Physics in the News

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

NuSTAR telescope discovers shockingly bright dead star

Astronomers have found a pulsating dead star beaming with the energy of about 10 million Suns, which is the brightest pulsar ever recorded..  A rare and mighty pulsar (pink) can be seen at the center of galaxy M82 in this new multi-wavelength portrait. NASA's NuSTAR mission discovered the "pulse" of the pulsar — a type of dead star — using is high-energy X-ray vision.
Astronomers have found a pulsating dead star beaming with the energy of about 10 million Suns, which is the brightest pulsar ever recorded.. A rare and mighty pulsar (pink) can be seen at the center of galaxy M82 in this new multi-wavelength portrait. NASA’s NuSTAR mission discovered the “pulse” of the pulsar — a type of dead star — using is high-energy X-ray vision.
via astronomy

Hypothetical new cosmological model known as Higgsogenesis (PDF)

The term Higgsogenesis refers to the first appearance of Higgs particles in the early universe, just as baryogenesis refers to the appearance of baryons (protons and neutrons) in the early moments after the big bang. While baryogenesis is a fairly well understood process, Higgsogenesis is still very hypothetical. (Credit: CERN/Lucas Taylor, Koberlein)
The term Higgsogenesis refers to the first appearance of Higgs particles in the early universe, just as baryogenesis refers to the appearance of baryons (protons and neutrons) in the early moments after the big bang. While baryogenesis is a fairly well understood process, Higgsogenesis is still very hypothetical. (Credit: CERN/Lucas Taylor, Koberlein)
via phys.org

Dark matter half what we thought, say scientists (PDF)

A new measurement of dark matter in the Milky Way has revealed there is half as much of the mysterious substance as previously thought.  The above is an artist's impression of the Milky Way and its dark matter halo (shown in blue, but in reality invisible). Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
A new measurement of dark matter in the Milky Way has revealed there is half as much of the mysterious substance as previously thought. The above is an artist’s impression of the Milky Way and its dark matter halo (shown in blue, but in reality invisible). (Credit: ESO/L. Calçada)
via sciencedaily

Astronomers see right into heart of exploding star

 (Credit: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF)
An international team of astronomers has been able to see into the heart of an exploding star, by combining data from telescopes that are hundreds or even thousands of kilometres apart. (Credit: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF)
via manchester

Among the artian hills: Curiosity Rover peers at rocks of Mount Sharp

After a couple of years of racing towards Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons), now it’s time for the Curiosity rover to get a better look at its Martian surroundings. Rover tracks and Martian sand as seen from the rear hazcam of NASA’s Curiosity rover. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
After a couple of years of racing towards Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons), now it’s time for the Curiosity rover to get a better look at its Martian surroundings. Rover tracks and Martian sand as seen from the rear hazcam of NASA’s Curiosity rover. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
via universetoday

Two new strange and charming particles appear at LHC

Two new particles have been discovered by the LHCb experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland. One of them has a combination of properties that has never been observed before. : Dave Stock)
Two new particles have been discovered by the LHCb experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland. One of them has a combination of properties that has never been observed before. (Credit: Dave Stock)
via newscientist

 The cosmic signal that might have changed human civilization

The image above shows a graphic which was produced by the SETI from the data of the Wow signal. A signal (Gaussian, triplet or pulse) arises only in a single narrowband channel. All other channels contain noise. Up to now we do not know cosmic phenomena which would generate such signals. It would seem improbable that they have no artificial origin. The picture shows a computer generated example of a strong Gaussian signal.
The image above shows a graphic which was produced by the SETI from the data of the Wow signal. A signal (Gaussian, triplet or pulse) arises only in a single narrowband channel. All other channels contain noise. Up to now we do not know cosmic phenomena which would generate such signals. It would seem improbable that they have no artificial origin. The picture shows a computer generated example of a strong Gaussian signal.
via dailygalaxy

World’s longest neutrino beam will explore why the universe still exists

This quirk of subatomics could have huge implications for our understanding of the universe, specifically how the current inequality between matter and antimatter came to be. Answering that could, in turn, provide a better insight as to why reality did not simply blink out of existence immediately after the Big Bang as a universe's worth of matter and antimatter negated one another's existences (
This quirk of subatomics could have huge implications for our understanding of the universe, specifically how the current inequality between matter and antimatter came to be. Answering that could, in turn, provide a better insight as to why reality did not simply blink out of existence immediately after the Big Bang as a universe’s worth of matter and antimatter negated one another’s existences (Credit: Tarantola, Fermilab, )
via gizmodo

What a difference a  neutron makes

For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that modified hydrogen bonding is sufficient to switch solid-state electronic properties. (Credit: University of Tokyo. ,Tan)
For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that modified hydrogen bonding is sufficient to switch solid-state electronic properties. (Credit: University of Tokyo. ,Tan)
via asianscientist

 

Physics in the News

Sunday, August 31, 2014

What time is it in the Universe? (VIDEO)

via universetoday

The limits of gravity, space and time… (VIDEO)

via astronomytoday

Robonaut 2 gets legs, New Horizons Pluto-bound (VIDEO)

via floridatoday

Our Sun’s power is stable and steadfast (VIDEO)

via techtimes

Latest theory of everything to hit the physics shelves

Agravity, short for ‘adimensional gravity’, is one of the most recent Theory of Everything (ToE) proposals in a long line of such proposals that have come about ever since the problem of reconciling Gravity with the Standard Model was realized by physicists. It attempts to merge gravity with the Higgs interaction (the thing that gives particles mass and electric charge) and thus the rest of the Standard Model by reconciling the huge difference between the Planck Scale (on the order of 1019 giga-electron-volts (GeV) = 1011 Joules (J)) and the relatively small masses of all the other particles
Agravity, short for ‘adimensional gravity’, is one of the most recent Theory of Everything proposals in a long line of such proposals that have come about ever since the problem of reconciling Gravity with the Standard Model was realized by physicists.  It attempts to merge gravity with the Higgs interaction, and thus the rest of the Standard Model, by reconciling the huge difference between the Planck Scale and the relatively small masses of all the other particles. (Credit: SGTW, Daniels)

via united-academics

Mars Rover Opportunity to have memory wiped

The decision to reformat Opportunity’s flash memory early next month is prompted by the multiple computer resets the rover has been experiencing. This month alone, Opportunity has had to be rebooted a dozen times, interrupting valuable time that should be taken up with carrying out science near the rim of Endeavour crater. (Credit: NASA, O'Neil)
The decision to reformat Opportunity’s flash memory early next month is prompted by the multiple computer resets the rover has been experiencing. This month alone, Opportunity has had to be rebooted a dozen times, interrupting valuable time that should be taken up with carrying out science near the rim of Endeavour crater. (Credit: NASA, O’Neil)

via discovery

Astronomers spot the birth of ‘Sparky,’ a massive star factory(PDF)

“It’s fascinating that the early universe could make galaxies in this way and the modern universe just can’t anymore, and we’re really beginning to understand in a profound way how different the early universe was than it is now,” said Erica Nelson of Yale University. (Credit: Neslson)
via washingtonpost

NASA probes studying Earth’s radiation belts to celebrate two year anniversary

NASA’s Van Allen Probes orbit through two giant radiation belts surrounding Earth. Their observations help explain how particles in the belts can be sped up to nearly the speed of light. Image (Credit: NASA)

Mysteries of space dust revealed

This is a scanning electron microscope image of an interplanetary dust particle that has roughly chondritic elemental composition and is highly rough (chondritic porous: "CP"). CP types are usually aggregates of large numbers of sub-micrometer grains, clustered in a random open order. (Credit: Donald E. Brownlee)
This is a scanning electron microscope image of an interplanetary dust particle that has roughly chondritic elemental composition and is highly rough (chondritic porous: “CP”). CP types are usually aggregates of large numbers of sub-micrometer grains, clustered in a random open order. (Credit: Donald E. Brownlee)
via phys.org

Are there evidences for cosmic inflation?

Inflation explains the origin of the large-scale structure of the cosmos. Many physicists believe that inflation explains why the Universe appears to be the same in all directions (isotropic), why the cosmic microwave background radiation is distributed evenly, why the universe is flat, and why no magnetic monopoles have been observed. (Credit: NASA)
Inflation explains the origin of the large-scale structure of the cosmos. Many physicists believe that inflation explains why the Universe appears to be the same in all directions (isotropic), why the cosmic microwave background radiation is distributed evenly, why the universe is flat, and why no magnetic monopoles have been observed. (Credit: NASA)
via science20

Sparks fly as NASA pushes the limits of 3-D printing technology

Engineers just completed hot-fire testing with two 3-D printed rocket injectors. Certain features of the rocket components were designed to increase rocket engine performance. The injector mixed liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen together, which combusted at temperatures over 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit, producing more than 20,000 pounds of thrust. (Credit: NASA photo/David Olive)
Engineers just completed hot-fire testing with two 3-D printed rocket injectors. Certain features of the rocket components were designed to increase rocket engine performance. The injector mixed liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen together, which combusted at temperatures over 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit, producing more than 20,000 pounds of thrust. (Credit: NASA photo/David Olive)
via spacefellowship