Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
9 Mar 2010, 16:35 UTC
An international panel of experts has ruled in favor of the theory proposed in 1980 by the late Berkeley Lab physicist Luis Alvarez and his son Walter, a UC Berkeley geologist, that a large asteroid struck the earth 65 million years ago, triggering the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Alvarez Theory on Dinosaur Die-Out Upheld: Experts Find Asteroid Guilty of Killing the Dinosaurs
9 Mar 2010, 16:35 UTC
An international panel of experts has ruled in favor of the theory proposed in 1980 by the late Berkeley Lab physicist Luis Alvarez and his son Walter, a UC Berkeley geologist, that a large asteroid struck the earth 65 million years ago, triggering the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Keck Observatory
9 Mar 2010, 08:00 UTC
Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory have identified the smallest known binary system to date. The system, called HM Cancri, consists of two dead stars that revolve around each other in 5.4 minutes, by far the shortest known orbital period of any pair of stars. The team, led by Gijs Roelofs of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center of Astrophysics, used the 10-meter Keck I telescope with its Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph to study the velocity changes in the spectral lines in the light of HM Cancri. They observed that as the stars orbited each other, the system’s spectral lines shifted…
Keck telescope confirms smallest known star duo
9 Mar 2010, 08:00 UTC
Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory have identified the smallest known binary system to date. The system, called HM Cancri, consists of two dead stars that revolve around each other in 5.4 minutes, by far the shortest known orbital period of any pair of stars. The team, led by Gijs Roelofs of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center of Astrophysics, used the 10-meter Keck I telescope with its Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph to study the velocity changes in the spectral lines in the light of HM Cancri. They observed that as the stars orbited each other, the system’s spectral lines shifted…
Science and Technology Facilities Council News and Press Releases
8 Mar 2010, 12:07 UTC
Scientists from across the STFC are heading to Manchester to take part in the largest science fair in the UK for students, the Big Bang Fair at Manchester Central, 11th - 13th March 2010
STFC makes a BIG Bang in Manchester
8 Mar 2010, 12:07 UTC
Scientists from across the STFC are heading to Manchester to take part in the largest science fair in the UK for students, the Big Bang Fair at Manchester Central, 11th - 13th March 2010
ESA Top News
5 Mar 2010, 09:03 UTC
This animation, made up of eight Envisat radar images, shows the 97-km long B-9B iceberg (right) ramming into the Mertz Glacier Tongue in Eastern Antarctica in early February. The collision caused a chunk of the glacier’s tongue to snap off, giving birth to another iceberg nearly as large as B-9B.
Earth from Space: Icebreaker event
5 Mar 2010, 09:03 UTC
This animation, made up of eight Envisat radar images, shows the 97-km long B-9B iceberg (right) ramming into the Mertz Glacier Tongue in Eastern Antarctica in early February. The collision caused a chunk of the glacier’s tongue to snap off, giving birth to another iceberg nearly as large as B-9B.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features
4 Mar 2010, 20:03 UTC
Planetary scientists, who have been puzzling for years over the surface features on Saturn's moon Titan, have now found some recognizable analogies to a type of terrain on Earth known as karst topography.
Is That Saturn's Moon Titan or Utah?
4 Mar 2010, 20:03 UTC
Planetary scientists, who have been puzzling for years over the surface features on Saturn's moon Titan, have now found some recognizable analogies to a type of terrain on Earth known as karst topography.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features
4 Mar 2010, 20:03 UTC
One year ago this week, NASA's Kepler mission soared into the dark night sky, leaving a bright glow in its wake as it began to search for other worlds like Earth.
NASA's Kepler Mission Celebrates One Year in Space
4 Mar 2010, 20:03 UTC
One year ago this week, NASA's Kepler mission soared into the dark night sky, leaving a bright glow in its wake as it began to search for other worlds like Earth.
Most Recent News
- 9 Mar 2010
-
16:35 UTC
Alvarez Theory on Dinosaur Die-Out Upheld: Experts Find Asteroid Gu...
-
09:07 UTC
Capillarity in action – a lesson from space
-
08:00 UTC
Keck telescope confirms smallest known star duo
-
05:00 UTC
NASA Launches Interactive Simulation
-
05:00 UTC
NASA Launches Interactive Simulation of Satellite Communications
-
16:35 UTC
- 8 Mar 2010
-
20:03 UTC
Historic Deep Space Network Antenna Starts Major Surgery
-
13:03 UTC
Earthquake in Chile
-
12:07 UTC
STFC makes a BIG Bang in Manchester
-
07:27 UTC
How ESA got its tweet back
-
05:00 UTC
NASA Hosts First-Ever Water Sustainability Forum March 16 -18
-
20:03 UTC
- 5 Mar 2010
-
20:03 UTC
Watch Students Compete Using Lego Robotics
-
09:03 UTC
Earth from Space: Icebreaker event
-
08:50 UTC
New investment fund backs space technologies finding uses on Earth
-
05:00 UTC
Student Teams Ready to Battle Lunar Terrain at NASA's 17th Annual G...
-
05:00 UTC
NASA Briefing Highlights Education Outreach During Next Shuttle Fli...
-
00:00 UTC
Talk: Visualizing James Webb Space Telescope Science
-
20:03 UTC
- 4 Mar 2010
-
20:03 UTC
Is That Saturn's Moon Titan or Utah?
-
20:03 UTC
NASA's Kepler Mission Celebrates One Year in Space
-
20:03 UTC
Mars Dunes: On the Move?
-
20:03 UTC
Herschel Finds Possible Life-Enabling Molecules in Space
-
20:03 UTC
Blogs
SciBuff
9 Mar 2010, 18:49 UTC
If you have shot (probably) the last night Space Shuttle launch a few weeks back and you’d be interested in sharing the footage with the rest of the world, read on: ATTENTION: NASA buffs 8 to 88, amateur and pro video makers and photographers! Motherboard.tv is making a film about the launch of STS-130 as seen from [...]
Amateur footage of STS-130 launch wanted
9 Mar 2010, 18:49 UTC
If you have shot (probably) the last night Space Shuttle launch a few weeks back and you’d be interested in sharing the footage with the rest of the world, read on: ATTENTION: NASA buffs 8 to 88, amateur and pro video makers and photographers! Motherboard.tv is making a film about the launch of STS-130 as seen from [...]
WillGater.com
9 Mar 2010, 18:23 UTC
Just a quick heads up about an interesting new TV series that’s currently airing on Tuesdays at 10pm on the UK Freeview television channel Quest (Freeview channel 38). It’s called Meteorite Men and follows expert meteorite hunters Steve Arnold and Geoff Notkin as they search the US countryside for pieces of Solar System debris that [...]
The Meteorite Men land on UK television
9 Mar 2010, 18:23 UTC
Just a quick heads up about an interesting new TV series that’s currently airing on Tuesdays at 10pm on the UK Freeview television channel Quest (Freeview channel 38). It’s called Meteorite Men and follows expert meteorite hunters Steve Arnold and Geoff Notkin as they search the US countryside for pieces of Solar System debris that [...]
Universe Today
9 Mar 2010, 17:47 UTC
Images of Mars taken from orbit show a massive system of riverbeds and canyons etched by water. Or maybe not. A new study of one channel shows that it was formed by lava flow and not water, and the results make "a strong case that fluid lava can produce channels that look [...] Details from the Ascraeus channel (red), meandering across the surface of Mars. The insets in the black boxes show close-ups of some of the structures that lava can form: (left) branched channels, (middle) a snaking channel and (right) rootless vents; the rootless vents are also marked by yellow spots on the main image. Credit: Jacob BleacherImages of Mars taken from orbit show a massive system of riverbeds and canyons etched by water. Or maybe not. A new study of one channel shows that it was formed by lava flow and not water, and the results make "a strong case that fluid lava can produce channels that look very much like water-generated features," said Jim Zimbelman from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, one of the researchers. "So, we should not jump to a water-related conclusion when we see such channels on other planets." (...)Read the rest of Possibility ...
Possibility of Past Water on Mars Takes a Hit
9 Mar 2010, 17:47 UTC
Images of Mars taken from orbit show a massive system of riverbeds and canyons etched by water. Or maybe not. A new study of one channel shows that it was formed by lava flow and not water, and the results make "a strong case that fluid lava can produce channels that look [...] Details from the Ascraeus channel (red), meandering across the surface of Mars. The insets in the black boxes show close-ups of some of the structures that lava can form: (left) branched channels, (middle) a snaking channel and (right) rootless vents; the rootless vents are also marked by yellow spots on the main image. Credit: Jacob BleacherImages of Mars taken from orbit show a massive system of riverbeds and canyons etched by water. Or maybe not. A new study of one channel shows that it was formed by lava flow and not water, and the results make "a strong case that fluid lava can produce channels that look very much like water-generated features," said Jim Zimbelman from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, one of the researchers. "So, we should not jump to a water-related conclusion when we see such channels on other planets." (...)Read the rest of Possibility ...
Cosmic Variance
9 Mar 2010, 15:41 UTC
Welcome to this week’s installment of the From Eternity to Here book club. Now for something of a palate-cleanser, in the form of Chapter Nine, “Information and Life.” Excerpt: Schrödinger’s idea captures something important about what distinguishes life from non-life. In the back of his mind, he was certainly thinking of Clausius’s version of the Second Law: objects in thermal contact evolve toward a common temperature (thermal equilibrium). If we put an ice cube in a glass of warm water, the ice cube melts fairly quickly. Even if the two objects are made of very different substances—say, if we put a plastic “ice cube” in a glass of water—they will still come to the same temperature. More generally, nonliving physical objects tend to wind down and come to rest. A rock may roll down a hill during an avalanche, but before too long it will reach the bottom, dissipate energy through the creation of noise and heat, and come to a complete halt before very long. Schrödinger’s point is simply that, for living organisms, this process of coming to rest can take much longer, or even be put off indefinitely. Imagine that, instead of an ice cube, we put a ...
From Eternity to Book Club: Chapter Nine
9 Mar 2010, 15:41 UTC
Welcome to this week’s installment of the From Eternity to Here book club. Now for something of a palate-cleanser, in the form of Chapter Nine, “Information and Life.” Excerpt: Schrödinger’s idea captures something important about what distinguishes life from non-life. In the back of his mind, he was certainly thinking of Clausius’s version of the Second Law: objects in thermal contact evolve toward a common temperature (thermal equilibrium). If we put an ice cube in a glass of warm water, the ice cube melts fairly quickly. Even if the two objects are made of very different substances—say, if we put a plastic “ice cube” in a glass of water—they will still come to the same temperature. More generally, nonliving physical objects tend to wind down and come to rest. A rock may roll down a hill during an avalanche, but before too long it will reach the bottom, dissipate energy through the creation of noise and heat, and come to a complete halt before very long. Schrödinger’s point is simply that, for living organisms, this process of coming to rest can take much longer, or even be put off indefinitely. Imagine that, instead of an ice cube, we put a ...
IYA2009 Updates
9 Mar 2010, 15:32 UTC
Over 3700 Globe at Night measurements from around the world so far! Help us reach 10,000 by March 16. With half of the world’s population now living in cities, many urban dwellers have never experienced the wonderment of pristinely dark skies and maybe never will. Light pollution is obscuring people’s long-standing ...
Less of Our Light for More Star Light
9 Mar 2010, 15:32 UTC
Over 3700 Globe at Night measurements from around the world so far! Help us reach 10,000 by March 16. With half of the world’s population now living in cities, many urban dwellers have never experienced the wonderment of pristinely dark skies and maybe never will. Light pollution is obscuring people’s long-standing ...
Astronomy magazine editors' blog
9 Mar 2010, 14:51 UTC
A few weeks ago, Astronomy Editor David J. Eicher visited the astronomy and equestrian village at Rancho Hidalgo near Animas, New Mexico. While Dave was there, developer Gene Turner surprised him by unveiling a second Astronomy Magazine Observatory, just to the east of the first one (both pictured below).The goal is to stream images from the observatory (or observatories!) to our web site. As fiber-optic Internet lines become operational and as Rancho Hidalgo acquires new equipment for the process, images are beginning to flow our way. The solar image you see here is one example.Along with the image, Gene sent all the relevant information: “Michael, this is an H-alpha shot through Astronomy’s solar setup at your observatory at Rancho Hidalgo. The instruments used were a Tele Vue 101 refractor with a 100mm double-stacked 0.4-Angstrom Isle of Man Solarscope Hydrogen-alpha filter and a 3x Tele Vue Barlow lens. The camera was a Meade Pictor 1616. As you know, we piggybacked the whole setup on a 14-inch Meade LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. David Eicher and I shot this image February 12, 2010. Note the strong sunspot regions along with the intense filaments in multiple locations. Solar maximum is on its way, and the ...
Images start to roll in from Astronomy Magazine Observatories
9 Mar 2010, 14:51 UTC
A few weeks ago, Astronomy Editor David J. Eicher visited the astronomy and equestrian village at Rancho Hidalgo near Animas, New Mexico. While Dave was there, developer Gene Turner surprised him by unveiling a second Astronomy Magazine Observatory, just to the east of the first one (both pictured below).The goal is to stream images from the observatory (or observatories!) to our web site. As fiber-optic Internet lines become operational and as Rancho Hidalgo acquires new equipment for the process, images are beginning to flow our way. The solar image you see here is one example.Along with the image, Gene sent all the relevant information: “Michael, this is an H-alpha shot through Astronomy’s solar setup at your observatory at Rancho Hidalgo. The instruments used were a Tele Vue 101 refractor with a 100mm double-stacked 0.4-Angstrom Isle of Man Solarscope Hydrogen-alpha filter and a 3x Tele Vue Barlow lens. The camera was a Meade Pictor 1616. As you know, we piggybacked the whole setup on a 14-inch Meade LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. David Eicher and I shot this image February 12, 2010. Note the strong sunspot regions along with the intense filaments in multiple locations. Solar maximum is on its way, and the ...
Most Recent Blogs
- 9 Mar 2010
-
18:49 UTC
Amateur footage of STS-130 launch wanted
-
18:47 UTC
Space Lies, Damned Lies, & Statistics
-
18:38 UTC
SSP on Open Gov Progress Report
-
18:23 UTC
The Meteorite Men land on UK television
-
18:05 UTC
Water on the Moon "path-breaking" says Nair
-
17:54 UTC
Measuring energy savings
-
17:54 UTC
Picture of the Day - A Mosaic of Cassiopeia
-
17:47 UTC
Possibility of Past Water on Mars Takes a Hit
-
17:46 UTC
Space Advertising - Then and Now
-
17:43 UTC
Space Advertising - Then and Now
-
17:13 UTC
Opportunity Sol 399 (Spirit Sol 420)
-
16:00 UTC
Exotic matter from universe’s birth discovered and to Mars in 40 da...
-
15:55 UTC
Double Dipping: Spring 2010
-
15:48 UTC
My name is Galileu Galilei
-
15:47 UTC
China’s space programme turns to mothers
-
15:43 UTC
Spacevidcast
-
15:43 UTC
Phobos has gravity!
-
15:41 UTC
From Eternity to Book Club: Chapter Nine
-
15:32 UTC
Fragola on Safety: If You Say Something Often Enough ...
-
15:32 UTC
Less of Our Light for More Star Light
-
18:49 UTC
