A unique combination of international cooperation and the latest Internet technology will allow Gemini Observatory to become the first international “cyber observatory.”
Gemini, with funding and support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), is blazing an Internet pathway that will provide its globally separated telescopes with a reliable data transfer connection. The connection will allow real-time remote observations and sharing of scientific data generated by the twin 8-meter telesc
Communicating with light polarization
A new and novel way of communicating over fiber optics is being developed by physicists supported by the Office of Naval Research. Rather than using the amplitude and frequency of electromagnetic waves, they’re using the polarization of the wave to carry the signal. Such a method offers a novel and elegant method of secure communication over fiber optic lines.
Electromagnetic waves, like light and radio waves, have amplitude (wave heigh
Taking a closer look at matter’s blueprints with a study of the spin-structure functions of the proton and the neutron, collectively known as nucleons
Building a bridge over land or water requires careful engineering. There is the weight of passing cars and trucks to consider. Will high winds or turbulent weather threaten the structure? How deep should the concrete foundations be poured? How best to affix the steel supports? What is the ideal mix of materials for strength, durabi
Amazingly Sharp VLT Image of Lunar Landscape
Thirty-three years after the first manned landing on the Moon, the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) has obtained what may be the sharpest image of the lunar surface ever recorded from the ground. It was made with the NAOS-CONICA (NACO) adaptive optics camera mounted on the ESO VLT 8.2-m YEPUN telescope at the Paranal Observatory.
The photo (ESO PR Photo 19a/02) shows an area about 700 km from the Apollo XI landing site. The location
You`d be forgiven for thinking that an American predicted anti-matter. Or that it only existed in Star Trek. In fact, it was Paul Dirac, a Bristol born physicist, who predicted the stuff that propels starships in science fiction movies and who has also influenced much of our modern day technology, for example, computers. Today, 8 August is the centenary of Dirac`s birth. The Institute of Physics celebrates Dirac`s life and legacy in 2002, with six Manga (japanese cartoon-style) posters.
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Rich and Inspiring Experience with NGC 300 Images from the ESO Science Data Archive
A series of wide-field images centred on the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 300, obtained with the Wide-Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at the La Silla Observatory, have been combined into a magnificent colour photo.
These images have been used by different groups of astronomers for various kinds of scientific investigations, ranging from individual stars and nebulae in NGC 300, to distant gal
Supermassive black holes at the hearts of large galaxies merge when their host galaxies do, say Professor David Merritt of Rutgers University, New Jersey, and Professor Ron Ekers of CSIRO’s Australia Telescope National Facility in Sydney, Australia.
The astronomers make their claim in a paper published online in Science Express on August 1 [U.S. time].
Merritt and Ekers’ model is the strongest evidence to date that the black holes’ mutual attraction ends in an embrace rather than
When physicists sandwiched together different types of semiconductor to create the first transistor in 1947, they made bulky vacuum valves obsolete and so revolutionised the electronics industry. Since then researchers have been pushing the boundaries of semiconductor technology hoping for another revolution. At the 26th International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors in Edinburgh from 29 July to 2 August, progress towards ultra-high density magnetic recording, and a new branch of nanotech
A physics professor’s invention to decontaminate industrial wastewater could become a powerful new weapon against anthrax.
Peter McIntyre and a group of colleagues at Texas A&M University have developed a cost-effective device to produce high energy electron beams that can break down harmful organic molecules in water – and destroy bacteria such as anthrax in food – or even on mail.
“William Cooper at the University of North Carolina showed that high-powered beams of e
On July 30th 2002, the engineers and scientists of the Association Euratom-CEA in Cadarache (France) have achieved a three and a half minutes long plasma discharge on Tore Supra, sustained by 3MW of current drive power, thus requiring to exhaust more than 600 Megajoules of thermal energy during the experiment. It establishes a new world record in this domain after the 280MJ discharges of 1996. Prior to the record discharge, a number of long pulse shots have been achieved, demonstrating the capability
First Ground-Based Mid-Infrared Observations of Brown Dwarfs [1]
A team of European astronomers [2] have observed eight Brown Dwarfs, i.e., small and faint objects also known as “failed stars”, with the TIMMI2 infrared sensitive instrument at the ESO 3.6-m telescope on La Silla.
From two of these, mid-infrared radiation is detected – for the first time ever from such objects with a ground-based telescope. While the younger Brown Dwarf, aged a few million years, is found
By the time you`ve had your new computer for six months, much faster processors will already be on the market. But there is a limit to how fast conventional computers can become. This is because computers process information in a step-by-step fashion, carrying out each part of the process in turn. To make things work really fast, we need to build `quantum computers` instead. Computers today handle information in binary form, representing everything as zeros or ones. In order to process that
An astrophysicist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics has found that some nanodiamonds, the most famous and exotic form of stardust, may instead have formed within the inner solar system. The findings argue with the wide held belief that nanodiamonds recovered from meteorites from the asteroid belt have been the most abundant type of presolar stardust grain. IGPP Director John Bradley, in conjunction with scientists from the Georg
A significant milestone for British and European science occurred today [8th July 2002] when the Council of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) met in London. At this historic meeting the UK was formally welcomed into ESO by the other nine member states. The UK, one of the leading nations in astronomical research, now joins what is probably the world`s leading astronomical observatory. British astronomers now have access to some of the world`s most advanced telescopes and a major
Anything over eight feet tall, six feet wide and weighing over 20 tons might be expected to have a healthy appetite. But no traditional foods are ingested by this behemoth. For the BigBite magnet, the nourishment of choice is subatomic particles, and lots of them. The BigBite spectrometer, which consists of the magnet along with its detectors, will be able to discern scattered particles over a range of energies and angles far greater than can be obtained with the other spectrometers used in Jefferson
It’s a conundrum that’s confounded the curious for several decades. In the past, some called it a crisis. More recently, it’s come to be known as a puzzle: a mystery that has occupied the minds of thousands of researchers worldwide.
Call it the Case of the Missing Spin. A mathematical property of all subatomic particles, including quarks, spin is roughly equivalent to the physical rotation of an object in the macroscopic world.
Physicists have long wondered how the
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