Astronomers Dr Simon Jeffery of the Armagh Observatory and Dr Hideyuki Saio of Tohoku University, Japan, have finally solved a long-standing mystery concerning the creation of two particular kinds of rare stars. They have found that a class of variable stars named after their prototype R Coronae Borealis (RCrB), and a related group called `extreme helium stars` are the products of mergers between pairs of white dwarf stars. What kind of star results from the merger depends on the composition of the w
Astronomers using the Gemini North Telescope on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea report that they have created a three-dimensional movie of a powerful, active galaxy located some 70 million light years away. The addition of a new instrument, the Integral Field Unit (IFU), to the Gemini telescope enabled the group to study light from the galaxy NGC1068 in much greater detail. From a single still of NGC1068, the IFU generated data on the physical conditions and velocities of galactic material throughout the image.
Martian atmosphere churns harder in south making north wetter.
Scientists have figured out why it’s wet up north – on Mars. A new computer simulation of the martian atmosphere suggests that the planet’s geography causes differences in atmospheric circulation within the northern and southern hemispheres. These differences dump more water on the martian north pole, where it adds to the seasonal ice-cap.
Mark Richardson of the California Institute of Technology in Pasa
Astronomers at the Gemini telescope in Hawaii have obtained a complete, multi-dimensional picture, of the dynamic flow of gas and stars at the core of an active galaxy [NGC 1068] located 70 million light years away. The image was achieved in a single snapshot and is the first time such a picture has been obtained by one of the new generation of giant telescopes with an 8 – 10 metre light collecting mirror. The astronomers used a new instrument – the Integral Field Unit (IFU), designed and built at Du
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have announced a call to communication companies who are interested in undertaking a contract for brand communication services related to the International Space Station (ISS).
The contract is a significant move for ESA and CSA who want to heighten the profile of the ISS within Europe and Canada to help meet the commercial objectives of the Space Station.
The two organisations want to hear expressions of interest
Light bending reveals clumps of matter around early galaxy.
European astronomers have got their first glimpse of the soup of matter that surrounded a galaxy in the early Universe, just 3 billion years after the Big Bang. Their results provide clues as to how this matter got together, which is crucial to understanding why the Universe looks the way it does today 1 .
The 12-billion-year-old galaxy is called MS 1512-cB58. It is not the earliest galaxy known, but
Spot-welds stick sliding metals
Two smooth, cold, metal surfaces are like pieces of tacky Sellotape. They form tiny spot welds that have to be broken apart before they can slide over each other. This, claim two physicists in California 1 , is another reason why metals stick as they slip if they are pressed together and pushed.
Such microscopic causes of friction and wear are increasingly important as the scale of mechanical engineering shrinks to below what
Successful Test Observations With Powerful New Instrument at Paranal
One of the most fundamental tasks of modern astrophysics is the study of the evolution of the Universe. This is a daunting undertaking that requires extensive observations of large samples of objects in order to produce reasonably detailed maps of the distribution of galaxies in the Universe and to perform statistical analysis.
Much effort is now being put into mapping the relatively nearby space and the
Bouncing laser beams could bring quantum strangeness to the everyday world.
The quantum world of atoms and subatomic particles is full of intuition-defying phenomena such as objects existing in two different states at once. We don’t normally have to worry about such weirdness impinging on our everyday macroscopic world. But Italian physicists have worked out how to invest something we can see and touch with quantum strangeness.
Stefano Mancini, of the University of Mila
Surplus of Intergalactic Material May Be Young Supercluster Observations with ESO`s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have enabled an international group of astronomers to study in unprecedented detail the surroundings of a very remote galaxy, almost 12 billion light-years distant. The corresponding light travel time means that it is seen at a moment only about 3 billion years after the Big Bang. This galaxy is designated MS 1512-cB58 and is the brightest known at such a large distance and
Jumps in space-time might explain the curious survival of energetic particles.
Space and time must be grainy, not smooth. Otherwise high-energy particles produced in astrophysical processes would not be detectable on Earth.
So says Richard Lieu of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Many agree that jumps in space-time occur on scales that are far too small to measure, but the idea has not yet been proved. Lieu now shows that using this hypothesis can explain how highly
Sci-fi experts know that many seemingly impossible technologies materialise years later, but unfortunately this may not to be the case for warp-drive – travelling through space faster than the speed of light. The favourite science fiction theory of space contracting in front of spacecraft, and expanding behind it to form warp-drive is under threat according to new work by a researcher in Portugal published today in the Institute of Physics journal, Classical and Quantum Gravity.
General re
Physicists design material that conducts one way and insulates the other.
European physicists have sketched out a blueprint for a valve that lets heat pass only one way. The proposed material conducts heat flowing in one direction, but also behaves as an insulator, stopping it going the other way 1 .
In theory, a heat valve could keep parts of microelectronic circuitry cool or channel heat to chip-sized chemical reactors, which are currently being developed fo
A new analysis of the mineral composition of meteorites suggests that theories concerning the development of the early solar system may need revision. Announcing their results today in the journal Science, researchers conclude that it took the earth only 20 million years to form from material floating around the early sun. Previous estimates, in contrast, had placed that figure at around 50 million years. The findings also re-open the debate over which types of supernovae could have produced our sola
A space probe carrying British-designed and operated instruments has helped scientists to understand the magnetosphere surrounding Jupiter better than ever before.
Its magnetosphere was observed to contract in response to shock waves generated at the Sun, the first time scientists have been able to clearly observe how changes in the solar wind affect the magnetosphere of this giant planet.
In addition an unexplained pulsating X-ray hot spot near Jupiter’s North pole has been obser
Researchers have developed a sophisticated way of measuring the print quality of paper. The work, published today in the Institute of Physics journal, Measurement Science and Technology, describes how Jari Palviainen and colleagues at the Universities of Joensuu and Oulu in Finland, use what is known as a diffractive optical element-based sensor to investigate how laser-light interacts with paper before and after laser printing with colour ink.
The physical properties of paper such as colou
Feedback
