Physics in the News

Friday, July 18, 2014

Is the universe a bubble? Let’s check(VIDEO)

via perimeterinstitute

Meet the electric life forms that live on pure energy(VIDEO)

via newscientist

Scientists crush diamond with pressure from world’s biggest laser(VIDEO)

via upi

Asteroid Vesta Has a Colorful History(VIDEO)

via nationalgeographic

NASA space station commander discusses life and work floatig in space(VIDEO)

Strange “beads on a string” star formation explained(VIDEO)

via fromquarkstoquasars

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

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

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)