Friday 6 March 2015

Dwarf Galaxy Holmberg IX iPad Mini Covers

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: le0070, nasa, etoiles, les etoiles, astronomy, science, galaxy, hubble, space, scientific, outer space, deep space, galaxies, hst, hubble telescope, sky, dwarf, holmberg, irregular, magellanic, ursa major, hubble space telescope, blue, black, beautiful, pretty, celestial

"This loose collection of stars is actually a dwarf irregular galaxy, called Holmberg IX. It resides just off the outer edge of M81, a large spiral galaxy in Ursa Major. This image was taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in early 2006. Holmberg IX is of the so-called Magellanic type of galaxy, as its size and irregularity in structure are similar to the Small Magellanic Cloud, a neighbor to our own Milky Way. Holmberg IX was first discovered by astronomer Sidney van den Bergh in 1959, and cataloged as DDO 66. The galaxy received its "Holmberg IX" naming when it was discussed in Eric Holmberg's study of groups of galaxies ten years later. It is suspected that the dwarf galaxy was created as a result of a galactic interaction between M81 and neighboring galaxy M82."

(qtd. from Hubblesite.org NewsCenter release STScI-2008-02)

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

»visit the les_etoiles store for more designs and products like this
The Zazzle Promise: We promise 100% satisfaction. If you don't absolutely love it, we'll take it back!

Fibers made by transforming materials

original post »

Scientists have known how to draw thin fibers from bulk materials for decades. But a new approach to

The post Fibers made by transforming materials has been published on Technology Org.

 
#materials 
See Zazzle gifts tagged with 'science'

Orion's launch abort system motor exceeds expectations

more »

It took just three seconds for the attitude control motor of NASA's Orion Launch Abort System (LAS) to prove that its material can survive not only the intense temperatures, pressures, noise and vibrations experienced during a launch emergency but also 40 percent beyond. The LAS is being designed to bring a crew to safety should there be a problem in the launch pad or during ascent.

via Science Daily

Zazzle Space Exploration market place

Mars Rover Curiosity Is Suffering Short Circuits in Arm, NASA Says

more »

NASA engineers are diagnosing an electrical problem on the Curiosity Mars rover, which may limit the drilling of rocks.















via New York Times

NASA’s Dawn Probe Begins Orbiting Dwarf Planet Ceres

more »

The spacecraft, launched in 2007, is now circling Ceres in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.















via New York Times

Graphene meets heat waves

more »

Researchers have shed new light on the fundamental mechanisms of heat dissipation in graphene and other two-dimensional materials. They have shown that heat can propagate as a wave over very long distances. This is key information for engineering the electronics of tomorrow.

via Science Daily

NASA spacecraft becomes first to orbit a dwarf planet

more »

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has become the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet. The spacecraft was approximately 38,000 miles (61,000) kilometers from Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet's gravity at about 4:39 a.m. PST (7:39 a.m. EST) Friday.

via Science Daily

Zazzle Space Exploration market place

Black holes and dark sector explained by quantum gravity

more »

A quantum version of General Relativity demonstrates that dark energy and dark matter are different manifestations of gravity. The theory calculates the precise value of the cosmological constant, derives the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation, gives a quantum description of Black Holes and calculates the baryonic mass content of the observable universe.

via Science Daily

Zazzle Space Exploration market place

How science is accelerating our search for alien life

Science Focus

original post »

Why are scientists so optimistic?
The Kepler space telescope gets much of the credit. Before it was launched into orbit in 2009, astronomers couldn't be sure whether planets existed outside our solar system. The search for extraterrestrial life was mostly focused on our own solar system — on Mars and a number of moons around Jupiter and Saturn — and on an intergalactic eavesdropping project known as SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). For 50 years, SETI has been using radio telescopes to listen for signals from an alien civilization somewhere out there in the cosmos, with no "Hello there!" detected thus far. But when Kepler began scrutinizing the stars from its perch beyond the atmosphere, its unprecedented resolution gave scientists a tool to detect the relatively dim planets circling them. Using the telescope's data, scientists now estimate there are more than 100 billion exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) in the Milky Way galaxy alone. One in every five stars, they've concluded, has a planet that is habitable, and Kepler can help pinpoint which ones to examine for signs of life. "It's within our grasp to pull off a discovery that will change the world forever," says telescope scientist Matt Mountain.

How does Kepler work?
Trained on a patch of sky containing about 100,000 stars, the telescope studies the light emitted by each star to look for telltale dips in brightness. The periodic dips are a sign of a partial eclipse, caused as a planet transits in front of its star's surface during orbit. From that one patch of universe, Kepler has used the "transit method" to confirm the existence of at least 2,000 exoplanets — from rocky spheres smaller than Earth to gaseous giants larger than Jupiter. The next challenge, says MIT astrophysicist Sara Seager, is to identify exoplanets that live within their star's so-called Goldilocks zone — neither too near nor too far from their star so that their environment is "not too hot, not too cold — just right for life." Astrobiologists believe they've already identified 86 Earth-like exoplanets that exist in this habitable zone and are now studying them for signs of life.

What kind of signs?
The traditional marker of life is liquid water. "Life needs a liquid; even the driest desert plant on Earth needs water for its metabolism to work," says MIT astrobiologist William Bains. So if an exoplanet contains liquid water, the planet might be home to an alien life-form, whether it's a simple bacterium or a complex and intelligent creature. A watery planet could be detected by the chemical signatures of water in its atmosphere. Some scientists think it's possible that aliens are more different than we can imagine and have evolved to exist on methane or other chemicals instead of water. "The things we can conceive of are probably a very small set of the possibilities that are out there," says biogeochemist Ariel Anbar. "We know we're going to be surprised."

What else would indicate life?
NASA also plans to use its telescopes to search for certain "biosignatures" in an exoplanet's atmosphere. A large amount of oxygen is one such biosignature: As a highly reactive element, oxygen needs to be consistently renewed by a biological process like photosynthesis in order to exist in large quantities. Another tip-off would be a carbon footprint that we've developed on our own planet: air pollution. (See below.) "You'd know that's an inhabited world, not just a habitable world," says Jill Tarter for the SETI Institute. "And then you can ask the question, Did they develop any technology we might detect?"

Could we contact any aliens we find?
Perhaps, but not easily. The biggest barrier for astronomers is the time lag involved in communicating with planets located trillions of miles away. Suppose NASA decided to try to communicate with Kepler-186f, an Earth-like planet about 500 light-years away (or 2,939,249,910,000,000 miles): Given the planet's distance, it would take half a millennium for a message to reach its inhabitants, and another 500 years for their response to be received. Either our civilization or theirs could perish during that time, rendering the communication moot. This assumes, of course, that the alien life is intelligent and can communicate; there will be no return signal from silent microbes in an ice-capped lake.

What if we do find life?
Legendary astrophysicist Stephen Hawking believes we're taking a big risk just by looking for it. He has warned that any signals we send out could invite the visit of a far superior alien civilization intent on our colonization or destruction. But even the discovery of friendly, intelligent aliens — or primitive life-forms — could have a mind-blowing effect on humanity. Traditional religious teachings about man's central role in creation would be overturned, and our species would be forced to redefine itself in the knowledge that we've got company — perhaps plenty of company — in the universe. "Soon, we're going to have an existential shock," says theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. "Even if we find a fossil, a DNA strand from another species, that would be absolutely staggering."

Finding a marker of civilization
As astrobiologists search for biosignatures in a planet's atmosphere, they'll now also be looking for a telltale indication of an advanced civilization: pollutants like those found in our own atmosphere. Astronomers will look for industrial pollutants such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the chemicals found in aerosols and refrigeration units, which have helped to eat a hole in Earth's ozone layer. These chemicals aren't known to occur in atmospheres naturally, so they would be a helpful indicator that an industrial civilization once existed on that planet — though because they take approximately 100,000 years to disappear, those aliens may long be extinct. The irony is that "aliens are often referred to as green little creatures," says theoretical astrophysicist Avi Loeb, but "detectable CFC-rich civilizations would not be 'green,' since they are environmentally unfriendly."

 
#science 
 » see original post http://theweek.com/articles/442062/how-science-accelerating-search-alien-life
See Zazzle gifts tagged with 'science'

Why weed (and other cannabinoids) gives us—I mean, you—the munchies

Science Focus

original post »

The regulation of appetite by the nervous system is a hot area of research due to the raging obesity/diabetes epidemic. An international team of researchers interested in the subject—none of whom hail from either Colorado or Amsterdam—astutely noticed that "the phenomenon of cannabis-triggered feeding in a state of satiety is a hallmark of marijuana use in humans." So they injected cannabinoids into sated mice to see how the drugs affected neurons in the hypothalamus known to regulate satiety, the feeling of fullness. They figured that the cannabinoids would decrease the activity of these neurons. They figured totally wrong.

The researchers used two different molecules that stimulate cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R). When injected into mice, both molecules induced feeding in well-fed animals. POMC neurons in the hypothalamus are known to promote satiety, so the researchers assumed that activation of cannabinoid signaling would decrease the activity of these neurons, allowing the mice to start feeding again.

Paradoxically, they found that CB1R signaling hyperactivated the POMC neurons. And not only that; these neurons were essential in driving the feeding response to cannabinoids. When the researchers suppressed POMC activity, the stoned mice didn't eat.

Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

 
#science 
 » see original post http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/science/~3/ghV_UF2cc3c/
See Zazzle gifts tagged with 'science'

Team uses disorder to control light on a nanoscale

Science Focus

original post »

A breakthrough by a team of researchers from UCLA, Columbia University and other institutions could lead to the

The post Team uses disorder to control light on a nanoscale has been published on Technology Org.

 
#physics 
 » see original post http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechnologyOrgPhysicsNews/~3/HdCn6ipi4Bc/
See Zazzle gifts tagged with 'science'

Cometary Globule CG4

more »
The faint and somehow menacing cometary globule CG4 reaches through the center of this deep southern skyscape. About 1,300 light-years from Earth toward the constellation Puppis, its head is about 1.5 light-years in diameter and its tail about 8 light-years long. That's far larger than the Solar System's comets that it seems to resemble. In fact, the dusty cloud contains enough material to form several Sun-like stars and likely has ongoing star formation within. How its distinctive form came about is still debated, but its long tail trails away from the Vela Supernova remnant near the center of the Gum Nebula, while its head could represent the rupture of an originally more spherical cloud. Still, the edge-on spiral galaxy also near picture center is not actually being threatened by CG4. The galaxy lies in the distant background more than 100 million light-years away.
Tomorrow's picture: a flying lizard nebula
< | Archive | Submissions | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Magnetic memory promises faster and more energy efficient information storage

more »

A developing form of computer memory has the potential to store information more quickly and more cheaply, while using less energy, than what's used today by the semiconductor industry, NYU Physics Professor Andrew Kent concludes.



Zazzle Space market place

Glass coating improves battery performance

more »

Researchers have investigated a strategy to prevent this 'polysulfide shuttling' phenomenon by creating nano-sized sulfur particles, and coating them in silica, otherwise known as glass.

via Science Daily

When temperature goes quantum

more »

A UA-led collaboration of physicists and chemists has discovered that temperature behaves in strange and unexpected ways in graphene, a material that has scientists sizzling with excitement about its potential for new technological devices ranging from computing to medicine.



Zazzle Space market place

Stunning Aqua Star Cluster iPad Mini Cover

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: cosmological, cosmos, space, hubble, telescope, magellanic, turquoise, aqua, blue, stars, outer space

A breathtaking blue and turquoise dance of heavenly clouds, Star Cluster NGC 2074 in the Large Magellanic Cloud as captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

»visit the Tannaidhe store for more designs and products like this
The Zazzle Promise: We promise 100% satisfaction. If you don't absolutely love it, we'll take it back!

Scientists identify mineral that destroys organic compounds, with implications for Mars Curiosity mission

original post »

Scientists have discovered that the mineral jarosite breaks down organic compounds when it is flash-heated, with implications for

The post Scientists identify mineral that destroys organic compounds, with implications for Mars Curiosity mission has been published on Technology Org.

 
#materials 
See Zazzle gifts tagged with 'science'

DKK 250,000 for micrometre-scale 3D printing

original post »

The two students, Rodrigo Pimentel from DTU Nanotech and Michael Mischkot from DTU Mechanical Engineering, are convinced that

The post DKK 250,000 for micrometre-scale 3D printing has been published on Technology Org.

 
#materials 
See Zazzle gifts tagged with 'science'

LHC injector tests to begin