Thursday 13 October 2016

Trilobites: Distant Ringed Object Could Be ‘Saturn on Steroids’

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A potential planet detected by astronomers probably has rings that spin in the opposite direction of the object’s spin around its sun.
via New York Times

Observable universe contains two trillion galaxies, 10 times more than previously thought

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Using data from deep-space surveys taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories, astronomers have performed a census of the number of galaxies in the universe. The team came to the surprising conclusion that there are at least 10 times as many galaxies in the observable universe than previously thought. The results have clear implications for our understanding of galaxy formation, and also helps shed light on an ancient astronomical paradox -- why is the sky dark at night?
via Science Daily
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Dense molecular gas disks drive the growth of supermassive black holes: Are supernova explosions the key?

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Astronomers have revealed that dense molecular gas disks a few hundred light years in scale located at the centers of galaxies supply gas to supermassive black holes situated within them. This finding provides important insights on the growth of supermassive black holes over cosmic time.
via Science Daily
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Hubble Reveals Observable Universe Contains 10 Times More Galaxies Than Previously Thought


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In Arthur C. Clarke's novel "2001: A Space Odyssey," astronaut David Bowman exclaims, "My God, it's full of stars!" before he gets pulled into an alien-built wormhole in space. When the Hubble Space Telescope made its deepest views of the universe, astronomers might have well exclaimed: "My God, it's full of galaxies!" The Hubble Ultra Deep Field, for example, revealed 10,000 galaxies of various shapes, sizes, colors, and ages, all within an area roughly one-tenth the diameter of the full moon. What's mind-blowing is that these myriad galaxies, though plentiful, may represent merely 10 percent of the universe's total galaxy population. That's according to estimates from a new study of Hubble's deep-field surveys. The study's authors came to the staggering conclusion that at least 10 times more galaxies exist in the observable universe than astronomers thought. This result places the universe's estimated population at, minimally, 2 trillion galaxies.


via HubbleSite NewsCenter -- Latest News Releases
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/39/

ExoMars updates

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Follow mission status updates as the ExoMars orbiter reaches Mars and deploys a lander to its surface
via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/ExoMars/Live_updates_ExoMars_arrival_and_landing

Galaxies from the Altiplano

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The central bulge of our Milky Way Galaxy rises over the northern Chilean Atacama altiplano in this postcard from planet Earth. At an altitude of 4500 meters, the strange beauty of the desolate landscape could almost belong to another world though. Brownish red and yellow tinted sulfuric patches lie along the whitish salt flat beaches of the Salar de Aguas Calientes region. In the distance along the Argentina border is the stratovolcano Lastarria, its peak at 5700 meters (19,000 feet). In the clear, dark sky above, stars, nebulae, and cosmic dust clouds in the Milky Way echo the colors of the altiplano at night. Extending the view across extragalactic space, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, shine near the horizon through a faint greenish airglow.
Tomorrow's picture: the dusty sword
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Cleanroom installed for 200 mm (8’’) graphene wafers

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Preparations are on track for mass production of 200 mm (8”) diameter high quality graphene on Si/SiO2 wafers. Last week cleanroom components arrived to be assembled in a new production space at our location in San Sebastian. Production of 200 mm graphene on a new chemical vapor deposition system is expected to be up and running at the beginning of 2017.

The investment in the new lab will increase the company’s production capacity and quality of graphene wafers. The new addition will represent a tenfold expansion of our production space, where we currently routinely manufacture high quality graphene with a diameter of 100 mm (4”). The production capacity will increase 20-fold with the addition of the new line, where we will produce 4”, 6”, and 8” wafers as standard.

Photo: Cleanroom equipment for the new production line arriving at Graphenea.

About Graphenea:

Graphenea, a leading company in graphene production and a venture backed by Repsol and CDTI, was established in 2010, and has since grown to be one of the world's largest providers of graphene. The company is headquartered at the nanotechnology cluster CIC nanoGune in San Sebastian, Spain and Boston. Graphenea employs 15 people and exports graphene materials to more than 400 customers in 55 countries. The company has focused on constant improvement of graphene quality, becoming a supplier customers can rely on. Graphenea employs a team of skilled laboratory staff who have brought graphene film production techniques to a new level, offering the same high quality films on any substrate. Graphenea produces CVD graphene wafers up to 4 inches and graphene oxide in volumes up to 5 liters per package. Graphenea partners with large multinationals to develop custom graphene materials for their applications. Its research agility and ability to keep pace with the progress of graphene science and technology has allowed Graphenea to become the largest graphene supplier in the Graphene Flagship, a ten year project of the European Commission worth a billion euros. The company keeps a close relation with the world's leading scientists, regularly publishing scientific articles of the highest level.

Contact:

Graphenea Avenida de Tolosa, 76

20018 - Donostia/San Sebastián

Spain

Email: info@graphenea.com

Webpage: www.graphenea.com


via Graphenea

Proxima Centauri might be more sunlike than we thought

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In August astronomers announced that the nearby star Proxima Centauri hosts an Earth-sized planet (called Proxima b) in its habitable zone. At first glance, Proxima Centauri seems nothing like our Sun. It's a small, cool, red dwarf star only one-tenth as massive and one-thousandth as luminous as the Sun. However, new research shows that it is sunlike in one surprising way: it has a regular cycle of starspots.
via Science Daily
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Buried glaciers on Mars

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This jumble of eroded blocks lies along the distinctive boundary between the Red Planet’s southern highlands and the northern lowlands, with remnants of ancient glaciers flowing around them.


via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Buried_glaciers_on_Mars