An illustration of the nonreciprocity of the dynamics of light propagating in the forward (a) and the backward (b) direction. (Credit: Nature Photonics)
via phys.org
New observations of the star cluster Messier 54, shown above, reveal that it is just as strangely deficient in lithium as our own galaxy, deepening a mystery about the element’s big bang origins. (Credit: ESO)
via nationalgeographic
This graph shows the distribution of about 20,000 luminous Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasars in the two-dimensional space of broad line width versus FeII strength, color-coded by the strength of the narrow [OIII] line emission. The strong horizontal trend is the main sequence of quasars driven by the efficiency of the black hole accretion, while the vertical spread of broad line width is largely due to our viewing angle to the inner region of the quasar. (Credit: Y. Shen, L. Ho, KIAA)
via skyandtelescope
To see something new, inventor, Raffi Budakian, had to get small — really small. The instrument he uses is as long as a human hair is wide and has the circumference of a virus.(Credit: The Budakian Group)
via perimeterinstitute
“Using a new operating principle called the “hot-electron photothermoelectric effect,” the research team created a device that is “as sensitive as any existing room temperature detector in the terahertz range and more than a million times faster,” says Michael Fuhrer, professor of physics at UMD and Monash University. The above image is a Graphene photothermoelectric detector device fabrication and principle of operation.” (Credit: Nature.com)
via spacedaily
The above sequence depicts a rare supernova explosion. Hubble images (bottom panel) correspond to an artist’s conception (top panel). (Credit: Kavli IPMU / NASA / Gastón Folatelli)
via universetoday
This is a one centimeter by one centimeter graphene film transfer to a silicon wafer with a silicon dioxide top layer. (Credit: Xuesong Li and Weiwei Cai)
via esciencenews
Novae typically originate in binary systems containing Sun-like stars, as shown in this artist’s rendering. NASA’s Fermi Space Telescope discovered that a nova in a system like this likely produces gamma rays (magenta) through collisions among multiple shock waves in the rapidly expanding shell of debris. (Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger)
via americaspace
Beam out: elongated “Landau” states – Instead of rotating uniformly at a particular frequency, an international team of researchers has found that electrons in a magnetic field are capable of rotating at three different frequencies, depending on their quantum properties.
via physicsworld
Asteroid 1950 DA. “Following the February 2013 asteroid impact in Chelyabinsk, Russia, there is renewed interest in figuring out how to deal with the potential hazard of an asteroid impact,” said Rozitis. “Understanding what holds these asteroids together can inform strategies to guard against future impacts.” (Credit: NASA)
via tntoday
“The puzzle has been how these ‘seed’ black holes grew into the monsters that we now see within the time available, a few billion years at best,” says Priyamvada Natarajan, who proposes that early quasars took in a “super boost,” feasting from large reservoirs of gas that were part of early star clusters. (Credit: Lollito Larkham/Flickr)
via futurity
Lighting Science created special lightbulbs for the ISS. There are daylight bulbs with bluer light to encourage energy and activity during what would be daytime hours, and then there are lightbulbs that dial back on the blue to boost astronauts’ production of melatonin for a good night’s sleep. (Credit: Lightning Science)
via cnet
High temperatures expanding the seal material could have either impeded the flow, or have precluded the latch valve from opening even with the microswitch indicated to telemetry that the valve was open. (Credit: Farquhar, R, Muhonen, D, Church, L, Curtis, M.S)
via wattsupwiththat
This photo by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows the huge iron meteorite “Lebanon” (7 feet wide) and its smaller companion “Lebanon B.” The two meteorites were found by Curiosity on May 25, 2014. The circular insets are more detailed views by Curiosity’s Chem-Cam instrument overlaid on an image by the rover’s Remote Micro-Imager. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/LPGNantes/CNRS/IAS/MSSS)
via space.com
The clear central eye of the storm is about 2000 km across – ten times the typical size on Earth – and clouds at the outer edge of the hurricane on Saturn are moving at more than 500 kph – rather faster than on Earth. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)
via dailygalaxy
This map shows the distribution of dark matter (black) in the Universe, overlapping with optical measured clusters of galaxies (red circles). The mass peaks in the map contain significant cosmological information, will provide us with an improved understanding about the dark side of the Universe. The size of this map is about 4 square degrees corresponding to only 2.5% of the full CS82 survey footprint shown in the next figure. (Credit: CS82, SDSS)
via phys.org
An artist’s concept illustration shows a quasar, or feeding black hole, similar to APM 08279+5255, where astronomers discovered huge amounts of water vapor. (NASA/ESA)
Map showing Ceres and Vesta as they approach each other closely this coming week. Both asteroids are near the easy-to-find star Zeta in Virgo not far from bright Mars. Although the asteroids appear very close together in the sky, they’re really about 51 million miles apart with Vesta in the foreground. (Credit: Chris Marriott’s SkyMap)
By filtering light from the sun, CQT researchers have made a strong detection of a quantum effect known as ‘photon bunching’ in its light. This is a hallmark of the sun radiating like a black body. (Credit: NASA/SDO)
via azoquantum
Mechanical oscillators translate an applied force into measurable mechanical motion. The Standard Quantum Limit is imposed by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, in which the measurement itself perturbs the motion of the oscillator, a phenomenon known as “quantum back-action.” (Credit: Kevin Gutowski)
via newscenter
Orion, seen here with its heat shield installed, being maneuvered for stacking on the spacecraft’s service module at KSC earlier this month. (Credit: NASA)
via americaspace
![This graph shows the distribution of about 20,000 luminous Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasars in the two-dimensional space of broad line width versus FeII strength, color-coded by the strength of the narrow [OIII] line emission. The strong horizontal trend is the main sequence of quasars driven by the efficiency of the black hole accretion, while the vertical spread of broad line width is largely due to our viewing angle to the inner region of the quasar. (Credit: Y. Shen, L. Ho, KIAA)](https://cosmologyandtime.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/prshenquasargraphicforweb-preview.jpg)
