SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: April 2009
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Solar 'double vision' aids space weather
warnings
(Apr 13, 2009)
Burps of hot ionised gas from the sun
can knock out satellites and power grids when they hit Earth. Till
now their arrival has been hard to predict, but the first images of
an earthbound burst captured by two satellites simultaneously have
shown that we could get warnings 24 hours in advance that trouble
is heading our way.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
When life as we know it became possible
on Earth
(Apr 12, 2009)
It was one of the most important changes to have happened to the Earth's
atmosphere and the reason why today we can breathe life-giving
oxygen. And yet the
Great Oxidation Event had remained a mystery. Now a team of researchers
led by Kurt Konhauser of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada,
has come up with a convincing explanation for why oxygen suddenly
began to accumulate in the early atmosphere of the Earth about 2.7
billion years ago.
Read
more. Source: The Independent |
Do aliens share our genetic code?
(Apr 10, 2009)
What similarities will alien life forms have to living things here
on Earth? We won't know until we find some, but now there is evidence
that at least the basic building blocks will be the same.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Science's most powerful computer tackles
first questions
(Apr 9, 2009)
A newly built supercomputer that is the most powerful ever dedicated
to science will be tackling questions about climate change, supernovas,
and the structure of water. Jaguar is located at the National Center
for Computational Sciences (NCCS), part of Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
Tennessee, and has a peak operating performance of 1.64 petaflops,
meaning it can perform more than a million billion mathematical operations
every second.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Universe lit by dust-swaddled galaxies
(Apr 9, 2009)
Dramatic dust-swaddled stellar nurseries seem to be the main sources
of a diffuse background light found in all directions, an Antarctic
balloon experiment has revealed. The results could help illuminate
how star formation has changed over the history of the universe.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
A young pulsar shows its hand
(Apr 8, 2009)
A small, dense object only twelve miles in diameter is responsible
for this beautiful X-ray nebula that spans 150 light years. At the
center of this image made by NASA's Chandra
X-ray Observatory is a very young and powerful pulsar,
known as PSR B1509-58.
Read
more. Source: NASA/Harvard/Chandra |
Cool stars have different mix of life-forming
chemicals
(Apr 8, 2009)
Life on Earth is thought to have arisen from a hot soup of chemicals.
Does this same soup exist on planets around other stars? A new study
from NASA's Spitzer
Space Telescope hints that planets around stars cooler than our
sun might possess a different mix of potentially life-forming, or
prebiotic, chemicals.
Read
more. Source: NASA/Spitzer |
Tiny rock excites astrochemists
(Apr 8, 2009)
A "unique" micrometeorite found in Antarctica is challenging ideas
about how planets can form. Detailed analysis has shown that the sample,
known as MM40, has a chemical composition unlike any other fragment
of fallen space rock. This, say experts, raises questions about where
it originated in the Solar System and how it was created.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Overweight galaxies force-fed by dark
matter tendrils
(Apr 7, 2009)
Some of the biggest galaxies in the early universe seem to have grown
quicker than thought possible and may have bulked up on streams of
gas flowing along filaments of dark
matter, say researchers. Monster galaxies have long been thought
to take a long time to form, growing slowly by gobbling up smaller
galaxies like a giant amoeba absorbing food.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Gravity satellite feels the force
(Apr 7, 2009)
Europe's innovative GOCE satellite has switched on the super-sensitive
instrument that will make ultra-fine measurements of Earth's gravity.
The sophisticated gradiometer will feel the subtle variations in Earth's
tug as it sweeps around the globe. The spacecraft has also fired up
the British-built engine that will help maintain its orbit.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Russia to unveil spaceship plans
(Apr 6, 2009)
The Russian space agency is expected to unveil development plans for
a next-generation manned spacecraft on Monday. Roscosmos should name
the ship's prime developer, which has competed to win government funds
for the project. The proposed new spacecraft should enter into service
sometime towards the end of the next decade.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Dissecting a stellar explosion
(Apr 4, 2009)
Integral
has captured one of the brightest gamma-ray
bursts ever seen. A meticulous analysis of the data has allowed
astronomers to investigate the initial phases of this giant stellar
explosion, which led to the ejection of matter at velocities close
to the speed of light. In particular, the astronomers believe that
the explosion lifted a piece of the central engine’s magnetic field
into space.
Read
more. Source: ESA |
New cosmic map reveals colossal structures
(Apr 4, 2009)
Enormous cosmic voids and giant concentrations of matter have been
observed in a new galaxy survey, one of the biggest completed so far.
One of the voids is so large that it is difficult to explain where
it came from. Called the Six Degree Field Galaxy Survey (6dFGS), the
project scanned 41% of the sky, measuring positions and distances
for 110,000 galaxies within 2 billion light years of Earth.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Titan's squashed shape hints at soggy
interior
(Apr 3, 2009)
Saturn's moon Titan
is surprisingly non-spherical, suggesting it may hide vast reserves
of liquid methane beneath its surface, according to a new study. By
bouncing radar signals off the moon's smog-enshrouded surface, the
Cassini spacecraft
has now measured Titan's shape precisely for the first time.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
What would it look like to fall into a
black hole?
(Apr 2, 2009)
Falling into a black
hole might not be good for your health, but at least the view
would be fine. A new simulation shows what you might see on your way
towards the black hole's crushing central singularity.
The research could help physicists understand the apparently paradoxical
fate of matter and energy in a black hole.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Signals could be from dark matter
(Apr 1, 2009)
Scientists have detected particles that may come from invisible dark
matter. This is thought to make up 23% of the Universe, but can
only be detected through its effects on "normal" matter. Writing in
the journal Nature, scientists relate how a satellite-borne instrument
found an unexplained source of positrons in space.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Russian-European crew starts 'Mars mission'
(Apr 1, 2009)
Early on March 31, a crew of six, including two ESA-selected participants
and four Russians, embarked on a simulated mission to Mars.
Although they will not leave the confines of a dedicated isolation
facility in Moscow for 105 days, their mission will help prepare for
a real human mission to Mars in the future.
Read
more. Source: ESA |
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