Monday 30 November 2015

A Conversation With: Luis Ho Pushes China Into World Astronomy Club

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From his post at Peking University, the astronomer Luis Ho has a clear view not just of black holes but also the rapid evolution of science in China.










via New York Times

New phase of carbon discovered: Making diamonds at room temperature

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Scientists have discovered a new phase of solid carbon, called Q-carbon, which is distinct from the known phases of graphite and diamond. They have also developed a technique for using Q-carbon to make diamond-related structures at room temperature and at ambient atmospheric pressure in air.
via Science Daily

Simulating the jet streams and anticyclones of Jupiter and Saturn

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A researcher has successfully generated 3-D simulations of deep jet streams and storms on Jupiter and Saturn, helping to satiate our eternal quest for knowledge of planetary dynamics. The results facilitate a deeper understanding of planetary weather and provide clues to the dynamics of Earth's weather patterns evidenced in jet streams and ocean currents.
via Science Daily
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Missing link found between turbulence in collapsing star and hypernova, gamma-ray burst

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Extremely bright supernovas, called hypernovae, have been linked to gamma-ray bursts, but theorists have struggled to explain how a collapsing massive star could produce a magnetic field a million billion times greater than that of the sun, which is necessary to blow off the outer portions of the star and accelerate charged particles to speeds needed to produce gamma rays. A new supercomputer simulation shows how this happens.
via Science Daily
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Unexpected activity on the Moon

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The lunar space environment is much more active than previously assumed. The solar wind is reflected from the surface and crustal magnetic fields of the moon which has effects on for instance lunar water levels.
via Science Daily
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Sneak preview

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Space Science Image of the Week: ESA's LISA Pathfinder gravitational wave demonstrator getting ready for launch at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou
via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2015/11/LISA_Pathfinder_ready_for_launch

In the Center of Spiral Galaxy NGC 3521

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Graphene microphone outperforms traditional nickel and offers ultrasonic reach

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Scientists have developed a graphene based microphone nearly 32 times more sensitive than microphones of standard nickel-based construction.
via Science Daily

Sunday 29 November 2015

Coming to a monitor near you: A defect-free, molecule-thick film

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A research team has found a simple way to fix defects in atomically thin monolayer semiconductors. The development could open doors to transparent LED displays, ultra-high efficiency solar cells, photo detectors and nanoscale transistors.
via Science Daily

Dark Sand Cascades on Mars

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Saturday 28 November 2015

Graphene’s stabling influence

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Supercapacitors can be charged and discharged tens of thousands of times, but their relatively low energy density compared to conventional batteries limits their application for energy storage. Now, researchers in Singapore have developed an 'asymmetric' supercapacitor based on metal nitrides and graphene that could be a viable energy storage solution.
via Science Daily

Rosetta and Comet Outbound

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Not a bright comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko now sweeps slowly through planet Earth's predawn skies near the line-up of planets along the ecliptic. Still, this composite of telescopic images follows the comet's progress as it moves away from the Sun beyond the orbit of Mars, from late September (left) through late November (far right). Its faint but extensive coma and tails are viewed against the colorful background of stars near the eastern edge of the constellation Leo. A year ago, before its perihelion passage, the comet was less active, though. Then the Rosetta mission's lander Philae made it's historic landing, touching down on the surface of the comet's nucleus.

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Friday 27 November 2015

Scientists get first glimpse of black hole eating star, ejecting high-speed flare

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An international team of astrophysicists has for the first time witnessed a star being swallowed by a black hole and ejecting a flare of matter moving at nearly the speed of light.
via Science Daily
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Dimensionality transition in a newly created material

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Iron oxides occur in nature in many forms, often significantly different from each other in terms of structure and physical properties. However, a new variety of iron oxide, recently created and tested by scientists in Poland, surprised both physicists and engineers, as it revealed features previously unobserved in any other material.
via Science Daily

Scientists get first glimpse of black hole eating star, ejecting high-speed flare

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Astrophysicists have for the first time witnessed a star being swallowed by a black hole and ejecting a flare of matter moving at nearly the speed of light.
via Science Daily
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Test racetrack dipole magnet produces record 16 tesla field

The Racetrack Model Coil test magnet (Image: CERN)

A new world record has been broken by the CERN magnet group when their racetrack test magnet produced a 16.2 tesla (16.2T) peak field – nearly twice that produced by the current LHC dipoles and the highest ever for a dipole magnet of this configuration.

The Racetrack Model Coil (RMC) is one of several demonstration test magnets being built by the group to understand and develop new technologies, which are vital for future accelerators.

The shorter magnets are just 1 to 2 metres in length, compared to the 5-7 metre  long ones needed for the High-Luminosity LHC.

The tests are needed to prove the feasibility of creating magnetic fields of up to 16 tesla, which are built into the designs of future accelerators.

“The present LHC dipoles have a nominal field of 8.3T and we are designing accelerators which need magnets to produce a field of around 16T – almost twice as much,” says Juan Carlos Perez, an engineer at CERN and the project leader for the RMC.

High-field magnets are crucial to building higher energy particle accelerators. High magnetic fields are needed to steer a beam in its orbit – in the case of dipoles - or to squeeze the beams before they collide within the experiments, which is the case for high-gradient quadrupoles.

The LHC uses niobium-titanium superconducting magnets to both bend and focus proton beams as they race around the LHC. But the RMC uses a different superconducting material, niobium-tin, which can reach much higher magnetic fields, despite its brittle nature.

The world record is a step forward in the demonstration of the technology for the High-Luminosity LHC project, and a major milestone for the Future Circular Collider design study.

"It is an excellent result, although we should not forget that this is a relatively small magnet, a technology demonstrator with no bore through the centre for the beam,” says Luca Bottura, Head of CERN’s Magnet Group. “There is still a way to go before 16 Tesla magnets can be used in an accelerator. Still, this is a very important step towards them."

The RMC is also using wires and cables of the same class as those being used to build FRESCA2, a 13T dipole magnet with a 100mm aperture that will be used to upgrade the CERN cable test facility FRESCA. FRESCA2 coils are currently under construction and will be ready for testing by summer 2016.

Such fields are only possible thanks to new materials and technologies, and also close relationships between several physics communities.  The team worked closely with other European and overseas research and development programmes to break the technology barriers.

Learn more about the technologies and the Racetrack Model Coil read this month’s Accelerating News.

 


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2015/11/test-racetrack-dipole-magnet-produces-record-16-tesla-field

Gravity's Grin

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Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, published 100 years ago this month, predicted the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. And that's what gives these distant galaxies such a whimsical appearance, seen through the looking glass of X-ray and optical image data from the Chandra and Hubble space telescopes. Nicknamed the Cheshire Cat galaxy group, the group's two large elliptical galaxies are suggestively framed by arcs. The arcs are optical images of distant background galaxies lensed by the foreground group's total distribution of gravitational mass dominated by dark matter. In fact the two large elliptical "eye" galaxies represent the brightest members of their own galaxy groups which are merging. Their relative collisional speed of nearly 1,350 kilometers/second heats gas to millions of degrees producing the X-ray glow shown in purple hues. Curiouser about galaxy group mergers? The Cheshire Cat group grins in the constellation Ursa Major, some 4.6 billion light-years away.

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European payload selected for ExoMars 2018 surface platform

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Two European instruments and four European contributions on two Russian instruments have been selected for the Russian-led science platform that will land on Mars as part of the ESA–Roscosmos ExoMars 2018 mission.


via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/European_payload_selected_for_ExoMars_2018_surface_platform

Thursday 26 November 2015

Planets of the Morning

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Planet Earth's horizon stretches across this recent Solar System group portrait, seen from the southern hemisphere's Las Campanas Observatory. Taken before dawn it traces the ecliptic with a line-up familiar to November's early morning risers. Toward the east are bright planets Venus, Mars, and Jupiter as well as Regulus, alpha star of the constellation Leo. Of course the planets are immersed in the faint glow of zodiacal light, visible from the dark site rising at an angle from the horizon. Sometimes known as the false dawn, it's no accident the zodiacal light and planets both lie along the ecliptic. Formed in the flattened protoplanetary disk, the Solar System's planet's all orbit near the ecliptic plane, while dust near the plane scatters sunlight, the source of the faint zodiacal glow.

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Release the beams! Linac 4 hits the 50 MeV mark

Wednesday 25 November 2015

Aging star's weight loss secret revealed

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A team of astronomers has captured the most detailed images ever of the hypergiant star VY Canis Majoris. These observations show how the unexpectedly large size of the particles of dust surrounding the star enable it to lose an enormous amount of mass as it begins to die. This process, understood now for the first time, is necessary to prepare such gigantic stars to meet explosive demises as supernovae.
via Science Daily
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Comet fragments best explanation of mysterious dimming star

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Astronomers have responded to the buzz about a mysterious dimming star by studying data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. They conclude the dimming was probably caused by a family of comets passing in front of the star.
via Science Daily
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Testing gravity

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Find out how LISA Pathfinder will test-drive technologies to detect gravitational waves from space
via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2015/11/Inside_LISA_Pathfinder_with_narration

Unusual Pits Discovered on Pluto

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LHC collides ions at new record energy

ExoMars prepares to leave Europe for launch site

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The two ExoMars spacecraft of the 2016 mission are being prepared for shipping to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan ahead of their launch in March.


via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/ExoMars_prepares_to_leave_Europe_for_launch_site

Graphene & 2D Materials USA

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Graphene & 2D Materials USA, a successor of the LIVE! series of conferences, held its sixth meeting last week in Santa Clara, CA. This event is the most commercially-focused conference and exhibition on graphene and other 2D materials. Graphene and 2D Materials is unique as it is co-located with other highly synergetic end user industries such as printed electronics, wearable technologies, electric vehicles, and 3D printing.

Graphenea CEO Jesus de la Fuente gave a lecture on the “The road to commercialization of graphene nanomaterials”, presenting the current market situation followed by market forecasts and comparisons. Jesus highlighted regulatory issues, safety regulations, quality assurance and vertical industries compliance as the main challenges toward commercialization of graphene materials.

Image: Jesus de la Fuente at Graphene USA 2015.

Jesus spoke at “Graphene Applications and Market Progress”, one of several topical sections which included graphene production, dispersion, and specific application related sections like “batteries and supercapacitors”.

The Graphene & 2D Materials meeting was held alongside end user industry meetings “3D Printing”, “Energy Harvesting & Storage”, “Internet of Things”, “Printed Electronics”, “Electric Vehicles”, “Wearable”, and “Sensors”.

“We are very satisfied with the event”, proclaimed Jesus de la Fuente. “We have been attending the IDTechEx Graphene Show in the US and Europe for several years. It is a very well organized event from the business perspective. At this event you have the opportunity to learn the state of the industry through presentations and the chance to meet relevant players in the industry at the booth floor. Always interesting to mix graphene with other industries like printed electronics, supercapacitors... many opportunities arises within this format.”

Graphenea exhibited a stand, showcasing our graphene product line, focused on large area CVD graphene films and graphene oxide, commonly used with other materials in composite applications.

Image: Full auditorium at Graphene & 2D Materials USA 2015.


via Graphenea

Make mine a double-shot, zero-G espresso

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Last year Italy sent an espresso machine up to the ISS, and this inspired a team of researchers to study the related strange fluids phenomena in low gravity, such as espresso crema formation and containment of potentially hazardous drinks within a spacecraft. To do this, the researchers designed a cup that exploits surface tension as opposed to gravity.
via Science Daily
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Tuesday 24 November 2015

The hottest white dwarf in the Galaxy

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Astronomers have identified a dying star and intergalactic gas entering the Milky Way.
via Science Daily
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Mars once had a moderately dense atmosphere

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Scientists suggest that 3.8 billion years ago, Mars might have had only a moderately dense atmosphere. The scientists have identified a photochemical process that could have helped such an early atmosphere evolve into the current thin one without creating the problem of 'missing' carbon and in a way that is consistent with existing carbon isotopic measurements.
via Science Daily
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Mars to lose its largest moon, Phobos, but gain a ring

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Mars' largest moon -- one of only two in our solar system moving inward towards its planet -- will eventually be torn apart by tidal forces and distributed in a ring around the planet, a study of the cohesiveness of Phobos has concluded. This would take about 10-20 million years, and the ring will persist for up to 100 million years before the dust falls into Mars' atmosphere and burns up as 'moon' showers.
via Science Daily
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Blue Origin’s Rocket Launches, and Lands

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Jeffrey Bezo’s company sent a rocket more than 100 kilometers in the air, which then fired its engines and returned to the launchpad.










via New York Times

New Knowledge Transfer website to grow CERN’s industry links

Previous successful Knowledge Transfer enterprises have helped to develop several useful technologies, such as these photonic crystals, which glow when high-energy charged particles pass through, and are used for medical imaging (Image: CERN)

CERN’s Knowledge Transfer Group has just launched a new tool to encourage CERN researchers and businesses to share their technologies, ideas and expertise.

It’s hoped that by facilitating these exchanges the tool will inspire new ways to apply CERN technologies commercially, to help benefit industry and society.

Interested organizations including small-to-medium sized businesses specially, research centres, large industrial organizations and universities, can subscribe to the website here, and download a KT newsletter.

The newsletter will include up to date information on the technologies generated at CERN and their potential uses and benefits in the subscribers’ business sector.

In turn, organizations will then be able to share their particular interests related to CERN technologies and expertise.

There are already many successful enterprises which exist due to CERN’s Knowledge Exchange network.

For example, data generated by the CERN-developed software Fluka, is now integrated into the patient cancer treatment planning system implemented by Ray Search Laboratories in Sweden. There are also several start-ups including Terabee in France, which uses co-developed sensor technology from CERN for indoor drone navigation. And  TIND in Norway, which develops software solutions around CERN Invenio technology, and counts among its customers CalTech, the Max Planck Institute and the United Nations.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2015/11/new-knowledge-transfer-website-grow-cerns-industry-links

Aurora over Clouds

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Space, the Frontier Right in Front of Us

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Art, architecture and music were altered by the idea that space is not just a void, but an aesthetic force of its own.










via New York Times