NIST-F1 contributes to the international group of atomic clocks that define Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the official world time. Because NIST-F1 is among the most accurate clocks in the world, it makes UTC more accurate than ever before. (Credit: Time and Frequency Division of NIST’s PML)
via guardianlv
Artist’s conception of the atmosphere of an Earth-like planet displaying a brownish haze as the result of widespread pollution. (Credit: Christine Pulliam/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
via npr
This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the globular cluster IC 4499. A cosmic archaeological dig has unfolded within a giant ball of stars some 55,000 light-years away. (Credit: NASA)
via nationalgeographic
Top: A typical set-up for squeezing injection in the first demonstrations of squeezing at GEO600 and LIGO, both using DC readout [36,37]. Bottom: Proposed design for future detectors. This design features an in-vacuum OPO. The remainder of the squeezed light source remains outside of vacuum. (Credit: E. Oelker, L. Barsotti, S. Dwyer, D. Sigg, and N. Mavalvala)
via opticsinfobase
What’s that dot on the Sun? If you look closely, it is almost perfectly round. The dot is the result of an unusual type of solar eclipse that occurred in 2006. Usually it is the Earth’s Moon that eclipses the Sun. This time, the planet Mercury took a turn. (Credit: D. Cortner, NASA, K. Schmidt)
“Maybe we will see how galaxies are magnetically connected to intergalactic space. This is a key experiment in preparation for the planned Square Kilometre Array (SKA) that should tell us how cosmic magnetic fields are generated,” says Rainer Beck, lead astronomer with the Max Planck Institute.
Researchers have developed a flexible structure that can sense ambient conditions and adjust its color to match them. At the moment, it only works in black and white. (Credit: PNAS, Timmer)
via arstechnica
In a conversation with Mashable via Twitter, McGregor resident @EthansMommy17, who tweeted the above image of the explosion, claimed cows had been killed by debris from the explosion. She was unable to provide images or other confirmation of the affected livestock, however. (Credit: @EthansMommy17)
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The space specialist said that the ISS surface was polluted very strongly due to operation of space engines and other factors. “We are conducting special works to polish somehow and put illuminators in order. This is particularly needed during long space flights,” Solovyev added. (Credit: Tracy Caldwell Dyson)
via forbes
Although they are gigantic, ranging from one to a few hundred lightyears in size, the physical process that causes these nebulae to emit their own light (rather than merely reflect light from nearby stars) occurs at the atomic level. It is the same process that makes familiar florescent lights shine here on Earth. (Credit: NASA, Prozesky)
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On July 29th, the the Automated Transfer Vehicle launched carrying samples of the stuff to the ISS, where it docked on August 12th. There, astronauts will conduct tests on the paint, which absorbs 99.5 percent of visible light (and 99.8 percent of longer wavelength light). (Credit: NASA, Campbell-Dollaghan)
via gizmodo
Google Inc. has conducted more than 300,000 miles of driverless car testing with vehicles. They navigate by collecting real-time sensor data and comparing it to pre-loaded maps that specify exact locations for roads and signs, while adapting to obstacles such as people and cars. (Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, Kearns)
via bloomberg
A patterned 3-D grid of tiny whirlpools, called quantum vortices, populate a nanoscale droplet of superfluid helium. Researchers found that in a micron-sized droplet, the density of vortices was 100,000 times greater than in any previous experiment on superfluids. An artistic rendering of a wheel-shaped droplet can be seen in the distance. (Credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
via phys
The suturing tool demonstrates image-guided anastomosis, which means the connecting of parts such as vessels. The target on the top of the tool is used to lead the tool’s tip. This is the same technology used to track the robotic systems on the space shuttle and the International Space Station. (Credit: MDA and CIGITI)
via phys
An aurora dances in the atmosphere on Aug. 20, 2014, as the International Space Station flew over North America. This image was captured by astronaut Reid Wiseman from his vantage point on the ISS. (Credit: NASA/Handout/QMI Agency)
via cbc
This mosaic of images from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile shows two dramatic star formation regions in the southern Milky Way. (Credit: ESO/G. Beccari)
via forbes
Boeing in among three companies bidding for the next NASA contract to take astronauts into space. The company is offering its CST-100 space capsule in the competition. (Credit: Boeing)
via washingtonpost
Carlo Rovelli: “Theoretical physics has not done great in the last decades. Why? Well, one of the reasons, I think, is that it got trapped in a wrong philosophy.” (Credit: Horgan)
via scientificamerican
The scientists reported a 40-times-larger effect than previously achieved in semiconductor materials, with the largest value measured comparable to a record high value of the spin-Hall effect observed in heavy metals such as Platinum. (Credit: UCL London Centre for Nanotechnology)
via spacemart
Natalie Hinkel gives a plenary talk at the Cool Stars 18 meeting in Flagstaff, Arizona, about her paper on the Hypatia Catalog. (Credit: Natalie Hinkel)
via asunews
The US Department of Energy has cancelled visits by Russian scientists to key US labs, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory. (Credit:NC-ND/Los Alamos National Laboratory)
via physicsworld
A star in a galaxy passes by a black hole closely enough to be destroyed once every 10,000 years. It is possible to detect the death of a star in a fairly distant galaxyas the destruction of a star generates a bright X-ray flare; it is only necessary to distinguish such a flare from other types of X-ray radiation. Because flares occur in a variety of astrophysical processes, the task of finding stars destroyed by black holes is quite complicated. (Credit: Sergei Sazonov)
via mipt
The recent finding of an intermediate-mass black hole provides evidence that could support some theories of how supermassive black holes form. (Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser)
via discovery
Some of the best evidence for parallel worlds actually arrives courtesy of an enigmatic oddity within deep-space, careening toward the Milky Way at an incredible 200,000 miles per hour. Though it’s more than 2 million light years away, the Andromeda galaxy, appears to engage in anomalous behavior which suggests a strange gravitational phenomenon. Specifically, gravity that could be draining from another universe, as yet invisible to us, could be the impetus behind such anomalous phenomena. (Credit: Micah Hanks)
via mysteriousuniverse
Having a single point in contact with the ground lets a ballerina spin. In the same way, a quantum state is dynamic because it can turn about a point thanks to quantum uncertainty, say CQT and Oxford researchers. (Credit: Michael Garner, courtesy English National Ballet)
via quantumlah
A cross-section of the Earth’s ozone layer as measured by the limb profiler, part of the Ozone Mapper Profiler Suite that’s aboard the Suomi NPP satellite. (Credit: NASA/NOAA)
via ZeeNews
A simulation of two colliding black holes. Colors reflect the variation of gravitational waves. (Credit: Werner Benger/NASA Blueshift)
via physicscentral
Scientists have discovered mineral-rich structure on Mars that might be the evidence of niche environment on the planet’s subsurface that could support life. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
via aninews
In Einstein’s general theory of relativity, gravity is nothing more than the curvature of spacetime. A massive object, such as the sun, causes a deformation of the spacetime grid, while another object such as a planet or a light beam follows the shortest path (a “geodesic”) on this grid. To an observer, this looks like a deflection of the trajectory caused by gravity. (Bottom) A collapsing star can form a black hole so dense and massive that it creates a region of infinite curvature (a “singularity”) so that—inside the event horizon—light cannot escape. Current research in gravitation is attempting to modify general relativity to account for such objects consistent with quantum theory. (Credit: Carin Cain)
via medium
European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, Expedition 30 flight engineer, prepares vials in the Columbus laboratory of the International Space Station for venous blood sample draws during an immune system investigation. (Credit: NASA)
via phys.org
Shown above is part of one of the most imaged parts of the night sky, the Orion Nebula. Since the angular size of Orion’s Nebula is so large on the sky, only a portion is shown here. Located just below “Orion’s Belt” this star-forming region is dominated by four young, massive O stars (known as the Trapezium, not pictured here). The wispy blue, green gas seen above is composed mostly of hydrogen, the main element used in forming stars. The Orion Nebula is an astrophysical laboratory, providing an up-close view of the birth of stars. (Credit: Sloan Digital Sky Survey)
Greased Lighning (GL10) project 10 engine electric prototype remote control plane. Photo taken 8/14/14 (Credit: NASA Langley/David C. Bowman)
via thespacereview
The Kori nuclear power plant in Busan, southeast of Seoul, is seen in this picture released by the plant to Reuters. South Korea needs to quickly find additional space where it can store its spent nuclear fuel because some of its temporary storage capacity will be full by 2016, (Credit: Reuters/Kori Nuclear Power Plant/Handout)
via reuters
![Top: A typical set-up for squeezing injection in the first demonstrations of squeezing at GEO600 and LIGO, both using DC readout [36,37]. Proposed design for future detectors. This design features an in-vacuum OPO. The remainder of the squeezed light source remains outside of vacuum. (Credit: E. Oelker, L. Barsotti, S. Dwyer, D. Sigg, and N. Mavalvala)](https://timeincosmology.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/screen-shot-2014-08-24-at-10-39-30-am.png)
