The Sky Tonight

May 13, 2015

Europa's Mystery Dark Material Could Be Sea Salt
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 13, 2015
NASA laboratory experiments suggest the dark material coating some geological features of Jupiter's moon Europa is likely sea salt from a subsurface ocean, discolored by exposure to radiation. The presence of sea salt on Europa's surface suggests the ocean is interacting with its rocky seafloor - an important consideration in determining whether the icy moon could support life. The study is accepted for publication in the journal Geophysical Research Letters and is available online. "We have ... read more

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MESSENGER reveals Mercury's magnetic field secrets New data from MESSENGER, the spacecraft that orbited Mercury for four years before crashing into the planet a week ago, reveals Mercury's magnetic field is almost four billion years old. The discove ... more		Weather forecasts for planets beyond our solar system "Cloudy for the morning, turning to clear with scorching heat in the afternoon." While this might describe a typical late-summer day in many places on Earth, it may also apply to planets outside our ... more		Milky Way may have four spiral arms Evidence suggests the Milky Way galaxy has an additional two spiral arms. That makes four. ... more
				Galactic Gold Rush: Asteroid Mining to Start This Summer Asteroid mining may not be the stuff of sci-fi flicks for long, as one company prepares to launch its first exploratory satellite from the International Space Station in July. Planetary Resources is ... more		Ceres Animation Showcases Bright Spots The mysterious bright spots on the dwarf planet Ceres are better resolved in a new sequence of images taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on May 3 and 4, 2015. The images were taken from a distance of 8 ... more

Space Tech Expo - Design - Build - Test - Long Beach CA - May 19-21, 2015

The World's Largest Commercial Drone Conference and Expo - Sept 9 - Las Vegas

Next Generation Integrated ISR 2015 - Washington DC - July 27-29

Getting Down to Science at Ceres Dawn's assignment when it embarked on its extraordinary extraterrestrial expedition in 2007 can be described quite simply: explore the two most massive uncharted worlds in the inner solar system. It ... more		Quantum-mechanical monopoles discovered Researchers at Aalto University (Finland) and Amherst College (USA) have observed a point-like monopole in a quantum field itself for the first time. This discovery connects to important characteris ... more		EU states to hold talks on 'drone wall' to protect bloc Denmark military intel fails to identify source of drone flights Lithuania eases rules on shooting down drones		Zooming in on an individual orbiting electron The microwave oven has been around for almost 80 years. When it heats food or liquid, the frequency of electrons increases but their energy slows down due to their own microwave emissions. Until now ... more
				Bringing high-energy particle detection in from the cold Radiation detectors, which monitor high-energy particles such as those produced by nuclear decay and cosmic radiation, are being used increasingly in medical imaging, petroleum well logging, astrono ... more		Attosecond physics: A new gateway to the microcosmos Ludwig Maximilians Universitaet (LMU) in Munich physicists at the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics have developed a new laser-light source that will lead to significant advances in research on fund ... more

Army Network Modernization 2015 - Washington DC June 23-25

Quantum mechanical helium trio In 1970, Vitaly Efimov analysed a three-body quantum system in which the attraction between two bodies reduced such that they become unbound. His prediction was that instead of breaking up, the mole ... more		Saturn Moon's Activity Could Be 'Curtain Eruptions' New research using data from NASA's Cassini mission suggests most of the eruptions from Saturn's moon Enceladus might be diffuse curtains rather than discrete jets. Many features that appear to be i ... more		NASA ISRO radar satellite beams first Earth images from space Morocco High Atlas whistle language strives for survival China warns Papua New Guinea over Australian defence deal		Star Explosion is Lopsided, Finds NASA's NuSTAR NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has found evidence that a massive star exploded in a lopsided fashion, sending ejected material flying in one direction and the core of the s ... more
Geochemical process on Saturn's moon linked to life's origin New work from a team including Carnegie's Christopher Glein has revealed the pH of water spewing from a geyser-like plume on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Their findings are an important step toward dete ... more		Hubble finds massive halo around the Andromeda Galaxy University of Notre Dame astrophysicist Nicolas Lehner has led a team of scientists who have used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to identify an immense halo of gas surrounding the Andromeda Galaxy, t ... more		Ancient Star Raises Prospects of Intelligent Life Can life survive for billions of years longer than the expected timeline on Earth? As scientists discover older and older solar systems, it's likely that before long we'll find an ancient planet in ... more		Proto super star cluster - a cosmic 'dinosaur egg' about to hatch Globular clusters - dazzling agglomerations of up to a million ancient stars - are among the oldest objects in the universe. Though plentiful in and around many galaxies, newborn examples are vanish ... more

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AKARI far-infrared all-sky data released		NASA's LRO Moves Closer to the Lunar Surface		New bid to contact Europe's comet probe		Meteors from Halley's Comet		Astronomers detect drastic atmospheric change in super Earth
Astrophysicists offer proof that famous image shows forming planets		A hot start to the origin of life		Astronomers unveil the farthest galaxy		European Space Agency Director Wants to Set Up a Moon Base		Astrobiology Students Use Art to Develop Critical Thinking Skills

Sounding rocket unveils makeup of a supernova remnant

Dark-Matter Labs Become Subterranean Centers for Science

Eta Aquarid meteor shower to hit its peak, debris from Halley's Comet viewable worldwide

Game theory elucidates the collective behavior of bosons

PSI Researchers Look Back at Mercury MESSENGER Accomplishments

Cyclotron radiation from single electrons measured directly for first time

Towards the realization of a global neutrino infrastructure

The Dark Matter 'conspiracy'

NASA's Chandra Suggests Black Holes Gorging at Excessive Rates

UH-led team observes the solar eclipse over the Arctic

NASA completes MESSENGER mission with surface impact

New exoplanet too big for its star

Pulsar with widest orbit ever detected

Gravity data show that Antarctic ice sheet is melting increasingly faster

Fire and Ice: A MESSENGER Recap

Multifractals suggests existence of unknown physical mechanism on the Sun

New Solar Telescope Unveils Complex Dynamics of Sunspots' Dark Cores

Ultra-sensitive sensor detects individual electrons

Strong Evidence for Coronal Heating by Nanoflares

Seeing Stars Through The Cloud

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