The Sky Tonight

December 11, 2014

The Science of Magnetic Reconnection
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 11, 2014
Understanding vast systems in space requires understanding what's happening on widely different scales. Giant events can turn out to have tiny drivers - take, for example, what rocked near-Earth space in October 2003. On Oct. 28, 2003, and again on Oct. 29, massive solar flares erupted on the sun, sending X-rays zooming through the solar system. Along with the flares, the sun expelled giant clouds of solar material, called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. The CMEs slammed into Earth's magnetic fie ... read more

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The Geminids meteor shower should be one of the best this year The best meteor shower of the year should put on an impressive display this weekend - weather permitting - with the annual Geminids poised to light up the sky with bright, long meteors visible as fr ... more		Rosetta Comet Water Different Than Earth Water The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft has found the water vapor from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko to be significantly different from that found on Earth. The discovery fuels the debate o ... more		How Did Life Become Complex, And Could It Happen Beyond Earth? When astrobiologists contemplate life on nearby planets or moons, they often suggest such life would be simple. Instead of there being some kind of multicellular organism on, say, Jupiter's moon Eur ... more
				Researchers report possible dark matter signal Researchers with the European Space Agency say they've detected a strange spike in X-rays coming from two cosmic locations - the Andromeda Galaxy and the Perseus Cluster. The astronomers think the strange emissions could be the signal of dark matter. If confirmed, it would be first direct evidence of dark matter. ... more		Rosetta fuels debate on origin of Earth's oceans 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. ... more

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

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		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		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

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

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		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		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		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		Comet probe in race against time to crown stellar feat Europe's deep-space robot lab Philae worked against the clock Friday, attempting to drill into a comet 510 million kilometres (320 million miles) from Earth to crown a historic exploration before its battery runs out. ... more

	Philae probing comet with hours left on battery Europe's probe Philae was busily conducting experiments on a comet 510 million kilometres (320 million miles) from Earth with just hours of onboard battery life left, ground control reported of signals received Friday. ... 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

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

Warm Gas Pours 'Cold Water' on Galaxy's Star-Making		Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa2 Completion of Critical Operation Phase		Queen's scientist leads study of 'Super-Earth'		European astronomers spot faint asteroid		Finding infant earths and potential life just got easier
Flight Status of Micro Deep-Space Explorer "PROCYON"		Hubble Spies Charming Spiral Galaxy Bursting with Stars		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

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