum Devices, called Station Q–Copenhagen, aims to realise quantum information (Credit: ku.dk)

via azoquantum

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

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

Physics in the News

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Searching for Earth-like planets: Newly spotted frozen world orbits in a binary star system

This artist's rendering shows a newly discovered planet (far right) orbiting one star (right) of a binary star system. The discovery, made by a collaboration of international research teams and led by researchers at The Ohio State University, expands astronomers' notions of where to look for planets in our galaxy. (Credit: Cheongho Han, Chungbuk National University, Republic of Korea.) — This artist’s rendering shows a newly discovered planet (far right) orbiting one star (right) of a binary star system. The discovery, made by a collaboration of international research teams and led by researchers at The Ohio State University, expands astronomers’ notions of where to look for planets in our galaxy. (Credit: Cheongho Han, Chungbuk National University, Republic of Korea.)

The Big Picture: NASA flies massive SOFIA telescope to the stratosphere

By sticking a 17-ton telescope into a Boeing 747, you can launch it up to 45,000 feet and get past 99 percent of our atmosphere's water vapor — By sticking a 17-ton telescope into a Boeing 747, you can launch it up to 45,000 feet and get past 99 percent of our atmosphere’s water vapor. (Credit: NASA)

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft To Go Out With A Bang

Cassini has uncovered a trove of exciting scientific information by discovering new moons of Saturn, exploring the jetting geysers of Enceladus, and studying the bizarre polar hexagon at Saturn’s north pole. (Credit: NASA)

via davidreneke

Saturday Space Sight: Inside the ISS Destiny Laboratory

This view is looking into the Destiny Laboratory from Node 1 (Unity) with Node 2 (Harmony) in the background. Destiny is the primary research laboratory for U.S. payloads, supporting a wide range of experiments and studies. (Credit NASA)

via science.dodlive

New satellite data like an ultrasound for baby stars(VIDEO)

Fantastically Wrong: The Legendary Scientist Who Swore Our Planet Is Hollow

This ad should have a huge asterisk somewhere explaining that Koreshanity was a cult started by a guy who shocked himself and woke up thinking he was Jesus. — This ad should have a huge asterisk somewhere explaining that Koreshanity was a cult started by a guy who shocked himself and woke up thinking he was Jesus.(Credit: Wired)

NJ Night Sky: Moon cruises past Mars and Saturn; plus a new Super-Earth?

The Moon is near Mars tonight. (Credit:Starrynight.com)

Physics in the News

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Muscle powered Bio-bots walk on command(VIDEO)

‘Deep learning’ makes search for exotic particles easier

Simulation of a particle collision in which a Higgs boson is produced. (Credit: Lucas Taylor/CMS)

360 degree night sky time-lapse proves that Earth is beautiful

Unknown Force May Alter Gravity at Cosmologically LargeScales

"The dark matter seems to 'know' how the visible matter is distributed. They seem to conspire with each other such that the gravity of the visible matter at the characteristic radius of the dark halo is always the same," said Dr. Benoit Famaey (Universities of Bonn and Strasbourg). — “The dark matter seems to ‘know’ how the visible matter is distributed. They seem to conspire with each other such that the gravity of the visible matter at the characteristic radius of the dark halo is always the same,” said Dr. Benoit Famaey (Universities of Bonn and Strasbourg).

via dailygalaxy

Would Earth look like a habitable planet from afar?

A zoomed-in image of Earth from the perspective of NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). The small dot below it is the moon. Credit: NASA Ames

Near-Earth Asteroids key to Solar System’s earliest history

This chart illustrates how infrared is used to more accurately determine an asteroid’s size. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)