Scientists at the University of Nottingham have successfully levitated diamond and some of the heaviest elements, including lead and platinum. Using liquid oxygen to increase the buoyancy created by a specially designed superconducting magnet, they could now levitate a hypothetical object with a density 15 times larger than that of the densest known material, osmium. This research is published today (11th May 2005) in the New Journal of Physics co-owned by the Institute of Physics and Deutsche P
Planetary protection: X-ray super-flares aid formation of ’solar systems’
New results from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory about the Orion Nebula imply super-flares torched our young solar system. Such X-ray flares likely affected the planet-forming disk around the early sun, and may have enhanced the survival chances of Earth.
By focusing on the Orion Nebula almost continuously for 13 days, a team of scientists used Chandra to obtain the deepest X-ray observations eve
In a spectacular kick-off to its first season of prime ring viewing, which began last month, the Cassini spacecraft has confirmed earlier suspicions of an unseen moon hidden in a gap in Saturn’s outer A ring. A new image and movie show the new moon and the waves it raises in the surrounding ring material.
The moon, provisionally named S/2005 S1, was first seen in a time-lapse sequence of images taken on May 1, 2005, as Cassini began its climb to higher inclinations in orbit ar
Solar physicists have observed the smallest ever coronal mass ejection (CME) – a type of explosion where plasma from the Sun is thrown out into space, sometimes striking the Earth and damaging orbiting satellites. The observation has come as a great surprise to scientists and has turned previous ideas up-side-down.
To date studies of these phenomena have focussed on large explosions which are easier to detect and which have massive footprints on the Sun, sometimes covering thousan
The deployment of the second antenna boom of the Mars Express Sub-Surface Sounding Radar Altimeter (MARSIS) science experiment has been delayed pending investigation of an anomaly found during deployment of the first antenna boom.
The anomaly was discovered on 7 May towards the end of the first deployment operations. Deployment of the first boom started on Wednesday 4 May. The problem with the boom was confirmed by flight control engineers working at ESA’s European Space Operations
A major new tranche of funding is announced today by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). These, the first awards in the Science and Innovation Awards programme will directly build the UK’s research base in diverse areas.
The initial recipients include energy research, physical organic chemistry, statistics and electronics. Future awards will focus on other research areas. In a changing research landscape, as undergraduates choose new options, more tr
These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show the outlet channel of the Uzboi Vallis system into Crater Holden on Mars.
The HRSC obtained these images during orbit 511 with a ground resolution of approximately 45 metres per pixel. The scenes show the region of Noachis Terra, over an area centred at about 26º South and 325º East.
The valley of Uzboi Vallis begins in the region of Argyre Planitia and crosses the southe
When University at Buffalo theorist Surajit Sen published his prediction that solitary waves, tight bundles of energy that travel without dispersing, could break into smaller, “baby” or secondary solitary waves, experts in the field acclaimed it as a fine piece of work. They also felt that these waves might never be seen experimentally.
But in a paper published this week in Physical Review Letters, Sen and his co-authors report that they have done just that. The new results contr
In an experiment originally planned for the International Space Station, physicists at Duke University have devised a controlled, measurable method to make a container of granules — in this case plastic beads — “freeze” into the equivalent of a solid-state crystal, or “melt” into the equivalent of a fluid, by alternating the rates that the beads are stirred or shaken.
Results from these experiments also apply to other types of “granular materials,” a term scientists use to des
Lab to develop more economical and reliable space travel
Images of deep space exploration in old sci-fi movies will take one giant leap toward reality as Battelle scientists manipulate microtechnology to produce rocket propellant in space and breathing oxygen for interplanetary travel, thanks to new funding from NASA.
Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., which is operated by Battelle for the Department of Energy, will launch the devel
An international team of astronomers reports April 29 the confirmation of the discovery of a giant planet, approximately five times the mass of Jupiter, that is gravitationally bound to a young brown dwarf. This discovery puts an end to a yearlong discussion on the nature of this object, which started with the detection of a red object close to the brown dwarf.
In February and March of this year, the astronomers took new images of the young brown dwarf and its giant planet companion
ESA’s comet chaser mission Rosetta took these infrared and visible images of Earth and the Moon, during the Earth fly-by of 4/5 March 2005 while on its way to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
These images, now processed, are part of the first scientific data obtained by Rosetta. “The Earth fly-by represented the first real chance to calibrate and validate the performance of the Rosetta’s instruments on a real space object, to make sure everything works fine at the final targe
Following green light for the deployment of ESA’s Mars Express radar, given in February this year, the radar booms are now planned to be deployed in the first half of May.
Once the deployment is successful, the Mars Express MARSIS radar will enable the first European spacecraft to orbit Mars to complement its study of the planet’s atmosphere and surface.
MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument) is the first antenna of its kind whic
How can a tin be opened if it contains not tinned goods but explosives? Or a shell or something no less dangerous, for instance, a retired nuclear reactor?
Certainly, metal can be cut up mechanically, but this is very dangerous. Torch flame or laser beam do not suit the purpose even more so. However, a sheet of water released at high pressure, particularly if additionally saturated with a stream of frozen drops, would probably suit. The researchers from the Tula State Universit
Astronomers confirm the first image of a planet
An international team of astronomers reports today confirmation of the discovery of a giant planet, approximately five times the mass of Jupiter, that is gravitationally bound to a young brown dwarf. This puts an end to a year long discussion on the nature of this object, which started with the detection of a red object close to the brown dwarf.
In February and March of this year, the astronomers took new images of the youn
Duke University physicists have developed a switching technique that uses a very weak beam of light to control a much stronger beam. The achievement could make optical telecommunications devices perform far more efficiently, and perhaps also aid in the development of futuristic quantum communications devices, the scientists said. “What’s important here is that this is an ’all-optical’ switch, using only light, with a weak beam affecting a strong one,” said physics professor Daniel Gauthier,
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