Physics in the News

Friday, July 4, 2014

Earth like planet doesn’t exist!

Potential Habitable Exoplanets (Credit: The habitable exoplanet catalog)
Potential Habitable Exoplanets (Credit: The habitable exoplanet catalog)
via sciencealert

Rosetta enters 67P’s neighborhood as the comet starts taking shape

Animation of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko rotating as seen by Rosetta on June 27-28, 2014 (Credit: NASA)
Animation of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko rotating as seen by Rosetta on June 27-28, 2014 (Credit: NASA)
via universetoday

These New Gravity Maps Give Us An Entirely New Understanding Of The Moon

Twin spacecraft, named Ebb and Flow — about the size of washing machines — chased each other around the moon for three months. (Credit: NASA)
Twin spacecraft, named Ebb and Flow — about the size of washing machines — chased each other around the moon for three months. (Credit: NASA)
via businessinsider

Aldrich’s job is to sniff everything that goes into space

via news.com

Under the bright lights of an aging sun

Venus can be seen as a black dot eclipsing the Sun in this image from 2012. Venus orbits too close to the Sun to the planet to be habitable for life as we know it. Venus experiences a runaway greenhouse and the average surface temperatures are thought to be around 864ºF. (Credit: NASA/SDO & the AIA, EVE, and HMI teams; Digital Composition: Peter L. Dove)
Venus can be seen as a black dot eclipsing the Sun in this image from 2012. Venus orbits too close to the Sun to the planet to be habitable for life as we know it. Venus experiences a runaway greenhouse and the average surface temperatures are thought to be around 864ºF. (Credit: NASA/SDO & the AIA, EVE, and HMI teams; Digital Composition: Peter L. Dove)
via phys.org

Saturn’s Moon Titan Has Surprisingly Salty Oceans Lurking Under Its Surface

Artist's concept showing potential internal structure of Titan. (Credit: A. Tavani/NASA)
Artist’s concept showing potential internal structure of Titan. (Credit: A. Tavani/NASA)
via motherboard.vice

Rude Planet Ignores Parent

 Simulation of a binary star system. (Impolite offspring not pictured.)  (Credit: Malcolm Park; Getty Images)
Simulation of a binary star system. (Impolite offspring not pictured.) (Credit: Malcolm Park; Getty Images)
via time

 

Physics in the News

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Muscle powered Bio-bots walk on command(VIDEO)

via phys.org

‘Deep learning’ makes search for exotic particles easier

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

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

via mashable

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
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
via phys.org

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)
via forbes

Physics in the News

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Welcome to the weird and wild west of private spaceflight

This is Spaceport America's Operations Center. The building, which Hendrickson notes is affectionately called "the sock," houses the facility's mission control center on its upper floor. (Credit: Dan Hendrickson)
This is Spaceport America’s Operations Center. The building, which Hendrickson notes is affectionately called “the sock,” houses the facility’s mission control center on its upper floor. (Credit: Dan Hendrickson)
via theverge

Happy 10th Birthday Cassini!

Saturn’s northern storm marches through the planet’s atmosphere in the top right of this false-color mosaic from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)
Saturn’s northern storm marches through the planet’s atmosphere in the top right of this false-color mosaic from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)
via universetoday

Researchers create quantum dots with single-atom precision

This image shows quantized electron states, for quantum numbers n = 1 to 6, of a linear quantum dot consisting of 22 indium atoms positioned on the surface of an InAs crystal. (Credit: Stefan Fölsch/PDI)
This image shows quantized electron states, for quantum numbers n = 1 to 6, of a linear quantum dot consisting of 22 indium atoms positioned on the surface of an InAs crystal. (Credit: Stefan Fölsch/PDI)
via phys.org

Reigning in chaos in particle colliders yields big results

A method to correct tiny defects in the LHC’s superconducting magnets (example shown above) was crucial to the discovery of the Higgs boson, which was announced in 2012. (Credit: CERN)
A method to correct tiny defects in the LHC’s superconducting magnets (example shown above) was crucial to the discovery of the Higgs boson, which was announced in 2012.
(Credit: CERN)
via aip.org

Russia to Create Super-Heavy Rocket Carrier

(Credit) J.Gabás Esteban/cc-by-nc-sa 3.0
(Credit) J.Gabás Esteban/cc-by-nc-sa 3.0
via voiceofrussia

Scientists develop force sensor from carbon nanotubes

 A group of researchers from Russia, Belarus and Spain, including Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology professor Yury Lozovik, have developed a microscopic force sensor based on carbon nanotubes. (Credit: Computational Materials Science journal)
A group of researchers from Russia, Belarus and Spain, including Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology professor Yury Lozovik, have developed a microscopic force sensor based on carbon nanotubes. (Credit: Computational Materials Science journal)
via phys.org

India’s Mars mission ‘cost less than the film Gravity’

Scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation work in the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System control room at the Indian Deep Space Network (Credit: AP)
Scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation work in the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System control room at the Indian Deep Space Network (Credit: AP)
via the independent

Physics in the News

Monday, June 30, 2014

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Brought Earth BUG to Mars

A software bug, that is, as Flaw turns up in popular compression imaging algorithm. (Credit:
A software bug turns up in popular compression imaging algorithm. (Credit: NASA)
via securitymouse

 

Did All of Earth’s Water Originally Come From Outer Space?

An artist’s concept illustration shows a quasar, or feeding black hole, similar to APM 08279+5255, where astronomers discovered huge amounts of water vapor. (NASA/ESA)
via theepochtimes

 

Two asteroids approach in the night

Map showing Ceres and Vesta as they approach each other closely this coming week. Both asteroids are near the easy-to-find star Zeta in Virgo not far from bright Mars. Although the asteroids appear very close together in the sky, they’re really about 51 million miles apart with Vesta in the foreground. (Credit: Chris Marriott’s SkyMap)
Map showing Ceres and Vesta as they approach each other closely this coming week. Both asteroids are near the easy-to-find star Zeta in Virgo not far from bright Mars. Although the asteroids appear very close together in the sky, they’re really about 51 million miles apart with Vesta in the foreground. (Credit: Chris Marriott’s SkyMap)
Two asteroids approach in the night / See Saturn’s elusive moon Iapetus – See more at: http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2014/06/28/two-asteroids-approach-in-the-night-see-saturns-elusive-moon-iapetus/#sthash.LxdFQzDm.dpuf
Two asteroids approach in the night / See Saturn’s elusive moon Iapetus – See more at: http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2014/06/28/two-asteroids-approach-in-the-night-see-saturns-elusive-moon-iapetus/#sthash.LxdFQzDm.dpuf
via astrobob

 

Novel Technique to Measure Quantum-Optical Effect in Light from the Sun

By filtering light from the sun, CQT researchers have made a strong detection of a quantum effect known as 'photon bunching' in its light. This is a hallmark of the sun radiating like a black body. (Credit: NASA/SDO)
By filtering light from the sun, CQT researchers have made a strong detection of a quantum effect known as ‘photon bunching’ in its light. This is a hallmark of the sun radiating like a black body. (Credit: NASA/SDO)
via azoquantum

 

Researchers detect tiniest of force ever measured

Mechanical oscillators translate an applied force into measureable mechanical motion. The Standard Quantum Limit is imposed by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, in which the measurement itself perturbs the motion of the oscillator, a phenomenon known as “quantum back-action.” (Credit: Kevin Gutowski)
Mechanical oscillators translate an applied force into measurable mechanical motion. The Standard Quantum Limit is imposed by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, in which the measurement itself perturbs the motion of the oscillator, a phenomenon known as “quantum back-action.” (Credit: Kevin Gutowski)
via newscenter

 

Orion EFT-1 Work Progressing Toward Dec. 4 Launch Attempt

Orion, seen here with its heat shield installed, being maneuvered for stacking on the spacecraft’s service module at KSC earlier this month. (Credit: NASA)
Orion, seen here with its heat shield installed, being maneuvered for stacking on the spacecraft’s service module at KSC earlier this month. (Credit: NASA)
via americaspace

Physics in the News

Saturday, June 28, 2014

The Space-Based Quantum Cryptography Race

via technologyreview

Space football fever: NASA astronauts lose hair in World Cup bet (VIDEO)

via rt.com

STEREO probes operations will be curtailed for more than a year

Illustration of the positions of the two STEREO spacecraft show that they attain 180 degrees of separation in Feb. 2011, thus allowing the world to see the entire Sun for the first time. (Credit: NASA/STEREO/SSC)
Illustration of the positions of the two STEREO spacecraft show that they attain 180 degrees of separation in Feb. 2011, thus allowing the world to see the entire Sun for the first time. (Credit: NASA/STEREO/SSC)
via thewatchers

Oppenheimer’s Folly: On black holes, fundamental laws and pure and applied science

Einstein and Oppenheimer: Both men in their later years dismissed black holes as anomalies, unaware that they contained some of the deepest mysteries of physics (Image: Alfred Eisenstaedt, LIFE magazine)
Einstein and Oppenheimer: Both men in their later years dismissed black holes as anomalies, unaware that they contained some of the deepest mysteries of physics (Image: Alfred Eisenstaedt, LIFE magazine)
via scientificamerican

Physicists Think They Can Solve the Mysteries of Quantum Mechanics, Cosmology, and Black Holes in One Go

Hubble Space Telescope image. (Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch (University of California, Santa Cruz), R. Bouwens (Leiden University), and the HUDF09 Team)
Hubble Space Telescope image. (Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch (University of California, Santa Cruz), R. Bouwens (Leiden University), and the HUDF09 Team)
via scientificamerican

The Smallest Black Hole in the Universe (Synopsis)

A binary system containing a stellar-mass black hole called IGR J17091. The strong gravity of the black hole, on the left, is pulling gas away from a companion star on the right. This gas forms a disk of hot gas around the black hole, and the wind is driven off this disk(Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
via scienceblogs.com

Physicists’ findings improve advanced material

A new technique developed by a Binghamton University physicist and his colleagues will improve the quality of flexible, conductive, transparent glass.
A new technique developed by a Binghamton University physicist and his colleagues will improve the quality of flexible, conductive, transparent glass. (Credit: NASA)
via phys.org