Science & TechnologyS


Telescope

Fingers, Loops And Bays In The Crab Nebula's Pulsar Wind Viewed By Chandra X-ray Observatory


Science Daily
Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:36 UTC
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has provided the first clear view of the faint boundary of the Crab Nebula's X-ray-emitting pulsar wind nebula.
Crab Nebula's X-ray-emitting pulsar wind nebula
© NASA/CXC/SAO/F.SewardView of the faint boundary of the Crab Nebula's X-ray-emitting pulsar wind nebula.

The nebula is powered by a rapidly-rotating, highly-magnetized neutron star, or "pulsar" (white dot near the center). The combination of rapid rotating and strong magnetic field generates an intense electromagnetic field that creates jets of matter and anti-matter moving away from the north and south poles of the pulsar, and an intense wind flowing out in the equatorial direction.
Read More...
Chalkboard

Black holes on Earth: Scientists hope borrowed gravity holds the key

John Mangels
Cleveland.com
Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:04 UTC
You know black holes, right? Those fearsome cosmic quicksand pits that swallow everything, even light?

They're the unhappy consequence of exhausted stars that collapse in on themselves. The resulting maw seethes with gravity so powerful it can, as astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson writes in Death by Black Hole, rip apart anything that strays too close, "atom by atom."

Given such a nasty disposition, why would scientists want to try to create black holes here on Earth? And not just one, but lots of them -- miniature black holes belched out as often as once per second like exploding popcorn kernels by the just-activated Large Hadron Collider, an underground machine so colossal it straddles two countries, Switzerland and France?

Because of the remarkable things they would reveal about the universe, physicists say.
Read More...
Pharoah

Ancient Egypt had powerful Sudan rival, British Museum dig shows

Stephen Adams
Telegraph
Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:45 UTC
The Second Kushite Kingdom controlled the whole Nile valley from Khartoum to the Mediterranean from 720BC to 660BC.

Now archaeologists have discovered that a region of northern Sudan once considered a forgotten backwater once actually "a real power-base".

They discovered a ruined pyramid containing fine gold jewellery dating from about 700BC on a remote un-navigable 100-mile stretch of the Nile known as the Fourth Cataract, plus pottery from as far away as Turkey.

Other finds included numerous examples of ancient rock art and 'musical' rocks that were tapped to create a melodic sound.
Read More...
Saturn

Flashback Saturn's rings may be remains of ancient moon


New Scientist
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:40 UTC
Saturn's rings
Why are Saturn's rings so spectacular? It could be that the planet managed to cling onto a moon when all the other gas giants in our solar system had already lost theirs. Today's rings formed when the moon was smashed up.

Sebastien Charnoz and colleagues at the University of Diderot, Paris, suggest it was during the "late heavy bombardment", 700 million years after Saturn formed, that a chunk of debris collided with one of the planet's moons. Because the moon was orbiting at just the right distance from Saturn when it shattered - within the so-called Roche limit - the tiny pieces formed the rings instead of dispersing.
Read More...
Mr. Potato

Left-hand people 'more inhibited'


BBC News
Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:55 UTC
Left Handed
© BBCLeft-handed people studied felt more inhibited and anxious

People who are left-handed are more likely to get anxious or feel shy or embarrassed about doing or saying what they want, according to new research. Those involved in the Abertay University study were given a behavioural test that gauges personal restraint and impulsiveness.

Researchers found left-handers tended to agree more with statements such as "I worry about making mistakes." They also agreed that "criticism or scolding hurts me quite a bit." In total, 46 left-handed people were compared with 66 right-handers.
Read More...
Satellite

Private Firm Reveals Ambitious Moon Mission Plan

Tariz Malik
Space.com
Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:44 UTC
Artemis Lander
© Astrobotic/Google Lunar X PRIZE The Astrobotic team's "Artemis Lander" (background) and "Red Rover" (foreground) is one of 10 spacecraft now enrolled to compete in the Google Lunar X PRIZE Cup.
A private group planning to launch a moon rover to the famed Apollo 11 landing site in a bid to win a $20 million prize announced an ambitious plan Thursday to send five more spacecraft to explore the lunar poles.

The Pittsburgh, Pennsyvania.-based firm Astrobotic Technology, Inc., led by Carnegie Mellon University roboticist William "Red" Whittaker, announced plans to launch its first rover to NASA's Tranquility Base in May 2010 to win the Google Lunar X Prize competition, the company announced Thursday.
Read More...
Satellite

Huge Meteor Crater Found Underneath Martian Ice

Andrea Thompson
Fox News
Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:11 UTC
Martian crater
© NASA/JPL/University of ArizonaA trough carved by erosion in Mars' north polar region. The conical mound indicates a buried crater underneath the ice-rich soil.
New images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed rare evidence of an impact crater in Mars' north polar region.

Around the red planet's north pole is a feature called the north polar layered deposits, which are a series of ice-rich layers deposited over time and up to several kilometers thick.

The new images from MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera revealed an odd, solitary hill rising part-way down an eroding slope of the layered terrain.

The exposed section of the deposits is about 1,640 feet (500 meters) thick, and the conical mound is about 130 feet (40 meters) high.
Read More...
Magnify

Light Weight Hydrogen 'Tank' Could Fuel Hydrogen Economy


ScienceDaily
Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:42 UTC
Dutch-sponsored researcher Robin Gremaud has shown that an alloy of the metals magnesium, titanium and nickel is excellent at absorbing hydrogen. This light alloy brings us a step closer to the everyday use of hydrogen as a source of fuel for powering vehicles. A hydrogen 'tank' using this alloy would have a relative weight that is sixty percent less than a battery pack.
Read More...
Telescope

Simulation may help solve mystery of dark matter

Michael Kahn
Reuters
Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:39 UTC
London - A computer simulation showing the formation and evolution of a galaxy like the Milky Way points to where scientists should look to spot dark matter, international researchers reported on Wednesday.
galaxy cluster designated Cl 0024+17
© REUTERS/NASA, ESA, M.J. Jee and H. Ford/Johns Hopkins University/Handout This undated image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a ghostly ring of dark matter in a galaxy cluster designated Cl 0024+17.

The findings published in the journal Nature move researchers a step closer to unraveling the mystery of the substance that makes up most of the universe, said Carlos Frenk, a cosmologist at Durham University in Britain.

"Discovering what dark matter is, is one of the most fundamental questions scientists can ask," Frenk, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.
Read More...
Telescope

China commissions huge telescope near Beijing

Lucy Hornby
Reuters
Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:35 UTC
Beijing - China is commissioning a strangely shaped telescope in the forested hills northeast of Beijing that Chinese scientists said will be the world's most efficient tool for mapping the galaxy in three dimensions.

Unlike most such instruments, where the whole telescope moves to follow the object being studied in the sky, the Chinese design features a fixed structure and two moveable, segmented mirrors.

Rather than the traditional dome shape employed for most large telescopes, China's new instrument looks like a large, white, skewed pi symbol.
Read More...