Friday 23 October 2015

Starburst Galaxy Messier 94

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Beautiful island universe Messier 94 lies a mere 15 million light-years distant in the northern constellation of the hunting dogs, Canes Venatici. A popular target for earth-based astronomers, the face-on spiral galaxy is about 30,000 light-years across, with spiral arms sweeping through the outskirts of its broad disk. But this Hubble Space Telescope field of view spans about 7,000 light-years or so across M94's central region. The sharp close-up examines the galaxy's compact, bright nucleus and prominent inner dust lanes, surrounded by a remarkable bluish ring of young, massive stars. The massive stars in the ring are all likely less than 10 million years old, indicating the galaxy experienced a well-defined era of rapid star formation. As a result, while the small, bright nucleus is typical of the Seyfert class of active galaxies, M94 is also known as a starburst galaxy. Because M94 is relatively nearby, astronomers can explore in detail reasons for the galaxy's burst of star formation.

Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Scientists gain insight into origin of tungsten-ditelluride's magnetoresistance

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Two new significant findings may move scientists closer to understanding the origins of tungsten-ditelluride's (WTe2) extremely large magnetoresistance, a key characteristic in modern electronic devices like magnetic hard drives and sensors. Scientists recently discovered that tungsten-ditelluride (WTe2) is electronically three-dimensional with a low anisotropy.
via Science Daily

Exciting breakthrough in 2-D lasers

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An important step towards next-generation ultra-compact photonic and optoelectronic devices has been taken with the realization of a two-dimensional excitonic laser. Researchers have embedded a monolayer of tungsten disulfide into a special microdisk resonator to achieve bright excitonic lasing at visible light wavelengths.
via Science Daily