The Sky Tonight

December 10, 2014

Rosetta fuels debate on origin of Earth's oceans
Paris (ESA) Dec 11, 2014
ESA's Rosetta spacecraft has found the water vapour from its target comet to be significantly different to that found on Earth. The discovery fuels the debate on the origin of our planet's oceans. The measurements were made in the month following the spacecraft's arrival at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 August. It is one of the most anticipated early results of the mission, because the origin of Earth's water is still an open question. One of the leading hypotheses on Earth's formatio ... read more

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Saturn's Moons: What a Difference a Decade Makes Almost immediately after NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft made their brief visits to Saturn in the early 1980s, scientists were hungry for more. The Voyagers had offered them only a brief glimpse of a ... more		Secondary relaxation in metallic glasses key glassy physics Humans have been experimenting with and utilizing glassy materials for more than ten millennia, dating back to about 12000 B.C. Although glassy materials are the oldest known artificial materials, n ... more		45-year physics mystery shows a path to quantum transistors An odd, iridescent material that's puzzled physicists for decades turns out to be an exotic state of matter that could open a new path to quantum computers and other next-generation electronics. Phy ... more
				Laser-plasma 'tabletop' particle accelerator sets record Researchers have accelerated particles to unheard-of speeds using a record-setting compact accelerator. The device was developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and is small enough to fit on a kitchen table. ... more		Finding the simple patterns in a complex world An ANU mathematician has developed a new way to uncover simple patterns that might underlie apparently complex systems, such as clouds, cracks in materials or the movement of the stockmarket. ... more

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

World record for compact particle accelerator Using one of the most powerful lasers in the world, researchers have accelerated subatomic particles to the highest energies ever recorded from a compact accelerator. The team, from the U.S. Departm ... more		Electron pairs on demand In quantum optics, generating entangled and spatially separated photon pairs (e.g. for quantum cryptography) is already a reality. So far, it has, however, not been possible to demonstrate an analog ... 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		UK Plans to Drill Into Moon, Explore Feasibility of Manned Base UK scientists have put forward goals for the country's recently-proposed Lunar Mission One program, the BBC reported on Monday. The researchers plan to drill 100 meters below the surface of th ... more
				Asteroid 2014 UR116 Represents No Threat to the Earth Some recent press reports have suggested that an asteroid designated 2014 UR116, found on October 27, 2014, at the MASTER-II observatory in Kislovodsk, Russia, represents an impact threat to the Ear ... more		NASA-funded FOXSI to Observe X-Rays From Sun An enormous spectrum of light streams from the sun. We're most familiar with the conventional visible white light we see with our eyes from Earth, but that's just a fraction of what our closest star ... more

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

Microgravity Helping Us Understand Immune System's Tiny Warriors Scary threats to human health dominate the news these days. Space travel may help scientists strengthen our bodies' ability to fight such threats. Two upcoming studies on leukocytes-human defense ce ... more		Tennessee research offers explanation for Titan dune puzzle Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is a peculiar place. Unlike any other moon, it has a dense atmosphere. It has rivers and lakes made up of components of natural gas, such as ethane and methane. It also ... 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		Queen's scientist leads study of 'Super-Earth' Research led by an astronomer at Queen's University Belfast could pave the way in the search for life on other planets. Up to now, only space-based telescopes have been able to detect planets ... more
Finding infant earths and potential life just got easier Among the billions and billions of stars in the sky, where should astronomers look for infant Earths where life might develop? New research from Cornell University's Institute for Pale Blue Dots sho ... more		Warm Gas Pours 'Cold Water' on Galaxy's Star-Making Some like it hot, but for creating new stars, a cool cosmic environment is ideal. As a new study suggests, a surge of warm gas into a nearby galaxy - left over from the devouring of a separate galax ... more		Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa2 Completion of Critical Operation Phase The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed the completion of a sequence of the important operations for the Asteroid Exploration "Hayabusa2" mission including the deployment of the horn ... more		European astronomers spot faint asteroid European experts have spotted one of the faintest asteroids ever found - a chunk of space rock thought to be about 100 m in diameter beyond the orbit of Mars. Astronomers at the Large Binocula ... more

	Flight Status of Micro Deep-Space Explorer "PROCYON" The University of Tokyo and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) received signals from the Micro deep-space explorer "PROCYON" at 8:51 p.m. on December 3, 2014 (Japan Standard Time), to con ... more		Hubble Spies Charming Spiral Galaxy Bursting with Stars The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observes some of the most beautiful galaxies in our skies - spirals sparkling with bright stellar nurseries, violent duos ripping gas and stars away from one anot ... 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

Comet probe in race against time to crown stellar feat		Philae probing comet with hours left on battery		Einstein documents digitization project complete		Exploring Comets and Asteroids is an International Endeavor		Dawn Snaps Its Best-Yet Image of Dwarf Planet Ceres
Pulsars with black holes could hold the 'holy grail' of gravity		Star-gazing tourists flock to Africa's darkest place		European astronomers spot faint asteroid		Finding infant earths and potential life just got easier		Losing air

Atomic hydrogen emissions seen at record breaking distances

'Mirage Earth' exoplanets may have burned away chances for life

Stardust Not Likely to Block Planet Portraits

Meteorite stirs life-on-Mars debate

Philae may have clipped crater rim during comet landing

Carnegie Mellon Unveils Lunar Rover "Andy"

Observing Solar System Worlds as if They Were Distant Exoplanets

Ground-Based Detection Paves Way to Remote Sensing of Small Exoplanets

Ground-based detection of exoplanets

'Eye of Sauron' provides new way of measuring distances to galaxies

Van der Waals force re-measured

Particles, Waves and Ants

First harvest of research based on the final GOCE gravity model

Why we should mine the moon

Japan again delays launch of asteroid probe

JUICE mission gets green light for next stage of development

Astrobiology Acupuncture: Collecting Data from Non-Planar Surfaces

The mysterious 'action at a distance' between liquid containers

Polish astronomers spot young Stellar Bridge in the Magellanic Clouds

Preparing for Alien Life

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