The Sky Tonight

June 21, 2016

"Electric Wind" Can Strip Earth-Like Planets of Oceans and Atmospheres
Washington DC (SPX) Jun 21, 2016
Venus has an "electric wind" strong enough to remove the components of water from its upper atmosphere, which may have played a significant role in stripping Earth's twin planet of its oceans, according to new results from the European Space Agency's Venus Express mission by NASA-funded researchers. "It's amazing, shocking," said Glyn Collinson, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. "We never dreamt an electric wind could be so powerful that it can suck oxygen rig ... read more

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Exoplanet Mission Completes Design Milestone Twinkle has completed a key preliminary design milestone. The results of the payload study demonstrate that Twinkle's instruments will be able to achieve the mission's science objectives. Twinkle's ... more		ALMA Observes Most Distant Stellar Oxygen Ever Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), detected a clear signal from oxygen in a galaxy located 13.1 billion light-years away from us. This is the most distant oxy ... more		Digitalization of analog data reveals past space weather patterns If you're about to throw out old data on bulky paper, hold your horses. A Japanese team have digitalized magnetogram recordings taken before direct observations by satellites became available. The a ... more
				Breaking out: How black hole jets punch out of their galaxies A simulation of the powerful jets generated by supermassive black holes at the centers of the largest galaxies explains why some burst forth as bright beacons visible across the universe, while othe ... more		Unexpected excess of giant planets in star cluster An international team of astronomers have found that there are far more planets of the hot Jupiter type than expected in a cluster of stars called Messier 67. This surprising result was obtained usi ... more

Transition from Operations to Decommissioning by Preparing a Safe, Cost-Effective Shut Down and Waste Management Strategy

A Young Super-Neptune Offers Clues to the Origin of Close-In Exoplanets A team of astronomers has confirmed the existence of a young planet, only 11 million years old, that orbits very close to its star (at 0.05 AU), with an orbital period of 5.4 days. Approximately 5 t ... more		Swift Satellite Used to Chase Colliding Black Holes Scientists from the University of Leicester have revealed they have been involved in the search of the distant universe for the counterpart to a second gravitational wave source. This week the ... more		Sidekick autonomy software guides YFQ-42A test mission for CCA program Infleqtion lists shares on NYSE as neutral atom quantum firm Top Chinese gaming companies continue to challenge		Physicists deploy magnetic vortex to control electron spin Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have developed a way to swiftly and precisely control electron spins at room temperature. The technology, described in Nature Communications, offers a ... more
				Physicists measured something new in the radioactive decay of neutrons A physics experiment performed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has enhanced scientists' understanding of how free neutrons decay into other particles. The work provides ... more		Life's first handshake: Chiral molecule detected in interstellar space Like a pair of human hands, certain organic molecules have mirror-image versions of themselves, a chemical property known as chirality. These so-called "handed" molecules are essential for biology a ... more

Directed Energy And Next Generation Munitions - 20-22 June - Washington DC

The World's Largest Commercial Drone Conference and Expo - Sept 7-9 - Las Vegas

Scientists detect second pair of colliding black holes The new window onto the universe just opened a little bit wider. For the second time in history, an international team of scientists and engineers, including Northwestern University astrophysicists ... more		Gravitational Waves Spotted Again On 26 December 2015, scientists from the LIGO and Virgo collaborations received an unexpected Christmas gift when the Advanced LIGO detectors recorded a new gravitational wave signal, three months a ... more		Solar-driven ionosphere charges may nudge stressed faults toward rupture Stable black carbon in mangrove soils boosts coastal climate role Low crystallinity iron minerals show promise for chromium cleanup and carbon storage		Gluttonous Star May Hold Clues to Planet Formation In 1936, the young star FU Orionis began gobbling material from its surrounding disk of gas and dust with a sudden voraciousness. During a three-month binge, as matter turned into energy, the star b ... more
San Francisco State University astronomer helps discover giant planet orbiting 2 suns San Francisco State University astronomer Stephen Kane is among a team of researchers who have discovered a new planet that orbits two suns simultaneously. The discovery was announced at a meeting o ... more		Prebiotic molecule detected in interstellar cloud Chiral molecules - compounds that come in otherwise identical mirror image variations, like a pair of human hands - are crucial to life as we know it. Living things are selective about which "handed ... more		Largest crowdsource astronomy network helps confirm discovery of 'Tatooine' planet Crowdsourcing is used for everything from raising funds to locating the best burger in town. The practice of enlisting a large group of people to provide a service, information or a contribution to ... more		Largest, Widest Orbit "Tatooine" Bolsters Planet Formation Theories A team of astronomers, including University of Hawaii astronomer Nader Haghighipour, will announce on June 13 the discovery of an unusual new transiting circumbinary planet (orbiting two suns). This ... more

	Juno Spacecraft to Risk Jupiter's Fireworks for Science On July 4, NASA will fly a solar-powered spacecraft the size of a basketball court within 2,900 miles (4,667 kilometers) of the cloud tops of our solar system's largest planet. As of Thursday, Juno ... more		Sites selected for world's largest gamma-ray detector The National Institute for Astrophysics wins the European competition: the board of the project has decided that the headquarters of the international organization leading one of the most prestigiou ... more

AALTO plans Zephyr stratospheric hub in northern Australia and seeks local payload partners

Ancient guano drove Chincha coastal power

UAH lands first DARPA award for biological sciences department

First Detection of Methyl Alcohol in a Planet-forming Disc		Did gravitational wave detector find dark matter		World's fastest supercomputer powered by Chinese chip technology		'Space tsunami' causes the third Van Allen Belt		New Index Ranks Dark Night Communities
The Search for Our Own Alien Life		Parkes telescope detects key feature of life outside our solar system		Life's origins may result from low-energy electron reactions in space		Discovery of gold nanocluster 'double' hints at other shape changing particles		Nano 'hall of mirrors' causes molecules to mix with light

Natural quasicrystals may be the result of collisions between objects in the asteroid belt

Planetary Resources and Luxembourg partner to advance space resource industry

High-Tech Telescope for Dangerous Asteroids Detection Launched in Russia

NASA's Juno spacecraft nears rendezvous with Jupiter

Small Asteroid Is Earth's Constant Companion

Clouds, haze cause astronomers to overestimate size of exoplanets

UChicago physicists first to see behavior of quantum materials in curved space

Planet-Devouring Star Reveals Possible Limestone Crumbs

New Gravitational-Wave Finder Scores Again

New planet is largest discovered that orbits 2 suns

Failed star creates its own spotlight in the universe

Smaller Stars Pack Big X-ray Punch for Would-Be Planets

Gamers Tackle Virtual Asteroid Sampling Mission

Unknown alien rock found in Swedish quarry

Can computers do magic?

NASA's NICER Mission Arrives at Kennedy Space Center

New atlas of light pollution

Milky Way now hidden from one-third of humanity

SOFIA Pinpoints Water Vapor in Young Star

Alien Contact Could Be 1,500 Years Away

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