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Laws of physics vary throughout the universe, new study suggests
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09/09/2010 11:00 AM
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A team of astrophysicists based in Australia and England has uncovered evidence that the laws of physics are different in different parts of the universe. The report describes how one of the supposed fundamental constants of Nature appears not to be constant after all. Instead, this 'magic number' known as the fine-structure constant -- 'alpha' for short -- appears to vary throughout the universe.
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Big bang was followed by chaos, mathematical analysis shows
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09/08/2010 11:00 AM
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Seven years ago, a physicist conjectured that the expansion of the universe at the time of the big bang was highly chaotic. Now he and a colleague have proven it using rigorous mathematical arguments. Their study reports not only that chaos is absolute but also the mathematical tools that can be used to detect it. Applied to the most accepted model for the universe's evolution, these tools demonstrate the early universe was chaotic.
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Extreme X-ray source supports new class of black hole
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09/08/2010 12:00 AM
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Astronomers have found proof to confirm the distance and brightness of the most extreme ultra-luminous X-ray source, which may herald a new type of black hole.
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Land-use expert brings satellite data down to Earth
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09/08/2010 12:00 AM
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By integrating remote satellite imagery with revelations from door-to-door interviews, geographers are exploring the complex conditions that give rise to a broad range of land-use challenges -- from the reforestation of Vietnam to the spread of Lyme disease in Belgium.
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Two Asteroids to Pass by Earth
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09/08/2010 12:00 AM
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Two asteroids, several meters in diameter and in unrelated orbits, are passing within the moon's distance of Earth on Wednesday, Sept. 8.
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A Nearby Galactic Exemplar
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09/08/2010 12:00 AM
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ESO has released a spectacular new image of NGC 300, a spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way, and located in the nearby Sculptor Group of galaxies. Taken with the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile, this 50-hour exposure reveals the structure of the galaxy in exquisite detail. NGC 300 lies about six million light-years away and appears to be about two thirds the size of the full Moon on the sky.
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Can we spot volcanoes on alien worlds? Astronomers say yes
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09/07/2010 05:00 PM
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Now that astronomers are finding rocky worlds orbiting distant stars, they're asking the next logical questions: do any of those worlds have volcanoes? And if so, could we detect them? Work by theorists suggests that the answer to the latter is a qualified "yes."
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Colorful mix of asteroids discovered, may aid future space travel
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09/07/2010 11:00 AM
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New research from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals that asteroids somewhat near Earth, termed near-Earth objects, are a mixed bunch, with a surprisingly wide array of compositions.
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New mission to skim the Sun: NASA selects science investigations for Solar Probe Plus
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09/06/2010 08:00 AM
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NASA has begun development of a mission to visit and study the sun closer than ever before. The unprecedented project, named Solar Probe Plus, is slated to launch no later than 2018. The small car-sized spacecraft will plunge directly into the sun's atmosphere approximately four million miles from our star's surface. It will explore a region no other spacecraft ever has encountered.
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Did Viking Mars landers find life's building blocks? Missing piece inspires new look at puzzle
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09/05/2010 02:00 PM
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Experiments prompted by a 2008 surprise from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suggest that soil examined by NASA's Viking Mars landers in 1976 may have contained carbon-based chemical building blocks of life.
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NASA and ATK successfully test five-segment solid rocket motor
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09/05/2010 08:00 AM
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With a loud roar and mighty column of flame, NASA and ATK Aerospace Systems successfully completed a two-minute, full-scale test of the largest and most powerful solid rocket motor designed for flight. The motor is potentially transferable to future heavy-lift launch vehicle designs.
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Hubble observations of supernova reveal composition of 'star guts' pouring out
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09/02/2010 08:00 PM
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Observations made with NASA's newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope of a nearby supernova are allowing astronomers to measure the velocity and composition of "star guts" being ejected into space following the explosion, according to a new study.
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Recipe for water: Just add starlight
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09/02/2010 02:00 PM
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The European Space Agency's Herschel infrared space observatory has discovered that ultraviolet starlight is the key ingredient for making water in space. It is the only explanation for why a dying star is surrounded by a gigantic cloud of hot water vapor.
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New solar prediction system gives time to prepare for the storms ahead
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09/02/2010 05:00 AM
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A new method of predicting solar storms that could help to avoid widespread power and communications blackouts costing billions of pounds has been launched by researchers in the UK.
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Navigation satellites contend with stormy Sun
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09/01/2010 08:00 PM
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Just as we grow used to satellite navigation in everyday life, media reports argue that a coming surge in solar activity could render satnav devices useless, perhaps even frying satellites themselves. Is it true? No.
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Ultraviolet source helps NASA spacecraft measure the origins of space weather
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09/01/2010 05:00 PM
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With a brilliant, finely tuned spark of ultraviolet light, a physicist has helped NASA scientists successfully position a crucial UV sensor inside a space-borne instrument to observe a "hidden" layer of the Sun where violent space weather can originate.
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Astronomers find potassium in giant planet's atmosphere
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09/01/2010 02:00 PM
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Astronomers have analyzed light passing through the upper atmosphere of the giant planet HD 80606 b, about 190 light years from Earth, and determined that its atmosphere contains the element potassium.
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IceCube neutrino observatory nears completion
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09/01/2010 05:00 AM
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In December 2010, IceCube -- the world's first kilometer-scale neutrino observatory, located beneath the Antarctic ice -- will finally be completed after two decades of planning. A new article provides a comprehensive description of the observatory, its instrumentation, and its scientific mission
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A decade of studying the Earth's magnetic shield, in 3-D
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09/01/2010 02:00 AM
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Space scientists around the world are celebrating ten years of ground-breaking discoveries by "Cluster," a mission that is illuminating the mysteries of the magnetosphere, the northern lights and the solar wind. Cluster is a European Space Agency mission, launched in summer 2000. It consists of a unique constellation of four spacecraft flying in formation around Earth, studying the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere.
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Superwind Galaxy NGC 4666
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09/01/2010 12:00 AM
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The galaxy NGC 4666 takes pride of place at the centre of this new image, made in visible light with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. NGC 4666 is a remarkable galaxy with very vigorous star formation and an unusual "superwind" of out-flowing gas. It had previously been observed in X-rays by the ESA XMM-Newton space telescope, and the image presented here was taken to allow further study of other objects detected in the earlier X-ray observations.
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