Physics in the News

Monday, July 14, 2014

Confirmed: Magnetic waves cannot accelerate solar wind(VIDEO)

via thewatchers

British researchers devise material so dark it looks like a black hole

British scientists have created a material which absorbs all but 0.035 per cent of light, a new world record, and is so dark the human eye struggles to discern what it is that it is seeing, giving the appearance of a black hole. (Credit: Surrey Nano Systems)

via independent

Boron ‘buckyball’ discovered

Researchers have shown that clusters of 40 boron atoms form a molecular cage similar to the carbon buckyball. This is the first experimental evidence that such a boron cage structure exists. (Credit: Wang lab / Brown University)

How To Measure A Sun-Like Star’s Age

Image Caption: Artist's conception of a hypothetical exoplanet orbiting a yellow, Sun-like star. Astronomers have measured the ages of 22 Sun-like stars using their spins, in a method called gyrochronology. Before now, only two Sun-like stars had measured spins and ages. (Credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA)) — Artist’s conception of a hypothetical exoplanet orbiting a yellow, Sun-like star. Astronomers have measured the ages of 22 Sun-like stars using their spins, in a method called gyrochronology. Before now, only two Sun-like stars had measured spins and ages. (Credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA))

Keeping an eye on passing asteroids

Bathurst Observatory Research Facility manager Ray Pickard said work will begin on the Bathurst Asteroid Research Telescope next week. (Credit: ZENIO LAPKA)

via westernadvocate

D-Wave Systems Secures $30M (CAD) Funding to Accelerate Quantum Computing

What’s going on inside the D-Wave Two is still a matter of debate. (Credit D-Wave Systems)

via marketwatch

A light bending exercise… in space!

An air bubble was blown into the water droplet to create this effect. (Credit: Imgur) — On Board the International Space Station, ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers blows an air bubble into a water droplet to create this effect. (Credit: ESA/NASA)

Physics in the News

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Orb2 launches today at 12:52p ET.(LIVE STREAM)

via spacecoastdaily

What happened to the light? 80% of Universe’s light “missing”(VIDEO)

via libertariannews

Growth of structure tells us how normal and dark matter scatter

The colored curves describe different velocity dependencies of the scattering strength; it is scaling as v to the nth power. The horizontal axis, k, is a measure of how separated two points in space might be; larger k corresponds to smaller physical separation. The vertical axis (technically known as a “power spectrum”) describes how correlated two points separated by a scale 1/k are; higher number mean more correlation. The one point with error bars shows that most of the models the authors consider are not very favored by the data. (Credit: C. Dvorkin, K. Blum, and M. Kamionkowski)

Venus Express rises again

After a month surfing in and out of the atmosphere of Venus down to just 130 km from the planet’s surface, ESA’s Venus Express is about to embark on a 15 day climb up to the lofty heights of 460 km. (Credit: ESA – C. Carreau)

via esa

Privately funded solar spacecraft to launch in 2016

An illustration of The Planetary Society's LightSail spacecraft. (Credit: SpaceX) — An illustration of The Planetary Society’s LightSail spacecraft. (Credit: Plenary Society)

via msn

Early Universe explorer looks for answers

Chao-Lin Kuo, who helped design the BICEP2 experiment, isn’t bothered by criticism that cosmic dust may account for his results. He just wants to know the truth. (Credit: Chao-Lin Kuo)

via scientificamerican

The 1% of scientific publishing

(Credit: sciencemag.org)

Ask Ethan #45: How deep does the Multiverse go?

This illustration depicts a main membrane out of which individual universes arise; they then expand in size through time. (Credit: Moonrunner Design)

via scienceblogs

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

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)