Sunday 1 June 2014

Amplification of cosmic magnetic fields replicated

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Astrophysicists have established that cosmic turbulence could have amplified magnetic fields to the strengths observed in interstellar space. "Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the universe," said one of the researchers. "We're pretty sure that the fields didn't exist at the beginning, at the Big Bang. So there's this fundamental question: how did magnetic fields arise?"

via Science Daily

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Graphene's multi-colored butterflies

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Combining black and white graphene can change the electronic properties of the one-atom thick materials, researchers have found. One of the major challenges for using graphene in electronics applications is the absence of a band gap, which basically means that graphene's electrical conductivity cannot be switched off completely. Whatever researchers tried to do with the material so far, it remained highly electrically conductive.

via Science Daily

Observing the random diffusion of missing atoms in graphene

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Imperfections in the regular atomic arrangements in crystals determine many of the properties of a material, and their diffusion is behind many microstructural changes in solids. However, imaging non-repeating atomic arrangements is difficult in conventional materials. Now, researchers have directly imaged the diffusion of a butterfly-shaped atomic defect in graphene, the recently discovered two-dimensional wonder material, over long image sequences.

via Science Daily

High Frontier Colonization Poster-Map, Mar 2014

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: sierra madre, poster-map, colonization, high frontier, science, fiction, eklund, astronomy, board game

Use this map to play the tabletop game High Frontier or High Frontier Colonization, published by Sierra Madre Games. It extends the standard expanded map out to Pluto and beyond, all the way to Sedna and the sunlens point at 550 AU. Includes the newly discovered debris rings of Rhea, the penitentares of Europa, the mysterious featureless moon of Melone, the neutrino sunlens point, and more. Updated Mar 2014. "I printed the Colonization HF Poster-Map in Large (48.00" x 22.46"), Value Poster Paper (Matte). It is great as long as you have the space for it. Otherwise, I would get the 36” X 24" version. If you combine with another Poster-Map (Bios-Origins or Interstellar) then you could do even better on price since you only need to pay for shipping once. The quality on both maps are top notch so I can strongly recommend them." Russell Harley

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What causes Asthma?

Science Focus

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What causes one of the UK's most common health conditions? 
#science 
 » see original post http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/21857582
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Monogram - Emission Nebula NGC 2467 in Puppis Round Stickers

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: envelope sealers, galaxies and stars, sculptured gas clouds, enebicp, constellation puppis, ngc 2467, the stern, hot young stars, star incubator, monogram initials

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A colourful star-forming region is featured in this stunning image of NGC 2467 located in the southern constellation of Puppis (The Stern). Looking like a roiling cauldron of some exotic cosmic brew, huge clouds of gas and dust are sprinkled with bright blue, hot young stars. Strangely shaped dust clouds, resembling spilled liquids, are silhouetted against a colourful background of glowing gas. Like the familiar Orion Nebula, NGC 2467 is a huge cloud of gas, mostly hydrogen, that serves as an incubator for new stars. Some of these youthful stars have emerged from the dense clouds where they were born and now shine brightly, hot and blue in this picture, but many others remain hidden.

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image code: enebicp

Image credit: NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

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Halo of the Cat's Eye

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Monogram Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1672 Stickers

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: monogram initials, star galaxies, deep space astronomy, barred spiral galaxy, bsgsst, starry space picture, galactic arms, supermassive black hole, dust lanes, star forming galaxy

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series This NASA Hubble Space Telescope view of the nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672 unveils details in the galaxy's star-forming clouds and dark bands of interstellar dust.
One of the most striking features is the dust lanes that extend away from the nucleus and follow the inner edges of the galaxy's spiral arms. Clusters of hot young blue stars form along the spiral arms and ionize surrounding clouds of hydrogen gas that glow red. Delicate curtains of dust partially obscure and redden the light of the stars behind them by scattering blue light.
Galaxies lying behind NGC 1672 give the illusion they are embedded in the foreground galaxy, even though they are really much farther away. They also appear reddened as they shine through NGC 1672's dust. A few bright foreground stars inside our own Milky Way Galaxy appear in the image as bright and diamond-like objects.
As a prototypical barred spiral galaxy, NGC 1672 differs from normal spiral galaxies, in that the arms do not twist all the way into the center. Instead, they are attached to the two ends of a straight bar of stars enclosing the nucleus. Viewed nearly face on, NGC 1672 shows intense star formation regions especially off in the ends of its central bar.
Astronomers believe that barred spirals have a unique mechanism that channels gas from the disk inward towards the nucleus. This allows the bar portion of the galaxy to serve as an area of new star generation.
NGC 1672 is also classified as a Seyfert galaxy. Seyferts are a subset of galaxies with active nuclei. The energy output of these nuclei can sometimes outshine their host galaxies. This activity is powered by accretion onto supermassive black holes.
NGC 1672 is more than 60 million light-years away in the direction of the southern constellation Dorado. These observations of NGC 1672 were taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in August of 2005. The composite image was made by using filters that isolate light from the blue, green, and infrared portions of the spectrum, as well as emission from ionized hydrogen.
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image code: bsgsst

Image credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

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