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Physics World Blog
21 Jun 2010, 16:55 UTC
MiniBooNE result appears to back strange findings of its Fermilab rival The inside of the MiniBooNE tank (Courtesy: Fermilab Visual Media Services) By James Dacey Last week, I reported a result to emerge from the MINOS experiment at Fermilab, which – if confirmed – will add a fascinating new dimension to our understanding of neutrinos. The researchers were looking at a feature known as neutrino oscillation, whereby these elusive particles mysteriously change identity between the three different flavours of neutrino. According to all conventional models, the extent to which this process occurs should be the same for neutrinos as it is for antineutrinos. But to their great surprise, the MINOS team discovered that this is not the case. They found that the energy over which this process occurs in muon neutrinos and muon antineutrinos (converting into tau neutrinos and tau antineutrinos, respectively) is different by around 40%. A MINOS spokesperson, Jenny Thomas of University College London, told me that the audience were "very surprised" by the result when it was presented last week at the Neutrino 2010 conference in Athens, Greece. But the 2 sigma confidence level seems to have restricted the results to causing a minor ripple in the ...
Neutrino plot gets thicker
21 Jun 2010, 16:55 UTC
MiniBooNE result appears to back strange findings of its Fermilab rival The inside of the MiniBooNE tank (Courtesy: Fermilab Visual Media Services) By James Dacey Last week, I reported a result to emerge from the MINOS experiment at Fermilab, which – if confirmed – will add a fascinating new dimension to our understanding of neutrinos. The researchers were looking at a feature known as neutrino oscillation, whereby these elusive particles mysteriously change identity between the three different flavours of neutrino. According to all conventional models, the extent to which this process occurs should be the same for neutrinos as it is for antineutrinos. But to their great surprise, the MINOS team discovered that this is not the case. They found that the energy over which this process occurs in muon neutrinos and muon antineutrinos (converting into tau neutrinos and tau antineutrinos, respectively) is different by around 40%. A MINOS spokesperson, Jenny Thomas of University College London, told me that the audience were "very surprised" by the result when it was presented last week at the Neutrino 2010 conference in Athens, Greece. But the 2 sigma confidence level seems to have restricted the results to causing a minor ripple in the ...
Lights in the Dark
21 Jun 2010, 16:10 UTC
Happy Summer Solstice! A this is the day that the Earth’s northern hemisphere receives the longest amount of sunlight during the course of the year, I thought it only appropriate to feature a pic of the Sun! Above is a detail from a high-resolution image taken today by the Solar Dynamics Observatory showing some very [...] Coronal loops leap from the Sun's limb Happy Summer Solstice! A this is the day that the Earth’s northern hemisphere receives the longest amount of sunlight during the course of the year, I thought it only appropriate to feature a pic of the Sun! Above is a detail from a high-resolution image taken today by the Solar Dynamics Observatory showing some very lovely – and very large – coronal loops arching up from the Sun’s limb (that’s the edge of a spherical body as seen by an observer, e.g., SDO), visible in extreme ultraviolet light. Also visible is the roiling layer of the Sun’s surface called the photosphere, an area of complex and constantly-changing activity shaped by shifting magnetic fields rising from within the Sun itself. By watching the motions of these fields in various wavelengths of light researchers hope to better understand what’s ...
As The Day Is Long
21 Jun 2010, 16:10 UTC
Happy Summer Solstice! A this is the day that the Earth’s northern hemisphere receives the longest amount of sunlight during the course of the year, I thought it only appropriate to feature a pic of the Sun! Above is a detail from a high-resolution image taken today by the Solar Dynamics Observatory showing some very [...] Coronal loops leap from the Sun's limb Happy Summer Solstice! A this is the day that the Earth’s northern hemisphere receives the longest amount of sunlight during the course of the year, I thought it only appropriate to feature a pic of the Sun! Above is a detail from a high-resolution image taken today by the Solar Dynamics Observatory showing some very lovely – and very large – coronal loops arching up from the Sun’s limb (that’s the edge of a spherical body as seen by an observer, e.g., SDO), visible in extreme ultraviolet light. Also visible is the roiling layer of the Sun’s surface called the photosphere, an area of complex and constantly-changing activity shaped by shifting magnetic fields rising from within the Sun itself. By watching the motions of these fields in various wavelengths of light researchers hope to better understand what’s ...
Alien Life
21 Jun 2010, 15:00 UTC
Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:g Abodes - The atmosphere on Mars is not favorable for organic compounds such as proteins, concluded a new study. See article.g Life - By adding ultraviolet light to a model prebiotic reaction, researchers have discovered a way to form guanine. Guanine is a building block of RNA and scientists previously had trouble determining a method by which the molecule could have formed on the ancient Earth. See article.g Learning - Astronomers are stargazers. Whether simply standing outside identifying a constellation for a child or employing the Hubble Space Telescope to search for the most distant objects in our universe, we all share the same universe. Unlike nuclear physics or molecular biology, astronomy is accessible to both amateurs and professionals. Sometimes, it's difficult to distinguish between them. See article. Note: This article is from 2007.g Aftermath - Here’s an interesting book for some astrobiological reading: “After Contact: The Human Response to Extraterrestrial Life” by Albert A. Harrison. See reviews.Get your SF book manuscript edited
Mars’ atmosphere toxic to organic compounds and using ultraviolet life to create life’s building blocks
21 Jun 2010, 15:00 UTC
Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:g Abodes - The atmosphere on Mars is not favorable for organic compounds such as proteins, concluded a new study. See article.g Life - By adding ultraviolet light to a model prebiotic reaction, researchers have discovered a way to form guanine. Guanine is a building block of RNA and scientists previously had trouble determining a method by which the molecule could have formed on the ancient Earth. See article.g Learning - Astronomers are stargazers. Whether simply standing outside identifying a constellation for a child or employing the Hubble Space Telescope to search for the most distant objects in our universe, we all share the same universe. Unlike nuclear physics or molecular biology, astronomy is accessible to both amateurs and professionals. Sometimes, it's difficult to distinguish between them. See article. Note: This article is from 2007.g Aftermath - Here’s an interesting book for some astrobiological reading: “After Contact: The Human Response to Extraterrestrial Life” by Albert A. Harrison. See reviews.Get your SF book manuscript edited
The Flame Trench
21 Jun 2010, 14:51 UTC
NASA should move forward with the development of a new heavy-lift launch vehicle in order to maintain world leadership in space exploration, but the establishment of a lunar base "is extremely expensive and can wait, at least for now," legendary astronaut John Glenn said in a paper released today.Commercial companies, meanwhile, should be required to prove a capability to launch cargo to the International Space Station before NASA relinquishes the responsibility of launching astronauts to the outpost."This is a very unforgiving business, and when you turn this over to people who have not been in the business very long, who are building brand new spacecraft, you are going to have a developmental period where it won't be as safe as it is to continue the shuttle right now. And I'd rather go the safer route," Glenn told Florida Today."I am not against commercial spaceflight," he added. "I think the commercial companies may come along sometime and be good enough to provide manned space flight. But I think they should develop that through the use of their cargo-carrying capability -- demonstrate that and demonstrate a reliability before we trust them to go with the manned flights."Glenn, 88, became the first American ...
John Glenn Calls For Caution With Commercial Space Taxis
21 Jun 2010, 14:51 UTC
NASA should move forward with the development of a new heavy-lift launch vehicle in order to maintain world leadership in space exploration, but the establishment of a lunar base "is extremely expensive and can wait, at least for now," legendary astronaut John Glenn said in a paper released today.Commercial companies, meanwhile, should be required to prove a capability to launch cargo to the International Space Station before NASA relinquishes the responsibility of launching astronauts to the outpost."This is a very unforgiving business, and when you turn this over to people who have not been in the business very long, who are building brand new spacecraft, you are going to have a developmental period where it won't be as safe as it is to continue the shuttle right now. And I'd rather go the safer route," Glenn told Florida Today."I am not against commercial spaceflight," he added. "I think the commercial companies may come along sometime and be good enough to provide manned space flight. But I think they should develop that through the use of their cargo-carrying capability -- demonstrate that and demonstrate a reliability before we trust them to go with the manned flights."Glenn, 88, became the first American ...
Centauri Dreams
21 Jun 2010, 13:13 UTC
Are planets common around brown dwarfs? We aren’t yet in a position to say, but the question is intriguing because some models suggest that the number of brown dwarfs is comparable to the number of low-mass main sequence stars. That would mean the objects — ‘failed’ stars whose masses are below the limit needed to sustain stable hydrogen fusion — could be as plentiful as the M-dwarfs that far outnumber any other type of star in the galaxy. If planets form around brown dwarfs, then we have to add them to our list of possible abodes for life. Evidence for Brown Dwarf Planet Formation But first, to the planet question. We can find suggestive analogs to planet formation around brown dwarfs in nearby space. The star Gl 876, some fifteen light years away, is not a brown dwarf, but this M-dwarf is only 1.24 percent as luminous as the Sun, with most of its energy being released at infrared wavelengths. We now know that at least three planets, two of them gas giants similar to Jupiter, orbit the star. Among brown dwarfs themselves, we have cases like 2M1207b, MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb and 2MASS J044144. In fact, the planet orbiting the second of ...
Brown Dwarf Planets and Habitability
21 Jun 2010, 13:13 UTC
Are planets common around brown dwarfs? We aren’t yet in a position to say, but the question is intriguing because some models suggest that the number of brown dwarfs is comparable to the number of low-mass main sequence stars. That would mean the objects — ‘failed’ stars whose masses are below the limit needed to sustain stable hydrogen fusion — could be as plentiful as the M-dwarfs that far outnumber any other type of star in the galaxy. If planets form around brown dwarfs, then we have to add them to our list of possible abodes for life. Evidence for Brown Dwarf Planet Formation But first, to the planet question. We can find suggestive analogs to planet formation around brown dwarfs in nearby space. The star Gl 876, some fifteen light years away, is not a brown dwarf, but this M-dwarf is only 1.24 percent as luminous as the Sun, with most of its energy being released at infrared wavelengths. We now know that at least three planets, two of them gas giants similar to Jupiter, orbit the star. Among brown dwarfs themselves, we have cases like 2M1207b, MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb and 2MASS J044144. In fact, the planet orbiting the second of ...
ESA Science & Technology
21 Jun 2010, 12:45 UTC
A long-sought-after emission line of oxygen, carrying the imprint of strong gravitational fields, has been discovered in the XMM-Newton spectrum of an exotic binary system composed of two stellar remnants, a neutron star and a white dwarf. Astronomers can use this line to probe extreme gravity effects in the region close to the surface of a neutron star.
XMM-Newton line detection provides new tool to probe extreme gravity
21 Jun 2010, 12:45 UTC
A long-sought-after emission line of oxygen, carrying the imprint of strong gravitational fields, has been discovered in the XMM-Newton spectrum of an exotic binary system composed of two stellar remnants, a neutron star and a white dwarf. Astronomers can use this line to probe extreme gravity effects in the region close to the surface of a neutron star.
IYA2009 Updates
21 Jun 2010, 10:22 UTC
Artisan du Chocolat has developed a new Space Collection chocolate range, in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy. The Space theme chocolate is inspired by an astronaut who took packages of Artisan du Chocolat's chocolate-covered ginger to the International Space Station with her. These cute-to-eat Space collection chocolate are: the ...
Space Chocolate:Out of this world gingers
21 Jun 2010, 10:22 UTC
Artisan du Chocolat has developed a new Space Collection chocolate range, in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy. The Space theme chocolate is inspired by an astronaut who took packages of Artisan du Chocolat's chocolate-covered ginger to the International Space Station with her. These cute-to-eat Space collection chocolate are: the ...
The Discovery Enterprise
21 Jun 2010, 07:05 UTC
Today on Discovery Enterprise we present another exciting episode from the National Geographic Channel’s awesome documentary series “Known Universe”.Brace yourself for a storm of stellar proportions. Never mind the pesky blizzards and mudslides we deal with. Imagine dodging frozen methane raindrops, or winds of 11,000 mph. Take a trip around the cosmos to see some of the universe's most extreme
The Known Universe - Stellar Storms
21 Jun 2010, 07:05 UTC
Today on Discovery Enterprise we present another exciting episode from the National Geographic Channel’s awesome documentary series “Known Universe”.Brace yourself for a storm of stellar proportions. Never mind the pesky blizzards and mudslides we deal with. Imagine dodging frozen methane raindrops, or winds of 11,000 mph. Take a trip around the cosmos to see some of the universe's most extreme
Bad Astronomy
19 Jun 2010, 14:49 UTC
If you’ve ever wanted to download a ginormous image of the Moon and explore it, now’s your chance: the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera folks have released a monster 185 megapixel image of one of the biggest smackdowns on the Moon: Orientale Basin. Yowza! Click to get the 1400 x 1400 pixel PNG, or you can try to swallow the 122 Mb TIF at the full resolution of 13,590 x 13,590 pixels! Orientale is a vast impact basin, the hole left by an asteroid that hit the Moon about three billion years ago. Looking like a humongous bulls-eye, it’s a multi-ring crater, and the outer ramparts are a full 950 km (590 miles) across. That’s half again bigger than my home state of Colorado. To give you an idea of just how big this is — and also, to be honest, to scare myself a little — I superimposed the picture of Orientale on a map of the United States. This is to scale, folks: Holy. Frakking. Crap. Whatever hit the Moon to create this basin must have been about 100 kilometers (60 miles) across. That would have made it 1000 times the mass of the asteroid that wiped out the ...
Zoom in on a HUGE lunar bullseye
19 Jun 2010, 14:49 UTC
If you’ve ever wanted to download a ginormous image of the Moon and explore it, now’s your chance: the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera folks have released a monster 185 megapixel image of one of the biggest smackdowns on the Moon: Orientale Basin. Yowza! Click to get the 1400 x 1400 pixel PNG, or you can try to swallow the 122 Mb TIF at the full resolution of 13,590 x 13,590 pixels! Orientale is a vast impact basin, the hole left by an asteroid that hit the Moon about three billion years ago. Looking like a humongous bulls-eye, it’s a multi-ring crater, and the outer ramparts are a full 950 km (590 miles) across. That’s half again bigger than my home state of Colorado. To give you an idea of just how big this is — and also, to be honest, to scare myself a little — I superimposed the picture of Orientale on a map of the United States. This is to scale, folks: Holy. Frakking. Crap. Whatever hit the Moon to create this basin must have been about 100 kilometers (60 miles) across. That would have made it 1000 times the mass of the asteroid that wiped out the ...
Cosmic Log
19 Jun 2010, 03:19 UTC
Dwarf planets are big this month. Starry Night Software via Space.comThis graphic shows the June 18 positions of Pluto and Ceres with relation to other celestial objects, including the "teapot" in the constellation Sagittarius. The positions of the dwarf planets change slightly from night to night. Dwarf planets are big this month. Writing for Space.com, Starry Night Education's Geoff Gaherty points out that two of the best-known dwarf planets, Pluto and Ceres, are in a prime position for viewing over the next couple of weeks. That's because they're reaching opposition - the point in the celestial scheme of things when a celestial body is directly opposite the sun, as seen from Earth. That's generally the best time to see a planetary object because it's relatively big and close. "Big and close" is not a term you often hear applied to Ceres, and especially to Pluto. But if you have a chance to see these dwarfs, particularly through a telescope that's big and close, this is the time to do it. Ceres comes into opposition tonight in the constellation Sagittarius, and should be visible as a magnitude-7.2 object. That's not bright enough to see with the naked eye, but a good ...
