Physics in the News

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Atomic clocks on the International Space Station will study time and space

NIST-F1, the nation's primary time and frequency standard, is a cesium fountain atomic clock developed at the NIST laboratories in Boulder, Colorado. NIST-F1 contributes to the international group of atomic clocks that define Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the official world time. Because NIST-F1 is among the most accurate clocks in the world, it makes UTC more accurate than ever before. (Credit: Time and Frequency Division of NIST's PML) — NIST-F1 contributes to the international group of atomic clocks that define Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the official world time. Because NIST-F1 is among the most accurate clocks in the world, it makes UTC more accurate than ever before. (Credit: Time and Frequency Division of NIST’s PML)

Powerful solar flare reaching M5.9 erupted from Region 2149

via thewatchers

Solving Stephen Hawking’s black hole paradox

via davidreneke

In search of alien life? Seek out the smog

n this artist's conception, the atmosphere of an Earthlike planet displays a brownish haze â the result of widespread pollution. (Credit: Christine Pulliam/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) — Artist’s conception of the atmosphere of an Earth-like planet displaying a brownish haze as the result of widespread pollution. (Credit: Christine Pulliam/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

via npr

Stellar snow globe mystery solved with Hubble’s help

This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the globular cluster IC 4499. A cosmic archaeological dig has unfolded within a giant ball of stars some 55,000 light-years away. Credit: NASA) — This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the globular cluster IC 4499. A cosmic archaeological dig has unfolded within a giant ball of stars some 55,000 light-years away. (Credit: NASA)

via nationalgeographic

Squeezed light for advanced gravitational wave detectors and beyond(PDF)

Top: A typical set-up for squeezing injection in the first demonstrations of squeezing at GEO600 and LIGO, both using DC readout [36,37]. Proposed design for future detectors. This design features an in-vacuum OPO. The remainder of the squeezed light source remains outside of vacuum. (Credit: E. Oelker, L. Barsotti, S. Dwyer, D. Sigg, and N. Mavalvala) — Top: A typical set-up for squeezing injection in the first demonstrations of squeezing at
GEO600 and LIGO, both using DC readout [36,37]. Bottom: Proposed design for future detectors. This design features an in-vacuum OPO. The remainder of the squeezed light source remains outside of vacuum. (Credit: E. Oelker, L. Barsotti, S. Dwyer, D. Sigg, and N. Mavalvala)

via opticsinfobase

Mercury’s transit: An unusual spot on the sun

What’s that dot on the Sun? If you look closely, it is almost perfectly round. The dot is the result of an unusual type of solar eclipse that occurred in 2006. Usually it is the Earth’s Moon that eclipses the Sun. This time, the planet Mercury took a turn. (Credit: D. Cortner, NASA, K. Schmidt) — What’s that dot on the Sun? If you look closely, it is almost perfectly round. The dot is the result of an unusual type of solar eclipse that occurred in 2006. Usually it is the Earth’s Moon that eclipses the Sun. This time, the planet Mercury took a turn.
(Credit: D. Cortner, NASA, K. Schmidt)

via spacefellowship

The invisible galaxies: Radio images of the whirlpool galaxy and beyond

"Maybe we will see how galaxies are magnetically connected to intergalactic space. This is a key experiment in preparation for the planned Square Kilometre Array (SKA) that should tell us how cosmic magnetic fields are generated," says Rainer Beck, lead astronomer with the Max Planck Institute. — “Maybe we will see how galaxies are magnetically connected to intergalactic space. This is a key experiment in preparation for the planned Square Kilometre Array (SKA) that should tell us how cosmic magnetic fields are generated,” says Rainer Beck, lead astronomer with the Max Planck Institute.

via dailygalaxy

Researchers make color-shifting surface modeled on squid

Researchers have developed a flexible structure that can sense ambient conditions and adjust its color to match them. At the moment, it only works in black and white. (Credit: PNAS, Timmer)

via arstechnica

Physics in the News

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Breaking news on the ISEE-3 mission: It may not be lost – it’s those “O” rings again

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. — 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

Deep-space radio waves ‘heard’ at opposite points on Earth(VIDEO)

New data shows Earth’s magnetic field is weakening fast(VIDEO)

via weather.com

Happy birthday, Matt Bunting! Dmitri hexapod creator

Physicists detect process even rarer than the long-sought Higgs particle

Brookhaven Lab/ATLAS physicist Marc-André Pleier adjusting detector components. (Credit: Brookhaven Lab/ATLAS) — Physicist Marc-André Pleier adjusting detector components. (Credit: Brookhaven Lab/ATLAS)

via bnl

Huge Meteorite on Mars Discovered by NASA’s Curiosity Rover

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) — 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)

Single hotspot may be the source of many ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays

The hotspot map for ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. (Credit: Telescope Array)

via arstechnica

Cassini spacecraft’s new look at Saturn’s colossal hexagon storm

(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI) — 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

Large number of dark matter peaks found using gravitational lensing

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)

Scientists Believe There May Be An Ancient Earth Older Than The Moon Inside Earth

(Credit: NASA)

Physics in the News

Saturday, July 12, 2014

NASA Curiosity Rover is starting to explore dangerous new territory

The blue line added to this June 27, 2014, image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is the edge of the ellipse that was charted as safe terrain for the rover's August 2012 landing. Curiosity is visible right on the ellipse line in the lower center of the image. This 3-sigma landing ellipse is about 4 miles long and 12 miles wide (7 kilometers by 20 kilometers). Curiosity reached the edge of it for the first time with a drive of about 269 feet (82 meters) earlier that day. (Credit: NASA) — The blue line added to this June 27, 2014, image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is the edge of the ellipse that was charted as safe terrain for the rover’s August 2012 landing. Curiosity is visible right on the ellipse line in the lower center of the image. This 3-sigma landing ellipse is about 4 miles long and 12 miles wide (7 kilometers by 20 kilometers). Curiosity reached the edge of it for the first time with a drive of about 269 feet (82 meters) earlier that day. (Credit: NASA)

via technobuffalo

Space geeks’ resurrected NASA sun probe ISEE-3 now on collision course with the moon

An old McDonalds serves as ISEE-3 mission control (Credit: ISEE-3)

via theregister

Richard Feynman, sexism and changing perceptions of a scientific icon

via scientificamerican

Scientists ‘have no handle on’ radio bursts coming from deep space

The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is the largest single-dish radio telescope in the world. (Credit: David Parker)

NASA spacecraft observes more evidence of dry ice gullies on Mars

This pair of before (left) and after (right) images captured by the HiRise camera on NASA’s MRO documents the formation of a new channel on a Martian slope between 2010 and 2013. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)

Dragonfly telephoto array discovers seven dwarf galaxies around Messier 101

This image shows the nearby spiral galaxy Messier 101 and the seven newly discovered dwarf galaxies. (Credit: Allison Merritt et al.)

Microsoft and Niels Bohr Institute QDev partner to realize Quantum Information

The base for the research collaboration between Microsoft and the Center for Quantum Devices, called Station Q–Copenhagen, aims to realise quantum information (Credit: ku.dk)

via azoquantum

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