NASA team begins testing of a 'new-fangled' optic

more »
t's an age-old astronomical truth: To resolve smaller and smaller physical details of distant celestial objects, scientists need larger and larger light-collecting mirrors. This challenge is not easily overcome given the high cost and impracticality of building and -- in the case of space observatories -- launching large-aperture telescopes.
via Science Daily
Zazzle Space Exploration market place

Dirty to drinkable: Novel hybrid nanomaterials quickly transform water

more »
A team of engineers has found a way to use graphene oxide sheets to transform dirty water into drinking water, and it could be a global game-changer.
via Science Daily

A famous supermassive black hole 'spied on' with the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS

more »
Novel observations by an international group of researchers with the CanariCam instrument on the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS provide new information about magnetic fields around the active nucleus of the galaxy Cygnus A. This is the first time that polarimetric observations in the middle infrared region of the spectrum have been made of the nucleus of an active galaxy.
via Science Daily
Zazzle Space Exploration market place

Puzzling paucity of large craters on dwarf planet Ceres

more »
A team of scientists has made a puzzling observation while studying the size and distribution of craters on the dwarf planet Ceres -- the largest object in the tumultuous Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists think Ceres' missing large craters may have been erased over time, as a result of its peculiar composition and internal evolution.
via Science Daily
Zazzle Space Exploration market place

Light shed on a superluminous supernova which appears to have exploded twice

more »
An international group of researchers has used the GTC to observe a superluminous supernova almost from the moment it occurred. It has revealed surprising behaviour, because this supernova showed an initial increase in brightness which later declined for a few days, and later increased again much more strongly. The scientists have used the data observed at the GTC and has combined them with other observations to try to explain the origin of the phenomenon.
via Science Daily
Zazzle Space Exploration market place

Lonely atoms, happily reunited

more »
The remarkable behaviour of platinum atoms on magnetite surfaces could lead to better catalysts. Scientists can now explain how platinum atoms can form pairs with the help of carbon monoxide. At first glance, magnetite appears to be a rather inconspicuous grey mineral. But on an atomic scale, it has remarkable properties: on magnetite, single metal atoms are held in place, or they can be made to move across the surface. Sometimes several metal atoms on magnetite form small clusters. Such phenomena can dramatically change the chemical activity of the material. Atomic processes on the magnetite surface determine how well certain metal atoms can serve as catalysts for chemical reactions.
via Science Daily

Ancient eye in the sky

more »
Light from a distant galaxy can be strongly bent by the gravitational influence of a foreground galaxy. That effect is called strong gravitational lensing. Normally a single galaxy is lensed at a time. The same foreground galaxy can – in theory – simultaneously lens multiple background galaxies. Although extremely rare, such a lens system offers a unique opportunity to probe the fundamental physics of galaxies and add to our understanding of cosmology. One such lens system has recently been discovered and the discovery was made not in an astronomer’s office, but in a classroom. It has been dubbed the Eye of Horus, and this ancient eye in the sky may help us understand the history of the universe.
via Science Daily
Zazzle Space Exploration market place

Puzzling a Sky over Argentina

more »



Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old