Tests at leading magnetic labs shed light on nanotube mystery
In new experimental research appearing in this week’s issue of Physical Review Letters, a Rice University-led team of nanoscientists and electrical engineers has flipped the switch on ’dark excitons’ in carbon nanotubes by placing them inside a strong magnetic field.
The research offers new insight into the fundamental optical properties of semiconducting nanotubes, hollow straw-like molecul
MIT/Harvard work reported at American Astronomical Society
Scientists have found new evidence that black holes are performing the disappearing acts for which they are known.
A team from MIT and Harvard has found that a certain type of X-ray explosion common on neutron stars is never seen around their black hole cousins, as if the gas that fuels these explosions has vanished into a void.
This is strong evidence, the team said, for the existence of a theoretical bor
Work presented at American Astronomical Society meeting
MIT scientists and colleagues have found a black hole that has chiseled a remarkably stable indentation in the fabric of space and time, like a dimple in one’s favorite spot on the sofa.
The finding may help scientists measure a black hole’s mass and how it spins, two long-sought measurements, by virtue of the extent of this indentation. Using NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, the team saw identical p
How does matter spiral its way to the center of a galaxy and into the mouth of a supermassive black hole? A new study provides the best glimpse yet at the death spiral of material as it descends into the core of a galaxy hosting a large black hole. The study predicts that, barring obstructions, the galactic debris will take about 200,000 years to make a one-way trip through the inner regions of the galaxy and into oblivion.
An international team of scientists led by Kambiz Fathi at Rochest
RIT/STScI astronomer presents at American Astronomical Society meeting
A massive cluster of red supergiants–super-sized stars on the verge of exploding–was recently discovered in the Milky Way by a group of stronomers using infrared technology to penetrate the thick dust that cloaks much of the galaxy.
Only a few hundred such stars are known to exist in the galaxy, with the previous largest collection of them containing only five. These are the biggest stars: a singl
Galaxy’s warp explained by Magellanic Clouds plowing through dark matter halo
The most prominent of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies – a pair of galaxies called the Magellanic Clouds – appears to be interacting with the Milky Way’s ghostly dark matter to create a mysterious warp in the galactic disk that has puzzled astronomers for half a century.
The warp, seen most clearly in the thin disk of hydrogen gas permeating the galaxy, extends across the en
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have found that gold “shines” in a different way at the nanoscale, and the insights may lead to new optical chips for computers or for switches and routers in fiber networks.
The nanoscale refers to a size one-billionth of a meter, or about 70,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Materials that small exhibit entirely different properties from conventional materials. Specifically, temperatu
University of Iowa researchers have found a star orbiting a “medium-sized” black hole — about 1,000 times more massive than the sun — in the nearby starburst galaxy M82, a development that may help explain how medium-sized black holes form and evolve, according to a paper to be published in the Jan. 5 issue of Science Express, the online version of the journal Science.
Philip Kaaret, associate professor in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of Physics and Astron
Purdue University engineers have developed a wind tunnel that is the only one of its kind in the world capable of running quietly at “hypersonic” speeds, helping researchers to design advanced aircraft and missiles.
No other wind tunnel runs quietly while conducting experiments in airstreams traveling at Mach 6 – six times the speed of sound, said Steven Schneider, an aerospace engineer and professor in Purdue’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Researchers will
Stellar occultation allows VLT to determine Charon’s size and to put upper limit on its atmosphere
Observing a very rare occultation of a star by Pluto’s satellite Charon from three different sites, including Paranal, home of the VLT, astronomers were able to determine with great accuracy the radius and density of the satellite to the farthest planet. The density, 1.71 that of water, is indicative of an icy body with about slightly more than half of rocks. The observati
Physicists capture small numbers of atoms in laser traps
Like bakers measuring the exact same amount of flour every time they made bread, physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have used a laser trap to consistently capture and measure the same small number of atoms.
Dr. Mark Raizen, Sid W. Richardson Foundation Regents Chair in Physics, and his colleagues at the Center for Nonlinear Dynamics have been able to repeatedly capture as few as sixty atoms in a box made
Donald Brownlee’s heart skipped a beat six years ago when the launch of the Stardust spacecraft didn’t happen as planned. The University of Washington astronomy professor has experienced many other tense times since the historic mission blasted off a day late, and its return to Earth on Jan. 15 will be just one more white-knuckle moment.
Just before 3 a.m. MST, the spacecraft will jettison its return capsule, which will plunge into Earth’s atmosphere at nea
The University of Colorado at Boulder’s long heritage with NASA planetary missions will continue Jan. 17 with the launch of a student space dust instrument on the New Horizons Mission to Pluto from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
As the first student-built instrument ever selected by the space agency to fly on a planetary mission, the CU-Boulder Student Dust Counter, or SDC, will monitor the density of dust grains in space as New Horizons buzzes to Pluto and beyond.
In an unusual observation, a team of scientists has scanned the northern polar region of Earth with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The results show that the aurora borealis, or “northern lights,” also dance in X-ray light, creating changing bright arcs of X-ray energy above the Earth’s surface.
While other satellite observations had previously detected high-energy X-rays from the Earth auroras, the latest Chandra observations reveal low-energy X-rays generated for the fir
First air-breathing, liquid fuel-powered scramjet takes flight
Before the sun had even risen over Wallops Island, Va., on 10 December 2005, a joint Office of Naval Research/Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency vehicle achieved a world first. At an altitude of 63,000 feet, the Freeflight Atmospheric Scramjet Test Technique (FASTT) vehicle became the first air-breathing, liquid hydrocarbon fuel-powered scramjet engine to fly.
After launching from the NASA Wallops Fligh
A single unifying physics theory can essentially describe how animals of every ilk, from flying insects to fish, get around, researchers at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering and Pennsylvania State University have found. The team reports that all animals bear the same stamp of physics in their design.
The researchers show that so-called “constructal theory” can explain basic characteristics of locomotion for every creature — how fast they get from one place to anoth
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