Thursday, 10 July 2014

New optical sensors swell when exposed to target gas

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Using microscopic polymer light resonators that expand in the presence of specific gases, researchers at MIT’s Quantum Photonics Laboratory have developed new optical sensors with predicted detection levels in the parts-per-billion range. Optical sensors are ideal for detecting trace gas concentrations due to their high signal-to-noise ratio, compact, lightweight nature, and immunity to electromagnetic interference. Caption: High-sensitivity detection of dilute gases is demonstrated by monitoring the resonance of a suspended polymer nanocavity. The inset shows the target gas molecules (darker) interacting with the polymer material (lighter). This interaction causes the nanocavity to swell, resulting in a shift of its resonance. Credit: H. Clevenson/MIT Although other optical gas sensors had been developed before, the MIT team conceived an extremely sensitive, compact way to detect vanishingly small amounts of target molecules. They describe their new approach in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing. The researchers fabricated wavelength-scale photonic crystal cavities from PMMA, an inexpensive and flexible polymer that swells when it comes into contact with a target gas. The polymer is infused with fluorescent dye, which emits selectively at the resonant wavelength of the cavity through a process called the Purcell effect. At this resonance, a specific color of light reflects back and forth

The post New optical sensors swell when exposed to target gas has been published on Technology Org.

 
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VIDEO: Blast-off for Nasa CO2 satellite

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Nasa has launched a mission dedicated to measuring carbon dioxide (CO2) from space. 
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 » see original post http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-28126991#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Star Cluster Pismis 24, core of NGC 6357 Sticker

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tagged with: stars, galaxies, astronomy, envelope sealers, star cluster, pismis 24, sculpting ultaviolet ionisation, super massive stars, sclustpsms, nebula ngc 6357

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series The star cluster Pismis 24 lies in the core of the large emission nebula NGC 6357 that extends one degree on the sky in the direction of the Scorpius constellation. Part of the nebula is ionised by the youngest (bluest) heavy stars in Pismis 24. The intense ultraviolet radiation from the blazing stars heats the gas surrounding the cluster and creates a bubble in NGC 6357. The presence of these surrounding gas clouds makes probing into the region even harder. One of the top candidates for the title of "Milky Way stellar heavyweight champion" was, until now, Pismis 24-1, a bright young star that lies in the core of the small open star cluster Pismis 24 (the bright stars in the Hubble image) about 8,000 light-years away from Earth. Pismis 24-1 was thought to have an incredibly large mass of 200 to 300 solar masses. New NASA/ESA Hubble measurements of the star, have, however, resolved Pismis 24-1 into two separate stars, and, in doing so, have "halved" its mass to around 100 solar masses.

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Image credit: NASA/ESA Hubble

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Liquid crystals controlled by magnetic fields may lead to new optical applications

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(Phys.org) —Liquid crystals are widely known for their use in LCD TVs, in which quickly changing electrical fields are used to control the molecular order of the liquid crystals. This in turn changes how light is transmitted through the liquid crystals to make the pictures change on the TV screen.



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Hubble Sees Spiral Bridge of Young Stars Between Two Ancient Galaxies



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It seems like our compulsive universe can be downright capricious when it comes to making oddball-looking things in the cosmos. The latest surprise to Hubble astronomers is a 100,000-light-year-long structure that looks like a string of pearls twisted into a corkscrew shape. This Slinky-like structure forms a bridge between two giant elliptical galaxies that are colliding. The "pearls" on the Slinky are superclusters of blazing, blue-white, newly born stars. The whole assembly, which looks like a tug-of-war, must result from the gravitational tidal forces present in the collision.




via HubbleSite NewsCenter -- Latest News Releases

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2014/26/

Noctilucent Clouds over London

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This scene from the early morning hours of July 3 looks out across the River Thames from the Westminster Bridge. Part of a luminous timelapse video (vimeo), the frame captures a sight familiar in London, the nighttime glow of the London Eye. But a not-so-familiar sight is shining in the still dark sky above, widespread noctilucent clouds. From the edge of space, about 80 kilometers above Earth's surface, the icy clouds can still reflect sunlight even though the Sun itself is below the horizon as seen from the ground. Usually spotted at high latitudes in summer months the diaphanous apparitions are also known as polar mesospheric clouds. The seasonal clouds are understood to form as water vapor driven into the cold upper atmosphere condenses on the fine dust particles supplied by disintegrating meteors or volcanic ash. NASA's AIM mission provides daily projections of the noctilucent clouds as seen from space.

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Little Ghost Nebula (NGC 6369) Room Graphic

Here's a great wall decal featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: le0068, nasa, etoiles, les etoiles, astronomy, science, nebula, hubble, space, scientific, outer space, deep space, nebulae, hst, hubble telescope, sky, little ghost, ghost, hubble space telescope, planetary, teal, turquoise, blue, orange, black, pretty, haunting, strange, unusual, celestial

"NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has recently obtained images of the planetary nebula NGC 6369. This object is known to amateur astronomers as the "Little Ghost Nebula," because it appears as a small, ghostly cloud surrounding the faint, dying central star. NGC 6369 lies in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus, at a distance estimated to be between about 2,000 and 5,000 light-years from Earth."

(qtd. from Hubblesite.org NewsCenter release STScI-2002-25)

Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

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Close-up of the Tarantula Nebula iPad Mini Covers

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


tagged with: space, galaxy, science, astronomy, universe, geek, hubble, galaxies, nebula, stars

Hubble has taken this stunning close-up shot of part of the Tarantula Nebula. This star-forming region of ionised hydrogen gas is in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy which neighbours the Milky Way. It is home to many extreme conditions including supernova remnants and the heaviest star ever found. The Tarantula Nebula is the most luminous nebula of its type in the local Universe. Image Credit: NASA/ESA

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Forces of martian nature

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The surface of Mars is pocked and scarred with giant impact craters and rocky ridges, as shown in this new image from ESA’s Mars Express that borders the giant Hellas basin in the planet’s southern hemisphere.




via ESA Space Science

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Forces_of_martian_nature

New discoveries could help neutralize chemical weapons

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Researchers at UT are a step closer to creating a prophylactic drug that would neutralize the deadly effects of the chemical weapons used in Syria and elsewhere. Jeremy Smith, UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair and an expert in computational biology, is part of the team that is trying to engineer enzymes—called bioscavengers—so they work more efficiently against chemical weapons. The work is a joint effort between scientists at UT, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and a French national laboratory in Grenoble. Their study was published recently in the Journal of Physical Chemistry. Nerve agent sarin bound to bioscavenger enzyme.   Nerve agents, such as sarin, are among the most highly toxic chemical weapons. The study focuses on engineering enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of nerve agents as a prophylactic approach to diminishing their toxic effects. “Enzymes exist that can potentially chew up nerve agents and render them useless before they’ve had time to act, but they need to be improved to work faster,” Smith said. The researchers are using neutron scattering and computational sciences to study these nerve agent bioscavengers. Neutron scattering allows the scientists to get a detailed three-dimensional view of the enzymes. Computer simulation then uses this view to understand how the

The post New discoveries could help neutralize chemical weapons has been published on Technology Org.

 
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New technology illuminates colder objects in deep space: New material offers more stable infrared detection

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Too cool and faint, many objects in the universe are impossible to detect with visible light. Now scientists have refined a new technology that could make these colder objects more visible, paving the way for enhanced exploration of deep space. Scientists have engineered a new technology that can detect very long wavelength infrared light.

via Science Daily

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Cosmic grains of dust formed in supernova explosion

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There are billions of stars and planets in the universe. The planets are formed in dust clouds that swirled around a newly formed star. But where does the cosmic dust come from? New research shows that not only can grains of dust form in gigantic supernova explosions, they can also survive the subsequent shockwaves they are exposed to.

via Science Daily

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Hubble Deep Field Print

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: hubble, nasa, space, astronomy, astrology, science, beauty

The blackness of space isn't as black as you would think. Scientists pointed the Hubble Space Telescope at a dark patch of sky and collected as much light as they could. This is what they found, thousands of galaxies each with billions of stars.

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World Briefing: Russia: New-Design Rocket Is Launched

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Russia launched the Angara rocket, its first new design of space rocket since the Soviet era, from the northern military space port of Plesetsk.















via New York Times

Even geckos can lose their grip

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Not even geckos and spiders can sit upside down forever. Nanophysics makes sure of that. Mechanics researchers have demonstrated this in an article that can be of great industrial benefit.

via Science Daily

Star Cluster Pismis 24, core of NGC 6357 Sticker

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: galaxies, star cluster, pismis 24, sculpting ultaviolet ionisation, super massive stars, sclustpsms, nebula ngc 6357, peel off, outer space exploration, astronomy pictures

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series The star cluster Pismis 24 lies in the core of the large emission nebula NGC 6357 that extends one degree on the sky in the direction of the Scorpius constellation. Part of the nebula is ionised by the youngest (bluest) heavy stars in Pismis 24. The intense ultraviolet radiation from the blazing stars heats the gas surrounding the cluster and creates a bubble in NGC 6357. The presence of these surrounding gas clouds makes probing into the region even harder. One of the top candidates for the title of "Milky Way stellar heavyweight champion" was, until now, Pismis 24-1, a bright young star that lies in the core of the small open star cluster Pismis 24 (the bright stars in the Hubble image) about 8,000 light-years away from Earth. Pismis 24-1 was thought to have an incredibly large mass of 200 to 300 solar masses. New NASA/ESA Hubble measurements of the star, have, however, resolved Pismis 24-1 into two separate stars, and, in doing so, have "halved" its mass to around 100 solar masses.

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image code: sclustpsms

Image credit: NASA/ESA Hubble

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Space Probe Might Lack Nitrogen to Push It Home

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Engineers trying to lasso an aged NASA space probe may have run into an insurmountable obstacle: Tanks once full of nitrogen gas, needed to fire the thrusters, appear to have be empty.















via New York Times

Boomerang Nebula Wall Graphic

Here's a great wall decal featuring a beautiful image from deep space


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"The Hubble Space Telescope has "caught" the Boomerang Nebula in these new images taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys. This reflecting cloud of dust and gas has two nearly symmetric lobes (or cones) of matter that are being ejected from a central star. Over the last 1,500 years, nearly one and a half times the mass of our Sun has been lost by the central star of the Boomerang Nebula in an ejection process known as a bipolar outflow. The nebula's name is derived from its symmetric structure as seen from ground-based telescopes. Hubble's sharp view is able to resolve patterns and ripples in the nebula very close to the central star that are not visible from the ground.

...The Boomerang Nebula is located about 5,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the Southern constellation Centaurus. Submillimeter radio measurements made in 1995 show the deep interior of the nebula to have a temperature of only one degree Kelvin above absolute zero, with absolute zero equal to nearly -460 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes the inner regions of the Boomerang Nebula one of the coldest known places in the universe."

(qtd. from Hubblesite.org NewsCenter release STScI-2005-25)

Credit: NASA, ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

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Rose of Galaxies Case For The iPad Mini

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


tagged with: space, galaxy, science, astronomy, universe, geek, galaxies, nebula, stars

To celebrate the 21st anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope's deployment into space, astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., pointed Hubble's eye at an especially photogenic pair of interacting galaxies called Arp 273. The larger of the spiral galaxies, known as UGC 1810, has a disk that is distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational tidal pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

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