Featured Posts
Nature World News
31 Jan 2015, 01:26 UTC
Buffalo is a pretty cold place this time of year, but that not the case for the city's facilities of CUBRC Inc, where engineers are testing the heat resistant materials that will make up the base of NASA's new flagship rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).
SLS Testing Heats Up With Rocket Base Burns
31 Jan 2015, 01:26 UTC
Buffalo is a pretty cold place this time of year, but that not the case for the city's facilities of CUBRC Inc, where engineers are testing the heat resistant materials that will make up the base of NASA's new flagship rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).
Starts With a Bang!
30 Jan 2015, 23:25 UTC
Is there another version of you somewhere out there in a parallel Universe?Continue reading on Medium »
Ask Ethan #73: The Multiverse and you
30 Jan 2015, 23:25 UTC
Is there another version of you somewhere out there in a parallel Universe?Continue reading on Medium »
Sky and Telescope
30 Jan 2015, 21:14 UTC
Yes, it was too good to be true. The cosmic "discovery of the century" last March has officially blown up. Or will blow up next week when a new analysis of polarization in the cosmic microwave background is officially released.A MESSY FOREGROUND. This Planck polarization map covers the field of sky analyzed by the BICEP2 project: the white outline. The texture indicates the orientation of interstellar magnetic fields; these influence how elongated dust particles align themselves, and hence the alignment of polarized microwaves that the particles emit. Click here for larger view and more info. Courtesy ESA / Planck Collaboration.The excitement burst onto the world 10 months ago when the BICEP microwave background team, working with three years of data from their detectors at the South Pole, announced that they had found modern cosmology's holy grail: evidence of gravitational waves distorting spacetime during the Big Bang's first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second. Such gravitational waves are a key prediction of the cosmic-inflation theory of how the Big Bang happened. Inflation already rested on several impressive pieces of evidence. This was supposed to be the crowning proof that nailed it for good. People were talking Nobel ...
BICEP’s Big Bang Finding Reduced to Dust
30 Jan 2015, 21:14 UTC
Yes, it was too good to be true. The cosmic "discovery of the century" last March has officially blown up. Or will blow up next week when a new analysis of polarization in the cosmic microwave background is officially released.A MESSY FOREGROUND. This Planck polarization map covers the field of sky analyzed by the BICEP2 project: the white outline. The texture indicates the orientation of interstellar magnetic fields; these influence how elongated dust particles align themselves, and hence the alignment of polarized microwaves that the particles emit. Click here for larger view and more info. Courtesy ESA / Planck Collaboration.The excitement burst onto the world 10 months ago when the BICEP microwave background team, working with three years of data from their detectors at the South Pole, announced that they had found modern cosmology's holy grail: evidence of gravitational waves distorting spacetime during the Big Bang's first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second. Such gravitational waves are a key prediction of the cosmic-inflation theory of how the Big Bang happened. Inflation already rested on several impressive pieces of evidence. This was supposed to be the crowning proof that nailed it for good. People were talking Nobel ...
io9 Space
30 Jan 2015, 19:36 UTC
Asteroid 2004 BL86 charmed us with its tiny, dive-bombing moon during its close approach at the start of this week. Now JPL has released more radar data of the minuscule moon's trajectory guaranteed to charm us with its unwavering obedience to the laws governing orbital dynamics.Read more...
A Tiny Moon Putters Away From Asteroid During Near-Earth Encounter
30 Jan 2015, 19:36 UTC
Asteroid 2004 BL86 charmed us with its tiny, dive-bombing moon during its close approach at the start of this week. Now JPL has released more radar data of the minuscule moon's trajectory guaranteed to charm us with its unwavering obedience to the laws governing orbital dynamics.Read more...
io9 Space
30 Jan 2015, 18:30 UTC
The hunt for Rosetta's misplaced lander on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is like staring out an airplane window trying to find a washing machine in a field of boulders. These gorgeous new images from the European Space Agency highlight the incredible challenge of finding a tiny robot on a huge comet.Read more...
Where Is Philae, And When Will It Wake Up?
30 Jan 2015, 18:30 UTC
The hunt for Rosetta's misplaced lander on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is like staring out an airplane window trying to find a washing machine in a field of boulders. These gorgeous new images from the European Space Agency highlight the incredible challenge of finding a tiny robot on a huge comet.Read more...
The Daily Galaxy
30 Jan 2015, 16:48 UTC
"We have no idea how long a technological civilization like our own can last," says University of Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank. "Is it 200 years, 500 years or 50,000 years? Answering this question is at the root of all our concerns about the sustainability of human society. Are we the first and only technologically-intensive civilization in the entire history of the universe? If not, shouldn't we stand to learn something from the past successes and failures of other species?" Human-caused climate change, ocean acidification and species extinctions may eventually threaten the collapse of civilization, according to some scientists, while other people argue that for political or economic reasons we should allow industrial development to continue without restrictions. In a new paper, two astrophysicists argue that these questions may soon be resolvable scientifically, thanks to new data about the Earth and about other planets in our galaxy, and by combining the earth-based science of sustainability with astrobiology. In their paper, which appeared in fall 2014 in the journal Anthropocene, Frank and co-author Woodruff Sullivan call for creation of a new research program to answer questions about humanity's future in the broadest astronomical context. The authors explain: "The point is to see ...
Technological Civilizations --"Are Their Lifespans 200 years, 500 years or 50,000 years?" (Weekend Feature)
30 Jan 2015, 16:48 UTC
"We have no idea how long a technological civilization like our own can last," says University of Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank. "Is it 200 years, 500 years or 50,000 years? Answering this question is at the root of all our concerns about the sustainability of human society. Are we the first and only technologically-intensive civilization in the entire history of the universe? If not, shouldn't we stand to learn something from the past successes and failures of other species?" Human-caused climate change, ocean acidification and species extinctions may eventually threaten the collapse of civilization, according to some scientists, while other people argue that for political or economic reasons we should allow industrial development to continue without restrictions. In a new paper, two astrophysicists argue that these questions may soon be resolvable scientifically, thanks to new data about the Earth and about other planets in our galaxy, and by combining the earth-based science of sustainability with astrobiology. In their paper, which appeared in fall 2014 in the journal Anthropocene, Frank and co-author Woodruff Sullivan call for creation of a new research program to answer questions about humanity's future in the broadest astronomical context. The authors explain: "The point is to see ...
Universe Today
30 Jan 2015, 16:23 UTC
In the past four decades, NASA and other space agencies from around the world have accomplished some amazing feats. Together, they have sent manned missions to the Moon, explored Mars, mapped Venus and Mercury, conducted surveys and captured breathtaking images of the Outer Solar System. However, looking ahead to the next generation of exploration and […] Artist’s concept of a Bimodal Nuclear Thermal Rocket in Low Earth Orbit. Credit: NASA In the past four decades, NASA and other space agencies from around the world have accomplished some amazing feats. Together, they have sent manned missions to the Moon, explored Mars, mapped Venus and Mercury, conducted surveys and captured breathtaking images of the Outer Solar System. However, looking ahead to the next generation of exploration and the more-distant frontiers that remain to be explored, it is clear that new ideas need to be put forward of how to quickly and efficiently reach those destinations. Basically, this means finding ways to power rockets that are more fuel and cost-effective while still providing the necessary power to get crews, rovers and orbiters to their far-flung destinations. In this respect, NASA has been taking a good look at nuclear fission as a possible means ...
Exploring the Universe with Nuclear Power
30 Jan 2015, 16:23 UTC
In the past four decades, NASA and other space agencies from around the world have accomplished some amazing feats. Together, they have sent manned missions to the Moon, explored Mars, mapped Venus and Mercury, conducted surveys and captured breathtaking images of the Outer Solar System. However, looking ahead to the next generation of exploration and […] Artist’s concept of a Bimodal Nuclear Thermal Rocket in Low Earth Orbit. Credit: NASA In the past four decades, NASA and other space agencies from around the world have accomplished some amazing feats. Together, they have sent manned missions to the Moon, explored Mars, mapped Venus and Mercury, conducted surveys and captured breathtaking images of the Outer Solar System. However, looking ahead to the next generation of exploration and the more-distant frontiers that remain to be explored, it is clear that new ideas need to be put forward of how to quickly and efficiently reach those destinations. Basically, this means finding ways to power rockets that are more fuel and cost-effective while still providing the necessary power to get crews, rovers and orbiters to their far-flung destinations. In this respect, NASA has been taking a good look at nuclear fission as a possible means ...
Astro Bob
30 Jan 2015, 15:30 UTC
Saturn, you’ve got company. A planet orbiting the young, sun-like star J1407 in the southern constellation Centaurus has a ring system that makes yours look, well, microscopic. Not only is the planet they encircle much more massive than either Jupiter … Continue reading → Artist’s conception of the extrasolar ring system circling the young giant planet or brown dwarf J1407b. The rings are shown eclipsing the young sun-like star J1407, as they would have appeared in early 2007. Credit: Ron Miller Saturn, you’ve got company. A planet orbiting the young, sun-like star J1407 in the southern constellation Centaurus has a ring system that makes yours look, well, microscopic. Not only is the planet they encircle much more massive than either Jupiter or Saturn, but the rings are 200 times as wide and packed with material. Discovered in 2012, it’s the first system of its kind to be found in another solar system. Eric Mamajek (University of Rochester) and Matthew Kenworthy (Leiden Observatory) co-authored a recent paper detailing their discovery. The system consists of 37 rings with a total diameter of 74.5 million miles (120 million km). That’s 438 times the size of Saturn’s primary rings. If you plucked out the ...
