Wednesday 4 June 2014

First light for SPHERE exoplanet imager: Revolutionary new VLT instrument installed

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SPHERE -- the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch instrument -- has been installed on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile and has achieved first light. This powerful new facility for finding and studying exoplanets uses multiple advanced techniques in combination. It offers dramatically better performance than existing instruments and has produced impressive views of dust discs around nearby stars and other targets during the very first days of observations.

via Science Daily

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First fully 2-D field effect transistors: 2-D transistors promise a faster electronics future

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Researchers have unveiled the world's first fully two-dimensional field-effect transistor, using new device architecture that provides high electron mobility even under high voltages and scaled to a monolayer in thickness.

via Science Daily

Astronomers discover first Thorne-Zytkow object, a bizarre type of hybrid star

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In a discovery decades in the making, scientists have detected the first of a 'theoretical' class of stars first proposed in 1975 by physicist Kip Thorne and astronomer Anna Zytkow. Thorne-Zytkow objects are hybrids of red supergiant and neutron stars that superficially resemble normal red supergiants, such as Betelguese in the constellation Orion. They differ, however, in their distinct chemical signatures that result from unique activity in their stellar interiors.

via Science Daily

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NASA should maintain long-term focus on Mars as 'horizon goal' for human spaceflight

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Arguing for a continuation of the nation's human space exploration program, a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council concludes that the expense of human spaceflight and the dangers to the astronauts involved can be justified only by the goal of putting humans on other worlds.

via Science Daily

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Light from huge explosion 12 billion years ago reaches Earth

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Intense light from the enormous explosion of a star 12.1 billion years ago -- shortly after the Big Bang -- recently reached Earth and was observed by a robotic telescope. Known as a gamma-ray burst, these rare, high-energy explosions are the catastrophic collapse of a star at the end of its life. Astronomers can analyze the observational data to draw further conclusions about the structure of the early universe.

via Science Daily

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Black hole 'batteries' keep blazars going and going

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Astronomers studying two classes of black-hole-powered galaxies have found evidence that they represent different sides of the same cosmic coin. By unraveling how these objects, called blazars, are distributed throughout the universe, the scientists suggest that apparently distinctive properties defining each class more likely reflect a change in the way the galaxies extract energy from their central black holes.

via Science Daily

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Astronomers discover two new worlds orbiting ancient star next door: One may be warm enough to have liquid water

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Astronomers have discovered two new planets orbiting a very old star that is near to our own sun. One of these planets orbits the star at the right distance to allow liquid water to exist on its surface, a key ingredient to support life. Kapteyn's Star, named after the Dutch astronomer, Jacobus Kapteyn, who discovered it at the end of the 19th century, is the second fastest-moving star in the sky and belongs to the Galactic halo, an extended group of stars orbiting our Galaxy on very elliptical orbits. With a third of the mass of the Sun, this red-dwarf can be seen with an amateur telescope in the southern constellation of Pictor.

via Science Daily

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Discovering a hidden source of solar surges

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Cutting-edge observations with the 1.6-meter telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory in California have taken research into the structure and activity of the Sun to new levels of understanding. The telescope at Big Bear is the most powerful ground-based instrument dedicated to studying the sun. A group of astronomers has analyzed the highest- resolution solar observations ever made.

via Science Daily

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Solving sunspot mysteries: Multi-wavelength observations of sunspots

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Multi-wavelength observations of sunspots with the 1.6-meter telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory in California and aboard NASA's IRIS spacecraft have produced new and intriguing images of high-speed plasma flows and eruptions extending from the sun's surface to the outermost layer of the solar atmosphere, the corona.

via Science Daily

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Investigating unusual three-ribbon solar flares with extreme high resolution

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The 1.6 meter telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory in California has given researchers unparalleled capability for investigating phenomena such as solar flares. The BBSO instrument is the most powerful ground-based telescope dedicated to studying the star closest to Earth.

via Science Daily

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Violent, complex scene of colliding galaxy clusters

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Astronomers have viewed a fascinating, complex scene where clusters of galaxies are violently colliding. Observations show a complex region more than 5 billion light-years from Earth where the collisions are triggering a host of phenomena that scientists still are working to understand.

via Science Daily

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Cane toad relative hits Madagascar

Science Focus

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A relative of the cane toad, which has devastated wildlife in Australia, has invaded Madagascar and could cause ecological disaster, scientists warn. 
#science 
 » see original post http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27607978#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Accurate placement of molecules into gaps between gold nanoantennas enables ultrahigh-sensitivity molecular detection

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The ability to detect tiny quantities of molecules is important for chemical sensing as well as biological and medical diagnostics. In particular, some of the most challenging and advanced applications involve rare compounds for which only a few molecules may be present at a time. The most promising devices for achieving ultrahigh-precision detection are nanoscale sensors, where molecules are placed in tiny gaps between small gold plates. But this method is effective only if the molecules are positioned accurately within the gaps. Now, Jinghua Teng from the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Singapore, and colleagues from the National University of Singapore have developed a sensor where molecules are efficiently guided and placed into position.



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Carina Nebula in Argo Navis constellation Sticker

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


tagged with: stars, galaxies, astronomy, peel off, carina nebula, argos navis constellation, carina the keel, star formation, gas clouds, carnebngcttst, ngc 3372

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Hubble's view of the Carina Nebula shows star birth in a new level of detail. The fantasy-like landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno. In the process, these stars are shredding the surrounding material that is the last vestige of the giant cloud from which the stars were born. The immense nebula is an estimated 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina the Keel (of the old southern constellation Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts, from Greek mythology).
The original image is a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken in the light of ionized hydrogen. Colour information was added with data taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulfur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.

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image code: carnebngcttst

Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope; colour data from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile

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via Zazzle Astronomy market place

A Green Flash from the Sun

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Hubble's View of NGC 5584 Case For iPad Air

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


tagged with: galaxy, space, universe, stars, travel, exploration, science, sun, the milky way, hubble's view of ngc 5584, planets, astronomy, telescope images, moons, phenomena, supernovas, cosmos, cosmology, nebula, star cluster, solar system, space shuttle, nasa, space images, themilkyway, hubble's, view, ngc, 5584

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First light for SPHERE exoplanet imager

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SPHERE—the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch instrument—has been installed on ESO's Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. This powerful facility for studying exoplanets uses multiple advanced techniques in combination. It offers dramatically better performance than existing instruments and has produced impressive views of dust discs around nearby stars and other targets during the very first days of observations. It is expected to revolutionize the study of exoplanets and circumstellar discs. Included is one of the best images so far of the ring of dust around the nearby star HR 4796A.



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Leading scientists organize international workshop about DNA-based microchips

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Dresden’s scientists are internationally renowned in the field of biomimetic material synthesis which uses biological principles such as molecular recognition and self-assembling for the tailor-made synthesis of new materials and structures. Therefore, the international workshop ‘DNA-Based Nanotechnology: Digital Chemistry (DNATEC14)’ hosted by the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems is well received within the global community. The workshop takes place from 5 to 9 May and is organized with the help of the Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) of TU Dresden and Kurt Schwabe Institute for Measure and Sensor Technology e.V. Meinsberg. “This promising future nanotechnology uses the genetic material carrier Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) as a basic element for future electronic devices and sensors. We expect that the efficiency of the traditional silicon-based semiconductor technologies cannot be furthered in about ten years“, workshop coordinator Prof. Michael Mertig, also Leader of the cfaed research Path ’Biomolecular-Assembled Circuits’ (BAC), explains. “Hence, such innovative approaches are very interesting.” About one hundred scientists are expected to attend the conference. The lecturers visit from the USA, France, Denmark, Netherlands, India, Italy, Japan, UK, Israel, and Germany. Amongst them are Ned Seeman of New York University, the founder of the research area of

The post Leading scientists organize international workshop about DNA-based microchips has been published on Technology Org.

 
#materials 
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3D animations bring CERN's first accelerator to life

Milky Way infographic

original post »
Milky Way infographic

  #outerspace  

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory originally shared:

Take a moment to learn something new about our very own Milky Way!
(Larger version here: http://chandra.si.edu/resources/illustrations/infographics.html)

 » see original post https://plus.google.com/116000959328274308893/posts/dRrdYKEiG22
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Colourful Universe

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Hubble unveils the most comprehensive picture ever assembled of the evolving Universe – and one of the most colourful

via ESA Space Science

http://sci.esa.int/hubble/54104-hubble-unveils-a-colourful-view-of-the-universe-heic1411/

Carina Nebula in Argo Navis constellation Round Stickers

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


tagged with: stars, galaxies, astronomy, envelope sealers, carina nebula, argos navis constellation, carina the keel, star formation, carnebngcttst, outer space photography, gas clouds, ngc 3372

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Hubble's view of the Carina Nebula shows star birth in a new level of detail. The fantasy-like landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno. In the process, these stars are shredding the surrounding material that is the last vestige of the giant cloud from which the stars were born. The immense nebula is an estimated 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina the Keel (of the old southern constellation Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts, from Greek mythology).
The original image is a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken in the light of ionized hydrogen. Colour information was added with data taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulfur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.

more items with this image
more items in the Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series

image code: carnebngcttst

Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope; colour data from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile

»visit the HightonRidley store for more designs and products like this
Click to customize.
via Zazzle Astronomy market place

Hubble Interacting Galaxy NGC 6670 Cases For iPad

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


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The Zazzle Promise: We promise 100% satisfaction. If you don't absolutely love it, we'll take it back!