Hubble captures brilliant star death in 'rotten egg' nebula

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The Calabash Nebula -- which has the technical name OH 231.8+04.2 -- is a spectacular example of the death of a low-mass star like the sun.
via Science Daily
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Artificially introduced atomic-level sensors enable measurements of the electric field within a working semiconductor device

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A new method for sensing the electric field generated in semiconductor devices during operation has now been developed by researchers. The technique is demonstrated for a diamond device, with nitrogen-vacancy centers acting as local electric-field probes, subject to bias voltages up to 150 volt.
via Science Daily

Myth busted: No link between gigantic asteroid break-up, rise in biodiversity

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Some 470 million years ago, during the middle part of the geological period known as the Ordovician, an asteroid collision took place somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. The collision caused an explosion that sent a cascade of meteorites towards Earth.
via Science Daily
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Milky Way with Airglow Australis

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Captured last April after sunset on a Chilean winter's night an exceptionally intense airglow flooded this scene. The panoramic skyscape is also filled with stars, clusters, and nebulae along the southern Milky Way including the Large and Small Magellanic clouds. Originating at an altitude similar to aurorae, the luminous airglow is due to chemiluminescence, the production of light through chemical excitation. Commonly recorded with a greenish tinge by sensitive digital cameras, both red and green airglow emission here is predominately from atmospheric oxygen atoms at extremely low densities and has often been present in southern hemisphere nights during the last few years. Like the Milky Way on that dark night the strong airglow was visible to the eye, but seen without color. Mars, Saturn, and bright star Antares in Scorpius form the celestial triangle anchoring the scene on the left. The road leads toward the 2,600 meter high mountain Cerro Paranal and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescopes.

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