The Sky Tonight

December 27, 2015

Lowdown on Ceres: Images From Dawn's Closest Orbit
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 25, 2015
NASA's Dawn spacecraft, cruising in its lowest and final orbit at dwarf planet Ceres, has delivered the first images from its best-ever viewpoint. The new images showcase details of the cratered and fractured surface. 3-D versions of two of these views are also available. Dawn took these images of the southern hemisphere of Ceres on Dec. 10, at an approximate altitude of 240 miles (385 kilometers), which is its lowest-ever orbital altitude. Dawn will remain at this altitude for the rest of its mis ... read more

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Railways: Ensuring readiness in case of space weather events The JRC has been looking into the risks of space weather impact on critical infrastructures. A new report explores the rail sector's vulnerability and the potential impacts, in particular through in ... more		Black holes could grow as large as 50 billion suns Black holes at the heart of galaxies could swell to 50 billion times the mass of the sun before losing the discs of gas they rely on to sustain themselves, according to research at the University of ... more		Is evolution more intelligent than we thought Evolution may be more intelligent than we thought, according to a University of Southampton professor. Professor Richard Watson says new research shows that evolution is able to learn from pre ... more
				Jefferson Lab Accelerator delivers its first 12 GeV electrons The newly upgraded accelerator at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has delivered full-energy electrons as part of commissioning activities for the ongoi ... more		Dwarf planet Ceres: water vapor in Occator crater When the Sun shines into the Occator crater on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres, a kind of thin haze appears above its brightest spot. This can be seen in images taken by the camera system aboa ... more

NASA offers sneak peak at Christmas Eve asteroid New images, shared Wednesday by NASA, showcase the size and shape of the Christmas Eve asteroid - the highest resolution images to date. ... more		Auroral mystery solved: Sudden bursts caused by swirling charged particles Auroras are dimly present throughout the night in polar regions, but sometimes these lights explode in brightness. Now Japanese scientists have unlocked the mystery behind this spectacle, known as a ... more		HawkEye 360 expands signals intelligence network with operational deployment of Cluster 12 York confirms successful deployment and health of 21 satellites for SDA Tranche 1 mission Spain faces uphill battle to cut Israel military ties: experts		Physicists on cutting edge in search for dark matter China is joining the global competition on a scientific frontier-the search for dark matter-with new research instruments and facilities in place that heighten anticipation for answers. On Thu ... more
				Einstein's Cross under the gravitational microlens Spanish astrophysicists obtain precise measurements for an object orbiting a black hole five billion lightyears away, which would be like spotting a one euro coin from two and a half trips around th ... more		New study asks: Why didn't the universe collapse? The models that best describe the Big Bang and birth of the universe have one glaring problem. Most of them predict a collapse almost immediately after inflation. ... more

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Giant comets may threaten Earth: astronomers Planet Earth could be at higher risk of a space rock impact than widely thought, according to astronomers who suggested Tuesday keeping a closer eye on distant giant comets. ... more		Chandra Finds Remarkable Galactic Ribbon Unfurled An extraordinary ribbon of hot gas trailing behind a galaxy like a tail has been discovered using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This ribbon, or X-ray tail, is likely due to gas strippe ... more		Climate change causing havoc with global water cycle: UN Schools shut, flights cancelled as Typhoon Ragasa nears Hong Kong Over 60,000 Europeans died from heat during 2024 summer: study		Twisted magnetic fields give new insights on star formation Using new images that show unprecedented detail, scientists have found that material rotating around a very young protostar probably has dragged in and twisted magnetic fields from the larger area s ... more
Wukong's journey to the darkness In a crowd 1,500 meters from the launch pad, Liu Cixin watched the rocket rising into the sky, wondering how its payload will change astrophysics and humanity's future. The Long March-2D carri ... more		Dark Universe Mission ready to take shape Euclid, a planned mission to investigate the profound cosmic mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, has passed its preliminary design review. This clears the way for construction to begin. Euclid ... more		New study details skeleton of the Milky Way galaxy Researchers with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics claim to have traced the "skeletal structure" of the Milky Way galaxy. They shared their findings earlier this month in the Astrophysical Journal. ... more		China receives message from dark matter probe Ground stations in China have received data sent by "Wukong" - the country's first dark matter probe satellite, scientists announced Monday. A station in Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang ... more

	Cassini Completes Final Close Enceladus Flyby NASA's Cassini spacecraft has begun transmitting data and images from the mission's final close flyby of Saturn's active moon Enceladus. Cassini passed Enceladus at a distance of 3,106 miles (4,999 ... more		Ringing in a new way to measure and modulate trapped light Researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a novel way to noninvasively measure and map how and where trapped light vibrates within microscale op ... more

Tariff uncertainty delays World Cup orders for China's merch makers

EU business lobby head says China rare earths snag persists

IEA feels the heat as Washington pushes pro-oil agenda

Surface physics: How water learns to dance		Researchers at Gothenburg create focused spin wave beams		New Electron-Positron Collider Launched in Siberia		History of Andromeda Galaxy Studied Through Stellar Remains		Gemini and Keck Put New Spin on Galaxy Formation
A cosmic clumpy doughnut around black hole		The awakened force of a star		Rare full moon on Christmas Day		The Puzzle of the Origin of Elements in the Universe		Meanwhile, in a galaxy not so far, far away

Euclid dark Universe mission ready to take shape

LADEE Mission Shows Force of Meteoroid Strikes on Lunar Exosphere

Cassini Closes in on Enceladus, One Last Time

Nearby star hosts closest alien planet in the 'habitable zone'

Survey Maps Neutral Hydrogen in Northern Sky

Canada delivers Laser Altimeter for OSIRIS-REx spacecraft integration

S3 delays ZeroG launch and IPO campaign

Asteroid WT24 looks even better second time around

ALMA reveals planetary construction sites

VERITAS detects gamma rays from halfway across the universe

Hubble sees the force awakening in a newborn star

Quasar outburst revises understanding of universe, quasars

Supernova explosion caught in the act

A new spin on star-forming galaxies

Monster planet is 'dancing with the stars'

Cassini gets bull's eye view of Enceladus and Tethys

Twin civilisations? How life on an exoplanet could spread to its neighbour

Gamma rays from distant galaxy tell story of an escape

NASA: Asteroid to pass by Earth on Christmas Eve

Exoplanets Water Mystery Solved

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