The European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory has already been a spectacular success in many areas of astronomy – detecting distant clusters of galaxies, the faint afterglow of enigmatic gamma ray bursts and the effects of the collision of the Deep Impact probe with comet Tempel-1.
Now an innovative new approach analyses X-rays detected during the times that the satellite manoeuvres between targets – originally considered to be unusable periods – to reveal some 4,000 i
If a large asteroid such as the recently identified 2004 VD17 – about 500 m in diameter with a mass of nearly 1000 million tonnes – collides with the Earth it could spell disaster for much of our planet. As part of ESA’s Near-Earth Object deflecting mission Don Quijote, three teams of European industries are now carrying out studies on how to prevent this.
ESA has been addressing the problem of how to prevent large Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) from colliding with the Earth for some
UK astronomers have been at the forefront of designing a revolutionary new X-ray telescope that is based on the eyes of a lobster. By replicating the crustacean’s ability to observe objects all around it without turning its head, scientists are confident that the Lobster instrument will enable a major breakthrough in X-ray astronomy.
The sky viewed at X-ray wavelengths is a violent and unpredictable place. Many sources brighten without warning, then vanish just as suddenly. Oth
Astronomers from the University of Nottingham, UK, and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (Spain), have found the first observational evidence that galaxies are not randomly oriented.
Instead, they are aligned following a characteristic pattern dictated by the large-scale structure of the invisible dark matter that surrounds them.
This discovery confirms one of the fundamental aspects of galaxy formation theory and implies a direct link between the global proper
British scientists are joining colleagues from around the world today (Thursday March 30th 2006) at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in the USA to share the first results from a new neutrino experiment. The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is designed to study ghostly particles called neutrinos and in particular to study how the three different types are able to transform one into the other. In their first data release, the MINOS team has already reached the sensi
Los Alamos scientists, working with collaborators from around the world, recently observed experimental evidence of solitary vibrations (solitons) in a solid. First observed as localized waves on the surface of water more than a century ago, the concept of solitons in solids was only theorized as possible two decades ago. The results of their discovery of random localized vibrations in a 3-D solid will add new knowledge to the field of solid-state physics and could have implications for other areas
Physicists at Harvard University, George Mason University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered new quantum effects in ultracold gases that may lead to improved understanding of electrical conductivity in metals.
In work presented at the March meeting of the American Physical Society* in Baltimore, Md., the researchers calculated the properties of an “artificial crystal” of ultracold atoms in a lattice formed by intersecting laser beams. The
Scientists with NASA’s Cassini mission have found evidence that a new class of small moonlets resides within Saturn’s rings. There may be as many as 10 million of these objects within one of Saturn’s rings alone. The research is published in Nature today (March 30th).
The moonlets’ existence could help answer the question of whether Saturn’s rings were formed through the break-up of a larger body or are the remnants of the disk of material from which Saturn and
Five spacecraft from two ESA missions unexpectedly found themselves engulfed by waves of electrical and magnetic energy as they travelled through Earth’s night-time shadow on 5 August 2004.
The data collected by the spacecraft are giving scientists an important clue to the effects of ’space weather’ on Earth’s magnetic field.
Shortly after 15:34 CEST, something set the tail of Earth’s natural cloak of magnetism oscillating. “It was like the waves created by
Looking back 13.7 billion years, astronomers have collected data that tells us, with greater precision than ever before, what happened in the first two-trillionths of a second after the big bang. The data agrees very well with theoretical predictions and may tell us something about the way the universe is behaving today, particularly why it is expanding faster than it ought to be.
“Observation is helping us constrain the theories,” said Rachel Bean, Cornell assistant professo
New observations of propeller-shaped disturbances in Saturn’s A ring indicate the presence of four small, embedded moons — and most likely millions more, Cornell University astronomers report.
This is the first evidence of the existence of moonlets bridging the gap in size between the larger ring moons Pan and Daphnis (several miles each in diameter) and the much smaller ice particles that comprise the bulk of the rings. The discovery could lead to a better understan
Scientists from around the world joined this Greek island’s 250 residents and countless visitors Wednesday in cheering the drama of the Moon totally blocking the Sun, revealing the dancing glow of its corona.
“It was even more fabulous than we expected,” said Jay Pasachoff, professor of astronomy at Williams College (in Williamstown, Mass.) who observed his 42nd solar eclipse. “All the technical equipment worked perfectly, the corona shone brightly, and the activity aroun
On Wednesday 29 March 2006, the Moon’s shadow will sweep over the surface of Earth during the fourth total solar eclipse of this century.
The path of the Moon’s ‘umbral’ shadow begins in Brazil at 10:35 CEST and crosses the Atlantic reaching Africa about 11:08 CEST, where it will travel over the northern part of the continent. It next crosses the Mediterranean Sea to Turkey, and then central Asia where it ends at sunset in western Mongolia.
For lucky observe
A team of three scientists and engineers from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UK, and the Astronomical Institute of the University of Wroclaw, Poland, are travelling to Libya to observe the total eclipse of the Sun on March 29th 2006. They will be using an instrument designed to understand why the Sun’s outer atmosphere is so hot.
The solar atmosphere or corona, which is normally only visible from the Earth at times of total solar eclipses, has a temperature of 1—2 million degrees
Venus Express mission controllers at ESA’s Space Operations Centre (ESOC) are in intensive preparation for an 11 April arrival at the spacecraft’s namesake destination.
The critical manoeuvre will involve a deft combination of basic physics, expert spacecraft engineering and precise timing.
Next month’s Venus Orbit Insertion (VOI) will mark the arrival of the first ESA mission at Venus, one of the Solar System’s most enigmatic planets.
Orbi
A light-sensitive, self-assembled monolayer that provides unique control over particle interactions has been developed by scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Particles coated with the monolayer change their surface charge and chemistry upon exposure to ultraviolet light.
“Tailoring interactions between particles allows us to design colloidal fluids, gels and crystals for use as ceramic, photonic and pharmaceutical materials,” said Jeffrey Moore, a William H. an
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