Thursday 7 May 2015

Russian Spacecraft Nears a Fiery Re-Entry

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The freighter, tumbling in space after a failed cargo run to the International Space Station, is expected to hit Earth’s atmosphere and burn up late on Thursday.








via New York Times

NASA 3-D Prints First Full-Scale Copper Rocket Engine Part

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When you think of copper, the penny in your pocket may come to mind; but NASA engineers are

The post NASA 3-D Prints First Full-Scale Copper Rocket Engine Part has been published on Technology Org.

 
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Lopsided star explosion holds the key to other supernova mysteries

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New observations of a recently exploded star are confirming supercomputer model predictions made at Caltech that the deaths of stellar giants are lopsided affairs in which debris and the stars' cores hurtle off in opposite directions.
via Science Daily
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Mercury's magnetic field is almost four billion years old

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New data from MESSENGER, the spacecraft that orbited Mercury for four years before crashing into the planet a week ago, reveals Mercury's magnetic field is almost four billion years old.
via Science Daily
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Hubble finds giant halo around the Andromeda galaxy

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Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the immense halo of gas enveloping the Andromeda galaxy, our nearest massive galactic neighbor, is about six times larger and 1,000 times more massive than previously measured. What does this mean for our own galaxy? Because we live inside the Milky Way, scientists cannot determine whether or not such an equally massive and extended halo exists around our galaxy. It's a case of not being able to see the forest for the trees. If the Milky Way does possess a similarly huge halo, the two galaxies' halos may be nearly touching already and quiescently merging long before the two massive galaxies collide. Hubble observations indicate that the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies will merge to form a giant elliptical galaxy beginning about 4 billion years from now.
via Science Daily
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Hubble Finds Giant Halo Around the Andromeda Galaxy


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The Andromeda galaxy is our Milky Way's nearest neighbor in space. The majestic spiral of over 100 billion stars is comparable in size to our home galaxy. At a distance of 2.5 million light-years, it is so close to us the galaxy can be seen as a cigar-shaped smudge of light high in the autumn sky. But if you could see the huge bubble of hot, diffuse plasma surrounding it, it would appear 100 times the angular diameter of the full Moon! The gargantuan halo is estimated to contain half the mass of the stars in the Andromeda galaxy itself. It can be thought of as the "atmosphere" of a galaxy. Astronomers using Hubble identified the gas in Andromeda's halo by measuring how it filtered the light of distant bright background objects called quasars. It is akin to seeing the glow of a flashlight shining through a fog. This finding promises to tell astronomers more about the evolution and structure of one of the most common types of galaxies in the universe.


via HubbleSite NewsCenter -- Latest News Releases
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/15/

170-year-old champagne provides clues to past winemaking

Science Focus

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Divers discovered bottles in a shipwreck off the Finnish Aland archipelago in the Baltic Sea in 2010. After tasting the bottles on site, the divers realized they were likely drinking century-old champagne. Soon after, 168 unlabeled bottles were retrieved and were identified as champagnes from the Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin (VCP), Heidsieck, and Juglar (known as Jacquesson since 1832) champagne houses. A few of the recovered bottles had been lying horizontal in close-to-perfect slow aging conditions.

Discovery of these wines, likely the oldest ever tasted, unleashed a flood of questions. When were these wines produced? What winemaking processes were in use at the time? Where was the wine going when the shipwreck occurred?

An analytic approach

A team of scientists gathered to search for the answers through the application of current analytical techniques, an approach called archaeochemistry. Using a combination of targeted and nontargeted modern chemical analytic approaches, the researchers aimed to uncover aspects of the winemaking practices.

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 » see original post http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/science/~3/_i9K5nQHAFk/
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High-power Laser Spinoff Proves Versatility is Strength

Science Focus

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Since lasers were invented in 1960, they have penetrated countless scientific, industrial and recreational fields: from eye surgery

The post High-power Laser Spinoff Proves Versatility is Strength has been published on Technology Org.

 
#physics 
 » see original post http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechnologyOrgPhysicsNews/~3/nh4E0jgmJNI/
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Eye - Stellar Nursery R136 on nebula background Square Sticker

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


tagged with: astronomy, envelope sealers, eye, stellar nursery, r136, 30 doradus nebula, massive stars, tarantula nebula, hrbstslr dorneblmc, galaxy stars, large magellanic cloud, star cluster, amazing hubble images

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series On a background of the Pelican and North American nebulae, an eye made from hundreds of brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds appear in this the most detailed view of the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood. The massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus (or Tarantula) Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.
There is no known star-forming region in our galaxy as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus. Many of the diamond-like icy blue stars are among the most massive stars known. Several of them are over 100 times more massive than our Sun. These hefty stars are destined to pop off, like a string of firecrackers, as supernovas in a few million years. The image, taken in ultraviolet, visible, and red light by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, spans about 100 light-years.
The movement of the LMC around the Milky Way may have triggered the massive cluster's formation in several ways. The gravitational tug of the Milky Way and the companion Small Magellanic Cloud may have compressed gas in the LMC. Also, the pressure resulting from the LMC plowing through the Milky Way's halo may have compressed gas in the satellite. The cluster is a rare, nearby example of the many super star clusters that formed in the distant, early universe, when star birth and galaxy interactions were more frequent.
The LMC is located 170,000 light-years away and is a member of the Local Group of Galaxies, which also includes the Milky Way. The Hubble observations were taken Oct. 20-27, 2009. The blue color is light from the hottest, most massive stars; the green from the glow of oxygen; and the red from fluorescing hydrogen.

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image code: dorneblmc

image credit: Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3

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via Zazzle Astronomy market place

Fresh evidence for how water reached Earth found in asteroid debris

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New research strongly suggests that water delivery via asteroids or comets is likely taking place in many other planetary systems, just as it happened on Earth. The quantity of water on Earth is not unique.
via Science Daily
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At the Limit of Diffraction

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Did you ever want to just look through the eyepiece of a large telescope in space? If you could, you would see a sharp view that was diffraction limited. Unaffected by atmospheric blurring that ultimately plagues earthbound observers, the angular resolution of your diffraction limited view would be determined only by the wavelength of light and diameter of the telescope lens or mirror; the larger the diameter, the sharper the image. Still, in this working earth-based snapshot a new active adaptive optics system (MagAO) is being used to cancel out the atmospheric blurring in a visual observation of famous double star system Alpha Centauri. Testing the system at the eyepiece of the 6.5 meter diameter Magellan Clay Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, astronomer Laird Close is enjoying a historic diffraction limited view (inset) and the wide apparent separation of the close binary star system ... without traveling to low earth orbit.
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Geochemical process on Saturn's moon Enceladus linked to life's origin

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New work has revealed the pH of water spewing from a geyser-like plume on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Their findings are an important step toward determining whether life could exist, or could have previously existed, on the sixth planet's sixth-largest moon.
via Science Daily
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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.

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Nanoscientists first to model atomic structures of three bacterial nanomachines

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Researchers at UCLA’s California NanoSystems Institute have become the first to produce images of the atomic structures of

The post Nanoscientists first to model atomic structures of three bacterial nanomachines has been published on Technology Org.

 
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The Active Cigar Galaxy - Messier 82 Rectangular Sticker

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


tagged with: stars, galaxies, outer space, agmet, galaxies and stars, hubble, chandra, messier 82, cigar galaxy, active galaxies, peel off

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series

Composite of images of the active galaxy Messier 82 from the three Great Observatories: Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope. X-ray data recorded by Chandra appears here in blue, infrared light recorded by Spitzer appears in red. Hubble's observation of hydrogen emission appears in orange. Hubble's bluest observation appears in yellow-green.

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Image code: agmet

Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Spitzer Space Telescope

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The Carina Nebula iPad Mini Retina Case

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: carina, nebula, hubble, space, telescope, images, nasa, fashion

Detail from an image of the Carina Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released by NASA for the 17th anniversary of the program.

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