Wednesday 15 February 2017

NASA Looks to Speed Timetable for Putting Astronauts in Deep Space

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The agency’s acting administrator offered the first hints of a notable mission that could lead to a return to the moon in the Trump era.
via New York Times

Graphene foam gets big and tough

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Graphene foam reinforced with carbon nanotubes can hold thousands of times its own weight and still bounce back to its full height. The material is thermally stable and highly conductive, making it suitable for batteries and other electrical applications.
via Science Daily

Deadly spider's unique spinning technique could inspire tougher materials

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The unique spinning technique used by the venomous American brown recluse spider could inspire scientific developments and improve materials used in space travel, suggest scientists.
via Science Daily
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How to roll a nanotube: Demystifying carbon nanotubes' structure control

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A key advancement in the design of high performance carbon-based electronics has been made by scientists, outlines a new report.
via Science Daily

Using 'Scotch tape' and laser beams, researchers craft new material that could improve LED screens

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Researchers report a new bilayer material, with each layer measuring less than one nanometer in thickness, that someday could lead to more efficient and versatile light emission.
via Science Daily

Black-hole-powered jets forge fuel for star formation

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Astronomers have discovered a surprising connection between a supermassive black hole and the galaxy where it resides. Powerful radio jets from the black hole - which normally suppress star formation - are stimulating the production of cold gas in the galaxy's extended halo of hot gas. This newly identified supply of cold, dense gas could eventually fuel future star birth as well as feed the black hole itself.
via Science Daily
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NASA's OSIRIS-REx takes its first image of Jupiter

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This image was taken at 3:38 a.m. EST on Feb. 9, 2017, when the spacecraft was 75 million miles (120 million kilometers) from Earth and 419 million miles (675 million kilometers) from Jupiter. With an exposure time of two seconds, the image renders Jupiter overexposed, but allows for enhanced detection of stars in the background.
via Science Daily
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How disturbances interact with a dynamic space-time fabric: 'Field patterns' as a new mathematical object

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Mathematicians propose a theoretical framework to understand how waves and other disturbances move through materials in conditions that vary in both space and time. The theory is called 'field patterns.'
via Science Daily
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Watery past on Mars: Searching for past life forms

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An area on Mars that appears to have been flooded in the past offers a prime target to search for past life forms on the Red Planet.
via Science Daily
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The Calabash Nebula from Hubble

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Fast expanding gas clouds mark the end for a central star in the Calabash Nebula. The once-normal star has run out of nuclear fuel, causing the central regions to contract into a white dwarf. Some of the liberated energy causes the outer envelope of the star to expand. In this case, the result is a photogenic proto-planetary nebula. As the million-kilometer per hour gas rams into the surrounding interstellar gas, a supersonic shock front forms where ionized hydrogen and nitrogen glow blue. Thick gas and dust hide the dying central star. The Calabash Nebula, also known as the Rotten Egg Nebula and OH231.8+4.2, will likely develop into a full bipolar planetary nebula over the next 1000 years. The nebula, featured here, is about 1.4 light-years in extent and located about 5000 light-years away toward the constellation of Puppis.

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India Launches 104 Satellites From Single Rocket, Ramping Up Space Race

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The country nearly tripled the previous record of 37, set by Russia, establishing itself as a major player in the growing market for surveillance and communication.
via New York Times

The heart of a far-off star beats for its planet

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For the first time, astronomers have observed a star pulsing in response to its orbiting planet. The star, which goes by the name HAT-P-2, is about 400 light years from Earth and is circled by a gas giant measuring eight times the mass of Jupiter -- one of the most massive exoplanets known today.
via Science Daily
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New delta Scuti: Rare pulsating star 7,000 light years away is one of only seven in Milky Way

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The newest delta Scuti (SKOO-tee) star in our night sky is so rare it's only one of seven identified by astronomers in the Milky Way. The star -- like our sun -- is in the throes of stellar evolution, to conclude as a dying ember in millions of years. Until then, the exceptional star pulsates brightly, expanding and contracting from heating and cooling of hydrogen burning at its core.
via Science Daily
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