Speedy ion conduction in solid electrolytes clears road for advanced energy devices

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Scientists have used state-of-the-art microscopy to identify a previously undetected feature, about 5 billionths of a meter (nanometers) wide, in a solid electrolyte. The work experimentally verifies the importance of that feature to fast ion transport, and corroborates the observations with theory. The new mechanism the researchers report points out a new strategy for the design of highly conductive solid electrolytes.
via Science Daily

Galaxy-sized peanuts? Astronomers use new imaging software to detect double ‘peanut shell’ galaxy

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Astronomers have discovered an unusually shaped structure in two nearby disc galaxies. Scientists recently developed new imaging software, making it possible to observe the double "peanut shell shape" formed by the distribution of stars bulging from the centers of these galaxies.
via Science Daily
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Satellites to see Mercury enter spotlight on May 9

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It happens only a little more than once a decade and the next chance to see it is Monday, May 9, 2016. Throughout the US, sky watchers can watch Mercury pass between Earth and the sun in a rare astronomical event known as a planetary transit. Three NASA satellites will be providing images of the transit and one of them will have a near-live feed.
via Science Daily
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NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula

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These cosmic clouds have blossomed 1,300 light-years away, in the fertile starfields of the constellation Cepheus. Called the Iris Nebula, NGC 7023 is not the only nebula to evoke the imagery of flowers, though. Still, this deep telescopic image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries, embedded in surrounding fields of interstellar dust. Within the Iris itself, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the reflection nebula glow with a faint reddish photoluminesence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula contains complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The pretty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years. The colorful field-of-view stretches almost five Full Moons across the sky.

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