Monday 25 September 2017

Lava tubes: the hidden sites for future human habitats on the Moon and Mars

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Lava tubes, underground caves created by volcanic activity, could provide protected habitats large enough to house streets on Mars or even towns on the Moon, according to new research. A further study shows how the next generation of lunar orbiters will be able to use radar to locate these structures under the Moon’s surface. 
via Science Daily
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Physicists demonstrate using a laser to control a current in graphene within just one femtosecond

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Controlling electronic current is essential to modern electronics, as data and signals are transferred by streams of electrons which are controlled at high speed. Demands on transmission speeds are also increasing as technology develops. Scientists have now succeeded in switching on a current with a desired direction in graphene using a single laser pulse within a femtosecond. This is more than a thousand times faster compared to the most efficient transistors today.
via Science Daily

IceCube helps demystify strange radio bursts from deep space

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Scientists are turning IceCube, the world's most sensitive neutrino telescope, to the task of helping demystify powerful pulses of radio energy generated up to billions of light-years from Earth.
via Science Daily
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The material that obscures supermassive black holes

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New research examines the material that obscures active galactic nuclei obtained from infrared and X-ray observations.
via Science Daily
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The melody of magnets

Massive Shell-Expelling Star G79.29+0.46

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Stars this volatile are quite rare. Captured in the midst of dust clouds and visible to the right and above center is massive G79.29+0.46, one of less than 100 luminous blue variable stars (LBVs) currently known in our Galaxy. LBVs expel shells of gas and may lose even the mass of Jupiter over 100 years. The star, itself bright and blue, is shrouded in dust and so not seen in visible light. The dying star appears green and surrounded by red shells, though, in this mapped-color infrared picture combining images from NASA's Spitzer Space Observatory and NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer. G79.29+0.46 is located in the star-forming Cygnus X region of our Galaxy. Why G79.29+0.46 is so volatile, how long it will remain in the LBV phase, and when it will explode in a supernova is not known.

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Ever-changing view

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Highlighting Rosetta’s ever-changing view of the comet, a year since the mission concluded
via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2017/09/Rosetta_s_ever-changing_view_of_a_comet