The Sky Tonight

April 03, 2013

Swirling Secrets
Knoxville TN (SPX) Apr 03, 2013
Many newly formed stars are surrounded by what are called protoplanetary disks, swirling masses of warm dust and gas that can constitute the core of a developing solar system. Proof of the existence of such disks didn't come until 1994, when the Hubble telescope examined young stars in the Orion Nebula. Protoplanetary disks may potentially become celestial bodies such as planets and asteroids. But just how they make that transformation will remain a mystery to science until researchers can get a g ... read more

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Supernova remnant 1987A continues to reveal its secrets A team of astronomers led by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) have succeeded in observing the death throws of a giant star in unprecedented detail In February of 1 ... more		New Insights on How Spiral Galaxies Get Their Arms Spiral galaxies are some of the most beautiful and photogenic residents of the universe. Our own Milky Way is a spiral. Our solar system and Earth reside somewhere near one of its filamentous arms. ... more		Pre-existing mineralogy may survive lunar impacts Despite the unimaginable energy produced during large impacts on the Moon, those impacts may not wipe the mineralogical slate clean, according to new research led by Brown University geoscientists. ... more
				Black hole wakes up and has a light snack Astronomers have watched as a black hole woke up from a decades-long slumber to feed on a low-mass object - either a brown dwarf or a giant planet - that strayed too close. ... more		Hungry black hole wakes up for a planet-sized snack Astrophysicists have witnessed the rare event of a black hole awakening from its slumber to snack on a planet-sized object in a galaxy 47 million light years away, the University of Geneva said Tuesday. ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

'Metascreen' forms ultra-thin invisibility cloak Up until now, the invisibility cloaks put forward by scientists have been fairly bulky contraptions - an obvious flaw for those interested in Harry Potter-style applications. However, research ... more		Lensing in the Peculiar "Magatama" Galaxy In a course of studying young galaxies at a distance of 11.6 billion light years from Earth, a team of astronomers led by Professor Yoshiaki Taniguchi (Ehime University) noticed a strangely shaped g ... more		Revolutionising the Skies: How Helsing's CA-1 Europa Drone Could Transform Autonomous Warfare Lockheed Martin Sikorsky unveils scalable Nomad drone family for autonomous long-range missions Firefly Aerospace to Acquire SciTec in $855M Deal Expanding National Security Portfolio		The Great Exoplanet Debate Part Four At the 2012 Astrobiology Science Conference, Astrobiology Magazine hosted a plenary session titled: "Expanding the Habitable Zone: The Hunt for Exoplanets Now and Into the Future." ... more
				NOAO: Star Birth in Cepheus Watching starbirth isn't easy: tens of millions of years are needed to form a star like our Sun. Much like archeologists who reconstruct ancient cities from shards of debris strewn over time, astron ... more		Hubble Sees J 900 Masquerading as a Double Star The object in this image is Jonckheere 900 or J 900, a planetary nebula - glowing shells of ionized gas pushed out by a dying star. Discovered in the early 1900s by astronomer Robert Jonckheere, the ... more

Solar systems for home and business installations

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Hubble observes the hidden depths of Messier 77 Messier 77 is a galaxy in the constellation of Cetus, some 45 million light-years away from us. Also known as NGC 1068, it is one of the most famous and well-studied galaxies. It is a real star amon ... more		NASA's Swift Sizes Up Comet ISON Astronomers from the University of Maryland at College Park (UMCP) and Lowell Observatory have used NASA's Swift satellite to check out comet C/2012 S1 (ISON), which may become one of the most dazzl ... more		Deep-sea mining poses new threat to sharks, rays and ghost sharks Hydropower emerges as Southeast Asia's hidden force in driving down carbon emissions An Aussie tycoon bets billions on cleaning up iron ore giant		Dawn remains in silent pursuit of dwarf planet Ceres In the depths of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, far from Earth, far even from any human-made object, Dawn remains in silent pursuit of dwarf planet Ceres. It has been more than six ... more
				University of Tennessee professor discovers how microbes survive at bare minimum Beneath the ocean floor is a desolate place with no oxygen and sunlight. Yet microbes have thrived in this environment for millions of years. Scientists have puzzled over how these microbes survive, ... more		Lunar cycle determines hunting behaviour of nocturnal gulls Zooplankton, small fish and squid spend hardly any time at the surface when there's a full moon. To protect themselves from their natural enemies, they hide deeper down in the water on bright nights ... more

'Vulcan' wins Pluto moon name vote

Public to vote on names for Pluto moons

The PI's Perspective: The Seven-Year Itch

University of Tennessee professor discovers how microbes survive at bare minimum

Where Life Could Thrive: Interview With John Grotzinger

Highly effective communities of bacteria in the world's deepest oceanic trench

The Great Exoplanet Debate Part Four

The Great Exoplanet Debate

Astronomers Detect Water in Atmosphere of Distant Planet

SwRI study finds liquid water flowing above and below frozen Alaskan sand dunes, hints of a wetter Mars

Opportunity Moves Into Place for Quiet Period of Operations

BusinessCom Networks Connects Mars 2013

	Young, hot and blue The Universe is an old neighbourhood - roughly 13.8 billion years old. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is also ancient - some of its stars are more than 13 billion years old (eso0425). Nevertheless, th ... more		Hunting high-mass stars with Herschel In this new view of a vast star-forming cloud called W3, ESA's Herschel space observatory tells the story of how massive stars are born. W3 is a giant molecular cloud containing an enormous stellar ... more		Scientists propose revolutionary laser system to produce the next LHC An international team of physicists has proposed a revolutionary laser system, inspired by the telecommunications technology, to produce the next generation of particle accelerators, such as the Lar ... more		Physics of fluids explained 100 years after original discovery Sunghwan Jung is a fan of the 19th Century born John William Strutt, 3rd, also known as Lord Baron Rayleigh. An English physicist, Rayleigh, along with William Ramsay, discovered the gas argon, an a ... more

Renewables overtake coal but growth slows: reports

OpenAI's Fidji Simo says AI investment frenzy 'new normal,' not bubble

Tokyo stocks hit new record as markets extend global rally

Astronomers discover new kind of supernova		New radio telescope in SA will shed light on earliest moments of universe		Sun block for the "Big Dog"		Saturn is Like an Antiques Shop, Cassini Suggests		Ultraviolet spectrograph observes mercury and hydrogen in GRAIL impact plumes
Laser empties atoms from the inside out		NASA Scientists Find Moon, Asteroids Share History		Measuring the magnetism of antimatter		The Great Exoplanet Debate		Ephemeral vacuum particles induce speed-of-light fluctuations

Removing orbital debris with less risk

New Map Of Universe Shows What Earthly Physics Can't

Meteor storm shaped early solar system

LOFAR discovers new giant galaxy in all-sky survey

Where Life Could Thrive: Interview With John Grotzinger

Simple but challenging: the Universe according to Planck

Record simulations conducted on Lawrence Livermore supercomputer

Famous Supernova Reveals Clues About Crucial Cosmic Distance Markers

Highly effective communities of bacteria in the world's deepest oceanic trench

Astronomers Detect Water in Atmosphere of Distant Planet

Physicists Play Key Role in Planck Mission to Map Early Universe

Berkeley Lab scientists read the cosmic writing on the wall

Planck challenges our understanding of the Universe

Black hole-star pair orbiting at dizzying speed

Herschel Discovers Some of the Youngest Stars Ever Seen

Witnessing starbursts in young galaxies

Voyager 1 has entered a new region of space

NASA denies report that Voyager left solar system

NASA Voyager Status Update on Voyager 1 Location

NASA's LRO Sees GRAIL's Explosive Farewell

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