Sunday 31 July 2016

A Huge Solar Filament Erupts

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Saturday 30 July 2016

Boron boosts graphene's sensitivity to noxious gases

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Researchers have discovered a way to significantly improve graphene's performance in detecting noxious gases. They peppered high-quality sheets with boron impurities.
via Science Daily

Chorus of black holes radiates X-rays

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The NuSTAR mission is identifying which black holes erupt with the highest-energy X-rays, report scientists. The results will ultimately help astronomers understand how the growth patterns of supermassive black holes change over time, a key factor in the development of black holes and the galaxies that host them.
via Science Daily
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Ripples Through a Dark Sky

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Sunlight ripples through a dark sky on this Swedish summer midnight as noctilucent or night shining clouds seem to imitate the river below. In fact, the seasonal clouds often appear at high latitudes in corresponding summer months. Also known as polar mesospheric clouds, they form as water vapor is driven into the cold upper atmosphere. Fine dust supplied by disintegrating meteors or volcanic ash provides sites where water vapor can condense, turning to ice at the cold temperatures in the mesosphere. Poised at the edge of space some 80 kilometers above, these icy clouds really do reflect sunlight toward the ground. They are visible here even though the Sun itself was below the horizon, as seen on July 16 from Sweden's Färnebofjärdens National Park.
Tomorrow's picture: sun flap
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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.

Scientists find a way of acquiring graphene-like films from salts to boost nanoelectronics

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Scientists have found a way to acquire 2-D graphene-like layers of various salts. Because to the unique properties of two-dimensional materials, this opens up great prospects for nanoelectronics. Using computer modeling they have found the exact parameters, under which certain salts undergo graphitization -- rearrangement of atoms in the slab with further decomposition of a crystal into 2-D layers.The received data will soon be used to acquire these layers experimentally.
via Science Daily

Friday 29 July 2016

Something deep within: Nanocrystals grown in nanowires

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Scientists have tailored extremely small wires that carry light and electrons. These new structures could open up a potential path to smaller, lighter, or more efficient devices, they say.
via Science Daily

Blue Danube Analemma

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The Sun's annual waltz through planet Earth's sky forms a graceful curve known as an analemma. The analemma's figure 8 shape is tipped vertically at far right in this well-composed fisheye view from Budapest, Hungary. Captured at a chosen spot on the western bank of the Danube river, the Sun's position was recorded at 11:44 Central European Time on individual exposures over days spanning 2015 July 23 to 2016 July 4. Of course, on the northern summer solstice the Sun is at the top of the curve, but at the midpoints for the autumn and spring equinoxes. With snow on the ground, the photographer's shadow and equipment bag also appear in the base picture used for the composite panorama, taken on 2016 January 7. On that date, just after the winter solstice, the Sun was leaving the bottom of the beautiful curve over the blue Danube.
Tomorrow's picture: ripple in still water
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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.

Seattle, With Its Needle, Is Turning Into a Space Center

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Commercial aerospace start-ups are attracting access to investors with deep pockets and an abundance of software talent.
via New York Times

Trilobites: Study Asks if Moon Astronauts Got Increased Heart Risks

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With deep space exploration on the horizon, researchers say more research on radiation exposure and cardiovascular disease is needed.
via New York Times

The LHC takes a break before heading to new heights

In the CERN Control Centre, Jan Uythoven and his colleagues perform studies to improve the operation of the LHC.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has been on Olympic form recently. In just two months, the accelerator delivered almost five times as much data as in the whole of 2015, smashing one record after another for luminosity, i.e. the number of collisions. The counter for integrated luminosity, which indicates the cumulative number of collisions delivered to the experiments, is approaching 20 inverse femtobarns (fb-1), not far from the 25 fb-1 target for 2016 as a whole!  This is great news for the experiments, which have been able to add data to their analyses ahead of presenting their latest results at the ICHEP 2016 conference, which begins in a week’s time in Chicago in the United States.

The LHC operators have been clocking up long periods of operation, during which the beams have been circulating and colliding without a single hiccup along the way. You might think that the operators just sit there twiddling their thumbs while the beams circulate, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The LHC is operating so well thanks to their constant checks and adjustments, which improve the operation of the accelerator and its thousands of components. And sometimes they stop the collisions altogether to carry out detailed studies of the accelerator, as is the case this week. Twenty days each year are devoted to these so-called machine development periods.

Studies like those we are carrying out this week have helped to pave the way for the excellent performance at the LHC in recent months,” says Jan Uythoven, who is in charge of the current machine development period. “The tests we’re doing are essential to maintain and even improve the performance of the LHC over the coming months and years.

One of the main goals of the tests is to increase the luminosity even further. To do this, the operators can play with the size of the beam at the collision points in the centre of the experiments. The more the proton bunches that form the beam are compressed, the better the chances of collisions. “We are testing new settings for the quadrupole magnets that focus the beam,” explains Jan Uythoven. Another area being studied is beam instability, which is one of the operators’ pet hates. Each time that beam intensity is increased or the way in which the accelerator is filled is changed, the operators have to adjust all of the machine’s parameters to avoid the beams becoming unstable. When instabilities arise, the operators have to stop the beams and dump them. Another aspect of the current tests concerns the optimisation of the process for injecting proton bunches, in order to reduce the spreading of the beam. 

After six days of studies, the LHC will resume its collision marathon next Monday.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2016/07/lhc-takes-break-heading-new-heights

Thursday 28 July 2016

Apollo Astronauts Experiencing Higher Rates of Cardiovascular-Related Deaths

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Members of the successful Apollo space program are experiencing higher rates of cardiovascular problems that are thought to be caused by their exposure to deep space radiation, according to a new study.
via Science Daily
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First images from Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager (AOLI)

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The Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager (AOLI) on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) has obtained its first adaptive-optics closed-loop results, an important milestone in the development of this state-of-the-art instrument that aims at combining adaptive optics (AO) and lucky imaging (LI) to obtain the highest-ever resolution images at visible wavelengths from the ground.
via Science Daily
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How comets are born

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Detailed analysis of data collected by Rosetta show that comets are the ancient leftovers of early Solar System formation, and not younger fragments resulting from subsequent collisions between other, larger bodies.


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

Herschel's Eagle Nebula

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A now famous picture from the Hubble Space Telescope featured Pillars of Creation, star forming columns of cold gas and dust light-years long inside M16, the Eagle Nebula. This false-color composite image views the nearby stellar nursery using data from the Herschel Space Observatory's panoramic exploration of interstellar clouds along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Herschel's far infrared detectors record the emission from the region's cold dust directly. The famous pillars are included near the center of the scene. While the central group of hot young stars is not apparent at these infrared wavelengths, the stars' radiation and winds carve the shapes within the interstellar clouds. Scattered white spots are denser knots of gas and dust, clumps of material collapsing to form new stars. The Eagle Nebula is some 6,500 light-years distant, an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes in a nebula rich part of the sky toward the split constellation Serpens Cauda (the tail of the snake).
Tomorrow's picture: The Blue Danube
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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.

Wednesday 27 July 2016

Avoiding stumbles, from spacewalks to sidewalks

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Researchers are developing a new space boot with built-in sensors and tiny 'haptic' motors, whose vibrations can guide the wearer around or over obstacles. A preliminary study was designed to determine what types of stimuli, administered to what parts of the foot, could provide the best navigation cues.
via Science Daily
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Transformations to granular zircon revealed: Meteor Crater, Arizona

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Having been reported in lunar samples returned by Apollo astronauts, meteorites, impact glass, and at a number of meteorite craters on Earth, granular zircon is the most unusual and enigmatic type of zircon known. The mechanisms and transformations that form this distinctive granular zircon have, until now, remained speculative because it has not been produced in shock experiments.
via Science Daily
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Jupiter's great red spot heats planet's upper atmosphere

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Researchers have discovered that Jupiter's Great Red Spot may provide the mysterious source of energy required to heat the planet's upper atmosphere to the unusually high values observed.
via Science Daily
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Scientists simulated a nuclear explosion of an asteroid

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Scientists are developing measures to protect the Earth from potentially dangerous celestial bodies. With the help of supercomputer SKIF Cyberia, the scientists simulated the nuclear explosion of an asteroid 200 meters in diameter in such a way that its irradiated fragments do not fall to the Earth.
via Science Daily
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White dwarf lashes red dwarf with mystery ray

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Astronomers have discovered a new type of exotic binary star: in the system AR Scorpii a rapidly spinning white dwarf star is powering electrons up to almost the speed of light. These high energy particles release blasts of radiation that lash the companion red dwarf star, and cause the entire system to pulse dramatically every 1.97 minutes with radiation ranging from the ultraviolet to radio.
via Science Daily
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Finding the loneliest young star

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Alone on the cosmic road, far from any known celestial object, a young, independent star is going through a tremendous growth spurt. When a team of scientists examined infrared images of the same area, they realized this object has a lot of warm dust around it, which must have been heated by an outburst. Researchers determined it likely is a young star that has been outbursting for several years.
via Science Daily
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Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Is Also Very Hot

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Astronomers say the giant swirling storm on the solar system’s largest planet is generating quite a bit of heat for its upper atmosphere.
via New York Times

Astronomers uncover hidden stellar birthplace

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Astronomers have uncovered a hidden stellar birthplace in a nearby spiral galaxy, using a telescope in Chile. The results show that the speed of star formation in the center of the galaxy - and other galaxies like it - may be much higher than previously thought.
via Science Daily
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M13: A Great Globular Cluster of Stars

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

First call for proposals for the SESAME light source

Tuesday 26 July 2016

NASA team begins testing of a 'new-fangled' optic

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t's an age-old astronomical truth: To resolve smaller and smaller physical details of distant celestial objects, scientists need larger and larger light-collecting mirrors. This challenge is not easily overcome given the high cost and impracticality of building and -- in the case of space observatories -- launching large-aperture telescopes.
via Science Daily
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Dirty to drinkable: Novel hybrid nanomaterials quickly transform water

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A team of engineers has found a way to use graphene oxide sheets to transform dirty water into drinking water, and it could be a global game-changer.
via Science Daily

A famous supermassive black hole 'spied on' with the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS

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Novel observations by an international group of researchers with the CanariCam instrument on the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS provide new information about magnetic fields around the active nucleus of the galaxy Cygnus A. This is the first time that polarimetric observations in the middle infrared region of the spectrum have been made of the nucleus of an active galaxy.
via Science Daily
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Puzzling paucity of large craters on dwarf planet Ceres

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A team of scientists has made a puzzling observation while studying the size and distribution of craters on the dwarf planet Ceres -- the largest object in the tumultuous Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists think Ceres' missing large craters may have been erased over time, as a result of its peculiar composition and internal evolution.
via Science Daily
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Light shed on a superluminous supernova which appears to have exploded twice

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An international group of researchers has used the GTC to observe a superluminous supernova almost from the moment it occurred. It has revealed surprising behaviour, because this supernova showed an initial increase in brightness which later declined for a few days, and later increased again much more strongly. The scientists have used the data observed at the GTC and has combined them with other observations to try to explain the origin of the phenomenon.
via Science Daily
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Lonely atoms, happily reunited

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The remarkable behaviour of platinum atoms on magnetite surfaces could lead to better catalysts. Scientists can now explain how platinum atoms can form pairs with the help of carbon monoxide. At first glance, magnetite appears to be a rather inconspicuous grey mineral. But on an atomic scale, it has remarkable properties: on magnetite, single metal atoms are held in place, or they can be made to move across the surface. Sometimes several metal atoms on magnetite form small clusters. Such phenomena can dramatically change the chemical activity of the material. Atomic processes on the magnetite surface determine how well certain metal atoms can serve as catalysts for chemical reactions.
via Science Daily

Ancient eye in the sky

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Light from a distant galaxy can be strongly bent by the gravitational influence of a foreground galaxy. That effect is called strong gravitational lensing. Normally a single galaxy is lensed at a time. The same foreground galaxy can – in theory – simultaneously lens multiple background galaxies. Although extremely rare, such a lens system offers a unique opportunity to probe the fundamental physics of galaxies and add to our understanding of cosmology. One such lens system has recently been discovered and the discovery was made not in an astronomer’s office, but in a classroom. It has been dubbed the Eye of Horus, and this ancient eye in the sky may help us understand the history of the universe.
via Science Daily
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Puzzling a Sky over Argentina

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Monday 25 July 2016

Astronomers discover dizzying spin of the Milky Way galaxy's 'halo'

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Astronomers have discovered for the first time that the hot gas in the halo of the Milky Way galaxy is spinning in the same direction and at comparable speed as the galaxy's disk, which contains our stars, planets, gas, and dust. This new knowledge sheds light on how individual atoms have assembled into stars, planets, and galaxies like our own, and what the future holds for these galaxies.
via Science Daily
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New nontoxic process promises larger ultrathin sheets of 2-D nanomaterials

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Scientists has developed a novel way to produce two-dimensional nanosheets by separating bulk materials with nontoxic liquid nitrogen. The environmentally friendly process generates a 20-fold increase in surface area per sheet, which could expand the nanomaterials' commercial applications.
via Science Daily

Ultra-flat circuits will have unique properties

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Theoretical physicists have analyzed the electronic consequences of creating circuits in two dimensions by simulating the juxtaposition of different atom-thick materials like graphene and hexagonal boron nitride.
via Science Daily

Digging deeper into Mars

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Scientists continue to unravel the mystery of life on Mars by investigating evidence of water in the planet's soil. Previous observations of soil observed along crater slopes on Mars showed a significant amount of perchlorate salts, which tend to be associated with brines with a moderate pH level. However, researchers have stepped back to look at the bigger picture through data collected from the 2001: Mars Odyssey, and found a different chemical on Mars may be key.
via Science Daily
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Growing large-volume protein crystals bigger, better in space

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An out of this world experiment to grow large-volume protein crystals aboard the International Space Station has proven successful. These sorts of crystals, which may be used in everything from basic biomedical research to drug design, can be grown bigger and better in microgravity, a finding that may help the pharmaceuticals industry ease a drug design bottleneck, since difficult-to-grow large crystals are sometimes needed for experiments on structure that can guide drug design.
via Science Daily
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Graphenea in Newsweek

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Graphenea CEO Jesus de la Fuente was interviewed for Newsweek as part of a report on innovation in the Basque Country. The report was written by Elite Reports and published in Newsweek at the beginning of July. The full text of the report can be read online.

Jesus spoke about how Graphenea was funded from the startup phase, and the important role that the Basque Country business community played in Graphenea's success. He also named the three industry segments that Graphenea is focusing on: semiconductors, batteries, and advanced polymers, all using graphene. Finally, Jesus briefly explained Graphenea's position in the global market and stated the company's plan for increasing market presence even further.

The report in Newsweek contains interviews with leaders of Basque Country technology companies, the Minister of Economic Development and Competitiveness, high level city officials including three mayors, presidents of banks, a university rector, wine production and culinary industry representatives, agricultural co-op leaders, the director of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, tourism, port and rail chiefs, and other culture, industry and innovation leaders. All interviewees agree that the Basque Country is an excellent environment for innovation, business and investment.

The online text, which is free to read, contains a tasteful description of the main provinces and cities of Basque Country, with a focus on the most pronounced industries: art & culture, gastronomy, and high technology.


via Graphenea

Deep Magellanic Clouds Image Indicates Collisions

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Meandering Moon feature

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Space science image of the week: Hadley Rille could be an ancient channel that once carried lava across the Moon
via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Highlights/Meandering_Moon_feature

Saturday 23 July 2016

Ultrasensitive sensor using N-doped graphene

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A highly sensitive chemical sensor based on Raman spectroscopy and using nitrogen-doped graphene as a substrate was developed by an international team of researchers. In this case, doping refers to introducing nitrogen atoms into the carbon structure of graphene. This technique can detect trace amounts of molecules in a solution at very low concentrations, some 10,000 times more diluted than can be seen by the naked eye.
via Science Daily

Summer Planets and Milky Way

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Lights sprawl toward the horizon in this night skyscape from Uludag National Park, Bursa Province, Turkey, planet Earth. The stars and nebulae of the Milky Way are still visible though, stretching above the lights on the northern summer night while three other planets shine brightly. Jupiter is at the far right, Mars near the center of the frame, and Saturn is just right of the bulging center of our galaxy. Because the panoramic scene was captured on July 6, all three planets pictured were hosting orbiting, operational, robotic spacecraft from Earth. Popular Mars has five (from three different space agencies): MAVEN (NASA), Mars Orbiter Mission (India), Mars Express (ESA), Mars Odyssey (NASA), Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA). Ringed Saturn hosts the daring Cassini spacecraft. Just arrived, Juno now orbits ruling gas giant Jupiter.
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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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.

Friday 22 July 2016

Borrowing from pastry chefs, engineers create nanolayered composites

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Researchers have found a way to efficiently create composite materials containing hundreds of layers that are just atoms thick but span the full width of the material. The discovery could lead to easy-to-manufacture composites for optical devices, electronic systems, and high-tech materials.
via Science Daily

Space... the final frontier

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Fifty years ago Captain Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise began their journey into space -- the final frontier. Now, as the newest Star Trek film hits cinemas, the NASA/ESA Hubble space telescope is also exploring new frontiers, observing distant galaxies in the galaxy cluster Abell S1063 as part of the Frontier Fields program.
via Science Daily
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Trilobites: How Mountains Obscured by Venus’s Clouds Reveal Themselves

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Data from Europe’s Venus Express spacecraft has helped researchers better understand the hurricane-like winds that blast the second planet from the sun.
via New York Times

Trilobites: South African Telescope Spots 1,300 Unknown Galaxies

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The distant galaxies were recorded by a set of 16 antennas that will eventually be a part of the largest telescope ever built on Earth.
via New York Times

A new key to understanding molecular evolution in space

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Scientists have revealed temperature-dependent energy conversion of molecular hydrogen on ice surfaces, suggesting the need for a reconsideration of molecular evolution theory.
via Science Daily
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Galaxy Cluster Abell S1063 and Beyond

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Some 4 billion light-years away, galaxies of massive Abell S1063 cluster near the center of this sharp Hubble Space Telescope snapshot. But the fainter bluish arcs are magnified images of galaxies that lie far beyond Abell S1063. About twice as distant, their otherwise undetected light is magnified and distorted by the cluster's largely unseen gravitational mass, approximately 100 trillion times the mass of the Sun. Providing a tantalizing glimpse of galaxies in the early universe, the effect is known as gravitational lensing. A consequence of warped spacetime it was first predicted by Einstein a century ago. The Hubble image is part of the Frontier Fields program to explore the Final Frontier.
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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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.

ExoMars/TGO hangout

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Join us on 26 July for a Google hangout with updates and Q&A with ESA experts and scientists focusing on the crucial milestones during the spacecraft's seven-month cruise to the Red Planet
via ESA Space Science
https://plus.google.com/events/cp9kiciqk8qjq8nb4787shuh0fo

Thursday 21 July 2016

Mars rover's laser can now target rocks all by itself

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New software is enabling ChemCam, the laser spectrometer on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, to select rock targets autonomously -- the first time autonomous target selection is available for an instrument of this kind on any robotic planetary mission.
via Science Daily
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NASA's Hubble Looks to the Final Frontier


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Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the TV series "Star Trek" has captured the public's imagination with the signature phrase, "To boldly go where no one has gone before." The Hubble Space Telescope simply orbits Earth and doesn't "boldly go" deep into space. But it looks deeper into the universe than ever before possible to explore the fabric of time and space and find the farthest objects ever seen. This is epitomized in this Hubble image that is part of its Frontier Fields program to probe the far universe. This view of a massive cluster of galaxies unveils a very cluttered-looking universe filled with galaxies near and far. Some are distorted like a funhouse mirror through a warping-of-space phenomenon first predicted by Einstein a century ago.


via HubbleSite NewsCenter -- Latest News Releases
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/28/

Falcon 9: Launch and Landing

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Shortly after midnight on July 18 a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, planet Earth. About 9 minutes later, the rocket's first stage returned to the spaceport. This single time exposure captures the rocket's launch arc and landing streak from Jetty Park only a few miles away. Along a climbing, curving trajectory the launch is traced by the initial burn of the first stage, ending near the top of the bright arc before stage separation. Due to perspective the next bright burn appears above the top of the launch arc in the photo, the returning first stage descending closer to the Cape. The final landing burn creates a long streak as the first stage slows and comes to rest at Landing Zone 1. Yesterday the Dragon cargo spacecraft delivered to orbit by the rocket's second stage was attached to the International Space Station.
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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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.

Graphene photodetectors: Thinking outside the 2-D box

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The efficient detection of low-energy photons constitutes one of the main challenges faced by future optoelectronics. Finding new ways of sensing and harvesting these photons is crucial for the development of technologies such as silicon photonics, pollution sensing and next-generation solar, say scientists.
via Science Daily

Wednesday 20 July 2016

Asteroid that formed moon's Imbrium Basin may have been protoplanet-sized

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The asteroid that slammed into the moon 3.8 billion years ago creating the Imbrium Basin may have had a diameter of at least 150 miles, according to a new estimate. The work helps explain puzzling geological features on the moon's near side, and has implications for understanding the evolution of the early solar system.
via Science Daily
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First atmospheric study of Earth-sized exoplanets points to possible habitability

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Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have conducted the first search for atmospheres around temperate, Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system and found indications that increase the chances of habitability on two exoplanets.
via Science Daily
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