The Space Thread

More evidence for groundwater on Mars: Conditions would be conducive for microbial colonization if on Earth: "Scientists investigated the Equatorial Layered Deposits (ELDs) of Arabia Terra in Firsoff crater area, Mars, to understand their formation and potential habitability. On the plateau, ELDs consist of rare mounds, flat-lying deposits, and cross-bedded dune fields. They interpret the mounds as smaller spring deposits, the flat-lying deposits as playa, and the cross-bedded dune fields as aeolian. They write that groundwater fluctuations appear to be the major factor controlling ELD deposition."

edited 27th Mar '15 11:23:43 PM by rmctagg09

Earthlike 'Star Wars' Tatooines may be common: "Luke Skywalker's home in 'Star Wars' is the desert planet Tatooine, with twin sunsets because it orbits two stars. So far, only uninhabitable gas-giant planets have been identified circling such binary stars, and many researchers believe rocky planets cannot form there. Now, mathematical simulations show that Earthlike, solid planets such as Tatooine likely exist and may be widespread."

As stars form, magnetic fields influence regions big and small: "Stars form when gravity pulls together material within giant clouds of gas and dust. But gravity isn't the only force at work. Both turbulence and magnetic fields battle gravity, either by stirring things up or by channeling and restricting gas flows, respectively. New research focusing on magnetic fields shows that they influence star formation on a variety of scales, from hundreds of light-years down to a fraction of a light-year."

I do not have a link in english, I am sorry. I am sure it will appear elsewhere.

But the NASA gives Ad Astra Rockets $10 million to fund their creation of a plasma engine.

Ad Astra is a private Costa Rican company by former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang.

Can Costa Rica into space?

Black holes don’t erase information, scientists say: "Shred a document, and you can piece it back together. But send information into a black hole, and it's lost forever. A new study finds that — contrary to what some physicists have argued for the years — information is not lost once it has entered a black hole. The research presents explicit calculations showing how information is, in fact, preserved."

Hubble finds phantom objects near dead quasars: "NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed a set of wispy, goblin-green objects that are the ephemeral ghosts of quasars that flickered to life and then faded. The eight unusual looped structures may offer insights into the puzzling behaviors of galaxies with energetic cores."

edited 2nd Apr '15 3:05:03 PM by rmctagg09

Astronomers watch unfolding saga of massive star formation: "Astronomers are getting a unique, real-time look as a massive young star develops, with the promise of greatly improved understanding of the process."

Supernova 'crime scene,' shows single white dwarf to blame: "Astronomers have determined the pre-explosion mass of a white dwarf star that blew up thousands of years ago. The measurement strongly suggests the explosion involved only a single white dwarf, ruling out a well-established alternative scenario involving a pair of merging white dwarfs."

Einstein Ring seen in stunning image of lensed galaxy: "Astronomers have discovered that a distant galaxy — seen from Earth with the aid of a gravitational lens — appears like a cosmic ring, thanks to the highest resolution images ever taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)."

Violent formation of the moon: New view: "Scientists have reconciled the accepted model of the moon's formation with the unexpectedly similar isotopic fingerprints of both bodies. The results suggest that the impact that formed the moon was so violent, the resulting debris cloud mixed thoroughly before settling down and forming the moon."

Complex organic molecules discovered in infant star system: Hints that building blocks of chemistry of life are universal: "For the first time, astronomers have detected the presence of complex organic molecules, the building blocks of life, in a protoplanetary disc surrounding a young star. The discovery reaffirms that the conditions that spawned the Earth and Sun are not unique in the Universe."

Ice on Mars: Mars has belts of glaciers consisting of frozen water: "Mars has distinct polar ice caps, but Mars also has belts of glaciers at its central latitudes in both the southern and northern hemispheres. A thick layer of dust covers the glaciers, so they appear as surface of the ground, but radar measurements show that underneath the dust there are glaciers composed of frozen water. New studies have now calculated the size of the glaciers and thus the amount of water in the glaciers."

Our sun came late to the Milky Way's star-birth party: "Astronomers compiled a story of our Milky Way's growth by studying galaxies similar in mass to our galaxy, found in deep surveys of the universe. Stretching back more than 10 billion years, the census contains nearly 2,000 snapshots of Milky Way-like galaxies."

First real-time observation of the onset of stellar jets during the formation of a massive protostar: "An international team of astronomers has first observed the moment in which a massive protostar begins to develop jets of matter and energy, crucial for star formation."

Synthetic muscle ready for launch: "NASA plans to send advanced material into space on Monday, April 13. The Synthetic Muscle™ has been developed to adhere to metal, and could be used in robotics in deep space travel such as travel to Mars because of its radiation resistance, scientists say. "Based on the good results we had on planet Earth, the next step is to see how it behaves in a space environment," said an engineer who worked on the project."

Stars with the chemical clock on hold: "Astrophysicists have discovered a group of red giant stars for which the 'chemical clock' does not work: according to their chemical signature, these stars should be old. Instead, they appear to be young when their ages are inferred using asteroseismology. Their existence cannot be explained by standard chemical evolution models of the Milky Way, suggesting that the chemical enrichment history of the Galactic disc is more complex than originally assumed."

Absence of gravitational-wave signal extends limit on knowable universe: "Imagine an instrument that can measure motions a billion times smaller than an atom that last a millionth of a second. Fermilab's Holometer is currently the only machine with the ability to take these very precise measurements of space and time, and recently collected data has improved the limits on theories about exotic objects from the early universe.

Our universe is as mysterious as it is vast. According to Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, anything that accelerates creates gravitational waves, which are disturbances in the fabric of space and time that travel at the speed of light and continue infinitely into space. Scientists are trying to measure these possible sources all the way to the beginning of the universe.

The Holometer experiment, based at the Department of Energy's Fermilab, is sensitive to gravitational waves at frequencies in the range of a million cycles per second. Thus it addresses a spectrum not covered by experiments such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, which searches for lower-frequency waves to detect massive cosmic events such as colliding black holes and merging neutron stars."

Accelerating universe? Not so fast: "A University of Arizona-led team of astronomers found that the type of supernovae commonly used to measure distances in the universe fall into distinct populations not recognized before; the findings have implications for our understanding of how fast the universe has been expanding since the Big Bang.

Certain types of supernovae, or exploding stars, are more diverse than previously thought, a University of Arizona-led team of astronomers has discovered. The results, reported in two papers published in the Astrophysical Journal, have implications for big cosmological questions, such as how fast the universe has been expanding since the Big Bang.

Most importantly, the findings hint at the possibility that the acceleration of the expansion of the universe might not be quite as fast as textbooks say."

Mars might have salty liquid water: "Researchers have long known that there is water in the form of ice on Mars. Now, new research shows that it is possible that there is liquid water close to the surface of Mars. The explanation is that the substance perchlorate has been found in the soil, which lowers the freezing point so the water does not freeze into ice, but is liquid and present in very salty water — a brine."

Will asteroid 2012 TC4 hit Earth in October 2017?: "On Oct. 12, 2017, the asteroid 2012 TC4 is slated to whizz by Earth dangerously close. The exact distance of its closest approach is uncertain, as well as its size. Based on observations in October 2012 when the space rock missed our planet, astronomers estimate that its size could vary from 12 to 40 meters. The meteor that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013, injuring 1,500 people and damaging over 7,000 buildings, was about 20 meters wide. Thus, the impact of 2012 TC4 could be even more devastating. 'It is something to keep an eye on,' Judit Györgyey-Ries, astronomer at the University of Texas' McDonald Observatory, told astrowatch.net. 'We could see an airburst maybe broken windows, depending on where it hits.'"

edited 13th Apr '15 1:29:27 PM by rmctagg09

Dark Energy Survey creates detailed guide to spotting dark matter in the cosmos: "Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey have released the first in a series of dark matter maps of the cosmos. These maps, created with one of the world's most powerful digital cameras, are the largest contiguous maps created at this level of detail and will improve our understanding of dark matter's role in the formation of galaxies."

Violent methane storms on Titan may solve dune direction mystery: "Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is among the most Earthlike places in the solar system. As the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft examines Titan, its discoveries bring new mysteries. One of these is that the seemingly wind-created sand dunes spotted near the moon's equator point one direction, but the near-surface winds point another direction. Astronomers may have solved this mystery."

First signs of self-interacting dark matter? Dark matter may not be completely dark after all: "For the first time dark matter may have been observed interacting with other dark matter in a way other than through the force of gravity. Observations of colliding galaxies have picked up the first intriguing hints about the nature of this mysterious component of the Universe."

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Nears Historic July 14 Encounter with Pluto: "NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is three months from returning to humanity the first-ever close up images and scientific observations of distant Pluto and its system of large and small moons."

Search for advanced civilizations beyond Earth finds nothing obvious in 100,000 galaxies: "After searching 100,000 galaxies for signs of highly advanced extraterrestrial life, a team of scientists using observations from NASA's WISE orbiting observatory has found no evidence of advanced civilizations in them. 'The idea behind our research is that, if an entire galaxy had been colonized by an advanced spacefaring civilization, the energy produced by that civilization's technologies would be detectable in mid-infrared wavelengths—exactly the radiation that the WISE satellite was designed to detect for other astronomical purposes,' said Jason T. Wright, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds at Penn State University, who conceived of and initiated the research.

The research team's first paper about its Glimpsing Heat from Alien Technologies Survey (G-HAT), will be published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series on April 15, 2015. Also among the team's discoveries are some mysterious new phenomena in our own Milky Way galaxy."

edited 15th Apr '15 12:58:34 PM by rmctagg09

Space open for business, says Electron launch system CEO: "Space, like business, is all about time and money, said Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, a US company with a New Zealand subsidiary. The problem, he added, is that, in cost and time, space has remained an incredibly difficult and expensive place to reach. Until now, at least in the world of Rocket Lab.

The company has introduced Electron, a launch vehicle which Beck said is not to be confused with just another launch system but representing a totally different way to build a rocket—a way in which can help businesses grow."

Intense magnetic field close to supermassive black hole: "Astronomers have revealed an extremely powerful magnetic field, beyond anything previously detected in the core of a galaxy, very close to the event horizon of a supermassive black hole."

Proto-suns teeming with prebiotic molecules: "Complex organic molecules such as formamide, from which sugars, amino acids and even nucleic acids essential for life can be made, already appear in the regions where stars similar to our Sun are born. Astrophysicists have detected this biomolecule in five protostellar clouds and propose that it forms on tiny dust grains."

Giant galaxies die from the inside out: Star formation shuts down in the centers of elliptical galaxies first: "Astronomers have shown for the first time how star formation in 'dead' galaxies sputtered out billions of years ago. Astronomers have revealed that three billion years after the Big Bang, these galaxies still made stars on their outskirts, but no longer in their interiors. The quenching of star formation seems to have started in the cores of the galaxies and then spread to the outer parts."

Dwarf planet Ceres color map reveals surface diversity: "A new color map of dwarf planet Ceres, which NASA's Dawn spacecraft has been orbiting since March, reveals the diversity of the surface of this planetary body. Differences in morphology and color across the surface suggest Ceres was once an active body."

Earth ate a Mercury-like body early in its history, study finds: "A Mercury-like body smashed into a young Earth and gave our planet's core the radioactive elements necessary to generate a magnetic field, two Oxford geochemists say.

Without that magnetic field, there would be no shield to protect us from the onslaught of radiation constantly bombarding Earth from space, making the existence of life as we know it impossible, scientists say.

The study, published in the journal Nature, offers insight into how Earth's magnetic field - and, perhaps, the moon - came to be."

Cold Spot suggests largest structure in Universe: A supervoid 1.3 billion light years across: "In 2004, astronomers examining a map of the radiation left over from the Big Bang discovered the Cold Spot, a larger-than-expected unusually cold area of the sky. The physics surrounding the Big Bang theory predicts warmer and cooler spots of various sizes in the infant universe, but a spot this large and this cold was unexpected."

Black hole hunters tackle a cosmic conundrum: "Astrophysicists have not only proven that a supermassive black hole exists in a place where it isn't supposed to be, but in doing so have opened a new door to what things were like in the early universe."

Scaled-up version of our solar system 130 light-years away: "Astronomers has obtained the first results from the LEECH exoplanets survey. The findings reveal new insights into the architecture of HR8799, a 'scaled-up' version of our solar system 130 light-years from Earth."

Pulsing light may indicate supermassive black hole merger: "As two galaxies enter the final stages of merging, scientists have theorized that the galaxies' supermassive black holes will form a 'binary,' or two black holes in such close orbit they are gravitationally bound to one another. In a new study, astronomers present direct evidence of a pulsing quasar, which may substantiate the existence of black hole binaries."

Millimeter-sized stones formed our planet: "Researchers can now explain how asteroids are formed. Our own planet also has its origins in the same process, a cosmic ocean of millimeter-sized particles that orbited the young sun, according to new research."

Space scientists pay homage to 25 years of the Hubble Space Telescope: "It was launched 25 years ago and has given humankind a glimpse at some of the farthest and earliest cosmic phenomenon in the observable Universe. On Friday, 24 April, the HST will celebrate exactly 25 years since it was launched."

Most powerful space telescope ever to launch in 2018: "As the Hubble Space Telescope celebrates 25 years in space this week, NASA and its international partners are building an even more powerful tool to look deeper into the universe than ever before.

The James Webb Space Telescope will be 100 times more potent than Hubble, and will launch in 2018 on a mission to give astronomers an unprecedented glimpse at the first galaxies that formed in the early universe.

'JWST will be able to see back to about 200 million years after the Big Bang, NASA said on its website.

It described the telescope as a 'powerful time machine with infrared vision that will peer back over 13.5 billion years to see the first stars and galaxies forming out of the darkness of the early universe.'"

Hey guys, anyone remember the EM drive? Well, NASA just posted updated findings on this. A summary I was given is that based on these results, assuming everything is working like it should and this actually works, they could produce a device that generates 2000 newtons of force for ~100kw of power. Cool huh?

First exoplanet visible light spectrum: "Astronomers have made the first-ever direct detection of the spectrum of visible light reflected off an exoplanet. These observations also revealed new properties of this famous object, the first exoplanet ever discovered around a normal star: 51 Pegasi b. The result promises an exciting future for this technique, particularly with the advent of next generation instruments and future telescopes, such as the E-ELT."

As bright as a hundred million Suns: The clusters of monster stars that lit up the early universe: "The first stars in the Universe were born several hundred million years after the Big Bang, ending a period known as the cosmological 'dark ages' — when atoms of hydrogen and helium had formed, but nothing shone in visible light. Now researchers have calculated what these objects were like: they find that the first stars could have clustered together in phenomenally bright groups, with periods when they were as luminous as 100 million Suns."

Tau Ceti: The next Earth? Probably not: "As the search continues for Earth-size planets orbiting at just the right distance from their star, a region termed the habitable zone, the number of potentially life-supporting planets grows. In two decades we have progressed from having no extrasolar planets to having too many to search. Narrowing the list of hopefuls requires looking at extrasolar planets in a new way. Applying a nuanced approach that couples astronomy and geophysics, Arizona State University researchers report that from that long list we can cross off cosmic neighbor Tau Ceti."

Astronomers find runaway galaxies: "We know of about two dozen runaway stars, and have even found one runaway star cluster escaping its galaxy forever. Now, astronomers have spotted 11 runaway galaxies that have been flung out of their homes to wander the void of intergalactic space."

Giant cosmic tsunami wakes up comatose galaxies: "Galaxies are often found in clusters, which contain many 'red and dead' members that stopped forming stars in the distant past. Now an international team of astronomers have discovered that these comatose galaxies can sometimes come back to life. If clusters of galaxies merge, a huge shock wave can drive the birth of a new generation of stars — the sleeping galaxies get a new lease of life."

Is the universe a hologram?: "The 'holographic principle,' the idea that a universe with gravity can be described by a quantum field theory in fewer dimensions, has been used for years as a mathematical tool in strange curved spaces. New results suggest that the holographic principle also holds in flat spaces. Our own universe could in fact be two dimensional and only appear three dimensional — just like a hologram."

Strange supernova is 'missing link' in gamma-ray burst connection: "Astronomers find that 'central engines' in supernova explosions can come in different strengths, and include those that produce powerful blasts of gamma rays, and weaker versions that produce no such bursts."

Astrophysicists draw most comprehensive map of the universe: "Astrophysicists have created a 3-D map of the universe that spans nearly two billion light years and is the most complete picture of our cosmic neighborhood to date."

Electric solar wind sail could make bidirectional human Mars flights economically feasible: "The E-sail is a novel propellantless technology that was invented in Finland in 2006. The E-sail utilizes long, charged tethers to convert natural solar wind momentum flux into spacecraft thrust."

Robotically discovering Earth's nearest neighbors: 54 light-years away: "Astronomers discovered a planetary system orbiting a nearby star that is only 54 light-years away. All three planets orbit their star at a distance closer than Mercury orbits the sun, completing their orbits in just five, 15, and 24 days."

Multifractals suggest the existence of an unknown physical mechanism on the Sun: 'The famous sunspots on the surface of the Earth's star result from the dynamics of strong magnetic fields, and their numbers are an important indicator of the state of activity on the Sun. Researchers have been conducting multifractal analysis into the changes in the numbers of sunspots. The resulting graphs were surprisingly asymmetrical in shape, suggesting that sunspots may be involved in hitherto unknown physical processes."

Unmasking the secrets of Mercury, in color: "The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the solar system's innermost planet. MESSENGER's highly successful orbital mission is about to come to an end, as the spacecraft runs out of propellant and the force of solar gravity causes it to impact the surface of Mercury near the end of April 2015."

Water could have been abundant in first billion years after the Big Bang: "How soon after the Big Bang could water have existed? Not right away, because water molecules contain oxygen and oxygen had to be formed in the first stars. Then that oxygen had to disperse and unite with hydrogen in significant amounts. New theoretical work finds that despite these complications, water vapor could have been just as abundant in pockets of space a billion years after the Big Bang as it is today."

New Horizons detects surface features, possible polar cap on Pluto: "For the first time, images from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft are revealing bright and dark regions on the surface of faraway Pluto – the primary target of the New Horizons close flyby in mid-July.

The images were captured in early to mid-April from within 70 million miles (113 million kilometers), using the telescopic Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera on New Horizons. A technique called image deconvolution sharpens the raw, unprocessed images beamed back to Earth. New Horizons scientists interpreted the data to reveal the dwarf planet has broad surface markings – some bright, some dark – including a bright area at one pole that may be a polar cap."