Wednesday 30 November 2016

Modeling offers new perspective on how Pluto's 'icy heart' came to be

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Pluto's "icy heart" is a bright, two-lobed feature on its surface that has attracted researchers ever since its discovery by the NASA New Horizons team in 2015. Of particular interest is the heart's western lobe, informally named Sputnik Planitia, a deep basin containing three kinds of ices--frozen nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide--and appearing opposite Charon, Pluto's tidally locked moon. Sputnik Planitia's unique attributes have spurred a number of scenarios for its formation, all of which identify the feature as an impact basin, a depression created by a smaller body striking Pluto at extremely high speed.
via Science Daily
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First signs of weird quantum property of empty space?

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By studying the light emitted from an extraordinarily dense and strongly magnetized neutron star, astronomers may have found the first observational indications of a strange quantum effect, first predicted in the 1930s. The polarization of the observed light suggests that the empty space around the neutron star is subject to a quantum effect known as vacuum birefringence.
via Science Daily
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Making flawless graphene coatings

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Graphene, the ultra-thin wonder material just a single carbon atom in thickness, holds the promise of such impressive applications as wear-resistant, friction-free coatings. But first manufacturers have to be able to produce large sheets of graphene under precisely controlled conditions.
via Science Daily

Milky Way over Shipwreck

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Tuesday 29 November 2016

Cause of visual impairment in astronauts identified

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A visual problem affecting astronauts who serve on lengthy missions in space is related to volume changes in the clear fluid that is found around the brain and spinal cord, according to new research.
via Science Daily
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New design of neutron spectrometer being tested for manned spaceflight

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The Fast Neutron Spectrometer (FNS) is now aboard the International Space Station. Neutrons contribute to crew radiation exposure and must be measured to assess exposure levels. The FNS uses a new instrument design that can significantly improve reliability.
via Science Daily
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Metallic glass gears make for graceful robots

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At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, scientists are building a better gear. Specifically, they are developing gears made from bulk metallic glass (BMG), a specially crafted alloy with properties that make it ideal for robotics.
via Science Daily
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NASA Saturn mission prepares for 'ring-grazing orbits'

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A thrilling ride is about to begin for NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Engineers have been pumping up the spacecraft's orbit around Saturn this year to increase its tilt with respect to the planet's equator and rings. And on Nov. 30, following a gravitational nudge from Saturn's moon Titan, Cassini will enter the first phase of the mission's dramatic endgame.
via Science Daily
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Graphene technology enables fully flexible NFC antennas

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Graphene is currently one of the most extensively studied materials in the world, both on a scientific and industrial level. The world’s first two-dimensional material, this single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice has a series of unique and outstanding properties. As well as being the thinnest, strongest and lightest known material, graphene is flexible, impermeable and extremely electrically and thermally conductive. All properties well suited for next generation NFC antennas.
via Science Daily

W5: The Soul of Star Formation

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Graphene Role in Next Generation Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

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Graphenea’s Business Development Director Iñigo Charola attended the IDTechEx Graphene Show in Santa Clara this November, where he gave a talk about the role of graphene in next generation sulfur batteries.

Lithium has been a preferred component for portable energy solutions due to its low cost and natural abundance. Lithium-sulfur batteries, compared to today’s lithium-ion batteries, hold potential to quadruple the specific energy stored, yielding substantially longer battery lifetime for all the world’s portable devices. Lithium-sulfur is leading the way for next-gen battery technology, due to initially simpler manufacturing, lower costs, and good performance. Moreover, lithium-sulfur batteries are technologically a step closer to lithium-air batteries that are expected to perform even better in the mid-range future.

The development of such new powerful batteries runs into challenges while using established electrode materials, because the new batteries require electrodes that support larger energy fluxes, to fully exploit the potential offered by the energy source itself. For example, the capacity of current electrode technology drops sharply when used with stronger batteries, so much that they offer only about 100 discharge cycles. Furthermore, cathode volume expansion and cathode cracking due to strong currents is a safety concern.

Graphene oxide (GO) offers an opportunity as a host in Li-S cathodes: S/graphene composites.  In GO/sulfur composites, graphene plays a significant role in improving the electronic conductivity of sulfur, inhibiting the shuttle effect of soluble polysulfides that causes cathode cracking in traditional cathodes. Graphene oxide based cathodes have shown to be more durable and efficient than traditional ones in lithium-sulfur battery technology.

Figure: Schematic S/graphene composite for battery cathodes. (Copyright: Royal Society of Chemistry.)

The annual IDTechEx Graphene Show is among the world’s largest graphene events, with over 3000 attendees, 200 exhibitors, and 250 presentations. Combined with the co-hosted Printed Electronics, Wearable Technology, Electric Vehicle and 3D Printing Events, it is the single largest end-user focused graphene event in the world, where companies get together to forge new business ideas and partnerships to propel the use of graphene in new directions and markets.


via Graphenea

First views of Mars show potential for ESA’s new orbiter

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ESA’s new ExoMars orbiter has tested its suite of instruments in orbit for the first time, hinting at a great potential for future observations.


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

Monday 28 November 2016

Researchers explore new 2D materials that could make devices faster, smaller, and efficient

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A new study by an international team of researchers highlights how manipulation of 2D materials could make our modern day devices faster, smaller, and better.
via Science Daily

A Conversation With: C. Megan Urry, Peering Into Universe, Spots Bias on the Ground

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The first woman to head the Yale physics department — she specializes in the study of black holes — has continued to combat gender inequities in science.
via New York Times

Timing the shadow of a potentially habitable extrasolar planet paves the way to search for alien life

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Scientists have observed the transit of a potentially Earth-like extrasolar planet known as K2-3d. A transit is a phenomenon in which a planet passes in front of its parent star, blocking a small amount of light from the star, like a shadow of the planet. While transits have previously been observed for thousands of other extrasolar planets, K2-3d is important because there is a possibility that it might harbor extraterrestrial life.
via Science Daily
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A new ring to slow down antimatter

Space’s Trash Collector? A Japanese Entrepreneur Wants the Job

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A start-up company called Astroscale is dedicated to cleaning up some of humanity’s hardest-to-reach rubbish, and its plans include a small satellite with an adhesive glue.
via New York Times

Arp 240: A Bridge between Spiral Galaxies from Hubble

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Mars labyrinth

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Space Science Image of the Week: This labyrinth-like scene on Mars may point to a former ocean and an icy subsurface
via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2016/11/Adamas_Labyrinthus

Saturday 26 November 2016

East to West, Light and Shadow

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On this November morning an old crescent Moon and morning star rise just before the Sun in a wide panoramic skyscape from Kenya's Amboseli National Park. Still below the limbs of an acacia tree and the eastern horizon, the Sun's position is easy to find though. It's marked at the left by the subtle convergence of light and shadow in the dawn sky. Known as crepuscular rays, the warm-colored rays of sunlight are outlined by shadows cast by unseen clouds near the horizon. Arcing above the profile of Mount Kilimanjaro, toward the right the rays of light and shadow converge at the western horizon. There known as anti-crepuscular rays, they indicate the point opposite the rising sun. The cloud shadows are very nearly parallel, but converge toward the distant horizons because of perspective.
Tomorrow's picture: tallest known cliff
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Friday 25 November 2016

Trilobites: How Cassini Will Begin Its Date With Death on Saturn

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On Wednesday, the spacecraft that has studied Saturn for a dozen years will commence a series of maneuvers that will graze the planet’s rings.
via New York Times

Trilobites: An Ice Sheet the Size of New Mexico Hidden in Martian Crater

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An underground ice deposit larger than New Mexico at a relatively low latitude on Mars could be an inviting destination for future explorers.
via New York Times

Meet TIM, the LHC tunnel’s robot

Apollo 17 VIP Site Anaglyph

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Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this stereo scene from Taurus-Littrow valley on the Moon! The color anaglyph features a detailed 3D view of Apollo 17's Lunar Rover in the foreground -- behind it lies the Lunar Module and distant lunar hills. Because the world was going to be able to watch the Lunar Module's ascent stage liftoff via the rover's TV camera, this parking place was also known as the VIP Site. In December of 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent about 75 hours on the Moon, while colleague Ronald Evans orbited overhead. The crew returned with 110 kilograms of rock and soil samples, more than from any of the other lunar landing sites. Cernan and Schmitt are still the last to walk (or drive) on the Moon.
Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Thursday 24 November 2016

Ring Scan

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Scroll right and you can cruise along the icy rings of Saturn. This high resolution scan is a mosaic of images presented in natural color. The images were recorded in May 2007 over about 2.5 hours as the Cassini spacecraft passed above the unlit side of the rings. To help track your progress, major rings and gaps are labeled along with the distance from the center of the gas giant in kilometers. The alphabetical designation of Saturn's rings is historically based on their order of discovery; rings A and B are the bright rings separated by the Cassini division. In order of increasing distance from Saturn, the seven main rings run D,C,B,A,F,G,E. (Faint, outer rings G and E are not imaged here.) Four days from now, on November 29, Cassini will make a close flyby of Saturn's moon Titan and use the large moon's gravity to nudge the spacecraft into a series of 20 daring, elliptical, ring-grazing orbits. Diving through the ring plane just 11,000 kilometers outside the F ring (far right) Cassini's first ring-graze will be on December 4.
Tomorrow's picture: where you parked
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
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Wednesday 23 November 2016

Uncovering the secrets of friction on graphene

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Graphene has been the subject of widespread research, in large part because of its unique combination of strength, electrical conductivity, and chemical stability. But despite many years of study, some of graphene’s fundamental properties are still not well-understood. Now, using powerful computer simulations, researchers have made significant strides in understanding that process.
via Science Daily

NGC 7635: Bubble in a Cosmic Sea

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In Practice: What ingredients make the best physicists?

Tuesday 22 November 2016

Mars ice deposit holds as much water as Lake Superior

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Frozen beneath a region of cracked and pitted plains on Mars lies about as much water as what's in Lake Superior, largest of the Great Lakes, researchers using NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have determined.
via Science Daily
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New views of dwarf planet Ceres as Dawn moves higher

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The brightest area on Ceres stands out amid shadowy, cratered terrain in a dramatic new view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, taken as it looked off to the side of the dwarf planet.
via Science Daily
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Spray printed crystals to move forward organic electronic applications

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New technology could revolutionize printed electronics by enabling high quality semiconducting molecular crystals to be directly spray-deposited on any surface.
via Science Daily

Pluto's Sputnik Planum

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Out There: Telescope That ‘Ate Astronomy’ Is on Track to Surpass Hubble

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After 20 years, the James Webb Space Telescope is now on schedule for a 2018 launch.
via New York Times

Trilobites: Mercury Is Shrinking, a ‘Great Valley’ Shows

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The canyon is about the size of Montana and twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, and the planet’s cooling may have led to its formation.
via New York Times

Large number of dwarf galaxies discovered in the early universe

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Astronomers have found, for the first time, a large population of distant dwarf galaxies that could reveal important details about a productive period of star formation in the universe billions of years ago.
via Science Daily
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Record-breaking faint satellite galaxy of the Milky Way discovered

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Astronomers have found an extremely faint dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The satellite, named Virgo I, lies in the direction of the constellation Virgo. At the absolute magnitude of -0.8 in the optical waveband, it may well be the faintest satellite galaxy yet found. Its discovery suggests the presence of a large number of yet-undetected dwarf satellites in the halo of the Milky Way and provides important insights into galaxy formation through hierarchical assembly of dark matter.
via Science Daily
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Monday 21 November 2016

STScI Astronomers Nancy Levenson and David Soderblom Elected AAAS Fellows


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Nancy A. Levenson and David R. Soderblom of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as an AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.


via HubbleSite NewsCenter -- Latest News Releases
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/46/

India to become Associate Member State of CERN

The CERN Director General and the Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India sign the agreement admitting India to CERN as an Associate Member. (Photo: CERN)

Today, CERN Director General, Fabiola Gianotti, and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) of the Government of India, Sekhar Basu signed an Agreement admitting India to CERN as an Associate Member. The Government of India still needs to notify CERN of its final approval for the Agreement to enter into force.

“India has been putting efforts to design, develop and utilise various types of electron and proton accelerators for scientific, industrial and societal use,” said Sekhar Basu. “Becoming Associate Member of CERN will enhance participation of young scientists and engineers in various CERN projects and bring back knowledge for deployment in the domestic programmes. It will also provide opportunities to Indian industries to participate directly in CERN Projects.”

“For over 50 years, India has been a strong partner in CERN’s scientific activities,” said Fabiola Gianotti. “For instance, Indian physicists, engineers and technicians have made substantial contributions to the construction of the LHC accelerator and to the ALICE and CMS experiments, as well as to accelerator R&D projects. I am very happy to welcome India as a new Associate Member State and I'm looking forward to enhanced cooperation on CERN’s exciting scientific and technology programmes.”

India and CERN signed a Cooperation Agreement in 1991, setting priorities for scientific and technical cooperation, followed by the signature of several Protocols. India’s relationship with the Organization dates back much further, initially through cooperation with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, whose high-energy physicists have been actively participating in experiments at CERN since the 1960s. They were later joined by scientists from the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, in the 1990s. These and other institutes built components for the LEP accelerator and the L3, WA93 and WA89 detectors. Their scientists participated in important physics analyses and publications throughout the years.

All these developments paved the way, in 1996, for the Indian AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) to agree to take part in the construction of the LHC, and to contribute to the CMS and ALICE experiments and to the LHC Computing Grid with Tier-2 centres in Mumbai and Kolkata. In recognition of these substantial contributions, India was granted Observer status to the CERN Council in 2002. The success of the DAE-CERN partnership regarding the LHC has also led to cooperation on Novel Accelerator Technologies through DAE’s participation in CERN’s Linac4, SPL and CTF3 projects, and CERN’s contribution to DAE’s programmes. India also participates in the COMPASS, ISOLDE and nTOF experiments.

India’s Associate Membership will strengthen the long-term partnership between CERN and the Indian scientific community. Associate Membership will allow India to take part in meetings of the CERN Council and its committees (Finance Committee and Scientific Policy Committee). It will also make Indian scientists eligible for staff appointments.

Finally, once the Agreement enters into force, Indian industry will be entitled to bid for CERN contracts, which will open up opportunities for industrial collaboration in areas of advanced technology.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2016/11/india-become-associate-member-state-cern

Nova over Thailand

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Centre of curvature

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Space Science Image of the Week: Measuring the shape of the James Webb Space Telescope’s mirror
via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2016/11/Inspecting_JWST_s_primary_mirror

Antiques: Apollo Missions to the Moon: The Memorabilia Stage

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The group Space Center Houston is helping restore the 1960s appearance of the operations room of the Mission Control Center in Houston during Apollo moon missions.
via New York Times

Optical clock technology tested in space for first time

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For the first time, an optical clock has traveled to space, surviving harsh rocket launch conditions and successfully operating under the microgravity that would be experienced on a satellite. This demonstration brings optical clock technology much closer to implementation in space, where it could eventually allow GPS-based navigation with centimeter-level location precision.
via Science Daily
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Saturday 19 November 2016

Carbon nanotubes couple light and matter

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Scientists are working on the basics of new light sources from organic semiconductors, outlines a new report.
via Science Daily

IC 5070: A Dusty Pelican in the Swan

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The recognizable profile of the Pelican Nebula soars nearly 2,000 light-years away in the high flying constellation Cygnus, the Swan. Also known as IC 5070, this interstellar cloud of gas and dust is appropriately found just off the "east coast" of the North America Nebula (NGC 7000), another surprisingly familiar looking emission nebula in Cygnus. Both Pelican and North America nebulae are part of the same large and complex star forming region, almost as nearby as the better-known Orion Nebula. From our vantage point, dark dust clouds (upper left) help define the Pelican's eye and long bill, while a bright front of ionized gas suggests the curved shape of the head and neck. This striking synthesized color view utilizes narrowband image data recording the emission of hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the cosmic cloud. The scene spans some 30 light-years at the estimated distance of the Pelican Nebula.
Tomorrow's picture: flocculent spiral
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Friday 18 November 2016

Giant 'great valley' found on Mercury

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A newly discovered giant valley on the planet Mercury makes the Grand Canyon look tiny by comparison. The expansive valley holds an important key to the geologic history of the innermost planet in our solar system.
via Science Daily
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Smallest LHC experiment has cosmic outing

LHCf is the smallest of the six official LHC experiments. Each of the two detectors weighs only 40 kilograms and measures 30 cm long by 60 cm high and 10 cm wide. (Image: Lorenzo Bonechi/ CERN)

Roughly once a year, the smallest Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment, LHC-forward (LHCf), is taken out of its dedicated storage on the site near the ATLAS experiment, reinstalled in the LHC tunnel, and put to use investigating high-energy cosmic rays.

Whereas ATLAS and the three other main LHC experiments – CMS, ALICE and LHCb – study all particles produced in collisions no matter in which direction they fly out, LHCf measures the debris thrown in the ‘very forward’ direction.

These forward particles carry a large amount of the collision energy, and barely change their trajectories from the direction of the initial colliding beam.  This makes them ideal for understanding the development of showers of particles produced when high-energy cosmic rays strike the atmosphere.

“The idea behind the LHCf experiment is to help increase our learning about the nature of high-energy cosmic rays, by measuring and interpreting the properties of the secondary particles released when these cosmic rays collide with the Earth’s atmosphere,” explains Lorenzo Bonechi, who leads a team for the LHCf collaboration in Florence, Italy.

The experiment’s two detectors are installed 140 metres either side of the ATLAS collision point. They are not suitable to be used during normal LHC operations, and so have to wait until the machine is running with very few collisions –corresponding to a low luminosity . If the luminosity is too high, the larger number of forward, high-energy particles can heat the detector and cause permanent damage.

LHCf has been reinstalled near the ATLAS detector several times. This year, the experiment only installed one detector, which is taking data during this month’s heavy-ion run, where the LHC is colliding protons with lead ions. The asymmetrical nature of the collisions means one detector would be bombarded with the remnants of the lead nuclei and could be damaged.

The amount of debris which is thrown in the forward direction during collisions in the LHC  and the energy carried by these particles can be compared with the predictions of hadronic interaction models – sophisticated physics models that describe collisions between protons and nuclei and the list of particles produced in these interactions.

“Over previous runs we’ve found significant discrepancies between our data and the most advanced hadronic interaction models, which are used to model how cosmic rays shower down onto the earth when they interact with our atmosphere. LHCf is trying to find evidence that could help prove which of these models provide the most reliable description.  Now, scientists working in this field are making an effort to integrate our results into their models, and we might see a revolution in them in the near future,” says Bonechi.

The run with lead ions and protons began on 10 November 2016 with low intensity and low energy collisions (5.02 TeV) specifically for the ALICE detector to take measurements. But now it has ramped up to colliding the beams at 8.16 TeV, and LHCf has already collected several million particles and will continue its data taking in the coming days.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2016/11/smallest-lhc-experiment-has-cosmic-outing

Philadelphia Perigee Full Moon

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A supermoon sets over the metropolis of Philadelphia in this twilight snapshot captured on November 14 at 6:21am Eastern Standard Time. Within hours of the Moon's exact full phase, that time does correspond to a lunar perigee or the closest point in the Moon's elliptical orbit around our fair planet. Slightly bigger and brighter at perigee, this Full Moon is still flattened and distorted in appearance by refraction in atmospheric layers along the sight-line near the horizon. Also like more ordinary Full Moons, it shines with the warm color of sunlight. Joined by buildings along the Philadelphia skyline, the perigee full moonlight is reflected in the waters of the mighty Cooper River.
Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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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
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ESA’s new Mars orbiter prepares for first science

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The ExoMars orbiter is preparing to make its first scientific observations at Mars during two orbits of the planet starting next week.


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

Thursday 17 November 2016

David Bowie and Other Artists Lead Children on a Galactic Adventure

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This exhibition at the Children’s Museum of the Arts includes David Bowie’s earliest music video and other interstellar adventures for kids (and parents).
via New York Times

Bright radio bursts probe universe's hidden matter

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Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are mysterious flashes of radio waves originating outside our Milky Way galaxy. A team of scientists has now observed the most luminous FRB to date, called FRB 150807.
via Science Daily
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Icy surprises at Rosetta's comet

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As Rosetta’s comet approached its most active period last year, the spacecraft spotted carbon dioxide ice – never before seen on a comet – followed by the emergence of two unusually large patches of water ice.


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

Soyuz vs Supermoon

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Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, this Soyuz rocket stands on the launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on November 14. Beyond it rises a supermoon, but fame for exceptional feats of speed, strength, and agility is not the reason November's Full Moon was given this popular name. Instead, whenever a Full Moon shines near perigee, the closest point in its elliptical orbit around Earth, it appears larger and brighter than other more distant Full Moons, and so a supermoon is born. In fact, November's supermoon was the second of three consecutive supermoons in 2016. It was also the closest and most superest Full Moon since 1948. Meanwhile, the mild mannered Soyuz rocket is scheduled to launch its Expedition 50/51 crew to the International Space Station today, November 17.
Tomorrow's picture: the further adventures ...
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Wednesday 16 November 2016

Scientists discover a nearby 'super-Earth'

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Researchers have discovered a "super-Earth" type planet, GJ 536 b, whose mass is around 5.4 Earth masses, in orbit around a nearby very bright star. The exoplanet is not within the star's habitable zone, but its short orbital period of 8.7 days and the luminosity of its star, a red dwarf which is quite cool and near to our Sun, make it an attractive candidate for investigating its atmospheric composition.
via Science Daily
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Distant star is roundest object ever observed in nature

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Stars are not perfect spheres. While they rotate, they become flat due to the centrifugal force. A team of researchers has now succeeded in measuring the oblateness of a slowly rotating star with unprecedented precision. The researchers have determined stellar oblateness using asteroseismology -- the study of the oscillations of stars. The technique is applied to a star 5000 light years away from Earth and revealed that the difference between the equatorial and polar radii of the star is only 3 kilometers -- a number that is astonishing small compared to the star's mean radius of 1.5 million kilometers; which means that the gas sphere is astonishingly round.
via Science Daily
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New analysis adds support for a subsurface ocean on Pluto

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A liquid ocean lying deep beneath Pluto's frozen surface is the best explanation for features revealed by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, according to a new analysis. The idea that Pluto has a subsurface ocean is not new, but the study provides the most detailed investigation yet of its likely role in the evolution of key features such as the vast, low-lying plain known as Sputnik Planitia (formerly Sputnik Planum).
via Science Daily
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Cracked, frozen and tipped over: New clues from Pluto's past

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New research by planetary scientists reveals fascinating clues about Pluto, suggesting the small world at the fringes of our solar system is much more active than anyone ever imagined.
via Science Daily
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'Beautiful accident' leads to advances in high pressure materials synthesis

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Unexpected results from a neutron scattering experiment could open a new pathway for the synthesis of novel materials and also help explain the formation of complex organic structures observed in interstellar space.
via Science Daily
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A Heavy Heart May Have Rolled Pluto Over

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A bright, heart-shape feature on Pluto is near its equator, on the side facing away from Pluto’s largest moon. That is probably not coincidence.
via New York Times

Images of a Supermoon Spectacle

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Photographs from around the world captured the biggest and brightest full moon in nearly 70 years on Sunday and Monday nights.
via New York Times

Dr. Laurent Pueyo Receives 2016 Outstanding Young Scientist Award


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The Maryland Academy of Sciences has selected Dr. Laurent Pueyo of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, as the recipient of the 2016 Outstanding Young Scientist award. He will receive the award in a ceremony on Nov. 16 at the Maryland Science Center, located in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.


via HubbleSite NewsCenter -- Latest News Releases
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/40/