The Sky Tonight

September 20, 2016

Exploration Team Shoots for the Moon with Water-Propelled Satellite
Ithaca NY (SPX) Sep 19, 2016
A satellite propelled by the Earth's most abundant natural resource? Yes, it's true. Cislunar Explorers, a team of Cornell University students guided by Mason Peck, a former senior official at NASA and associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is attempting to boldly go where no CubeSat team has gone before: around the Moon. Not only is Peck's group attempting to make a first-ever Moon orbit with a satellite no bigger than a cereal box, made entirely with off-the-shelf materials ... read more

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Explaining why the universe can be transparent Two papers published by an assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside and several collaborators explain why the universe has enough energy to become transparent. The study ... more		Hubble spots luminous lenticular galaxy The galaxy PGC 83677 appears as a lone bright orb in an otherwise dark and lonely corner of the universe. Recently, Hubble spotted the soft, white glow of the galaxy set against a background of faraway stars and galaxies. ... more		Studies Find Echoes of Black Holes Eating Stars Supermassive black holes, with their immense gravitational pull, are notoriously good at clearing out their immediate surroundings by eating nearby objects. When a star passes within a certain dista ... more
				Astronomers follow twin jets to the center of an active galaxy Astronomers have developed a new method for locating the heart of an active galaxy. In a new study, researchers with the Max Planck Society traced the origin of a pair of relativistic jets by measuring the magnetic field surrounding a supermassive black hole. ... more		More stable way to send light through nano-photonic fibers Many phones, TVs and computers already rely on optical cables, which carry information in the form of light. But engineers have struggled to achieve stable light propagation across long distances. Thus, most optical cables require the introduction of an amplifier every so often. ... more

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

Earthquakes, 'Marsquakes,' and the Possibility of Life A new study shows that rocks formed by the grinding together of other rocks during earthquakes are rich in trapped hydrogen - a finding that suggests similar seismic activity on Mars may produce eno ... more		Cassini Begins Epic Final Year at Saturn After more than 12 years studying Saturn, its rings and moons, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has entered the final year of its epic voyage. The conclusion of the historic scientific odyssey is planned f ... more		Russia launches dozens of drones as Ukraine claims 'important success' Russian jets violate Estonian air space in 'brazen intrusion' U.S. defense in free fall		Researchers explain how minor planets got their rings Scientists have determined the origin of the rings that surround a pair of minor planets orbiting between Jupiter and Neptune. ... more
				Astronomers Capture Best View Ever of Disintegrating Comet Astronomers have captured the sharpest, most detailed observations of a comet breaking apart 67 million miles from Earth, using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. In a series of images taken over ... more		Astronomers observe star reborn in a flash An international team of astronomers using Hubble have been able to study stellar evolution in real time. Over a period of 30 years dramatic increases in the temperature of the star SAO 244567 have ... more

2nd Integrated Air and Missile Defense - Securing the Complex Air Domain: Requirements for Sustainable, Global, and Reliable Solutions to Next Generation Air & Missile Threats - 28-30 September, 2016 | Washington D.C.

Mapping the Milky Way as never before The Gaia space probe, launched in 2013, has mapped more than a billion stars in the Milky Way, vastly expanding the inventory of known stars in our galaxy, the European Space Agency said Wednesday. ... more		Reconciling dwarf galaxies with dark matter Dwarf galaxies are enigmas wrapped in riddles. Although they are the smallest galaxies, they represent some of the biggest mysteries about our universe. While many dwarf galaxies surround our own Mi ... more		Fossil fuels harm health from 'cradle to grave': report Trash, mulch and security: All jobs for troops in Washington Rising oceans to threaten 1.5 million Australians by 2050: report		Fujitsu to supply Super-Kamiokande Experiment with new computers Fujitsu has received an order for an experiment-analysis system from Kamioka Observatory, part of the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research (ICRR) at the University of Tokyo. The system is destined for ... more
Gaia's billion-star map hints at treasures to come The first catalogue of more than a billion stars from ESA's Gaia satellite was published today - the largest all-sky survey of celestial objects to date. On its way to assembling the most deta ... more		Astronomers discover 63 new quasars in early universe Astronomers have identified 63 new quasars - the largest number reported in a single scientific study. ... more		ALMA locates possible birth site of icy giant planet Astronomers have found evidence of a newborn planet in the protoplanetary disk surrounding TW Hydrae, a young star located 176 light-years away. ... more		Proba-3: set the controls for the verge of the Sun By converging in orbit, a pair of small satellites will open a new view on the source of the largest structure in the Solar System: the Sun's ghostly atmosphere, extending millions of kilometres out ... more

	Discovery nearly doubles known quasars from the ancient universe Quasars are supermassive black holes that sit at the center of enormous galaxies, accreting matter. They shine so brightly that they are often referred to as beacons and are among the most-distant o ... more		Electrons squeezed into 'one-dimensional' wires yield quantum effects Scientists have witnessed quantum effects in electrons after squeezing them into "one-dimensional" wires. ... more

EU to fast-track review of 2035 combustion-engine ban

Norway sovereign wealth fund drops French miner over environmental fears

EU split on 2040 climate goal ahead of UN summit

Dances with waves: Breakthrough in moving small objects using acoustics		Rosetta's descent towards region of active pits		Customer publishes performance evaluation of first commercial mini-synchrotron		Star system hosts hundreds of black holes		Avoiding 'traffic jam' creates impossibly bright 'lighthouse'
Rosetta catches dusty organics		NASA launches first asteroid dust-retrieval mission		NASA set to launch near-Earth asteroid mission		Proxima b Could Be a Life-Friendly Planet, Says One of the Co-Discoverers		Sulfur, Sulfur Dioxide and Graphitized Carbon Observed on Asteroid For First Time

Terzan 5 Is Like No Other Globular Cluster

First Gravitational Waves form After 10 Million Years

Recreating Our Galaxy in a Supercomputer

Massive Holes 'Punched' Through a Trail of Stars Likely Caused by Dark Matter

Small asteroid flew safely past earth this week

Titan's Dunes and Other Features Emerge in New Images

Researchers design solids that control heat with spinning superatoms

T2K CP Violation Results Help Explain Workings of Universe

New knowledge about the building blocks of life

Asteroid Mission Will Carry Student X-Ray Experiment

One Trace of Dark Matter Vanishes

OSIRIS-REx Prepared for Mapping, Sampling Mission to Asteroid Bennu

SLAC's high-speed 'electron camera' films atomic nuclei in vibrating molecules

A data-cleaning tool for building better prediction models

Detailed Age Map Shows How Milky Way Came Together

Brown Dwarfs Hiding in Plain Sight in Solar Neighborhood

Asteroid named for Freddie Mercury on 70th birthday

New light on the complex nature of 'hot Jupiter' atmospheres

Ice Not a Major Factor of Dwarf Planet Ceres' Surface Features

The supernova that wasn't: A tale of 3 cosmic eruptions

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