The Sky Tonight

October 08, 2014

Arctic Bacteria Show Long Evolution in Toxic Mercury Resistance
Moffet Field CA (NASA) Oct 08, 2014
With Mars and Europa out of reach, many scientists have turned to studying some of the Arctic and Antarctic microbes that have adapted to similarly harsh conditions on Earth. One recent study has traced the evolutionary branches of Arctic bacterial resistance to toxic mercury - an adaptation that appears to have an ancient lineage. The results of a previous expedition to the Arctic found that up to 31 percent of bacteria retrieved from various locations and grown in lab cultures contain the mercur ... read more

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Swarm of Tiny Spacecraft to Explore Europa's Surface with Rapid Response A small spacecraft carrying a swarm of "chipsats" the size of postage stamps could someday explore Jupiter's icy moon, Europa. NASA has funded early development of the unusual mission idea as it loo ... more		NASA Selects New Science Teams for Astrobiology Research NASA has awarded five-year grants totaling almost $50 million to seven research teams nationwide to study the origins, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. "With the Cu ... more		'Blood moon' to awe sky watchers in Americas, Asia Stargazers in the Americas and Asia will be treated to a lunar eclipse Wednesday, a celestial show that will bathe the moon in red to create a "blood moon." ... more
				Titan's Swirling Polar Cloud Is Cold And Toxic Scientists analysing data from the mission found that this giant polar vortex contains frozen particles of the toxic compound hydrogen cyanide. "The discovery suggests that the atmosphere of T ... more		Solving the mystery of the 'man in the moon' New data obtained by NASA's GRAIL mission reveals that the Procellarum region on the near side of the moon - a giant basin often referred to as the "man in the moon" - likely arose not from a massiv ... more

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Wild ducks take flight in open cluster Messier 11 is an open cluster, sometimes referred to as a galactic cluster, located around 6000 light-years away in the constellation of Scutum (The Shield). It was first discovered by German astron ... more		Space debris expert warns of increasing CubeSat collision risk The increasing number of small 'CubeSat' satellites being launched combined with a relaxed attitude to debris mitigation could lead to hazards for all space users unless preventative measures are ta ... more		India signs $7 bn deal for 97 domestically made fighter jets France doubles down on threat to build future fighter jet alone US approves $1.2 bn missile sale to Germany		Light Scattering on Dust Holds Clues to Habitability We are all made of dust. Dust particles can be found everywhere in space. Disks of dust and debris swirl around and condense to form stars, planets and smaller objects like comets, asteroids and dwa ... more
				Scientists Resurrect Ancient Proteins to Learn about Primordial Life on Earth Geological evidence tells us that ancient Earth probably looked and felt very different from the planet we all recognize today. Billions of years ago, our world was a comparatively harsh place. Eart ... more		Fundamentals of physics confirmed To explore any possible limits of the two theories, they have been experimentally verified many times already and both have passed all the tests so far. Hence, scientists look for deviations in expe ... more

Startup in the Land of the Rising Sun; A Japanese Solar Venture - by Bradley L. Bartz

A Quick Look at Electron-Boson Coupling Imagine being able to tune the properties of a solid material just by flashing pulses of light on it, for example turning an insulator into a superconductor. That is just one potential payoff down-t ... more		NASA's Swift Mission Observes Mega Flares from a Mini Star On April 23, NASA's Swift satellite detected the strongest, hottest, and longest-lasting sequence of stellar flares ever seen from a nearby red dwarf star. The initial blast from this record-setting ... more		Simulations of Exoplanet Formation May Help Inform Search for Extraterrestrial Life Ancient hot springs reveal how microbes thrived before Earth gained oxygen Framework proposed to study planetary scale impact of life		Novel approach to magnetic measurements atom-by-atom Having the possibility to measure magnetic properties of materials at atomic precision is one of the important goals of today's experimental physics. Such measurement technique would give engineers ... more
Platinum meets its match in quantum dots from coal Graphene quantum dots created at Rice University grab onto graphene platelets like barnacles attach themselves to the hull of a boat. But these dots enhance the properties of the mothership, making ... more		Origin of moon's 'ocean of storms' revealed Oceanus Procellarum, a vast dark patch visible on the western edge of the Moon's near side, has long been a source of mystery for planetary scientists. Some have suggested that the "ocean of storms" ... more		Winter is coming ... to Titan's south pole Titan is unique in our solar system because of its dense nitrogen-methane atmosphere, which is very similar to Earth's in some ways, but very different in others. For example, air temperatures are a ... more		Coppery reds of upcoming lunar eclipse may be accented with turquoise Next Wednesday, Oct. 8, the full moon will turn a coppery red as a lunar eclipse becomes visible across the entirety of the United States. ... more

	'Man in the Moon' was born from lava - scientists A dark lunar basin that, seen from Earth, produces the "Man in the Moon" effect, was created by an outpouring of lava and not an asteroid strike, astronomers said Wednesday. ... more		NASA's Swift satellite sees small star ejecting 'super flares' Astronomers don't normally use canine clichés, but if they did, they might employ one - it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog - to describe a small but energetic red dwarf in a binary system known as DG Canum Venaticorum, or DG CVn. That's because red dwarfs like DG CVn serve a serious electromagnetic punch in a small package. ... more

Uranium enrichment: Why Iran refuses to step back

Redwire to Deliver Solar Array Wings for Axiom Station's First Module

Germany's Merz rejects claims he is slowing green shift

Cyanide fog marks winter's onset on Saturn moon Titan		Nitrogen fingerprint in biomolecules could be from early sun		Simulations Reveal An Unusual Death for Ancient Stars		First dark matter results from underground China lab hosting PandaX-I		Cassini Watches Mysterious Feature Evolve in Titan Sea
GOCE reveals gravity dip from ice loss		Living on the Edge: Rosetta's Lander Philae Is Set to Take the Plunge		Microsoft to tap $2-trillion Indian cloud market		Planets with Oddball Orbits Like Mercury Could Host Life		Violent Origins of Disc Galaxies Probed by ALMA

Turning the Moon into a cosmic ray detector

Space agency sets Nov 12 date for comet landing

Male-led teams more likely to get Hubble Telescope time

American Meteor Society confirms four fireball sightings

A piece of work by NUP/UPNA researchers demonstrates various ways for controlling light in the terahertz frequency range

New milestone in the search for water on distant planets

Most metal-poor star hints at universe's first supernovae

Clear skies on exo-Neptune

Managing Orbital Debris and Space Traffic

Most stars are born in clusters, some leave 'home'

Infant solar system shows signs of windy weather

Heritage of Earth's water gives rise to hopes of life on other planets

Solar explosions inside a computer

Interstellar molecules are branching out

Putting the squeeze on quantum information

Finding hints of gravitational waves in the stars

CME Week: The Difference Between Flares and CMEs

Particle detector finds hints of dark matter in space

Distant planet's atmosphere shows evidence of water vapor

Asteroid named for University of Utah makes public debut

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